River loves the outdoors

 We rarely go out but when I saw River yesterday in the mountains, I think it's time to 'unplug' (meaning less computer) and hang out more with nature.

Since he was as young as the first few years that he began walking, he had been picking up leaves, flowers and dried leaves for me. (I meant to press them and then frame them or tape them in a book but I never got around to doing that. I know I'll regret that when he gets older. Actually I already regret it now).
I should have known then how much he loves nature but I didn't or I didn't pay much attention.

I think kids naturally love being outdoors, they are equipped to have dirt inside their nails or their hair, I honestly think that they NEED nature to boost their immune system. I don't know what happened but modern day parents seemed to have settled to electronics like tv, ipads and computers as the best past time for their children. Ahem, I'm as guilty as anyone can get. I went to the mall last December for the tree lighting and I was appalled by all the children around me from as young as 6 months old and above,all glued on ipads and phones, watching their favorite shows while the parents chit chat with other parents. What have we become as parents, nurturing the future leaders of this planet? Oh how I hated what I saw, how they are missing out looking at all the beauty around them, the Christmas lights, the Santa's house, the gigantic tree in front of them. They were all oblivious to the beauty that surrounds them and the parents seem to be so happy that they have found the best  baby sitters for their children so they can go about their lives. TV shows are raising our children, how sad and parents work to buy the best toys, the best gear for their kids, I mean, do the kids really need those?  I truly think that kids would not mind if they rode in a brand new car or a good enough car or if they had the best expensive toy or if they just ran around in the backyard or park. I think we've completely messed up the concept of their needs and what we want for them (and ourselves) and I think that's a bit selfish, don't you think so?

I saw this billboard on the way to the store one day and since then, I feel a certain guilt inside me that I cannot shake off.

 This campaign is just too strong to ignore and I know a lot of parents have the same sentiments that I have after seeing this billboard. I am so guilty that there are times that I refuse to look up but then I find myself looking up and having that same feeling I felt the first time I saw it.

Could you accept this challenge with me? If you in any way a parent like I am? Stay away from the malls and walk outdoors and breathe in fresh air instead? Skip the indoor playground and choose the outdoor park? Refuse to buy toys for awhile and make some handcrafted ones? together? Unplug and discover nature? pick up leaves, pine cones, branches instead of lego pieces? Skip the fancy restaurants and let them eat like kids. Look up in the sky, look for cloud figures or count the stars instead of looking down at the phone screen watching wow wow wubzy? We can do this, I know we can and I think we will be raising happier kids that way. Kids who actually nap in the afternoons and sleep early at nights. I am mostly talking to myself while writing this but if this entry kind of strikes some nerve in you then maybe you are like me. So, why not make this year very different from the past years and just do what the kids would enjoy and not what we would enjoy and someday, when we see what we've reaped, kids who aren't materialistic, kids who are healthy and happy, kids who are simple and kind, I could go on and on then we can give ourselves a pat in the back. That is what good parenting is about.

I truly think, that society has messed up with our brains and told us that success is how much money we have in the bank or what level of education we have finished. Is that really what success is about? Is success being in a job you hate? Being with a boss you want to strangle? Having a ton of credit cards you can use to buy things you don't need? What is success to you? To me, success is being a household name, writing books, my photographs landing in magazines and websites and having this dream inside me is taking away time from my kids but this morning I woke up with a different desire inside of me and that desire is what my kids desire as if fate allowed me to borrow it for a minute and look inside them and experience their wants, their needs. Yes, I still have a dream for myself that I want to achieve but I think that my children should come first. When we brought these kids to this world, our dreams are just secondary to their needs. That rarely happens. They set their needs on the sidelines to accommodate what we want for our lives and then we attend to them on our free time. Parenting had become a chore. Parenting had become an occasional thing. We have a desire so high that we bury ourselves with work so we can achieve that one goal, we pay strangers to raise our children so we can do what we want, turn on the tvs and computers so we can work on things that would put more money inside our pockets. Let me ask the same question again, what have we become?

