Dear Jaco,

Tatay's back! It's only a few days but it's the best two weeks of the year. I'm so glad that although he's been away for a long time, you guys seem as close as ever. I'm sure Tatay was happy too. Soon enough, we won't need these two-week vacations anymore, soon enough we'll be together (forever! hahaha)

Love, N

Dear Jaco,

Suit up! We went to a very pretty wedding (of Tito Yogi and Tita Tere) in Tagaytay hence we had to be pretty too. :)

[Too bad I didnt have a vid of you Harlem Shaking at the after party hahaha]

Love, N

Suit up!

Suit shopping with the boys was awesome! I'm sure you guys will do more of this in the future. :)

Dear Jaco,

Happy 8th birthday!

I don't know where you got the idea, but you got your wish! A hotel weekend with the boys, swimming and pizza! You guys sure look like you're having fun!

Love, N

Dear J,

Aren't we clever and resourceful? This is the reprise of your Rizal--only now dead in time for Pangaluluwa. I bet when you grow up, you'll remember and talk about wearing tons of homemade costumes made by moi. :)

Love, Nanay

Dear Jaco,

We lived at Ninong's for half a year, and this is what I wake up to:

You guys were so difficult to wake up! But then, we had this:

And these:

air jamming!

random shots of fun! (kuya sting's 1st instagram photo)

And, I leave you with this:

Love, N

Dear Jaco,

You did a lot of drawing in second grade. Robots, comic strips, and even your "essays" in your journals have visual rep. Keep on doodling!

Love,

Nanay

Dear J,

New apartment with our favorite neighbors, ever! Tita Raqs and Oyayi sure made living in Fernandez extra fun. Look at you two jamming in our first week there! I hope you do find music friends when you grow up, like we did.

Love, N

Dear J,

We spend New Year's Eve every year at Grandpa's and my, there's always so much food there. Here you are with this year's spread and a worried look on your face that says "Am I supposed to finish this all?"

Love, N

 

 Dear Jaco,

We spend every Christmas eve at the Balaans and Christmas Day at Sweetheart's, which means... the mall!

You guys took really good pictures, especially when genuinely having fun! Merry Christmas, honey. :)

Kisses, N

Dear J,

Do you remember watching your first real soccer game? You're part of the school varsity, and one of the parents is the manager of the Azkals so we got free tickets to their game with LA Galaxy! Honestly, it was pretty boring (I'm sorry! I really thought soccer was boring, it just gets fun when people start cheering which is what, once every 30minutes?!). But you kids were having fun cheering, and that's what I loved watching.

I hope you get to be interested in team sports when you grow up. It builds a lot of character, discipline, teamwork and a lot of different values that we'd want for you. What do you think?

Love, N

Dear J,

We went to Tagaytay for I-dunno-what with Grandpa, Mamu and the Balaans, and you finally saw the Taal Volcano and Lake. You were just studying that in school!

Love, N

Dear Jaco,

As a family, we do our best to not get bored hahaha. Family mug shot bonding! :))))

Love, N

Dear Jaco,

You got this toy guitar from 2 sisters who vacationed next door: Zoe and Zia. They were polar opposites-one was sporty, boyish and thin while the other was girly, strong-willed and a little healthier-but they were both nice to you. They went back to Dubai after a few months. They tried to reconect with you through facebook but a 6 year old cant do much online right? I hope you find them when you grow up. It's nice to unexpectedly find long lost friends. :)

Love,
Nanay

Dear Jaco,

It's been a bittersweet weekend. We checked-in at the Richmonde Hotel in Ortigas (a family favorite) and had so much fun with your cousins. On the other hand, Tatay has to leave for the US in a few days and hard times are up ahead. Be strong, babe. I hope when you grow up, you remember not the sad fact that Tatay had to leave, but the fun we all had as a family.

Love, N

Dear Jaco,

This is the first house that we lived in as a family. It's nothing much but we had tons of fun in it. Like you guys here on our "porch". :)

When you grow up, i want you to remember that it doesnt matter where you are, the size of your house or what part of the city you're in, what's important is the people you're living with.

Love,
Nanay

Dear Jaco,

Today we're watching Toy Story in 3D. It was just a movie, i know, but we rarely watch one at the cinemas so it was kind of special.

Im sorry if we didnt so it more often. We just thought we as a family could save our resources for more worthy needs. Besides we can watch whatever we want in the comfort of our own bed with our favorite junk food and drinks (our favorite family quality time activity, methinks). More importantly, there are more fun things we can do that won't cost us a cent.

I want you to keep in mind that you dont need to spend a lot to have fun :)

Love,
Nanay

Dear Jaco,

Yes, this happened! The Kili-Killers!

Love, N

Dear Jaco,

You and Tatay love taking pictures of me and each other sleeping. I don't know what for, aside from blackmail, you just did. You guys are weird.

Love, N