Parenting Archive

My thoughts on parenthood, and what it's like to be a mom in the Philippines.

That 4 Dresses! Recognition Day Story

because this is the first time that it’s going to happen and theoretically, it may not happen again.. so why not indulge on this occasion? And that’s how the tale of my four dresses came to life. This is the only time where all of them are present in the same recognition ceremony..

Actually.. the 4th dress (or the 1st one) almost didn’t make it. Sila Kuya lang kase ang nasa listahan ng honors. Si Sati top 6 (kung hindi ako nagkakamali) pero dahil top 5 lang ang kinukuha sa Kinder, hindi sya kasama sa may medal. Well, that’s what I thought but each students from pre school were given an award and she’s a Math Awardee!

Kuya is 1st honorable mention, Diko is 2nd honors, Chico is 7th honorable mention and Sati is a Math Wizard! I went up the stage more than 4 times because Kuya has 2 more awards (Award in Sports and Leadership Awardee), Diko got a Leadership Award too! If I had known they’ll be receiving more awards, I would have bought 7 dresses!

Hindi pala madali ang ginawa ko!! In fairness, hindi naman talaga madali magpalaki ng apat na #MultiAchiever (related story:The Challenges of Raising Multi-Achievers)

Nakakapagod magpalit ng damit! But yeah, it was sooo worth it! And that’s what those 4 dresses is all about, this mommy is super duper proud!

Harvest Hotel Cabanatuan Review

My first time to write Harvest Hotel Cabanatuan Review.

That was not our first time in Bataan (related story: Overdrive: Bataan-Pampanga) but it was our first time to look for a resort, on a HOLY WEEK! Well, it was just Holy Wednesday so our hopes are high. We started from Bagac town then to Montemar area then last stop at Las Casas, all resorts were fully booked! So much for impromptu resort hunting!

Harvest Hotel Cabanatuan Review

We end up staying in Cabanatuan. We were trying to book a room at Acropolis (related story: Acropolis North Water Camp and Country Club Review) kahit ayaw ko ng bathroom nila, fully booked din! There was a room available in Microtel (another related post: Short Review of Microtel Cabanatuan) but we end up checking Harvest Hotel first, the husband liked it, check in na agad agad.

The hotel is new! It only opened last December and still on soft opening.

Firs impression: The website could use some tweaking.. ang bagal! People from Hospitality Innovators Inc please take note.

Next impression.. I love the pool! And the room! and the food! and the staff!

Let’s take this Harvest Hotel Cabanatuan Review one step at a time, shall we?

Harvest Hotel Cabanatuan Rooms. I love the room where we checked in. It’s big and spacious. It comes with a queen size bed and when two extra bed was added, the room is still spacious. I can’t help but compare with Microtel where 2 queen bed room is only half the price, though. Anyways, here is the photo of our room and the bathroom:

We got a suite for 4500 PhP (soft opening price) + 2 extra bed which includes breakfast, we paid half the price for the extra bed (extra bed price is 1000 PhP). We paid 5500 PhP for the room + 4 breakfast.

TV with CIGNAL Digital TV.. makes me want to subscribe to Cignal when we move to our new house! Below that table is a mini ref.

Photo of the restaurant that served buffet breakfast during our stay. Buffet breakfast is priced at 400+ PhP per head. The buffet table includes cereals for kids, assorted breads, assorted fruits and 3 viands.

Harvest Hotel Cabanatuan serves the famous Cabantuan Longanisa.. it’s garlicky and very tasty! If you love your longanisa on the salty side, this one’s for you! (sana lang may kasamang kamatis for the real authentic Novo Ecijano experience)

Day 1 buffet choices: Beef tapa, Sardines, the super duper tasty Cabanatuan Longanisa (asan ang kamatis?!?)

Day 2 buffet choices: Bacon, Daing na Bangus, Chicken Sausage

SO that’s the reason why this hotel is priced as such.. the food is really good.. specially the pandesal and the longanisa! and the staff is very accommodating, courteous and eager to serve.

The only reason that we would not go back at this hotel is the lack of adjustable vanity mirror in the bathroom. For someone with an eye problem like me, mahirap mag make up when the mirror is not this (as in this) close to my face (related story: Taal Vista Vanity Mirror). So if you want to see me on your hotel again, FYI, pakipuno ng salamin ang dingding! Just kidding! Bumili na ako ng handy mirror pagdating na pagdating namin dito sa Pasig.

More pool photos for Harvest Hotel Cabanatuan Review

See how shallow the kiddie pool is? Sati’s not afraid to swim by herself! The kiddie pool and the adult pool is only separated by a small division..

The part where the kids are sitting is the small divider of the two swimming pools.

No worries letting the boys swim by themselves.. not just because they knew how to swim but the pool was only 4 feet deep.

TRIVIA: This is the only hotel in Cabanatuan City with a grand staircase. If you are planning to make a gran entrada for your events specially wedding and debut, Harvest Hotel is the place to be. Inquire directly at the hotel for Harvest Hotel Cabanatuan Wedding Package.

Our New Wedding Rings From Zoey.PH

We wanted to move the date 2 months later due to financial constraints but we have to get married before my tummy starts showing signs.. Signs that my mother would not like.. So it was set, March 8, 2003. We got the cheapest “formal” looking clothes we could buy and the cheapest wedding ring that could fit into our fingers. I did not even wore a make up and the bouquet I was holding was a makeshift one. We rode a tricycle on the way to our “venue”. If you could call it such. It was an open restaurant, and we only used half of it, while half was business as usual. We had audience! And the judge, we got him for a discount!

Life was not really easy back then.. So you can imagine that just after our first year anniversary, our wedding ring is already on its way to the pawnshop. Then it was gone, I’m sure it is still about the lack of money why we never bought our rings back.

12 years after… life’s not as difficult as it was but we’re raising 4 kids. Feeding them and sending them to school. We travel from to time and let the kids have fun. One thing though, we never really got the chance to replace our rings. When you have kids, most of the times you put your needs at the the bottom of the list. Fellow parents can relate for sure.

So when Zoey.ph asked me to check out their wedding rings, I said YES! YES! (mala proposal eksena.. sorry! my imagination went wild!)

We got the Frosted Silver Titanium Wedding Ring which is on sale right now at Zoey.ph. From ₱7,980.00, buy the wedding ring for only ₱3,999.00.

When the ring arrived, comes the big wedding ring question: Where to put the wedding ring? Left or Right?

A few readings suggest that the wedding ring should be on the ring finger of the the left hand. It was believed that on this finger, a vein runs that is connected to the heart. Vena Amoris, a Latin name which means vein of love.

But some readings also suggest that it should be on the right hand. This suggestion comes from a verse that says the right hand is the “good and blessed side”. Friends from instagram confirmed this:

Ours would be on the right hand.. because we’re Pinoy! And you know what it means when it comes to the comfort room (Bidet? What Bidet?).

Kidding aside, because we believe love is not about the heart but about the brain, we’re putting it on our hand.

When we started dating, the husband said that love is a decision. Being 18 and soo inlove, I always tell him that it’s not. Love is.. well.. love is a feeling. Or so I thought. After years of being together (and so many arguments) I finally understood what he means by that. So this time, I’m putting my wedding on my right because loving him is the best right decision I made.

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