I think true success to me is having joy inside you that no one can ever shake off of you, being able to raise kids who would be great husbands and amazing fathers or daughters who would be amazing wives and mothers. Why raise a child who becomes a rich miserable employer who treats his employees like crap? Is that success to you? Why raise a child who thinks that expensive bags and shoes are the mere reason of her existence? Is that success to you? I don't know about you but I think 2012 is the time to unplug. There is nothing wrong with being wealthy. I want that for my kids too but I think that is just secondary to having a heart inside their chest and having a smile on their face. I want to raise kids who actually love the jobs that they are doing and go home to a happy family who actually eat together at dinner and that's when I know I am an awesome mother. That is true success to me.

So beginning today, I will minimize the use of my computer and play more. Go out more and enjoy the outdoors. My children are more important than any dream I have.

River loves to sing

River started singing as soon as he started speaking. Since then, he would not stop singing. He sings while playing,he sings in the bathroom, he sings whenever  and whatever he may be doing. Early last year, before he turned 4, I was surprised to see (while watching Backyardigans on Netflix)when he got up, went to the computer and enabled subtitles (I didn't even know he could do that) and sang along while reading the lyrics.

Last Christmas, he performed in our church, sang the whole 'dream a dream' song from Yo Gabba Gabba to everyone's surprise. Since then, he sings every Sunday in church and takes a bow after each song. Last Sunday, he sang Yo Gabba Gabba's 'Don't be afraid' and my mom thought it was a Christian song hehe.







It's amazing how he doesn't get nervous in front of a crowd. None of my kids are the same. His dad is in a band and whenever they have rehearsals here in our house, he gets his musical instruments and head bangs. One time, he took the microphone, went out the front door and started singing to people walking by. I try to sing along sometimes and he corrects me whenever I sing the wrong words and then says "good job mama'  when I get it right.
I swear he's done a better job in church, I will try to upload that video soon.  The second video was when he had a fever, that was why he was looking frail but I still find it amazing that he is never in a bad mood while sick.

By the way, HAPPY 2012 from my family to yours!

River The Little Art Patron

We don't go on out of town vacations nor hop on a plane to go to places far away from home.

We are not the Disneyland type ( though I wouldn't mind that.)

A big family like ours (4 kids in all + 1 most of the time) and a one family income at that, our budget is limited and must be spent carefully.

So where do we spend it?

Food

(lots of them)

and

Museum memberships.

LACMA

MOMA

THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

etc.

Yes, they are expensive but totally worth it 

specially when it would mean, an Andy Warhol original 2 inches away from your face!
or a Rembrandt or a Monet.

Or if you're lucky a Basquiat!

oooorrr

the actual Edward Scissorhand suit that Johnny Depp wore.

 (that I would never fit in)

My kids don't appreciate it as much as I do but someday they will be thankful.

I hope or I would regret that the money was not spent on Disneyland.

Edward Scissorhands actual Fawn from the movie

Andy Warhol Art installation

River's Halloween

In the U.S. Halloween is almost as big as Christmas. I don't agree that it should be but it is and even if I disagree it doesn't mean that I won't celebrate it with the kids.

Only one rule though, no scary costumes for any of us in the family, though none of my kids ever asked permission to which is good.

After three girls, I am clueless on what activities to do with a boy but I think he didn't mind decorating cupcakes!

One rule with boys though, be specific. After this cupcake sprinkle overload incident, he said, "but mama, how many?"

Every year for the past four years, we always trick or treated in the same neighborhood in South Pasadena (top three to trick or treat in L.A.) where there are huge houses with people who has money to spare on candy for hundreds of people. Some of the residents there are from the movie industry who coincidentally, make horror films and no, I never went to their house to trick or treat. You can hear screams from a block away! And in front of the house there is a man in a cloak with chains on his feet and was dragging an axe on the ground, parading back and forth and scaring everyone who were too afraid to go inside the gate.Oh the sound will give you nightmares! Last year, he had an electric chainsaw! Think chainsaw massacre! It gave me goosebumps because it was a real working chainsaw! Kids were screaming and crying, including my 7 year old niece who I believe cried last year too.

