New Year 2016 And A Look Back on 2015

Hi there! I know it's a little bit late but let me just greet all of you a Happy New Year and I hope that all is well. We haven't updated the blog for weeks already except for the very first post I made this year which has also been long overdue. I swear I've been meaning to blog for the past weeks, backlogs have piled up already but I just couldn't find the time. I admit that all these mommy duties overwhelmed me big time especially that we don't have a helper. I had several attempts to blog but I easily get distracted even with the smallest of things that my kids do, so I end up with nothing. Also we all know that December is one of the busiest month for all of us. My kids and I got sick too just imagine how much of a stress that was.

Because of the terrible headache we missed the traditional New Year's eve family picture. I'm just glad that they were able to take photos of the kids wearing their Chinese outfit which we bought earlier that day.

New Year's celebration wasn't also that great as I had a terrible headache few minutes before 12 midnight. I was just on the bed waiting for the medicine to take effect which actually took longer than I was expecting therefore I missed the Media Noche. However the next day we all went to SM Southmall to celebrate New Year's day, our first family date out for 2016.

Husband and I then took advantage of the remaining days before classes finally resume. We went on our first couple date this year; a spa date at The Spa and then we watched Beauty and the Bestie. Which I will be blogging about soon.

We thought of starting the new year the best way possible, well we did but unfortunately the very next day, I got sick with flu. I was sick for almost a week and wasn't able to perform mommy duties, good thing Jaear was here.

Alright so that pretty much sums up the event that took place during the holiday season and the reason why we were idle for the past weeks. So now as we transition into the new year, I would first like to take you to a quick look back on the relevant events that happened last year.

Our eldest graduated from Kinder 1 March last year which was held at the Philippine International Convention Center. He got the "Most Cheerful Pupil" recognition. I've graduated 4 times from the past but the thought of your own child graduating for the first time gives a different kind of joy.

Late summer of last year I got to be with my parents, reunited with my friends and the kids had loads of fun too with their cousins.

Every year we see to it that we get to visit my hometown La Union, but we missed last 2014 and for a lot of reasons we almost missed it again last year. It was already May and we never thought that this vacation would still push through. It wasn't planned it just happened when my cousin took our aunt to the airport for her flight back to Australia.Oh boy I'm glad we made it because during the short vacation period we had amazing experiences, some are even our firsts!

I've been dreaming of surfing the waves and we finally did it! It was very fun and i'm looking forward to doing it again.
So yes, I need to blog about this soon.

June last year, my mother in law and her colleagues went to Baguio City for their company outing and we joined them. It was their first time,as for us we've been there lots of times already (except baby Brianna) though it's our first time wearing the Igorot costume. Fun times :)

June 2015 we received a bad news, Lola Nena (my dad's mother) was rushed to the hospital and stayed in the ICU for a couple of days, we were all hoping for a miracle which never happened. This is our last picture together, taken during our short vacation. Who would have thought that it's the last time that i'll ever get to see her and be with her.

We again went home to La Union to attend her last night's wake and the interment the next day, our relatives from all over the country and abroad also went home to see her for the last time. After how many long years we as family got reunited again because of her, but the reason that bind us all together is now gone. Heartbreaking indeed but we already made our peace that she is now home with God, and that life must go on.

We all had a magical time at the Disney Live, we got our tickets free from Sun Postpaid.

Bought a brand new 55 inch Samsung Curved Smart TV. The owner of the Samsung store is one of our Godfathers during our wedding so we get good discounts. Let us know if you're planning to purchase any Samsung appliances in the future. Haha :)

Time passed by September came with lots of birthday celebrations including my father in law's, Tristan (our eldest) and Athena (middle child). Our 2 September babies then got an early birthday treat, they got to watch Disney Live Mickey's Music Festival! They are huge Disney fans, Disney Junior channel all day everyday. Haha! 

We still join online contests but not as often as we used to and last year we got our share of winnings and here are some of them. 

My #ComboMoTo photo entry won the Grand Prize from Pepsi's Challenge last year.
The Prize? Trip to Japan for 2 convertible to Php 100,1000 cash. We chose the cash, but we still haven't claimed it yet. According to them they are still processing the release of the cheque. This is by far our biggest winning.

October is another birthday packed month, it's my mother in law's, Jaear's and my birth month. This also marks the beginning of "Team Poreber". FYI: this blog used to be Mom-derful World my mommy blog which I started year 2013 but we just decided to combine our blogs together. "The Irate Agent" his blog plus mine equals "Team Poreber" because we believe in Forever (cheesy) Haha!. This month our blog also unlocked few milestones as we also started working with several brands, company and we also get to attend some events. Actually its just me who gets to attend the events because it's my social media accounts that we use besides my husband is quite the shy type of a guy but we both work together on the blogs content, so its a Team Work!

Thankful to have found new friends, my event buddies. Lyzhyie Bongon of http://lhyziebongon.com/
and Eihdra Gatchalian of http://www.oneproudmomma.com/

This month I got inked, a vain one. I was convinced to get a permanent eyebrow tattoo.
(That explains my thick brows in this photo)
Will share it with you soon.

We won Php 20,000 cash from Biogesic's Sineserye promo and they'll be featuring our story in a short film. We already blogged about this here: Biogesic will feature how Team Poreber's story started in a short film! But bad news is the showing has been delayed, according to them it will be early this year. Really looking forward to it.

November has been a blessed month as well, its my mom's and Brianna's birth month, lots and lots of celebration! Aside from that, we won a 3D2N all-expense paid trip to Miniloc/Apulit Island, El Nido Resorts Palawan. Can't wait for February, I'm so excited!

December came, a very busy month, Christmas shopping and preparations. I also attended my first ever Christmas Party with my fellow Mommy Bloggers. 

My mom also came for a visit and stayed for more than 2 weeks, took her out for some mom and daughter bonding. She went home before Christmas. 

Merry Christmas!

We are looking forward to celebrating the Holidays in my hometown next year, it's been years since the last time I celebrated it with my parents.

Wow, after going through these events all I can say is that 2015 although there may have been unpleasant happenings still it has been a very fruitful year for us. And, even though we didn't have the best start for 2016, we still have the whole year ahead of us to make up for it. I am hoping and praying that everything would fall into place. This year my main priority is my family's health and mine, being sickly is not cool at all.

This year we will still be joining online contests, as a full time mom I think this is the most productive thing I can do while juggling mommy duties. I refuse to be called a Professional Contest Joiner, but if anyone thinks of it that way I'll just have to shrug it off my shoulder, I know better. 

I know how overwhelmed I am with my duties as a mom but one thing is for sure, Blogging stays. I can always make time for it. Blogging is a passion I'd love to pursue, it is my way of expressing myself, share with you our experiences and in the future it's something that we can look back to. I'm really glad for what our blog has achieved last year, yes we do get tokens but more than that we get paid with experiences and new acquaintances. There were also some rejections but we never got discouraged. So this year we are hoping for our blog's growth, more opportunities and of course your support. 

Our friends are actually convincing us to get our own domain, we are still thinking about it and of course make our researches first. Do you think we should get our own domain? Your response will be much appreciated. :) 

Happy 2016 everyone!