The Filipino Mom Blog

We are midway through summer and the kids are stating to get bored.

Most summer activities are also halfway to being done.If not, some are finished already with the courses being offered.

Let’s face it, not everyone can afford sending their children to summer activities. Apart from the expenses these will incur (enrollment fees, transportation, food, and necessary materials to be purchased like shoes and necessary clothes), plotting the logistics regarding who and when who will bring the children to the place where they will get their summer enrichment activities also needs to be done.

Most children stay at home during these days that they don’t have to go to school.

So what could be done so that they will not feel bored and restless?

Clockwise from upper right, books that teach how they can draw things, a board game, digital scrapbooking, chess and jigsaw puzzle.

These are just some of the activities that these children can do at home aside from the usual electronic hand held video games that they get to play from morning till night time:

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Wants are things that we love to have simply because. It is something we desire.

It has been said that people have unlimited wants, an endless list of what-to-haves.

When a want has been fulfilled, the next want is next in line. These wants may be important in our perspective or useful in some ways or in the latest fad/fashion or because the want is so desirable the urge to get it is so strong, even if there is really no need to do so.

Needs, on the other hand, are things necessary for us to have in order to live comfortable lives.

We need food, shelter, proper clothes, education, and medicines to make us well and healthy.

Wants versus needs is one important aspect that I feel I have to teach my children. Not just MY children but all children should know about these too.

Why? At their young age, children need to be discerning in knowing the difference between these things.

Why? To help them not to fall prey in desiring things that are not really important and to set their eyes on things that are more important.

Why? Needs are what motivate people to work more purposely towards a certain goal. Needs give purpose as well as directions to our behavior.

One can probably say that wants can give motivation, purpose and directions to behaviors.

Yes, it’s true. But meeting one’s needs may prove satisfying than getting one’s wants.

For in the long run, we learn to value things that are more essential, more important than things that may just be momentarily or fleetingly satisfying.

My husband and I feel we need to teach our children in being able to distinguish needs versus wants as they grow older.

How do we do teach these values?

We start with ourselves.

It’s the 4th and final week (for now) of the Lunch Box Meme. Share what you’ve got up you sleeves, moms and wives! Posting of links will be on Friday.

In February, we’re giving the lunch box a break, so we’re doing a different meme. Stay tuned, or better yet, come around next Tuesday to find out. We’ve got some nice things a-brewing.

~o0o~

Mauie’s Bigger Boy’s Korean Beef Stew

Maver’s Pancit Efuven

Lynn’s Chicken with Sweet Peas (Guisantes)

Julie’s Baked Mussels and Home-Baked Bread

iMom’s Chicken Tocino and fresh pineapples

Cookie’s Karne Frita and Broccoli and Mushroom with Garlic Cream

[UPDATED with round-up below. Sorry for the delay, folks.]

It’s the final week for Fab Holiday Finds and the theme is RED and/or GREEN.

Please leave a comment here if you joined this week. Round-up will be done by tomorrow, Wednesday, morning. My family is travelling back to Manila from Baguio today. *sigh* Vacation is always over too soon.

Anyway, it’s been fun hosting this meme and playing it with you! Next month we resume the Lunch Box Meme. We hope you could play along again.

~~~

Fab Finds:

Ibyang’s red hot accents

MommyBa’s jade ox

Julie’s red tree and tree ornaments

Lynn’s fab daughter’s fab find

Mauie’s prettified tree

iMom’s fab ukay find

[ 2nd UPDATE: Links to all who posted entries are now complete. Sorry for the delay. Holiday bug's bitten me, hehe. ]

[ UPDATE: Round-up posted down below. ]

This week’s theme is GOLD.

Please leave your comment and link here so we know you joined. I will do the round-up tomorrow morning. Tonight I will be on the way to Baguio City to celebrate Christmas there with my family.

And, oh -

Merry Christmas to all the readers of FMB!

May your celebration be filled with making happy memories with your families and friends.

