Short Term Friendships

I have worked with several companies and different people. I have met wonderful friends that I have shared my tears and cheers with. But the sad part of it is I have never had a real-long-time friend. This is more of my choice to keep my distance from friends, because I was once a slave of them.

On my earlier years, it was my passion to keep my friends and stick with them. Being an only child, I never had the brother or sister whom I will be spending my entire life with. I have great parents and a very small family (who, now are all enemies) but never had a person other than them I can call mine. I consulted every decision I made with my friends. I listened to advices, right or wrong. I spent my first paycheck for them. Planned all my free hours with them. Celebrated birthdays, holidays and even Mother's or Father's day with them. I learned about vices, homosexuality, shop lifting, cutting classes and even lying from them.

I suddenly met a man who made me realize that there are things in life that are better done with the people who matters to you the most. Not all things in life needs to be consulted or even told to friends. And that was when I started to be content of my family. God is good and I have a small but happy family.

Since then, I never gave my heart out to a friend anymore. I treated each and every person an acquaintance that will later on vanish as time pass by. I shared a few secrets related to the current time I was with a friend, and shared more relevant stories with more relevant friends. I made efforts in communicating with old friends but they seem to have their own groups and I am not included. 

I didn't know if it was really my fault, or if I made the right decision. I decided, from the time I had my first child, that I will never ever be the kind of friend that I was. And it seems like when I gave less of myself, they didn't want me anymore. 

That was when I realized, I made the right choice. I never had a friend visit me in the hospital when I was confined for dengue and almost died. I never had a friend who visited me in the hospital when I gave birth, twice. I never had a friend who regularly text and chat with me. I never had a friend who shares tears and cheers with me anymore. Where have they all gone? Gone.

This all happened when I stopped giving all myself to them, now tell me, I made the right decision, right?

How to make a paper plate lantern.

As promised, I will be posting the simple steps of crafts we love doing with the kids. This may be a simple start for parents to start bonding moments with the kids.

I'll call this the 'BK Lantern' ~ BK: Bujeng/Kokoi (the kids)

Materials:

• 6 pcs Silver paper plates - Plain ones will do, but the silver ones are more glittery when hanged.
• A few cm. of yarn - any color you prefer (this is for hanging the lantern)
• Japanese paper - the more colors, the better! (these only costs about 10php in bookstores)
• Stapler and a lot of staple wires
• Glue
• Stuff from the art leftovers kit for decorations - good examples are cotton balls (to make Mr. Frosty),art paper (to make Xmas ball patterns or Xmas trees), old Xmas cards, etc.

Steps:

1. Staple the first 4 paper plates together to form 4 walls. Be sure that the silver side of the plates are facing outwards. Make sure to make sturdy walls since this will be the main frame of the lantern. (Mommy and Daddy will take care of the stapling for you kiddos!)
2. Staple 1 paper plate at the bottom of the 4 walls, to make sure that the frame won't go out of place as the Christmas breeze blows from outside the window.
3. Punch a tiny hole in the middle of the last paper plate. Make a loop out of about a 6cm yarn. Shoot both ends of the yarn in the tiny hole and make a big bow, facing the non silver side. Make sure the bow is tight as this will be the 'hook' of your lantern.
4. Staple the last paper plate on top of the 4 walls. Make sure the yarn is sticking outside. Now the main frame of the lantern is fixed.
5. It's time for the kids to explore their imagination and artistic minds. Let the kids decorate the 4 silver walls of the lantern. 
6. While the kids decorate, cut several strips from multiple colored Japanese papers. Cut simple patterns on the strips as this will be the 'tail' of the lantern. After the final decorative touches, glue the strips at the bottom of the frame. Let it dry to make sure it won't fall off.
7. The lantern is ready! Make several lanterns to display around and outside the house.

Check out our Kuya Kokoi's lantern as a guide in making your own. Happy crafting kiddos and parents! I'll try to post more simple crafts for the kids soon.

Happy holidays!

Crafts are fun for kids!

It's hard to keep kids interested on things nowadays. Most of the time, they prefer to watch DVD's or play video games. And because of this, interest in school and the arts are not on their list of fun things to do.

I'm lucky I have a stay-at-home partner who is patient enough to think of ways on how to enlighten the artistic side and interest of the kids, simple crafts we do at home are one of things we do to bond and have fun.

Though this crafts are just simple things, we don't spend much on materials. These are excess things from last year's school supplies or just simple boxes we ask from friends. If you have kids at home who are not yet enrolled in school, it is best for you to introduce crafts as early as now.

My eldest son, Ernest, loves making crafts a lot. A simple cartolina posted on our wall gives him the creativity boost to pick up a few popsicle sticks and cotton balls to make his own little farm.

After the school's costume parade at SM The Block, the kids are very eager to make costumes out of recycled materials similar to what his schoolmates made. Daddy decided to gather the materials by asking some of our good friends for boxes they don't need anymore. A few construction paper, lots of glue, a model Spongebob stuff toy and markers made the recycled costume project a hit. We made 2 Spongebob box costumes and the kids loved the finished product. (Pictures are shown at the end of this post)

And now that the Christmas season is fast approaching, I was surprised by Daddy's enthusiasm to make Paper Plate Lanterns. I was at work and while waiting for me, he and the kids made cute lanterns only by using silver paper plates, some yarn and Japanese papers. I am very proud of what they have made (Photos shown below.)

I'll be sharing the steps on how to do these crafts on this site soon. And I guess it's also time for parents like us, to start being crafty and boosting the artistic side of your kids. It's worth the time, effort and "kalat". It will definitely be one memory the kids will never ever forget as they grow old.

My kids Ernest & Jose (far right) with classmates Gab & Tristan (far left) @ the mall before the costume parade.

My boys as Ben 10 (Jose) & Superman (Ernest).Pictures being taken by other parents. I'm a proud Mom!

Our family's version of Spongebob Squarepants. Craft made of recycled boxes, art paper, cartolina, glue, marker and lots of creativity.

Ernest's Paper Plate Lantern made of silver paper plates, yarn, Japanese paper and staple wires.

Getting ready for the Christmas season!

The head of our artistic department, Daddy Manny! I'm proud to have a husband who's never out of patience to do anything for the love of our kids. I love you!

It's such an amazing feeling that simple things like this can brighten up the day of your kids. So why wait, start your own Family Craft Gallery today.

To help you guys out, I'll be sharing the simple instructions of our projects on this site soon. Check us out! Let's all get crafty together!