Julie:
Love those pictures of Estrella. Molly saw them too, too cute. I'm sure our girlies will love chatting at/with each other on the ship.
Estrella loved Molly´s party pictures. Is that a playhouse behind her in one of the pictures? I would have loved to have one when I was a girl.
My heart goes out to them!
How did 45 caskets fit in thier car?
I hope that the children have family that will take good care of them. And keep them safe.
Karen
Oh, I am so so sorry and upset to read this. How awful for those little children and the rest of the family, and you too as close friends. Sending some love, thoughts and prayers.
Just guessing, but I think she meant bullets or casings?
Carolyn
Yes, I meant the bullet shells. Apparently they were killed with the kind of firearms that are reserved for the army use only, and the attack was an execution, since Mireya was given the shot of grace, and it seems that it was done by the organised crime. Both families are devastated and the poor children have not been told yet. Mireya´s father is a retired General who did an outstanding job fighting against the guerrilla about 10 years ago, so they think it is some kind of revenge.
Their children will need all the prayers they can get, and I just pray that Mireya and Jordi died before they could realise that their children would be left orphans.
They have family that will take good care of them, and their parents were well off financially, but nothing can replace their good parents.
Estrella doesn´t remember their son, as we hadn´t seen them since october, so we don´t have to tell her anything, but I know that our good friends are struggling with how to tell their oldest son, since they were very close friends.
About Catholic priests and poverty: some take vows of poverty, some don't. Some have nothing ever, others take their vacation to Hawaii. Really depends - but none have tons of money. Deeper info:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12324a.htm
Mmm, I had always thought that they always had to make the 3 vows of poverty, obedience and chastity.
Never heard of December as the forgotten month for birthdays, but it sure makes sense. I feel for you, with an early January birthday here, don't know how many people have forgotten it (hangovers??) or how many times my mom used the excuse at Christmas, "This is for Christmas AND your birthday!" People are just kind of party-ed out by 1/5! (Personally, I kind of like it as I don't tend to like all the fuss!)
Carolyn
On January 5th we always have "Rosca de reyes", hot chocolate and tamales for dinner, to celebrate the Epiphany, is a very old custom, and on the 6th the children wake up to find many toys brought to them by the Three Kings of Orient, or the Three Wise Men, much like on christmas morning. I have a friend who was born on the 4th and another who was born on the 5th, and for the longest time they had a Rosca the Reyes dinner to celebrate, instead of going out someplace else.
My birthday is 5 days before Xmas and DH is 2 days after. The rule in our family is when my DH asks "When is your birthday again? " I reply "A week before yours, you forget mine, I forget yours!!
Noel[/QUOTE]
This is SO true! I'm working on a case now for a young man who passed away when he was only 19 years old. It's a messy situation, as he owned a couple of different pieces of real estate and has relatives who may be entitled to his property both in the US and in Greece. I urge everyone to have a will prepared, because you never know what may happen, and you wouldn't want all of your assets taken by the government and by attorneys fees!
Here the government won´t take the assets unless there are no relatives, and even then, the government has no way of knowing if an empty house has a living owner or not, they would have to research place by place.
My main concern is for the people with children. As I tell them, "if you die, the law gives all your assets to your children and spouse, but if you and your spouse die, the assets will be divided among your children, but who will take care of them?" That is the most important part to me. If you don´t choose who you want as tutors, a judge will go with what the law establishes.
Good for you----training your hubby! Well, one thing I noticed about Alejandro's apartment is how clean it is. Even the bathrooms! Surprising for 3 young guys. 
I already told him I don't cook, so maybe that's why I haven't heard from him in a couple days. 
Scared him right away! But seriously, if he ends up sticking around, I supposed I would start cooking a little because he works such long hours (10am - 10:30pm, 6 days a week). He could use a little TLC.
As presidente Calderón said recently, some of the best and most hardworking people are the ones inmigrating to the US, so he must be a great guy. And the truth is that most houses and people in Mexico are very clean. The bathrooms are cleaned every day and the kitchen floors are mopped at least once every day. And even the poorest people will take a bath every day, and it is not always easy. One of the secretaries at my office didn´t have running hot water, only cold, so everyday she would heat water for her and her dd so they would be clean, even if it meant scooping water on them with a cup.
