Sam and Anna

vacation baby

2011-02-01T14:28:00.001+08:00

boarding our banka boat

my mom's hair catching the breeze

at the dock

180 sweep of home sweet home

the most fought over chair

how do you explain to kids that it's not the same as a park swing?

view from our room

pretending to be sleeping

the little disturbers with papa

sam's one true love...

and checkin out his other true love :) (it is so nice to be un-pregnant whilst on vacation!)

beach booty

found this cute little lonely croc on an abadoned beach we were hankering after cuz it looked so very beautiful, but we were told we weren't allowed to go cuz of strong currents, but sam and i (with liney) kayaked there anyway, and it was definitely worth it...though a little scary on the way out (they weren't kidding about those currents)

tried to convince a "real" boatman to take us to the aforementioned beach the next day, but white peaks were strongly abundant...so, he took us here instead...

found us a cave to bunker down in, store our stuff, have our lunch, get some shade...this is out looking in...

and in looking out...

manta found her own little cave to play in and eat coral and whatever else the tide washed in

chip monsters

prettiest little beach girl ever...

found this little nook in the rock face that we used as our minibar (on a side note i found a good handful of these pretty little blue starfish washed up on the beach, but unfortunately the beach stole them back from me, and i went home very sadly empty handed)

kayaking

the whole kit and kaboodle of red-eyed, tom-and-jerry-glued grandkids with my mom and dad (minus lani)...

cmas and new year

2011-01-22T20:10:00.001+08:00

new year

i wanted to dress the kids up nice and take pictures at this manger scene they had set up in the park, but unfortunately, measles after bout of measles prevented me from doing so, and then the camera died on top of it...but, here's some pictures anyway...

misc...

2011-01-22T18:47:00.001+08:00

caught a butterfly in its last moments, and preserved its beauty

dava

2011-01-22T18:44:00.000+08:00

ugly girl

2011-01-22T18:39:00.000+08:00

liney and manta

2011-01-22T15:24:00.001+08:00

a few from back in south africa

2011-01-21T15:53:00.002+08:00

Dava's first go at ice skating with daddy, while mommy and little girls are booored...

of catching rainbows

our very own mini cooper...don't we wish...

yet another sleepy eater

liney the crazy

manta the blue

manta

2010-12-10T10:57:00.005+08:00

there was one night where, for some reason, she just had to hold this book, or she'd freak out...

all dressed up for nothing

had to emphasize her cutie beauty face

girlie irlies

2010-12-10T10:56:00.001+08:00

luther and liney

2010-12-10T10:54:00.001+08:00

repost from clownintown.blogspot.com

2010-12-10T10:35:00.000+08:00

On December 8, 2010 Clown in Town participated in a Christmas Party for 10 under-privileged day care centers in the barangay (district). Almost 1000 children attended, each receiving a gift bag of fruits and kiddie Activated mags. The teachers of each center also received an Early Bird Reader set each, to be included in their school curriculum next year, giving the kids a head-start in reading. Each daycare center also participated a performance competition, for which they each received a balloon trophy and cash prize.

There were lots of kids, lots of noise, lots of giving and lots of fun.

The children

The performances
The teachers receiving Early Bird Reader sets
Children of Channel of Hope also performing for the children
Clown in Town giving out the awards
The giving
Hosted by

Sponsored by

burger king

2010-11-30T11:37:00.001+08:00

rowdy time with liney and daddy

2010-11-30T11:33:00.001+08:00

sleepers

2010-11-30T11:26:00.003+08:00

she's just a strange little girl...
and this is totally caught in the act of sneakily getting her pink umbrella while we were out of the room...

decor and manta

2010-11-30T11:13:00.001+08:00

back to nanay's

2010-11-30T10:55:00.006+08:00

visiting our old house and pool...

dava's hair cut

2010-11-30T10:44:00.004+08:00

washdry
cut
blowdry
(and i didn't take a picture of the final outcome.)

happy ONE

2010-07-10T22:31:00.004+08:00

this little hare-y monkey was trying to prove to all those tortoises that some hares can make it...
so she went from this...
to one whole year old!
she was a grumpy bumbum the whole day, til she got icecream...then she was happy...she also had to secure her chicken bone. icecream-bone-icecream-bone=good times.a nice enough looking picture, but it was definitely not the nicest pie i ever made. something about me and birthdays...we don't seem to get along. i'm gonna have to fix that as the kids get older. for now...they don't care. i can get away with practically anything.

baby faith

2010-07-10T22:26:00.002+08:00

this is joseph...
hi joseph!
god loved joseph...
and god loves you!
(you'd have to watch baby faith to understand...)

hair cuts and tree climbing

2010-07-10T22:01:00.004+08:00

for the baby, it was so that her hair wouldn't get in her eyes. for liney, it was so her hair would get thicker (like dava's). for dava, the reason is the same as the baby's.
...sometimes i get scissor-happy.
the monkey girl: "nother ba-na-na please..."
the REAL jungle gym 3 little accidents-waiting-to-happen

in creation...

