Sunset or Sunrise Photo Tag

MegaMom tagged me with Show me your sunset or sunrise. Rules are: It has to be a picture I took, where and how it made me feel.

I'm sorry to break the first rule as I'm posting my husband's Sunset photos. He has so many exquisite 'Tramonto del sole'(sunset)shots and I would like to share them. Besides, I'm not good with taking scenery and landscape pictures. But(sounding defensive), my husband would agree that I'm better in taking my children's portraits.

As to how it makes me feel, I simply love it! Its so enchanting how it is reminding me to stop, slow down, look, enjoy and appreciate what is around me. It also brings back a lot of my childhood memories - some found HERE:

These are all taken here in Cavallino Treporti, a part of Venice Italy except with this photo above which is taken at the very heart of Venice called San Marco. What's amazing with our sundowns here is that, the colors do vary to what the weather and season is. When its gloomy or mostly during winter, it would look this gray:

During summer's clear sky, when everyone is out with their boats and on to the beach, it would be a rich color of gold, yellow and orange.

My husband prefers it when there are clouds. Its more dramatic as WELL(Baguio Artist) describes it!


Then the corny me would say:
When the sun finally sank in,

down to the water as it may seem.

The night is then set to fall,

yield to rest, we must all.

More photos of Venice Sunset here at my husband - Boogie's Blog

Now I'm passing the tag to Matsay, Miss Buguias , Jane , Nikki , Hannah, Layad and REYNA ELENA . Please holler this blog if you did the tag. Thanks!

THAT CHRISTMAS TREE

Our rug rat Dylan is having his first birthday next month. Before I forget his funny little mischief adventures, I thought of writing a continuation to this post found HERE: (Baby "D", The Explorer).
Still the ongoing curiosity and exploring makes Dylan busy and he rules our home now. Our little tot never gets tired of walking around the house and storms the bathroom when he sees his chance - "the open door", that had clogged the toilet bowl last week. A part of which I am to blame because of "poor judgement" that the ball he dropped was small anyway so I flushed it instead. I had to put on my gloves to "retrieve" this ball which trapped the tissues that won't allow the water to drain(ewww?!!).

Rattles, teethers etc... and electric outlets don't amuse him anymore. Dylan's toddler "missions" are into POWER BUTTONS for now. You will just be caught unguarded when the computer is suddenly switching off or the printer icon pops out on the monitor. Lukie would often shout, "DYYLANNN!!!", when he is enjoying his TV show and his little brother changed the channel or had pushed the OFF button.
Did I say he already knew the "law of gravity"? Books, papers, blocks, toys etc...are all over the floor and you are to fix it for him to mess again.

Aside from pushing buttons, Christmas tree is Dylan's new discovery. He pulls everything hanging on it. A must not to say "NO" for a learning toddler who is trying to taste, feel and see everything he gets hold of except for harmful or dangerous things. When I consciously don't apply re-directing or diverting his attention away from the decoration, I tell him NO.

I know its not right to stop him from his exploring and my husband doesn't understand me sometimes with this. He may even be right when he says my kids might grow hating Christmas trees. But, I want something beautiful standing up there spared from messing up for a change. I can get tired too hanging back what my son took off.

So why put up that Christmas tree after all? Maybe my kids will understand me someday that I tried to let them feel the spirit of Christmas or had showed them that Christmas do exist... And, they will know that my nagging them over a tree is better than no Christmas at all.

THE FUNERAL

Post 25: Lolo Ramon's Story

"A big spider was carefully knitting it's web. Up, side and down it goes with passion and elegance as it inter tweeds it’s white thread in coming up with it’s masterpiece. A day of labor, it was done. The spider built it’s home like a crown above my father’s casket. A web that awed if not puzzled the people who came for my Papa’s wake". Daddy remembers.

"People kept on coming saying they came as far as Tinoc Ifugao, Nueva Viscaya down from Pangasinan. People who wept more than us telling how grateful they were for your lolo’s help and how their lives were touched and changed by him."

"One chanted during the ‘Day-eng or 'Ba'dew'(Igorot chant) that Ramon was the only mayor he knew who had a house with the ground (soil ) as the flooring, walls and post so black made by the smoke from the ‘pugon’(where to cook with fire woods) and a roof partially ‘kugon’(kind of grass) and rusted ‘si-sim’(galvanize iron). A pauper, you are indeed but a man with a rich soul, his song ended."

