A photo of your truly, because I know you miss me.

1. Financing the Journey

As mentioned, financing college is very important. The good news is that there’s no one single way to do this. There are a lot of possibilities, and you can even mix and match, so to speak. Even though college is expensive, there are a number of options you can look toward to pay for classes, books, lab fees and so on. Some of the most popular and convenient ways to pay for college and schools supplies include:

• Starting a college fund, which can be done at birth or even a mere few years before your child is ready to further his or her education.
• FAFSA, which exists to provide students with the financial aid, loans and grants for which they qualify.
• Private loans, like personal installment loans, which can really ease the burden of paying for classes.
• Scholarships, which can come from your child’s high school, the college he or she will be attending or private institutions.

2. Always Encourage Your Kids

Encouragement is always vital, of course, but there are several ways you can do this. When you urge your child to go to college, it’s about more than letting him or her know you’re proud. You also need to make sure your child is taking the right high school classes, especially if he or she has an interest in a particular major already. Focus on complementary extracurricular activities too and always make sure you know about your child’s interests and goals.

3. Take Lots of Tours

Touring prospective colleges is crucial. If you don’t, your kid could wind up at a really huge campus and feel completely lost. Conversely, he or she might end up at a school with a small campus and feel boxed in, which can be detrimental. Taking tours will also let your child know what kind of college he or she wants to attend. Maybe an online university will be best at first. Perhaps a community college is the ideal choice. You never know until you experiment and explore.

Getting your child into college is such a high priority. It can be difficult for parents, because in the midst of preparing your kid, you’re also preparing yourselves for letting go. When you know you’ve done all you can in terms of finances, encouragement and planning, it gets much easier. How are you preparing your kids for college?

The family

My girls

The boys. Megster and the Husband.

My little model. She wasn’t smiling because she said models are supposed to be serious.

Now that’s the Sandy that we know.

Finally, a decent shot of Meg.

Sandy watching her video message from Santa. Priceless. You can watch it here too.

From Santa

Chirpy, her favorite toy as of today.

It was the first time that we got to use our mobile studio outside the house too. I just had to push for that since everyone took extra effort in dressing up. Of that, you will soon see on the photos below.

My friends are just too competitive words! They were all holding out on us – secretive on what they are doing, who they were going as, etc. The party turned out really great which is always the case when you are surrounded with good friends.

US: Cher of Clueless, Elwood of Blues Brothers, Danny Zuko of Grease, Holly of Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Moi as Holly

Elwood – Blues Brothers

With Bart

Mi bebes

Cher – Clueless

Big and Small Mafia

Super Family

The Simpsons

GI Joes

Gawd, I forgot her character!

Star Wars and Chicago

Incredibles



These guys are just great. It was indeed, a Merry Christmas to all.

More posts coming. Baby steps.

Anyway, my family and I are going to the beach in a few days. I hope it will be relaxing enough that we can forget the bad things that happened lately and look forward to creating happy memories again. I’m not thinking of resting and sleeping since we have a toddler and a high-maintenance, drama queen little girl but at least, I won’t be working and even if they all throw a tantrum, I have the view of the beach to calm me. Here’s to hoping!

But let’s be serious now. I’ve read plenty of reviews that Varekai in Manila is somehow a bit watered down (no pun intended) compared to their recent performances. I don’t care though because it’s still f#@$% amazing to me! I’ve always wanted to see a Cirque du Soleil show and although the ticket prices are too high, I had the convenient excuse of celebrating my birthday. And I’m so glad I did. I can’t believe I’ve ever been this happy – not including my wedding and giving birth to my girls. The Flight of Icarus almost brought tears to my eyes. The way he fell and how his feet resembled falling in slow motion. The sad music as he moves and twists his body inside the net. It seems you could feel his pain and fear when he lost his wings and suddenly find himself in a foreign land.

The first part was great but the 2nd part was purely magical. It’s all I can do not to jump on my seat and shout “OH MY OH MY OH MY!”

Sandy came with us and she loved the show too! She even got sad in the end knowing they are saying goodbye. She is now bugging me to get her a book about Icarus or research YouTube for more Varekai videos. Check out some of the videos here.

If you haven’t seen it, please do! You are giving yourself a huge favor.

I saw a nice pororo playmat from SM recently but find it too expensive so I didn’t buy it. But now that Meg received some cash gifts, I think it will be fair to get one for her. What do you think? Isn’t it just too cute for words?

The one that I found was much bigger. I was concerned about how slippery it will be so I’ll have to make sure to test it again when we visit the  mall next weekend.

Anyway, here are the photos from their Moving Up Day.

During her speech.

She danced Blue Suede Shoes, complete with twists and all. It was obvious that she was doing her best, sometimes even with her eyes closed. Both grandmothers were shouting with glee including yours truly. See the little me below.

Congratulations, Sandy. Again, we are so proud of you!

She had fever for three days, been to the ER to find out that she has ear and throat infection then as soon as her fever died down, the rashes started to appear. She had roseola, according to the pediatrician, which is thankfully gone now. It was hard to see our little one not looking like herself -  no smiles, always cranky and feeling weak most of the time.

Her 8th month celebration. No big smiles from our little Meg because of her rashes.

With her Ate Sandy.

Happy 8th month, Meg! 4 more to go and you’re officially a toddler.