2010-07-03T19:50:00.007+08:00

at the soccer field...
on some random rock on the side of our country road...
"standing on a mountain, praising the lord..." liney's favorite thing to do. it can be anything, "eating my food..." "sitting in a treetop..." "playing in-a duplo..."a nice shot of her teeth... daddy and mommy...

wake-up time

2010-07-03T19:48:00.004+08:00

one day (well, actually almost EVERY day...but this day in particular) liney woke up with a total mop-head of hair, i felt i must take a picture...

duplo and stuff...

2010-07-03T19:47:00.003+08:00

i firmly believe that play time like this is a very important part of school (at some point in time i need to update dava's school blog)
and this would be...and stuff...
neighbor monkey at marcos and sara's...liney loves it and the baby hates it. the baby hates all animals.

mouthful of teeth

2010-07-03T19:44:00.002+08:00

one day during school time i noticed an extra bit of something white in dava's mouth...turned out, before her first two teeth could fall out...two new one's were already growing in...
so i went on a tooth-loosening-jihad. and pretty soon, the first one came out...
now they're both out, and the new teeth are quickly making their way to the front, where they're supposed to be.

face paints and balloons...

2010-07-03T19:38:00.005+08:00

new home...

2010-06-12T18:49:00.002+08:00

we are now in a new place...no internet yet...but it shewer is pretty, nice little set-up. aside from the 200millionbilliontrillion dogs on the property, i'm happy. :)

while mommy hangs laundry

2010-05-29T21:03:00.002+08:00

aileen's 2nd birthday

2010-05-29T20:33:00.003+08:00

prettiest little grasshopper

2010-05-29T20:30:00.001+08:00

one afternoon...

2010-05-29T20:16:00.005+08:00

my first dreamcatcher

2010-05-29T20:00:00.001+08:00

the camera flirt

2010-05-02T19:49:00.003+08:00

as soon as the camera comes out she smiles and makes foolish faces...
that overdone smile on the right, that's her "i'm so happy to be eating" mealtime face...

the little bird who wouldn't fly

2010-05-02T19:38:00.003+08:00

note the key word is wouldn't not couldn't. the kids had fun following it around, peeking at it under the bushes, running around the driveway...when it got bored of such childish games, it finally proved itself a true bird and flew away...
searching for the bird behind the stroller...

updates...

2010-05-02T19:36:00.001+08:00

have been put on Dava's School Blog

round 3...

2010-04-26T17:54:00.002+08:00

not to be left out of the cool crowd, samantha decided she just had to make like her two older sisters and get herself some pretty pink baby measles. unlike liney, who was the happiest little spotted baby ever, samantha was a lot more like dava, very morose and quiet, very still, restful and quietly grumpy. only content to be constantly held. but unlike her squirmy-wormy self, she was so nice and calm, and would just lay her head on our shoulders. she wouldn't be caught dead doing something so inactive like that now. shucks!

it all started with a fever, that quite literally warmed mommy's cold cheekies
and then came the spots
and the grumpiness

dava. liney. manta.

2010-04-26T17:21:00.002+08:00

mastering the scooter
eating an apple on the toilet while waiting for shower time
just bringing in the laundry

a little off the subject...

2010-03-30T19:50:00.005+08:00

i haven't drawn in a couple hundred million years...but sometimes i get the inpsiration, and recently i picked up the pencil again.
i have discovered that i draw much easier on notebook paper rather than plain, non-lined bond paper. --something to the effect that on notebook paper i don't feel i have to draw "nicely", whereas a nice clean sheet of white bond paper brings on the pressure that just doesn't work so well with me.
in any case, the drawings are in "chronological order" from newest to oldest...

march 27, 2010 - the kiss--colored (colored pencil on bond paper)
(i wasn't gonna post these first two, but sam liked them, and wanted me to post them...i was just scribbling one night while he was out on outreach, and the original pencil drawing is what happened, and then i made a colored version...)
march 26, 2010 - the kiss--original (pencil on notebook--if anyone can read my writing, the poem has no significance of any sort...just that every once in awhile poetry comes to mind with the picture)
march 26, 2010 - they didn't believe it (pencil on notebook)
march 23, 2010 - the bee (pencil on notebook...then i proceeded to color it)
march 23, 2010 - dance (pencil on notebook)
march 21, 2010 - scribble (pencil on on notebook--my first charicature-ish art)
january 2010 - fireflower (colored pencil on bond paper)
december 2009 - holly (pencil on bond paper)
(ps..."real" artists, don't scrutinize body positions or proportions...drawing is not on my list of what i consider my better talents...)

tent time

2010-03-30T19:40:00.003+08:00

samantha is overjoyed to now be able to sit and play with the "older" girls.

btw...her first tooth is finally popping out at 8 months. i don't think she realized that being a little late was part of the bargain for forcing her way out early, but she definitely knew what she was doing coming out early...pushy little buddha-boss that she is.

manta

2010-03-30T19:38:00.002+08:00

liney has officially joined the baby-nicknamers club, and dubbed samantha "manta"...which i think is a perfect little name for this little chinky fat girl:

one day at soccer she decided to eat grass and consequently throw up multiple times on herself til she had finally used up all of her extra clothes, as well as liney's and dava's extra clothes, and all that was left was mommy's jacket:

lapa head...

2010-03-30T19:36:00.002+08:00

it's a little ol cricket bug

2010-03-30T19:33:00.001+08:00

dava's birthday...

2010-03-19T02:59:00.008+08:00

dava had a very extended birthday this year, i think it may have started on saturday, when provisioning came in and vovo clara saved something special for her (a chocolate egg)--that's when it all began. i also began baking prep that day (i think) which was just about the dumbest thing i ever did. any mothers want a hot tip for ruining a cake? do what i just said i did. perfect recipe for disaster! --i thought i was saving time.

sunday: making cookies for her party on monday (still not yet her "real" birthday) ...the cookie cutters were one of her birthday presents, thus the cookies. first time in my life that i ever made cookie cutter cookies.
monday: birthday breakfast out (just decided to do the major celebrations on monday, since the party would be on that day anyway)
while waiting to go to the park, a naughty little girl found the cookie jar and kept asking for cookies. i told her she could have them at the park, then she kept asking to go to the park so she could eat the cookies. i thought she looked cute carrying the cookie jar around, so i told her i'd take a picture, to which she whined, "no pictures, no pictures..." and promptly covered her face, as if in shame. later, when finally loading things into the bakkie (pronounced buckey, in "american" it means a pick-up) we found her contentedly sitting in the driveway, eating a cookie (obviously, she discovered how to open the jar). once finished, she got up and walked away, very pleased with herself, leaving the cookie jar sitting there, with no use for it anymore, since she managed to get what she wanted out of it.
at the soccer field...
i made the mistake of saying "crazy" along with the word "smile"

and there's liney trying to blow out the candle...uh, yeah...the cake's supposed to be some form of soccer ball, probably something closer to "love thy neighbor" and making a "super movie"..."fwump"
and finally, dava actually blowing it out
on wednesday, she got to eat her chocolate egg along with her breakfast of apple pie/cake which "avo grandpa" (sam's dad) made, and she got the rest of her presents (courtesy of liz and niki...they were really supposed to be christmas presents, but christmas already brought way too many presents, so we saved them for her birthday).

the end.

panarottis sunday

2010-03-18T21:00:00.004+08:00

3 words: KIDS EAT FREE
definitely a reason to go there for a family day.

malls are very family-conscious here; check out this we-like-parents cart for kids. the only curse is trying to leave them...

vovo helping dava make her pizza (you can get the dough rolled out on the platter, and the toppings on the side in little cups, then it's all on the kids from there on out)
liney just liked snitching the tomato paste
the finished product
digging in
liney insisted on staying in her "car"
as is typical, the baby was quite angry at everyone for eating, but finally satisfied with a piece of crust to munch on.

kids

2010-03-06T15:46:00.000+08:00

bumbo

2010-03-06T15:16:00.005+08:00

i have decided to not try and backtrack too much with pictures and yadda, yadda...but here are a few with samantha's "bumbo seat". bumbo is the name of the mr. man who invented them. they're wonderful little chairs for babies who can't sit yet. as far as samantha goes, i think it helps her feel like one of the other kids, and she can sit with them and try to play with them, etc, etc. (she is starting to get off her lazy, high-horse, i'm-premature excuse and is beginning to sit more on her own, though. --supposedly bumbo's are a big help in that arena as well.)

tell me something, those who will -- mothers in particular, would you want a bumbo seat for your baby? do you think they'd have a good market in the philippines? they're a totally different class than bouncers and strollers. anyway...they're handy little things.

interesting story: the guy who invented them, he saw them in a vision. he had just been renewed in the lord, had no money, and was desperate for the lord to speak to him. and the lord showed him a vision of the bumbo seat, and the stand that comes with it. pretty cool, huh? it has won more baby awards than any other baby product in its category. i think sm and rustan's would love it. :)

anyway...pictures:

newton's lemons...

