How's this for pictures?

Here are pictures of the inside of our home in Spain.  Some of these pictures were taken when Ryan was house hunting.  They are the ones taken during the daytime.  The rest of the pictures are from a video tour Ryan made for me and the girls when he was living there this month.
Ok, first picture is the foyer.  The door on the right goes to the garage.  That's about all there is on that floor.  In the garage is the pool pump and filter.

The garage (two car)

In this next photo, the stairs on the left go down to the foyer and garage. If you were to turn around in this photo, there is a half bath in that hallway. This is the main living floor (2nd floor) with the living/dining area and kitchen.  The stairs going up on the right lead to the third floor (where all the bedrooms are) and continues on to the fourth floor (another living area).

living/dining(kitchen door on the right)

our dining table

our pool

kitchen(pre-appliances) the laundry area is immediately to the right in a tiny closet

fridge, ovens, wine rack in the corner, coffee pot (muy importante)

sink, microwave, dishwasher

Next we move to the floor with all the bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms.

bedroom 2 with closets on the right

another view of bedroom 2 (this will probably be the guest room)

master bedroom and the bed Ryan bought and put together

master bathroom

hall bath

view of bedrooms 3 and 4 (the girls' rooms most likely)

bedroom 3 with the girls' new mattresses

bedroom 4 (it goes under the stairs to the top floor)

And finally, the top floor. We haven't decided what we're going to do with this one yet.

half bath on the left, stairs down straight ahead

top floor terrace

view of the pool from the terrace on the top floor

view of the Mediterranian from the top floor terrace

So, yes...Ryan did very well for us. I am very blessed:)

I've got 2 seconds for a quick story

The girls had Dr's appointments...their annual exams, plus I needed several official-type things from Dr. B. for our trip...anyway, the usual gamut of questions ensued. They came to the discussion of pets and last year we had the two dogs and one fish (of course the whole time the girls are talking the ears off of the nurse and their doctor!). Well, the fish has died in the last year and the girls mentioned that. Then they started talking about how sad they'll be when one of the dogs dies. And THEN they both started talking about Murphy and how much they'll miss her when she dies and they both started getting all teary-eyed and that made me all teary-eyed...sigh...We all got over it pretty quickly thanks to some quick diversion. But anyway, I just wanted to share that quick story...it was sweet...we love our Murphy:)

let's just say...

...week number three. This is not fun but it's not unbearable. God is watching over the four of us and I can feel it. Mom got Ryan a web cam for Christmas...oh...it was so nice to 'see' him. The girls even gave him hugs and kisses...it was so sweet. Keep us in your prayers. The next 7 months are going to be tough.

I stand corrected

Apparently, in my previous post I pointed out someone else's home:)  So, we are one building (2 units) to the right.  Here are the correct pictures:

There's a little less green space in the front, but there are things I like better about this place than what I showed you in the last post. The fence in the front is higher...I may not have to worry so much about doggies jumping it. We are also further up the cul-de-sac than the previous home too. Hopefully Ryan will come home with some video of the interior. Stay tuned.

Our Rental

I did some playing around on Google Earth this morning.  I know some of you have seen pictures of the inside of the house Ryan found for us.  Here is an aerial view of our home away from home:
(You may have to click on the picture to get a good look.  And yes, that is a pool!)

Here are some pictures of the outside of the building (from Google Earth as well):

This house is about a 5-10 minute walk to the beach. Here is a picture of our section of beach:

It almost makes me wish I was there now....

Roots run deep

On New Year's Eve, the girls and I had dentist appointments.  To say Alexis was nervous about it would be a gross understatement.  Luckily, it didn't keep her awake all night like some things tend to do, but she was worried.  The main reason she was worried was that she had another permanent tooth growing in on her lower jaw and the baby tooth was still there too.  The last time that happened and she had a dentist appointment, the dentist came out and asked if I wanted her to go ahead and pull it.  I said yes of course because the longer the baby teeth stay in there, the more crooked your permanent teeth can be (I know this from personal experience).  Well, she was worried on New Year's Eve that the same thing would happen.  She kept asking me if I thought she would get her tooth pulled and I kept saying that I didn't know, which was the truth because you never know for sure.  She was really nervous, and kept telling the hygenist that very thing.  Of course they came out and asked me if I wanted the tooth pulled...I said yes.  Afterward, the dentist came out and said that it was a good thing that we did that because it was NEVER coming out on it's on.  She said the root had not disolved at all.  Prepare yourself, here is a picture of Alexis's tooth:

In this picture, the tooth part only makes up about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch. The rest is the root! Luckily, her top teeth are already loose, so maybe they will come out on their own before those permanent teeth try to come in. Ryan and I tease Alexis by saying that she got the short end of the stick in the gene pool by getting my bad teeth and Ryan's bad eyes. But, she definitely makes up for those little things with her intelligence, creativity and personality!  Anyway, Alexis did great...she was a real tough cookie even though she was really anxious.  When it was my turn to go back to be cleaned, the hygenist said to me, "Your kids are the best!"  I thanked her and said yes I know! 

Seriously, they're pretty great.  Both Sunday and Monday evenings, Alexis and Kaylee had been having a difficult time getting back into the routine for school nights.  Normally, once they get ready for bed, they are not allowed to get up and come downstairs unless it is an 'emergency'.  We had to start this rule many years ago....basically once Alexis was moved to her big girl bed and realized she wasn't 'trapped' in her room.  Ryan and I had been a little relaxed with that rule over the break, so getting back into it was a little difficult.  Now there wasn't any fussing, yelling, fighting or anything of the sort (my girls know better!)...I would get the occasional visitor downstairs of someone "needing" something.  Mostly with Alexis, she wants to know what the definition of some word is....usually from some book she's reading.  I gently remind her that she has her electronic dictionary right by her bed.  Kaylee usually says things like, she's thirsty or she needs a fingernail clipped.  But Monday night after I had tried to send her back upstairs she claimed she was scared.  I said, "What are you scared of?" "The lighting and thunder." "Kaylee there isn't any lighting or thunder, it's too cold."  Then she got a silly grin on her face like 'ok you caught me'.  Silly kid.  But really, that's about as bad as it gets with those two.  And to solve this issue, all I had to do was have a little chat with them last night while we were eating supper.  I told them that they needed to get back to following the bed time rules for school nights so they didn't get in trouble.  That was it.  Nobody got up last night.  Yep...they're pretty amazing.  I really think that building that foundation of love, respect and consistency has made all the difference.  I very rarely raise my voice with them.  And on the rare occasion that I do, they KNOW I mean business.  Getting down on their level, grabbing them and whispering in their ear has worked wonders for me.  Plus, it saves them the embarassment of being yelled at when we are in public places.  A child's self esteem is such a fragile thing in these early years.  I don't want to be the one to steal their self confidence.  Oh goodness...sorry...(stepping off the soap box now).  I'll just end this by saying, Man I LOVE my kids!

Just like a boyscout

So yesterday while Kaylee was at school, I stocked up.  News reports of snow coming to the area and the fact that we were running out of food prompted me to do this.  I hit Sam's (and let me say, it's nice to be a business member because otherwise, I would have had to wait until 10 to get  in) and bought lots of frozen chicken, gatorade and saltines (I've heard rumors about a stomach bug going around) and a big bag of broccoli.  At Target, I stocked up on milk, chocolate syrup, yogurt, and potstickers!  But I think we're set for getting snowed in.  I think we could probably last for a couple of weeks!  Just like a boyscout...I'm prepared!  I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't bother taking Kaylee to school tomorrow.  If there's any accumulation at all, I probably won't. 

Well, Merry Epiphany...I'm off to begin taking down Christmas decorations.

Update

Ryan just arrived in Barcelona today (around 8-9am their time).  He's accomplished a lot today...set up bank accounts, got keys to the house, bought several pieces of furniture (bed and mattress for us, beds and mattress for the girls, some nightstands, a dining room table and 6 chairs and several other odds and ends for the house) and got all the furniture in the house.  I didn't get to talk to him for very long today because the girls and I were pretty busy and he was ready to drop so I'm sure he did even more than he got to tell me about. 

