Aidan's Birthday Party 2012

Hot on the heels of Liam's birthday party last weekend, it was time for yet another party (and dare I say it, more cupcakes).  Aidan recently went to a classmate's birthday party in a park in Sarria and had such a great time.  He told me that this is what he wanted to do (at a park near us) and that he wanted his friends to bring their scooters so they could fly around the park at ridiculously high speeds.

Wish granted!  Armed with some balloons, a tablecloth, drinks and chips, we made our way to the Parc de les Aigues which is near our apartment.  However, when we got to the park, I immediately thought my biggest fear would be realized which was that no picnic tables would be available.  There was a big party going on and all I could mutter under my breath was "shit, shit, shit!"... thankfully the party wasn't as big as I thought and there were still a few tables left...whew!!  That's the risk you take having a party in the park - to my knowledge there is no reservation system to guarantee you a table (and if there is, I most definitely didn't do it).

This is the party that I saw happening from a far - lots of people, lots of decoration...

This was our sad little table, which by the way, Aidan could have cared less about...Liam was just happy there was soda and juice...

So anyways, the night before Aidan had two of his closest friends sleep over.  They didn't go to sleep until midnight so I was rather surprised at their excited and energized moods when we got to the park.  Of course that was after several meltdowns before we left the house because they were so obviously exhausted!  But the bonus was instant party upon our arrival since he already had two friends plus Liam with him.

Aidan and some of his friends cooling down with some drinks...it was a hot day! 

The kids enjoyed pizza for lunch and then a quick game of dodgeball (where Josh ended up falling into the shrubs - ooops!) before heading off on their scooters again!

Enjoying some pizza in the shade

Impromteu game of dodgeball

I enlarged this picture of Josh in the shrubs for everyone's viewing pleasure ;) 

I realized I had no where to hang balloons and my "brilliant" idea of putting the balloons on sticks and taping them to the tablecloth was a complete and utter failure. However, the kids enjoyed using them as swords and hey who am I to get in the way of 8 year olds having sword fights with balloons? They used every single balloon and were pretty happy for it. Given I planned no party games (I'm super slacker mom these days as I didn't plan them for Liam's either), they did a pretty good job of self entertaining.

But what was even better, was that a few of the kids decided to take the sticks and make them into drumsticks with the balloons.  Before you know it we had a whole group of kidding "drumming" on their balloons.  Of course, the balloons didn't last that long but it was cute to watch while they lasted!

It startedoff with just two...

And grew...

Liam lost his sticks and just decided to play the bongo ;)

One of the bonuses of living in Europe is that there is a general feeling of safety, especially when in numbers. Now, while I had no intention of having Liam's 5th birthday party in a park for fear of losing a 5 year old (most parents drop off the kids rather than staying), for Aidan's party, I pretty much didn't see him or his friends for 30 minutes at a time. They were all scooting around the park, having an absolutely great time. And I didn't worry at all that anyone was missing. That doesn't mean I didn't check here and there to see where everyone was, but it wasn't a panicked checking, just a hey, want to make sure everything is ok.

No, he's not wearing a helmet, but he's supposed to be... sneaky!

While playing the kids came across a domestic pig...

They followed the poor owner everywhere!!

So on the way to the park, Josh dropped the cupcakes (there was a cover so it wasn't dropped in the street).  You've never seen such a livid look as the one I gave to him, especially given I had carted cupcakes up to school twice in the last week, an hour trek each time, and no harm came to a single cupcake.  Josh hadn't even made it out the front door.  However, in his defense, the sun melted the frosting anyways and they didn't look so appetizing... I think I "sold" one or two but the rest got dumped. 

Worst looking cupcakes anywhere... 

Opening presents!!

The scooters

The kids seemed to really enjoy (which terrified me of course, since the majority of them did not have helmets, the norm here) going all the way up to the top of this hill and then flying down at full speed on their scooters.  I still don't think my heart has recovered...

