*snap-snap* Found Project Pie on OpenSnap!

Grab your iPads, moms! It's time to take creative parenting into the delicious digital age!

Creative Parenting is all about feeding your kids' imagination so that it stretches far and wide --whether it be for art, science, even food. YES, FOOD!
And here is where a brilliant discovery on OpenSnap comes in.
With just a few taps on this Ultimate Photo Dining Guide App OpenSnap, I found the delectably creative mecca that is Project Pie!

Not your ordinary run-of-the-mill pizza place, Project Pie lets you customise your pizza the way you want it. By the photo uploads alone on OpenSnap, my kids and I got so pumped to run over to this particular pizzeria to cook up our own masterpieces.

Oh, I can see it now. My Teenage Cheese-Loving Son would go crazy with his mozzarella, feta, gorgonzola, ricotta, and parmesan combination. Heck, he might just throw in a dollop of sausage, chicken, bacon, and prosciutto for good measure. He'd make a classic work of art… but pushed to the hilt!

Meanwhile, my Younger Dine-Like-A-Daredevil Son would go nuts! Like, seriously. He'd whip up something as crazy as, say, a Banana Nutella Pizza. The pie that's good enough as a full meal --from dinner to dessert! This art piece would be something Van Gogh might make in the middle of an off-the-hook party. Hey, yeah!

Just thinking about the possibilities is making me drool. And I have the creative digital masterstroke OpenSnap to thank for that. Food tripping has never been worthwhile and this easy!

We're heading off to Project Pie in a bit. While we paint our pizzas red, yellow, green, and more… why don't you head on to OpenSnap? Let your fingers --or your children's-- discover food gallery upon food gallery in a snap.

For more restaurants and food finds, download OpenSnap app from App Store or Google Play.

Christmas Treasure Hunt

Why haven't I shared this Christmas idea before?! Bad, bad, motherblogger!

We have this little tradition every Christmas. Instead of the usual gifts under the tree or the typical post-dinner exchange gifts among family and friends, we do gift-giving with a little challenge. We do treasure hunting!
The boys wake up on Christmas morn to a map I've carefully drawn some clues on. When they were younger, the clues were more direct. I drew a washing machine, so the gifts were in the washing machine. This year, I've employed a little devious misleading. The Christmas ball would let them think the gifts are behind the tree, but they're actually in the Christmas ornament box in my husband's work shed; the Disney Infinity logo would let them think the gifts are somewhere near the wii console, but they're actually in the car where they put a Disney Infinity sticker early this year.
Next year, I plan to add puzzles and maybe some challenges to the treasure hunt. Maybe like jumping through hoops of fire or something. Lol!

And did I say this Christmas hunt makes for one of the most awesome family bonding? :)

For extra Christmas fun, add a little spice to your gift-giving with a little treasure hunting. I guarantee, that present will be one your kids will treasure forever.

Una sa Pinto: a school art exhibit

When I look for a school, I don't just look at the curriculum.  A good school should offer things beyond books.  A good school should provide a child a variety of venues for total growth.  That's why extra-curricular activities hold a special place in my discriminating heart as well.

Early this month, my sons' school had a students' art exhibit.  You know, the kind that invites parents over to see their children's work on the walls of the school lobby?
Well, not this one.

Off we went to the country's home of artists, the Pinto Art Gallery in Antipolo!
Aside from the colorful road trip, we got to see our kids' masterpieces right next to popular Filipino sculptures and murals in an overwhelming backdrop of art and nature. 

The school made a big to-do about the event, too!

There was an artist registration table at the gate.  A purple thumb means you're brimming with creativity. :)

There was a formal ribbon cutting rite.  Wow!

There were 2 floors of an entire gallery devoted to the collated artworks of the students.  Uh-huh, my jaw dropped, too.

There was massive photo op.  (I'm a mamarazzi --is that even a surprise?  Lol!)
Feast your eyes on...

