Michi Photostory

I am done with my Washi Tape Projects so my next goal is to make a craft project using “Red and Yellow” which are both Bee Happy Craft colors. When I read the theme, the first thing that pops into my head is the colors of McDonald’s so I decided to make a “Bee Happy Meal”. I created my own menu and I make sure that the food has a touch of yellow and red. I browsed Pinterest for ideas and templates.

And for just a fleeting moment, my baby is now a tween. His birthday marks a special day in my life because it is the day when I had him. It opened my life to a new journey and gave me chance to be a mom. Whenever I look at him I know that God has blessed me so much. He may be a tween now but in my heart, he will always be my little boy.

This year, we had a birthday staycation again. If you remember my post last year, my son enjoyed our stay at EDSA Shangri-la so this year, we booked the Wonderful Weekends Package of Makati Shangri-la. We were there during the Star Magic Ball so ang daming artista, nakibirthday sa anak ko. Hehehe!

Read: Birthday Staycation at EDSA Shangri-la 

Fast forward to his birthday, he went to school while my husband and I went to Nuvali so we can buy his chocolate cake. He likes the chocolate cake of Contis so yun ulit ang birthday cake niya. Then we bought a gift at Toys R Us, I bought this “Bad Dog” toy, mahal pala siya. P999.75 and I got it at P799.75 kasi nakasale.


Before we left, we ate at Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, I will share our experience in a separate post.


After school, we sang “happy birthday”, and my son blew out the candle and opened his gift. He finished his assignment and off we went to Shakey’s. We had a simple dinner with my in-laws. Since may pasok yung iba, 11 lang kami present. Sulit yung “Ber Bundle” ng Shakey’s, sobrang dami ng food kasi naka-upgrade yung pizza, chicken n mojos and may free mojos supreme pa.

I’ve been sharing Christmas Gift Ideas in my Facebook Page, you can check it here. I hope this will give you an idea on what to give this holiday to your family, friends, colleagues and other people who are close to you.  #christmasgiftideas

I’ve started buying gifts already because last year, nagcramming ako. I placed an order for my personalized Christmas tags and hopefully it will be delivered soon so I can start wrapping my gifts this semestral break. 



Anyway, one of the gifts that I can recommend for kids is educational wooden toys. Wooden toys are timeless gifts, it doesn’t follow a trend so you can pass it on to the next generation. In addition, wooden toys are durable compared to plastic or other materials that can break easily. It is neither light or heavy, so even toddlers can play with it. #woodentoys

It is educational because it can enhance the hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills of the kids. It promotes imagination especially the building blocks. When I was browsing the online shop, I remembered the materials that my son was using when he was in Montessori School. I wish I bought these wooden toys when my son was in Preschool but anyway, my son still enjoys the building blocks and wiss toy wooden blocks.

Sharing with you the toys that I bought last year at Mom and Milly. They accept Paypal payment but with additional charge. I can't remember the prices. 

my son likes this

this is one of our family bondings

Spending at home during weekends can be a bit boring for an only child so I need to have a lot of interesting activities for my son to entertain him. He can use Ipad during weekends but of course battery won’t last. Hehehe! 



I’ve been seeing a lot of posts about beads last year but I’m not sure if my son is patient enough to put it one by one so I did not bother to buy one. But we got Beados at home, one of the toys that he got from Bellevue Kids Grand Launch loot bag. 

Read: Bellevue Kids Grand Launch



The pack includes spray, plastic tray, beads and guide. My son just followed the pattern and sprayed water. We let it rest overnight and it seems magic because once it is dry, everything was connected already without using glue. Amazing beads!

No classes last Wednesday because of Eid’l Ftr so we have no homework. Even it was a holiday, my son cannot use the Ipad because we have rules in the house “No Ipad from Monday to Friday” so even it is holiday, sembreak or summer vacation, he is not allowed to use it.

And because of this rule, I have to make sure that my son has something to do at home so he will not complain, “I have nothing to do”or “I’m bored”.



Last Wednesday, he finally uses the Clay Tools and Clay Sheet that I bought in Japan last summer. I was glad I found the clay sheet so no more sticky floors. My son can roll his clay or play dough on this clay sheet. The clay tools are easy to store because the rolling pin serves as a tool case.

Read: The Daiso



If you want to know how to make your own play dough or if you want to print play dough mats, check my post below. 

