Real Life Part 1

I’ve been trying to capture the crazy/messy side of life with kids but its hard.  It’s a lot easier to get the camera when things are going smoothly and everyone is smiley!  Just a few bad/blurry/phone pictures of real life.

*The boys loves cereal and want it for supper all the time.  I sometimes oblige them.

*Dirt and/or leaves are sometimes snuck into the house behind my back.  It isn’t as bad though as when Daniel decides to get the tea party set out and have a “real” tea party on the rug!

*The kids like to “help” unload the groceries.

*Is a comment really needed here?!

*Our kids are pros at bringing out all of their bedding and toys in 5 minutes flat.  (This was just the beginning.)

*And when things get really busy (which seems like all the time lately)  I’m a pro at washing clothes and leaving big piles beside the dryer.  What’s that?  Do you need some pants?  I’m sure you can find some in that big pile over there!

*I love the creativeness of this…Daniel is fishing…with the mop!  It was just a tad bit messy since the mop was still wet!

 

 

10 years ago…

Matthew and I got married in my home church in Huntsville, Alabama.  We were oh so young (and slender)!

I know some people love to watch their wedding on their anniversary but not us!  We are so embarrased to watch ourselves singing to each other (to this day we joke about how I started off the song with a crazy note) and I am devastated watching myself say my vows in Spanish!  So…our wedding video will not come out today or any other day unless one day our kids want to watch it although Matthew and I will probably leave the room when they do!

We celebrate 10 years today and we have come a long way in 10 years.  The first years were the roughest for us.  We have the main things in common…faith, family, etc.  but we are SO different in many small ways.  I don’t like to cuddle before I go to sleep and Matthew loves to cuddle.  I don’t like to talk when I’m about to go to sleep and that’s when Matthew wants to talk about everything and be really silly.  HA! So…we’ve had to adjust although to be fair…in these two ways M has definitely given in to me more than I’ve given into him.  (My sleep is very important to me and Caroline is the same way…oh my!)

10 years later and I’ve come to really value his opinion.  I feel better about an email if he says he thinks its okay.  I feel better about a decision concerning the kids if he thinks its the better way.  I trust him and respect him.  Growing in the Lord, our family and serving others are priorities and I am so grateful for that.

Happy Anniversary M.  ¡Te quiero!

 

Good morning, Monday

It’s finally warm here and we were so ready for it!  This time last week the kids had to wear jackets to school and now they are in sandals and spending lots of time in the yard.  Yay!

Andrew has gotten into collecting things lately.  Like two straws, a bottle cap and paper.  He finds “treasures” at school and brings them home.  Oh my.

We are planning on returing to the States this summer for SA and Daniel just keeps saying…”it’s taking long.”  (He wants to go the Mimi and the Abuelo’s house.) Maybe we told the kids too far in advance.

This girl loves melón.  She could eat the entire thing.

Okay…back to my coffee and to-do list.

Not that nonsense again

The title is something Andrew says that cracks me up.

**I like taking the kids to the library.  However, I am really bad at actually returning the books/videos on time.  Currently, I have two movies that were due 5 days ago.  Oops.  We try to check out books in Spanish for Andrew since most of our children’s books at home are in English and the poory guy keeps trying to read in English using his Spanish skills.  That doesn’t work.

**We enjoyed a lunch with some friends from school recently and it was lovely sitting and talking (with free re-fills!) right through nap time.  (I would choose Chick-fil-A over Burger King if we had it!)

**Waiting on this friend to give birth.  Could be any day now!!

**We enjoyed two birthday parties in one week and I love that A can address the gifts now.  This party was at the theatre and the kids were thrilled to watch The Lorax. (I was thrilled too!)

**The second party was a friend from church and the kids again had a great time.  I guess most kids love birthday parties!  There was a big crowd so they were reluctant to go in but that didn’t stop Daniel from breakdancing an hour after we arrived!  I am sad I didn’t get a picture/video of him on the floor showing some great moves but I was laughing too much/helping Caroline with her food/making sure Daniel didn’t get trampled on by an older kid.

**Andrew is trying to learn how to use the mouse.

**I really couldn’t find Daniel for a few moments when he decided to hide in the dirty clothes hamper!

**A friend and I went to the grand opening of a new mall close by.  I’ve started loving window displays and am content at just looking at them and not going in the stores.  I’ll admit this one is a little weird but I enjoy looking at it it just the same.

