The Day After Christmas

This year was a very special year for us because the kids are at that special age when Santa Claus is more real than they are and the joy in their hearts when they open their gifts is emense.

Marco and Bella could not sleep the night before and were very anxious to find out if they had been naughty or nice, they left Santa drawings, milk and cookies and finally feel asleep. Marco woke up around 7:30 am and came to our bed to let us know that Santa had arrived, eating the cookies, drank the milk and left a Thank You note!!! we told him to go back to sleep because we were not getting up yet... poor thing, he did as was told but after a couple of more tries we had to choice to get out of bed.

Isabella was in awe, she didn't know what to do, she got the baby she had been waiting for, barbies and many other goodies, Marco got a game for him game boy and many other super heros and board games he had also asked for..

They were both so excited and have been playing with their toys ever since.. I envy their inocense and sometimes wish we could see life like that again..

You could see all the pictures of the Christmas morning here

Marco & Bella adventure recap 2007

Another year has gone by and as I'm sure everyone feels, it went by too fast. It's funny how time seems to go by so slow when we are young and in a hurry to grow up and how fast it becomes when we are all grown up and just want to be a kid again. Personally, this is my last year in my thirties, next year I will turn the big 40 and a new era in my life will begin and I'm ready.

This year as every year has been full of adventures. Marco turned 6 and Isabella 3. Birthday parties with their friends and all the fun and gifts that go along with the celebration were shared. They have become closer this year and play a lot more together, although they fight a lot too. Isabella for some reason thinks she is Marco's mother and takes care of him like if he were her own son. Marco doesn't like that too much but sometimes I think he actually does but doesn't want to admit it.

This year I became an aunt, my brother and his wife had a baby boy Tristan who will become my Godson in February when we go to Miami in 2008 for the baptism.

Marco continues to play the piano and is now learning to play the guitar, which my father and MT bought him for his birthday. He also continues with Judo and of course soccer. He is an avid reader and his teachers have only great things to say about him. He is becoming more responsible although he is still a bit in his own little world.

Isabella is still a hand full and thinks she is about 20 years old. She started dance classes this year and loves it. The teacher thinks she has talent, so we will see. Isabella is on to everything and spends her days asking us questions or actually giving us answers. Sometimes I think she doesn't even need us ..

Matt is also finding himself professionally here. His Spanish is really coming a long great and is a lot more fluent and confident. He is working in a large recording studio and has many interesting projects he is working on. He is very busy and a little frustrated with the Spanish work life but is finding a way to shape people up share his enthusiasm for life.

I',m a busy working mom that has no time for anything yet has time for it all. I'm enjoying our life here in Spain and watching the kids grow up to be two different, very different individuals. I'm still working part time in a PR firm and loving it. I started doing Yoga again and I'm hoping to find a ballet studio near (actually find the time) so I could maybe take some classes again.

Overall, we have been blessed with health and love and couldn't be happier. Yes, there have been good times and bad but we are struggling through life like the rest of you and enjoying every minute.

I hope 2008 brings health, love and happiness to all of you. I do hope to see some of you this way next year..

Love

Nuria

The Dela Pola Elfs

Ok, I kept receiving different e-mails from a lot of you with elf yourself on the subject, I was a little busy and didn't have time to check it out, but once I finally did, boy was I glad.. I have not laughed this hard in a long time.

You need to elf yourself if you haven't already. All you need to do is go to http://www.elfyourself.com

and personalize your little elf's, they do a great little dance. click HERE

to see the Dela Pola's dance...hahahahah

Merry Christmas

Marco Birthday part 1

Today is Marco's 6th birthday! We had a small party at home yesterday for all his urba friends (mostly girls). The kids had a great time, destroying the playroom, eating candy and cake, you know the usual party stuff.

Marco will have another birthday party with his friends in school this Saturday which I will make sure to post about. Most be nice to be a 6 year old boy with a missing tooth and lots of toys with X-mas around the corner.

He wanted a basketball as his gift which we got him and on his first day playing outside yesterday he hurt his finger..(we are still not sure if its broken, torn.. or whatever swelling of the finger means)

Today he and Bella stayed home from school and drove my poor mom crazy who is here visiting..

Check out the photos of the party HERE.

Thanksgiving in Spain

We forget about the little holidays that are special to us when we are in a different country. Although Spain has plenty of holidays (pretty much, every day is a holiday here..there is a reason for celebration, or an excuse to get off work for weeks.. every month), there are still some holidays that we do miss, for example the fourth of July, Memorial day and of course Thanksgiving.

Well, this year my father and Mary Tery came for a visit and we took the opportunity to celebrate this wonderful holiday together. Although trying to gather all the ingredients here for an authentic Thanksgiving meal was a venture on its own. My dad had to smuggle the cranberry sauce, which no one has a clue what it is here, I had to order the turkey weeks in advanced from a specialty meat company and I had to search for sweet potatoes all over town.. and forget about pumpkin pie, that was one thing we just couldn't manage to find.

But overall, we had a wonderful time. It was great to be with my dad and MT and the kids really enjoyed their visit. We spent all weekend eating and enjoying the family. My father and MT left today for a cruise and the kids are going to miss the spoiling their grandparents gave them.

If you want to see all the pictures of our Thanksgiving four day event click HERE....