"It was a funeral Ambassador Tublay witnessed with so many people from different places. Others camped and slept outside and some were accommodated by our neighbors to be with us during Papa's last days. Their company alone was so heartwarming. Most of them brought foods, kamote, rice, pig to butcher and anything we would all share during the wake. "

Another man’s ‘Day-eng ‘, This is not to mourn your death but the celebration of how you lived life. A life full of giving with no expectations for anything in return.

"Aaahh' the spider web", Daddy continues.The ‘mambunong’(pagan priest) said in his ‘mad-mad’(prayer), 'Panswerti-an adi na, Idawdawat mo ay Ramon di pansangbua-an di an-an’ak mo. Sya san inka ipatawed in dae da' (This is a sign of good luck. Ramon, you are giving your children something meant for a ritual (‘sangbu’or a ritual with a pig to butcher for receiving good luck). This is the inheritance you want them to have)."

Then another ‘Day-eng’ was sang. This crown above you shining so proud are your children and children’s children. ‘Matagu- tago da et dae’day mangibangun sin ngadan mo.’(They will live and raise your name).

"Papa now laid to rest. It was our tribe’s tradition to bury our dead underground and just the soil to cover the coffin. But the people insisted, he was not a common Igorot. He deserved a tomb - a monument . We had followed the tradition yet welcomed his people’s request. We buried Papa in the ground and above was a white huge rectangle cement with a cross and there it simply said – ‘A FATHER’.(The cement was taken off during the 80's because of some Igorot beliefs and a Canao was held after doing so.)

I asked Daddy on my recent overseas call, "Sipa ngay e naala yu ni pagka-noble nen lolo (So what did you get from lolo’s nobleness)? Then he kept quiet for a while. I thought the telephone line was going crazy so I said, "Hello dad! Can you hear me?"..." Yes, you’re clear !", he answered and he told me these, "Nothing I guess if we speak of material wealth. Look, you have to go far leaving home and you have to work hard just to go on".

Then I tried to redirect him to my original question because I know he will be nostalgic again and he said...."I guess aside from ‘dayaw’(honor), it had kept our feet on the ground. Your lolo taught us to understand others, seeing the kindness in them - forgiving and staying good as much as possible. He made us work for the enrichment of what matters most – THE SOUL - and that’s where the real happiness is. If you seek and long for more than that, there will never be peace and contentment"... and the line went off leaving me digesting what Daddy had just said.

GOLD AND RED

HAPPY DECORATING EVERYONE !!!

I still can feel it now how I felt when I get home from school seeing all the Christmas decors my mother just hanged. She used to do it the day we go to school after the All Soul's Day break. I'm always blown away with all these colorful things giving life to the room. There's that aura of everything positive and as a kid, incoming gifts would be the reason to be happy. How about you, do you remember how it feels?
I had put up the Christmas tree 2 days ago, I'm not yet done as we're switching to gold and red. Last year was gold and blue after 2 years of silver and blue. Did I just say those colors like some dumb blond chick(mother hen) in a movie?

Looks corny but I can't keep these star and heart back to the store room. Gifts last year from friends.

ILARIA'S HEARTS

It started last Monday that Lukie brings home surprises for Mama and Papa. A bond paper with his drawing on it. For 2 days it was always "THE SEA CREATURES" or the drawings above.

We usually get all their works at the end of the school year except for cards or stuffs they make for special occasions like Mother's Day, Halloween etc...so this everyday present is something new.

Yesterday morning when my husband was waiting for the school bus, he told our son before sending him to school, that maybe it would be better if Lukie will bring home "un diverso designo"(a different drawing). He also suggested to the little boy to use all the spaces of the paper. Then our son came home with his 'nouvo designo' of the dessert with him near some cactus. The sun still there and the single line of blue color which is his sky. Little Dylan tore the paper so big brother sentenced it to the trash.

"Ahhhhh, Mama, there's another surprise!" Lukie said as he zips off his bag and took this out: PER LUKIE DA PARTE DI ILARIA(for Lukie from Ilaria) their teacher wrote. It was a present(more of a display of love...LOL)from a little girl to my son. NOTE: Don't miss Lukie and Ilaria under the hearts hahahaha....

He told me that Ilaria is the girl who likes him and I asked if he likes her too. My son said, "No, I'm fed up with her. She is always following me. 'Quendi, forse...voglio Madalena. E piu grande sai (Therefore, maybe...I like Madalena. She's bigger, you know)".

So what now? Would that mean my "Sibling Rivalry" readings will be put on hold for "LOVE AND RELATIONSHIP FOR 5 YEAR OLDS"?

