Kings Part I

So, I've been promising this post for a while ... and it will have to come in installments, so many pictures to go through : ).

 Grandma came to visit and we did lots of stuff together.

Including eating lots of good food -- like this, the Tortel de Reyes or Kings Cake.  There's something sweet and wonderful to go with every holiday around here.  It's a wonder we've all actually lost weight.

 Getting ready to dig in.

 Aine found surprise number 1, the dried bean, she was supposed to pay for the cake...

 ...but we let her wear the crown.

 Yum.

 Yep, I'll second that: Yum!

 Daddy found something...

 ...hey, what is that, Daddy?

Ah, the King, how appropriate.  But, he didn't get to wear the crown.  We made him pay for the cake.

More to come.  Look out for the next installment when we take to the streets to see the parade.

Sweet Family Day

We've been battling the "sickies" around here like CRAZY.  I think we're on our 7th fever within a month's time - 3 for Aoife (who is a little sick today) and 4 for Aine.  One of these nasty fevers lasted over a week for each girl.  We're not alone, it´s been a rough year for lots of families with kiddos.  We're just grateful that their little immune systems seem to be fighting everything off before it gets too bad or turns into anything requiring antibiotic treatment.

Anyway, as I indicated, sometimes this being sick bit is a mixed blessing (see previous posts).  We use it as an excuse to slow down and do things we otherwise might not.  Today, with our sick Bean--yes, we're working on "Parents of the Year"--we made a short trip out to the biggest, most famous market in the city: La Boqeria, aka The Heavenly Playground for Foodies.  It is quite possibly Aoife's new favorite place.

Aaaand ... she's off!

Hello fishies!

They´re saying "hola" back.

They actually really were waving.  One of Aoife's favorite parts: "The shrimps waved to me with their legs!"

You've got to be kidding me!  Yes, lluengües are tongues.

Checking out the goodies.

Another kind of goody.

A view down a "hall."

Coconut and mango make a fantastic drink!  Who are we kidding?  They make a fantastic anything.

Lunch plan?  Yep, there are any number of cured meats, including cured ham legs.

From the street outside -- a little bit of an unexpectedly rainy morning.  More ham legs in the little shop out front.

From across the street -- such a fantastic building!

So, after our mini-outing we headed over to pick Aine up from school.  Then we stopped into the little-neighborhood Xarcuteria (deli) owned by the family of one of her classmates.  Yes, that was intentional, even though we´d just been to the land of plenty with regard to all things ham.

The girls getting started on some pica-pica:  olives (black and green), oranges and pimientos padrón, they eat ALL of it!  Poor little Aoife´s fever is spiking again.  Thank goodness for anti-inflammatories.

Yum.

"Mira Maaa-maaaaaa.  Te enseño mi oliva."

How does he stay that skinny when he eats all those sandwiches?  Just kidding, he shared.

Lunch!

A toast: "Chin, chin!"

Now we're all sitting around doing various bits of this and that before I head off to work.  I only teach for an hour and a half today though, so a pretty laid back, easy, happy day, all in all! XO

Lazy Sunday.

Usually, we like to spend Sundays running around, doing one thing or another "as a family." Since I teach on Saturday mornings this year and the girls are both in school we only have the one day all together and we relish it as a family day.  Actually, I don't think we stay in often enough.  Today, however, we had a great excuse, I'm on the tail end of an awful sinus infection and James will be headed to the doctor tomorrow morning--here's to him feeling better without medicine.  Maybe our bodies are trying to tell us to slow down!?  Ha.

 Getting going on a morning art project.  Have you noticed how often we're still in our jammies when we do this?  Yep, that's how we roll ; ).

 Aoife, loving her pink-glue-paint.

 Aine, carefully placing her big, blue heart.

 Later on, dressed and dancing with balloons tied around waists--they insisted I help them with this and thought it was just about the funniest thing ever.

 Shake your booty-balloon.

 Aoife's finished Valentine's craft--oh yeah, that's what we were working on.

 Aine's completed work.

 Aoife's sun catcher.

 Aine's sun catcher.

We painted piggies later, with actual Piggy Paint (totally natural and non-toxic, but it doesn't last nearly as long).  Aine's little toes are looking crazy cute for now, though : )!

 Aoife showing off her fancy fingers, and Monkey.

 As they hang (you can see the sun catchers' reflection if you look really hard).

As they hang, sun catchers.

We also managed to get 3 loads of laundry done today; I'll tell you , that's something when you have to hang them out to dry clothes-pin style.  We made Banana-Oat "Cookies" (-- check out the super easy recipe here.  We just sub agave for sugar and of course add a ton of cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg.  You can also sub a steamed sweet potato for the banana and orange juice for apple juice and then enjoy vitamin A & C packed goodness in the form of a "cookie.")  We danced, sang and listened to loads of music, as evidenced by the record on our new Spotify account.  We did the needed cleaning and made some fantastic meals which we then all sat down and ate together.  We read books, watched Todd's World in Spanish, played games ...  I suppose what I'm trying to get at is that, "We've got a darn good thing going here." as James put it earlier.  And so we do!

<3 - much love to all -

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day.

Because it's Cold Outside.

Our highs have been around 8 degrees C, 45 degrees F, this past week.  We've been quite lucky in comparison to much of Europe--or other parts of the world, for that matter.  We've been bundling up both in the house and out.  Thank goodness for central heat but keep in mind that the house is all concrete and brick, and "climate-controlled" means something a little different around here ; ).

This afternoon, while I was out and about between dropping off Aoife at school for the afternoon and waiting for a class to start, I popped into a local store.  I only went in hoping to find a reasonably priced bottle of water, I was thirsty, but happened upon some sweet little slippers to keep even sweeter feet warm as they paddle around on ceramic floors.  That's the thing, right?  When you become a parent, you always carry these wonderful little people around with you, wherever you go.  They impact your interactions with everyone and everything from the other small children in your class or on the bus to the way you look at cheap slippers quite probably manufactured in China.

 Big girls slippers waiting to keep bigger feet warm.

Little girl slippers ready to snuggle little girl feet.

The way I carry them ...

The other person I carry with me wherever I go ... ; ).

I love you, Los Stuhan.

~m

Baby, It's Cold Outside.

So we're doing alright (yes, that's a word, let's argue its merits) weathering this Siberian front, cold-snap, thank goodness for heat.  We've been playing inside, a lot.  It's kinda funny, the girls love to play inside pretending that they're trekking around outside!

Aaaahhhh ....  They're wearing little piggy headbands that they made at school and have their friends all packed up.  Off to San Diego via a nice mountain hike!

Sweeties.

So, one of these days I'll get around to sharing some more of what the holidays were like around here--if nothing else the magic of los Reyes but I'd decided it was too long since I'd posted and I'd just share a quick glimpse of what day to day life it looking like around here right now.  I'm sure it's not so different from where you are.

On that note, we're sending lots of love to wherever it is that You are ; )--more soon.

XO,

Los Stuhan