Marco "in love"

Yes, the time has come for me to have to answer questions about"Love" (thank God, its not the other thing yet). Last night as I was starting to read the kids a bed time story Marco said "Mama, I have Silvia up here (pointing with his finger to his forehead) and I can't get her out, when will I be able to get her out", now Silvia is his little school mate, a very pretty blond blue eyed little six year old, I was a little stunned, he continued to say that he had a dream that they were in the "ball place" (a sort of chucky cheese place) and they were kissing ..he also said that she was soo beautiful, with her golden hair and that she was very nice because every time he hurt himself in school she was there to help him.

Now, I don't think this girl really likes him so I decided to give Marco his first lesson in love, I started to tell him that in life there are moments when a boy likes a girl or a boy loves a boy or a girl loves a girl....oh wait a minute that will be another discussion what I explained to Marco is that love is sometimes good and sometimes not so good and that in his life there are going to be times when he likes a girl but she doesn't like him and vice verse and that he should not be offended if a girl doesn't like him because it was just a matter of opinion and that he should always be very nice and polite to girls that like him but he doesn't. Anyway, he seemed to understand everything but then asked if I could ask Silvia's mom if Silvia could come over after school one day because he was too embarrassed to ask Silvia himself.

Of course, this morning I had to walk up to Silvia's mom and explain the situation..I told her to please ask Silvia and if she wanted they could have a "date". Hahahaha too funny and totally cute.. I will keep you all posted on what the outcome of the date or no date is...

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(sorry couldn't find any pictures of Silvia)

Marco's first Post

Marco is learning how to write and wanted to write his first post story so here goes..(in Spanishof course, but i have translated it for you all non Spanish speakers)

un dia un prinzipe estaba andando para cazar y vino un malo y le robo y despues unos ninos vinieron eran 4 y el malo no los dejaban pasar y el bueno dice por la llave secreta pues vamos a cojer el malo con una espada de su castillo y una pistola para dispar al malo y por fin murio el malo y pudieron salvar al bueno.

colorin colorado este cuento se acabado.

English version

one day a prince was walking to hunt and a bad guy came and robed him and then some children came they were 4 and the bad guy would not let them pass and the good one said get the secret key well lets get the bad guy with a sword from his castle and a gun to shoot the bad guy and finally the bad guy died and they were able to save the good one.

the end (colorin colorado can't be translated)

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2007

Wow! I can't believe I'm actually writing this blog. What a day, it is Halloween and even though its not a big holiday here, actually it is not even a holiday at all, the actual holiday is tomorrow November 1st called "all saints day", a day of the dead, where you should go to the cemetery and place flowers on the tombstones of relatives that have past away...

Anyway, I decided it would be fun if I organized a Halloween party in our urbanization to show these Spaniards what Halloween is all about..My neighbors were not that sure at first but after a little persuasion they all contributed. We made Halloween food, we all dressed up and we even made a haunted house.

We had an awesome time and the kids loved it!! They had a blast.. they loved the haunted house, the little ones were petriffied... I don't know how I pulled it off, party organizing is not as easy as it sounds..but, it was a success, Bella couldn't stop crying and Marco punched a volunteer scarer in the haunted house because he was soooo scared..hahahahaa.

Overall, we had a great, great time.. I want to thank Cristina for her awesome food, Eugenia for her creative drawings, Elena and Jose for their Spider cake, Arancha and family for joining in the fun, Melissa and Alex for scaring and kids as well as decorating the haunted house, and all the kids who made the night so special.

CLICK HERE TO SEE PICTURES

Travel Websites are a pain in the ^&%$

I'm planing our trip to Miami the week of February the 4Th, so we could be at the baptism of my nephew and future Godson.

Well, let me tell you there are a million websites out there that promise to fly you to the moon if you like for a low, low cost.. yes, and as we all know it's all BS. I'm not sure if you have tried some of these websites but they are a little misleading. First of all they give you the price before the taxes.. You see "cheap flight to Miami $200" and you say WOW, let me reserve it NOW and when you hit the reserve button is when you get the big surprise!!

regular fare $200
taxes $800
sur charges $100
Internet usage charge $50
a misl charge because we can $20
electronic ticket charge $40
discount if you fly on the wing -$20
TOTAL $2,000

None of it makes sense. There are also the websites that offer you different flights some with a starting price of $200 (which we now know is really about $2,000) and some with a price of $3,000, (imagine how much it really is after all the extras) for the same flight..now who would be stupid enough to say.Hey I want pay $3000 for a flight even though there is the same flight for $200.. Give me a break, why do they even include them.!!!

As you can see I'm a little frustrated right now, but I will keep searching in the hopes of finding the perfect flight where we don't have to make 6 stops and wait about 12 hours during each one.

If you guys have any suggestions or favorite travel websites let me know, I'm in desperate need!!

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Just like Isabella

My dad sent me this video because he said it reminded him of something Isabella would do. And he is right!! Enjoy

Precious likes to play Monopoly

As you can see from the picture we as a family love playing games together, even our little dog Precious joins in the fun. Seen here she was close to a monopoly. hahhahhaa..

Studying for the drivers test

Yes, you read the tittle right! After, lets see... driving around for about 20 years with a legal drivers license in the US, I came to find out a little after I got to Spain that my lovely American drivers license was absolutely good for nothing. (but people who come here from Africa, the UK where they drive on the other side of the street and third world countries where a car is probably a horse and buggy are give a license right away, no questions asked)...