2010-03-04T20:58:00.004+08:00

don't mind the post title, just a little flash back that popped into my head, and since nothing else catches my fancy at this current point in time, that is what the post title shall be.

in any case...

i apologize, laides and gentlemen, for the interuption in posts and pictures. the internet and i had to have it out, and it looked for awhile as if the internet had won...but, nooo...because here am i, posting again.

sorry there aint no pictures this time...but there will be...soon...hopefully...

but, i have got me yet two more blog spots to aware-ize you to:

dava's school blog: http://davaonline.blogspot.com
- this is for dava's school (no kidding) updates and such...

clown in town: http://clownintown.blogspot.com
- this is our witnessing supplement blog (if for this blog only, please pray that internet's heart will be turned toward our favor, and that the keys of yieldedness, lovingness and speed will be granted it.)

and that's the news for now. we'll be back soon.

naming the baby...

2010-01-08T23:59:00.002+08:00

i just figured i'd make a little trivia post:

Dava Danielle
when i was 18 and childless i swore that if i had twins i'd name them david (dah-vid) and dava. this was all thanks to the cutest little low-voiced 2 year old: lani, who couldn't for the life of her say david and davida. so when i finally did get pregnant (though not with twins) i decided to hold true to my word, and name the soon-to-be-girl dava. (thankfully it was a girl, as i don't know how well dah-vid would've gone over). there was a lot of debate as to how it should be spelt, like daeva or dayva. but finally, thinking ahead into the future (like teaching her how to spell her name) i decided dava would be the best, simplest and easiest bet in this case. the danielle part came about because i wanted "deedee" initials, and danielle was the only other decent "d" name i could think of at the time...or she would've been dava deborah or something like that, and that was really not the vision...

Aileen Christiana
dava started coming up with all sorts of strange names that we could call the baby. names like limendria or limo (both with the long "i" sound). finally she hit upon a half way decent possibility for a nickname: linny. sam had previously suggested the name aileen, and i thought that would be perfect for linny. and because sam's second name is christian, i wanted her second name to be christiana. so, aileen christiana it was, with every intention of nicknaming her "linny"...but, such was not our luck. in my ninth month of pregnancy dava changed her mind about the baby's name for the millionth time and started telling everyone that the baby would be called liney. though it sounded repulsive at first, much to my shock and horror it actually started growing on people so much so that they actually thought it was cute. and, to this day, sam and i are still trying to break the "liney" spell.

Samantha Mira
we barely even had time to think about the name, as naturally, we thought we still had a couple months to go. it was only after she was already born, and i was sitting in the hospital bed waiting for sam to come back with some dinner that i decided on a name, subject to sam's approval, of course. but he's always wanted one of his kids (preferrably a boy) to have his name...and he got it with this little premature miracle. and so last, but not least (and perhaps, not even really last), we have samantha mira.

just visiting...

2010-01-08T23:30:00.004+08:00

a very pretty place. visiting some friends and spending an afternoon on their beautiful property...
liney and the bushbaby

play places, family and friends...

2010-01-08T23:23:00.004+08:00

pretoria is a very family and children friendly area. play places everywhere, and in practically all restaurants makes for happy children and a time for parents to sit back and relax...

dava and arwen all happy to get those wet-on tattoos
lunch out with the family (yeah, some people aren't in the picture)...
family, relatives and friends reunions. getting to meet all of sam's childhood friends and buddies, and the kids all having fun playing together...

new year 2010

2010-01-08T21:13:00.003+08:00

new year was very long...
on the 31st we had a nice family dinner at home, by the pool. then went to another home for an overnighter new year's party. guess who i saw? guess? chon-chon! yay! heheh...
didn't take much pictures. little naughty fatty stayed awake til 1 am, we went to sleep at 4 or 5 am, and little naught fatty decided to stubbornly still wake up at 7:30. then there was a braai and a volley ball game. and we finally got back home in the evening.
it was a little nice and a little odd not having 3 kids for a whole day...but that was definitely a first kinda new year's...

the last moon of 2009
setting up our "room"
new year's parties are NOT the time to take pretty pictures
like trying to prove that saying "cheeese" really can work
or just trying to prove the "no pretty pictures" point
cinderella's missing shoe
good morning 2010
we are very tired
and she is very pleased with herself

december 28

2010-01-03T05:35:00.008+08:00

at the zoo

these lazy bumbum kids got these little push cars, so they didn't have to walk. the zoo was quite hugenormous though...but they're still lazy bums.
checking out the cable cars, which unfortunately we didn't get to ride, cuz soccer was of the essence...
have a break, have a kitkat...or an icecream...

