From a mother's heart

Allison Zicree celebrated her first birthday on May 13, 2009. She passed her one year exam with flying colors. A month later her mom noticed that her active and lively girl was becoming listless after 3 days of fever. She stopped crawling, standing and bouncing. On June 12th, Allison's mom took her to the emergency room, and never left. Allison was diagnosed with Leukemia AML M7. The only way Allison will be a survivor is by finding a bone marrow donor.

follow her story: www.teamallisonz.blogspot.com

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October 17,2009:

"At 7:35 tonight Little Allison grew her wings and went to Heaven. it was peaceful and painfree for her. She was surrounded by friends and family and lots of love during her final day on earth. Thank you all for your endless thoughts and prayers for our angel baby." written by Nicole Zicree.

Baby Allison as sad and tearful we are that you have left this Earth, I feel that you are in a much safer and comfortable place...no more pain, no more suffering. You are our newest angel to watch over us. I pray that your parents Nicole and Shaun find comfort in knowing that you are in Jesus arms once again.
I may never had gotten the chance to feel your arms around me or hear your laughter but you've managed to touch my heart through your pictures. You were a fighter and a courageous bouncing baby full of love and happiness. In the short time that you've been here with us, you have touched and inspired many of us...rest in peace Angel Baby, rest in peace.

Let the madness begin...

Guess who is turning 2 in a couple of weeks? Oh yeah only a couple of weeks...and I (we) just decided to celebrate the upcoming birthday with a party. I tried to avoid doing it at the house due to parking restraints for guests but since I didn't prepare financially so that I could get the rooms at Torrance Civic Center I will have to settle for the house in hopes that my guests will eventually forgive me. I am adding in the invites about the rules of where to & not to park. One of the negative things about being in a gated community.
Today its official...I finished the guests lists and ready to slap on the addressed stickers so that I can mail them off tonight. With the help of Costco and Julie's suggestions (Thanks) the invite was finalized to be Hello Kitty themed with round circles of red, pink, green, yellow and blue-not too girly.
Next on the list is to order the cake, reserve the tables & chairs and air jumper. Hopefully there is a Hello Kitty one...otherwise I will have to settle for Disney Princessess but its still going to be a HK themed party...shoot Celeste & I already have the shirts to wear-HK of course.
Check out what I got for me while "visiting" the Sanrio store...
I am planning on not doing balloons this year and make these really cute tissue pompoms that I saw a couple of my internet/FB friends did for their parties. They got the instructions from Martha Stewart. I'll try one out and see how hard it is...some how doing it DIY seems to be the in thing lately for parties...could be due to the recession getting out the creativity out of us.
Its all a labor of love...basically it will take time so time for me to start...let the madness begin. :)

My Lolo Apin

Serafin Maranan
RIP September 25, 2009

He Will Always

Be Remembered
As we share
the stories
and the memories
of how he lived
his fruitful life
and how very much
he meant to all of us

Celeste @ 6:30am on a Friday

Sent from my iPhone

Back to school 9/8/2009

Back to school started yesterday.

Celeste had been gone for a whole week last week due to mysterious rashes that showed up Monday morning continued to get worse up to Wed. Took her to the Md but they couldn't tell me what it was but was at least able to tell me what it was not: Chicken Pox. The rashes were never itchy, no fevers, no irritability (not more than usual), still had the same funny personality and ate the same amount as before. I kept her out because it just looked so bad and I didn't want the other parents in the daycare to get worried that their child might be exposed to something. I used Benadryl cream and Hydrocortisone for the areas in her face that she did scratch after waking up from her sleep/naps. By Friday it was almost gone and Monday came and she was back in school.


Rj started his first day official day in Kindergarten. He had been slowly transitioning into the new area through out the summer break in the daycare. Most of his friends are there and we already know the teacher Miss Monica. I got his uniforms from Target, tried them on Saturday night and he liked it. Monday morning came and we were both happy and excited about starting Kinder after all according to him "I am a big boy now mama."
It seems like it was only last year that we started him in the first daycare at Children's Place and now he is in Kindergarten...time does fly fast.
Thank goodness both kids like going to school-it sure makes it alot easier on me when I leave them.

Rj with his Kinder friends

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Eating breakfast in school

My Mommy turns 60

Mom turned 60 last Monday but we didn't get to celebrate it until today, Thursday mainly for 2 reasons: #1: Julie arrived back from Cambodia on Monday, #2: I am off tonight.

I put together a simple menu of fish dishes, and pancit for long life. A little cake here, a little singing there and it was a little party to celebrate the most influential and inspiring person in my life...my Mom.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Notice Rj's hand sign....he has inherited it from my Mom :)
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The Happy Party #2 Cake from TLJ on Sepulveda
had blueberries inside-Yummy!

