TWIN-TUITION

aryanna a.k.a. "ai" and mikah a.k.a. "hama"

meet "ai" and "hama." they call themselves the "twin-tuition" or "twinnx" because they have a lot of things in common.

i'm glad my daughter is best friends with mikah. just like aryanna, she is creative, funny, polite, loves sports and music. they have a lot in common and spend a lot of time together doing kids stuff:


rollerblading/skateboarding while pretending to be rock stars...


showing off their skills...


and posing for the camera.
they also do a lot of music videos that are campy and funny. one day, with their permission, i will post it here.

i've always been more fascinated with what's inside of a kids bag than grown-ups. i think they are more interesting, funny and borderline obscure.

what's inside mikah's bag:
clockwise: 'the nightmare before christmas' bag, nokia phone, 2 ticket stubs, mouse with heart bag chain, gel, bronze medallion, 2 unsharpened mongol pencils, ballpen, lighter (according to mikah, she "confiscated the lighter from her mom because she's pregnant. cute!), i pod nano, bills, rosary with virgin mary container, 'messy bessy' hand sanitizer, and a month-old gum.

what's inside aryanna's bag:
clockwise: emily strange bag, lucky star minature doll, mood ring, strawberry keychain, bingo card (why?), prescription glasses, motorola phone, strawberry-flavored "sipahh", tokidoki 'strawberry milk' figurine, emily strange wallet, wind-up sushi, digital tape and nintendo ds.

as you can see, there are so many obsure yet cute things you'll find inside a kid's bag. some things are head-scratchers (like bingo cards, toys and month-old gum), but more interesting than the used tissue you'll sometimes find inside a grown-up's purse. ew.

after playing at the park, the kids get a treat at mini stop.
their favorite: the giant sundae cone! wow. P10 promo.


spotted: we bumped into one of philippine fashion's designer icons, pitoy moreno at mini stop. i introduced the kids to mr. pitoy and he obliged us with a photo op. so cool!

i chatted with mr. pitoy and mentioned to him that when my husband took a photo of him for the phillippines year book a few years ago, he sent me a copy of his book and wrote a sweet dedication. i finally got to thank him personally and he was such an interesting man to talk to.

GUMMI BEARS

warning: contains small parts-not intended for use by children under 4 years of age and boneheaded adults. choking hazard.

i found this gummi bear bracelet at liz claiborne. it was a lucky find as i don't usually go to that store. who knew that liz made cute stuff? maybe izaac mizrahi's wit and whimsy influenced this collection. i knew aryanna would love this accessory.

ichigo: mom, this is so cuuuuute! can i bite it?
buko: ok. i'm sure you'll do it anyway when my back's turned, might as well do it when i'm watching.
ichigo: *bites* you wanna try biting it?
buko: no.
ichigo: c'mon! i know you want to!
buko: no.
ichigo: ccccc'mmmooonn...
buko: fine. *bites*

ichigo: now that we got that out of the way, isn't it liberating?

aryanna inspires me with her outfit choices. it's youthful, fun and cool at the same time.

on ichigo: aryanna snipped the tag of the shirt so we don't know what brand it is, but we bought it on sale at rustan's; skateboard-inspired shorts from bayo, keds patent mary janes and liz claiborne gummi bear bracelet.

TO MR. ROBOTO FROM ICHIGO

Happy Father's Day!

Let's see… How do I even begin? The hardest part about writing something about my dad is that I don’t even know what great things to start with. There's so much to talk about yet so little time for me to write all of it and I might just flood the page with all the awesome memories we had.

So dad… *sigh*

I would like to start by saying, “I love you.”

AND THEN…

Thank you for being there for me… you know… for being fatherly and so.

You always made my day.  You made everything fun for me.  You made eating healthy food exciting in every meal you made. You always pushed me to become a better person and told me to keep going at it because you said I could be the best person I could be. I believe in you. So on this day, I’m glad to say that you have succeeded in raising me as a good child (ahem-ahem) and will continue to that because I want you to be proud of me.

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

xxx.

Love, Aryanna

My dad and I are big fans of UFC. We love watching "manly" fights although mom disapproves. 

My parents are against violence, but karate is so much fun when you have an opponent.

Ichigo: Ooh~ I'm SO scared!

Ichigo: Izzat all you got? 

Mr. Roboto: Don't you dare!

Ichigo: No way, José!

Ichigo: Hiyaaahh!

TKO!

*crowd goes wild*

crowd: I-CHI-GO! I-CHI-GO!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARYANNA!

12 forever.

aryanna just turned 13, but don't dare tell her so as she believes that she'll be 12 forever. that's just fine by tom and i. lol

happy birthday, sweetheart!

aryanna had a mini b-day celebration at her school. since her birthday falls on the same day as the 'international sushi day' (made-up internet holiday), she brought assorted sushi, sashimi, chocolate caramel cake and spaghetti for her classmates and teachers.

our family had a birthday dinner at basix restaurant in dusit hotel.

aryanna decided that she was going to eat all her favorite food because it's her day! let's check out what her faves are...

sushi, roast pork, hard roll and cheese. looks promising...

roast beef with gravy, ementhal cheese (huh) and soft roll. soft rolls are her favorite kind of bread, but since it's not the healthiest thing in the world, she rarely eats it.

observe the concentration.
ichigo: proper buttering of the soft roll is essential as to not ruin the flavor vectors.

assorted vegetarian dimsum

hot choco

chocolate cake

aryanna told us not to buy her gifts anymore because according to her, we already got her a lot of stuff from our last trip to new york. awww.. she's such a great kid!

of course, tom and i couldn't help it and the surprise gifts were all worth it!

aryanna cried when we surprised her with gifts. she melted our hearts.

her current favorite manga books—kitchen princess volumes 2-9. sorry sweetheart, we forgot to buy no. 10.

bagful of assorted candies, colored pens and bubbles!

i found a campy pink superman bubbles for aryanna and she loved it! check out mr. roboto, waiting with anticipation for his turn. lol

shhh... ugar!

cute glittery bow band! i love this hairband she bought at a bazaar, it's so festive!

sparkle! sparkle! keeping within the festive theme, ichigo wore silver sequins chucks on her b-day.

i think our driver had a hard time driving as aryanna kept on flashing the camera in the car. so cute though! notice mr. roboto's "bond" look. hahaha...

we all went nuts with the camera that night. tom took this photo while he was inside the elevator. i looked like a gnome!

if our building superintendent knew half of the crazy things that ichigo and mr. roboto did inside the elevator, he would have evicted us years ago! this is ichigo attempting to press the emergency button. don't you dare! she didn't.

ichigo: where are my gifts? emphasis on the "s".

on ichigo: eley kishimoto gray striped top, dollhouse gray shorts, silver sequins chucks, levi's white watch and sparkly bow band (bazaar find.)