Anyway, this wouldn't be such a bad thing if getting a license was as easy as in the U.S, where you can pick up the drivers education book and read it in about 15 minutes, memorize the questions and off you go to take the test..no, not here..first of all, there is so much paperwork and bureaucracy involved it is best to sign up to "autoescuelas" driver education schools, where for about 300 bucks they will facilitate theory and practical driving classes so you can pass the test..

The drivers education book has chapters (yes chapters!!) in mechanics, first aid, road signage (ok that one I understand), laws, etc, etc.. and not only do you need to know the norms of a vehicle but of trucks, public transportation, pretty much everything you would want to know and much, much more...

I had been waiting until the law changed but since I see that is not going to happen and that since I'm driving illegally, I should start my drivers education. And so on the bus to and from work I read my little (not really) manual and in the evenings I do tests online to see if one day soon I will be ready to pass my theory test..

The funniest part of all this is that it is in Spanish and Matt has to do the same thing.. hahahahahahha.. ok, that will totally be another post..

here is the link for the Spanish online tests see if you can pass (in Spanish, sorry all you non Spanish speakers can just guess A, B, or C, you will probably pass before me!!)

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Fiesta in Alicante

Yes, its fiesta time again in Alicante and the Valencian commnunity which means no school, no work, pretty much the entire region stops and there is nothing we can do. Half the time we don't even know what the holiday is for but as long as we have a day off from work we are happy. I asked Marco what they had told him at school the holiday was for, so I could at least pretend to know what is going on.. but I knew not to trust the response of a 5 year old who a few minutes before had shown me a picture he had drawn of the countries of the world and explained to me that Russia was next to Mallorca!! Anyway, I figured it was still worth a try to ask him about the holiday. He said it was something to do with the moors and Christians, then he said no, no I think its something about "valencea" pronounced that way in valenciano the official language here which not many people bother to learn.

So after realizing that Marco was not going to be much help I figured I would educate myself and find out why the hell the kids where off from school and why I got a mini vacation during the week. It seems some King called Jaime I, entered the province of Valencia in 1238 and made up some new laws which ruled until about 1707.. I have a link at the bottom if you are interested in reading more about it.. All I know is we are now home relaxing and having a very nice time with the entire family..

more information valenciatrader
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Comments of the blog

Some of you email me or call me and tell me that you love my blog and that you read it all the time which I think is great because it is a way for me to stay in touch with all of you, but i do want to encourage you to leave comments that way I know what you are thinking and you can take advantage and tell me a little about what is going on with you..

I want to hear from all of you, and know what is going on with you..OK, enough said..

Mom's Overture by Anita Renfroe

Thank you Diane for forwarding me this video, it is just great! this is for all you moms out there.. a great song.. enjoy!!!!

Marco and his Liga Cromo" collection

Marco as you all know is a soccer fanatic. He just loves to play, watch, talk, and now collect soccer cards..He is very passionate and plays soccer everyday in the urba.. but now he has found another sport he loves and that is collecting little stickers that go in a book.. They cost about 40 cents for about 5 in a packet. The deal is you collect as many as you can then you exchange the ones you have doubled for others you need with your friends. Only problem with this is that Marco is very innocent and nice and when he takes cromos to school to exchange he usually comes back with nothing new...Finally, today he came home with one new one.. He was sooo excited.. He said "I exchanged two of my cromos for one", well its a start....hopefully soon he will get the hang of it and be able to collect the entire collection. The day he got the Ronaldinho card he was jumping up and down like he had just found gold..

It's fun watching him guard his collection and this way he practices his reading and memory skills..not a bad investment.

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Isabella's version of the victoria Beckham haircut

Isabella got a little excited with the scissors the other day and gave some of her Barbie's brand new haircuts..Matthew woke up early the other day and found traces of hair everywhere, then he saw Isabella with a pair of scissors and his first reaction was to scream "Marco, where is Marco" worried Isabella had cut off all his hair he ran to make sure he was ok, he soon found out the hair he saw all over the floor was not from Marco but from several Barbie dolls that as Bella put it "needed a new look".

My favorite cut is the one pictured above which she stated was "Beckham new haircut", not sure how she knew about Victoria and her new look, but there you have it, her master piece. Aside from the bold spots, it looks pretty good..some of the other Barbie's did not fare as well and will not be shown.. as they are in the shop for repair, Isabella wants to know if we can now add extensions to them...ummmm, I will have to think about that.

So, if you or your dolls need a touch up, don't hesitate to call and Isabella will come and help you...

It's My Birthday, a closer goodbye to my 30's

Yes, yes, I have been receiving phone calls all day long reminding me that the inevitable will soon come. This will be my last year as a woman in her 30's and will soon pass to be a woman in her 40's. The other day I was talking with someone ( a much younger person) and they said yes the woman that takes care of my grandmother is an older woman in her 40's.. Older woman.. what are they kidding.???. I fell better much better now than ever, both physically and mentally.

So, to all you women out there approaching middle age..don't worry, they say life starts here and the best part of it is yet to come I'm sure..

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Marco & Bella just want to have fun

This month has been a little stressful for all of us. After the relaxation of the summer getting back to a routine has been hard. Although the kids love school and are very happy going there everyday, they are still a little anxious and sometimes need to let off a little steam. Today they decided they just wanted to have fun so we put some music on and they just started to dance.. It was so cute just watching them try to choreograph a little piece.. They were laughing so hard, we were all cracking up..

