Happy Andalucia Day!!

Yesterday was Andalucia Day which means that Paul had the day off!! It was a good day of cleaning the garage, washing cars, and playing outside. Nathan and Kayla took their fishing poles and practiced casting into the pool. That was fun especially for Nathan who would set to rod down and walk away to wait for a fish to bite!! When the kids had finished fishing and caught their limit of pool fish it was time for a campfire. We snacked on peanuts and pistachios and then for dinner we ate roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Kayla and Emily picked flowers and Nathan played in the fire. It was a relaxing day of just enjoying each other.

Happy Birthday Kayla!!

Today is Kayla's 3rd Birthday!! Happy Birthday to her!! Yesterday she put on her apron and helped with the making of the birthday cake. She helped stir and get it all in the pan. Then both her and Nathan helped to "make" the frosting, and by "help make the frosting", I mean they looked for any chance to stick their fingers in the frosting to check if it was done. Today started out with Kayla opening her presents. Nathan was as excited, if not more excited than Kayla about opening her presents. He had to be reminded a few times about the fact that they were for Kayla and he could not open them with out her permission. Once the presents were open Kayla put on her ballerina/fairy costume and twirled all over the house. She enjoyed turning dad (Paul) into an array of different things and then turning him back to "dad" again. After lunch we had her cake, which Emily thoroughly enjoyed and was sticking her fingers in the frosting before the candle were even on the cake and then it was nap time. She received a lot of gifts and I know we will enjoy playing dress up with her baby dolls after her nap. Thank You to Gram and Pop Cook, Grandma Hellen and Grandpa Hellen for the gifts, she loves them and I am enjoying playing with them as well.

Baking the Cake

Mmmmm Necco wafers!! Gone Fishin'...

Picture of Peace

Nathan has not been feeling very well the past few days with a cold, along with Emily, and myself. However it seems to have finally caught up with him and he is now resting on the sofa as Emily pokes at him and pulls his hair, Kayla yells in his face trying to wake him for dinner and he does not move a muscle!! I wish I could do that!!

....and just a recent picture of Emily!!

its a long one...

OK, OK I know it has been a while since I have written anything of value, so hold onto your hats... I don't know!! I am going to update the blog now and fill you all in on the goings on in our lives, first of all, I am currently 17 weeks pregnant and fighting a stubborn cold, which makes feeling sick from being pregnant even more miserable. In time it will be over. We are trying to get a few things done around here before we leave in April, yes, that is right we will be out of here in the middle of April. I have been busy trying to get the many piles that have formed in the past year taken care of and the house tidied up so that when April comes we will be able to direct the movers and all will be painless, that is the dream anyway!! Paul is still busy with the project, and it looks as though we would have had to move to Italy if we had stayed on the project through next year. From what I have been told from others on the project if we were sent to Italy the housing would be an issue plus it would mean moving Nathan twice within the school year and I am just not ready to put myself or Nathan through that!! I am not against living in Italy, just not at his point in our lives and with 4 little kids. Nathan is enjoying school a lot and has been doing well with his reading. He really enjoys taking things into school for show and tell. The kids are encouraged to find things at home that relate to the topics in school and bring them in to the classroom for show and tell. He has taken in books, monster trucks and plastic animals. Nathan has been using his imagination and making thins out of whatever he can find. He likes to color a lot, and is always getting on the Cbeebies website and printing off pictures to color. He is a sweet boy but is always ready to rat out his sister if she does something closely resembling misbehaving. The words “work it out” are the current phrase of choice for Paul and me. Kayla is a different story all together; she has found cartoons and would watch them 24 hours a day if allowed. She is not interested in coloring and arts and crafts, possible in 6 months time, but not at the moment. It is amazing how well behaved she can become when her brother is getting into trouble. It is almost as though she becomes the perfect little girl; always saying her pleases and thank you’s. She does not like to be told no and is more than willing to hit anytime she does not get her way. I do not know who said that it is the terrible 2’s, because I have found that right at 3 or right before 3 kids are a mess and that does not end, well, it gets a little less, but is never as easy as when they are 15 months old. She is sweet tough and a very cuddly little girl always ready to help and LOVES her baby dolls she will change their “nappies” (diapers) and take them for walks in her stroller. She is quite the little mom and a great big sister to Emily. Kayla will hold Emily’s hand as they walk up and down the stairs and all over the house. Kayla will hold her and try to give Emily hugs, but Emily is not interested most of the time and just tries to wiggle away from her. Emily where to start, she is all over the place trying to be older than she is. She will walk, yes I said walk, not crawl, walk up and down the stairs by holding onto the rails. She is saying more and all of the time. The current words of choice are “share”, which said anytime she wants something that someone else has, “there”, this is said when she is not exactly what else to say, a generic word for everything, “sit”, when she wants to sit somewhere, “juice”, for her juice cup, this has been replaced with “share”. I believe that is all of her vocabulary. She tries to say woof when we see a dog, but it is more of the fff and will make a noise trying to say meow when we see a cat. She is trying to talk and there are times she yells share, share and I am just not sure what it is she is wanting to have so I try to distract her by asking her where something is and the obvious answer to that question is “there”. She has also started with the temper tantrums when she does not get her way and she is really quite good at them for being 15 months old. That is about it for the life of the Hellens. I am sure there is more that I have left out, but the little ones are getting restless and I need to get dinner on the table. I am going to try to get some video or pictures up in the next few days, but at my speed the past few months it may be next year when I get those on here, so keep checking, and I will try to keep you posted. Until next time, ADIOS!!!

Early birthday

On Saturday we celebrated Kayla's birthday one week early!! She will be 3 years old on the 23rd and wanted to have the Grundmeier's here to help us celebrate, but they will be in Madrid, so we celebrated a week early. Mrs. Grundemeier made a squirrel cake, as that was the kind of cake requested by Kayla, for Kayla and we all enjoyed the chocolate frosting. The Grundemeier's gave her a flamenco apron, which she loved and a flamenco doll. It was a good time.