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the little decorations after the kids were done with it....
it was hard to bite! But not too sweet.

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Celeste tried to or maybe did touch the cake....
hehehehe

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More food..

She's back

She's back

I am doing the happy dance because my sister is back. Wooohooo!!!! Now
I can breathe a sign of relief. Looking forward to hearing about her
adventures soon. I'll leave her be to get over whatever got her sick &
jetlag. Besides I've got work until Thursday
& the kids stayed home due to Celeste not feeling well - probably cuz
her molars are coming out. I saw 2 the other day. Poor thing can't get
comfy.

Sent from my iPhone

Car Fire

While on our way to Glendale, on 110S by Adams St. we saw this. It's a Saturn. Hopefully the driver got out & no one was hurt. A few seconds later a fire truck was at the scene. Thank goodness we were going the opposite way....Scary!!!!





Sent from my iPhone

The Americana @ Brand

Sunday morning started out late for us because we were still recovering from the food filled birthday party from Saturday (pics can found here: Camie's 18th Birthday )
We all wanted to go somewhere but didn't know where until I remembered this place that I've heard from my gal pals from the Nest...the Americana @ Brand. Its an open air mall. I missed the get together they had and was still curious. Lucky for me Ryan was game to drive that far. Its in Glendale.

Since we were in the neighborhood we visited this place finally...

And these are what we found at the Americana to keep us entertained:

The view of the train from the parking lot

Of course after a long car ride with kids where would be the first thing we would look for but the restrooms. Quickly looking at the directory we headed down to the said location in hopes that Rj makes it..and he did. After that we discovered this:

HOW COOL IS THIS ??? I would like one in our home :)

I couldn't resist not taking a pic of this ensemble...I can dream right?

The fountain that happens to have ...

a water show at 4pm

Waiting patiently to ride the train

The original plan was for Rj & I to ride the train to take us to the other side of the place where Ryan & Celeste would meet us. Well wouldn't you know it that no one got out of the stop we were at and the train was full...so we still had to walk to the other side to get on the train. It all worked out because the 4 of us got to ride it together. It was a 5 minute ride that basically goes through the whole mall. It was cute and the best part was that it was free.

The Americana has apartments for sale on top and the stores (high end ones too ie. Barney's, Tiffany's & Armani Exchange) are at the bottom. Gorgeous lay out with grass areas and a covered playground that happend to be a HUGE hit with my kids.


On summer nights during the week they have concerts on the grass area. Lucky for us there was a band singing Michel Buble-ey songs...kept me entertained and ...

got Celeste to dance.

A Pinkberry Family moment:
it may not look like the boys didn't enjoy it but trust me-they did.

Please pray for Julie

Dearest Family,
I just an email from Julie's pastor that she is sick. They mentioned that it might be food related. She is still in Cambodia.
Last I heard from her in FB was that she had a fever. Oh geesh I feel so helpless. I was dreading this kind of news because I can't help her - she is so far away.
She is suppose to be returning home sometime next week.
Please add her to your prayers that she is ok and will be home safe soon.
-Mahalia

Short notice family dinner

With the short visit of my Dad and Mama Lit to Los Angeles, I was able to squeeze in an impromptu dinner with my Santos family. I was so touched that most of them made it inspite of their busy schedules (ie. jobs and school). Thank you for taking the time to spend time with us. I feel so blessed and loved...just hoped they liked my "cooking" hehehehe.

Preview of our Family Photo session

Last Sunday we went to Travel town to meet up with a friend of mine who is a photographer and did our family photo shoot. I wanted to catch the childhood of the kids before they grew up too fast. I also wanted to have them take pictures of the kids with the grandparents. We had fun time. The following pictures are the previews my friend posted on her blog : www.jlvphotographyblog.blogspot.com
I am so happy at how these turned out that I am so looking forward to seeing the rest with the grandparents. Enjoy!

End of the month

Its been an interesting month for sure. Here are some highlights:
1. Mother's Day: We visited Grandma Gloria before heading out to the Martin's House. Celeste unfortunately fell asleep in the car so it was only Rj that came down the car. He prayed beautiful at Grandma & Grandpa's website. Then asked why they were under the soil. He did mention remembering Tita Tessie's funeral and asked if it was the same thing.

Enjoyed the company and entertainment with family. Celeste was very interested in the dogs. She especially enjoyed playing with Sonic who was pretty calm with her. Someday we hope to get another dog. Zeena showed her "Bang" trick but for some reason was confused when Tita Susan tried it on her. Of course Guitar Hero was in the house too. Awesome time!
2. With the low census at work I've been getting alot more days/nights off than usual. I used that time to be with the kids of course. Managed to get see some new movies. Even saw Nights at the Museum with just Rj and me. Its just amazing how he can sit through the whole movie at a young age. This time he was really paying attention to the movie and would ask me questions during the movie with a lot more louder voice than usual.
3. Had the scare of my month. I got a call from Mom's work and they told me that she fainted at work and was taken via ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital. After putting the phone down I found myself unable to think clearly. I found it almost impossible to keep myself together but I did. I called the hospital to find out if she really was there and they couldn't locate her name. They nicely gave me the number to call the other hospital near that area and they too did not have her name in the system. Sitting in the van at the Belmar guest parking while waiting for Julie I found myself thinking "They lost my mom!" Not a good feeling. After calming myself down I called the first hospital and she was in their ER. Spent the rest of the day there until they had to transfer her to Torrance Memorial to further find out if the cause of all this chest pain and fainting were heart related. The following day she was discharged because all the tests were negative...Thank you Lord!! The symptoms of a heart attack on women is not the usual classic signs for men ( chest pain, with numbness to the left arm etc.) Sometimes it can feel like really bad heartburn...
4. There are some changes going on at work due to the changes in the economy so alot of my coworkers are uneasy and nervous. I figure as long we still a job we are doing ok. Personally I think the change will be beneficial to us all-patients and staff.
5. Finally made the jump and got me the iPhone. All the more I am connected to the internet and facebook...hee hee ! Not to mention a gazillions apps of just about anything.

FYI: Rj will be graduating from PreK & the ceremony is on June 19. I didn't even know they had such a thing.

Allelujah!!!

Thank goodness the internet is back to normal at home. Now I am not stuck using my iPhone to get my net fixes off Facebook and Twitter. Maybe now I can update this blog more often.
Yeay!!!

Easter 2009

Sorry to say that I didn't really make a big deal about Easter this year. I was planning to at least have the kids go to some egg hunt Saturday but didn't happen. Good thing when I got out of work early Friday night I was able to find prefilled Easter Eggs at Vons (prefilled with candy). I was so relieved because I was dreading putting together those plastic things with candy all by my lonesome. I was hoping to use it either Saturday or Sunday...depending on how the mood was of the rest of the family.
Early Saturday morning I was awaken due to a phone call & Mom was asking to have lunch with us or brunch. At that time the only person that was really awake was Celeste. Once we all got together we headed to LB to pick up Mom and Julie for some Bubba Gump only to realize that there was a grip of peeps for some event and we headed to good ol' Boiling Crab. After dropping off Mom and Julie back to LB Ryan and the kids were in the backseat pretty much knocked out.
Rj started crying for a Spongebob toy after seeing a poster from a Burger King drive through. I choose to ignore it & figure he will get tired and eventually stop. OH NO HE DIDN'T. He kept on going until finally I decided to go the BK near our place. Amazingly the whole time he was crying, Celeste and Ryan continued with their nap.
The next day we were going to have Ryan's family come for dinner. One of his Aunts from Philippines is here with her 2 sons. Sunday morning we went to church then headed back home to prepare not thinking about what to eat for lunch since we had some left over shrimp from Boiling crab. Good thing we had passed by to get some chicken wings & shrimp stuff from this new place Ryan wanted to try because when we got there Mom and Julie were there for lunch. I was not expecting them until dinner since that is what we said the day before. Then Mom told me that she told Ted to come too. In the end of it all we enjoyed the spur of the moment eating frenzy with bacon wrapped chicken liver (a specialty of Daddy Panny) and what ever else we had. I just wish I had more food to share.
The Easter dinner went well with lots of food and a grip of people. The house was ALIVE! Rj helped me hide the 16 prefilled eggs in the backyard. I was thinking there would only be 3 kids-there were more. In any case they were all excited and I at least know that each kid at least got 2 eggs. Too much candy is not good for them anyway. Celeste just had the usual dazed look since I did not prep her on how to look for eggs. She will learn for next year. Plus it was way past her bedtime.

Going for Eggs

Rj made his own Easter hat

There's probably more pictures in Facebook.

Rj's security pillow cover

I am sure we each had something similar when we were kids- a security something. Mine was a specific pillow and it was more about a specific corner of the pillow that was my security item. I was forced to get rid of it when I was about 10 or so because we were migrating to US and was told I would get a better one-I am still in search.