Awwwww.......I hope they're both feeling better soon! Your daughter's hurt feelings and Cordelia from her immunizations.
Oh yeah, after crying about how her heart was broken in the tiniest pieces, dd forgave Cordelia, and she too, is back to her playful puppy self too.
Angie...yikes...be careful! Put your ankle up and relax. (Were you spraying to get rid of the blackberries? I know they're like weeds there, but I miss picking them!)
Estrella and Cordelia...you two play nice!
Hope Cordelia's back to herself and Estrella understands that Cordelia was just having a bad day.
Julie...I'll work on your ironing lady's papers, if you and Estrella come, too. I'll have extra time, if my ironing's taken care of!
(I don't really have that much ironing, just like the idea that you have someone come in to do that!)
Happy Late Mexican Mother's Day and Happy English Mother's Day!!!
Carolyn
To our English friends, happy belated Mother´s Day too!
Caroly, technically you are almost 2 months early, lol, we celebrate on May 10th, then again I might have had a blond moment before and put March instead of May.
Angie, I hope your ankle is well by now.
Carolyn, I will be happy to personally escort Aurora to your home, lol, Estrella would definetly enjoy coming too.
I have no idea who or what Chuck E Cheese is by the way.....but I'm guessing it's like McDonalds or something?????
Chuck E Cheese is a big indoor playhouse for chidren - mostly younger than 10. There are video games, structures to play in. You can get tickets for winning the games and then turn the tickets in for prizes. They have pizza, salad, etc. It is very noisy, children love it.
Unfortunately, ours near us has had a few incidents. Most notably a little girl was reportedly attacked in the play structure by a 13 year old boy (whose mother was asleep in her car). My second to youngeset (3 years old at the time) was pushed by some older girl in the playstructure - it was after that incident that I did research and found out about the other incident. We had just moved here, so weren't aware of its reputation. We haven't been to that location since.
HOWEVER, they all of course are not like that. I'm sure the one Holly goes to is completely safe. Probably has something to do with where they are located. It did highlight to me to pay special attention when we are visiting play structures that have hidden areas where adults can not see. I'm sharing in case others haven't thought about this. I had never thought about it until our incident with our 3 year old. I was SO mad...I tried to find the girl, but it was hard to rely on my 3 year old's description. I reported it to the staff and they were just like "oh well." That is when I knew this particular place was mismanaged. More answer than anyone asked for!
Lisa
Wow, I hate places like that where children run unsupervised, especially older children who will abuse of the younger set.
We do not like Chuck E Cheese.
It is a loud pizza place with game machines that give tickets for prizes and a rat that performs!
We have a Bullwinkles here that we like much better for the kids. Same idea, pizza and game machines with prizes, but the difference is that the tables where you eat are in a separate room so you can get away from the noise for a minute. Bullwinkles also has go-karts and mini-golf.
In the 80s when I was a kid, we didn't have Chuck E. Cheese in our city. It was Showbiz Pizza, which is owned by the same company I think. Same thing, just different characters on stage. My mom absolutely hated taking me there, but managed to suffer through it a couple times. 
Lisa, what an awful experience you and your kids had there! We've never had anything like that happen, but I can surely see how it could happen. There was an incident, however, when he went with his dad and stepmom to Caesarland (another similar place, but without the characters--it's part of Little Caesars Pizza) and a boy bit Tyler on his chest so hard, he had a perfect circle of teeth surrounding his little ni _ _ le, it turned into a big bruise! His dad and stepmom were furious and tried to find the boy and his parents, but told me they were nowhere in sight. Probably got out of dodge pretty quickly when they saw 2 angry parents coming towards them! 
We had an incident when Tyler was 3 at McDonalds. He came out of the play structure and told me a bigger boy pushed him down, so I told him to just stay away from him and play with other kids instead. Then, as I watched, I saw that bigger boy walk right up to him for no reason at all and shove him down, really hard! I was up in those tubes before I even realized what I was doing, and told the other boy, "Excuse me, but we don't play like that. It's not nice to push kids, especially kids smaller than you. If I see it happen again, I will let your mother know you're not playing nice." I didn't raise my voice, just calmly spoke to him. Well, his mother was LIVID! She came barrelling up the tubes and started yelling at me for "disciplining" her child (which I did not do). I remained calm and tried to reassure her, but it was no use. I just had to walk away and ignore her comments to her son about how he can play however he wants. Sheesh! 