It made me realize now and then we as adults need to burn off some steam and have some fun. It could be watching a comedy, telling funny stories with friends, or just plain dancing and screaming like little kids, they know how to have fun.

I hope all of you take some time out of your lives to simply enjoy life and have some fun.. gather the family and just start laughing.

Hit the PLAY button above to see the video......

Eye Doctor appointment for next year

For those of you who don't know about the medical system here in Spain, here is a little rundown.. There are good things and bad things..

The good things: ITS FREE.. yes, 100% free.. all doctors visits (very short waits, most of the time) hospital stay, operations and medicine is about 90% off even very expensive cancer medicine.

The bad things for specialty medicine, you need a referral and if they feel that it is not urgent the wait could be long..(if they see its urgent the time of wait is almost immediate).

Overall, the medicine system works well here in Spain. You can opt to pay for private health insurance about a couple hundred euros a month for an entire family and pay a small co payment and percentage of hospital stay and medicine just like in the states.. Many people here have private insurance but use both systems depending on what answer they are looking for.. In the end if there is a real emergency the socialized hospitals are the ones with the most advanced technological equipment and experienced personnel.. put it this way if you were in a horrible accident and needed urgent care they would send you to a free hospital..

Having said all that, I went in today to my doctor because for sometime now I have been having a lot of eye infections and I haven't been able to wear my contacts for about a year now due to allergies and infections. My doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotic eye drops (as well as prescriptions for my allergy medicine, that way it costs me almost nothing) and gave me a referral to the eye doctor. When I went to the counter to make an appointment the lovely lady at the reception area told me.."ufff, there is a long wait" and I said "ok "she then said "how about January 30th , 2008 at about 10 am" and I said "ok" then she said "in the mean time you can leave your eyeballs here and pick them up then" at to which I said "ok" .... and so now I have the option of waiting until next year or paying 115 euros to go to the vissum center in Alicante Friday morning at 11 am. where they will look at my eyeballs right away.. not sure what to do...

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Our storage room is under water

I was thinking about cleaning out our storage room and throwing out all the crap we have in there that we don't even know we have but keep because we are too lazy or just don't have time to go through or if we do we are too sad to give or throw away. Well.. sometimes like they say , be careful what you wish for, for it might come true..and so this weekend we had a one day of very hard rain called the "gota fria" This means The Cold Drop. It happens due to warm air still coming over from Africa hitting the cooler sea and causing rain clouds. These clouds cannot get over the mountain ranges so they drop their load. thus, The Cold Drop! explanation thanks to angier blog. And what this means is it rains what is supposed to rain in about a week in about an hour...so you could imagine the chaos it holds for us here in Alicante, a city not prepared for rain...

Anyway, this lovely rain, very much needed in our neck of the woods has caused flooding everywhere including our storage room.. Yes, the water crept in about half way in so our stuff lets just say is a little stuffy and humid smelling.. there was so much water in the hall way of the storage area and in our elevators.. yes water got in the elevators.. when you got in you could hear the water gushing about ...(they are not in use at the moment) a huge truck had to come and suck out about 7,000 liters of water from our garage, elevator and storage area.. hahah... yes very funny...

I had to take the day off tomorrow so we could go through all our crap and see what we could salvage.. I will let you know how much we were able to get rid off.. sometimes, things happen for a reason.. it was time to do some cleaning and the rain has helped a lot of us not only clean our stuff but refresh our spirits....

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Marco getting lost

What a scare, last weekend Marco was invited to a birthday party at one of his school friends house and we gladly went. They live in an urbanization of chalets which all look alike, the urbanization is like a mini city. Having said that we were at the boys house when around 20 of the kids decided to go to the football court on the other end of the urbanization to play soccer. Marco went with them and I stayed back at the house with the parents. When it was time for the cake we called the kids and they all came running back except for Marco.. I figured he just stayed behind at the court so I went to get him but to my surprise the court was completely empty and Marco was no where to be found. I started yelling his name but nothing. My heart started pounding as I ran back to the house to find the birthday kid's parents to have them help me. They quickly gathered everybody and we all went in search of Marco. We were all screaming his name but nothing. I could see that the doors to the urbanization were open and only the worst thoughts entered my mind. Marco was gone...

My screams became louder and louder and my heart was pounding louder and louder..until I heard someone yell, he's heree, he's here..after a very long 20 minutes we found him. As soon as I saw him all I could do was hold him and try to hold back the tears in my eyes...It seems the kids had left him behind and he couldn't find his way back to the house. He decided to just sit in a bench and wait. I asked him why he didn't respond to our yelling and he said he thought it was the bad people going after him, then I asked him didn't you hear my voice and he said yes but that he didn't want to yell back because he didn't want to wake up the neighbors!!!

Anyway, he now knows he needs to answer everytime he hears me yell for him, he has momorized our address and our phone number and hopes this never happens again...

Forgetting Birthdays

I have to admit this year (and yes for a few years now) I have forgotten many of your birthdays and I don't do it on purpose but life gets in front of the way sometimes. With that said I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the following people who have had or will have birthdays in September:

Margie- ok, I forgot to call her but she forgave me because after 27 years of calling her every year on her birthday one year of forgetfulness was forgiven.. Stay safe!!!!!!

Sheryl-yours is probably the easiest how I forget,, I'm sorry.. hope you had a great time.

Ana Marie- girl how old are you now!! I promise I will call you soon

Tom- I hope you have a happy birthday, haven't missed yours yet so I hope you read this

Marisela- I hope you are having a very good time... are you coming back??

