Camping Out

This morning when I finished getting ready for the day I saw Nathan and Kayla in the dressing room/area with their blankets, pillows and a stuffed rabbit for Nathan and baby dolls for Kayla playing as though they were having a campfire!! Too cute.

Time to make the cookies!!

Yesterday we started to cook the traditional Halloween cookies. Kayla decided for the second day in a row that she would rather not take a nap. This was fine because it gave me a chance to make the Halloween cookies with them without worrying about what Emily was getting into or where she was. While Emily napped Nathan and Kayla helped me cut out cookies and bake them. While we were baking the first batch of cookies I was turning the tray around to get the cookies cooked evenly (our oven cooks hotter in the back than in the front) and the tray of cookies slipped right onto the floor. Don’t worry, Nathan was there in a hurry to help “clean” them up, all but 8 were “cleaned up”. I am so lucky to have such a good helper!! I decorated the ones that I am planning to take to the Halloween party today and the rest were decorated by Nathan and Kayla this morning.

After breakfast it was time to decorate the Halloween cookies. Nathan did amazingly well this year I am surprised at how different his cookies look compared to last year. Kayla’s on the other hand look as though they were done by a 2 year old. They had fun and after Nathan had put his bowl of chocolate chips in the kitchen he kept “needing” to go to the kitchen to sneak them.

Can you guess which is Nathan's and which is Kayla's?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Wishing everyone a happy halloween filled with lots of ghosts, and goblins (candy as well)!!

Nathan and Nathan

This term in school Nathan was focusing on "Family" and parents were asked to bring in some clothes that they are not in need of to make a copy of themselves. Nathan brought his duplicate home last week and we have Nathan #2 sitting on our sofa. It was kind of spooky to walk down here in the morning and see this little person sitting on the sofa in the dark. Made me think twice!!

FALL BREAK!!

This week is Nathan and Kayla's fall break and that means no school all week!!! I am going to try to keep them fairly busy and thankfully this is Halloween this week, so that will help keep us busy. So far today we have gone to the grocery store where Nathan had a fit when we left because I would not buy him and ice cream from the ice cream vending machine (which is broken 98% of the time). We have also made some Halloween decorations from construction paper to decorate the house. Nathan has been busy "creating" all sorts of things with his WILD imagination. For lunch I made them a pizza (by made I mean heated a ready made pizza up in the oven) and served them pizza and cheese flavored Doritos. Not the healthiest, but they are on Fall break, it is suppose to be a vacation right!! Nathan has been eating so much food lately. It seems as though he is eating something every hour. Kayla and Emily are napping, so I am going to try to get a few things done while I am down to just one child. Until later....

Pumpkins and Sonic the Hedgehog

Today was spent going to church, carving pumpkins and playing outside. Paul helped Nathan and Kayla carve their pumpkins. Nathan was willing to get his hands dirty and clean out the insides of the pumpkin, however, Kayla was much more hesitant to “get her hands dirty”. I believe the phrase she said over and over again was “it’s slimy”.

Once the pumpkins were carved and clean up completed, Nathan pushed everyone outside to play in the pool area and play Sonic the Hedgehog, which is Nathan’s current game of choice. He has watched the show 3-4 times in his life, but he knows all of the characters and everything about the show, the things he learns at school!! This game requires everyone to run around the kiddie pool and chase each other until someone (Paul or I) catches Nathan or Kayla and put them in the trap/cage. It is a good way to burn up energy and wear down the little people. After this we came in the house to play for a bit before dinner and bed. No bull fights last night so we watched a movie, “Sweet Home Alabama”.