~~~

Our Fab Finds: (Links open in new window)

MommyBa’s gold ornaments

Mitch’s golden shoes

Cookie’s fab tree

iMom’s gold ‘flops

Mauie’s gold bangle

Julie’s tree ornaments

Lynn’s gold pouches

(UPDATED with round-up)

For week 3 of Fab Holiday Finds, the theme is SILVER.

Share the story of fab SILVER holiday find in your blog. I will do the round-up tonight and update this post. Have fun!

~~~

Our Fab Finds:

Ibyang’s Shimmering Christmas

Mitch’s silvery bag

Mauie’s holiday trinkets

iMom’s fasyon ring

Cookie’s silver chiller

Rachel’s fab purse n’ hook

Julie’s silvery… errr… thing and silver pan

Lynn’s daughter’s silver stuff

(UPDATE: Round-up of blogs at the end of post. Next week’s theme is SILVER. ;P )

Fistly, we’d like to thank all the fab finders who participated last week. Wasn’t it fun?!

It’s now week 2 of Fab Holiday Finds, and our theme is WHITE.

I’m having quite a difficult looking for something fabulously white.  But I’m sure we will all come up with something. Don’t we women always do, anyway?

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, will be the round-up. Just leave a comment here and I will update this post with links to your blogs. Go ahead and grab the badge.

Happy hunting!

~~~

Our fab finds: (Links open in new window)

Ibyang’s Fab Folder

Cookie’s White Nativity

Lynn’s Krispy Snowmen

Mauie’s White (and blue!) Cap

Julie’s White Gifts

iMom’s Zebra Clutch

Mitch’s Holiday Cards

(UPDATED with links down below)

It’s our first week to play the FMB’s Christmas meme. Please join us -  share your fabuloso holiday finds. This week there is no color theme. Please leave a link here to your photo and post. Feel free to grab the badge (right-click on image, then select from the options).

I will update this post with your links tonight. Have fun, everyone!

Fab Holiday Finders: 

• Julie and her personalized gift tags - so creative!
• Cookie and how she bagged her finds
• Mauie’s shoe-per fabulous find
• iMom’s orange tree
• Ibyang’s Holiday mat
• Lynn’s rockin’ giraffe
• Cess’ paper-bots (that’s something new!)
• Dexie’s pretty princess cards
• Jenn’s tree ornament project
• Mitch’s Christmas tree
• Rachel’s playful puppies
• Wenchie’s comfy find

Next week’s theme: WHITE

See you all again then!

Only two days to go and December finally rolls in.

In case you haven’t noticed, mornings in the past week have been a lot cooler. Homes and streets are starting to light up one by one. Traffic in the Metro has become more horrible, and malls are full with shoppers even on weekdays.

Christmas is officially here!

To usher in this wonderful season, FMB is hosting a meme called Fab Holiday Finds.

The mechanics are simple:

1.You shop for holiday finds - they could be decor, food, gifts, the clothes you got on 70% off. You can also share about a certain shop or bazaar that simply dazzled.

2. To make it more interesting, let’s do a “colors of Christmas” theme per week. But to give everyone more time to prepare, week 1 won’t have a specific color theme.

• Week 1: any color
• Week 2: White
• Week 3: Silver
• Week 4: Gold
• Week 5: Red and/or Green

3. Post photos on your blog. Don’t forget crucial information such as where and how much. Grab the badge above if you please.

4. Drop a comment on the round-up post here on FMB, so we can link bank and visit you. As with the Lunch Box Meme, we’re doing this every Tuesday this month.

It’s not just the season of buying and spending. It’s also the season of sharing. So please join us and share your fab holiday finds. Let’s see what’s in your stash.

Fab Holiday Finds start on Tuesday, December 2.

The Lunch Box Meme will resume in January 2009.

One of the jobs that we, Mommies, have to take very seriously is preparing lunch boxes for our kids and hubbies. Nowadays, packing lunch isn’t as simple as making a peanut butter sandwich and throwing in a can of juice. With all the healthy options available there is the increasing demand of making nutritious pack-away meals for our family.

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