Yes, you read the title right, my grandmother or as I call her Yaya (a term used here in Spain by some meaning grandmother) and Marco and Bella refer to her as “The other Yaya” because they call my mom Yaya as well.. is 98 years old today.. Can you imagine?? She was born on August 27th, 1911!! She has seen several wars, and has witnessed many new advances in technology.

Unfortunately, she has what is known here as “Dementia Senile“, she recognizes my mom because she is the one who takes care of her but no one else.. Now and then she will look at you and you know she knows who you are but can’t express it..  The times I have been in Madrid to see her, she is full of joy to see me but doesn’t know why..

Today I called he to wish her a Happy Birthday and asked her if she knew who I was and she said “of course, I do you are Nuria!!“It is very rare she knows who I’m and made me very happy..

So Happy 98th Yaya, we are sure she will make it to 100 and beyond.. (Although, don’t tell that to my mom….).

The picture you see is of my grandmother in her early 20’s….

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Today was Bella’s Birthday!! She is 5 years old!! Where has the time gone.. She has been waiting for her birthday for about 3 months now.. We had a birthday party at the house and it was a bit of everything..First of all, Bella was up all last night barfing and with fever.. She woke up very weak and basically just wanted to sleep.. We let her rest and we woke her up a couple of hours before the party.. when we did, we realized she had a fever and Marco also started complaining that his “eyes” hurt (we have figured out that means he has a headache).. I gave them medine and Bella threw it all up.. at this point it was 5 pm and the guest where arriving in half an hour, we had to decide to either post pone the party of just let everyone come on over..

Finally, the medicine kicked in for both the kids and they were ready to party.. Matt & I had been preparing Bella’s three layer cake since yesterday and we had everything ready for a fun party.. and all this thanks to The American Store, I know sounds silly but in Spain there is no such thing as frosting, pancake mix or oatmeal.. but this online store, based out of Madrid, had everything I needed..

When I sent out the invitations (via email) I stated that whomever wanted to come in costume could do so.. adult or children since “Carnaval” (I will write about that tomorow with pics) was this weekend.. We were going to dress up but with the sickness dilema we didn’t get around to it..

Anyway, the guests started to arrive and no one was dressed up until our neighbors Eugenia and Enrique show up with their two kids all dressed up. They were cows!! It was the best costumes we had ever seen.. (home made) although they were not thrilled to see no other adult dressed up..It was as if we had pulled a prank on them, which we did not…(Sorry, again guys.. although you and the cake where the hit of the party). Some of the kids dressed up, Bella put on her favorite red princess dress (thank you aunt Anamarie) but by the middle of the party decided to put on her pj’s..

Overall, the party and the three layer cake was a big success. 

Today is my moms birthday!! She will not let me say how old she is.. Although, I reminded her that in yer facebook profile she placed her year of birth wich is 1937, so I will just let you do the math.. She looks great for her age and although she just passed through a bad cold she is all better now.

 So HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Today is Marco’s 7th birthday and we are having a little merienda at home with some friends. But his real party was on Sunday where more than 30 kids showed up to celebrate his big day. They had a blast playing a soccer match, girls running after boys, eating and so on.

Marco had a great time and got lots of cool gifts he is enjoying..so Happy Happy birthday to our little boy who is not so little any more…We love you and are very proud of you, with every year that passes he surprises us more and more..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARCO…..

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Yes, it is finally here the dreaded 40! Do you remember thinking how old that was when you were little? I do, I don’t know, I guess as young children we don’t think we will ever be that old, I mean we hope we will grow old, but in the meaning of being alive not with the all things it brings.. and by that I mean, the wrinkles, the aches and pains, the forgetfullness, the weight gain… but there is also the things is does bring, like the fact that we are better the wiser, we usually don’t repeat too many mistakes, we know who we are and are comfortable in our own skin, we are more knowledgeable and less gullible..

So, Happy Happy Birthday to me! through my 40 years I have met and stayed in touch with some wonderful friends, thank you all for the great memories.. Much love to my father and mother whom without them I wouldn’t be here to write this post, my brother who put up with my temper tantrums… I could go on and on, but this post is not a recollection of my life until now, it is simply a birthday wish I place upon myself.

Am I where I thought I would be at this age? Well, not exactly but I’m sure not many people are.. I’m though exactly where I need to be and where I want to be.

Today its Matt’s birthday and many people ask, how old is Matt?? Well, since this blog has so many loyal followers, I’m proposing a contest, who ever guesses his age correctly.. (you will need to place a comment with the answer, I know it will be hard) will win….your own blog..I will take care of everything.

Marco, Bella wish their PAPA a very Happy Birthday, today they made their own brithday cards and blew the candles of his cake. I wish my Matt a very very happy day and tell him I love him and can’t wait to celebrate many more with him.

I will announce the winner in my next post. (If everyone guesses correcly I will choose the winner that made the best comment!!)

Good luck to all!!!

photo flickr eye flashes 

Today is my dad’s Birthday and we want to wish him a very Happy Birthday!! We wish we could be with him but want him to know we love him very much and we wish him the very best.. Have fun!!!

My cousin turns as she puts it 39 +1!! I like that!!! I will be using the same wording in October when I will also hit that beautiful number. She has many surprises coming to her tonight so I wont say much!! Just a very very Happy Happy birthday…

FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS LAURA!!!!! MUCHOS BESOS…. 

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…

It’s not enough nowadays to simple have a birthday party you also need to celebrated in school with all your friends.. Lucky for me I had to go and entertain 23 kids for one hour.. Yes, lots of fun…. I brought them snacks and candy and read them a story..

For the most part they paid attention but really, the rest of the time they spent yelling, screaming, crying, laughing, fighting with each other, asking me questions, telling me they had to go pipi or caca, singing, dancing, talking, climbing, painting, playing with toys, spilling things….ALL AT THE SAME TIME!! I definitely would not make it as a kindergarten teacher for more than 10 min…

Overall, the kids had a great time.. I guess.. and I have a huge headache. I’m glad the next birthday is not until December!! I think I will have time to recover…maybe…

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