Miro's Art of Face

Kenji's Jungle Lion

Miro's The Good Gold Place

Kenji's Self-titled wall installation

Afterward, there was a potluck lunch at the Pinto's most spectacular, ultra-huge green grounds.  'Beautiful' falls short in expressing this.

The school's Una sa Pinto art exhibit obviously made every little artist feel big in the world of art.  They felt hopeful knowing that their work can make it side by side with the experts.
For a mere extra-curricular activity,  it did make our boys feel extra special.

See what I mean? :)

Family Project Weekend: DIY Bouncy Ball!

See this?  It's Jupiter.  It bounces.  And we made it. :)

Family Project Weekend came in a bit early because of this snazzy little science project we got from FullyBooked:  Weird Science's Bouncy Ball Factory!  It holds so much promise! :P

Actually, it holds two halves of a plastic orb and 4 packets of colored crystallized powder.  You gotta admit, how all these can possibly become a ball that bounces is intriguing.

Step 1:  We snapped the two halves of the plastic orb to form a vessel of sorts.  The ball-shaped thingy has a funnel on top and tiny, pinpoint holes all around its body.  For what is a mysteryyyy...

Step 2:  FUN!  We poured the crystallized powder in.  A word of warning to OC moms, this is gonna be messy.

Step 3:  We mixed in the colors to form a Jupiteresque pattern for our future ball.  Because planets bounce in our world. Uh-huh.  A little shake gave us a more compact sphere.

Step 4:  Then we submerged our powder-filled orb in water.  We let it stand in that little pool for 3 minutes.  Your container doesn't have to be microwave-safe, of course.  Lol!

Step 5:  We pulled it out and --here's the tough part-- waited for the crystals in the orb to harden.  That's like 5 minutes of hard time for my impatient little scientists.  Painful, painful hard time. 

Step 6:  5 minutes up, we cracked the orb open!

Step 7:  Well, well, well, look who's turned into a ball!
But ...will it bounce?

I think my boys can vouch for that.

Yup, Adora-BALL. :P
Weird Science's Bouncy Ball Factory is available at FullyBooked for Php245.00.  Great hands-on science project you can do with your kids this weekend!  You'll have to explain to them how water hardens crystals though, and how that leads to bouncing.  That's all part of Creative Parenting.  Hehe... good luck!

Yexel's Toy Museum: The Big Picture

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!
We actually have a toy museum!  In fact, it's a museum so awesome, my boys (husband included) were geeking out about it days after we went there.  The place just brims of epic proportions.
Don't believe me?  Then prepare for an overload of photographic evidence!!!

Yexel's Toy Museum is a 3-storey child's Dream Come True and an adult's trip to Nostalgia Land --all in lifesize 3D!  It comes with free-standing works of art.

Set-ups that allow you to sit and be part of the toy scenario.

Movie toys that are larger than life.  Definitely a hundred times larger than your average Happy Meal freebie.

Classic toys that take you back to an altered past where you can hobnob with your favorite film, TV show, and video game characters.

Replicas that are hell authentic!  Uber awesome craftsmanship!  Most of which are encased in protective glass.

And, for the easily overwhelmed by big things, gazillions of miniatures.  Sorry, still overwhelming. :P

But what really floors you is this... the Piece de Resistance!

Optimus Prime in actual size!  What.  The.  Fudge.
The room that encases the gargantuan Autobot is filled with the alien robot's deep, dramatic voice delivering his famous closing spiel in the first movie, blasting away in mega speakers.  Talk about ambiance!

*Photo nabbed from Yexel's Toy Museum's FB page

Now, you know me --I don't just take our kids to any random place for kicks.  I always make sure they get something out of it.  A lesson, or an inspiration.  Yexel's Toy Museum serves that on a Lego platter.  Yexel isn't just a young man who collects toys for display.  He MAKES toys, too!  A lot of which are the lifesized ones in the museum.  How's that for inspiration?

For P300 a pop, you'll never get a toy-filled experience this huge anywhere.
Yexel's Toy Museum, quietly tucked away at Pilar Village in Las Pinas City, is open to the public Saturdays and Sundays, from 10am to 8pm.  Go big and be there!