ANDREI's WISH CAME TRUE

Let me be a VERY proud Mommy for this blog entry.

Or better yet, a PROUDER Mommy at that!

There's nothing better talaga than seeing your children achieve their dreams and goals. And for this year, the Yub and I were so happy to witness (and assist) our bunsoy to fulfill his little boy dreams.

It all started last year when Andrei told us that he wanted to join Mr. Bosconian 2017. We were all shocked because if you know Andrei, he wouldn't come across as somebody who would join competitions of that nature. My little guy may be naughty but he's not the "pabibo-bibo-look-at-meee" type; sometimes you wouldn't hear a tiny peep from him.

So imagine our surprise when he announced that he wanted to join his school's competition.

"Is it required?" We asked.
"No." He answered.
"Are there extra points?"
"I don't think so."
"Did your teacher ask you to join?"
"No. I was the one who signed up."
"Did your classmates force you??"
"No."
"It IS like the Ms. Universe pageant right except that there's no bathing suit competition and you're all boys?"
"Yes!"
"You have to do modelling, present a talent, and do the question and answer portion in front of ALL the grade school students right??"
"Yes Mommy."
"You DO know that the competition is for Grades 4, 5, and 6 year levels so there are A LOT of other students?"
"I know Mommy."
"Why do you want to join?"
"I just want to."

Hay! Curiouser and curiouser!!!

When we asked him what he planned to do for the talent portion. My bunsoy said that he would like to play drums. Now that would be a problem because the only drumset we have was the one my brother used in the 1980s (Yep! We still kept it!). When my Androse showed interested in playing the instrument and asked us to buy a set, we said that he could use his Ninong Jay's drums. It may be a bit rusty but it still sounded good since it was a Pearl.

We told Andrei the bad news though -- since his Ninong Jay's drum set was old, it might break down in transit going to school. Also, since he just received it, he may not be able to practice enough in time for the contest.

"Okay." My bunsoy said. "I'll just join next year."

"YES!!!!!" The yub and I said as we gave each other a high five.  Sorry it may sound mean but we were not really looking forward to Andrei joining the contest. Well... for one, there were a LOT of requirements for the contestants to be eligible to join and we have to prepare for many costumes. Also, even if we loved him, we were toying with the idea that if he lost, my bunsoy might not be able to handle it (I'm sure we couldn't).

So yay. He decided not to join this year. Maybe he'll forget about it in 2018.

Of course we were wrong. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

When he told us that he's going to join Mr. Bosconian 2018, I felt a small groan in my heart "Egad... again????" We went through the usual questioning (see above) and I tried my best to be a human lie detector test to see if what he's telling is the truth. Yes, all was consistent.

I received the list of requirements plus the rules and regulations. "Inangkupushness..... How could I prepare all of this??" When I saw the date of the competition, hala, it was a work day! Why can't it be on a Saturday? Because they want me to suffer more that's what (ha ha ha ha ha). Add to that, we needed to rent some drums because my brother's set was already geriatric. Gastos yun!!! HAY!!!!!

I wonder if I could still change his mind? Okay. I could begin again by asking about the contest and based on his answer, I made up a lot of arguments that would convince even Pia Wurtzbach from joining Ms. Universe.

"Andrei, why do you want to join Mr. Bosconian ba? In contests there are winners and losers. Are you prepared to lose?"

Without any sort of hesitation, my bunsoy answered "I don't care if I win or lose Mommy. I want to join because I just want to show everyone that I could play the drums. Some kasi don't believe me."

With that, we dropped all forms of doubts and hesitations. My bunsoy Andrei IS going to join MR. BOSCONIAN 2018.

And we WILL be right behind him. This time, no questions asked. 

Yay! We're Team Andrei!!!!

First up... the pre-pageant where contesnts will be performing their talent and do a bit of modeling. There were many requirements to be eligible and one of them was to submit a video promoting the Don Bosco's Core values. The winner of the video automatically becomes one of the top 10 finalists so it's important that we do this good! 

Andrei chose Faith and when I asked him, what is Faith to him, he wrote down a lot of reasons. We edited his script and thought of video support for the audio. He also thought of using "Imagine" by John Lennon as background music. THIS is what we submitted...

