Last week, my students and I did something different. For one session, my two young guys and I baked banana bread. We did it the easy way because it was their first time to bake something with a non-HE teacher so I used a ready mix-just add bananas, egg, oil, and water type of mix.

Here was the finished product (with watermark of my food blog, Tummy Fillers):

We had three of those mini loaves and ate two. The third one, we cut in half and they brought home for a taste test with their moms.

One of them even joked that if he is able to bake well, he will probably put up a bakeshop complete with high-tech baking equipment and even POS systems.

For another student, we did origami of a basic boat and a cat, which turned out to be a bit difficult for her. And me too, lol.

Here is a video of the origami cat that we did:

This week, we will do more origami for Mother’s Day.

I recently had the little room where I teach renovated. And I discovered some little things I have already forgotten I have.

Some are:

• art kits which include lacing materials as well as beads for bead work art (I wish these were Ocean Fossil Jasper beads though and not the plastic ones, lol)
• storybooks I have forgotten about
• school supplies like crayons, pencils, scissors and glue (it hardened already, argh)
• toys that needed a lot of cleaning

Some children will be happy using these art kits for our arts and craft activities for the remaining summer days.

Decluttering takes us back down memory lane. I know because I did that with the home library and though it was hard to get rid of things I haven’t used, I had to do it mercilessly.

Photo Stories Pixie Pixels is my photo blog.

Greenbucks is my Flickr account where blog photos are stored. I also have photos in this blog.

I use Canon point and shoot cameras (not necessarily cheap canon cameras). Sometimes people are surprised when they see me bring out my small camera. A lot of times when people see my photo blog or my other photos online, they ask what my camera is and get surprised when I tell them I use this small Canon A530 camera.

Sure, I know I need an upgrade already but there are other financial obligations I must fulfill and frankly, much as I want to have a new camera, that is at the bottom rung of the things I need.

I take photos for fun and if I decide to go up the ladder and be a professional (naks!) I’d be getting a bigger camera. I would need to take photos and use it to earn back my investment,

Children are drawn to horses and they would love to try riding on one or even riding in a calesa being pulled by a horse. There is something about horses and children that just click and it is not just a phase they go through because if this phase was encouraged, I’m sure these children will even grow to love the sports connected with horses.

According to Franklin Levinson, an authority in natural horsemanship training:

Horses, being naturally social and inclined to appropriate interaction with whoever is with them, are a perfect manifestation of nature for children to interact with, become empowered by and have an experience that expands their world immensely.

My children are no exception. When the nearby city park still had horses for horseback riding, we used to bring my then only child eldest daughter to experience riding on horses. We seriously considered enrolling her in horseback riding lessons but we didn’t have horse equipment.

I got some photos of them on a horse (but I think it’s in the EHD already) and they said they can’t wait to be on one soon. I hope we can grant their wish to ride on a horse again soon.

My son is required to email our family photo to his drama club coach for their play “The Cat Painter“.

He told me he had an idea about how we can do the photo shoot: we sit all together on the sofa with him in the middle holding the guitar we got them for them last Christmas. It’s not ibanez acoustic guitars yet but maybe when they can play better…

Last night the hubby had them listen to Trios Los Panchos, which was a group my late FIL listened to.

“La Cucaracha… La Cucaracha…”

We will be doing this photo shoot later using his idea.

No SPEED Limit yearly benefit run is happening on January 29, 2012. This run is sponsored by the Ateneo SPecial Education Society or Ateneo SPEED.

There are several categories to choose from: 3k, 5k, 10k and 15k. The route will be inside and outside Ateneo Campus.

This run is for the benefit of teacher development of Batino Elementary School, a public special education institution in Quezon City. continue reading this entry »