I think overall Aidan had a great party.  He was smiling thru the whole thing and everyone got along great.  This was a big turnaround from his actual birthday when he had that fight.  So I was happy he got what he wanted - his scooter party in the park with all his friends!  On another note, we put the kids to bed a just after 7 and they were out like lights!!

Besos,

Julie

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

This is an entry that I'm a bit ambivilent about and one I thought about keeping to myself rather than putting on the blog.  But after writing in Aidan's birthday entry that I can't sugar coat life, I feel like it's one that is a part of our lives abroad and so therefore it's something I need to put out there.  It's one that I think people could take the wrong way because they may not quite get my "tone" of voice in my writing.  So let me just say up front that this is about how I'm feeling right at this moment.  It's not anger, it's not resentment, it's generally just a sense of loss and disconnection from home.  There are no accusations and no one is at fault for anything that I'm about to write.  It's all about the tests of time and being out of sight and out of mind.  So please bear that in mind as you read...

I'm heading to the States this week for my brother's wedding.  I'm super excited about being on US soil again for the first time in 11 months.  But I'm not going to Boston...instead, I'm heading to Minneapolis which is where the wedding is being held.  Three days to test out my legs back in my homeland.  However, in just over a month, I will be back home home (as the boys call it)...home to Boston. 

And I'm looking forward to our trip home.  But what's weird is that my calendar feels pretty empty.  Normally I'm scrambling to fit everyone in and every minute of every day is scheduled.  I usually return to Barcelona after 2 1/2 weeks with some kind of illness from just running myself ragged.  And every year I tell myself that I won't do that again this year.  But strangely enough, my calendar is doing it for me and I'm feeling a bit distressed about it.

The question is why?  Why don't I have much planned?  I've told everyone we are coming though I haven't reached out individually (my fault) - but normally we're all talking on a regular basis and it just comes up in conversation and we start to plan and it just happens organically...but not this time.  I am feeling like I need to make a more concerted effort on my part and I recognize that I'm the one who left and that life has gone on at home without me, but it never felt this way before.  Lately I've been feeling a sense of being disconnected with many our friends from home.  I'm not sure why.  It may be me, it may be them.  I don't think it's anything intentional on any of our parts.  For almost 2 1/2 years we've all managed to be pretty good about staying in touch either via phone, email, facebook or skype.  But for the last month or two, it's feeling like suddenly the distance is making a huge difference in our relationships.  It's out of sight, out of mind - we're not there and with the exception of 2 1/2 weeks a year, we won't be there again for 3 more years.  Maybe I'm imagining it.  Maybe I'm creating a mountain out of a molehill.  But since as I wrote in the entry about Aidan's birthday, this is all a part of our experience abroad and so I'm putting it out there - hopefully no one is going to be offended... 

I actually think it's Aidan's birthday that triggered this entry.  And again, I hope no one takes this the wrong way because I know that I've made a few late calls to kids at home or sent presents a day or two late.  But I guess the point is, I still did it.  Aidan leaves messages for his really close friends at home on their voice mails (the time difference usually doesn't enable us to call when his friends are home since more than likely it's a school night and his friends are at school when he gets home and he's long in bed by the time they get home) for their birthdays.  We send presents.  This year, Aidan didn't get a single call except from family.  It was a little heartbreaking.  And again, I don't think it was an intentional hurtful kind of slight - I think it's another instance of "out of sight, out of mind".  We aren't there on the forefront anymore and now that 2 years away has stretched halfway into our 3rd year, the efforts are changing, on both ends - we're all continuing on with our lives no matter where we live.  We're no longer a constant everyday part of the same group as much as we try and hope to remain.  All we can do is continue to let people know that we are coming back eventually and that their friendships mean the world to us.  And that without them and their support, we never would have been able to embark on this adventure in the first place. 

People move all the time, it's just a part of life.  Rarely though, do people move and then come back to the same place as we intend to do.  And I think because of this, it's added a slightly different dynamic to what I have for expectations.  I've worked harder to stay in touch because I know that we'll be back but maybe I haven't worked hard enough.  And I've worked to make sure that Aidan stays in touch with his friends (though it's incredibly hard because at his age he's really not a fan of either the phone or skype so I know I could do better with this).  Maybe I haven't done enough or maybe I'm expecting too much??  Friends of ours that have moved away without the intention of coming back - our friendships have either continued to bloom organically or they have wilted over time.  But my relationship with them is different than those that I would see daily. 

What's interesting to me is the people that I didn't see on a daily basis are actually the ones I have plans with.  Is it because we were already used to communicating differently that our friendships are standing the tests of time and distance?  Because we had already been putting forth the efforts long before I left for Barcelona? 

And what does this mean that my relationships at home are changing?  I know that friendships evolve over time depending on where you are in your life and where the other person is in theirs.  Sometimes you grow together, sometimes you grow apart.  Has my time abroad forced some of these friendships apart and will we be able to repair any "damages" once I'm back for good?  My hope is that our trip to the States at the end of June will refresh all of our minds as to why we all became friends in the first place and that it will feel as though we never left... I guess like anything else, only time will tell. 

Besos,
Julie

Feliz Cumpleaños Aidan!! Aidan Turns 8!

I want to say that Aidan had an amazing birthday but to be honest I don't think he did.  I thought about sugar coating it for the blog, but then I think that would be deceptive because the whole point of this blog is talk about life, real life, and as you know, real life isn't always pretty.

Though that doesn't mean Aidan didn't have a nice birthday because I hope he did.  You know... after the fight he had at school.  His first fist fight that apparently no teacher witnessed somehow.  I guess that's one way to ring in the new year, right?  Ah the joys of boys.  I've no doubt this will not be the last time we'll be using our fists to solve problems no matter how much I try to explain that this is not the best way to do it.  But I do think it put a damper on his mood at the end of the school day and he got off the bus in tears telling me how bad his birthday had been.  It was absolutely heartbreaking, especially at an age where birthdays are supposed to be exciting and fun and well... happy! 

Anyways, back to his birthday.  It blows my mind that Aidan is now 8!  Not sure how this is possible given that I'm only 25 but 8 it is!  Seven was actually a really good year for Aidan... Six, not so much.  So I was excited when he turned 7 last year hoping for some new beginnings and a new attitude and that's what we got.  He's blossomed in the last year, really starting to come in to his own.  Of course, that blossoming also often means a little rebellion and a little sass.  Ok, a lot of sass.  But not as much as when he was 6.  So it was tolerable. 

Aidan has matured as well, and asks intelligent questions and follows up your answer with more questions - he's quite the devils advocate sometimes!  But I love that we can go out and actually talk about "stuff" and that's on a completely different level than the conversations that I have with Liam.  He's an intelligent kid who is inquisitive about everything. 

He's also a kid that is not a fan of change (hmmmm like his mother perhaps) and while he's doing much better than in the past, he still struggles a bit when there is something new in the picture.  But he's learning to better to deal with his issues and is learning to problem solve better.  And creatively which I love. 

He's always been a creative/artsy kid and he still is.  I look at his drawings and am blown away.  His artistic ability far surpasses mine...actually Liam's artistic ability far surpasses mine as well (I apparently am the only one on my side of the family that missed the art gene).  He loves to draw and spends time almost every night drawing pictures in his journals (of which he has several). 

As we've spent more time in Barcelona, Aidan has learned to invest himself into his relationships as we have all had to learn to do.  It's taken him some time but he's a popular kid in his class and has a great group of friends.  Many of which are coming to his birthday party this weekend. 

Speaking of birthday, we started off the celebrations on Wednesday with him getting to open one gift before bed.  It was Super Mario Party for the DS, a big hit!!  He went to bed feeling pretty excited about Thursday!

Super Mario Party is in the house...

