Minecraft Inspired Birthday Snack Bags

My little man is celebrating his 10th birthday tomorrow.  His birthday happens to fall on a school day.  He's excited to spend his special day with his classmates.  As a simple way of celebrating his 10th birthday, Yohan will give snack bags to his classmates.

Yohan is such a big fan of Minecraft so his dad and I thought of making custom-made Minecraft bags. We bought green fabric bags and printed a pattern of the Minecraft Creeper.  Jules traced the pattern on an illustration board and used a cutter to define the significant parts.  With a bit of black spray paint, we managed to mark each bag with a Creeper's face. 

A snack bag won't be complete without goodies. We're going to fill each bag with chips, biscuits, pretzels, chocolates, and juice. Every bag will have a tag to mark Yohan's 10 birthday.

 

Yohan's Recollection and First Communion

I'm thankful for family and dear friends who took time to write Yohan letters for his first recollection.  Jules and I also wrote him one.  Yohan told me how touched he was by everyone's kind words.

Yohan received his First Communion last Friday. It's another significant milestone worth celebrating. The boys wore traditional barong while the girls donned their beautiful white dresses and veils.  The children lighted their candles and prayed for guidance. During the Offertory, Yohan offered fruits as symbols of good life and thanksgiving. 

I was assigned to read the Prayer of the Parents. Together we humbly asked God to guide our children in their journey in life and to protect them from the temptations that surround the world. 

Witnessing Yohan receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time gave me a sense of happiness and pride.

First Honor

Congratulations Yohan for being First Honor in class again. I'm very proud of your achievements. Thank you for studying hard and always doing your best. Keep up the good work!

How to Make a Cub Scout Flag

This is Yohan's second year as a Cub Scout.  Last year, he had his Cub Scout Investiture.

Yohan is more active in scouting this year.  Last quarter, he was chosen as Assistant Patrol leader of his group.  He came up with their patrol name Dragon and volunteered to make the group's flag.

Making the cub scout flag became a family activity.  Yohan requested white and red fabric from his grandma while I searched for a simple dragon graphic online.  As soon as I found one, I printed it and Jules painstakingly cut the outline.  He placed the stencil on top of the fabric and used spray paint to fill the spaces in the pattern. We made two flags, a white and a red one.

Yohan and I worked on the outlines of the dragons. Yohan decided that the red one will be the official flag of Team Dragon. To complete the flag, Jules attached it to a long bamboo stick.

Earlier today, Yohan went home to share some good news. He had been promoted to Patrol Leader this quarter.  I'm so proud of my young cub scout.

Linggo ng Wika Presentation

My son's school celebrated Linggo ng Wika (National Language Week) on the last month of August. Each level in Preschool, Grade School and High School prepared their own Linggo ng Wika presentation.  Yohan, who is now in Grade 3 were assigned to recite a Filipino poem entitled "Sa Aking Mga Kabata" by Jose Rizal.  The children looked great in their costumes. The boys wore barong tagalog while the girls wore ladies barong.

I'm very proud of Yohan and his classmates for memorizing the long poem.   I know everyone worked very hard for their Linggo ng Wika presentation.

The performance went well although I was a little sad that Yohan was at the back the whole time.  There were three rows and the taller kids were positioned at the back. It would have been nice if there was a little choreography involved that allowed the kids to have some sort of rotation.  I'm sure many parents would have appreciated if all the kids had a chance to go to the front at one point or another. 

A look back at last school year's highlights

It's a brand new school year. Summer is long gone and rainy days are here again. When I think about the past school year, I realized I have a lot of things to be thankful for.

•  Yohan won a bronze medal in the school Math and Science Quiz Bee.  He was a little sad when he  came in 3rd but I told him that I felt very proud of him the moment I found out that he was chosen as a participant in the Quiz Bee.  Winning a medal makes me twice as proud.

• I'm happy that Yohan met a new friend in class. J and Yohan clicked immediately because they realized that they share many things in common.  They both love to read, draw and play video games. Yohan's adviser told me that she immediately noticed that both of them are wide readers.  They both excel in class.   J and Yohan have become best of friends.

• Yohan had his Cub Scout Investiture last school year.  I witnessed the kids light their candles and recite their oath. I went up on the stage to put Yohan's cub scout neckerchief to symbolize his formal acceptance as part of the Boy Scout of the Philippines. 

• I'm so proud of my son for earning an Academic Achievement Award at the end of the school year.  I'm very happy because has been a consistent 1st Honor since pre-school.  Last school year's Recognition Day was very special because my mom was here on vacation.  It was her first time to see her grandson go up on stage to receive a medal. 

• I found out on Recognition Day that Yohan was Ranked No. 1 in the whole Grade 2 level.  I was teary-eyed when I heard the official news from the school administration.  The Top 3 students were given corresponding discounts on the following year's tuition fee. Since Yohan was Top 1, he received the biggest discount. I'm proud of Yohan's academic achievement and thankful for the big savings.

Photo Hunt :: Open

Come and join PhotoHunt

When my son opened page A54 of his Harcourt Science book, he saw this Model of an Insect project.  I helped him create an ant model.  We didn't have all the original materials so we substituted some of the things. Good thing I still had some googly eyes left in my craft box. Yohan was happy about the final outcome -- a fiery red ant.