The Suite Life of Maqs and Nicole

August 3, 2007 - This is the day we set foot in Malaysia as a family. We arrived around 1:30 am on board Cebu Pacific flight 501. I met Sabri, daddy's friend whose business is to provide transport around Ipoh, Penang, etc, nice guy. We ate at McDonald's in the airport as Sabri begged off for a few minutes sleep. Grabe, 2-3 hours lang pala matulog to. Di kaya medyo unsafe to drive us to Ipoh? We're still headed a long way to Ipoh, hope he doesn't sleep while driving.

I didn't take pictures, my eyes are so heavy I could fall asleep anytime now. ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzz!

August 3 ~10am - hhaaay! Thank you Lord for a good sleep. Our room (#506) is actually the executive suite of Ritz Garden Hotel. We can stay here for ~1 month, if we opt to, because it's company sponsored for daddy's relocation. Anyway, we stayed here for only 8 days - kakainip kasi. We left Aug 11 Saturday. The room is fine, enjoy naman mga bata as long as there is something to watch.

My dear Maqs, together with his favorite stuffed toy, "Kitty". Buti na lang hindi naiwan sa Pinas.

Papatalo ba si Nicole? Kanya naman si "Turtle".

Our comfy bed at the hotel

Nicole on her afternoon Disney shows

Club Lounge of Ritz Hotel. Nicole and Maqs liked the beef porridge here. So after eating dinner outside, we'd normally take the kids on this rooftop lounge for a bowl of beef porridge or any soup and some snacks. At this point, my kids are still adjusting to the taste of the foods here.

First View/s of Ipoh, taken from our hotel room.

Down the streets, we looked. Nicole says "Mommy, where are we?"

The place is not new to me. It looks like Binondo, Manila. Though, it's less crowded here. I've been to Penang, Malaysia due to my work at Intel before. So, somehow, I know what to expect of the place.

Our hotel room

Nicole spending her time writing and drawing stuffs.. Can't wait to go to school...

Eating hotel food.. Naaahhh!

My kids enjoy bubble baths a lot. Mana sa nanay... hehehe... So, late in the morning, I let them indulge on the tub.

This is the hotel toilet and bath. Mas maganda pa rin hotel sa 'tin.

Spaghetti Bolognese for lunch, not bad. At this time, we eat lunch at the hotel. I just order thru phone and they bring the food to our room. It's hard to bring the 2 kids upstairs on the lounge, baka makabasag si Maqs.

Fried chicken breast with french fries and coleslaw. This one's a favorite.

O, alas siete na. Maliwanag pa.... Pag ganito, I start to wait for Manny to come home.

Maqs' turn on the lounge

Teaching my Nicole how to read

"Let us not wait until our children go to school before we teach them how to read".

This I read from one of Teacher Ning's reading books back in Manila. A truism says Parents are the child's first and most important teacher. This further strengthened my passion for teaching hehe - especially my kids.
If I was not an engineer, I guess I'd be a preschool teacher. Not too late though, since I've been doing that since my first child, Nicole. And you know what, it's very rewarding, or for the lack of term "priceless".

My sweet daughter Nicole LOVES to read. Matatas magsalita iyan kahit noong 1 year old pa lang. I enjoyed reading to her, and teaching her action songs. Mabilis pumick-up, grabe! One time, I started writing/drawing on Manila paper, she can't wait for more. So, I thought, why not teach her how to read this time. She was able to read the same day, worth blogging di ba?

Never too tired of reading....some tips for teaching your precious kids to read. Pls read on...

Mommy taught her phonics at the age of 3. Phonics teaches that each letter has a corresponding sound. Make your child aware that words are made up of individual sound. Example: the sound for 'c' can either be /k/ or /s/.

Mommy's drawings.. eerr need some work though. Colors gets their attention hehe.

Reading is alphabetic, which means that for language like English the code is in the alphabet. The code is always based on sounds and how sounds map onto print. When your child learns letters sounds, teach her to blend them together to "sound out" new words.

Teach your child the different combinations of consonant/vowel sounds which will make it an easier and fun way to learn to read faster. You can chant the traditional but very effective: ba be bi bo bu.... and so on.

Do you have to wait for your child to know the 26 letters in the alphabet before you teach phonics? No. Your child doesn't have to learn all 26 letters of the alphabet before you start to teach her the sounds. Learn a letter and sound at the same time.

Teaching your child to read requires qualities of patience, confidence and playfulness in your approaches. If, from time to time, your child gets distracted and loses interest, take a break. Children love to learn. Give them a little breathing room, until their interest shall have been renewed.

If you can not teach her yet, model it, she will soon follow. Sing and recite nursery rhymes. Remember, even if she is not looking, she can hear you. One day you will be surprised she is singing the songs you are singing and reciting poems too.

Ok that's it, I guess. I hope I have helped out in a way to teach your kids to read. Have fun reading! Salamat po....

Pag-"trip"an ba si Maqs

There are times....... when you just want to do silly things especially when it's half past the playtime with your kids. These photos were taken back in our home in Manila.

This is MAQS, my son

I dressed up Maqs' with Nicole's 1st birthday dress.

"Doesn't seem right mom? Ang kulit ng mommy ko..."

"But I enjoyed it..... Ganda ko noh....."

"OK time's up mom"... It's over... Iiyak na ko...."

