Vacation...over.

We've had 2 and a half years of vacation in sunny Spain, and what seems to be 2 months of goodbyes.  Today, it all comes to a close.  Our last morning in our dear empty casa roja, our last trip to Los Moscas the cucheria (candy store), and our goodbyes to Maria chupa-chup.  She's our land lord that loves the kids and always brings them chupa chup lollies. She loves the kids so much, we were headed out on our road trip after giving her the keys and she had us wait while she went to the village to buy the kids their last chupa chups, that she was somehow missing in her purse.  She came back with lollies, chips, cookies, candies, color books and sticker books for the kids.  She's been a great land lord.  The best part being when we go on vacation we can come back to pleasant surprises.  New flowers and shrubs, garden lighting, and last week an olive tree that the kids were super excited about.  I don't think we'll find the same in the US.  After turning in the keys, we're headed North to Gijon for a few relaxing days at the beach.

Moving

Need I say more?  Kids have been going to bed around midnight and woken up early, leaving them to sleep in these positions in the middle of the day.  Sorry kids.

Wow-wow

How cute is she?  On our way to church this morning, just as we were about to get on the freeway, this little thing wanders onto the on-ramp through the guard rail.  There was a cement median to keep her from getting any farther, but she just turned circles in the road not knowing where to go.  I was impressed that Brett immediately stopped (we're in the middle of a shoulder less on-ramp with a median on one side and a guard rail on the other -no way a car is passing us, and Brett is a very courteous driver) and opened his door to call the dog (he's not a huge animal enthusiast).  After a little coaxing, the dog finally came close enough for me to scoop up (just as another car came up behind us).  While I like animals, in retrospect I'm thinking it may have not been so wise to scoop a stray and place him at my feet in the car.  The kids were delighted though.  She laid her head on my lap and looked at me with those eyes and I was smitten as well.  She made her way through the car as we looped around to see if her owner was in the nearby park.  The whole car giggled as she stood on the backseat between Addie and a somewhat terrified Cohen looking out the back window wagging her tail.  With no empty leashes in sight, we headed home.  We walked her several times around the block with our makeshift leash, hoping she would smell her way home but she was too distracted by the "other" smells.  You know the ones I'm talking about, I dedicated a whole post to the problem.  Anyway, we took her for a very long walk on what turned out to be quite a toasty day in our church clothes (Brett in suit) to the big park where we thought we would see someone dragging an empty leash.  No luck.  By this time church would be nearly over when we got there so today we're working on "service and good deeds". 

Our 3 yr old neighbor girl called the dog Wow-wow, and the name stuck.  Addie and Gavin took turns on duty with her as we couldn't leave her unattended for fear she would escape.  We made the proper arrangements to have her picked up and the kids played and enjoyed having a real pet for a day (no offense Speedy). 

Wow-wow was the perfect pet.  Never needed to take care of business while with us, didn't jump, bite, bark, or beg.  When the municipal veterinarians came to take her away 10 hrs later, she was curled up under the table asleep while we ate dinner.  I'm not going to lie, I got a little teary eyed handing her over.  After a day with us and perfect dog behavior, Cohen and Eli still ran to the house if Wow-wow glanced in their direction though.  We're going to have to work with them a bit.  Maybe pick up a few more strays.

A whole lot of Awesomeness

A whole lot of awesomeness is my friend Sharese.  It's her birthday today and I love her!  She manages 4 kids, a husband, and dog (and a guinea pig I think) like a pro.  This girl runs, she sews, takes darling pics of her fam as well as anyone else who may ask, she cooks, she cleans, she teaches the youth at church, and taxi's kids all over to various sports each day while managing to have home made bread on a clean table.  As busy as she is with her own family, she still makes time to serve others.  She's the one who would come up to you on your first Sunday at church and introduce herself to make you feel welcome.  She will sew 10 flower girl dresses for a sister's wedding one week, then make aprons for teachers at school the next, and have handmade gifts for little girls birthday parties.  Sharese always offered to watch my kids while I ran errands (making it 8 kids if your counting), and even cleaned out the boys closet before we moved.

You do her hair and she still takes your camera and shoes!

She visited us in Spain last April, and helped with homework, made Addie's hair cute every day, kept my sanity with her laugh, entertained the boys while Addie had gymnastics, sewed Addie a dress, and when I would return from putting the kids to bed, the kitchen would be clean and I would find her ironing (much to my dismay -I mean, I really wanted her to have a vacation).

                                                                                                          

She makes me laugh.  Just for my amusement, she toted all the way from Cincy some sweet tourist duds.  She may have thought they were just for a laugh, but we made good use of them dressing up like tacky tourists and taking the train to Salamanca.  Her awesomeness is inspiring.  So, in honor of you on your birthday, I virtually present you with the banana mountain.  You know the honor this coveted piece of banana is, and you more than deserve it.  Happy Birthday Sharese!

Futbol!

In the first (and maybe only) game of the school season, Cohen had his moment of glory with the big kids (you can hear the moms yelling Coeeen! Coeeen!). Eli had his at the end of this video with his third goal of the game. Great job dudes!

Wait for it...

 Workin' it.

 Workin' it.  With air guitar.

 Ownin' it.

 Showing what he's got.

 Under restraint.

 SQUIRREL!!  (Seriously, so easily distracted)

...and finally, wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Wrong turn to Grandma's house

Our little red riding hood ran into more than the big bad wolf this Halloween.  Yes, I know Halloween isn't for another week.  A group of teens not so politely ridiculed us in Spanish as to our confusion when we stopped by the store on our way home.  However, we celebrated it last night.  Trick or treating isn't a Spanish thing so a neighborhood close by with many American residents deck their houses and let the good times roll.  Candy donations are made weeks before the event to help supply all the gouls and goblins with their sugar requests.  Because next weekend is a long weekend and expats like to travel whenever possible, the chosen date was yesterday.  We went with our German friends who were first time trick or treaters.  They caught on pretty fast. Now that we've changed schools, we don't  regularly socialize with Americans so it was fun to participate in an American tradition, hear English, see great decorations, and visit with old friends from the American School.