The Camera Princess

Yona’s 5th birthday is fast approaching yet I still don’t know what to give her 4 teachers O_o. Her school don’t allow birthday parties (that I’m thankful of!), not even food for classmates. I guess this is expected from every catholic school who only allow exchange of recycled Christmas cards on Christmas. ugh.

My plan is to bring her closest classmates to McDonald’s nearby and treat them out for lunch. I’ll prepare cupcakes for them as well Her party falls on a Saturday so we’re doing it on Friday, after school.

Moving on, what I should I give the teachers? cupcakes na lang din? It has to be something that can be secretly given ^_^

My daughter’s school JGSS support Pondo ng Pinoy – the vision of one man who dares to dream dreams that would move forward the Church in the Philippines as the Church of the Poor – the Archbishop of Manila, Most Rev. Gaudencio B. Rosales.

The love of God and hope of the Filipino are given a value that is actually a “crumb” – 25 centavos.  Twenty-five centavos saved daily by parents and their children, by teachers and their students, by parishioners, by every man and woman, by all Filipinos, and turned over to Pondo ng Pinoy will be the concrete response to Jesus’ call, “Love one another as I have loved you.”  The accumulated savings will then be distributed by Pondo ng Pinoy to fund projects on education, health care, livelihood, etc. that will directly help the poor live with dignity that is their birth right as children of God.  In this way, PnP is not only a value or a method, but a personal and collective paradigm for human development.

Everyday, the kids of JGSS are required to bring 25 centavos, no more, no less to school for Pondo ng Pinoy. This is the school’s participation of the program. These 25 centavos will go a very long way in helping the poorest of the poor. This amount is not much considering that parents can afford to pay 5th wheel insurance policies every year, right?

Before I finally decided to put Yona in school, I promised myself that I won’t care much about her class standing. I just want her to enjoy learning and be with other kids – because after all she’s only in Kindergarten – worrying about grades and competition with anyone were the last things I want on her young mind.

She should be in school to learn, not to compete with anyone.

2 months swiftly passed by and their First Quarter grades were finally out.

It was a very busy Saturday morning, August 28, 2010. I was very busy frosting and packing customized cake and cupcake orders so I requested Marcelle to pick up her Report Card on my behalf.

Before 9am Marcelle called to inform me that Yona was Top 1 on her class! Oh.em.gee!!! It was unexpected great news from her class adviser! Oh how I wish I was there to receive the report card ^_^

Congratulations baby but mom’s really worried – pressure ‘to!

A few days ago I got a call from the Marketing Manager of Gingersnaps, Ms. Sherry Yu telling me about how pleased their office was about the post I made about Gingersnaps.

So imagine my surprise when I saw this on our doorstep yesterday morning

A dress and a necklace from Gingersnaps!

And you know what makes it even sweeter? I got a handwritten note from Ms. Sherry herself!

I so love my job!

xoxo, Mommy Iris

I’ve mentioned before that my daughter’s school is eco-friendly. I noticed how strict they are in implementing Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – their share in reducing waste and helping the environment.

They use less paper, rooms have wide, through-and-through windows so there’s no need for air-conditioners. The entire campus has a lot of color-coded trash bins made of stainless steel drums for easy trash segregation and just this morning, the kids were asked to bring recyclable garbage such as old newspapers and pet bottles.

Way to go Jesus Good Shepherd School!

I am one of those parents who do not believe in grades as a gauge to a child’s level of intelligence. Each child is different and has gifts of their own. As parents we need to discover their gifts and support our kids in their chosen path.

But it doesn’t mean that I care less of my daughter’s grades. As a mom to a first time student, I help her in her assignments, go giddy on her little awards in school and keep track of all her activities but I promised myself that I WILL NOT CROSS THE LINE. I vowed not to meddle unless my child is at a disadvantage. I don’t want to be the typical school stage mom. I just want to be the wind beneath her wings ^_^

So I couldn’t help but be proud of her 1st Quarter achievement. Her 3-day tests yielded the following grades:

1. Reading – 98%
2. Communication – 93%
3. Math – 100%

Way to go Yoe! You’re making mommy and daddy proud ^_^

Oldie is our good ol’ desktop PC. She’s been with us since 2005 I guess but was built long before that. She’s just a hand-me-down from my Uncle Yves. We are still using it though it needs to be upgraded already.

We use it at least every other day, maybe this is why it still performs well She’s still reliable as we can still watch movies, play Facebook games, download etc. This personal computer is well taken care of, not abused, so she is still in pristine condition.

We are eyeing a desktop like this, reading  desktop computer reviews each week but we have no plans in discarding Oldie, our trusty desktop The one below is just a dream, something beautiful yet we don’t need…at least for now.

Dear Oldie,

Please don’t give up on us. We still love you even if we already have Kelly (our laptop).

xoxo

My daughter just invited her friends to attend her ’5th birthday party’…The problem is, she’s not having a party!

We’ll only be preparing an intimate party for the whole family but I know that kids this age would love to have their friends around.

What do you think? We cannot afford a party – it’s a sad reality.

MANILA, Philippines – Labor experts believe that Filipinos should re-orient their career plans to suit the specific needs of companies.

Why of course! No wonder we have a very high number of unemployed graduates these days. I thought the government already knew about this…

My husband and I firmly believe that students do not need ALL the required theoretical subjects in school in order to succeed in the work place. Do you agree that students should only be trained on their chosen career? I am not saying that the basics should be disregarded. no. It’s just that schools should eliminate YEARS of studying subjects unrelated to the course of the student. Say for example a nursing student, why would a nurse need to study geometry, trigonometry, etc.?

This is why I salute schools who offer QUALITY short courses because at least the students undergo practical training starting Day 1. Examples here are students from a  medical assistant school, they do hands-on training immediately.

I believe that there are more people out there who share this sentiment.  Students do not need unnecessary prerequisites in school to succeed later in life. Agree?

I’m just too happy that I enrolled my daughter in a green school. The entire campus shouts “simplicity” and “nature”, from their uniforms, school building to the school grounds.

Their classrooms have high-ceilings and wide open doors so they no longer need air conditioners. Plus, the entire campus is surrounded with trees so it’s really airy inside the campus. Their huge gym only has Hunter ceiling fans to help the air circulation.

I am not a fan of air conditioners because it does make my allergies worse and I noticed that kids who are kept in air conditioned rooms are more sickly than those who are not. Oh well, it’s just my observation, feel free to disagree

Here are some photos of my daughter’s school: