WEEK 22: 25-27 may 2009

27 may 2009
God does send an angel when you need one. we went to hopital necker today for isabelle's appointment with the anesthesiologist. they needed to see her a week before the scheduled eye operation (remember the cancelled operation last march?...well, we are schedule again on june 2). nitz was not available today but i insisted that i would just go anyway otherwise the operation would be moved again (!!!!!!). i decided that rafael would be my interpreter again and we would just try to get it done. but you know...cecile (our french friend) called last monday informing me that she was on vacation for the whole week and wanted to visit my today (wasn't that perfect timing!!!). so i just asked her if she could come early and accompany me to the hospital, and she was more than happy to come with us. thank GOD!!! the doctor we met at the hospital wasn't really nice and was so impatient! imagine if it was just me and my son..having a hard time interpreting and understanding each other, she must have thrown us out!! (or maybe not...) but i would be embarrassed. thanks to cecile things went well. thank you so much, cecile!! you are an angel!
when we got home she played monopoly with the kids and read stories to isabelle. she is indeed a good friend.
from the bottom of my heart.....thank you very much.


26 may 2009
i cannot believe the day just passed by without getting the chance to take a photo..grrrrrrrrrr!!!!! my bad. i did accomplish something -- got my week 20 and 21 layouts done and posted them here! still... no photo. sorry... this will never happen again.

25 may 2009
addicted to 24!!! our aunt and uncle from new jersey introduced this series to us when we spent christmas (2008) with them in spain. after a couple of episodes we got hooked up. now we are addicted!!! we just started season 5 and we finished 4 episodes before sleeping.

LAYOUTS: week 20 and 21

everyone is well now in our house!! no more coughs and colds...and fever (for me)!! i am so glad my kids are all well now. it is just so difficult when one of them is sick...much more if all of them are sick. sigh.....
the weather has been really crazy in my part of the planet...yesterday it was really hot and sunny, then it rained hard last night! it rained again today and a little bit cold again. and right this very minute it is sunny again!
anyway, i did get to finish my layouts for week 20 and 21. it is incentive weekend at w&w and i am really excited!! i am just waiting for them to open the forum for hodge podge 11.

WEEK 21...continued: 22-24 may 2009

24 may 2009
another warm day! we went to our friend's place for a prayer meeting (we call it 'household'). right outside their apartment they have this space where the kids can run around and play! the kids enjoyed playing.

23 may 2009
jake (my niece) sent letters to rafael and isabelle. the kids were very surprised!! at first they didn't know what to do with it, i guess because of over excitement. then i told them they are letters and they can open it up and see what's inside. aside from the letter, they got some stickers! rafael read his letter on his own and i read isabelle's. she was really happy that she wanted me to read it again and again.

may 22 2009
nitz took the day off!! it was a beautiful day... the sun was shining bright and it was just perfect to go out. we took the kids to the park. we could all use a little sun. we brought food (just some sandwiches and fruits) so we could have a little picnic there.
as you can see, sofia bravely climbed the stairs for the big kids!! no fear!! she could really climb it pretty fast! i think her papa did get a good exercise following her around the playground.

and i wish i know what my little daughter is thinking this very minute...hehehe. but nitz did share his sandwich with her!! and the other one he was holding was mine...

WEEK 21: 17-21 may 2009

21 may 2009
i am still sick today but i feel better because nitz is home. it is a holiday here in france because its the day of the Ascension. i don't have fever anymore but my throat is still killing me!! it is so painful!! good thing i got to buy my meds when we went to church.
so today, my ever so sweet hubby did the grocery and cooked lunch for us!! what more can i say...! we all loved the chicken fajitas that he prepared.

20 may 2009
very sick today. couldn't think of anything to photograph...til my son showed me what he made. he was not feeling well too.

19 may 2009
both my kids didn't go to school. rafael had fever the night before, and i couldn't pick up isabelle after school because i had fever. so we just stayed home.
my little girls requested for oranges, so here they are!!

18 may 2009
not feeling to well but i needed to pick up the kids from school. as soon as we got home i had to rest for a bit before i prepare dinner. while i was resting, my girls were just standing side by side at the foot of our bed watching a movie. what a nice thing to see...

17 may 2009
first day without my mom-in-law, now reality bites! after hearing mass, we went straight back home. we dropped by the grocery store to buy some stuff.
here is isabelle, the little helper of her papa!! she loves pushing this small cart, so everytime she somes with me or her papa in this grocery store, we let her push the cart.

WEEK 20... continued: 14-16 may

im down with fever since yesterday so i will keep this post short.
16 may 2009
mama left...
the kids were still asleep when she left for the airport. when isabelle woke up, she was crying and was calling her gramma. it broke my heart to see her cry, i know she will miss her 'lola' so much. back to reality for us...