- various animals -

aileen overjoyed to see the horses
i thought it was very interesting that the ostriches and the horses were kept together
that's a long-haired monkey in the back. looked like a pharisee with his black and white coat.

- habitats -

check this out, these are the lions and tigers "cages". such cool fortresses. there are about five of these tower/fortress like things, and the wall is the great barrier for the different "gentle giants" as they called them
couldn't see the bear (hiding in his cave) but his habitat was definitely picture worthy
- wild cats -

those are tigers in the background. sucks when your zoom is broken. god bless my camera.

- reptiles and water creatures -

checking out some lizards jabba the hut
for my mom's sake, i decided not to post any very obvious pictures of snakes. but this is all them checking out a nice big one.
evolution
checking out the shark

december 27

2010-01-03T05:23:00.005+08:00

another braai at a friend's place...huge property...fun stuff

dava's crazy hair, after i took out her braids.braai
samantha loves action songs
tons of flowers for dava to pick
tons of space for dava to play
and for her and arwen to run around like freaks
aileen's got some skill with the drums, i have videos...but...you know the story... (this was the day we did our "performance"...just a few christmas songs, was taken with laughter for one whole stanza of one of the songs, the consequence of an almost impromptu performance...well, we sorta practice kinda like-a for maybe a week, or less...)
since i take all the photos (never of me) sometimes i feel the need to appear on the blog
bikes and quads and helmets and bumpy courses to ride on (took some videos...but unfortunately, they won't be uploaded any time soon) just some nice scenic views of the property

december 26

2010-01-03T05:19:00.005+08:00

first of all, i must start this post with:
happy birthday mama! hope you had a restful one, full of sleep and sleep and sleep :) hope and pray for all the best this new year...

area christmas fellowship

samantha makes a nice addition to our spread of eats
watching daddy playing volleyball
look at that dog's smirk
dava was ecstatic to get a gift from one of the other girls of jewelry and MAKE-UP! (the little girl was 7, and this present was for age 3)
dava and arwen happened to be matching that day, cept dava was in shorts and sleeveless shirt, arwen was in pants and sleeves
the pool...and the huge property of one of the homes...

december 25

2010-01-03T05:13:00.002+08:00

christmas day

the picture on the right is prepping for a family shot, barz is pointing at me, telling me and sharmini to get in the picture...
dava way too eager, waiting to open presents, and liney content to eat a gingerbread man
playing with each other's presents
as dava opened her presents, she promptly decided to share all her gifts and toys with arwen, dividing everything in half
random shots...

december 24

2010-01-03T05:07:00.004+08:00

christmas eve

taking a morning swim
the kids getting ready for dinner
dava and arwen meet

soccer on the longest day of the year

2009-12-30T18:49:00.003+08:00

dava content to play and pick flowers for the duration of the game
a man came and started flying his motorized toy plane, very entertaining
dava making a "fortress" with her friend, and aileen playing in some ash (which she eventually started eating)
dava with her friend...forget this boy's name, but he's like gibby, also has a speech impedient. they got along great together.beginning of the game...
...sunset... ...7:00pm and still as bright as day...

band stuff

2009-12-30T16:45:00.002+08:00

one of our friends decided to lend us a bunch of his equipment, and we didn't even ask. bless his heart. now starts the fun! yay!

sleepy time

2009-12-30T16:30:00.001+08:00

this naughty little girl was supposed to be in bed, when we suddenly found her walking around in mommy's shoes, being a sneaky sneaker

family day...

2009-12-21T17:29:00.008+08:00

time to get out of the house and stretch our legs...
so, this family day we stumbled upon the arcade. actually, our only intention was to go bowling (which we did, but i left the camera with the kids, so i didn't get any pictures of that), but then since the bowling was inside the arcade...oh well...what to do with all those coins...
dava tried out a few games, and won one whole entire candy, which we was very happy about (that's her and carlos trying to claw one of those little cuddlies, but them sneaky sneakers snuck right out of their grasp)
sharing her icecream with liney...
testing the quality of their junkfood. take home. eat by pool. with beer. kids swim. (uh, yeah...i would've posted pictures of the kids swimming, but first they need to get their swimsuits on...)

a place called dros...