Their windows were covered with planks of wood, their family members look like they came straight from a Horror flick. Everyone was in character, their dedication to it is appalling! Every time I pass by that house, I walk a bit faster than usual but this year's Halloween I had to stay longer, my twin daughters conquered their fear and decided to go. When you go inside the gate to get candy, there is a tent on the drive way where you have to go in if you ever want to leave the premises. When they finally came out, I couldn't understand anything they said because they were speaking to me at the same time for like 10 long minutes. All I heard clearly was "mike myers', only because they said that name at the same time so I heard it loud and clear. Funny but I still probably won't go next year though I should. I might as well conquer my fear before the world ends on 2012. Well, we'll see. :)

For costumes this year, we, as always,had to improvise. We are not fans of shelling out $$ for costumes that we will never wear again and costumes that we would mostly see on someone else on the same night. My kids don't mind, even my four year old son didn't like wearing costumes that i had to chase him around the house just to make him try something on which was always unsuccessful.

But at last, this is what he agreed on and boy did he love it! It was a last minute idea that worked pretty well. Costume-looking enough for Halloween, cool enough for this too-cool-for-costumes kid and I didn't have to spend a single dime because everything was already around the house.

What's not to love?

My twin daughters were dressed as hippies.

 

My other daughter was dressed as a cat, a confused cat that is because she had a raccoon tail. She doesn't like posing for photos so what's a mom to do?

Take a pic,make it quick... 

But sadly, it always turn out blurry.

So there you go. Now, Thanksgiving and Christmas. I so love this time of year but not the extra pounds.

What River Wore.

hat from target $10, O.P shirt I don't remember, jeans from H&M $10

 Thank God for gifts! To clothe four kids and two adults isn't a joke. 

I think I've mastered the art of dressing everyone in the house within (or sometimes under) the budget.

It's an art, I tell ya!

I get a kick out of calculating what I'm wearing from head to foot and sometimes staying within the $5-$10 range. Yes! And I'm fully clothed and with shoes on!

Amongst everyone in our large brood, River has the most expensive pieces.

I don't understand why boys have the least choices in the market and they are more expensive compared to girl stuff.

Paul Frank Beanie from Target $12, sweater-gift, skinny jeans from H&M-$10

he doesn't really like getting his picture taken.

Puma jacket-gift, pants from H&M-$10

I'm so glad he loves dressing up. I remember when I bought this black plaid hat, he was around two years old. We were getting ready to pick up his sisters when on the way out, he ran back inside, I followed him and I saw him in front of the mirror putting on his hat.

I think I will have to hold on to this hat so he can give it to his own son someday.

What's for Breakfast {River}

River has a "junk food problem" (translation: what a regular American eats) and I have vowed to change that.

So, I am absolutely skipping the frozen food aisle; no more fruits swimming in sugary syrup in plastic cups, artificial juice and Cheetos, etc.

I am not a perfect healthy eater myself but I am working on it and I am dragging my whole family in the bandwagon whether they like it or not.

I've been researching a lot about the dirty business behind the food industry and America has the worst practices. It is quite disturbing how these giant companies control the health of the American people.

Yes, they are cheap, but oh, you have no idea. We have been trained to pig out on food that lack nutrients necessary for the body to thrive.

So now, we are buying organic as much as we can and as much as our food budget would allow. 

I don't understand why organic and all natural food here cost so much but there is no stopping us.

River has a very strong personality (translation: bratty attitude, considering he is the youngest of 4 kids) and would scream and cry whenever he sees something green on his plate.

Yes, it drives me crazy.

Specially that he even went as far as going on a hunger strike just to make his point.

I have to force myself not to care or at least pretend to.

But now I am slowly reaching victory in this battle.

Slowly but surely.

If you live in the U.S. and you have been brainwashed into eating food from dirt cheap buffets, eating tasteless perfect shiny apples from the supermarket or soulless clone tomatoes, bland giant chickens and so on.

then it's time to wake up!

We are not invincible.

With our terrible eating habits, what are we teaching our children?

If you want to wake up like me then here are some documentaries and books that you must check out.