15 may 2009
we decided to treat mama to a wonderful dinner at leon de bruxelles.

14 may 2009
sofia has been grumpy for a couple of days now because she is not feeling well. this is the only thing that makes her relax… bubble wrap. she enjoys popping it.

WEEK 20: may 11 - 13

13 may 2009
I brought the kids to the doctor for their check up. They have been coughing and sneezing and they are not getting any better. The visit didn’t really go smoothly. Our pediatrician now doesn’t speak English (the first one knew how to speak English but he passed away last December…well he is old). All his patients are now handled by this new doctor. This is not our first meeting with her but during the first one, my dh was there to talk to her (my dh is fluent in French now). When we asked for an appointment for the soonest time available, nitz (my hubby) informed me that he won’t be available for that time and day but I insisted on going. I said I would just ask Rafael to translate. So there we were at the doctor’s office and Rafael did try to translate. But it wasn’t that easy for him too. Oftentimes he didn’t know what the doctor was trying to say or what she meant. Sigh…… it was difficult. Anyway, I did get the prescriptions we needed; I just clarified in the pharmacy (with a pharmacist who speaks English) how to give them. I hate myself for not learning how to speak French… well, I do understand and I can speak a little. But during these times, I wished I studied more. I guess it is too late for regrets. Next time I have to have nitz with me or I should find another pediatrician…an English-speaking one.
I guess the following 6-10 day will be focused on medication!!

when i went out to buy the medicines (that you see above), i saw this bus!! old buses of paris and still working!! they let them run once in awhile and it is nice to see them. i did get to ride that one time before, a little difficult to get on though because it is a bit high but it was a cool ride... and its free!!

on the lighter side... on our way home we passed by a street market and bought some cherries!! still expensive now but i wanted my mom-in-law to taste some before she go(on saturday).

12 may 2009
on my way to pick up the kids, i am trying to find something interesting to photograph. then i noticed these skooter bikes. from the house to the school and back i did capture 7 different colors of this bike!!

11 may 2009
i am really touched with what my niece sent me for mothers’ day. it was a beautiful card!!!... well, actually a ‘certificate’.
it was really so nice of here to take the time to remember me and send me something special.

WEEK 18 & 19 layouts

i feel bad for my kids... i think they got sick because of the weather we had at loire valley. isabelle and rafael are coughing badly, and sofia is down with fever. i asked my husband to get a doctor's appointment for them. we will see the doctor on wednesday.
just wanted to share my layouts for the past 2 weeks.

WEEK 19... continued

warning!!!!warning!!! warning!!!
just to make this easy for you.... can just start reading from the bottom of this post and move up (find may 7 then read it...find may 8 then read...may 9 and so on) this one is a pretty long post and i don't want you to get confused...so just start from may 7 at the bottom of this post! thank you and enjoy reading!!
(can you believe this is the second time i edited this post just trying no get your confused...sigh).

10 may 2009
at first we decided to drive to paris after breakfast..but then since half of the previous day was wasted, we decided to see one or two more castles nearby or along the way.

PAGODE DE CHANTELOUP
we didn't really have all the time that morning to walk miles..so we thought of just taking pictures from a distance. as we approached the gate to get a close look, the lady there said we needed to pay if we wanted to go beyond that point. we needed to get closer to get a better picture!! i just told my husband to go inside alone and take photos...hay. i guess i will just read about it more on the website ..
info about chanteloup...

CHATEAU DE TOURS
since taking photo didn't take too long, we tried finding another castle nearby. upon reaching the town of tours, we parked somewhere and just walked. we were surprised to see the castle right in the middle of the town (if not for the gps we brought, we wouldn't recornize that the castle was already in front of us!!). ok...all i could say is..'aahhhh'. and we left.

there are acutally 57 historical highpoints along the loire and we will definitely go back to see more of it. next time we will make sure the weather is better. just read on to know more about the previous days!!

9 may 2009
talking about bad weather...it was rainig all morning!! we left the hostel almost lunchtime already and we just kept driving around waiting for the rain to stop. well, it didn't stop but at least it wasn't raining hard anymore when we were near the area of the first castle for the day that we would be visiting.

CHATEAU ROYAL D'AMBOISE
the amboise castle is situated at the highest point of that town.
However, the current building is only one-fifth of the "palace" constructed by Charles VIII. This palace underwent periods of abandon and neglect, and several phases of organised demolition.
oh..and another significant info about this place -- leonardo da vinci is buried here!!
more about amboise...