2009-12-21T17:26:00.003+08:00

as in "holy ghost fire cannot be bound it just burns out the dross..."

anyhoo...this is our first night out in south africa, and our first night ever without a-n-y babies or kids since the birth of that little skinny-turned-fat one...
remember that guy from hi5, waaay back when, the ring dude "one ring to rule all"...yeah? well, that's him. turns out he's sam's little childhood foolishness buddy from portugal, way, waaay-er back when...
uh, yeah...he's wearing his ring on the wrong finger. and in the other picture, that's meli, one of sam's many younger sisters
and these are just food pictures:
of course, there must always be soccer...
thanks for watching. good night.

fellowship time

2009-12-21T17:00:00.002+08:00

a first small fellowship since we've been here. forgive me dear south african folk if i have posted you without your approval...appreciate the happiness i have captured with my funky little faithful camera...

flower power

2009-12-21T16:57:00.002+08:00

liney was being naughty that night, so we brought her our bed, and she immediately grabbed the baby's hand, and just held it while she fell asleep...

kids...

2009-12-21T16:53:00.002+08:00

just a pretty picture... liney, making more noise than she already makes...and sitting by the waterfall-ish stream-ish place, with some nice christmas pointsettias...there's dava, all bundled up on the couch one freezing morning. and then holding another one of alan's prize tomatoes...this is his biggest one harvested so far...
with what was left of the cookies she made with meli on the day daddy went to the cmas benefit dinner...
"give to him that asketh you...turn not thou away..."

at the park

2009-12-21T16:50:00.001+08:00

this park is huuuge...

inconsequential...

2009-12-21T16:37:00.004+08:00

this is some good portuguese wine...unlike it's sweet sparkling counterparts, this one is dry...
looking less than inspired...but i just really like our room...

2009-12-11T18:18:00.003+08:00

when change decides to come around and do his thing, he makes sure he overturns everything...including my christmas decorating...

so, in my whole entire christmas decorating career, this christmas is the first time i've ever:

- used tinsel (those who know me, know just how ma-jor-ly life changing that is)

- NOT decked the tree out with lights, putting lights on every single branch (in fact i only used TWO whole entire strings of lights, one of those strings happening to have half its lights not working...AND...they're COLORED lights!)

- not known before hand how i was gonna decorate, or what i was gonna decorate with

- not lined a door, entrance, pillar, or bar with wreaths, lights and decor

- finished decorating in one morning

- hung a wreath that i did not make myself

- used only one box of decorations (yeah, not a huge box, a regular size, aurora box)

- not had to use a ladder, chair, or other means of elevation for decorating the tree :)

so, here's to christmas around the world:

time for outreach!

2009-12-11T18:16:00.002+08:00

when getting dressed for outreach, ditch the collared shirts, slacks and dress-shoes...
bring on the clown in you:

stuff...

2009-12-11T18:11:00.002+08:00

check this out: ice in wine...
these are some pictures of carlos (in white) and sara (in blue...or purple...you can go and argue over it). obviously there were all discussing something quite intense, but in all these pictures sara's all calm and composed. carlos doesn't usually look like he's gonna bite someone's head off...he's a very sweet guy :)
this is lisa. apparently she knew you, papa and mama, when she was in the philippines. and if you remember her being pretty, you were quite right :)

more plants and crops...

2009-12-11T02:11:00.002+08:00

just as a fun fact, alan and sara said (about their tomatoes plants) that all they wanted to do was fertilize their rose bushes, so in their compost happened to be some rotten tomatoes, and voila! we have tomatoes. i don't know if they need a cold climate to grow...but, you should try it next to our basil plants, or something...

pretoria, south africa

2009-11-29T18:23:00.004+08:00

i was able to catch the sun rising, thanks to the little fat baby who woke up at four in the morning.
hoping, hoping, hoping she'll go back to sleep...
it's a beautiful place where we stay...very much my style of a house...
the area is very nice, the weather is sunny and hot, with cool air (like summer time in baguio)
the land is incredibly vast. no longer the island i'm used to living on.
and the next few pictures are of the kid's room. i was very pleasantly surprised to find a perfect little kid's room set up that opens up to a small terrace right in front of the garden.
and these are some pictures for my dad...i know he'd love all these plants and flowers.
the crops are alan's little prizes...

and these are a few little sneaky plants that found their way to the roof...

when yer flying flying flying in a plane

2009-11-29T17:48:00.005+08:00

as a general rule, the kids were very, very good during the trip...
i almost thought that with our hands full of kids and luggage i wouldn't be able to take any pictures...but...i thought wrong, and was able to get a few.

this is the first leg...
look at aileen, totally chilling with her bottle. this was a nice, comfortable and spacious start, with the plane less than half full.
and that's the little piggy girl, stuffing her stomach before paying her debts. she refused to be fed, and insisted on feeding herself. trippy trip.
the row in front of ours was empty, so i was able to put the baby to sleep, and daddy could fill out those immigration papers, while dava and aileen took up all the space they needed...
and this was a rollercoaster-like train ride in the malaysian airport, from one terminal to the next. huge airport...the train ride was probably the equivalent of magallanes to ayala.
thankfully, it was the baby's normal scheduled time for sleeping...and thankfully she kept to it...while dava and aileen ran around the airport like chickens with their heads cut off and no idea what the meaning of tiredness was.
this was a darling old lady who found great entertainment in humoring dava with her latest "i went to a chinese restaurant" dig. i took a video, but i don't know if i should upload it...we no longer have asian internet...
"look, uncle jim...a plane!"
konked out on the final flight...taking up all our seating space...
we didn't quite have the same luck as the first flight. this time the plane was going to johanesburg, cape town, and then buenos aires...so, there wasn't an empty seat.
samantha having some quality time with daddy, and giving us her last smile before coming to the end of all her goodness in the last hour of the flight.
a rainbow streak of sky over madagascar...
"since you can't smoke...we'll just sell cigarettes to you...just to test you..."

the last melon...

2009-11-29T17:16:00.005+08:00

our external drive with the other pictures still hasn't quite caught up with us yet...but, i'm going ahead and posting these anyway...
this was our last family day, and with lani! yay!
so, i'll skip captionizing (it is a word...i know, because i just made it up myself!) pictures, and just let you look see...

despedida

2009-11-21T21:32:00.006+08:00

our farewell cake and snackies

suzi with an I

suzi and seanie boy

some less-than-focused shots...our special camera, god bless it.

left: you have no idea how long i was closing my eyes... | right: randomjo says: "GMA wants you!" sam and anna say: "oy, tol! beer na tayo!"

jo and maDOnna

left: does this need a description? | right: good eats some random "action" shots left: little chanchina | right: chanchai and christina (hiding) uhh, yeah...just taking pictures of my so-not-anna kikay shoes...

my little mexicans...

2009-11-20T19:11:00.001+08:00

when dreams come true...

2009-11-20T15:29:00.002+08:00

Dava's long been dreaming about making like everything Uncle Jim or Cherub says about giving toys away to "someone else might really need and appreciate them". So, in our packing to go to South Africa, we went through her toys which she would want to give away. She was so excited, and eagerly anticipated her next trip to the PGH to see her friends and give them her toys...

This is Dava's favorite friend at the PGH, Angela. On the left is a recent picture (just before we're about to leave to South Africa), and on the right is a picture from about 2 years ago (just before we were about to leave to Thailand).

oink oink oink

2009-11-13T12:02:00.005+08:00

pesos won't do us much good (or go very far) in south africa (or any other country for that matter)...so, before we go, we break open dava's piggy bank...

dava, waiting patiently, while daddy pries open the fat pink piggy

would you look ya that? m-o-n-e-y-!

the rich fools

enough excitement for one [family time]

wake-up time doodles

2009-11-12T21:14:00.003+08:00

she had just woken up and was drawing in a book. mommy sometimes has a hard time obeying the "draw on paper only" rule.

of water and bodysuits

2009-11-12T21:08:00.005+08:00

here we have a couple of little squatter orphans playing out in our yard...littlest squatter comes up in shorts 500 sizes too big, so it was a full bodysuit ("she needed a towel," tiago said)

2 + 1 = 3

2009-11-12T20:45:00.007+08:00

so, here's dava,
having some quality time
with the baby...

but, of course,
liney has to get in on the action.

[enter jim carey:]
here she comes to wreck the daaaay!

and there she's goes.

mommy must needs drop the camera,
and rescue the baby.

the end.

when david becomes goliath...

2009-11-12T19:50:00.001+08:00

hiiiya! i am ninja

2009-11-12T19:47:00.000+08:00

keeping tabs on daddy

2009-11-03T22:28:00.004+08:00

"you ain't goin' nowhere..."

sunshine through my window

2009-11-03T22:22:00.003+08:00

getting up multiple times during the night is a common occurence for parents of small kids and babies. but the past few nights i've been waking up to a glaring-almost-as-bright-as-the-sun moon, shining immediately outside our window and right into my poor, tired eyes. aside from the consequent blindness, it really is quite pretty. so, last night, with my eyes fighting to stay open, i decided to take some pictures:

pedia-onco support group

2009-11-03T21:54:00.005+08:00

just thought i'd post some do-gooding photos. (if you're wondering, pedia-onco support group is a support group of families with children who suffer from cancer. we see them almost every week, play with the kids, encourage the parents, offer moral and spiritual support, and much more.)
i've been meaning to post photos of tiago, but never got around to it. but, oh well...here are some:

thank god it's friday. lucky kids.
tiago being a good boy. (dava's in the bottom left corner of the right picture...all lost in the crowd of brown faces. heh.)

leftt: gibby, mama, dava
right, below: flashback, when sam very, very first came to the philippines

of shaving cream and folly

2009-11-01T16:19:00.003+08:00

children...

