monday musings

Happy Monday, Bunnies! How was your weekend? Ours was spent decluttering and reorganizing our closets and storage areas. It was a quiet break from the past two weekends of catching up with friends over decadent food and bottles of wine way past the kiddos' bedtimes. But just the same, I felt like the days went by so fast.

I wonder, do you bring your kids with you when you get together with your friends? We've never ever tried leaving the little guy with a babysitter so we always bring him with us wherever we go. To some degree I feel like an irresponsible parent when we lay him down to sleep on the floor (on a blanket, of course) during our late-night soirees but then again we need to socialize and have stimulating conversation with other adults once in a while. I just tell myself that the pros of having some semblance of our pre-parenthood life outweighs whatever discomfort the little guy may be feeling. If anything, it will probably make him a well-adjusted kid in the long run.

something funny

Here's a funny story. As we were getting ready to head out this morning, the little guy pointed at me and said, "Mama look like Dora!". I just had to take a quick shot of what I was wearing to show you. Then he continued to say, "Bud is Boots.". Haha!

If it's any consolation, I'm glad his comment sounded very straight, if you know what I mean.

What made you laugh out loud today?

p.s.
In case you are not familiar with Dora, she's a precocious little girl who wears orange shorts.

the navy blazer

This spring, one of my closet staples is the navy blazer. Without fail, it makes any casual outfit look more put together while still looking relaxed. It just goes well with everything, don't you agree?

blue jeans

colored pants

 

cargo pants

 

shorts

 

an all white ensemble

photos from here, here, here , here and here

pretend play

Do you recall back in the day when playtime meant playing bahay-bahayan (house), office-office and tinda-tindahan (market)? I remember getting a kick out of pretending to be an office manager writing checks and receipts, answering the telephone and pounding on the calculator. When we weren't playing office, we would be outside pretending to be market vendors selling meat and vegetables using carefully selected rocks and leaves. Those were the good old days. Playtime didn't necessarily involve toys. All we needed were a few props and a lot of imagination.

As a parent, I am a huge advocate of pretend play. The Mister and I really make a conscious effort to refrain ourselves from buying the little guy too many toys. We encourage him to find creative ways of playing with everyday things and use his imagination. Today, I brought out some items from the pantry and gave him two paper bags so he could play market-market. He had a blast putting his groceries in his paper bag and hauling them to his imaginary car then arranging them back onto his makeshift pantry shelves. That kept him busy for an hour or so. Just enough time for me to finish up some chores before we headed out to the playground.

How do you keep your toddlers busy?

spring cleaning

Today is officially the first day of spring. You know what that means? It's time for the annual spring cleanup! Sorry to be the one to break the news to you, Bunnies. Let me make it up to you by sharing this helpful checklist from our favorite domestic diva, Martha Stewart, to make the work more manageable.

Happy cleaning!

playground season

Bunnies, I have a confession to make. Lately, I have been obsessing about getting myself a pair of yellow sneakers. My current pair of canvas sneakers needs to be retired soon and I have been on the lookout for a replacement. After seeing this photo, I've been convinced that a a new pair of sneakers in yellow would be perfect for playground season. Serendipitously, as I clicked on my favorite blogs this morning, I was greeted by this post. Fate?

 

Wearing yellow just gives that extra spring into your step, don't you think?

spring colors

 gastrochic

Spring doesn't officially start until March 20 but it already feels like it here in our part of the world. I just love that we can finally take walks outside again without being uncomfortably cold. We even visited the zoo this weekend and had an outdoor lunch picnic to celebrate the warm-er weather.

Speaking of celebrating spring, don't you just love these bright-colored outfits? I never thought of mixing pink and yellow until today. And I'm totally lusting over her yellow jacket! I want!