moving up

the little girl graduated from pre-school yesterday.  

it is one of the most gratifying moments in a mom's life.  she's only turing 6 years old next week and i know we still have a long way to go.  a lot more gratifying moments to come -- her 7th birthday, her first day in high school, her first menstruation... college, first love.... well, i'm (crossing my fingers) hoping first love comes after college.  she came in 3rd overall, i think, since the school is progressive and as a rule, does not give numeric grades.  but she was called 3rd to the last so i figured that's it.

next week, she's taking entrance exams at the little big man's school.   wish us luck.

Her page in the school souvenir program

Her introduction

Her doxology

And her fooling around :)

i so look forward to the many more fruitful years ahead.

all kids her age starting 1st grade next schoolyear will be working the new K+12 curriculum to be implemented by the  philippines' department of education.  this means 7 years of grade school and 5 years of high school.  

tkd girl

just 2 weeks ago, i was talking about the little girl wanting make-up yeah?

well this week, she joined her very first taekwondo tournament. and today, her first official taekwondo training.  well, she's been watching and learning whenever her brother is training so she more or less, has the general idea on how to properly kick.  and she spars with him at home too.  so hubby and i were confident enough to try her in an exhibition in last sunday's tournament.  

yep, you read that right.  my kikay girl is also a kanto girl.  


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i'm not sure though if her other interests, i.e. ballet, belly-dancing, singing, swimming, will take a backseat this summer or not.

i'm so looking forward to the boys who will try to woo her in the future and whose asses she will kick.

shakira

the little girl has discovered a new interest.


belly-dancing.


last night when i got home, she told me to watch her belly-dance.  she asked the hubby to look up that shakira video on you tube and she was gonna show me.  i watched her wiggle her bum and shake her hips like yeah.  she even did it in slow-mo.  


whew.  now looking for a belly-dancing class for her.

water costume

and so the little big man performed in a field demo in school for their foundation day celebration.  they did an interpretative dance, their batch representing water among the elements.  other batches were air and water.  they won the "most unique" award.

from afar, watching him, i was awed at how he's grown.  he's 8 years old now and in 3rd grade.  a lot has changed within, around and for him.  his school, his height, his daily routine, his activities, his likes and dislikes, his attitude, his achievements, his intelligence, his EQ.  i feel that this year is one of the best years of his life because of the turning points that occurred from big decisions that we made.

but i'm supposed to talk about his costume.  :)  it wasn't easy to get his costume done.  first he needed white long sleeved leotards.  i knew just where to get them in that aisle in sm hypermarket where we got the little girl's ballet outfit last summer.  no problem.  

then there's the royal blue pants that semi-looked like pajamas.  i was sure our neighbor, who sews scrub suits for a living, will find a perfect royal blue fabric and sew it in no time.  hubby insisted to go looking for it somewhere else despite this but he came back empty-handed after scouring stalls and depstores.  true enough, i was right. luckily, we got it the day before the event.  black rubber slippers too on the same day.

and then there's the head dress.  that's a whole story on its own.  i got the blue foil, sequins, elmer's glue-all, black electric tape and illustration board at national bookstore.  the pattern was given to them at school and the little big man proudly announced few days before the event that he had cut it out by himself.  the task was to cover it with blue foil, stick the silver sequins all around the edges and make it stand on his head without falling down while performing.  i thought it was a piece of cake.  or so i thought.

as i stood back, looking at the whole ensemble, i think i now know what poseidon would look like if he were gay.  i told hubby that this would be something my son would look back on 20 years from now and be embarrassed about.  it looked so gay!  LOL!

julla onstage

and so the much anticipated (by me and hubby) ballet recital was held last friday.  it was actually great.  all the money and effort of the last eight weeks, especially by hubby, were all worth it as we saw our little julla strutting her stuff onstage.  she didn't miss a cue, her confidence level was at a maximum and her pride in herself was overwhelming.  it was definitely HER moment.

yes, i am again, one proud mommah!

of arabesques and birthday cakes

 
little girl julla turned 4 last monday.

coincidentally, it was her first day in summer ballet class.  the family was in full force to support her -- the dad, the mom, the brother AND the cousin.  all five of us trooped to nty children's camp to root for our little ballerina.

flashback to several weeks ago.

mom i want a birthday cake shaped like a heart.  color pink.

mom and little girl in front of the computer watching videos from youtube of ballet dancers, recitals, etc.  mom i want to dance like that.  

little girl at her moving up ceremonies.  my name is jullana ysbel c. dela cruz.  someday i want to be a teacher and dancer.  i believe that if i do my best, God will do the rest.

fast forward to three days before monday.

3 tulog na lang, magb-birthday na ko. 4 years old na ko.

two days before monday.

2 tulog na lang, magb-birthday na ko. 4 years old na ko.

one day before.

1 tulog na lang, magb-birthday na ko. 4 years old na ko.

on her birthday, her dad was first to inform her that, yes, today is already your birthday.  he nudged her, her eyes slowly opened, brightened then she squealed in glee.  

she did not get the heart-shaped cake.  and we did not get to watch her in class because we were asked to wait for them outside.  she didn't have a big event party, just her cake, spaghetti, fried chicken and biko.  but watch her do the arabesque and basic steps of ballet and you'll know that even if there wasn't any major celebration, her birthday was especially memorable for her.

that's her in ballet class with teacher april

Walk, jog, run!

So hubby and I started brisk walking again this morning. We actually started doing this way back in August but when we discovered aero every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, we stopped. Aero we did but it's gotten boring now coz the routine has become too easy and it hasn't evolved yet due to the fact that most of our co-members are 50y/o and above, so the choreographer has that to consider.

I have since lost 5-7 pounds though and am (I think) close to achieving one of my 2009 New Year's goals which is to gain back my pre-pregnancy figure. I still have some love handles and lotsa flab but I'm feeling way better about myself than 6 months back.

Life in general has changed a lot over the last 6 months since my last weblog.

Migo has started taekwondo lessons last summer and has developed way, way much. Last Saturday (November 14), he won his first Gold medal at the Region 3 Championship held in Cabanatuan City. Hubby and I were so proud. And so was my Dad and older brother who were there with us. My 2 nephews Gelo and Tyrone are attending tkd classes now.

Julla started school (nursery) too 6 months ago. She's turning into a wonder child, in my opinion. (Hur-hur!) She likes to sing and dance a lot. Singing involves also creating her own lyrics based on whatever she feels like talking/singing about. Dancing, on the other hand, is a lot of calisthenics and body-bending that she herself choreographs. We're thinking of getting her involved too in tkd or ballet. My dad says yes to tkd. Mom says ballet. Oh, and my dad says violin lessons too. Me and hubby, well, we'd let her do whatever she wants when she's 4 years old.

I like to have cool kids with cool things to do.

Hubby and I. We're ok. Some potholes here and there in our sweet life together but I can say we're becoming stronger as a pair of nitwits trying to survive this l.i.f.e.

So there. Hope I can start blogging regularly again. Thanks to Sir Jojo. :)