An Update... in the middle of chaos

Just a quick update. I just feel like blogging in the middle of chaos. As in I mean really c-h-a-o-s. There's a lot of things going on right now. This is our first year of operating Par-T-Perfect here in Winnipeg not to mention our first summer (peak season of our party planning business),too! It's really overwhelming for a first timer business owner like us. James is my official facepainter. The kids love his work. Here are some of the comments he received - "You're awesome!', "How did you learn facepainting. You're really good, eh!". "Your work is very detailed", " You're really great at what you do!", etc! . Me? Well, I know how to twist balloon animals, hehe! I do all the paperworks, take bookings, packing of bins/party stuff, etc. We have 6 staff right now but when we have multiple bookings per day, I go to parties, too! And dress up as a clown, princess, or doctor (for our teddy bear stuffing party), and lead all the activities. oh boy! The busiest weekend we had so far was 6 parties (June 2 and 3) and we had school event the following Wednesday (June 6). Some weekends, we do 5 parties. We do atleast 2 parties per weekend. We've done fundraising events, picnics, school and day care events, even auto-dealerships, and ofcourse lots of birthday parties. We've done varieties of theme like Magic Castle (Princess), Balloon Bash, Teddy Bear Stuffing, Pirate Party, Dinosaur Den, Firefighter theme, etc.

Here's a glimpse of our future, hehe...We have line ups for July; I am starting to fill out August dates; I booked a company picnic for August (my biggest achievement so far); I am waiting for a confirmation from a church for their event on September; I booked some events and parties for 2008 as well.

I am working on to get more big corporate bookings. I'm not that comfortable dealing with the big guys so I am bringing in a Marketing consultant to help me enter the big companies' door. We missed a lot of company picnics for they plan months before their events so our target right now are those companies holding company picnics/family events on September. And yeah we are thinking ahead - we know Christmas is just around the corner. July and August is the primetime to introduce our Christmas packages to different companies. Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas! :D

On personal note: We moved back here in my father-in-law's house. It's been a month already but most of our stuff are still in boxes down in the basement. The good thing is James' on a paid holiday for 3 weeks. It's his work's annual shutdown. Hopefully everything will be sorted out. It's nice to be organized!

Audric's now almost 19 months old. He knew a lot already. He knows how to "mano"; high 5; shake hands; wave goodbye; say hello (allllooooo) over the phone; turn on and off the tv when we say "audric, pls turn on (or off) the tv"; pick up the remote control or other things when we say so, brush his teeth (more on biting the toothbrush); say "ellooww" for the colour yellow, booo for blue, knows his tongue, ears, noes, etc; he loves to kiss and hug us; can count to 1-2-3 like waaaa-(then silence)-tweeee! He calls James "dad" and he calls me "daddy" or sometimes "addy!" hahaha! He calls his grandpa "tata!", his auntie "tati". He's working on how to say uncle. And the very first word he uttered was "kakkoo" for backdoor. Everytime we open the backdoor the alarm would say "backdoor!" then Audric would say "Kakkoo!" When he wants to go out, he will get his shoes and drag us towards the door. He gets excited and in a hurry to go to the door everytime he hears "outside", "let's go out!". We just show him the car key and he would stop whatever he's doing, grab his shoes, get the keys, and drag ustowards the door. oh boy! And ofcourse he loves to sing and dance. I tell you this little boy got his signature moves. He likes to watch American/Canadian idol and Do You Think You Can Dance. He'll grab my hands and we cha-cha-cha! :D This is all what I can think of right now.

RJ, my nephew, is now 4 months old and everytime I phone my mom (who is now back in the Philippines, I can hear him in the background. My mom said RJ already knew how to roll over and starting to crawl already. And speaking of baby, my 2 sisters-in-law are expecting: Ate Dang (my eldest Kuya's wife) is giving birth on October while Nancy (James' sister) is now 4 months pregnant. I can't wait to hold them in my arms.

Anyway, this is quite long already. Did I say this is just a quick post? 'Nuff said!

Take care everyone!

A Proud Auntie...

Yup that's me. Nadagdagan ang aming pamilya - Roland James (RJ) was born 3 days ago, February 19. Kuya na rin si Audric :D. Makiki-ading (Ilocano term for younger sibling) muna sya kay RJ. Welcome to the Siazon-Cruz family, RJ!!! :D

Apat na ang mga pamangkin ko: Mga anak ni Kuya Jimmy (Jaime, Jr) - si Christine Bernadette or Tin-tin (16), si Jaime, III or Em (14), si Cherry Anne or Che-an (7). Tapos anak ni Kuya Nico - si RJ 3 days old, hehehe! Medyo nag-eemote Mommy ko last night kasi hindi na daw nakita ng Daddy ko ang dalawang bagong apo nya - si AJ (Audric James) & RJ. Kaya hayon kwentuhan to the max na naman kami ni Mommy - syempre si Daddy ang topic. For sure matutuwa yon lalo pa at lahat ng apo nya na lalaki eh sinunod ang mga pangalan sa kanya. We miss you Dad!!! We will always will...

hayy, gusto ko ring mag-emote. Gusto kong magbakasyon ng 'Pinas... Gusto kong magkasama kaming tatlong magkakapatid at ang aming pamilya. hayyy, *sige konting emote pa*

Nagpaparamdam lang...

