Drew and the woman of his life (besides his mother) his neighbor freind Liv hanging out!

8 Months!

 

Claire is now eight months old and the time is going by way too fast!!  She is such a happy baby and I swear she wakes up laughing and goes to bed with a smile on her face. Claire is all over the place and crawls all around the house, pulls herself up on anything and will go from one object to the next.  We have a feeling that we will have a walking girl on our hands soon. 

With Drew we really didn't have to baby proof anything.  He would be content with toys on the floor and really didn't go exploring around the house.  We now have payback with Claire...  One of her favorite rooms is the bathroom! 

Music Class

listening to directions closely

On Thursdays I started taking the kiddos to music class on base. It's really nice as I get one on one time with both Drew and Claire.  Claire really enjoyed music class and all the other little friends in the class!

Sevilla

Today we took advantage of the nice weather and went to Sevilla, a town a little over an hour from where we live.  It was a gorgeous day.

A Moorish Fort in the town center

This is the third largest church in the world, and Christopher Columbus tomb is barried here!

Drew trying to catch the birds!  He would get really close to one and then they would fly off and he would yell "Oh , I just missed"!

Planted Spring Flowers!

On Friday we went to the plant store out in town and bought Drew and Claire each their own pot and flowers to plant and watch grow this spring.  Drew helped Claire out with planting her's... and will probably be in charge of watering them for her!  We'll keep you posted on how they grow!!

Tub Tub Time

Tub Tub Time became 100% easier at our house a little over a month ago when we started to put Claire and Drew in the tub together!  Claire is very entertained with Drew's crazy.. fearless.. swimming skills during tub time!

Claire enjoying the swing outside our house!  (Thanks Laura)!!

Toy Story 2

So.. Drew watched Toy Story 2 for the first time a little over a month ago and LOVED it!   If he could he would put this movie on repeat and watch it ALL DAY!  I found the doll Woody from Toy Story 2 and thought this would be the perfect motivation for Drew to be 100% potty trained and  it worked! This past weekend Drew mastered the toilet and can officially say no more diapers at our house.  After having Woody on the fridge for a month we were able to take him out of the box and celebrate Drew's accomplishment.  The first thing that Drew said when we took him out of the box was "PAINT HIS EYES... PAINT HIS EYES AND BOOTS"!!!  For those of you that havn't seen the movie they have to fix woody in the movie by doing this and Drew thought that he needed to do that right away as well!!!  It cracked us up and he was VERY focussed during this!!

Big New's @ The Olsen Casa!!!

A little over a week ago Andy had Claire on a blanket outside playing... She managed on her OWN to stand up on him out there.  That was just the start as she then started to pull her self up on everything.  She then mastered that and figured while she was on all fours that she could move... this little seven month old did it a little backwards and I would say early!  She now crawls all around the house looking for that brother of hers and insists on standing! 

Drew also has BIG news... he now wear BIG BOY underwear!!!!!  I don't know who is happier Drew or Mommy!!!!  This all started last weekend and he can even wear underwear for naps and all night! 

So the other day Drew yelled to me "Mom gloves are on"... I had no idea what he was talking about and was worried what the hec he could be doing...  I guess in the day care here on base that he will attend every so often they will wear gloves when in the toilet area and empting the toilets!  So Drew put a pair of socks on his hand and would empty his own toilet!!!!  I decided this was very handy, but probably not the most clean way!  We now use the BIG toilet and have graduated out of the small one where gloves are required!!

Welcome Aaron and Christa!!!

On the 17th of December the kiddos and us jumped on a four hour train ride to Madrid to meet up with Andy's brother (identical twin so I don't confuse you in pictures!) and his wife Christa. We spent two nights in Madrid and it was great.  We were able to visit Christmas markets, museums (where we viewed original paintings from Picasso) and great food!  We then took the train back south and continued our vacation with them for two weeks.