MANN HANN ESTANCIA MALL

When I was planning the birthday celebrations of Master Mati, I immediately asked the BP Family if they were free the first weekend of the month. Everything was good and confirmed but lo and behold, we suddenly had a family staycation at F1 HOTEL MANILA with the Kain Tulog Gang that I thought was perfect for Master Mati's birthday celebrations. so we had to reschedule.

It was no problem for the gang (bless their kind hearts) and it was agreed that there could be a joint celebration for another celebrant that month. I realized later on that the Yub will be out of the country. And to put it off another week would be sooooo far off from my big guy's birthday.

No worries of course. What's important here is that Master Mati's wish gets fulfilled and have fun in our birthday getogether. Great thing too that we have a BP Family who will always be there for us to share and give joy in the events that are dear to our hearts.

Check out his birthday celebration with the BP Family!!!!  

The agreed venue for that Saturday was MANN HANN in Estancia Mall!

A HOTEL HOP IN LUCENA CITY

If you have been reading our blog regularly (ay nakakaawa ka hija), you would see that one of our most valued traditions is Hotel Hopping during the holiday season. We usually do that in Manila and I think it's really a fun activity for the whole family.

When we went to Yub's hometown in Quezon Province, we thought of doing something different besides our usual kain, bowling, kwentuhan, tulog routine at night; we thought, why not do kain, HOTEL HOPPING, kwentuhan, drinking, kwentuhan, then tulog?

With that, we decided to check out Lucena's hotel circuit. And, even though it's very different from what we usually see in the hotels in Manila, our little family still had loads of fun and had an unforgettable time!  

HOTEL HOPPING in Lucena City!!!!

TUAN TUAN POWERPLANT MALL WITH AUNTIES

In the first official day of 2018, my Mom thought of inviting some of her sisters for dinner. She asked us for suggestions where to treat our aunties and the first one we thought of in Powerplant Mall was in TUAN TUAN Chinese Brasserie!

It was a full house that night in TUAN TUAN but it's a good thing we were still able to get immediate seats for our group.

#JTAKESJ - A KTG WEDDING

Happy memories could be experienced even at the most unlikely places. And that is exactly what we discovered when we attended the wedding of our dear KTG friends Joko and Jeeves sometime last year. 

It was a rainy and traffic Saturday when set out for Tagaytay.

Good thing that amidst the weather and traffic situation, we were all dry and pretty (hi hi hi) inside our helicopter. 

IMPOSSIBLE MAGIC SHOW

On December 25, besides being the Lord's day, THE YAPPY BUNCH also marked it as the official end of our bunsoy Andrei's birthday celebrations.

We usually ask our bunsoy what he liked but this year, the Yub and I saw something that the boys would have a lot of fun in....

IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IMPOSSIBLE is a magic show from London that currently is currently on its world tour.

They feature magicians who specialized in death defying acts, illusions, and technological trickery. 

OUR CHINESE NEW YEAR 2018 IN LUCENA

Usually when it's the Chinese New Year, THE YAPPY BUNCH would go to Binondo to enjoy the sights, noise, and food. But for this year, we just felt like having a change; we wanted to do something else rather than our usual CNY gimik. And that is why we decided to go to Yub's hometown in Lucena City instead.

Of course, when all was said and done, we suddenly missed jostling with the crowds in Binondo to celebrate their New Year.

But obviously, that came right after we stuffed ourselves silly with our usual favorites. 

It's the Chinese New Year and we'll do something different!

Yup!

PANCAKE HOUSE BONIFACIO HIGH STREET

My bunsoy Andrei recently celebrated his birthday and one of his wishes was to have a getogether with our BP Family.

Originally, the plan was to go to Enchanted Kingdom for a whole day of fun but then we learned that it was going to be his exam week, so we had to cancel. Too bad that we cannot reschedule to another weekend because it was already Christmas.

In the end, we just had a Sunday birthday brunch for him (because if it were lunch, who knows what time we finish with our chika... ha ha ha ha). And the place that we thought of where the kids could play was in PANCAKE HOUSE, BGC! 

BP Group in PANCAKE HOUSE!

We set out early for BGC and since it's a Sunday, there's not much of a Christmas rush.

Even though the Fort was not as lavishly decorated as other cities, you could still sense that Christmas is (was) in the air.