SIBLING RIVALRY (Part 3)

I'm the eldest among six girls and next to me is my sister, Noeda, with only a gap of one year. Among all my sisters, she's my "fighting-mate" during our younger days. Punching, kicking, nose bleeding and shouting would often raise our Dad's blood pressure. Dismayed, he would always tell us that it would be worse if we were boys.

As we age and eventually had a family of our own, I look back at it as part of growing up. A normal stage we have to go through or a part of the process where we acted out who and what we are that time - KIDS.

Writing this echoes my father's words when we do it rough. He would say: "Enjoy these short days being together as sisters. Someday you'll leave this home and will have a family of your own. Then no matter how you would want to turn back time to be young all together again, you can't 'uray in-nanges kayu ni dara'(even if you cry out tears of blood)." Indeed, he was right!

Last Sunday, we celebrated Noemi's first birthday. My sister Noeda and his husband Irven may look tired but they did well in making my niece's day a special one.

Noeda emailed me before her daughter's birthday about her children's(Roldan-2 years old and Noemi-1 y/o) early display of what we used to do - FIGHT! My Sister said:
"They don't really fight(YET), its just that Roldan would often slap Noemi for no reason. He pushes her all the time specially when Roldan is holding food or a toy. He thinks her little sister is going to get it away from him.

For Noemi, its like like she could sense it well that there is danger when Roldan comes to her. She would always run away from his big brother. Again, like she has a wiser mind of her own, Noemi does her pay back when Roldan is asleep. She would pull his brother's hair and pokes his nose hahaha...."

Excerpt from Your Child: Development And Behavior resources:

Be There For Each Child:

1. Set aside “alone time” for each child. Each parent should spend some one-on-one with each kid on a regular basis. Try to get in at least a few minutes each day. It’s amazing how much even just 10 minutes of uninterrupted one-on-one time can mean to your child.

2. When you are alone with each child, ask them once in a while what they like most and least about each brother and sister. This will help you keep tabs on their relationships, and also remind you that they probably do have some positive feelings for each other!
3. Listen—really listen—to how your children feel about what’s going on in the family. They may not be so demanding if they know you at least care how they feel.

4. Celebrate your children’s differences. Let each child know they are special—just for who they are...read more HERE:

SIBLING RIVALRY (Part 2)

I never met my cousin, Miss Buguias , in person. We found each other at "friendsters" and I'm really glad to be related to this nurse from Arizona. I knew her Mom who is my Dad's relative from my grandmother's side. She has her blog here: Nem Nem Ko and I'm posting her story she sent me when I asked her about sibling rivalry.

Grazie again Insan!

Miss Buguias and her sister Janice

Heads and tails! My mom, I say is a strict disciplinarian. She has been teaching since age 18 (back then teaching course called ETC ket 2 years lang, until naging bachelors degree). She is very strict not only in school, but at home as well. Me and my sister were just 20 months apart and yeah, sibling rivalry, I know about that hehehe. My mom has her own way of resolving conflicts - "Heads Or Tails?".

with their own little girls

I remember it clearly when my mom was pursuing her graduate studies, she travels from Buguias to Baguio every weekend for her classes. Me and my sister alternately go to Baguio with her. During Semestral breaks or vacations, we sometimes lost track of who went to Baguio last. Pouring of tears dont work with my mom, haan nga mabalin ti agririri! kelangan fair nga kanayon!!! She would often bring out one of her one peso coins and spin it in the air... My sister has the Head... mine the tail! Who ever wins, WINS!!! We learned a lesson right there and then... Fairness and accepting defeat.

Sometime three years ago, my daughter Kazhra and son Kaisser often argue about which tv show to watch. Adding and extra tv's in their bedrooms did not solve the problem. They still prefer to watch their favorite shows in the living room. Finally my ears got tired of the daily argument I decided to use my moms Heads or Tails technique.

Glad to share that since then (three years ago), I have never heard them argue about the remote control! But of course, they have million other things to argue)
Excerpt from Handling Sibling Rivalry:

What causes sibling rivalry? Think about it. Siblings don't choose the family they are born into, don't choose each other. They may be of different sex, are probably of different age and temperament, and. worst of all, they have to share the one person or the two people they most want for themselves: their parents...

HERE are some do's and don'ts that may be helpful in dampening down sibling rivalry within a family:

1. Don't make comparisons. ("I don't understand it. When Johnny was her age, he could already tie his shoes.") Each child feels he is unique and rightly so-he is unique, and he resents being evaluated only in relation to someone else. Instead of comparison, each child in the family should be given his own goals and levels of expectation that relate only to him.