Andito pa ako... Miss ko na ang magblog at magbloghop - wala lang talagang time. Napasaglit lang para bumati ng Maligayang Araw ng mga Puso. At syanga pala salamat sa lahat ng mga bumati sa akin - tumanda na naman ako ng isang taon... Anyway, kasalukuyan kong inaayos itong aking blogsite para hindi namang magmukhang inabandona... Nakalipat na ako sa new version ng blogger (sa wakas!) pero hindi ko napi-figure out paano iretrieve ang aking lumang template kung saan naroroon ang aking mga links... Mukhang back to zero ako nito... Pero ok lang maaayos ko din ito...Sige hanggang dito muna.. Naway nasa mabuting kalagayan ang lahat... :)

Merry Christmas!

Here's how to say Merry Christmas around the world:

English - Merry Christmas! (Marry Christmas!)
Danish - Glaedelig Jul! (Glad Yule!)
Dutch - Vrolijk kerstfeest (Merry Christmas!)
Brazilian - Boas Festas! (Good Holidays!)
Finnish - Hauskaa Joulua! (Merry Yule!)
French - Joyeux Noel! (Joyous Christmas!)
German - Frohe Weihnachten! (Merry Christmas!)
Italian - Natale allegro! (Merry Christmas!)
Portugese - Christmas Alegre! (Merry Christmas!)
Spanish - Feliz Navidad! (Merry Christmas!)
Swedish - God Jul! (Good Yule!)
Swiss (French) - Joyeux Noel! (Joyous Christmas!)
And ofcourse Philippines - Maligayang Pasko! (Merry Christmas!)

Saan mang lupalop tayo naroroon, naway maging maligaya pa rin ang ating pasko!!!

Mula sa aking pamilya para sa inyong pamilya: Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon!

Busy busy busy...

It's been almost a month since my last post... i have lot of things to blog - my training at Oakville last Nov 1-5, my son's upcoming 1st birthday party slash "opening" of our business on Dec 9, my mom's canada adventure (he he), my life as a Mom which is getting busier & busier each day as my son's approaching 1... but I can't really find time to blog all of these... hopefully when things here are less hectic (crossed fingers!)... I just drop by to say HI to those who are still visiting this site... Salamat sa patuloy na pagbisita!

Tigger on the loose...

It's been a month now since Audric is attending a "Stay&Play" program here in our community. It's a playgroup for children from birth to 5 years old. It starts with an hour of free play which includes many toys, play structure, play house, play dough and more! Then followed by a snack and a craft . And finish off with a sing song. I can say that Audric's enjoying so far. There are 15-20 kids (mostly 2 years old) every session. And it's a great way to meet families in our neighborhood and form long lasting friendships. Besides, mahirap din ang nasa bahay lang especially pag winter.

Anyway, yesterday was their halloween costume party . At first, James and I didn't pay much attention for the party. We even plan of not getting Audric a costume. He's just almost 11 months anyway. We thought he might not know it or not appreciate it. He's too baby for a trick or treat . He's still a baby (well he's almost 1 year old but for me he's still my baby, forever my baby :D) and it's getting cold outside. But what the heck! I'm a mom . Ayaw ko syang magmukhang kawawa pag siya lang ang nde nakacostume so James and i went to Wal-mart the day before the party. There's limited costume for his size. Actually pang 12-18 months ang meron. Pero pwede na rin sa kanya. And only three costumes to choose from: vest type thomas the train costume, incredible costume, and tigger costume. We chose the tigger outfit kasi pwede pa nyang gamitin ulit as pajama. Our last minute decision to get him a costume paid off. If not, he's the only one not in a costume. At hindi sya nagmukhang kawawa sa group picture! hehe! Syempre, ang papel ng ina ay isang dakilang photographer. Kuha dito kuha doon! Muntik ko ngang makalimutang magpakuha ng picture naming dalawa. Hope maappreciate nya itong pinaggagawa ko...You can view his pics here

Till next time! Happy Halloween Everyone!

Giving Thanks...

Today is Thanksgiving Day! No work, it's a holiday! It's also my brother-in-law Brian's birthday (plus Audric's 10-month birthday, he-he!). To celebrate thanksgiving/Brian's Birthday/Audric's 10-month birthday (he-he), we all went to Foodie Goodie, an all-you-can-eat chinese restaurant. (yum yum the siomai! i can't count how many pcs i ate!)

Then we went to church to hear the 5:30pm mass. The homily is all about giving thanks especially to our parents. I can say that me and my siblings are always grateful to our parents. We know that whatever we do is nothing compared to all of their sacrifices. Whatever they've done is immeasurable but we do as much as we can. We show, tell, and let them feel that they are loved and taken cared of. Another way of saying thanks to them is by trying to become a good parent ourselves. Now that we only have our mom, we make sure that she's always ok. She deserve all of our love. She's all we got. (Don't worry dad, you'll always be in our heart. We love you just the same.)

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I'm counting my blessings. Really, I've lot of things to thank for: having a loving and patient hubby; Audric is healthy (and malikot and makulit); soon to open home-based business; good food & yes, the money to buy good food; good health; my 2 brothers and their family are well; friends (meeting new ones and keeping in touch with older ones); my dear mom is enjoying her stay with us, we'll celebrate Christmas & Audric's 1st birthday with her; supportive in-laws; nice and clean environment & friendly neighbourhood; and tarannnnnn I am becoming more patient (i guess. ha-ha!). Oh I almost forgot, we may not have savings right now and not have our own house yet, atleast we can still pay our rents and have a place to call our home temporarily.

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Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!