DIY: Homemade Play Dough
Play Dough Mats  
Fun with Clay or Play Dough 

I’ve been meaning to buy playmat for my son ever since I saw the playmat of IKEA. I wanted to buy the Lillabo or Lekplats but we all know that we don’t have IKEA here. I saw an online shop where they sell IKEA products but the playmat was not available at that moment. 

Photo from IKEA website

When we went to Japan, I had a chance to visit IKEA store for the very first time but unfortunately, I did not find the playmat there. 



Good thing we always visit S&R so when I saw this playmat, I did not have any second thoughts, I immediately bought this at P649.95. The brand is House of Kids and the playmat includes 3 cars.



I like the mat because it is big enough (100x150cm) to put your cars, trains, airplane, helicopter and other vehicles. You don’t need to build railways, roads, runways or even building so there will be less mess. Easy to keep because you just need to roll it back and store. 



My son was really happy with his playmat and I was also glad because less kalat in the house.

Boys love cars or should I say Hot Wheels! My son really likes Hot Wheels, it was his wish list last December 2014 and since then we’ve been collecting cars and race track. 



Hot Wheels

We’ve been buying Hot Wheels toys for the last two years but I hate to admit it was only now that I’ve learned the history of Hot Wheels. For your information, Hot Wheels is a brand of 1:64, 1:43, 1:18 and 1:50 scale die-cast toy cars introduced by American toy maker Mattel in 1968.

In 1950’s, Ruth Elliot Handler, founders of Mattel, brought the now-iconic fashion doll Barbie to life. Elliot was looking to invent another toy. Something that not only would capture kid’s imagination, but ignite as well. As he went to the parking lot of Mattel, he saw a designer’s custom ‘64 El Camino and examined, “Man, those are some hot wheels!” It was the spark of inspiration that led to a line of cars with a distinctive Southern California look, fast-moving wheels and redline tires.

Akalain mo yun, matanda pa sa kin si Hot Wheels. Anyway, last year we were able to attend the Hot Wheels Race to Singapore Grand Prix at SM Southmall, it just so happened that we were in that area and we saw their booth. We bought Hot Wheels so my son can use the race track and he had a blast. 

Read: Hot Wheels Race to Singapore Grand Prix

This month, I got an invite for the Hot Wheels Make it Epic Race 2016 and I was glad that we're available on that date so I said yes. 

“Make it Epic” is rooted in the overall Hot Wheels brand purpose: Exhilaration and Achievement for every kid.

“Make It” is the call-to-action to all boys to show what they can do with Hot Wheels through customization and competition, through imagination and hacks, through cool cars and a daring attitude. This encourages and enables boys to experience a sense of achievement. 

“Epic” is a challenge to boys to make Hot Wheels play bigger, faster, higher, cooler, louder, anywhere, anyway. It is the promise of Exhilaration. 

It’s more than just a tagline, it’s a challenge. “Don’t just make it awesome, make it epic” 

SM BF Parañaque South Qualifying April 16 -17, 2016



The booth is smaller compared to SM Southmall (2015) maybe because there is an event beside their booth. The setup is also different; if last year, there are ready race track that you can use, this time, you are free to build your own race track. 





There is Gravity Platform that you can use to play or try your winning cars. 



A living diorama is also onsite, it will give you an idea how to improve your race track at home. 



My son had fun in building race tracks and playing cars in the gravity platform. So if you have kids from 3-12 years, visit SM BF Parañaque to join the Make it Epic Race. Click here for the video

How to Join:

1. Purchase at least two Hot Wheels Basic Cars from the participating store. 
2. Maximum 2 trials car, the fastest speed will be recorded. 
3. Top 20 (fastest speed record) will be shortlisted to join the Area Qualifying Rounds. 

I suggest you go there before 3PM so you have more time to enjoy the race tracks and practice your Hot Wheels. 

SM San Lazaro North Qualifying April 23 and 24 
May 14 Semi-Finals at SM Mall of Asia 
May 15 - Finals at SM Mall of Asia 

Fun Facts:

1. Since 1968, more than 1,000 models and over 20,000 variations of Hot Wheels cars have been created. 
2. They make 8.9 million cars every week. That’s more than five times the worldwide production of life-size cars. 
3. Worldwide: 10.5 cars sold every second. 
4. 6,000 miles of orange track are produced and sold each year - enough to go from Los Angeles, USA to Rome, Italy. 
5. 1.1MM die-cast sold for 2015 in the Philippines. 
6. #1 selling sku at Toy Kingdom and Toy Kingdom Express for 2015 based on units sold. 
7. #2 brand of Toy Kingdom and Toy R Us for boys last 2015. (#1 Star Wars Movie)

Hot Wheels has Speedtropolis and Track Builder Set. I saw the video of the starter kit, you can build 4 different race tracks, nice noh! 