2009-10-30T15:17:00.002+08:00

dava's new play toy

dava's accomplishment

3 blind mice...3 stooges...3 musketeers...charlie's angels...3's the charm...3 little naughties

potty buddies

2009-10-30T15:16:00.000+08:00

numero uno grumpy-o monkey-o

2009-10-28T12:58:00.006+08:00

i have officially joined the grumpy monkey club.
S-O-M-E-O-N-E got my laptop all virused out, and the sweet dear men at the shop who said they'd "diagnose it" and call us before they did anything to it, DIDN'T call us, and went ahead and did what they did, and now i've lost the pictures of my grumpy monkeys!
surprisingly, i'm really not ALL that beat up about it, though it does suck like a sucking sucker.

and so i'm deciding to play the glad game:
- at least i didn't lost ALL my files
- at least it's only a few months of their lives in picture (even though a few months is samanatha's WHOLE life)
- at least i'm not entirely moaning and groaning
- at least i've lost so many files in my computer life, that i know that to lose more files is not the end of the world
- at least i have my blog which holds the basics since the birth of aileen, which is a longer stretch than that of the pictures i lost
- at least i just lost pictures, at most i didn't lose my kids and they still have their whole rumbunctious loves to still live out and continue taking pictures of.
ptl? tyj? amen? hal?
amen.

another thing i'm grumpy about (kind of a late reaction, or at least a late posting regarding the subject) is that for some reason blogger decided to muck up all the text on my previous posts, so picture captions have lost their picture partners, and picky me hates seeing that. but, ptl...on the bright side, it has change-journeyed my style of posting.
i'm sure you've noticed.

so all's well that end's well.
god bless shakespeare. god bless me. god bless us everyone.

grumpy monkeys, atbp...

2009-10-22T14:41:00.004+08:00

left: liney comforting grumpy monkey dava
right: grumpy monkey liney thinks that if she squints her eyes she'll look like she's smiling and happy

the fattest grumpy monkey

a common nighttime find: liney's favorite sleeping position -- half on bed, half on floor

fat baby snoozes at the polo club, while dava frolicks with newfound playmates (uhh, that would be right picture, little miniature bodies somewhere around the center)

sam's cool birthday present

2009-10-11T16:47:00.002+08:00

celebrating sam

2009-10-11T16:40:00.005+08:00

happy birthday, my love! i do love you, i do!

gamers

2009-10-11T16:39:00.000+08:00

aileen's ouchie

2009-10-11T16:20:00.003+08:00

inconsequential fyi...

2009-10-05T13:06:00.002+08:00

so, i started to start me trying to write again...

so, i made me another blog...

so, there it is...

tropical storm ketsana: relief efforts

2009-10-02T17:40:00.000+08:00

the damage

our help

behind the scenes: packing and loading/unloading

for more news and updates on our relief efforts click here

atbp...

2009-10-01T19:00:00.000+08:00

finally...she's starting to respond with smiles

i'm on the downgrade, and i can't find the break!

swimming in color

it's so hard to get pictures of dava these days. she's always running away from the camera in search of fun.

one sunny day during rainy season...

2009-09-28T15:18:00.000+08:00

beach, mall, home, wherever...don't matter to me, as long as i got me my bouncer. seriously.

had to at least take a bouncer-less picture for samantha's first beach trip, at "almost zero" (technically she still wasn't "born" yet, although she's already 2 months old. you do the math.)

aileen and daddy

trying to be brave like big sister dava

frolicking

beach = beer

2009-09-28T15:14:00.000+08:00

"ahh, yeah! this is the life!"
(stop freaking out you freaker outers...it's just water.)

kids just love beer (or at least the bottles)

"why don't they sell these at the toy shop? they're perfect!"

of kayaks and bright orange vests

2009-09-28T15:02:00.000+08:00

daddy swims after the kayakers

taking the family out for a ride

dava having a go at it

land ho...

tropical storm ketsana and us

2009-09-28T14:33:00.000+08:00

overall, we stayed safe and dry, our electricity stayed on, and our internet was strong.
but, there was a little adventure...

mike had taken audrey and amilie out...but then he couldn't get back, at least not by himself. the streets down from our house were flooded, at one part, waist deep, with a pretty strong current flowing through (see the video below). so we sent a rescue team. it was a big strong adventure, for our little girls. but they made it back all wet and safe and sound.

and we stayed safe and dry, our electricity stayed on, and our internet was strong.
and, there was our little adventure...