SKINNY BIT*H (book)

Dying to know the truth (documentary)

FOOD INC.

Snapshots {River}

I finally managed to post something here. Four kids, two blogs and many other projects ain't easy as I sometimes think.

Here are some snapshots from the weekend. We went to Chinatown for an early dinner. It was kind of too posh for Chitown but it was too late to leave haha. Food was awesome though but the servings were too little for an appetite as big as ours. It was also kind of sad eating inside a huge dining room with only 4 occupied tables. I would rather eat at the dirty dimsum joints around there and be able to eat as much as I can and want for cheap.

Oh well, damage has been done, lesson learned. Don't go somewhere with mirrors that are from floor to ceiling and elevator as it's entrance unless it's Valentine's Day or something. Places with a letter B posted outside the door is usually better anyway. :)

Iron Chef, his idea.

dimsum

gurgling with mouthwash?

No, just with water because in this jar is, 'Lenny the fish', his new pet that deserves his own entry here.

COMING SOON!

Conversations with River

RIVER:"Mama, I want to go to outer space, see the earth, the moon, the sun and Jupiper!

MAMA:"how are you going to get there?"
RIVER:"I will ride a rocket ship!!!"

RIVER:"Mama, what do tree frogs eat?"

MAMA:"insects?"

RIVER:"I'm not so sure?"

MAMA:"what do you think?"

RIVER:"chicken nuggets!"

RIVER:"Mama, what is your favorite shape?"

MAMA:"A heart, how about you?, oh wait let me guess, a triangle?"

RIVER:"no, my favorite shape is a heptagon, it has seven sides!"

PAPA:"River, what do you call this in filipino, it starts with the letter 'I'?"

(pointing to his nose)

RIVER:"Igote" (he replaced b in bigote with the letter i!)

Around three years old and teaching him words like pretty and handsome.

PAPA:"River, who's handsome? Mama or Papa?"

RIVER: "me, River!"

Full House

Me

I'm Janine and I live in a quiet neighborhood about 10 minutes away from downtown Los Angeles and around 15 minutes from Hollywood, double that with traffic. I am a mom of 15-year old twin girls, a 12-year old daughter and a son, River, who just turned four last week! 

 

I stay at home but I do so many things like photography, painting, making clothes and many, many more, it's impossible to write them all down. Everyday, I add more things to that list. I know! I'm crazy! The time in a day is never long enough to squeeze in everything that I do and wish to do.

My Twins

Michelle and I were classmates in high school but had separate group of friends. We really didn't get to hang out but the few times we were together were all unforgettable. If it wasn't a terrible prank she had pulled on me (that she still laughs about after so many years and I still get pissed about as much as it did the day it happened), it was a heartbreaking misunderstanding or an unexpected visit during one of the toughest situation I've gotten myself into. All those few times were memorable enough that we were able to pick up where we left off even if we were thousands of miles apart. A friendship that eventually became too solid as if distance, time and circumstance were never and are not in between. That meant hours and hours spent on chatting and those hours spent seem to never, ever be enough.

We are total opposites and yet we never really run out of things to say or topics to tackle. We are so different, no one would think we could ever get along. Our family lives most especially. Hers is way too normal and mine is way too abnormal.

We may be different in so many ways but we are both moms. She finally caught on after my #4.  I would share things that I've learned, mistakes I've done and I see to it that she learns from my mistakes and not by experience. I share the things I know well (having been a mother for fifteen long years) and she on the other hand, tries her very best to teach me how to walk straight and focus on my goals because I tend to procrastinate or change my mind way too many times that I wonder how she can keep up because I, myself hardly can.

So, anyways, the goal of this blog is to be able to document our lives as moms specially to River and Hugo. Hopefully, our future posts would inspire other moms out there who can relate to either myself who stays at home or to Michelle who is a working mom. I would share my family life in Los Angeles and her life with her family in Manila, things we do with our kids and many more.

River

We hope to entertain you, make you laugh and inspire you. We hope you learn a thing or two but most of all, this blog is for us, so we can look back one day and read about our own memories and see photos of our growing kids.

Would you join us as we lay each stone on this future memory lane?