The joys, triumphs and heartaches of motherhood (and the bloopers that occur in between).
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To all the fathers and soon-to-be fathers, your dad, your in-law, your husband,
Happy Father’s Day!!!
A special shout-out to my husband and best friend… a devoted father–enjoy your day! We love you!!!
This video is for you.
As most of you know, our baby litte boy turned 2 last May 20. On his actual birthday, which was a Wednesday, we had a small party for family at our home. Lola cooked palabok and kare-kare while Lola Sylvia baked her yummy muffins. We also had Pollo Tropical chicken and Panera salad.
As usual, the kids had a blast playing together and then blowing the cake. Laway everywhere!:) Thank you Ninang/ Ninong for the Coldstone Midnight delight, our favorite!
The week of Josh’s birthday was marked with torrential downpours, particularly in the afternoons — typical spring into summer type weather here in South Florida. On the morning of May 23rd, the skies were a dark gray. It rained the entire morning until the early afternoon. Thankfully, our party wasn’t until 4:30 and by that time, the skies had cleared.
We weren’t really worried about the rains, primarily because our chosen venue was indoors.
The theme we chose was “Elmo meets Dale Earnhardt Jr.”:) Joshua has a penchant for driving and he adores Elmo. (He loves Barney too and we would have included him into the mix if it weren’t too confusing.)
As always, ultra-talented Melisse designed our save-the-dates and invites. I ordered most of the Nascar/ Hotwheels paraphernalia online, made a D-I-Y standee, and used a lot of our boys’ toys to complete the overall look of the venue.
The giveaways/ prizes were collected over several months, and Party City was our source for all things Elmo.
Our menu consisted of pancit, vegetable lumpia, lumpiang shanghai, lechon, beef steak, sweet and sour fish fillet, chicken-on-a-stick, spaghetti and pizza. For dessert, we had cassava, turon and of course, cake!
The cake was a combination of mocha and chocolate. The marshmallow icing was like a plain canvass. D-I-Y flags as well as Topher and Joshua’s small toys adorned the cake. We also had Elmo M&M cupcakes courtesy of Ninang which turned out to be a big hit!
Elmo helped blow out the candles, and of course it was such a riot, we had to do it twice!
After everyone had their fill, we proceeded to play the games with Ninang Sally as host.
The smaller kids thoroughly enjoyed Elmo’s version of “Ring around the Rosie”, especially the “all fall down” part.:)
Then Elmo, the pinata, took a hit! Occasionally Tita KM wacked at the real one too.:)
Elmo was a good sport and posed for photos before bidding adieu. Joshua held on tight and when Elmo finally left, the birthday boy kept saying “why… why…”:)
We had so many prizes to give away so we played lots of games… (trip to Jerusalem, pin the donkey tail, hot “duckie” game, drinking contest, a guessing game and a talent show).
As expected, the kids enjoyed the pabitin!
But their ultimate favorite was the duck fishing game! Joshua had loads of fun as he loves to play with water.
Here are more photos of our little superstar.:)
He was a little overwhelmed in the beginning seeing all the guests and being the center of attention. But as soon as he warmed up, he was unstoppable. And of course Kuya Topher had a blast too (save for a minor boo-boo)!
Joshua watches the videos of the party almost everyday and he laughs along, points out Elmo, fast-forwards to the candle-blowing scene (yes, he can operate our DVD player all by himself). Seeing our boys happy has made all the time and effort spent on planning and executing this party well worth it. We had a great time, and we hope our guests did too.
A million thanks to all for the gifts and special thoughts you’ve sent Joshua’s way.
We ask that you continue to keep him in your prayers – that he may grow up healthy and happy, smart and strong, content and fulfilled. See you at the next party — and we all can’t wait!:)
~the Lim family
Parang kailan lang…
I made this montage a year ago.
And now my baby is 2!
We’re having a small party here at home tonight and then his big bash will be this Saturday.
Happy, happy birthday Joshy boy! We love you!
Hectic but happy times indeed!
Daelene turns 2!
We essentially missed the whole bash because we took a nap and didn’t wake up until late in the afternoon (boo!). But we’re glad that we were still able to wish pretty girl Daelene a very happy birthday.
She had her party at the park on Lighthouse Point, which is one of our favorite parks.
The following day was Easter Sunday. After mass, we celebrated at Lolo and Lola’s house. We had our very own Easter egg hunt which was loads of fun!
Join the hunt with us!
Sing-a-long with the the prince of karaoke!
The weekend after, we spent time with Lolo Nonoy and Lola Nene on Jupiter island.
We heard that Tiger Woods bought a property in the area and we really can’t blame him. The place was beautiful!
We found the perfect fishing spot… and Topher and Joshua caught their first fish!
And guess where we were the next weekend? At the beach again, of course. This time, in elegant Palm Beach.
While we were in the neighborhood, we dropped by CityPlace.
With summer just around the corner, we can’t wait for more trips to the beach! Sun and sand… good times galore!
We do love playing in the sand. So you can just imagine our delight when we discovered the playground at Olympia. Boracay-like sand, here we come!:)
We’d like to end with a little tribute to our precious bunso who will be turning 2 in a few days. Here are some additional videos of Joshua with his best friend and constant companion.
We celebrated Joshua’s last hurrah before the big 0-2 with a little party here at home.
We are all very excited about his upcoming birthday party, and you’re invited!:)
Love,
the Lim boys
Every Friday, Topher brings home his projects from school. He brings home coloring book pages, assorted crafts… live plants, etc.