Maqs in Nicole's tops and skirt with matching slippers

Whatever I just did, forgive me son :o) You bring a lot of laughter and joy to us. We love you so much.... - Mom, Dad & Ate Nicole

InsideRhaus

Welcome to InsideRhaus!

This blog episode is about our newly renovated house. We've just finished renovating it this year - almost 3 months+ in the making from Jan 8, 2007 to April 14, 2007, but all worth it. This home of ours is rich in color as you can see the pink and yellow green combi used outside. Simula pa lang yan! eh hehe :o) All color hues, tints and combinations were orchestrated by yours truly. It ended up with 18 colors in all for the whole house. You can easily see our house, it's the only one in the subdivision to have this color and a blue letter "M" on the front and back.

Nancy's finished project for 2007

Clockwise from upper-left: 1. Our garage with Charlene our late dog's house. 2&3. Our house views from outside. 4. Close-up of right wing 5. A farther shot from outside 6. Garage ulit! 7. Front foor was installed with this screen to prevent the doors from being wet during heavy rains. 8. Closer view Center: From pathway to front door, medyo nagkamali lang dito at slippery when wet yung nabili kong tiles. Ingat na lang!

Night View of our Home

Clockwise from upper-left: 1&2 View from outside the house, taken after dinner. 3. With Nicole now on the center hehehe 4. This is the rear-right of the house. We didn't paint the firewall. The lower part is the extension of the master's bedroom. 5. This is the "M" symbol of our home, pretty much stands for Martin our surname, Manny my hubby, Maqs my son and Marcelina (yuk) that's my full name. Sabi ng iba stands for "mansion", "maganda", "mayaman"... hay naku... 6. Our front nung wala pa screen. We bought the door from Pateco sa may SM Dasma. 7. Our house has a belt of its own. The belt is comprised of Deco stones tiled together and enclosed with pink concrete moulding. These stones are made from Lahar yung galing pang Mt. Pinatubo so they are very much lighter than the typical hollow block and eats up a lot of water. If you'll use these, you'll need to soak them for a while in water. 8. View from the road, Deco stone is a good accent for the house, as everyone comments. Center: Right-wing taken from the road with the car parked on the garage.

Our Receiving Area

We expanded the receiving area to make room for better furniture/s. Before, we are limited to buying small furniture because of the space. Now, we have more room though this seater is not new coz it will be for rent as we leave for Malaysia. As for the ceiling, this is a new one as this area didn't have a ceiling at all, used to be overlooking from the 2nd floor. The ceiling design is also new and much as I wanted a square concave design, it will end up to be rectangular in shape. We needed to adjust for the existing beams (biga) for the support. The beam running from the door towards the back is a new one as additional support.

My kitchen, though not necessarily my dream kitchen. hehe. Actually, gusto ko sa kitchen may bintana so fresh could come in and out, especially sa may lababo pero sagad ito sa perimeter kaya nakafirewall ito sa labas. Nevertheless, finally napinturahan din ang cabinets and pinalagyan ko na din ng salamin para neat. I also bought a new stainless kitchen sink set sa Waltermart Gen Trias. If I'll have my way on the design, I'd like it to have a center island para mas maganda, gusto ko rin may pantry for storage, hood for the range, etc. Hayaan mo na siyang ganyan at pauupahan lang naman. he he

Our entertainment nook inside the master's bedroom

Zooming in our master's bedroom (below) >>>> Clockwise from upper-left: 1. Bedroom lighting, though it was not originally meant to be here. It didn't fit into the ceiling design of the receiving area so we just exchanged them. This 3-way light has a light blue effect kaya kala mo parang daylight, sobra liwanag sa gabi. I bought it for only 25% of its price sa SM. Mas maganda pa to, promise! It also has 2 halogen bulbs for the "chandelier effect" pag nagpalit na ng color yung lights. 2. Ang aming entertainment area. Caution lang dapat wala sa loob ng kuwarto ang TV, mahirap makatulog. Dapat talaga naka-separate siya. 3. Our bed, PC and Nicole. Yung PC na ito nabenta na. 4. Another view of the room. 5. My favorite sheets and pillow case set 6&7. Our unfinished walk-in cabinet 8. Finished walk-in cabinet Center: Siyempre, ang center ay aking mga kids. Mahilig magbabad sa bedroom coz it's very roomy now compared to before.

My loveydoves, with my favorite sheet

Toilet & Bath

Taken from the receiving room, lumuwag na rin ang haus namin.

Our old dining set, given by Janet, my sister-in-law.

Taken from dining area, wala pa nuong mga curtains!

Dirty kitchen area >>> (Talagang may dirty clothes pa ano) Ewan ko ba bakit "dirty" tawag dun. But I always see to it na kahit tons of work is done on this area malinis at maayos naman itong area na to. Yes, gusto ko malinis ang house.

2nd floor Receiving Area

Stairs going up

Nicole's room

Maqs' room

Laundry Area: Taken a few days before we leave. This steel trusses will make up our roof for the laundry area just outside the dirty kitchen. Di pa siya tapos dito but they were able to finish this before we leave. Clear polycarbonate ang pinaka-bubong nito para malinis tingnan.

Views from outside the house. Tag-ulan na!

Golden coconut, just outside our house.... Mga 10 years na siya dyan.

Haaay! I do agree, there's no place like home. We missed the house since we're out of the country. In due time, I hope we'll be back and settle here again. Hope you enjoyed the tour!