CHATEAU ROYAL DE CHAMBORD
the royal château de chambord is one of the most recognizable châteaux in the world because of its very distinct french renaissance architecture that blends traditional french medieval forms with classical italian structures.
and that one didn't come for me exactly...hehehe!! its from their website. if i describe, i would say it is breathtaking!! one of the loveliest castle i have ever seen!!
more on chambord...

we took the carriage ride around the land and the next photo was taken from the other end of the state... really beautiful!!


8 may 2009
since may 8 is a holiday here in france, we had a long weekend. we decided to spend that weekend in a place outside paris called val de la loire (loire valley). i was really excited that we will be seeing a number of castles all in one place!!
from the weather forcast we expect that the weather in la loire will not be that good that weekend but i never thought it would be bad!! it was grey and raining most of the time. we had little sun late in the afternoon but barely felt it. but that didn't ruin (totally!!) our adventure. we did get to see a couple of castles and had good pictures!! so lets start the tour!!
if you want to know more of val de loire, check out this link!!
Loire Valley

CHATEAU DE CHENONCEAU
after checking-in in our hostel (we actually stayed in the house of somebody!! i thought we rented someone's house for the weekend! i only realized when we got there that we would live with them. but we had our own room with a separate entry so didn't disturb them), we started on chateau-hopping right after lunch. here was our first stop!!
Chenonceau owes a large part of its charm to women: it was built in 1513 by Katherine Briçonnet, then made even more attractive by Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de Médicis, and saved from the rigours of the French Revolution by Mrs Dupin.




more about chenonceau..

7 may 2009
today isabelle received a package from tita bubut and tito boy (from new jersey)!! isabelle was really surprised to see her name on the box (she knows how her name looks like...though she didn't notice that the last part of her name on the box is missing some more letters..hehehe). i told her i had to take a photo of her and her very first package and she was more than eager to have her picture taken.. and of course her little sister was there too!! and of course you know what happened next after the picture taking...hahaha

WEEK 19: 4 - 6 may

6 may 2009
these are new friends of ours!!! they are myla and jaime olan, jaime is the cousin of our old family friend. i am really glad they took time to visit us and have dinner with us tonight. a very nice couple and i am glad to have met them.

now my youngest daughter discovered that she can climb the computer chair by herself and i caught her up on the chair busy on the keyboard!! good thing i am not working on anything... now i cannot leave her alone in our room for a long time.

5 may 2009
i have been meaning to take a photo of rafael's school and today i accomplished that. i don't know much longer he will be staying in this school (because i don't know how much longer we will be staying in paris). he has gone here for 4 school years now. isabelle goes to the same school, actually same building but she enters the other side of the building.

4 may 2009
my mom-in-law went with me to pick up the kids from school. on our way home, i took this picture of her and isabelle.
during her stay here (almost three months now), isabelle has grown really attached to her. she reads her stories, taught her how to add, and they sing songs together (both english and french!!). i don't know if isabelle knows her 'lola' (grandma in Filipino) will be going home soon. i know she will miss 'lola'....

WEEK 18: 30 april - 3 may 2009

3 may 2009
after mass, we decided to go to notre dame to buy some souvenir-shirts(my mom-in-law is leaving in 2 weeks and we don't want to cram). we saw a crowd of people watching a show. so we went to see for ourselves. some guys were doing a show!!-- bike tricks, roller blading and hmmm... jumping over something. we were impressed! very interesting show.

2 may 2009
me and my son went on a date today too... to IKEA!!! it was really nice of him to come with me. he is my ever helpful translator!! we bought new table and chairs for him and his sisters. and while we were there, checked out some other stuff we needed (and we could carry back). we took the train going to ikea... its quite far from our place. i was really glad my son went along with me.

1 may 2009
as promised, my dh took me out to dinner!! he asked me a couple of weeks ago what i want to try out and i said 'korean'. he did the research and we ate in a cozy and not so fancy korean resto at gare d'austerlitz called BIBIMBAP. i have to say it was a very interesting name. but i have to tell you their food is very interesting!! and really delicious!!!
i really appreciate the effort of my dh for taking me out. he took advantage of having my mom-in-law here to look after the kids so we could have some time for ourselves. when he asked his mom earlier this week he said 'ma, can you look after the kids so me and girlie can go out on a date?'. i giggled a bit when i heard that, it was really sweet of him to see it as 'going out on a date'. i felt really flattered. well... to my dh, thank you very much. i love you!!!



30 april 2009
my little sofia found her sister's shades, hat and bag. she was trying to put on everything by herself and when i saw her i helped her out. she looked really cute having them on and i could tell that she was enjoying it!! had to take a photo of her...