Wow, some parents have the nerve to sit and let their kids run wild and will get mad at you for sticking up to your child!!!
I am that mother too, who will not let another child bully, and will tell the child directly, sorry, if the mother doesn´t like it, then come and supervise your kid.
I have never taken Estrella to McDonald´s or Burger King, because I hate those places with the playstructures where it is really hard to keep an eye to what is going on, so I don´t want her to know that they are so fun, so she doesn´t know what she is missing, bad mommy, I know, but I hate the food and the place too.
We don´t have Chuck E Cheese either, but about 20 years ago there was a Showbiz pizza, and it was the IN place to make the birthday parties when my little sister was about 4 years old.
Wow, V, I'm impressed! Only thing I could ever sew was little sunsuits for the girls. I did try to make a leisure suit for DrHug years ago , but the collar just wouldn't go together right.
Kind of a Lucy does sewing thing
Thanks Noel! I told my aunt I had asked the people on this site and she started to cry. She has pretty severe MS and this just makes her so happy!
Your cousin is georgeus!
Could be worse! I can't sew at all. I'm ashamed to say this, but thank goodness for Tyler's wonderful stepmom! Whenever a button falls off, or he gets a small rip in some clothes, he says, "It's OK....Sheilah can sew it." 
So I failed in one aspect of parenting. Not the end of the world. And I know it makes her feel good to be a part of things in that way, so it works! 
Gee....I can't cook or sew....gonna be hard to keep Alejandro around! Good thing I'm super nice.....and funny!
Don´t worry, sometimes those hard working men do learn how to look after themselves, and it sounds like Alejandro is one of them!
Yup, he's his normal self. Whatever was going on is done with. I'm sort of leaning towards constipation, especially after a few questions I asked Tyler.
His dad, his dad's wife, and I all get along really well. She's been a part of Tyler's life since he was a baby, so he just thinks of her as another parent. It's clear how much he loves her, just as he does his dad and I, and she has made it clear to me many times that she wants me to let her know if I ever think she's overstepping any boundaries. In fact, I even went to their wedding last September. People think it's strange, but we all think there's no reason for us not to get along because we want Tyler to grow up as stable as possible in a split home. After all, he didn't ask to be put in this situation, so we feel we owe it to him to make it as easy as possible for him. I get along well with his dad's family, and even Sheilah's family. And both of their families have even met some of my family. Everybody knows everybody and gets along, so far. He's one lucky little boy to have so many people who love him! 
You all must be doing some great parenting for really thinking about Tyler and what is best for him. I agree that he is a very lucky boy to have all those people who love him.
DW's birthday is on December 11th, so I get the December birthday thing. I have to tell you it is hard to get a gift knowing that two weeks later I have a repeat performance.
I lost my birthday 19 years ago . . . when our son was born on my birthday in June. You don't have to be born in December to lose your birthday.
Dd´s due date was sept. 3rd and Dh´s birthday is on sept. 4th, so I begged the dr to induce the birth on the 4th because I wanted Dh to keep his birthday.
At least you lost it to your son. My brother was born on the same day as I, but 2 years later. Talk about being born with the left foot, lol. I am just now getting over it, but I hated it for most of my life up till now.
went on and bam, he was reading like he'd never had a problem. Every child seems to come into their own at their own pace. And we just love reading aloud. DS is in third grade now and we still read chapter books aloud each night. He loves the more complex stories that are just a little too difficult for him to plow thru on his own. And it's also our special cuddling time. Don't know how much longer that will last.
I just reserved my copy of the next (final 
) Harry Potter book. I got to choose one of two stickers: "Trust Snape" or "Snape is a very bad man." I chose "Trust Snape." Where do the rest of the Harry Potter fans stand on the Snape issue? Inquiring minds want to know.
But I learned if I get those 2 things before I go....Rock n Roll, Big Thunder, Everest, here I come!!!