Ok, there you have it, I will make sure to do the same next month.

Getting older sucks but like my 80 year old neighbor told me, it is better to have a birthday than to not have a birthday.. yea...makes sense...point taken...

I just realized I don't have a picture of any one you..expect for Margie so send me some....

The trouble with books

The tittle to this post is a little misleading, I love books, but when we talk about purchasing school books and all the confusion in that, its when there is trouble. Here in Spain although education is free you need to purchase books, although there is a new law that gives all first and second graders a check for the total amount of the books.

Anyway, like always I start to talk about nothing related to what I want to say. The thing is that we were given a huge list of books for a first grader, there is a math book, language book, English book, valenciano book (the offficial language of the Valencian community), art book, religion book, relacion del medio (no freaking clue what that is)..lets see am I forgetting something, probably.. but the list was not specific and I had to go to the store and fight with all the other moms to try to get the books before they were all gone. When I finally found them, (still missing 2 of them) I get to school, only to learn that they were that wrong ones and I was not the only one with this problem, it seems the list they gave us was not very explicit...so back to the store to fight some more and hunt down the right ones, exchange the others...

I just can't believe that something that seems so simple can cause so much stress, I'm still waiting for the other two books anxiously calling the bookstore daily to make sure Marco has them as soon as possible. And if that's not all, the books need to be covered with this clear plastic sticky thing and labeled.hahahahaa.. thank God Melisa our live in nanny took care of that part for me..or I would not be able to write this post because I would be stuck...

So, until next time...

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FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

I thought the day would never come, but it is here and both Marco and Isabella have survived their first day of school. They woke up very early both eager to get to school...Isabella wanted to dress up and had Melisa our live in nanny curl her hair and put lipgloss on, she wanted to look her best. Marco was not so concerned with his image he just wanted to see his friends and eat his sandwich.

Isabella started pre kinder and loved it! her teacher named Nuria like me said Isabella is a very decisive girl and has a very strong character, hahahahaaa.. and she was only in school a couple of hours..hahhahaaa.. poor thing (I mean the teacher).

Marco didn't say much like usual just that his teachers name in Maria Jose and that they painted and that he sat next to his best friend Alvaro and that he ate his sandwich. hahahaaa.. its the important things with Marco.

Well, lets see how this school year goes for them, Marco has a lot of work cut out for him, being in first grade he has a lot of books and will have a lot of homework. Isabella, I'm not so worried about yet...

The countdown to the first day of school

Well, it has been a long summer and the first day of school is almost here. For you guys in the U.S. kids have been in school for a couple of weeks now, but here in Spain everything just takes a little longer.

Marco will begin 1st grade, I can't believe it, he is very excited and wants a new spiderman backpack with wheels and wants me to buy his books right away. Isabella starts pre kinder and wants a Barbie backpack her teacher called me yesterday to introduce herself, her name is Nuria as well, so Isabella will have no problem remembering her name.

The preparation for back to school is a little stressful, buying them clothes, books,supplies, figuring out what type of after school activities they will do and so on. I'm pretty caught up and can't wait until Friday the first official day (I know Friday, helloo...they could have waited until Monday, but this is Spain where nothing works the way its supposed to but it works).

I will keep all o you updated with the school year and the kids progressions.

Welcome Arancha to the world of Blogging

Our good friends Arancha and Traci (Aracha is from Spain and Traci is an American from Ft.Lauderdale) have started a new blog (they say thanks to me) about their adventures. They have two beautiful sons Nicolas and Alec. I just want to welcome them and also welcome you to view their blog which in on my list of favorites.

view blog here nicoalec

The bus ride to work

As many of you know I'm working for a communication PR firm as a translator/everything else that needs to be done assistant. It is a small company owned by a young couple who are great to work with. We are a small group but have a great time. Anyway, that is not the purpose of this post, I will talk more about my job later. The reason for this post is that for some time now I have been wanting to write about my experience on my way to work, which happens to be on a bus. I could drive to work but Alicante city has no parking and the available parking is very expensive. The public transportation here in Spain works great and everyone uses it. The bus stop is a few steps from my house and it drops me off literally on the front door to my work.

Ok, having had explained all that I will get to what I really want to talk about which is the actual bus ride. I must say there are a lot of different types of people out there and when you have to share a limited space with them and have time to just sit there observing, you see and hear a lot of things.

In the morning there are certain people who are there the same time as I'm so you kind of get to know everyone. There is one girl in particular who is just plain ODD (Misty if you are reading this you know what I'm talking about) anyway, she doesn't like to stand in the actual bus stop she kind of peaks her face through a little crack behind the frame of the bus stop and just stares at all of us...we can't figure it out, then there is the woman who dresses as if she was going to the 5 o'clock cocktail hour, heels, make-up, glitter, the works...way too much, at the same time, she actually wears pantyhose (I thought those things were long dead), we also have the typical old lady who likes to chat with everyone she sees and tells us all the same story everyday, there is the overweight smelly man who always falls asleep and we need to poke him to let him know the bus has arrived and then hope someone wakes him up when its his time to get off the bus, and these are just the people at the morning bus stop, imagine the things I see and hear each day on the way to work and back..

I have been actually taking the opportunity to study for the drivers test (yes I need to take a drivers test here because they wont accept my American drivers license, that's another post)while on the bus so it has kept me busy..