He woke up Thursday and the child has the patience of a saint.  He asked shortly before we had to leave the house if he could open another gift.  Of course we said yes.  This time it was Ninjago Legos...some of his favorites these days!  Aidan could spend hours building with his Legos in his room - again, maybe an architect in the making!!! 

Presents that were waiting when Aidan woke up on Thursday morning

Opening his Ninjago legos before he left for school

During the day Thursday I stopped by school with some cupcakes for his class.  Aidan and Liam are so different when it comes to being the center of attention.  Aidan shuns it as much as possible and you can tell by the pictures that he was rather embarrassed by everyone singing to him.  He's an incredibly humble child and I love that about him though I wish he'd let loose a little bit every now and again :) 

Mmmmmm marble cupcakes with chocolate frosting

Aidan with his friends

Handing out cupcakes to his classmates

Happy kid

His friends sang both Happy Birthday and Feliz Cumpleaños to him:

http://youtu.be/jRUn8R3ssfY

Because they did cupcakes in the middle of the day I opted for the boys to take the bus home instead of picking them up (I would have had to wait at school for a good 2 hours for them).  I feel badly that it was because they took the bus that Aidan had this fight with another boy - if only I'd waited for them then maybe he would have had a better end to his special day.  For the most part though, he put it behind him and when they got home we did a nice dinner of Aidan's choice (pasta, he's so my kid) and then when Josh got home he got to open his presents which seem to be a bit heavy on the Lego side.  Can you tell he likes to build a lot?  This kid is a lego fanatic!  Maybe an architect in the making???? 

Looks like something Spongebob!

And Spongebob Legos!

More Spongebob - it's neverending!

Liam giving a hand

Police Forest Legos

I'm super strong!!!

Hmmmm what's this??

Mommy and her boys!

Regardless, I'm so proud of my now 8-year old boy - no longer a little kid, we've started to enter tween-hood and all the "wonderful" things that go with it.  He's an amazing kid that has changed my life in so many ways.  Watching him grow and blossom into the boy he's become is something I reflect on all the time - how someone can have such an impact on a person's life is beyond me - I love this kid more than life itself and look forward to seeing what the future holds for him!

Besos,
Julie

Liam's Birthday Party 2012

With the upcoming move, 2 children with birthdays and my trip to the US slated in a week to go to my brother's wedding, we decided that the kids' birthdays absolutely needed to be lowkey this year.  Liam had initially wanted to have his party at a playspace area that another friend had hers.  But with money hemmoraging left and right with the move, we decided it was best to have his party at home.

Now with only a patio of 600 square feet (of which maybe half is usable), no grass and a house not much bigger, this can present a challenge.  But armed with cupcakes, pizza and a boatload of toys, I think overall it was a success.  I was a bit anxious that all the parents would want to stay and I most definitely didn't have room for 16 parents plus their kids but in the end it was just 4 or 5 parents that stayed which was perfect and an opportunity to get to know them a little bit better from my end.
I think Liam had a great time and loved all the presents he got from his friends!  This was our first "real" birthday party that he's had as the first year we were here he had only one little friend and Aidan not many more and last year we opted for no party for either of the boys so I think it made it all the more exciting for Liam since he really doesn't remember his last birthday party.

I'll admit, I also got a bit lazy with Liam's party... but shhh don't tell him.  At home I would have ordered a jumparoo, some pizza and perhaps did a bbq but normally I don't do party games, it's just one big social party.  So I kind of kept to that which given the small space and such a small group, felt a little lax.  But since Liam and his buddies seemed happy with a giant playdate, whom am I to tempt fate and try to change things?

Ah the love of a good juice box...

Playing with some of his friends

To see everyone singing Happy Birthday to Liam:  http://youtu.be/piR06mFmCQs

 

Opening presents...

And some more presents

Since all I could find was a string pinata, it was opened in less than 3 seconds... but then I suppose that's better than 8 - 5 year olds wielding a bat near my patio door...

Even Jake got in on the celebrations!

This week we have Aidan's 8th birthday and then his birthday party so keep an eye out for more blog updates on those!

