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 50×15=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…
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.
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.
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..
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 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.
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.
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.
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…
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
Weekend Birthday Parties
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Isabella · Marco · parties