If you would like to hear more about my bus stories, please comment and let me know.

photo google

Yaya & Melisa's Birthdays

Well today is the day of birthdays, My grandmother turns 96 and she is healthier than any of us with the exception that she doesn't know who any of us are..She really has no clue as to who is who or what is going on around the world, which is why I think she is so healthy, she has no stress!! nothing to worry about..I called her to wish her happy birthday and she asked me who I was and why I was calling her, I told her who I was but she said she didn't know anyone by that name.. It's a little sad getting older and forgetting about all those who love you but I guess just as some are leaving this life others are just beginning. Melisa, our live in nanny is 20 today as well. She remembers everyone alright and boy do most people remember her!! hahaha..

This year is specially hard for me because I turn 39 and by next year I will start a new stage in life. Although I feel great and think I still look pretty good, I'm not 20 years old, it is evident. I have been very emotional lately just thinking about the passing of time and how I'm getting older but I'm slowly realizing that what is important is who we are now, not physically but spiritually and what experiences we have gone through to get us here. I have had a very fulfilling life until now and I'm sure when I turn 40 it will be just as fulfilling or much more. So I will forget about the wrinkles, saggy skin, and grey hairs for now...

The Urba Party

Ok, all you Americans are probably wondering..what the hell is an urba party. Well Urba is short for urbanization, a very popular word herein Spain since most Spaniards live in apartments which form an urbanization, something like a small community. Well, the city hall allows all urbanizations to have a great big party once a year (in the summer) meaning everything goes, music, fireworks, anything you want, and the pesky little neighbors that always complain about everything (we have a couple here I will be writing about later) can't say shit!! it's actually quite funny.

Well, this weekend after the election of the new community president and leaders (I was voted for my block) we planned a weekend feast. it all started Friday afternoon with games for the kids. All of a sudden we looked around and there most have been 30 plus kids from 3 years old to 12 just running around like crazy. They all participated in the games, played dress up and won prizes, then we set up a mini theater and sat all the kids down with popcorn while the adults had dinner, a huge pot luck.. with beer and all sorts of drinks. Al around 4 am we all crawled back to our apartments. (kids included).

The next two days were similar, the men had a soccer match, there was a tennis match, the women played cards, the men poker, we swam in the pool, overall the kids had a great time and I can't complain.

I was the official photographer but I'm ashamed to say that when downloading the second batch of pictures I overrode the first batch which was the best of the first day. I'm trying to recover them but I'm not sure I will be able to. But I was able to save the rest..

see pictures here

Pisa was an adventure

think more than Florence I liked the quaint little town of Pisa..even though there is really not much to see other than a huge courtyard where you find a church, dome and the famous leaning tower of Pisa, that is very much leaning. Matt & I climbed to the top and it was awesome. It was magical to be on top of place you have read about all your life. It was really amazing and one of the best parts of the trip, because it was very relaxing and we didn't have to walk a lot.

Marco loved running through the huge green courtyard, and looking at the tower. When you take a look at our pictures from the trip you will notice that Matt took more pictures of the tower than anywhere else on the trip. I think he got a little obsessed. anyway. We are glad to be home and are still enjoying the rest of the summer..

see picture here

Rome was spectacular

t's taken me a while to get back into the routine after our Italy trip. I must say although it was a lot of fun, we need a vacation from our vacation. Also, I think I forgot to mention that Isabella was sick the entire time we were in Italy and when we returned we found out she had a pneumonia!! poor thing.. She is all better now..

Ok, now for the Rome story.. first of all, after the roach motel hotel we stayed in Florence, Rome's hotel was amazing.. They welcomed us with tea and cookies and the hotel was beautiful. It was right in the center of town and we were able to walk to many of the sites like the Roman Ruins and the Coliseum.

The three days we spent there were awesome, the entire city in enchanting, there are statues, museums, cathedrals, churches, fountains, everywhere. The entire city is just enchanting.. I don't want to bore you with all the details..just to say, Rome is a city you all need to visit and soon.

view all pictures here

Florence Adventures

Florence was our first stop after the couple of days in the middle of nowhere (which don't get me wrong was even more beautiful that some of the sights we saw). My first impression of Florence was not very good. Everything seemed a little dirty and I don't know, I guess because it was the first "real" city we were visiting in Italy and I had heard so many great things about it my expectations were a little high.

There were parts that just didn't appeal to me but it was beautiful. The churches and specially seeing the statue of David made it worth while. Our hotel was not so great because I'm not sure if you know in Europe if you reserve a 3 star hotel it is really a 2, a 4 is a 3 and so on.. We were told that, but we didn't quite believe it until we got there and experienced it for ourselves. (we didn't make the same mistake in Rome or Pisa.)

Overall, our stay in Florence was good, but not sure its a place I would return to...

Andrea Bocelli Show in Lajatico Italy

I'm not sure if you all know that the main reason we went to Italy on our vacation was because Matt had been working there for a while as the Music Director for the soon (October) to be released Andrea Bocelli DVD special from PBS. We took advantage and met him there.

In our photo gallery you can see a couple of the rehearsal shots I was able to take. The show was in the Teatro del Silenzio in a town called Lajatico (the middle of nowhere). They had planned to record two shows so my mom and I were going to take turns taking care of the kids while the other saw the show but on the night my mom went they cancelled the show due to very strong winds so i told her to go the next night and that I would go to the rehearsal..so even though I didn't get to see the actual show, the rehearsal sometimes is even better. I was able to hear Bocelli sing along with one of my favorite singers Sara Brightman.