Lidle, Pansies, and Lunch

One more night alone!! Paul gets home on Friday night around 11:30PM. Today I went for my walk with Kayla and Emily and on the walk Kayla wanted to get out of the stroller and “run”. So, out she came and off she went. It was fun and when she tired herself out she said “that was good exercise!” After our walk we came back to the house to pick up Ruth Grundmeier to go to Lidle to look at their Halloween decorations and then to the garden store just to look around and see if they are selling pumpkins. Unfortunately no pumpkins, but I did buy a few pansies to plant in the garden in hopes of getting some color out there. When we finished at he garden store we went to the beach to play at the park for a bit before heading off to the Diner for lunch. The beach had been cleaned up and there was not near the amount of rubbish covering the ground, still dirty, but cleaner. We went to El Diner for lunch and ate too much but it sure was good. I had a California chicken wrap with some zucchini fries, which everyone had raved on and on about. Well, I did not like the taste of the zucchini fries. Then it was time to get the girls to bed. It was a good LONG morning and fun to get out and explore.

Daughters=Live Dolls

Daughters are what God gives to women so that hey can relive their childhood days of playing dress up and playing with dolls. …or dolls are what God gives to little girls to practice for when they have children, however you want to look at. This morning Kayla said she wanted 2 ponytails, and in my inability to “think outside the box” and the morning rush to get everyone ready and out the door, I almost missed out on putting her into pig-tails. Fortunately only a few seconds had passed before the solution came to me and there she was in pig-tails!!

Another weekend....

Saturday~~~ Hooray for Saturday!! Paul is home today and he has been wanting to go to El Corte Ingles in Algeciras, so, we left to go t here at 9:20Am and stopped by the post office to pick up a package from Paul’s mom. It was a box of Halloween goodies!! I am pretty sure that I will have them all eaten by Sunday as Paul leaves tomorrow morning to go out of town. I have a sweet tooth that keeps me festively plump all year round!! El Corte Ingles is a very posh store with Polo, Ralph Lauren, and many other European designers. Needless to say we did not do much shopping mainly just browsing, I could not bring myself to pay 57 Euros for a dress for Emily, no matter how cut it was!! As I am not a “shopper” I was ready to leave about 10 minutes after entering the store. Once we had left and were on our way home we took a slight detour through La Linea so as to take Nathan and Kayla to McDonalds for a special treat. They were excited, but not as excited as Paul when he ordered a cerveza (beer) with his meal.

After Kayla and Emily’s nap I was busy cleaning this filthy house and Paul took all of the kids to the pool area. Nathan was the only one that wanted to swim, in the beginning, however it was not long before Kayla was in the water as well. Emily kept going in the gate and trying to get to the water before her daddy grabbed her and pulled her back out of the fenced in area. Paul, finally tired of walking back and forth to the gate of the pool area to get Emily, shut the gate. Emily was not happy about this, but it kept her busy for the next 3-5 minutes (which is a LONG time when you are 11 months old) trying to figure out how to get in the gate!! Pool water~ good for drinking or pouring on your head

Emily has perfected clapping her hands whenever she hears you say “Yeah, Emily”. You do not even have to say Emily, you could say Yeah, anyone and she will clap, I have her trained!!! She has started “dancing” when she hears some music or the words “dance, dance, dance” she will start rocking back and forth, pretty cute. Neither of these are on video due to the fact that every time she sees the camera she goes for it and tries to eat it, everything goes in her mouth!! After the pool it was dinner at the Grundmeier’s and cards when the kids went to bed!!

Sunday~~~~

This morning Paul left for Paris, France. He will be there all week for a class required for work. I am not looking forward to the rest of the week, so far today has not been too bad, and hopefully with the kids in school the week will go by in a flash!! I am ready for Friday to be here, however with him gone I have all these high hope of getting things accomplished; calendars for grandparents, baby book, pictures put in books, journals written in, and baby blanket worked on. I will be surprised to get half of that done, but time will tell. Speaking of time, Emily has just woken from her nap, so I am needed. Until later… I am back the kids are resting and I am going to get things done. After Emily’s nap we headed off to the pirate ship park, where it was obvious that they are no longer grooming the beach for the tourists. The beach was cover with all types of rubbish. After a short stroll on the beach we went to the pirate ship to play, play, play!! At the pirate ship Kayla and Emily enjoyed swinging while Nathan played pirates, after a while, it was just fun for everyone to play in the sand. Emily had a good time trying to climb up the slide, which she was never able to do. It was a good break in the day and a good way for them to release some energy.

