Our son, Gabby officially turns FIVE today. Happy Birthday, anak! Your mom and I love you so much! Thank You, Lord for giving us Your greatest blessing.
In line with his birthday and in the spirit of sharing, my wife and I segregated again his old clothes which we’ll donate to the children affected by typhoons. I already brought few kilos of his clothes to my work for similar reach-out activity last week and we’ll do it again this week in response to the request of the organizers of Philippine Blog Awards.
This humble blog is one of the finalists under Family and Living Category on this year’s PBA. Last weekend, I received the official invitation via email to the awards night this Friday, October 09, at PETA theater in Quezon City and with it came a request for all the blogger-finalists and attendees and their guests to bring dry clothes, towels, footwears to the designated area at the venue which they will turn over to the recipients.
CONFESSION : I’m a sentimental fool. I’m attached for a while to some things of the past that usually remind me of remarkable memories. Such things include our son’s baby clothes. It’s not that we don’t like to give them away as most of them are of imported brands, but a lot of these clothes were gifts from my in-laws, relatives and friends.
Then again, we thought of finally donating them to the needy rather than keeping them with no use in our wardrobes. So these few pieces will be brought to PBA Awards night as our little pledge. We’re happy that we’ll donate all of these with our son’s consent. 
His preschool, which is a few blocks away from our place, allows simple birthday celebrations during recess. Since Gabby is a member of TGI Friday’s, TriNoma which gives him FREE KIDDIE MEALS for an entire whole year of dining with them and a free birthday package for 30 kids, we initially thought that we’re spared with the expenses for his birthday party this year.
But just like other nice things with little hassles in between, the free TGIF birthday kiddie package is only available for pick up during store hours, which we completely understand. Problem is, our son’s school recess is at 9:30AM so it will be impossible for us to use the TGIF freebies to their class as his party food. Nevertheless, we decided to claim the freebies today and we opted to reschedule our son’s school birthday party on Wednesday, October 07. My wife is free from work on Wednesdays this semester allowing her to cook and prepare all stuffs.
Tina arranged details with the friendly people of TGIF TriNoma for me to claim the birthday package today at 1PM. Since I’m off from work the whole day, I came to the resto with my cousin earlier than expected.
One our favorite venues for our dates since we’ve met is TGIF. We like Glorietta 3 and TriNoma branches. We go here not only for their great food in huge American-servings but also for the ambiance of this resto-bar. Imagine ski and skate boards, movie posters, whales and big fish, a bicycle and road signs on walls to delight you as you enjoy your plates.
We only waited for 10 minutes for the staff to prepare these…
My cousin and I were surprised to easily lift a tied-5-styro packs in a finger! They were so super light! I almost forgot that these are KIDDIE birthday packs!
Each packs contained fettuccini in tomato beef sauce, chicken fillets and potato chips.
I asked my cousin to bring 10 packs to my dad and siblings and nephew and nieces at our house in Pasig City and the other 10 packs for my aunt, uncle, and cousins whose house in Karangalan Villagae in Pasig was deeply submerged in last week’s typhoon.
We saved the 30 pieces of apple and dalandan juice cups and the packs of plastic spoons and forks for Gabby’s school party.
Tina came home with Breadtalk’s Chocolate mousse with a free little yellow candle for Gabby to blow and make his wish.
Gabby’s request is a Spongebob Squarepants themed party during their 30-minute recess on Wednesday, so despite the fact that we’re on a tight budget, we’ll grant his wish.
Invites were already sent to his classmates. He’ll have his Spongebob birthday cake, Spongebob-inspired loot bags and a home-cooked party meal courtesy of his mom.
Thank you TGIF TriNoma!
Thank you Gabby for being so obedient, smart, God-fearing son.
Carry on, anak!
Happy birthday!
My family and I love to eat veggies, fruits and drink liters of water a day (especially me, I always think I’m an marine creature on my past life if there is such, for my great love for fluid intake). We try to balance our meals AT HOME but whenever we go out on a simple family bonding, say inside a mall or in a stone-throw away fastfood or convenient store, can’t resist when our cravings go haywire 
MANGO SHAKE, PhP 84.82+. It’s near velvety consistency and taste of real ripe mangoes makes it different to other commercial shakes and smoothies.
LA PINAY, PhP 142.86+ This perfectly thin crepe was filled with ample volume of riped mango slices, topped with vanilla ice cream and chocolate drizzle. I swear, this has been the most delicious crepe I’ve ever tasted. Can’t wait to revisit Cafe Breton for another plate! 
CAPPUCCINO, PhP 75.89+. Foam’s just right…a nice way to end a sweet treat.
BAKED ZITI, PhP 150+. Simply flavorful. I always like melted cheese on tomato sauce. Our son even dipped his bread sticks on this serving.
PEPERRONI STROMBOLI, PhP 110+ It comes with a dip of stewed tomatoes and herbs.
OPINION COUNTS…