It is not a secret here that my son loves dinosaurs so last year he asked me to make a dino plush toy. I said yes but I was busy and lazy last year so it really took me a long time to fulfill my promise. 

My son asked before we watched Jurassic World. We’ve been to Dinosaurs Island and nagshowing na lang ang The Good Dinosaurs hindi ko pa rin nagagawa. #lazymom 

The last time I sew was July 2015, I sew one dozen of pillow cases and after that I forgot to make any sewing project so yesterday, I push myself to sew again. My husband was teasing me when he saw me preparing my sewing machine. 

Hubby: Gumagana pa ba yan? Baka kinakalawang na. hehehe!

My son saw me sewing the dinosaur and he asked me, 

Ethan: Mommy, you want to be like Wowa?
Me: Why? 
Ethan: because you’re making stuffed toy. 

I smiled because he remembered the handmade doll that his Wowa made for him, you can check it here and here.  

Anyway, here are the steps of DIY Dino Plush Toy 



Cut the pattern and fabric. 



Pin, sew the fabric (opposite side) and leave a small opening. 



Turn the fabric inside out and put the fiberfill inside. 

Then hand sew the opening. Glue the eyes. 



You can do this by hand but I wanted to use the sewing machine, hehehe! I realized that it is not easy to make a small plush toy and marami pa curves so medyo matagal. Not a perfect dinosaur plush toy but my son was very happy and he even said. “Galing ka mommy!”

But after few hours.

Ethan: Mommy, this dinosaur cannot stand, it needs four legs. 

Waah!

Ethan! Mommy, you need to put ribbon at the back (spikes)

Okay, so I need to improve this dino plush toy pag sinipag ulit ako. hehehe!

We’re so busy these past few days because my mom just came back from Norway. We were supposed to go to St. James Bazaar last Saturday but the traffic was so bad so after wasting our time in Commerce Ave, nag U-Turn na lang kami and we decided to go to the airport to pick up my mom at baka matraffic din kami. We were so early so we waited for 2 hours. 



Of course, there is always pasalubong for the grandchildren. Aside from chocolates, my mom brought her handmade doll. I don’t know how to knit or crochet but we’re blessed to have a mom who has this skill. My mom made these dolls, rush order since biglaan ang uwi. Hehehe! 





Two years ago, my mom gave a handmade doll to my son but he was so curious so he cut the yarn to see what is inside the doll. Check it here.



But I hope he will not perform any surgery on this doll. She is selling her craft in Norway and I told her to open an online shop. Hehehe!

My son loves Hot Wheels and it was his Christmas wish last year so we gifted him Hot Wheels and what a coincidence, my son’s godfather, and my friend gave him Hot Wheels too. 



The only problem is 



Son: Daddy buy more cars, kulang pa sa box. 

My son wanted to fill the empty slots in his Hot Wheels storage/carry case. Hehehe Well, from time to time we buy Hot Wheels if he did something good, if his test result is ok and if he got eagle seal. Sort of reward. 



Last Saturday when we were in Southmall, we saw this “Hot Wheels Race to Singapore Grand Prix”. It is a competition and you can win a trip to Singapore for 3 days and 2 nights and watch the F1 Singapore Grand Prix. All you have to do is buy two Hot Wheels for P99.75 each and register. Click here for the video 
We did not join the competition because I don’t want to wait till 3PM but we bought Hot Wheels so my son can enjoy playing on the race track. #happyson\

My mom came home for a visit two weeks ago and as always, she brought Kinder Surprise for her grandchildren. We love Kinder Surprise,  unfortunately it is not available here in the Philippines. I immediately buy this chocolate if ever I have the chance like when we went to Hongkong Disneyland.  



My son got two boxes of Kinder Surprise, one from my mom and one from my aunt. Each box contains 3 pieces and we opened the chocolate egg, one day at a time. 



My son was so excited after school because he can open one egg and he even shared the chocolate with me, tig - 1/2 kami. Hehehe! 



Here are the toys that we’ve got. 




Kinder Joy is available here in the Philippines but we prefer the chocolate of the Kinder Surprise.