My Christmas wish in a frame; love, joy and peace.

Hullo! Me here! I’m still stuck in the maze of the Christmas celebrations with family and friends. I like to stay in this place for a little while until the year ends, got no choice actually. hehe I wish I have the mojo for blogging, like one wave of my hand, and all the thoughts in my head would magically turn into words and sentences. That would be cool!

Sharing here our afternoon of the Christmas eve – after all the shopping madness and cooking galore, it was time to put our feet up and enjoy ze day! We were just filling our tummies with food, Christmas cookies and wine, relishing the company of loved ones and the delighted look on the children’s faces when they opened their gifts. I couldn’t help feeling like a small child as I was unwrapping my gifts too.

Caity with her Bába and Ori, the poodle.

What did you get Adie?

Caity busy with her Barbie make-up.

Photo using self-timer! Adie is even smiling!

This one was taken by Caity after all the gifts have been opened. I Like! (:

Christmas day was even more relaxed, the family together with the grandparents went to Hotel Hoffmeister for a Christmas brunch. And as usual when its buffet, you get to eat more and feel a kilo heavier when you go out of the place. The kids had a great time in their play area, while the adults were busy chatting and errmmm, eating of course.  It might not have the fun amenities Disney World hotels have, but it was perfect for all of us.



She likes her new make-up kit!

Sleepy Adie…

Later in the afternoon, my friend Tess from Brno, and his son visited us.
The next day, we took out the kids to ride their scooters. But it seemed like they terribly missed playing outdoor that we got stuck in this old sand pit.  The kids had fun scooping the sand, even when it was freezing cold!




Little Adie is obviously obsessed with big sis’ scooter.

Whew! It will be New Year in a few days…  might be caught in another loop of parties and celebrations, again.

My kids prefer the PC over TV, that’s why we’ve given up our cable subscription coz they’d rather watch their favorite kiddie movies and music videos from Youtube. There are a lot of cool music videos (even educational ones) which they love to sing or dance along. Adie especially likes music and gets bored with kid shows that are all blah, blah, blah.  Thanks to youtube downloader, I can have copies of their favorites saved in our hard drive. Current video faves of the kids are from Tutitu, Super Simple Songs and Mother Goose Club channels. User nay1115 also have nice videos which Caity and Adie recently discovered. Now my head is filled with silly kids’ songs… “Daddy Finger, Daddy Finger, where are you? Here I am, here I am. How do you do?”    “One little calf is sitting on a hot pot, bursting into tears. Help, mom! Help, mom! Oh my butt is burning up.” The latter is actually my personal favorite coz I sing it with funny actions and expressions which sends the kids to fit of giggles!  We’re crazy like that.

We checked out the newly opened indoor playground in Galerie Butovice one weekday. M had three days off from work, it’s like having a loooonnnggg weekend! Me and the kids, so happy. (:

From one ride to another…

Trying the trampoline…

Notice how Adie’s cheeks are flushed red, probably from all the excitement.

You can camp here with the kids as long as you want.  The entrance fee per kid is 99 czk (about 5 USD), for unlimited time. Adults are free.  There’s a restaurant where you can order food if you get hungry, prices are affordable.  The kids will surely have a grand time playing with the slides, swing, trampolines, tunnels, ball pools, ride-on toys, play house or they can get creative and sit down to color/draw.  If that isn’t enough, there are also lessons in dancing, drama, exercise and lots more.  They also accept babysitting. And they have friendly staff.

I left M and the kids here for sometime for some gift-shopping.  How convenient! We definitely like this place.  We’ll come back here, that’s for sure.

Taking a break.

While waiting for our order…

Back to playing…

Caity driving the battery-operated bike.

A kiss of gratitude?

Tired, yet happy parents coz we’ve got happy kids!

