Monday, December 14, 2015

Gingerbread Building

Happy Holidays Everyone!
This season we're adding another tradition - Gingerbread building.  Our family friends joined us as we built our first gingerbread house and train.  Since we were all newbies at it, we decided to get a kit from Walmart so it wouldn't be a complete disaster lol.

http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=gingerbread+train+kit

This kit came with pre-cut cookies, icing and candies.
We bought extra candy and candy Christmas lights to add our own touch.

Friday, November 6, 2015

Food with Mama - October

I can't believe it's already November!
As you might have noticed, Ian and I did a lot of cooking/baking/diy on our own last month in the Halloween spirit, so we didn't eat out as much.  However, there were a few yummy spots visited (posted on our Instagram and not) so here's our October List:


Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Halloween 2015

Another Halloween has passed.  I'm so glad that this year we got to add a couple more traditions aaaannnnd create another duo costume.

This year Ian and I were Bing Bong and Sadness from Disney's Inside Out.
If you haven't watched the movie yet, I highly recommend that you do.  
It comes out on DVD today!

Monday, October 26, 2015

DIY Halloween Cupcakes

Happy Halloween Week! Adding to our Halloween traditions, I decided I wanted to bake treats.  I got this easy to make kit from Target. Oh how we love target.  It's called the "Graveyard Cake Kit." It comes with chocolate cake mix, Oreo crumbles and gummy worms.  All you need to add is water and butter.

 

Friday, October 23, 2015

DIY Pumpkin Painting

From our previous post, I knew Ian wouldn't be able to join in the carving so during my trip at Target, I got this pumpkin decorating kit. They had all kinds, from characters to pretty gems.  I chose the dinosaur one 'cause it's one of Ian's top 3 favorite things. (Cars and trains are the other two)

This kit came with green paint, a brush and stickers.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Our 1st Pumpkin Carving

It's my favorite time of the year!  As I've shared before, Halloween is my favorite holiday.  Growing up in a traditional Filipino family, we never really got into decorating too much and definitely never carved pumpkins.  Well, this year we changed that :) 

As you might have seen on our Instagram, we went to a pumpkin patch and chose our pumpkins.  Ian is obviously too young to really help so it was MY 1st carving.  Ian made it extra difficult by wanting to sit on my lap most of the time.  It's ok though 'cause at the end he said... "Hi Bat!"

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

The Broad Museum

Today I risked taking Ian to the new Contemporary Arts Museum in downtown Los Angeles.  It was our first time going to an art museum so I was hoping Ian wouldn't be running all over the place or touching.  He did a good job for the most part.

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Food with Mama - September

Now that Ian is a toddler and a ball of energy, going out is fun but also difficult. I think it's important to expose Ian to different environments, people, food, etc. so he can experience and absorb as much as possible. He's always excited when I say, "You're going to go out with Mama today." He raises his arms and with a huge smile, yells "YAY!" ..sometimes he even jumps for joy (usually if I mention Disneyland).

Besides going to the park and Disneyland, I try to take Ian to libraries and museums. The easiest thing to do though (not to mention, a big thing I already like to do) is to take Ian to different food/dessert spots. He has become my #1 foodie partner.

So I've decided to take you on our foodie adventures with us.  At the end of each month, I'll recap on the yummy food we've devoured along with links and yelp reviews.
Make sure to follow us on Instagram if you can't wait 'til the end of the month :)

Here's our September short list:

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Ian's 1st Visit to the Library

As we're nearing Ian's 2nd birthday, I can't help but think everyday that he is growing waaaaaay too fast.  He is so smart, intuitive and curious.  His little personality is showing in a BIG way and I am just in awe of him.

For a while now, I've been looking into ways I can help Ian during these early developmental years. I worry that he's behind verbally because he doesn't have much contact with children his age.  Though I have friends with kids around his age, we don't live close enough to see each other a lot :( . And although he doesn't have playtime with kids, he is very social.  Everywhere we go, he loves to say hi and approaches kids (all ages), pretty girls (yea I know I'll have my hands full with this guy) and really anyone with a smile.

I don't know if I feel comfortable to search out mommy groups but I did look into storytimes for his age range at our local libraries.  Disappointingly, they are during the time I'm at work.  So what, only stay -at-home moms and nannys can take them? Kinda sucks.

As a mama and son day out, I decided to take Ian to a library with a nice kids area.  We walked to the pre-school section and Ian was immediately intrigued.  He picked out books, played with puzzles, blocks, the puppet area and met some kids his age.  We stayed a couple hours and I'm surprised he complied when I said we had to go.  Sometimes it takes a while for him to say bye when he's having so much fun.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Celebrating 18 Months with the Fishies

We've been MIA, I know. If you follow us on Instagram ( @ian_fluenced ) you'll see that Ian has been on adventures, exploring, learning..and GROWING.  He's just too quick and full of energy to stay still for enough pictures to make the blog. And in all honesty, this blog is meant to document, but sometimes it's just better to be in the moment, have it be something that's yours and yours alone :)

But since it's been a while, and I started this blog on his half birthday, I thought why not post on his last "half birthday" celebration.

Ian loves animals, especially aquatic ones.  So for Ian's 18th month, I took him to The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.  It was not crowded at all so I was really happy that we could take our time, not have to worry about kids pushing and shoving and letting Ian roam free.  All he kept doing was pointing and "ooo"ing.  It was so heartwarming watching him as he showed interest, curiosity and wonder.