Happy New Year's

As the year is coming to a close I have spent some time reflecting on the past year and what lies ahead for the new year. We have accomplished a lot this past year including making a major move to the Philippines and we have a lot more to do as we make our life here.

I am very fortunate to have an incredible husband who has supported us and is working hard for us to provide us everything we need here. He is my best friend and I love him very much!! I am also thankful for my two wonderful kids who keep me going every day and are there as a constant reminder of why we are doing what we are doing, for them so they could have a better future. I am also very thankful for my two loving parents back in the states for they have paved the way for me and provided and took care of me when I was younger. Without them I would not be or live the life that I have now and for that I am truly grateful. I also thank my sister Maria as she is my best friend and I miss her so much. She just got a new job as a manager at a bank so I congratulate her and wish her the best, I know she will do well. Lastly, my mom here in the Philippines who has provided her unending love to me and my family.

As for resolutions, I haven't really made a list of the things I want to accomplish but I do have goals from earlier this year that I created before we moved to the Philippines. It's a work in progress and it always changes as once I have accomplished something then I add something else. Health wise I have done real well in reducing my belly which I had really wanted to work on so now it's all about maintaining that which I definitely am going to do.

Well, so long 2009, here we come 2010. To all my friends and family Happy New Year and everyone enjoy the new year to come!!!

Christmas party at Brighter Kids

The sun was in our eyes

Posing in front of the school tree

Leon

Leanna

Brighter Kids Learning Center

The kids enjoyed the school Christmas party. I haven't posted the pictures so here they are. It was held on the last day of school before they took their break. They had exchanged gifts with each other. It was also catered by McDonald's so they had a lot of fun with games and friendships!!

More pictures

Sweet Leanna

My daughter Leanna is getting so big. I can't believe just 4 months ago when we moved here her handwriting skills were not that great plus she could barely read!! Now she is able to write really well and read a short book all by herself. The pictures you see are of a sweet note Leanna wrote for me as well as a note and a little breakfast she had prepared herself. She is so sweet, when she wants to be:)

I'm officially a Philippine citizen

After months and months of waiting for this we finally got our dual citizenship papers!!! Yeah!! We got mine, Leon & Leanna's but I have only attached pictures of mine and Leanna's as Leon's certificate had an error on it and they had to fix it.

As a Philippine citizen I can now vote as well as own land and do all the other things that a Philippine citizen can do. Congratulations me!! Our next task: to get Levar's visa which will be another long waiting period!

Santos-Ocampo Wedding Invitation

Yet again it's been a long time since I blogged. I have been busy with the kids' Christmas party last Friday and with them being off of school for two weeks it's been hectic around here. I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve and by next week this time it will be a new year!!

Kuya Dong (aka Peter Alain Santos, my cousin) will be getting married in less than 3 weeks, January 10th to be exact. I have posted his invitations for his wedding. Notice the principal sponsors page, there are over 40 people listed, now that's a lot of sponsors!! I will be filling in as a bridesmaid but am not listed on the invitation as it was printed before they knew I was going to fill in. Leanna is going to be the flower girl and is listed on the invitation. Also, Leon may be the coin bearer as well but it's still up in the air. I will definitely post pictures of the wedding too!

Mammang Lou's & Kuya Dong's newly renovated place

Mammang Lou & Kuya Dong in the dining area

In the living room area

My favorite piece in the house - the bamboo!

Kuya Dong is putting the final touches to his newly renovated home and it looks great. They had started with renovating the back house where the boarders used to stay and converted it into a nice and bigger room for Mama Josie, a spacious living area complete with a bar and an entertainment area, along with a dining and kitchen area with a refrigerator.