Last Friday, I saw this in his backpack and immediately complimented him for doing a good job.
I then asked him how he did the paper project. He looked like he was thinking hard… then he looked at me and said:
“Happy Mother’s Day Mommy!”
Then he ran off to play.
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Mama, Mommy, Mom, Inay… you deserve more than a day for all that you do. May God continue to guide all of us and give us strength. God bless you and your families!
We kicked off this month with a milestone celebration - Tita Steffy’s debut! On her actual birthday, we partied at their home with relatives and friends from both near and far.
Then to the Embassy Suites the following evening for her grand “introduction to society”.
It was an amazing party filled with touching speeches and presentations, artistic dances both traditional and modern, food and laughter a-plenty.
Our relatives from California arrived to become part of Steffy’s special day. So it was an all-weekend bonanza.
Saturday lunch at Sailfish marina
Sunday lunch at Ninang Coy and Ninong Ferdie’s home to celebrate Andrea’s birthday…
then dinner at CityPlace (sorry, no group shots but here’s a photo of Topher looking over the menu, lol).
And if one super busy weekend wasn’t enough, try two! The weekend after was our much-awaited trip to Miami for our day out with Thomas. The Goldcoast railroad was transformed into a mini-carnival with different stations offering various activities for the kids.
Our eyes were as big as saucers as we saw Thomas approach the station. Could it really be him?:)
Another highlight of the day was riding another train, one that was operated by the railroad.
We were delighted that our friends from Tampa (Ninong Rolly, Ninang Malou and Ben) were able to join us. Spending the day with Thomas, our family and our friends, was a huge dream come true!
March was also the month we decided to join the DSLR bandwagon. We took every single opporutnity to catch photos of Mama and Papa’s favorite subjects — us!:)
At the park…
Compare the above with photos taken using our reliable 5-year old Sony point-and-shoot.
Meet our budding photographer…:)
More DSLR shots at Okeeheelee Park.
During one of our afternoon walks…
And other knick-knack photos.
Mama had some downtime towards the end of March and it was spent bonding with us. We would wile away our lazy afternoons belting out songs, playing musical instruments, or simply allowing our imaginations to run free…
And every night would be karaoke night! What fun!
And lastly, some updates…
Joshua is growing up to be a social butterfly. Here he is, charming the ladies next door.
Quite athletic, he likes showing off his soccer skills.
Topher, on the other hand, has definitely bloomed in school. Here are some photos of him with his classmates during their Easter egg hunt. (The pictures were taken by his teacher, Ms. Rachel.)
Definitely one busy month. But we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Wishing you and your whole family a blessed Easter filled with His grace and love.
~Topher & Joshua Lim
With its 28 days, February came and went. It was a short and sweet month. but that did not stop us from maximizing fun.
Busy boys were we… gallivanting at every single opportunity.
Harlem globetrotters 2009 tour at the Bank Atlantic Center in Fort Lauderdale. Ninang won the tickets for this show on a radio station.
Our little “chickboy” enjoyed the half-time show. Guess why…
Train rides for train enthusiasts at the Tradewinds Park.
We soaked up the sun… oh, it was a gorgeous day.
Our Chuck E. Cheese fix
Joshua and KM burned a hole on the dance floor, and had a blast racing each other…
Topher used up almost all of his tokens on this train (obsession na talaga)…
and Papa showed off his basketball prowess — he was working the hoops for almost 20 minutes and had a good workout (sumakit nga lang tuhod nya after, lol).
We attend story time regularly.
In fact, we spent Valentine’s Day at the library! We handpicked fresh flowers for Tita KM and gave it to her after one of the songs.
It is just amazing watching Joshua’s development and how much he has learned from these weekly activities.
Birthdays this month — Lolo Henry and Lola Sally — who had a joint celebration at Crazy Buffet. Happy, happy birthday!
(too busy eating to take pictures, lol)
As you can see, we really are “lakwatseros”. But we also enjoy staying home…
riding our bikes every afternoon…
playing, singing, dancing…
…cleaning?
Simple pleasures, indeed. And with all that activity, we definitely can’t afford to scrimp on our zzzzzz’s.
Hope you enjoyed our post this month. See yah next time!
Love, Topher & Joshua
I am working overtime compiling our photos/ videos for the month of February. The reason… a lot has happened in the first couple of weeks of March, and I can’t blog about them, until I complete my February post.:)
But just to give you an idea…. one of our dreams became a reality this past weekend, when we spent a day out with Thomas in Miami. The next day, I booked us tickets to watch Thomas Live! On stage. The show at the Broward Center isn’t until July, but we’re excited already. Now, sino ang fanatic?
And another thing to be excited about… we’ve booked our tickets to California this September for our cousin’s wedding. It will be our very first plane ride as a family! Chris has already started to compile a list of things we need to bring, lol.
My cousin’s wedding falls on Topher’s birthday. So Topher will be able to celebrate his 4th birthday, LA-style. He will also have a party with his classmates and friends here, but it will most likely be the weekend after.
This year is definitely turning out to be very, very exciting.
Earlier, my boys and I spent some quality time playing together. Joshua was riding his car around the family room area. I was sitted on the sofa and not only did he wave and say “ba-bye” everytime his car would pass by me, but he would also stand up and give me a smack on the lips. So sweet, this boy.
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As we were watching our wedding video the other night, Chris teased me that I would probably bawl when Topher gets married. I actually don’t think I will. But I will probably do so at Joshua’s wedding. I love them both equally, but there is something about your “bunso” getting married, di ba?