Matt did an excellent job, it was very impressive to see him directing the entire thing..My mom loved the show which you can all see in PBS soon.

We are back from our Italy trip

Did you miss me? I'm sure you have been patiently waiting for my return to hear all about our trip to Italy. Needless to say I will have to write our experience in several posts due to the great amount of information I have to share with all of you. So I will break it down by city then by special points of interest.

Overall, we had a great time, it was hot but at night it cooled down and the weather was awesome. Poor Isabella was sick the entire time with a cold and fever but in a way that was good for us because she didn't have her usual energy. Marco was a real trouper, he walked many miles with us never once complaining that we were going to see another church or museum.

My mother came with us which allowed Matt & I to have a couple of evenings dining alone, very romantic. The food was great but after eating pasta, pizza and salad for 8 days I was ready for a big old hamburger.

You can view all the pictures here.

Our trip to Italy planning ahead

I never thought planning a vacation was going to be so stressful, Matt has been in Italy working and I'm alone with the kids, well my mom finally came down yesterday to help me out as she is also coming with us to like Marco calls it NITALIA... hahah (not sure why he calls it that). Between figuring out airfare, hotels, packing, finding a place for precious to stay while we are gone, working, and overall trying to maintain the household, I'm not going crazy, I'm officially crazy...

If any of you have any Italy traveling tips please comment and let me know. I would love to hear from you. I 'm not sure if no one reads this or if you are too afraid or don't know how to leave a comment, either way email me and let me know..well, I guess if you are not reading this you can't email me, well yes you can email me but that is not the point here..you see I'm crazy.. yes, and you might ask, if you have no time for anything why are you taking the time to write this..and that is an excellent question and the answer is that writing is a great stress reliever for me and helps me get things off my chest.. OK, there I feel much better. See you all soon.

photo florence

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD

It's my fathers birthday today June 25Th, I can't tell you how old he is because of two reasons, first, I don't think he would like me to announce it to every single person on the Internet and second, because I don't really know...Dad when you read this could you please comment and tell everyone how old you are.

I just want to tell him how much I love him even though I don't say it enough. He has always been there for me whenever I needed, no questions asked. He has seen me grow up and I'm sure in his eyes change through the years. I don't think you truly appreciate your parents until you are one yourself. You then realize the meaning of so many things in a deeper level.

OK, I don't want to go on and on. Just a very Happy Birthday to him and may he have many many more..

Bella learns how to swing herself

This is not really news but for Isabella it is a big deal, she finally got the hang of swinging herself on a swing and now she just loves to swing as high as she can. We can't get her down, she feels very grown up. I realize that everyday that passes by the kids learn one more thing. It is so hard to keep up with all of their achievements now.

This summer we have to major tasks to achieve the first one is teaching Bella how to swim and the second is taking Marco's training wheels off, although I think at the pace we are going, Isabella will take hers off way before Marco. But for now we will concentrate on these two wonderful things and I will report at the end of the summer how we did

Pool Party on the last day of School

Well, its all over.. Marco and Isabella are all done with school. They are officially off for two plus months.. they are so excited, and so am I..hahahaa... I love to spend time with them but by the end of the summer I can't wait until school starts again. But, for now they are free from early mornings, extra curricular activities and they have to look forward to days in the pool and beach and long summer nights, eating ice cream and playing with their friends.
I started their summer off today by having a mini pool party in our pool. Marco invited his best friends Marcos, Alvaro, Roberto & Javier and they had a blast. They swam, played soccer, ran around, they were just so happy, it was great to see.

Isabella also had her friend Pablo from her school who happens to be Roberto's little brother.. so she was thrilled.
Here they are all eating Popsicles and making a mess.

I'm exhausted but very happy to start the summer. I wish all of you a great summer too. What plans do you guys have? Please comment and let me know. You can see more pics here

Marco is officially an Orange Belt in Judo

Just a quick note to announce that Marco is officially an orange belt in Judo. He is so proud. He loves going to his judo lessons which he will have a break from now in the summer but hopefully next year he will begin again and go for his green belt. (I think its green next, if anyone knows for sure let me know).

Marco's Graduation

Yes, Marco has graduated from kindergarten and will start first grade in the fall. Today was his graduation along side all his friends. They walked in to the sound of marching music, so proud and with a joy you can't imagine. They performed a little dance and song and then sat patiently as they waited for their diplomas. It was sad to see him so grown up, I could still remember holding him in my arms when he was first born. How time flies by..Isabella starts school next year.. I don't have babies anymore..

We enjoyed snacks and drinks after the ceremony and the kids had a great time letting out some steam. Overall, it was a beautiful experience that poor Matt missed because he is working very hard on the Bocelli show..but thanks to this blog he gets to see all the action as it happens.. Love you Honey.

You can view more pictures here

Isabella's dance recital

Ok, so I was very nervous wondering what little missy was going to do once she was up on stage. Would she cry, just stand there, start screaming her head off, or simply just walk off the stage. It never even entered my mind that she might actually dance..but she did.. a little too much, she did the choreography before she had to but really enjoyed herself. The first thing she did when she got up on the stage is look for me in the audience, as soon as she found me she started to wave and tell her friends.. there's my mom, there's my mom.. hey mom.. and waving.. (pretty embarrassing) but sooooo cute.

