In their stillness

We often hear these words: "How fast time flies!" This can't be any truer for me now that I'm aging. I see my kids peel each year with new milestones. I'm happy for every progress they do but I always wish things would slow down a bit. Even if we are together every single day, I still wake up wondering where those years have gone.

In the stillness of the room when they're asleep, I sketched my babies wishing with every stroke I would remember their tiny voices and innocent faces even when they're all grown up (without the help of videos).

Mavis at 1 year old.

Rooney at 3 years old.

Pia at 1 year old.

The Revival of Rainbow Stripes

After 5 years! WOW!

I opened another blog where I shared mostly the "realities" of motherhood - at least my own reality. I just realized that this blog is still ACTIVE! Great! It's like walking in memory lane going back to my old posts.

Five years later, another girl is added to our brood. A family of 5 with only 1 guy. You can imagine the dominance of high-pitched voices and girly stuff in our home. But the hubby influences his girls to enjoy other stuff that we may think are only for boys - playing basketball, collecting dinosaurs, engaging in rough games until one of them cries (hahaha!).

Here are some snaps from the past 5 years!

Online Banking: Bills Payment

Hi! I'm a working mom and part of my job is paying the bills. Budgeting is one of the reasons I get the monthly headaches. Plus, the due dates of our house bills - electricity, water, phone and internet. I hate waiting in queue just to pay my bills. My precious time just gets wasted. Right? Right!

So before I tell you about this online banking, and I know I'm not the first person to use online banking, I just want to put a disclaimer that I don't advertise my bank and its services. I'm just one happy client! :)

When I started earning money, online banking isn't a big thing for me. I have all the time in the world as a single lady to fall in line (in banks and bills payment centers) to pay my bills. But when I became a mom, half an hour in line or less is already considered wasted time. I mean, what creative thing can you do while you're in line? (If you have any idea, let me know.) :) So, introducing my bank's online services: www.bpiexpressonline.com. What a life saver! I have enrolled all my bills and started paying them online! Yey! Even while I'm at home cooking and suddenly remember it's my due date, I can just go online, log in, and pay my bills! It's that easy. But of course there are other downsides, like if I REALLY forget my deadline and 4 days have passed already, I can't pay my electric bill thru my bank anymore. I have to go to its nearest office or to a Bayad Center to pay. So your calendars and an alarm are very, VERY important!

So back to online banking, aside from paying your bills, there are other things you can do in BPI Express Online. First and foremost, it's 24/7 banking. Wherever you are and whatever time you're available to face your financial (problems) responsibilities, the bank is open to serve you. You can transfer funds to other enrolled bank accounts, apply for loans, purchase prepaid loads for your phone, and a lot of other things. Do I sound like one happy customer? Haha!

Anyway, I just paid my phone/internet bill while I work. :) What's multitasking? Thanks, online banking! Thank you BPI! :)

#ScrapPork

Today, we celebrate National Heroes Day. Just as how our heroes fought for the freedom of our nation, so are the millions of Filipinos who gathered today in different places to protest against the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF).

Just a brief background as to how this #MillionPeopleMarch was formed, there's a Janet Napoles who came into the spotlight, who allegedly became super rich by using funds that are supposed to be allocated for projects that will benefit all the Filipinos, especially the poor. The PDAF, also known as the Pork Barrel, came from the taxes we pay each day.

I was instantly affected when this issue came out. I pay my taxes diligently. But everyday I see unfinished concrete roads, substandard roads, dark streets at night, flooded places. I have to fight to get a space in the train just to get to work and to get home. I've seen crowded classrooms in public schools, children begging for food, families living on the streets. Then you hear this news. You see Napoles' daughter live in a luxurious apartment in the U.S., celebrate her birthday in Hollywood, drive sports cars. She claims everything they have are from their legitimate, hard-earned money. She's just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath her are the numerous senators and congressmen who receive their PDAF and allocate them in anomalous non government organizations (NGOs). The reality, for me, is that these hoax NGOs are their very own pockets. Nothing goes to where they claim the funds should go. There are still hungry, homeless, jobless Filipinos. There are still undeveloped areas in the Philippines. Would you believe that in the 21st century, there are still places in our country that doesn't have electricity? There are baranggays that can't serve efficiently because they lack funds. There are hospitals who reject patients because they lack facilities. Every year we see the problem in public schools: less classroom, more students. I know, I don't have first hand experience on most of these (thank God!) but it still aches me to know that the income taxes deducted from my pay each month, most of them, are only being enjoyed by a few corrupt people. And yes, I blindly helped them get rich and powerful.

I still believe in God. And I know prayers can answer our country's problems. But more than these is our action to stop making us fools. SCRAP PORK!

I realized that our country isn't poor. We actually have the funds to make our nation healthy and beautiful.

Image: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Family time: The Family That Prays Together

Today we went to our chapel to attend Mass. Every Sunday my hubby serves as the guitarist. Also, Sundays = Family time. :)

Mommy's shoes: Vans Authentic Slim Van Doren

Mavis' shoes: Vans Kids Velcro

Daddy's pants: Oxygen

Rooney's dress: Tubbies

Family time

I spend more than 9 hours for work each day, 5 days a week. So I keep my weekends and holidays for my family.

How are your weekends and holidays like? :)

Party invitations

I love party invitations! They tell you what's the party gonna be like, the motiff, the theme, the feel. Also I love how they are like a piece of artwork with the right combination of colors, balancing the elements of design in a single layout, the choice of fonts, etc. So I made my own invitations for my daughters' baptisms. They're two years apart so you can see the difference between my styles. :)

My first-born daughter is Mavis. A bouncing baby girl who weighed in 7.8 pounds on her arrival. We nicknamed her Michipao. It's a made-up name, coined from the words Michelin and Siopao. Michelin because her arms and legs are like the Michelin tires' mascot. And siopao (steamed buns) because of her siopao-like cheeks. I made her a cute illustrated invitation (except her photo, of course) just like her! :)

After two years, here's our second daughter Rooney. A bubbly, all-smiles baby I once called "little blip" (inspired by the 50 Shades of Grey). But she's not even close to being little with a 7.2 pounds newborn baby weight! Because she's one jolly baby, the happy rainbow colors suits her.

Hope you loved it! :)

Xoxo