For Kuya Dong's place he made the living room bigger and added some nice wood cabinet pieces that he uses throughout the entire house. My favorite thing in the house though is the bamboo that he uses in one of the cabinets as well as the one he uses as as a divider to the outside patio that he built which is attached to his room. This little room that he added will have a table and he added a green light so at night time him and his wife can enjoy the fresh breeze and a nice romantic dinner. The wind from the outside actually comes into the house and circulates through the house and is used for ventilation as well. Kuya Dong even added a drain in the room so that when it rains the water can drain out.

Well hope you guys like the place like I do. He did a good job and only did so in about 2 months time:)

MORE PICTURES

Happy Andrada's Fashion Show

Well we had a blast this past weekend at the Fashion Show Leanna was in. It was her first job and we are all so proud of her. She did a great job and she featured two pieces from Happy's 60 piece girls collection. Call time was at 12:30 p.m. and the show started at 5 p.m.

Viva, Happy's sister read an excerpt from a book she had written. After that there was a magician that did his act. He was both funny & talented. He even picked Leon to be his volunteer for the first act in which he made balls disappear. Then they had a children's choir that sang beautifully. They had a birthday cake for Happy as she was celebrating her birthday too!!

It was a long day but a fun filled day. The venue they had it at was nice too. It was at Shangri La Plaza Mall and if you know anything about Shangri La it is high end. They had a Gucci store, Tiffany & Co. & other high end stores. It was a really nice place, even Leon asked me "Mommy, how come they don't have fun stuff for kids to do here"? Enjoy the pictures!

PICTURES OF HAPPY ANDRADA'S FASHION SHOW

Here's a video which I couldn't download here but was able to download it on Facebook. It's of Leanna walking down the runway in her Hippie inspired tube dress. Her first outfit she wore for the night.

VIDEO OF LEANNA WALKING DOWN THE RUNWAY

Pictures from the field trip

The kids had a fun time but there was an incident with Leanna. Apparently she was following a boy named Jericho (her crush) on the monkey bars and was not listening to Gerlie or her teachers and she let go of the monkey bars and fell on her face!! She had a big bump on her forehead and scratches on her nose. Her nose was bleeding also. They had not taken many pictures after the incident as Gerlie had to keep an extra eye on her after that. Luckily they applied makeup up on her at her fashion show the next day:) Overall she's ok though and we also had a god time at the fashion show!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!

I heard it snowed in Houston so I changed my blog page to reflect that. Plus it will remind me that it is in fact winter because it sure doesn't feel like that here! Most of my life I've associated winter, Christmas and the holiday time to be cold. Now that we're here in the Philippines with me wearing flip flops, dresses and shorts every day, it's a change of pace for me:) Don't get me wrong though, if I could choose to be here or there it would have to be here because I despise the cold weather. I'd rather just see the cold then be in the cold and that is why I changed my page, isn't it cute? Well Houston, enjoy the cold weather without me!!

Leon & Leanna's Field Trip

The kids had a field trip today. They had originally scheduled this field trip back in September but were not able to go due to Pepeng. They had to meet at the school 6 a.m. this morning and will not be returning until 5 p.m. tonight so they have a full day ahead of them and I have a full day to myself! Of course I've planned my usual massage and this time will also get a green tea facial along with a manicure & pedicure:)

The places they are going to visit today:

• Paradise Ranch (Butterfly Garden, Aviary, International Garden, Cave, Hiking, Sight Seeing & Tribal Presentation)
• Zoocobia Fun Zoo (Birds of Paradise, Philippines Pride, The Barn, It's a Small World, Garden Maze)
• Air Force Park (with FREE ice cream)
• Fire Station, Police Station, Parish Church
• Bicentennial Park, Coca Cola Bottling Corp., Kyungshin Hospital (Hmm, that sounds like a Chinese name, probably is!)

What fun! I'm sure they will have a blast. I've asked Gerlie to take lots of pictures so I'll post them upon their return!!

Sorry, didn't realize I never posted the pictures for the field trip. Thanks to the anonymous person who commented and said they wanted to see more pictures. Here they are:

Field Trip Pictures