Shakey's Birthday Party

It has been a hectic week.

Now that my son C's 3rd birthday is done, I can now rest from planning birthdays until he turns 7.

It was not really a stressful birthday preparation as much as what I have done in the past for my 2 daughters 7th birthday.  I did not even have to drag my ass to divisoria to buy loot bags and such.

I made a lot of DIY's but thanks to Shakey's El Pueblo, their loot bags were nice enough, that I did not have to add a lot, just added some candies and chocolates and prepared additional loot bags since I cannot order loot bags per piece.

Since I have started making DIY's I have always made popcorn boxes for my kids bdays.  Just so the guests can have something to munch on while waiting.  I printed these on my computer and used the 

printables from http://www.mariahdemarco.com/justice-league-printables, for the cute justice league characters,  since I wanted to save on colored inks, I printed it black and white and just colored the boxes.  Channeling the inner child within.

The cape was very vibrant and that is included in the Shakey's package.

For this who are looking into celebrating at Shakey's, I think their policies differ from branch to branch.

But for the El Pueblo branch the 2nd floor can accommodate up to 80 pax.

What we did was to order the monster meal at P2050 per set good for 12 pax.

We availed of their theme package, the only one they have now is the Justice League theme, for P3,900

we get 30 sets of party invitation, party hats, capes, sling bags, puzzle board and tumbler. With Guest signature poster and 5 each of lunch box, sand set and stickers for game prizes.

Which are not bad because they are very useful and the kids loved the capes.

You can also get Capt Shakeys but for additional fee.

The host was good and was not brazen so that was a good thing.

You can have any theme you like and not pay the P3,900 but you would have to bring your own host and party organizer.

Because we have guests who doesn't have any kids, my hubby ordered beer for the not so young.

We did not add any other balloon decors because, I am really not a fan of spending on balloon decors.

I made a lot of DIY's, made some cake pops, and just made my famous mini cheesecake as souvenirs for the adults.  for the cupcake tower, I just bought some pastries in shoppersville and brownie in brownies unlimited, and we had to refill these, as the kids came back for more.  It may not be festive looking but, boy did the kids love it, instead of the cupcakes that are laden with thick frosting that kids do not finish, I opted for this instead.

All in all, it was great, the kids enjoyed as I prepared a lot of prizes and the food, well it was Shakey's after all. So it was not really a stressful bday celebration and C's face beamed as he is well aware that it was his birthday.  He was dancing and smiling the whole time. 

That says a lot, to us, as now the celebrant was the one who truly enjoyed being surrounded by family and friends.

Mcdonald's party..... not

Mcdonald's party..... not

Our baby boy is turning 3. so time to rush to look for a birthday venue.  First stop, Mcdonald's.
Our family eats and breathes Mcdonald's, so this was the obvious choice.
First stop was Mcdonald's eastwood. Yippee they are open for our preferred date, downer, they can
only accommodate up to 40 pax maximum. So it won't do.

Tried calling branches after branches, which was no walk in the park, as the listed number were either telefax or they just don't answer phones. So that was a fail.

One lucky Saturday (or so I thought) I got hold of Mcdonald's Metropoli branch.  The guy I talked to said there was an open timeslot of 1:30 - 3:00 but they do not entertain bookings over the phone. So
along with my whole family we trekked there and also met a friend there.

When we talked to the one in-charge she said there were 2 slots open, the time 1:30 - 3:00 and
6:30-8:00pm. Didn't know Mcdonald's can hold birthday parties that late. Being the late risers we are,
we decided to book the latter.  We didn't have cash on hand so we said will just come back to make the deposit, our last day to come back was on Aug. 31.

So thinking we were all set, I prepared an invitation to email to our guests which goes a little something like this.

Before hubby was supposed to go there to make the payment last Friday, I called to confirm nd ask for certain details of the party. Lo and behold, Lhen said we are only 2nd priority for the 6:30 to 8:00pm timeslot.  Smoke must have come out of my ears, because never during our conversation did she mention this to us.  We were 6 in that table discussing the party details, so I don't think we could have misheard her.  But she insisted that is what's on her calendar.  Never did she apologize during our phone conversation. Which irked me more.  But knowing it would be hard to look for other venues given we only have less than a month, I asked her to still pencil book me for the other timeslot.

Dissapointed, I called the hubby and he said we should look for another venue just in case. He was not comfortable dealing with them after this fiasco.

Come Saturday, we tried to look at the Shakey's branches near us, Katipunan was fully booked, so off we went to el Pueblo.  We were about to inquire at Mcdonald's El Pueblo but the one in charge was very busy with the party that was on going, so we decided to split, the hubby went to Shakey's and I waited at Mcdonald's.  While I was waiting, the party was winding down already and the Mommy of the celebrant was settling the bill, and I can over hear her that she was not satisfied.  Red alert. So I just joined my husband at Shakey's.

So we ended up in Shakey's with a totally different theme. Justice League.  My son has no idea about any of the Justice League characters, but that is something youtube.com can not solve.