Now back to Rj. Rj has always had a special place for this one particular pillow cover. Its flowery and made of flannel. It was part of a whole bed sheet set that came with two pillow covers, top and bottom sheet from the internet. Which basically means I can't find it again. When he started going to daycare at the tender age of 17 months he would drag that cover all over the place. He would not sleep anywhere without it. It was so bad that I sacrificed the top sheet to make more smaller versions of the pillow cover for traveling purposes. He too was using the one corner of the pillow to aid in sleeping. He is now 4 years old and one morning decided he was done with the pillow cover & corner. One morning he gave the pillow to me and Ryan and said " I don't need the flower pillow anymore." Ryan and I stood there dumbfounded. We decided to hide it in Celeste's closet in case Rj decides to change his mind. Up to now he has not asked for it since. He is a big boy after all. 

a survey

Copied from Facebook-Thank you Elisha

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Copy, paste, and replace with your own answers...

Couples Survey

♥ Fill it out and let's learn about you and your better half!

♥ What are your middle names?
Mine: Carr
His: Allen

♥ How long have you been together?
10 years

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
3 months?

♥ Who asked who out?
I don't remember

♥Who said I love you first?
I think he did

♥ How old are each of you?
Me: 27
Him: 27

♥ Do you have any children together?
2 kids: Rj & Celeste

♥ What about pets?
Daisy (RIP) & Mightydog (RIP)

♥ Did you go to the same schools?
Apparently we did but didn't know it. While I was taking nursing classes in the daytime he was taking environmental classes at night upstairs.

♥ Are you from the same hometown?
Nah

♥ Who is the smartest?
He is

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
I think I am but there are times when I think he is.

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Before the kids almost everywhere

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Cancun, Mexico for our honeymoon

♥ Who has the craziest ex?
Probably me-"stalker" guy ew!

♥ Who has the worst temper?
For sure me

♥ Who does the cooking?
This is an easy one to answer: NOT ME!

♥Who is the most social?
Another easy one: For sure HE is. He even talks to the people we sit next to in the movie theatres.

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
None

♥ Who is the most stubborn?
Me for sure

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Me again

♥ Where was your first date?
I think it was at Mami King but then his cousin was there so does that count? If not it would be at the movies to watch " You got mail."

♥Who has the bigger family?
I think it al evens out

♥Do you get flowers often?
Nah-only on important occasions

♥ Who do you spend the holidays with?
We are married so each others family

♥ Who is more jealous?
That would be Me

♥ Who sings better?
Neither

♥Who does/did the laundry?
Both of us

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
For sure he is

♥ Who drives when you are together?
Ryan does - I stay in the back with the kids

♥ Who picks where you go to dinner?
I do since I am usually the one thats picky

♥ Who is the first one to admit when they’re wrong?
I think he does

♥ Who named your pet?
Daisy I did, Mightydog he did

♥ Who wears the pants in the relationship?
He does

♥ Who has more tattoos?
Let me check I will get back to you.

♥ Who eats more sweets?
I think he does I just have a weakness for soda

♥ Who cries more?
Me

♥ Are you still together?
As far as I know Yes :)

Out & About

On a rare warm Saturday when all 4 of us were home we headed out early and started off at Wilson Park for some lunch. Met one of Rj's best friends from school and his parents. It was random.  Then the kids were off to riding their bikes-well for Celeste it was more like being pushed in the bike.  Later we ended up at San Pedro at the Korean Bell. Never been there myself and it had an awesome view. The kids were just happy to be out and about in the fresh air. Lots of people took advantage of the warm breeze and had their kites flying high. On the way to the playground we met one of our good friends, Rezell and her daughter Alexis. She was there for a picnic with her gal pals. On the way out we got abit nosey and came upon the LA Raid show. Apparently they do some re-enactment of the raid and a couple of WWII bombers flew by. All in all a very interesting day-the best part was that we were there as a family. Even had a picnic in the van with some yummy Yoshinoya. 

Lola Fe's 80th Birthday

Lola Fe is one of my favorite Grandmas on the Maranan side of the family. I remember going to their house in the Philippines and playing with my young aunts and uncles in their huge front yard plus they had dogs. It was always such a treat for me to visit them. She is married to my Lolo Apin who is the brother of my grandpa (dad's dad) and also was the classmate of Lolo Mel in dentistry school. The food was good-all you can eat brunch buffet at Luminaria's, the entertainment was hilarious (Great job April!) and the company was the best. I think even my kids had a good time. Rj was so proud when he was the winner of the centerpiece. And Celeste finally warmed up to being with the new people.
Here is the link of pictures taken at the party done by Swanky Photography. I personally think the pics look awesome.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aprilandron/sets/72157614436532365/

I have a new assistant

The future looks bright.

Next is to teach her to do laundry & separate whites from colors

Vday turns out to be better than Christmas

A visit from Nanay Juliana entertained the kids

Oh yeah and my toy from Papa-plus the Wii Fit

Christmas can come twice a year.

Sadly though all I had for him was a couple of home made cards from

 me & the kids with their pictures *hangs head in shame*