I'm working on getting the girls school applications all ready.  Our relocation specialist highly suggested applying to more than one school, so I have some work to do.  I know one of the schools prefers getting the applications and information by the 31st of January for the following school year.  So I basically have only a couple of weeks to get all that stuff together.  Besides the 5 page application, there are several other items I need to gather.  Wish me luck!

A Christmas Story

I hope everyone enjoyed the Holidays because our family sure did!  First of all, it was nice to have Ryan around.  And secondly, I sure am glad that I have kids because they bring so much magic and wonder back to the season.  You know what I mean right?  The things that as you get older you just kind of forget about...the excitement, joy, gratitude, and wonder.  It's just magical and really better than anything I could even describe.  My words just aren't doing it justice. 

Our celebrations began on the 1st of December.  The girls and I continued our tradition of using our advent calendar every night.  I bought a church shaped wooden calendar from Target a year or two ago and each night I filled it with a little treat.  Until my computer broke, we had been using a kids website that had scripture readings and stories for each day of the Advent season.  So, we'd read a little bit and talk a little bit about what we read, then the girls would take turns every other night opening the door on the calendar and taking out their treat.  I think this was a really good way to keep them focused on the real meaning of Christmas.  Plus it helped them count down the days until Christmas too. 

Kaylee's Nursery School put on a wonderful Christmas program.  They acted out the Nativity story and then sang some jolly Christmas tunes and did some fun finger plays.  Grandma Thomas and Maggie got to drive up from Terre Haute to see the show and Pastor Strobel also came to see Kaylee perform.  I was just glad Kaylee wasn't sick this year!  She did such a wonderful job and yes I am biased!

We then began our family celebrations with the extended Willman family.  We get together with them every year on the Saturday before Christmas.  It is always so much fun to catch up with everyone...and there are so many of us now that I often find that I haven't had a chance to talk to every one of them before it's time to head home.  What a great loving family!

The girls were both in the Sunday Church School Christmas Program this year.  They were both angels and did a great job singing the Christmas carols.  Here are a couple of pictures from the program:

Kaylee's holding Katie Hollman's hand in that last picture.  She's been away at Indiana University for school this year and the girls have really missed her.  They like her a lot!

We continued our celebrations with birthdays.  Both Maggie's 1st birthday and Christopher's 4th birthday were scheduled for Monday the 21st.  We had planned on going to Maggie's 1st in Terre Haute, but the weather kept us in town.  I was really glad we got to go to Christopher's party though.  All the kids had a really good time.  I don't know what we're going to do in the future about those two though.  Having two birthdays within a day of each other may prove difficult for us since they are in two separate towns. 

On Christmas eve we gathered with the Willman side as we usually do.  We had a wonderful time visiting, playing games, eating, opening presents and just laughing.  We made it to the Family Christmas Eve service at church (half way through it though).  But it was a really nice service and I think the girls enjoyed it.  Then we came home, put reindeer food on the patio and walkway, made a snack for Santa and the girls went to bed. 

Christmas morning was wonderful.  The girls didn't wake up until around 8 I believe.  They opened their presents and played most of the morning.  Then we met Gramma and Grampa Willman at the movies and we all watched Avatar.  It was a really great movie and definitely worth all the hype. 

We went to celebrate Christmas in Terre Haute on Monday the 28th.  Mom made all kinds of goodies: breakfast casserole, oatmeal cake, cheese cake, roast, potatoes, carrots, green beans, biscuits, etc.  We opened presents and talked and laughed and played and ate.  Around 7pm we headed over to Grampa Cook's house to celebrate with Grampa, Cathy, Uncle Dennis, Aunt Linda, Rob, Karen, and Nick and Katie.  We really don't get to spend enough time together as a family:(  The girls were beginning to show their wear by the end of that celebration.  Kaylee gets a little wild (I know...yes she does get wilder!) when she's sleepy.  And Alexis gets super chatty when she's tired.  But the girls did a great job just going to bed when it was time.  We stayed over and came back home Tuesday afternoon. 

All that time we spent with our family....just didn't quite seem like enough.  Merry Christmas!