Innocent Play

In these days of vacation, and the weather being not so hot, the kids have been stuck home having to make up games to stay entertained...As you can see from the picture above Isabella decided it would be fun to dress up Marco and their friend Pablo with all her princess accessories..They were willing participants and had a lot of fun, although, look at Marco's expression..hahahaha..


She then decided to put make up on herself.. Doesn't she look lovely????

Happy Easter 2008

We wish everyone a very Happy Easter 2008. Marco and Isabella received Huge chocolate eggs with gifts inside from the Easter Bunny. Isabella woke up at 7am as if it were Christmas Day and was very excited to see her gift from the Easter Bunny. She proceeded to eat the entire egg and around 10 am feel back asleep and didn't wake up until 1 pm. We thought she had gone into "chocolate schock"...we were scared there for a moment...Marco, only ate a little bit and enjoyed the rest of the day playing with his new toys...

photo flickr by j.terrell

Report Card Time

Well, as of today at 3 pm its Spring Break, otherwise known here as "Semana Santa" or "Holy Week" or plainly said "Easter'. Holy week is a huge event in all of Spain, there are many processions and celebrations. Very different in every part, being the most famous in the south of Spain.

But for us what this all really means is that school is out for a couple of weeks and the kids get to rest and enjoy the beginning of the great weather to come.. and with Spring Break comes the end of the second trimester and report card time....

For Isabella its still a simple is she getting it or not...and yes, she is getting all of it and then some..Her teacher commented that she was the perfect student, very obedient, very studious and outgoing....(I think there is another Isabella in that classroom and the poor lady is confused).

Marco's grades are a little more serious because he is officially in the beginning of his school career.. the grading system here is a little different than in the states where the A,B,C,D or F method is used here it goes like this.. Sobresaliente (A), Notable (B), Muy bien (C), Suficiente (D) and Insuficiente (F).. Marco received one A ,guess in what subject??? hahaha yes in English..(Might be the only A we will see from him.. hahah) He got 3 B's (Math, Spanish and Gym) 2 C's (Valenciano and Science/Social Studies) and one (D) in art... (poor thing he inherited my lovely art skills!!)..

We are very proud of both of them and have taught them that its very important to study and get good grades but more importantly is to figure out what their individual gifts are and to develop those fully, consciously to be able to share them with the world...Overall, honesty, ethics, and love..

picture google

Isabella helps Marco with his homework

As you all know Marco although only in first grade already gets homework. He loves the math part and problem solving but when it comes to drawing of painting, he just can't stand it...I don't blame him because I can't draw myself..as much as I try.

Today he had to turn in his homework and last night he fell asleep before he could complete the coloring part..What do we do? No problem, we give it to Bella for her to finish it.. Yes, we are bad parents, Bella finished his homework perfectly. She was very happy to do it, she said she didn't want Marco to get in trouble.

I know, I know, we are not going to make this a habit and Marco needs to learn how to draw and color and also learn responsibility, don't worry we are on it!

The Tooth Fairy vs El Ratoncito Perez

Marco lost his second tooth last week and he wondered who would bring him his gift, the Tooth Fairy or El Ratoncito Perez..(poor Marco he's had a lot of concerns this week hahaha). You see here in Spain it is not the Tooth Fairy who brings you gifts when you leave your tooth under your pillow it is The Ratoncito Perez ( The Mouse Perez, Perez being his last name)..

I explained that because we live in Spain the Ratoncito Perez takes care of it here and if were were living in the United States the Tooth Fairy would take care of it there..He was still not quite convinced and asked if they knew each other and if they shared tooth stories..He was also very concerned that they may not understand each other because of course the Tooth Fairy speaks English and the Ratoncito Perez speaks Spanish.. I told him, they both spoke different languages and that they indeed share many stories.. He then asked who brought gifts to the kids in China, Italy, France?????

I told him I had to research it and get back to him..Research it I did, and actually found a website that explains everything. Toothfairy.net lets you know everything there is to know about the Tooth Fairy and more..

photo google images

How many days does February have?

Marco asked me today how many days February had. He was confused as to why it did not have 30 or 31.. I tried to explain that this year is Leap Year and that February has 29 days but that next year it will only have 28..He was very confused and concerned about the poor little boys and girls who were born on the 29th of February.. What do they do the years they don't have a birthday..

Good Fn.. question... How the hell do I know?? I had to explain that they could be celebrated on March 1st and that it didn't matter...Anyway, today when I picked him up from school , he had a birthday party invitation (what else is new, I have to make sure to get to the quota of freaking birthday parties this year!!!) and he said, look mom its Sofia's birthday and she was born on February 29th so this year she gets to celebrate her birthday so we have to go to the party because it is very special for her!!!

So, there you have it, in conclusion, I have a birthday party to attend to, Marco is excited that one little girl will be able to enjoy her special day and February still has 28 days...

Marco and his homework

Believe it or not, little Marco who is in first grade already gets loads of homework..and he doesn't like it one bit!! He is great at math and finishes that part fast but the writing ..that takes him a little longer..

Yesterday, I sat for hours with him trying to encourage him...but he is just not interested...Anyone have any tips how I could get him to like homework..hahhahaa

Fidel quits, maybe Marco was right

On our recent (very recent) trip to Miami, Marco became very interested in Cuba and Fidel Castro. He asked M.T and my dad a million questions and wanted to know all about Cuba and "el fidel malo" as he calls him. M.T and my dad were very patient and told him many stories, many true heartbreaking stories about their past, their escape, and the people left behind.

Marco was in awe an suddenly said "I want to go to Cuba", then he said "I think we are all going to go May 5th", he was very sure of himself..We laughed it off, but thought, what does he know that we don't.. so today with the news of the dictators resignation, I was reminded of that statement Marco made and thought.. could it be....

source aol

photo flickr by BABAK.MOZAFFARI

Caca Verde

For those of you who don´t know what the tittle means, I will tell you ¨green shit¨ , yes you read right, green shit.. It seems that Marco and Bella ate something that has turned their caca verde and Marco in particular is very upset.. He has asked me not to tell anyone, and of course like a bad mother I´m, I write a post about it...hahaha.

Not sure what the hell they ate but they make me look at their caca and are fascinated by the different colors!! I´m very grossed out and hope that the shit returns to normal soon...

I guess American food is not settling too well with them, although they are enjoying eating everything they see and more...

picture google

In Miami one week from today

I truly almost forgot the date and when my mom called me this weekend to ask me how the packing was going, I said to her, "From Paris? I was only there for a day Mom" and she said, "Not Paris, you idiot for Miami" and that is when it hit me that in about a weeks time I would be off to visit my friends and family..

I have so much to do, and I really have until Friday because we are leaving right after work to spend the weekend in Madrid, since we leave from there on Monday. We are going to take advantage and see the Beauty and the Beast musical while we are there..The kids are very excited.. well , I think I'm more excited than they are.

I hope I will be able to see all of you there. Margie, are you ready for Disney?, Ana Marie, I don't have your phone number I know you have given it to me on numerous occasions, please do so again, Tom and Wanda, you lost souls I hope you re appear, Alberto and Patricia, I know you will make time to come see us, Ana can't wait to see the little new one, Leonor we will need to catch up.

Here are the details we get there Monday February the 4th, we will probalby be exhausted. I think the next day we will go up to WPB to visit Tony and family and also Evelyn will there from LA, Wed afternoon we leave for Disney and will be back on Sat, Sun the 10th is Tristan's Baptism after that we are pretty much free, so please call me to book some time. I will not have a car and will not be able to get around, so I hope you can all pass by my dads house at the beach.

Can't wait to see everyone there..

photo thanks to bridgepix

Weekend Birthday Parties

I guess Marco and Isabella are at that age where birthday parties are part of our daily routines. But you don't realize that parties not only take time away from you they also take money away for you. Last year I realized that I had to incorporate in our financial budget a birthday budget.

Yes, I know it sounds a little ridiculous but think about it, we have 2 kids, there are about 20 kids per class, about 10 friends in the urbanization and unfortunately or well many would think fortunate, our kids are very popular and invited to every single freaking birthday party in town.

Now, let's do the math. 2 kids times 20 classmates each = 40 kids + 10 urba friends = 50 kids. Ok, now each gift cost an average of 15 euros so 50x15=750 euros a year in birthday gifts and average of 62.5 a month. so, there you have it.. Aside from the mortgage, gas bill, electric bill, phone bill, food, car insurance and so on we now need to add a birthday party fund.. and lets not even talk about their actual birthdays, where an average party costs about 200 bucks x by 2 and now your total birthday deal is almost a grand a year...

Those of you who don't have kids yet, this gets you thinking huh?? its not just diapers and formula, with each stage there are new costs..

This month so far we have gone to 2 birthday parties and Marco had one today and Bella has one tomorrow so we are right at the 4 average that I budgeted..so if anyone else invites them this month we will have to pass...

The fish survived

I forgot to mention that over the holidays we had a little visitor we had to take care of. His name was (and is, thank God still IS) Flappy! Our upstairs neighbors went away for the holidays and left us with their daughter's little pet fish. Marco and Isabella were thrilled to have him!! as for me.. Well, this poor little guy lived in a round crystal jail and had to be cleaned daily!! Not much fun for me.. As if I didn't have enough with 3 kids (Matt is considered a child now and then), one dog and now a little wet fish.

Flappy survived Bella just as nemo survived "Darla", although she tried to "play" the straw game...(that was the game that killed our own poor little flappy.. Our little fish all of a sudden developed a little round hole which I thought was a tumor..hahahaha but later found out was a little hole from the poking with a straw!

Marco fed Flappy a little too much but at least did not play the straw game with him. The day before yesterday he was picked up by his loving family and I'm sure was glad to go..You may ask why I took a picture of him, well, for two reasons 1. in case something did happed I could take the picture to the pet store and replace him ( I know very mean, it wasn't my idea it was another neighbors ides) and 2. I thought it would make a nice post.

Marco playing basketball with "Snap" Hunter

Our friends Crystal and Jimmy came over the other day for a visit and Marco took the opportunity to show "Snap" his moves. Snap is an American basketball player who is playing this year for the Murcia team. We met him and his wife last year and just love them.

Marco is in that stage of his life where he finds everything fasinating and is starting to find out what he really likes and dislikes.. so far we know he loves soccer, he likes judo but I think could do without it, he is starting to really love guitar and piano is still a joy, but lately he has been very interested in basketball. For his birthday he asked for a basketball, that is all he said.

Well, as you can see from the video he has a long way to go.. you can view more pics in the December album.

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.

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...

picture google
(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)

picture google

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.

photo google

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......

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...

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