This and That

As always blogging is proving way more difficult than I'd like it to be.  We're going in so many different directions, doing so many different things, it's hard to find the time.  

Anyway, here's a bit of this and that in our world over the last couple of weeks.  Here's to more coming soon ...

Over our Spring Break we hit up a lot of museums, cheap entertainment, and so many were super kid friendly.  Below are pictures of the girls hard at work constructing their own architectural endeavor to add to a growing city at one of the local art museums.

Our construction site.

The building.

More and less sure about this picture ... and the rest of the growing city, behind.

We've also continued with our hikes.  It's really convenient to get to the "mountains" and there are kid friendly paths.  The girls love it and so do we.

Cool and confident.

Our little shaman ; ).

Looking up.

Such a beautiful day!

Hi.

Somebody loves her Daddy!

Post hike snuggles.

Post hike grub.  Cool crisp beer and freshly roasted calçots with romesco sauce.  Yum.

And on to other things ...

The lights of Christmas ... I've never seen them anywhere else like I have in BCN, and it is amazing.  I know I've been promising a post about the rest of our Kings celebration but we might all just have to wait until next year.  In the meantime, we do have a lot of wonderful things to share, we hope you'll stay tuned ; ).

We love our purple.  We loved this tree all winter ... we got to see it early and often when it got dark by 5pm!

Happy New Year ... and that it is! 

Cheers,

The Stuhans XO

Aoife Will Be 4 Years Old in a Week!

 

Our darling little Aoife is going to be 4 years old a week from today.  It's completely wild and wonderful all at once.

She´s grown a lot recently.  She's bigger, more beautiful (if that's possible), smarter--certainly--and her little spirit is just awe inspiring.  We are so proud of her.  And so very much in love.

Ready to burst.

Part of her little room, all ready to receive her (even if she did sleep in a bassinet in our room for the first 4 months).

 She's here ... we're exhausted, she's tiny and adorable.

 Early conversation(s).

 Less ...

... and more peaceful.

 She's one ...

... so much fun ...

 

... and the apple of Mommy and Daddy's eye. 

Two!

 

 

 

Best big sister ever! Ahh, I love those squishy little faces!

And a natural born dancer, or possibly Kung Fu fighter.  My money´s on the former.

Three!

 

Happy girl.

Happy moment.

 

Continued, Best Big Sister Ever.

In the first picture of a post there's a little hint of the things she's up to these days.  Reading and writing are to of her favorite pass-times.  She knows and can write all of her letters and can spell a lot of words:  all the names in the family and some sight words.  I am not formally teaching her any of this at this point because I know it isn't necessary, she's just that interested.  She has been drawing lots of family pictures recently, too.  The progression has been incredible to watch, we all currently appear in appropriate color schemes and appropriate sizes : ).  She loves to explore and build and of course sing and dance.  She's an absolute joy.  

As James said earlier, in the odd time you have to pick her up after she's fallen asleep and move her to her bed, it is the most magical, wonderful part of your day.  I imagine the opportunities for things like that will only continue to be fewer and farther between ... perhaps that will make them all the more magical.

Happy Birthday, "Beanie".  We love you!

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