Pictured, I think you can recognize her, she is the one with the white bow on top of her head and the skinny legs.

The performance was great and I was very proud. You can see a little clip here.

Thank God for good neighbors

Matt is in Italy with Andrea Bocelli and I'm home with a cold with the kids..I don't have time to rest because there is always something to do..like write this post..so when good neighbors like my friend Elena offers a helping hand I take it willingly. She watched Isabella today (she is about the only one that is not afraid to stay with her) while I took Marco to piano class and ran around doing errands.. It is a great relief having someone like her who loves Isabella and Marco and is always there to help me..her daughter Emma is Marco's little girlfriend, so who knows we may even be in laws one day...

Thank you Elena, she doesn't speak English so I will have to translate this post to her..

Before and After the Magic of the Bribe

As you can see by the before and after pictures of the kids playroom ,a bribe goes a long way. There are many methods in which I get the kids to clean up but none works more efficiently that the bribe, not even a spanking gets there attention as well. This weekend was a little rainy so we didn't go out to play as much as we usually do on the weekends, so as you can tell by the before picture things were not as neat as I like them to be...

But after they realized they were not going to get anything they wanted until they cleaned up and I told them if they cleaned up they would get a "premio" (prize) they quickly put everything away The bribe is an excellent tool but is there a better way? Please, comment and let me know any suggestions.

Here is a video of the clean up process with Bella commentating in Spanglish..

It's 10:30 PM and Isabella is asleep

shhhhshhh... please don't make any noise.. Marco has been asleep for hours but the surprising thing is so is Bella, I think this is the first time in her entire life she has gone to sleep before midnight.. Matt is at work right now, and I can't hear a sound. I don't know what to do with myself. I have that ringing in your ear, like when you come home from a club and are drunk but you can still hear a faint ringing...do you know what I mean?

Anyway, if any of you have any suggestions on how I could get her to go to sleep before midnight, please let me know. We have tried turning off all the lights and all going to sleep, but she just gets up puts the lights on, turns on the TV and tells us she will go to bed when she is ready, if we put her back in bed then she screams at the top of her lungs for hours and hours.. the neighbors don't like that too much, we have tried medication to calm her down prescribed by the doctor but that seems to give her more energy..

Well, for now I'm going to go have a glass of wine and enjoy my mini vacation.. good night to all......

Matt in his Studio

So far in this blog I don't think I have mentioned poor Matt yet. We are both so busy with things sometimes I forget he is even here. He has been working nonstop in his new studio , it is actually a recording studio called Audiogenia, where they are in the process of building him his own mini studio. It is in Alicante about 15 minutes from Playa San Juan, where we live. So he goes in to work around 10 am and doesn't come back until past midnight...

He is currently working on two projects. The first is with a young singer called Estefania, she is amazing and the second is on a show with Bocelli in the Teatro del Silenzio in Italy on July 5th. we are actually all going with him so we can see a little of Italy.

So, there you have it a quick Matt overview. I'm actually going to start a blog just for him and his music stuff, because there is a lot to share there.

School IQ test

Since it looks like I'm always writing to brag about my beautiful kids, I think many of you think I only write about all the great things they do and achieve but we all know in life nothing is perfect, specially us or our children.

Today we had a meeting along with all the other parents of Marco's class so they could prepare us a little bit for what it to become of our little ones, once they start 1st grade in September. One of the things they presented us with was a sort on mini writing and vocabulary skill IQ test which was given to them some weeks ago and showed a graph with the median score of the entire class and where our children fell. Once I heard handwriting test I knew we were in for a bad report and boy was I right.. Poor little thing.. the graph was struggling to get to the median and never quite reached it. Looking around all the other proud moms flashed their children's report which showed how off the charts they were.

I'm not sure if handwriting is something hereditary but I should have been a doctor with the handwriting I was blessed with so if I passed that on to my children, I'm sorry, I'm sure someone passed it on to me..

OK, so what do you think about IQ tests? Should I worry?\

photo google

Bella's new haircut

Ok, so its not a great picture, she doesn't stand still for more than 2.3 seconds so its hard. The haircut itself was actually painless, I thought it would be much worse..She stood as still as she possible could...Afterwards, she told every person she saw on the street that she had gotten a hair cut and that she was very "guapa" (the word for pretty here)..

I actually liked her long hair but the detangling part of it was not much fun. She is a screamer and I think the neighbors will be much happier now..after all, summer is here and she will be in the pool all day long, I'm not detangling chlorine hair daily.. thank you very much.

Another day, another story.. A lot of you have emailed me letting me know you enjoying reading my blog but are afraid to comment.. I promise I wont bite..

June Gloom

So the kids started their half day at school, getting out at 1 pm (usually 5pm) and they are very excited that summer vacation (all of July and August) is almost here (me, not so much). I love hanging out with them, but with work and household stuff, it is very difficult to get things done.

I'm a multitasker but somethings gotta give..so, if anyone out there has any suggestions on how to make the long summer, not so long, please, please leave me a comment and let me know......

picture google

Marco is reading up a storm

Marco will start first grade in September but he already knows how to read in Spanish, English will come next year, they say it is better to do it one language at a time so there is so confusion, so when he is fluent in reading comprehension in Spanish, we will jump into teaching him to read in English.

He loves books and wants to read everything he could get his hands on, it is great to see. Isabella imitates him and pretends she knows how to read, which kind of annoys Marco and the daily fights start.

Ok, that is it for now...