As expected, the kids complained when we told them it was time to go home.  Good thing they were given coins upon signing in which they can exchange for candies/sweets.  That made our exit easy. hehe

Linking up for:
Colorful Weekend
Kids in Doodles

Czech women are notoriously known for baking Christmas cookies during this season. I know how my mother-in-law would diligently spend a day baking various kinds of cookies which doesn’t count the days for preparation, and we’re (always) among the happy recipients of her baked treats. (:  I had the chance of helping her prepare, cut and form cookies on my first year in CZ and I can attest that it’s laborious!

Have a look!  Below are the delectable cookies the mam baked 4 years ago.  Can you count how many varieties are there?

They taste soooo good! My bro-in-law who was home one time for the holidays brought back these goodies with him to Barcelona where he’s based and his friends who tasted them couldn’t believe they were home-made. Since then, whenever he comes home for a visit, mam always makes sure he brings cookies with him back to Barcelona.

I admit I don’t have the time and the energy for this baking pursuit so I’ll just wait for Mam to give us our share for this year. teehee!
But I decided to expose Caity to this tradition by starting with simple cookies. It was Friday night and instead of dinner, we were baking cookies.

Tadannnn!

My little helper placed sprinkles on top to add cheer to our dull cookies.

Caity helped me cut the dough into shapes while I was also busy rolling/cutting the dough, supervising my little helper and minding Adie (who was trying to steal our cookie cutters) all at the same time.  It had to be done fast, as cooking took only 6-10 minutes.  No pics during production time!

Ooopss! Somebody is getting more cookies!

As soon as the first batch came out, still hot and smelling soooo good, the impatient and over excited kids positioned themselves around the table waiting for me to lay the goodies.  “Cookies! Cookies!” they chanted.  It’s so much fun to have more than 1 kid in the house!    Caity was so happy to see her play things work turn into something edible.  It was yummy, still is.  The taste is reminiscent of Monde’s Eggnog cookies or Rosquillos. yumyumyum…

Got my recipe for the best rolled sugar cookies here. You should give it a try!

I didn’t bother to clean up last night’s aftermath of play time in the living room coz there were other 100 things to do before the day ended.  Although Caity did tidy up, well that wasn’t enough. I decided to deal with it when Adie goes for his morning nap. Caity has been cutting papers, Adie has been leaving pencils here and there and who knows where else, there’s a trail of dried clay sticking on the carpet, etc. etc. etc. It’s gonna be a tough battle for me. It’s one of the days when I wish we have alloc laminate flooring instead of carpet, coz its easier to clean especially when the enemy is clay!

Then I caught sight of the laundry basket with dirty clothes, and the sink with dishes that screams to be washed…. o-oh!  I guess I’ll just leave them like that for a little while, coz for now it’s time for me to prepare and pick up Caity from school.  Have to wake up the little dude and walk under the rain!!!  Whattamorning!  Well at least I was able to iron some clothes…

Caity has been bugging me to put up the Christmas tree already. Last week was a busy one. M had to work long hours in the office, coming home late at night. I wanted putting up the tree to be a family affair, so I told her later when M’s not busy. But you know, kids can be impatient. This mama had to think how to fulfill her request.

Here’s the solution:

An improvised Christmas tree from dried tree branches!

I placed the “tree” on a large vase, brought out some Christmas balls for them to deck the tree with and viola! a kid’s wish granted!  As soon as I showed them how to do it, they immediately took over and were lost in their own world, hanging the balls, taking it, then hanging them back. It kept them occupied for a pretty long time, until they started quarreling as to who gets the most balls.

I took out more Christmas decors for them to play and that settled the little fight.

Caity had something else in mind:

The Christmas tree ornaments can be used as earrings for this season! (:

Cost of the fun?  Nothing!  The branches were picked on one of our outdoor walks and the Christmas decors were taken out from the dungeon.

Our entry for:
Colorful Weekend
Kids in Doodles

Been eating brownies (which I baked last night) since my morning started. Woke up from an afternoon finding myself eating some more, paired with hot choco with marshmallows. Perks me up! Yum!

For lunch, I made this Arroz ala Valenciana, my comfort food for this dreary weather.

And I made a quick project for Christmas decors from left-over yarns. Pompoms made using fork (not the same one I used eating the Valenciana though!). Heeeh! Would you believe that? Got the idea from Pinterest.

This weekend, we’ve discovered a new nook that not only caters to what I have been looking for, for ages, but also there’s a special place for the kids to play (for free!) at such a convenient place.

• It’s a bookstore that sells arts and crafts stuff, something that I have been itching to find, coz there are a million creative things I want to do!
• It has a play area! Though small, it was spanking new and not crowded!
• Beside the play area is a coffee shop where you can relax, drink coffee and try their cakes while keeping an eye on the kids!
• All these great wonders, surrounded with heavenly smell of new books, where you can browse on pages while the kids are having fun. Isn’t it neat?
• And what’s best is that it’s located in the mall where we go  for our weekly grocery shopping, and parking is for free too!

It’s a perfect place for the family to hang out. (: If not for Adie’s butt explosion, we would have stayed there for hours.

I didn’t go out of that place empty-handed. Bought some needed craft supplies, of course! And as we went out, Caity was doing a fake cry, “huhuhu, buh-bye… huhuhu“. Till next week!

What a fun and colorful weekend!

Adie reading a picture book.

A child’s laughter is highly infectious! Last night, I was rubbing Adie’s back while he was lying in his crib to sleep and when I stopped for a little break, he started laughing. Surprised, I did it one more time. I continued caressing his back then abruptly stopped and he gave out a hearty laugh, again! This exchange went on for sometime as I turned it into a game and every time I stop rubbing his back, he’d laugh. Even M who heard us, got curious and investigated what was happening. hehe I really had a good laugh too, more of amusement and delight at his reaction. Usually kids would complain or worse, even cry when you stop this act, but with Adie, it was the opposite. He found it funny when I stopped to caress him! Silly little Adie! So, so cute!

Inspecting his toy car…

And somebody just learned a new skill! I usually close the door to the kitchen when I am cooking so Adie can’t go in there and disturb me. Yesterday, while I was busy preparing for lunch, the door knob slowly turned. Caity was at school then, and M was in the bathroom.Who else could that be?  I was thinking, could it be who I think it is? And in came little Adie, proudly smiling, waving his hand while saying “Ahoj!” OMG! This boy! He used to be fond of closing  the doors, now he’s getting the hang of opening it. Mama can’t hide anymore in her hideout.

And he’s learning lots of new words!  Earlier when I was changing his diaper, he was saying “shoes, *boty“… “boty, shoes“  He already knows these words before, but he’s smart to relate them and knows that these both mean the same thing. Sapatos, Adie. You know? hehe  Gotta start introducing Filipino in his vocabulary!

Life of a mom, tiresome yet everyday is filled with delightful surprises. (:

*boty = shoes

The mystery bean machine and some packs of Jelly Belly jelly beans.

The whole family is nuts over these jelly beans.  I luckily won two 100g packs of Ice Cream Parlour Mix by joining their simple Facebook contest.  We made a trip to their store to claim my prize and Caity got to pick her choice of the sweet treats.  If you’ve heard that phrase “like a kid in a candy store“, her happiness literally was like that.  She was over the moon and couldn’t contain herself when she saw the store even from afar.  “Look Mami! There’s the lollipop! Yummmmm!” She chose  twirly lollipops and the sugar cane which have long became a history.

We got one of those mystery bean machines, a cool dispenser should I say. Whenever you pull the lid up and lower it, a bean/s would sit on the middle.  The kids enjoy taking turns in pulling the lid then they would fight as to who gets the beans first. So fun!

It’s quite addicting just popping these little sweet beans in our mouth.  It doesn’t feel like your throat is scratched by abrasives when you eat much of these, unlike those other candies or jellies that irritates the throat after eating a lot.

We’ve learned that it isn’t wise to buy these in specially packaged boxes.  It costs much and the jelly beans still got mixed up inside! Duh!