So Shakey's it is. Just for those who are interested. If you are to avail of their Justice League theme,
they charge P3,900. What do you get for that.  Party invitation, party hats, sling bags, puzzle board, tumblers and cape for 30 pax.  for prizes they have lucy box, sand set and stickers.  Not bad.  I do not want to hire a different host anymore since it will only be 2 hrs.

Till next time. I will feature what we would be doing for the party.

Tata for now. I still need to save the birthday....

a little too late, pico de loro post

this is a very late post about our one and only summer family for the year 2012.
Thanks to my SIL, who has lots of friends (rich friends) hehehe. We were invited to use her friend's condo unit in Pico de Loro.
The place was nice with lots of things you can actually do but we were not able to do all because of the limited time and not waking up early to leave manila.

It is a beach and country club by members only but if you no someone you could be invited as their guest, you do not necessarily have to stay in their condo unit, you have an option to stay in Sands hotel located inside the beach and country club. you can visit the website for more info.

It is a long drive to from Manila to Batangas around 2.5 to 3hours depending on the traffic and stopovers.
Warning: Bring plenty of food as the place is really far from other food establishments, you will be forced to order from the country club and their restos which I will give  a full review later.

Some of the great shots of pico de loro Taken by our A.

infinity pool by the beach.  This is the beach club.

This is the unit where we stayed.

Then everything went downhill when we ordered our dinner.  We went out to eat at their
country club. We ate at their Lagoa Restaurant.  It was full since it was a Saturday night, but do note
this was the last week of May, so it was the remaining weeks of summer. The staff should have been
prepared with the number of people going there by now.

Looking for a table for a group of 8 was a feat, we managed to look for one and we were the ones to look for tables to put together take note.  We started to order around 7:00 pm and as you well know when you have swam to your hearts content, more than likely you are very hungry.

We ordered some fries, pasta, sinigang, pinaputok na lilapia, fried chicken, in short very basic, no frills food as I have said we are very hungry, look at us in that picture above.

come 7:30 pm,  still no food comes to our table, not even the french fries for heavens sake.  We can not even call on to any waiters/waitresses to follow up on our order.  But we do see a lot of them just passing us by.  After several times we tried to call the attention of the staff, they said the food was coming out.  Our food did come out around 8:00 an hour for the french fries, sinigang, pasta and chicken to arrive aftern an irate complain from us.

As we were eating, we can not finish the food served, the sinigang was too salty,  the french fries tasted like it was cooked from old oil (maanta). We ordered the chicken, supposedly as it was indicated in the menu, chicken quarter but to our dismay and without any explanation it became a measly chicken fillet. The food was ugh,  mas mabuti pa kung sa carinderia kami kumain. And the price were not a joke.
around P250 to P350 for a dish.

We asked for the manager to complain, and what do you know, even asking to complain to the manager we had to wait for another 30 mins. hahaha.  Really for a supposedly high end country club,
it was not what we have expected.

Hay, we left so hungry and while complaining and the manager standing beside me, I even found a piece of hair on my bowl of rice.

The place was great but the restaurant service was really poor. Hope they find a way to improve it.

Well, we capped our trip by eating in Tagaytay at Leslie's.
Having that hot bowl of soup just saved the trip.  All well that ends well, right.

Been very busy lately, call me maybe

It has been a crazy 2012 for me.  From looking for additional income to work overload.  Still the money is not enough, because of the peso to dollar exchange. gah, my computer getting busted and having to buy a new one, my boss did pay for the new computer but instead of getting the money it goes to the payment of the new computer.
Plus I paid for the repair of the old computer out of my own pocket so that my kids do not hover when I am done using the new one, so additional electricity bill, too much computer being used.

The problem is even my powermac g5 is really great it cannot get upgraded to the latest versions because of the intel pcprocessor chip churva.  Haist.

Anyways call me maybe, because I just want to go out of the house and reconnect with friends.

Well I got the chance to but not in the prettiest setting, I had to go to see them to attend the funeral of my friends' dads, (2 separate friends).  Got really depressing then Dolphy's demise.  Not a good year for  fathers, I just hope nothing bad happens to our dad because I can not for the life of me cannot fathom losing my parents.  It is at the top of list of my greatest fear, death of loved ones.

Just waiting for new project to get uploaded that is why I got to revisit this blog.

till next time.

report card day again

Yesterday was report card day!  I do not know why A stresses so much with  her report card.  She doesn't have any line of 8's for that matter but she is still disappointed with her grades.  Eh ako nga masaya na pag walang line of 7 nun.


We never stress them even if they do not get high grades naman, but we are very pleased when they do.
Hay hirap magkaroon ng anak na perfectionist, sana she is the same with household chores din hahaha!

B on the other hand has a lot of grades that  garnered  her a recognition and surprise of all surprises she gets a recognition for Filipino. Yay, we have struggled with her Filipino subject for the longest time.  still not below 90 but this is really an achievement for her. 

I am so tempted to post their report cards, as I am such a proud mama but then again, it is not my achievements so I am so hard not to give in to the urge. In short baka itakwil na naman ako ng mga anak ko.

I feel so blessed, even though we are not rich, my kids are my wealth. Cliché much, but it is really true.  I wish that is how our parents view as as well.