We took this picture from our backyard and this was the storm that followed us EVERYWHERE we went!!!  It wasn't always raining.... sometimes just lightning...thunder, annoying light mist, or a down pour!

We did escape from the rain a few times, we took a guided day trip to Morroco for the day.  It was a great experience and a beautiful country.

We were told that pick-pocketing was an issue there.  So Aaron borrowed a PURSE of mine and turned it into a hidden "fanny pack"  it amused us all day long:)

We escaped the rain again and took a trip to Gibraltar.  It was sooo beautiful there.  From this cliff you can see Africa in the distance and Spain in the foreground. 

We took a guided bus tour up the rock and at one of the stops their were monkeys!  The monkey's just roam around!  We were all taking turns having the monkeys sit on us (with our guids help).  We all had just cute little monkies on our shoulder and then out of no where the KING monkey jumped on Christa!

They would try to come in your car looking for food!  Drew thought his was great and was able to feed them some M&M's! 

For a few days we went to Portugal.  We toured many towns and went to the south western tip of the Iberien Pennisula. 

The markets were up and running in the evening and it really made it feel like the holidays!

Andy's brother and sister-in-law, Christa, in Portugal.

A look from our hotel room down

OK so it's not a crime seen, but close... .In our hotel their was a bright white rug in the sitting area.  As soon as we walked into our room  Andy told Drew that we could not eat over the rug. Drew did great and was EXTRA careful .  Our last night there we were all sitting around having some wine. Andy had just poured a nice glass full and knocked it over!!!! 

Thank you sooooooo much Aaron and Christa for coming out to Spain to visit us!  We had such a great time with you and loved never having a dull moment!!!  We love and miss you!!

Santa Came!!!

Christmas Eve we started the tradition of opening gifts from grandparents.  Andy and I remember when we were young and how BAD we wanted to just open one thing! 

Drew received an awesome Bass Pro Shop boat set from Papa and Mimi  and a Tag Jr. reading program for him and Claire.  Claire also scored a fun bunny box the hops along the ground! 

Thanks grandpa and grandma for the awesome lego set and the dog Violet for Claire!

Christmas Eve night we had our neighbors over to help decorate cookies for Santa

We then wrote Santa a letter saying that Drew and Claire were good boys and girls and one last wish for a bike with training wheels!

We then put cookies, milk, and the letter to Santa under the tree!  Claire thought this was hilarious!

Christmas morning the kiddos all slept till after 8am!  Drew was so excited to find a train under the tree!

Never a dull moment with the Claire Bear!

Hidden in the corner was a bike with training wheels!  Drew was sooo excited!

Drew scored a CAT constuction site, this keeps him busy forever!!!

We had a great Christmas and we're so excited to share it with Andy's brother and wife here visiting!

Oh Claire...

So the other day I had about three seconds to brush my teeth and I heard Drew yell, "Mom bug in Claire's hair"!!! So I ran out and found Drew's favorite lizard (which is sticky) all tied up in her hair!!  I'm guessing Drew had something to do with this....  We didn't have to cut any of her hair, however we now own detangler!

Only six months old and her hair goes in full pig tails!!!! 

Oh Christmas Tree...

This past weekend we took a trip to the old Christmas tree farm at the Navy Exchange! Every year we've gone to a tree farm and have cut down our own.  This year was a little different and we had to go to the base store:)  So in Spain when one get's their tree they get roots and all!!!  What one has to do they have to buy a pot and pot their tree as tree stands aren't used!!  So that's exactly what we did with our 5ft. tree.  Drew loved the chnage to get his hands dirty!

Claie and I were the boyzzzz boss and told them when the tree was straight!

So...Drew had a little to much fun in the dirt and water and needed to leave his pants outside before coming in:)

And the final touch of the white lights.  We left most of our decorations in the states as we didn't want things to break on the move over and our storage is very limited.  Drew and Claire don't mind at all and think it's awesome to have a tree in the house with lights!