The End.

Good morning Monday

It’s flurrying outside right now…yes, on April 16th.  :(

We had an eventful weekend.  Friday night was our women’s Bible study that lasted until midnight.  I love and need that time.  The kids went on another egg hunt Saturday (at church) and have been wired ever since from all the candy/excitement.

Sunday was a good day at church (we had a very handsome preacher…Matthew:) but Caroline was really difficult all day and it wore me out.  I also scraped some paint off of our car on our way home!  Fun.

**********

M recently had an article published in an academic journal!  I couldn’t tell you what it says without getting out my spanish/english dictionary every other sentence so please don’t ask me.  He’s one of the investigators for an investigation led by one of his professors for the University of Madrid that is studying the effects of the Bologna Process (the creation of the european higher education area). He was also just asked to present a paper at an international conference on public policy this summer. He’s a smart cookie.

**********

Just something I want to remember…

The kid’s favorite shows are Peppa Pig and Caillou.  They could watch one episode after another of these for hours.

A night in April

Sometimes I post something when I want to avoid cleaning or folding laundry. Sometimes I post because I have a clean house and my mind feels free.  Tonight, I am posting because I have pictures on my screen that need to be filed and I can’t file them until I post them here.  I’m so weird.

Here goes:

This girl can be oh so sweet and she can also be really stubborn.  The kids all got their “report cards” recently and C’s teacher even wrote on it that sometimes (I think it was when she had to pick up or share) she can be a cabezota!  We were tickled that her teacher actually wrote that she was hard-headed on her evaluation!  But she is.

She was with me at a baby shower we recently had at our house.  My friend sat in our brown chair and opened all of her presents and we oohed and aahed.  Yesterday, Caroline and I played “baby shower” (over and over again) and she wanted me to give her gift after gift as she sat in the same brown chair with a baby in her belly.  That girl loves presents.

No, this is not Andrew’s room.  We were at IKEA.  Apparently, he feels like he can make himself right at home.

(The kids eating birthday party candy).  The child on the far right is one funny dude.  Sadly, he’s been having some trouble going to sleep.  I’m assuming its a stage of being afraid as Caroline was acting the same way recently and now uses a night light in her room and wants us to pray for a sister so she can sleep with someone.  Daniel wants me to sing him 5 songs and then when I’m leaving he says, “look, look” all serious like I need to stay there because he is about to say something very important.  I’m hoping this passes soon.

I just like this one.

Well, now I can remove these pictures from my desktop and these thoughts from my mind.

Spring Break

We wore new sunglasses…

We decorated some eggs…

We stayed inside way too much while it rained (and hailed)…the first week in months.

We ate strawberry shortcake…

Even though we had friends over, took the kids to an Indian restuarant (where Andrew broke a glass and we felt out of place with kids), got the stomach bug (me), went on a picnic and more it wasn’t all that I was wanting to do because of the rain and being sick but oh well.

We enjoyed an Easter hunt and lunch with some friends…

(This pic of A just cracks me up.)

We’ve re-hidden eggs 5x today.  I’ll be keeping those out on a permanent basis.

School starts back tomorrow.  Goodbye sleeping until 10am and staying up until 2am.  Goodbye no-plan days.  Looking forward to summer!!

The guinea pigs

I’m trying to learn more about my camera and its functions.  The family was generous yesterday to let me use them.  Of course the kids didn’t mind jumping off chairs!  

A visit to Alcalá de Henares

I’ve been wanting to visit this lovely city for a long time.  What a beautiful place.  We had wonderful tour guides and the kids had a blast.  We were all pooped at the end (example above).  After a weekend with three birthday parties, church, traveling, the dreaded time change, etc. I am looking forward to a calm week.

Día del Padre – 2012

This past Monday we celebrated Father’s Day with a trip to the mountains. For breakfast,  I attempted to make M some cinnamon buns (something he loves) but it was an epic fail.  Must try again.  The icing was really good.  The kids all gave their daddy a homemade gift from school and they were so proud.

What’s your favorite thing to do with daddy?

Andrew: play baseball

Caroline: play memory

Daniel: play fútbol (soccer)