Besos,
Julie

Block Party Spain Style...Nova Travessera 2012

Nova Travessera is our neighborhood festival in Gracia... actually I can't even call it a specific neighborhood festival because normally it is comprised of just one (really long) street that runs along the bottom of the street we live on.  There are pony rides, vendors selling their wares along the sidewalks under tents, jumparoos for the kids and lots of food.  There's also entertainment - music, dancing, batucada... you name it.

One of many rows of tents that were lined along the streets in Gracia

This year the Nova Travessera expanded to also include Sant Antoni Maria Claret which is the road that runs parallel to Travessera de Gracia.  It made for a much larger festival which was pretty cool.  It's days like Saturday that make me forget sometimes that I live in a city of about 1.5 million people - the streets are closed down and people are just wandering along enjoying the day.  The city takes on a feel of a small close knit neighborhood (a small "close knit" neighborhood in which we know no one mind you).  If only we spoke enough Spanish to bond with everyone that would make things perfect but in the meantime we'll enjoy it for what it is...another festival!

The kids had tennis class in the morning so they didn't get to enjoy much of the festivities initially.  While they were in class I was running errands and took the time took some time to wander amongst the locals to see what was happening.  There were jumparoos on a few blocks, a mechanical bull (I wish we'd gotten a chance to do this because it would have been a riot) and much to my happiness, a batucada playing. 

Mechanical bull being setup

While I watched the batucada I noticed that there were some people nearby that were dressed in devil's outfits like for a correfoc.  There were children and adults.  Surprisingly given my time here, they actually had protective masks on both the kids and adults.  It looked to me like they were doing some kind of training for a correfoc to be held at a later time.  I will say, I was impressed with the way they handled both the kids and the fire - not just protective covering but explaining to the children what was going to happen and walking with them while their pitchforks were on fire.  It brought a new level of respect in my eyes as I've never thought the Spanish to be careless with fire, if anything they have a great respect for it...but I've always been concerned about fire and kids and to see the adults actually taking the time to explain to them what was happening was enlightening to me that things are not always as they appear. 

The Batucada (for video of them playing:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOJoqw7Tz-0)

Correfoc "training"

Adult showing a kid how to handle the pitchfork on fire (for video:  http://youtu.be/eTOsUEAiSD4)

Later on while Liam and I were at a birthday party in Sant Cugat (outside the city), Josh and Aidan wandered around the 'hood and enjoyed some of the festivities as well.  We didn't get to do any of the festival as a family this year but each of us got to enjoy a little piece here and there. 

Aidan having some fun at the Nova Travessera

Besos,
Julie

Feliz Cumpleaños! Liam Turns 5 in Barcelona!

Wow, it's amazing that yet another year has gone by in my children's lives.  This week it's Liam and next week it's Aidan.  And the fact that this is the third birthday they are celebrating in Spain just blows me away - Liam has actually celebrated more birthdays here than he has in the States!

Four was an interesting year for Liam.  He has truly blossomed into this great little kid.  He is chatty and while not as articulate as some, has an amazing vocabulary that never ceases to amaze you.  He is innovative, creative and has an imagination that so many will someday envy when he blows them away with all the stories he creates.  His smile and laughter are contagious and you can't help but melt when he smiles at you.  He's also manipulative and knows how to use it to make you melt and to see his way of things - he reminds me a bit of my brother that way - he would manipulate you and you would know it but he would do it in such a way that it was almost enjoyable.  That's Liam too.  He's also incredibly stubborn and we're seen a lot of that in his 4th year - like lay down on the floor, screaming at the top of his lungs kind of stubborn.  We're hoping he outgrows this in year 5 :) 

In school he has "mastered" his alphabet and letter sounds and is starting to work on sight words.  He is popular with his teachers and his peers which would make any parent happy to hear.  He loves to go to school and then actually tells me the things he's learning (I know this will stop in the next year or two so I'm appreciating it now while he actually wants to talk to me about school).  He's also a lover of adventure and gets so excited about upcoming family vacations -  always wanting to know where we are going, how we will get there (if we take a plane that's a bonus as far as he is concerned) and what we will see.  He's been taking both jiu jitsu and tennis lessons as well this year so he's getting his sports on now too...