And because they did so well, I rewarded them with food na naman. Mga anak ko parang pets lang parating may foodie treats when they do well hahaha!  Simple lang naman kaligayahan mga bagets, they are very appeciative na with a simple gesture of buying them selecta ice cream.


Told you I am really blessed, kahit nga dirty ice cream yan, bet na nila. Har har har.

where did the time go

Feeling nostalgic. My A just celebrated her 15th bday. Imagine I already have a 15 year old daughter, I am only 35 by the way, turning 36 in a month's time.  Gone were the days when she fancied playing dress up with gowns, tiaras and taking an interest to all disney princesses.

Well she still enjoys getting dressed up, in forever21, mango and zara.  But she is more into jackets and cardigans.  What do you know for her birthday clothes, she got a leather jacket again.  But lucky for me, it fits me as well hihihihi and it is in brown which is my favorite color. This is her 2nd leather jacket, for which it still astounds me when she would really utilize all this jackets and cardigans.

15 years ago, I never thought I could be a parent to A.  When I found out I was pregnant, it scared the shit out of me, being only 20 then and finding out that I am positive with A, my world tumbled.  I did not know what to do, I was even sick at that time and we didn't know who to turn to. We didn't even know of any OB back then.  We just went to Capitol Medical Hospital looked at the directory and we just went to Dra. Belen.  Remember the commercials back then, I think it was Safeguard or something, where they had Dra. Belen as one of the characters.  See how we can still find wit and humor to inject in our very critical decision making even back then.

I had to deal with telling my parents, my brothers and my friends also my hubby's family as well.  There was too much drama back then, not with my parents mind you but with my brother.  He was the one who went amok with the news. As in literally, he stormed out of the house and almost punched a friend. That deserves a different post.  Just so you know, he loves my kids to death and my hubby and my brother are friends now.

My A was part of our wedding ceremony, enjoying the food and music inside my womb. I have not graduated yet at that time, and I had to stop for a year to carry her. My corporate career was put on hold because of her, any regrets? None.  Still scared? Yes.  A was our first guinea pig as parents. I wasn't sure if I can handle it.  My mom went to NY when I was 12 and my teen years I was raised by 3 boys and our Manang who is not married and does not have any kids.
So who wouldn't be scared, right.

I don't have my mother beside me to tell me what to do. I imported my Lola, God bless her soul, as she was the one who taught me the basics, like burping the baby, giving A a bath, feeding her.  I was the one who is personally doing her laundry, bottle cleaning, boiling water. The works, I was a hands on Mom back then.

And did I make a good job? I would like to think so, because I get praises from my sister-in-law and mother-in-law.  I hope that says a lot.  I may have stumbled several times though, she may not be the typical Filipino teeners who says po and opo, but I have instilled in her to be respectful not just with words but how to treat people in general.  You may be saying po and opo but are not respectful when talking to the manang and manongs in school, to our angels in our home who helps us.

We may have our screaming fits from time to time, when she thinks she knows it all, but nevertheless she is a good daughter.  She do well in school, she is caring to her brother and sister when she does not have tons of school works to do. 

She never seizes to make us proud.  She does everything to the best that she can and she does not accept anything mediocre. I love how we can talk about anything, it's like having a daughter and a sister at the same time.  She may not know it, but at her tender age, she has become my wall, to whom I can lean on when I am sad and burdened.  She is very insightful.

Ate A, you are a very talented individual, do not be afraid to spread your wings, do not be afraid to fall, as your dad and mom will always catch you,  maybe you would suffer a scratch sometimes, I can not guarantee that you will not get hurt, but one thing is for sure, I will be there to help you heal.

 Thank your for being our guinea pig Ate A and happy birthday, 3 more years you will be an adult.

free ipad

No, i am not offering a free ipad on my blog.  I am just sharing that we got a free ipad, well it was a gift from Momsie for ABC. Because C just celebrated his bday last sept. 22 and Z last oct. 11 and B, well just because she is part of being ABC. 

Kids nowadays are very techie, my now 2-year old C can navigate through our iphones, wii and tv controls with great ease.  He even thinks our LCD tv is touch screen.  A and B can crossover using a mac and PC platform without batting an eye, while I am having difficulty doing so.

Whatever  happened to the times that kids play patintero and taguan? Well atleast B and C still enjoys the village park playing monkey bars, slides and B still plays with the neighborhood kids sometimes, but A never got the knack of playing anything physical games, well maybe because we moved to a neighborhood where there is no kid with the same age as hers. Thus the lack of her enthusiasm to play outside.

Well back to the ipad.  I know we should engage our kids with lots of playtime with educational toys and stuff but really my 2 year old is learning more from playing the ipad.  He talks a lot now and tries to imitate the sounds he hears from the ipad.  I do not know if this is because he is a boy that his talking is a bit delayed but now he can identify letters because of the ipad.

and now I discovered this

I like how I can recordd my voice as if I am reading to my C.  Very nice and best of all it is free. I like how I can bribe C to finish his food so he can play with the ipad before his sisters get back from school and snatch it away from him, not to mention prying it off my hands and my better half as well.