2. Don't dismiss or suppress your children's resentment or angry feelings. Contrary to what many people think, anger is not something we should try to avoid at all costs. It's an entirely normal part of being human, and it's certainly normal for siblings to get furious with one another. They need the adults in their lives to assure them that mothers and fathers get angry, too, but have learned control and that angry feelings do not give license to behave in cruel and dangerous ways. This is the time to sit down, acknowledge the anger ("I know you hate David right now but you cannot hit him with a stick"). and talk it through.

3. Try to avoid situations that promote guilt in siblings. First we must teach children that feelings and actions are not synonymous. It may be normal to want to hit the baby on the head, but parents must stop a child from doing it. The guilt that follows doing something mean is a lot worse than the guilt of merely feeling mean. So parental intervention must be quick and decisive.

4. When possible, let brothers and sisters settle their own differences. Sounds good but it can be terribly unfair in practice. Parents have to judge when it is time to step in and mediate, especially in a contest of unequals in terms of strength and eloquence (no fair hitting below the belt literally or figuratively). Some long-lasting grudges among grown siblings have resulted when their minority rights were not protected. Click HERE for more...

MUST CLICKS

1. Boogie's Blog - I hope he will update soon. My Papa dudes (ever)!

2. BENCHWARMER(Northern Philippine Times) - The reason why we read SunStar Baguio

3. My sister Noeds has her own site. She used to be my photographer back in my younger years. When digital camera was far from existence, a full film of my vanity she all took

4. RUSSEL ARIOLA for your wedding photos or any occasions. Click his site for his contacts and samples of his work.

5. iBOONDOCK another blog from the boondocks - Bill's new corner. As the prize for all the 'Kailian's' clicking that we once blogged here - HELP BILL!

6. Page 101 - Jane found out Adobong pork and pusit is yummy. She calls it Adobasit.

7. My Good Finds. Org - Tina is successfully doing PayPerPost. This hot momma Baguio girl from Maryland USA introduced me to blogging.

9. Nem Nem Ko…. is my cousin who is a nurse in Arizona USA. We've known we're related thru the Internet.

10. The MegaMom was one of the first Mommy I've met at PINOY MOMS NETWORK. She has cute little triplets. That says why her name is MegaMom aside from being a jetsetter doctor.

11. I've met Raggold and Kengkay. They're my neighbors from Germany

12. I'm really proud to be one of the cousins of this good writer at Nem Nem Ko.

13. Me, Myself and I works as a Bible translator. Cool job, I say!

14.Lisa of Baguio Insider as she updates us with anything about our hometown Baguio

15. A hearty laugh REYNA ELENA gives me all the time. He makes blogging so much fun.

16. Ivadoy Country...in Quezon City is also from my home town Tublay like me..

17. I wish I could speak French like Mommy Analyse.

18. Teacher Julie who teaches special children gave me a FRIENDSHIP AWARD. Was sweet of her...

19. Luta, another teacher who writes at A nomad's thoughts.

20. My Blog. Ma'am Marilyn, my Business English teacher back in highschool just started this site.

21. My Misadventures is Hannah of Scraekja sister.

22. GANDANG IGOROTA rides horses which I also once love to do. We share the love of books. I like her way of writing and her piece about "CHOICES", made me hug-hug my husband

23. Firefly in July, a good writer too. She's my sister's batch in highschool

24. The Human Rights Lady Lawyer SMORGASBORD OF RANDOM THOUGHTS and all her poems, I wish I'll be her even just for one day.

25. The Broken Bow and his classy choices of entry. Impressive.. Miss Buguias we call her.19. I would love to have her job.

27 The Anito Kid will never kid us. Blogger Award for 2008 again, I see.

28. Geri is Evans mom. What a nice name "Evan" is.

29. The Olympian Blog, Bill's third "eye" hehehe...

30. Idiosyncrasies owned by a young freelance journalist, JM Agreda . He is from Bacolod but considers himself as an accultured Igorot. I went to his site and got what he meant.

31. Miskina Ano na Isip by Will. A blogger whom I will always remember as someone who flew from California to the Phillippines for his (Mis)Adventures in Romance.

32. SaGaDa-iGoRoT.com continues to educate us about the Igorots and will also show us around Sagada here: BLOG of the SAGADA IGOROT.

33. The Worldwide Dap-ay Forums's Yoda has his own blog now. Join me as we learn more about Igorot, our people, in his Siwat’s Weblog. Let's luxuriate in his 'Jed(i)+aic' prowess and eloquence in poetry.

SIBLING RIVALRY (Part 1)

"I hate you!", shouted Lukie to his little brother yesterday. It was my first time to hear him say HATE.

When Dylan started to crawl 3 months ago, he goes to his brother and grabs or mess up whatever Lukie is playing with. It makes Lukie angry and shouts, "DYLANNNN!" then he would clinch his fist and holds his temper to hit his little brother. Now that Dylan is walking at 11 months old, Lukie lands that fist already. Still sweet cause Lukie does not punch Dylan hard, only a slight smack just for his anger to get to his brother.

While we still find our two boy's early display of sibling rivalry cute and funny, might as well explore and learn more about it. We need to arm ourselves with reading feds that would later help us on how to deal with jealousy and competition between our two boys.

I was able to find this helpful and easy to understand site about Sibling Rivalry.

Growing up in a big family, we too have our shares of antagonism or hostility between our brothers and sisters which manifests itself in circumstances such as in the common children's family fights. Sibling rivalry is one of humanity's oldest problems. Though its a normal behavior, I quote KidsHealth to say it all: "Remember, as kids cope with disputes, they also learn important skills that will serve them for life — like how to value another person's perspective, how to compromise and negotiate, and how to control aggressive impulses".
With this, series of collected stories by friends and relatives who can relate with the topic will be posted on my next blog. I'm excited and can't wait to share it to you all!

PINOY MOMS NETWORK

I finally signed up with Pinoy Moms Network after months of merely a fan and an ardent reader. It is a site where equally talented Filipino blogging mothers around the world share, teach and discuss about everything. From parenting to gardening, home keeping, fashion etc...you name it.

PMN has a section, Tech Momma, for mama's like me who's computer proficiency is not that impressive. Tina is one of the contributors here and it is from her that I came to know about Pinoy Moms Network .

Go check it out and tell me if I did the right thing in joining these cool hot mommas!

BILL WON!

'Auguri' to Bill - From The Boondocks, a well deserved victory! Now we can rest from clicking AGAIN and AGAIN HERE and HERE.

For the detailed results of this contest, click TINA . Browse around also to learn from her brilliant ideas on net entrepreneurship. Her PPP achievements, in a short period of time, will make you proud you're connected to her in any way. I mean blogroll, SAHM and another Baguio girl.

While Bill is in hiding for owing everyone a cup of coffee(lol), in his behalf, let me thank you all for supporting his winnings!

STAGE MOTHERING

Is it close enough? Lukie looks more like a Samurai than Jack Sparrow.

My husband phoned me up from the Disney Store to tell me that they only have pirate costumes for boys. I didn't like the idea of paying 46 euros for a filthy looking character. But, I was pleased when I saw it.

After a week, the school bus outside was blowing it's beep when I was vandalizing Dylan's face. Oh Shooot!!! I carried Baby D and went out to get his brother.

While I was apologizing to the bus lady, the driver and Lukie were staring at Dylan. I knew right then
that my first born will not let me paint his face.

Lukie had his snack, now its his turn for the "eyeliner touch". Just as I did the eyebrows and the mustache, he went for the mirror and cried when he saw his face. The heavy color on the eyelids would be impossible now as Lukie wouldn't let me "abuse his face" anymore(lol).

"Just like Garfield, you'll be bringing home loads of candies", were my horrifying non-creative sweet talking just for him to go out .

When Ate Jelly(my partner in crime) gave my son his treat, he started to smile and was on the go to "Jack Sparrow" more.

Jelly by the way is Dylan's sweet 16 godmother, who helped me distribute the sweets around our neighbors and later to be retrieved by Lukie as his treats. Staged. Yeah, you heard it right. Trick or Treat'n is an American tradition so most of our Italian neighbors are not in to it. I wasn't suppose to take him out to the cold if not because of his favorite video - Garfield. The orange lazy cat made my son memorize all the lines from his Special Halloween Episode.

That's stage mothering, I know, but my son will only be young just once. I want him to have the fun of "trick or treat" that I never had

Dylan, on the other hand, stayed with Jelly's mom and went to Ate Stella's house for pancit. I can't take photos with him in tow. Boogie was still at work and it would be too late for the kids if we'll wait for him.

Then after the fun, we went home and my sons were like Garfield and Odie. Lukie wants all the TREAT while Dylan is being TRICKED by his brother . The older one wants to keep all the sweets.

To conclude the 2007 Halloween, I quote - "I love those moments. I like to wave at them as they pass by": Jack Sparrow to Elizabeth Swann: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006)