She's 81 and counting...

My eldest aunt, Auntie Delan (Papa's eldest sister), celebrated her 81st birthday yesterday, and from all indications, I'm happy to say it looks like she's going to be having many more birthday dinner celebrations to come.

To celebrate, we got together for dinner last night at Club Filipino. In attendance were Auntie Delan's entire family (sons, daughters, in-laws, grandchildren), brother Emon (my Papa) and his family (that's all of us in the Philippines, except for my brother Irip, sis-in-law Girlie, and nephews Pau and Enzo who are in the UK), sisters Raye (Un), Jovit, Tik, friends Resty and Rosie. We had a great time as usual, kidding, laughing, telling stories. Food was pretty good, but I loved the lechon and the Hizon cake best.

I always like it when we get together, and it was especially nice because there was a time a few years back when Auntie didn't look as healthy as she does now. But she got a second wind and she's doing great (except for her hearing), and she loves to tell stories. Here's a picture of her from last night:

Looking good

I really like that picture, and of course, she kept telling me that I keep taking pictures of her, but I never give her copies. I admit, I've been guilty of that in the past, but last year, I did give her copies of the pictures I took from her birthday party. :) Funny, when I was a kid, I remember being afraid of her, thinking she was this really strict aunt. But she is a really sweet person.

Anyway, here are several more pictures from last night.

The birthday cake (I love this cake! So very very yummy!!!)

With her "apos" (grandchildren)

Another shot with the grandchildren

With her children and some nieces and nephews and in-laws

With friends Resty and Rosie, sisters Raye and Tik standing;
sister Jovit and brother Emon flank the celebrant

Dad and son (Kuya Boy and Jacob)

My Bentot

Ben with Jacob and their Auntie Mabel

Ben with his Ate Janina, Ate Cat, Jacob, and Auntie Mabel

The cousins (with a very youthful looking aunt ;) )

Ben and Jaden

The boys!

The girls!

And now, here are a few random video clips from last night:

And finally, here's a short video clip of Auntie blowing her candle:

It was, overall a very good night and I, for one, am looking forward to Auntie's 82nd birthday.

Ben turns 6

Ben is now 6 years old. My, how time flies.

He had a birthday celebration yesterday afternoon, with his lolos, lolas, aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course, me. He also had his friend from the neighborhood, Jomer, come.

I wanted to give him something of a Spongebob Squarepants type of party, but I've been so busy I wasn't able to do anything other than some Spongebob Squarepants characters cut outs. I also wasn't able to take many pictures, as I was moving around so much. It was a bit crowded in the house yesterday, and since we still don't have a sofa set, people had to sit on stools, but it was a lot of fun, and getting together with everyone is always nice.

Another get together is likely to happen this Wednesday, when Auntie Delan celebrates her 81st birthday. She's looking good too.

Here are a couple of pictures and a video when Ben blew out his candle. Actually, he blew out a matchstick, because they waited so long before they moved around the cake to sing him his happy birthday song that the wick fell off the candle. He didn't seem very happy about that.

Ben's happy birthday banner

Ben's birthday cake, surprisingly good, I thought

With his cousins and friend after blowing out the candle

Here's the short video of the blowing of the candle: