Happy mother's day!

There are so many mom-profiles: 

Working moms

Single moms

Full time moms

Soon to be moms

Hoping to be moms

Mom of moms

Different terms with a common goal: to be the best mom to their offspring.

Cheers to us all :)

Summer School: Day 4 and 5

Thursday - Zoe's OTD

Showing off her bag design

Friday - Water play day

Zoe loves dancing to this Hi 5 song

Mother's Day gift

Today, I received the most expensive bag in the world. Zoe gifted me with an eco bag that they designed at school. She painted the words 'I Love Mom' on the side of the bag and I couldn't be happier to receive such a special gift. Thank you very much baby girl. Mommy will keep this bag forever :)

Failed Week at Insanity

Since we don't have a helper right now and there are a million of things that  needed to be done at home, I haven't been able to work out :( I did a 30-minute stint at Max Interval Circuit on Tuesday but that's just about it. I need to figure out a way to squeeze in my daily work outs even for just 30 minutes.

So help me.

Summer School - Day 2 and 3

Day 2 - 'Summer is..'

Zoe's OTD :D

One of her favorite activities - draw tracing

Like daughter, like mommy ;)

Singing to 'Skinny Marie'

Putting her picture on the attendance wall

At the sandbox 

 Day 3 - 'The sun is hot!'

Zoe made a 'smiley face' drawing and got a 'super' stamp!

About to make pancakes

She volunteered to pour the flour. Good job baby girl!

She had fun mixing the batter

Artwork time - painting her 'sunglasses'

Prayer before snacks. Look how angelic she looks :)

'This is yummy Mommy' - Zoe

airplane shaped pancake

Summer School Day 1

It's Zoe's first day in summer school and we were all excited as a family. In fact, I was so excited I found it hard to sleep the night before. Pathetic? Ok, maybe.

Since we are newly yaya-less, we almost got late for class but we made it just in the nick of time. Zoe was assigned to classroom 9 headed by Teacher Che and Teacher Nappy (which Zoe found funny since this is the term we use to refer to 'diapers'). Here's Zoe's first day at school outfit.

The day started with individual play. They were encouraged to draw, play with toys, and paint. At first, Zoe was shy but she eventually went up to Teacher Che and they picked a book to read. They were given individual drawings with their names on it which we found out was actually for their own cubbies where they can put their bags. Zoe chose a purple paint for her drawing which matched her purple dress. When my husband walked into the classroom, Zoe ran to him and almost didn't want to let go of him. But I guess she was so excited to try things out that she let go of his arm and went back to the table. We were so proud of how behaved and participative she was ;)

They went on to circle time where they were given their own 'stars' to put their 2x2 pictures on so they can paste in on the class tree. They also sang songs and did a little bit of dancing. I was so proud to see Zoe dancing and singing along very well. Oh my gosh, this is it, proud-stage-momma-teary-eyed-moment..

After their circle time, they were taken to the playground. Of course, Zoe loved it. She tried everything from the big slide to the small slide, to the play house, to the jungle gym, to the swing. After the playground, they all washed their hands in preparation for snack time which consisted of Twinkles cereal and Milo. After snack time, they sang a song and read a book in conclusion to their first day.

We were given individual folders with information sheet to fill out, welcome letter, and a calendar of activities (which also had their snack schedule and theme for the day). Dan and I are sooo excited for Zoe and we're very happy to see our daughter very excited for school as well. We commended her for her for her good behavior and participation today.

Yaya-less

Zoe's yaya asked for a day off on Saturday and promised to be back on Sunday. Yesterday afternoon while we were already expecting for her to arrive, I got a text message saying she won't be able to come home because her grandmother passed away and her brother took her to the province for 4 days. In short, she came up with the biggest weave of lies so my husband and I decided to let her go and to not accept her anymore. 

Little did we know that we shouldve done this a long time ago. My 2 nieces who are currently staying with us at home told me that this yaya has been spanking Zoe at times particularly when my daughter refuses to take a nap. They weren't really violent spankings, otherwise, I wouldve noticed it but still, she SPANKED my daughter when my husband and I NEVER did. This comes to me as an answer to my daughter's sudden unexplained bruises and scratches that I see whenever I bathe her. This is probably why this damn yaya would always be in a hurry to bathe my daughter even when I clearly tell her to wait for me, as bathing my daughter is one of the ways that I can do an overall check of her body for anything suspicious.

So to cut the story short. We are yaya-less at a time that both of us are working. It's very difficult and will be even more challenging especially when my sister goes back to school and my 2 nieces leave for Germany. Honestly, I was expecting to be very hysterical and all but for some reason I feel relieved. Maybe it's my instincts telling me that my daughter is out of danger. The person whom I've trusted so much is finally out of the door. I don't even want to go on lamenting how we treated this helper like a family and so on and so forth because that's who we really are. Helpers nowadays are MORE ABUSIVE than they are HELPFUL. 

I hope to find a replacement yaya very soon cus we really need it. This time, I will be more conscious and will take on installing CCTV cameras in our house.