Nathan, Emily and Kayla playing at the "pirate ship park"

Kayla and Nathan with the "nest" they made out of bamboo

a fort that someone had made out of the rubbish (trash) on the beach A VERY Dirty Beach!! (watch where you step!!)

Another trip to Gibraltar

Today I made the trip back to Gibraltar with the company of Ruth Grundmeier. Why did I not take care of everything while I was there a few weeks ago?? Well, I am limited as to what I am able to do in the 2 hours I have to shop in the morning. Today I needed to do some grocery shopping at Morrisons and look for cold medicine. I was unable to find any cold medicine for Nathan or Emily. They did have medicine for dry coughs, but not for a stuffy nose. I guess we will all have to suffer the next time the head cold comes around. While we were there we went into the town center and did some more shopping for fleece pajamas and warm boots for Emily, found the pajamas, but no luck on the boots. For lunch we ate at a Burger King. Then it was time to come home. I really need to go shopping one weekend without the kids just so that I am able to try on clothes with out worrying about what they are getting into. It was a good trip and I had fun shopping. I did look for pumpkins for the kids to carve, but unfortunately they only had small ones that were more for cooking and not for carving, I will have to keep up the search!!

BUSY weekend!!!!~ its a long one

Our weekend started on Friday with a 3-day weekend!! Friday was a National holiday here in Spain and Paul was off work and Nathan was out of school!!! To start the day we decided to make our Sunday breakfast which includes scrambled eggs, home fries, bacon, and toast. After eating more than we should have of, I went for a walk with Emily. Then we loaded everyone into the car and headed off to Casares, which is a white village about 30 minutes from here. It is set back away from the coast and in the mountains. The drive was pretty, lots of open fields and horses and cows for the kids to point out.

Upon arrival into Casares we saw the village at the bottom of the gorge and a castle at the top of the mountain. It is a pretty village and if we were without kids we would have walked around the town. It is very hilly with steep roads and not the most child safe place to go for a walk. After looking at Casares for a while we headed further North to see the white village of Gaucin, however half way there, you could see it in the distance and we decided to forget it and just come home. Once home we fed everyone and tried to put Kayla and Emily down for a nap, which they refused and ended up just playing downstairs. We went to the pirate ship park to let every get really tired and then home to get cleaned up and go to El Diner for dinner. El Diner is a new restaurant in Pueblo Nuevo that has American style food. The hamburgers were HUGE, the “junior” burger was the size of a normal hamburger and we all ate TOO much . It was fun and good to not have to cook and do the clean up. We did see the Dampfs at the beach and at the Diner and Tracey told me that her playgroup is having a Halloween party for the kids and she invited me to come to that. So, it looks like we have plans for Halloween!!! Thank you, Tracey! October 13, 2007 Saturday~ Today we all went on my walk. Nathan walked/ran the entire thing and Kayla, once she saw how much fun Nathan was having, wanted to get out and run, “I’m running” were her exact words. After the walk we came home and played with the toys as Paul prepared deviled eggs, potato salad, and hamburgers. Before the girls nap we (Paul, Karen, Nathan and Kayla) played a game of chicken feet. While playing chicken feet Emily was walking around and shaking the box, although she is a good walker is only 11 months and takes a few falls. Well, she tripped and ended up with a fat lip. She was very upset and not easily consoled. After some rocking in the rocking chair and being sung the ABC song from mom and Nathan she fell asleep and was put to bed. She has always responded well to being sung to, it calms her down. With both Kayla and Emily in bed Nathan has what he looks forward to the most, the attention of both his parents. We went outside and played hide-and-seek tag. Once Kayla and Emily were awake everyone came outside to have some fun in the sun and play catch and kick the soccer ball around while Emily tried to get any stray that ball that came her way. Nathan and Kayla were too fast for her and would get the ball before she had a chance to get it. The kiddie pool is still unlocked and Nathan somehow got into the pool and was a little wet, then he was ALL wet. If there is water around I can guarantee you that Nathan will find a way to get completely wet, no matter how hot or cold it is outside. Kayla and Emily were feeling a little left out so they too wanted to get wet. Everyone was in the pool and having a good time. The temperature outside was about 70F and yes the water was cool, but not freezing, they were all shivering when they came in the house!! Hay, they had fun!! We had The Grundmeier’s over for dinner and to play Sheep’s Head (cards). Ruth although jet lagged from her 22 hour flight back from the states was able to win with ease! End of Saturday…

