Dec 6, 2011

Safe

Daytime

Nighttime

Putting up Christmas decorations this year is
quite a challenge since we now have an 11 month
old baby.
It has been awhile since we had a baby in the house.
Our youngest daughter is now 13 years old.
Yes folks, we waited for quite a long time for this
baby to come.


We did a lot of thinking specially when it comes 
to putting up our Christmas Tree.


BABY PROOFING THE TREE !!!


We decided to put the tree in the corner (sorry tree).
As for the decorations, we did not use our regular
ornaments.  
All the ornaments on our tree are non breakable,
light weight, and not small enough to be swallowed.
We also did not place any ornaments on the bottom
12 inches of the tree which will be accessible
to baby Jayden.
Thank goodness our tree comes pre-lighted which 
means no hanging light wires that Jayden can grab.


Despite all the baby proofing that we did on our
tree, I think it still came out looking good.


Looking forward to next year's TODDLER PROOFING!

Dec 5, 2011

New

My daughter's first birthday is fast approaching.
Yesterday we bought a birthday shoes for her to wear 
on her party.
It felt amazing seeing how "big" the shoes that she 
wears now compared to the ones that she wore on
her baptism when she was just 5 months old.
My baby girl is now growing fast right before my eyes.

these were her Christening shoes ...
so tiny compared to ones we bought yesterday

Dec 4, 2011

 Sharing

Every year we participate at our Church's (St. Raymond) 
Angel Tree Gift Giving Project.
We pick an angel on the tree and buy the "wish" present
written on the angel.
This is our way of helping our less fortunate brothers and sisters
every Christmas Season.
Today we brought the presents to Church so they can 
deliver them in time for Christmas.
These presents are not for me but they fill my heart with so
much joy.

Dec 3, 2011

December 3

I made cupcake toppers for my close friend Tina who graduated today.
We are so proud of her finishing her Nursing Degree.
She is a mom of two lovely kids, a loving wife plus working full time
and still able to finish nursing with honors.
That is what I call perseverance.


"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races
one after another." --- Walter Elliott

December Daily 2011

I am starting this December Daily project as a suggestion from my friend
Zorina Mendoza-Mercado (Life As Is for Z).  
She also asked me to check out the blog site of Ali Edwards
for more information and inspiration for the December Daily Project.


This project is quite challenging since I have to post daily.
I just hope that I will be able to keep up and finish this project.
It will be very interesting on what I will come up with at the end of the month.


I think I did not have a very good start with this project since
I forgot to post yesterday ... THE VERY FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER !!!


I am trying my best folks so here goes ...


p.s. once this photos are printed ... embellishments will be added on the
right side  


December 1, 2011

This picture is the one i used for my daily Christmas countdown on my
facebook account.


This is a PAROL.


It is an ornamental star-like Christmas lantern from the Philippines.
We usually hang this on our window or the main entrance of the house
for everyone to see.
I believe this was inspired by the star on the Nativity of Jesus that guided the
Magi to the manger.
Most Filipinos living in other countries usually have Parols on their houses 
on Christmas time.


December 2, 2011

On the second day of Christmas my Forex-man sent to me ...
 A package at my doorstep.
(I hope you are singing )


A package ! a package ! a package!


An early Christmas Surprise for me!


I ordered a book from Blurb.com for my daughter's First Birthday party
on December 17.
I was so glad and relieved that the book arrived on time.
This book is a compilation of her photos from birth till 11 months.
This book will be used at her party for guest to look at and
most importantly SIGN.

The Invitation Verdict

The invitations I ordered at Walmart.com came in last week.  

It took nine days for the invites to arrived.

Click on the photo to view larger

The Front :

The Inside :

The Back :

now ... THE VERDICT :


I don't want to expect much from this invite since first of all
I chose the CHEAPEST I could find online. 
Second, I ordered it from Walmart and not from a card making
company.
So when it finally arrived (although honestly I was already starting
to bite my nails worrying that it will not arrive on time) 

• it was OKAY ... not bad ... but not marvelous - wedding kind type of invite
• the color is a little on the muted side ... it was more vivid when you view online
• It has good paper weight ... 111 lb. weight card paper (not bad)
• the front of the card has a soft matte finish 

          (although I was expecting for the "J" in front to be embossed)

• the inside is matte for easy writing
• I don't like the Walmart logo at the back
• the envelope is made from a good weight paper too (80 lb) 
• I like the fact that Walmart doesn't have a minimum order
• I also love the idea that you can put a message at the back too
• and best of all the FREE SHIPPING is always a plus factor

Overall I am not disappointed and

I would recommend for you guys to

order at Walmart.com for your invitations

if you are on a tight budget like me.

Snippets

Jayden's birthday is just 4 weeks away and we are now on a
full action prep mode!


This past weekend we had her photoshoot for her birthday invitation.


We held it at Emerald Glen Park near our house.


It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon.  We were supposed to do 
it Saturday but it rained I was so bummed out expecting 
the same kind of weather the next day.  If we do not have the
photoshoot that weekend it means that the invitation printing
will be moved to a much later date...which made me very nervous.


Thank goodness the weather was wonderfully gorgeous that day!!!


I used ONE red balloon for the shoot
Next year there will be TWO !


I cannot use a Mylar balloon since the light will bounce off
I wanted to use PINK but the color will not stand out
So Red is the perfect color

My hubby Joseph was my assistant
He was very good at calling Jayden's attention and 
making her smile!
Thank you Joseph mwah mwah mwah !!!


A nice weather + a cooperative model = a successful photoshoot!


Here are some pictures that we took that day 
(we had a gazillion pictures so I am only sharing a few)

This is a TEST shot of the field ... yep on that big bag are my
camera gears and stuff to entertain my model ... a chair just in case ...
a reflector (but i  did not use it since it was sunny) ... and a RED balloon

TEST shot with  Jayden

HERE ARE THE SHOTS !!!


(click on the photo to Enlarge and get a better view)

I wanted to post more but i don't want to bore you.
For sure I will be posting a gazillion (my fave word) photos
on Jayden's first birthday.


I am just hoping that the invitations will come out okay.
I ordered it at Walmart online since they have the CHEAPEST!
The 5x7 folded photo invitations is only $1.42 and it's
FREE shipping !!!
The invitations will be here (hopefully) next week.
I will post how the invites turned out.


See you next time and thanks for spending time
looking at Jayden's pics and reading my blog!