This year, Liam truly gets that it's his birthday.  He has been talking about it all week and when you ask him how old he's going to be, he holds up 5 fingers and tells me "cinco".  Not five, but cinco.  And yesterday he told us all about how it was the last day that he was going to be four because today, he will turn cinco.  The big moment of him getting it was at 2AM last night when he came into our room announcing that he couldn't stop singing happy birthday to himself.  Ah yes, he gets it.

Earlier in the weekend we were out and about and he and Aidan were riding their scooters.  Aidan is constantly asking me to bring his scooter everywhere and honestly it makes life easier when he doesn't have to walk all the time.  Now Liam has joined on the bandwagon.  But his scooter was a bit on the crappy/cheap side.  So Aidan and I went on a mission on Saturday to find Liam a new scooter, ideally a Razor Spark scooter like Aidan has.  But alas, there are no Razor Spark scooters here in Barcelona - only Santa can bring those from Amazon.co.uk ;)  So we settled for a super cool, red Oxelo scooter that Liam absolutely loves and has aptly named, Scootie.  Innovative, I know.  So that was his early birthday present as well as his big gift!

Liam right after he got "scootie" 

Out riding Scootie with Aidan on Tuesday (a holiday here) morning

This morning he woke so excited that today was the BIG day - cinco años!  After taking a few minutes to have a little snuggle-wee-wee (as Liam calls it) with his mom, it was time to go downstairs to check out the pile of gifts that were left for him.  And the moment made me melt as he asked me "are these really all for me?"  We let him open a few of the gifts this morning and he was absolutely thrilled and yet so patient about the fact that he had to wait til after daddy comes home from work later before he can open the rest. 

Liam's birthday stash...

This is for me???

Star Wars!  A child after daddy's heart!

More Cars!!  Just what I needed (but wanted)!

A Finn McMissile bath toy...that rocks!

Aidan is intrigued too...

He went off to school this morning with a huge smile on his face and kept telling me that it's his birthday.  Yup, once again, he's getting this.  Tomorrow he's going to be disappointed when it's no longer his birthday.  Or next week when it's Aidan's turn and he has to sit on the sidelines. 

But the day isn't over yet.  Around 3:30 I brought cupcakes to his classroom which only added to the excitement of his big day.  His teacher told me he'd been talking about the cupcakes all day and was especially excited when I got there.  There were 5 kids out today which meant only 10 kids in his class.  They all gathered around and sang Happy Birthday to him - it was so cute!!

Liam with his birthday crown

All his friends standing around getting ready to sing.  To hear the Happy Birthday song:

http://youtu.be/lN4bqa8YFxw

100%

 

Yum, cupcakes!!

Normally on Wednesday we have jiu jitsu, but when we walked by on our way home it was closed.  So we called it an omen and decided to have a chill evening until Josh got home from work.  The boys decided to take a tub to play with the new Finn McMissile toy and were pretty happy!

Finally Liam got to open the rest of his presents when Josh got home.  The kid has some pretty good patience as I don't think I could have held out that long!  Though he did take the time to pile them up on the coffee table so that he'd be ready to go ;).  And of course the moment Josh walked in the door, the phone started to ring with well wishers - so poor Liam had to wait even a little longer!  But in the end, he tore open all his presents and enjoyed his cupcake before heading to bed.  It's hard to believe my little guy is 5 but I'm looking forward to what the next year brings!

Josh walks in the door and less than 1.2 seconds later Liam is opening his gifts...what did I say about patience??

On the phone with Auntie Becky...and then Granny

Rollerblades!  Now we can get rid of those old plastic ones!

CARS legos and playdoh!!!

Thomas the Train stuff!

Blowing out his candle on his cupcake - so happy!!

Besos,
Julie