October 14, 2007 Sunday~ LAZY DAY!!! Today is a rainy day and no one is too motivated to do anything. Today will be filled with games inside, coloring, cutting, and taping for Nathan. Nathan LOVES to use tape for anything. If he did not go to school he would use and entire roll of tape everyday, no kidding. Emily is feeling better today, her lip is not as puffy and she is eating, drinking, and putting things in her mouth as though nothing is wrong. Nathan has been getting a cold the past few days and is very congested, I need to get over to Gibraltar to get some medicine, but am having trouble getting excited about fighting the traffic and long lines in Morrisons.

Dancing Bird

Paul's mom sent me this link of a bird that dances, it is pretty cute. Nathan and Kayla watched this about 6 times this morning and Kayla really enjoyed watching the bird shake his head up and down!! I now have this song running through my head and find myself bobbing my head as I sing it... http://birdloversonly.blogspot.com/2007/09/may-i-have-this-dance.html

Swimming in October

Here is a little video of Nathan, Kayla and Emily swimming in the pool today. The temperature outside was about 70F. Yes the water was cool, but not freezing, they were all shivering when they came in the house!! Hay, they had fun!!

Horses, Cows and a Toy Store

Today after taking Nathan to school I went for mile 4 mile trek into the countryside with Kayla and Emily. On our walk we saw some horses (cabello) and some cows (vaca). Kayla enjoys saying hello and good bye to the animals, she calls them her friends. Kayla is getting more and more talkative, there are times when Nathan and Kayla fight over who was talking first and Nathan is quick to not let her get a word in, the word “stop, stop, stop” is often heard in these arguments. After our walk, we drove out to Carrefor for a few groceries, and then it was off to Toys R Us. I am still able to take Kayla into the toy store and not have to buy a toy for her to keep her happy. We were looking for Halloween costumes, I am not sure if we will have anywhere to go, but I am going to dress them up and take a few pictures for fun anyway. I was able to find a fairy princess outfit for Kayla and there was a treasure chest that contained about 4 costumes in it, so that was what I got for Nathan. He can be a cowboy, pirate, ninja, or a knight. I am hoping for the cowboy, but time will tell. I was unsuccessful in finding a costume for Emily, but did find a pair of shoes for her, not that she will keep them on, but I have bought them and will to get her use to wearing them. She is quick to pull her socks off her feet and I have given up trying to get her to wear them unless I am getting her out of the car and she doesn’t have a chance to try to pull them off. After Toys R Us, Emily was getting dangerously cranky, but I was on a quest to go by the flower shop to buy 2 plants and to look at their Halloween decorations. The decorations were not what I was after, but I did end up with a Christmas cactus and an azalea. I am hopeful that I will keep them alive and not allow them to die, as I have a tendency to forget about plants and not water them. I guess I think the magic plant fairy comes every night and cares for the plants. Once home it was lunches and naps. After that my day was pretty normal, pick up Nathan from school at 3:45pm then get dinner sorted and time for bed!!! Just another day….

