SANTA CAME!!!

Christmas day we decorated all of the cookies for Santa!

Picking out which cookies they wanted to leave out for Santa

Ready for Santa (and the reindeer/!!

Um... Andy holding up Drew's new pajama pants and 3D glasses that go with them. Andy was very thrilled with them!

After opening a few gifts they took a break and what did they play with... bubble wrap!

Concentrating VERY hard with her new dolly and hair accessories!  Thank you grandma and grandpa!

A bow and arrow and target!! 

Claire's big gift was a doll house!  It was so cute as she screamed when she saw it! 

Soooo Claire loves babies and where does she carry her babies.. under her shirt!  Santa was able to bring Claire a baby bjorn!!  Mom  and dad were very excited about this as we would be walking in stores and Claire would always have a baby under her shirt!

The bow and arrow was a HUGE hit and he caught right on

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas With Papa and Mimi!

One of our traditions we have at Christmas time is on Christmas Eve we open the presents from the grandparents.  This way the children know it's from the grandparents and not Santa on Christmas day.  This year with the time difference and our schedule here with parties we had our Christmas with my parents a little early. The children didn't mind at all!

Kind of sad, however thank goodness for technology!  Skype RULES!  Papa and Mimi wathcing Drew and Claire opening their gifts.

Um.. so those are Drew's "new" glasses that he says he has to wear all the time..

The first thing he opened was a complete Vikings football uniform!!

Perfect... Drew was busy with his uniform and Claire then could opend everyone's gifts!

A purse FULL of chap stick!  Heaven!

Testing it.....

TONS of new bracelets!

Yap, they all fit!

Drew now even has a mouth guard!  We're never getting this off of him!

Wait... nail polish!

And this is where I found her.  Claire went to the table alone and started to put on nail polish!

Thank you Papa and Mimi for the wonderful gifts.  Drew and Claire loved them all and we look forward to being back in the states next year for the holidays!

Spanish Holiday Churros!

Drew's cute class hosted the parents this year for churros and chocolate.  Drew was so excited to have both Andy and I there.  Oh, and of course Claire;)

The Spanish churro is not like the american kind covered in greece, cinamon and sugar.  It's very plain, however with some chocolate= AMAZING!

Yap.. that's our Claire.. she not only used the rich, thick, dark chocolate for dipping... as a drink also.  That's my girl!

Garmisch Germany!

Last week we spent an amazing week in Garmisch, Germany.  What made this  EXTRA amazing... having my mom fly in and spend the entire week with us!  I think this is the longest amount of time that I've been able to spend with her in the three years we've been in Spain. The kiddos were in heaven, I was in heaven, and Andy loved all the date nights we were able to have!

We also were able to meet up with our great friend Patrick who is stationed a few hours away from Garmisch.  We were stationed with him while in San Diego and has remained a close friend of ours.  The children loved him and all of his sillyness what came with him!

We took advantage of the wonderful weather and did an beautiful hike along a river.

Our neighbors from Spain were also vacationing in Garmish and we ment up with them on the hike.  The kiddos had a blast playing in the snow!

At night we relaxed in the outdoor huge hot tub!

One day we took the train to Austria and hit up their Christmas markets as well. Holiday cheer EVERYWHERE!

We stopped at one of the cute stands and had a famous brautwurst!  Claire ended up taking mine and eyed Andy's as well..

More of Austria!

Another day we went to Zugspitze, Germany's highest point (10,000 ft).  We made a day of it playing in the snow and sledding!

Andy almost falling off of the mountain...... (it was a snow bank..)

Drew made his first snow angel with Mimi!

Ahhhh and the good German beer!

Another day we drove to Neuschwanstein castle,  we were able to take a tour of the castle as well.  This casle was the inspiration for Disneylands castle!

While shopping at the markets we were able to stay warm with all the wonderful Gluhwein (warm wine).  Did I mention what an awesome vacation this was!!

Thank you Mimi and Papa!

My mom sent me a box of some stuff from HS and in it was a purse and flip flops that my mom wore to our wedding!  Claire loved them and they are now hers!  (We're pakcing for Germany and Claire was my BIG helper)!!

Base Tree Lighting

On Friday night we had our annual base tree lighting.  It is something that the entire base looks forward to.  With palm trees everywhere and family not close it can be hard to get in the Christmas spirit.  However, not for the Olsen's!!  We are so excited this year and that's all because we are seeing Christmas through our children's eyes.  It's so cute. 

The festivities consisted of hot chocoloate, cookies, santa and the elves arriving in style, and a concert.  The kiddos and I (Andy had a poker night) then all went to Aurther's Christmas and stayed out way to late!!  They did awesome though!

Claire and Andy amazed at the arrival of the elves and santa!

Only in the military would the elves and santa arrive like this! Drew and Claire have high expectations now!

Santa then came onto the stage and the children were able to meet him

Claire and me (Drew was running around with friends..)

On Sunday the base had breakfast with Santa.  This is the first year that Claire even stood by the big man!  Maybe next year we'll get a smile from her!

Almost a smile..a goody bag!!

(Drew was home sick for this)  :(

Espana Christmas Tree

So living here in Spain it's a little different when it comes to Christmas trees.... we have to buy our tree at the local department store!!  (we could go out in town at a gardening store, however you pay more).  When we return to the states we will for sure be cutting down our own tree!! 

Something else here we have to do, is pot the tree!!

Drew and Claire help un wraping it!!

And now for the decorations!!  We don't have a lot of storage in our house and only brought a shoe box of tree decorations. What is the best part of this you may ask... this is all Drew and Claire know and when Drew saw the tree when it was finished he told us, "Thank you so much for this tree, it's the best tree we've ever had"!   It really is the simple things.