Swivel Hips

Here is a video of Nathan and Kayla from a few weeks ago dancing on their "stage". ~I was unable to get he video to post to the blog, so here is the link, I hope you have better luck than I did!!! I have been having issues with the video upload so I have had to go through youtube. I hope that this is not too confusing....and you have better luck with the computer than I have been having!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAuhHdhEjPQ

Vintage Nathan 2

This is a video of Nathan eating green blackberries (blackberries that have not turned black yet, I know that some of you were wondering is there such a thing as a green blackberry??) This is was from September 2005, he was almost 3 years old. ....I have been having issues with the video upload so I have had to go through youtube. I hope that this is not too confusing....and you have better luck with the computer than I have been having!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yY6k6iT3m0

Vintage Nathan

Here is a video of Nathan learning how to play American football with cousin Kirstin. This was from Feb. 2005, he was 2 years old.... We miss you Yost!! ......I have been having issues with the video upload so I have had to go through youtube. I hope that this is not too confusing....and you have better luck with the computer than I have been having!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHtrJc5rmSI

It's Friday!!!!

What a week!!! On Monday when dropping Kayla off at Nursery she was complaining about going and was saying that she did not want to go. After a few minutes and a kiss from Emily she was feeling better and was a little less hesitant about being there. Nathan was fine when I left him at school this morning full of “I will try to remember” and saying good bye. He likes to ask what time I will be back to pick him up and I always tell him after the girls nap, he then responds with “is that 2:30 or 3:30”. It is pretty cute. It was as though they switched places this morning. Why can’t they both be happy to go to school at the same time? Kayla continued to cry on Tues. and Wed. when I dropped her off at Nursery. I hope that this does not continue. Yesterday I took Kayla and Emily to Gibraltar (Gib) to do some shopping. I have been searching for a dress for Emily to wear for David and Katie’s wedding and was able to find one at Mothercare (this was one of my favorite kids clothing stores in Darlington, I sure do miss Darlington). Kayla and Nathan are in need of a new wardrobe as I have no winter clothes for them. I found a pair of boots for Kayla which she wore ALL day, she wanted to wear them while taking a nap, and the only way I could convince her to take nap was to set the boots on the bedside table so that they were right there for her. It was a good day and I spent far too much money on clothes, but it was a one stop trip and I now have a few things for the kids to get me through. I do not know what we are going to do for Halloween this year. I would not even know where to take the kids. I need to talk to some of the mom's in Nathan's class and see if they know of anything. As far as a costume I am going to have to see what Nathan has his heart set on being, and Kayla will probably be a princess, then she will have a princess dress to dress up in. I am a little creative, but creating a costume, that is FAR more creativity than I am able/willing to attempt. On Wednsday/Thursday Nathan got a bite from something above his right eye and it has gotten more and more swollen. I think by this afternoon the swelling should start to go down a bit, hopefully. His eye was half swollen shut this morning, poor guy!! He has been enjoying school more and more everyday. Still a little anxiety in the morning, but nothing as bad as it had been. Kayla likes to say the word “Amigos”, not necessarily in the right context, but likes to say it, “hello cows, amigos”. Emily has started clapping, she will start to get excited and will wave her arms up and down, then Kayla will say “yeah, Emily” and clap. This will in turn trigger something and Emily will make noises and continue waving her arms while intermittently clapping. Pretty cute!!

October...

Yeah, October!! This is probably my favorite month. WHY??? you ask. Well, the weather gets cooler, the leaves change colors and fall off the tree and it is the beginning of the holiday season. First there is Halloween, which has never been a favorite, but it is fun for the kids and with Nathan now able to understand and want to go trick or treating, it is getting more and more fun. Then there is Thanksgiving which is just a great time to get with family and friends and celebrate what we are thankful for!! Then my favorite holiday of all time, Christmas, the birth of Jesus a time to celebrate Jesus and his birth, his coming into this world. Christmas is the chance to give gifts to others and not expect anything in return a chance to do something nice for an other and that person not feel obligated to return the "favor". It is just nice to be able to give someone somthing!! Plus it is a chance to buy gifts for others, something I enjoy doing. It is just a happy time!!

The pictures are from Darlington,England