How I heart IKEA.... went into the store looking for a shelf for Drew's room and came out with a tent for $6.00.  Drew and Claire love it!!  It is sooo cute hearing them talk and giggle inside the tent. I had a childhood flash back when I saw them haul all of their "babies" into the tent!

Shoe Shopping

Drew is going to be starting school in a matter of weeks.  One thing that I remember about starting school school was being able to go shoe shoppping with my parents for that awesome new pair for the first day!  So.. I decided to start that tradition with my kiddos!  Drew thought it was awesome getting one on one time with mommy!

Pool Party

This last week was the last day of swim lessons and it ended with a pirate pool party.  Drew was in swimming lessons for ALL of the sessions.. that means from the 2nd week of June until the 2nd week of August!  What an improvement we have seen in him!  He has become so independent in the water and confident.

Before swim lessons the life guard staff does a "blitz" for the kiddos with songs and a dance. Claire and Drew are sitting on the line, very entertained!

Drew and Ms. Bubbles going down the slide!

Huge news this summer... Drew is now a member of the diving board club!!  At first he wanted to jump in with the teacher...

Then he just wanted to be walked out to the edge...

And finally forget the help.. he was then on his own!!

And Claire (the smallest one in line..)thought she could do it as well!

Birthday Bash!

Um.. so this is Matt.. our awesome neighbor who just celebrated his birthday this past week.  He went with the theme, Beer Pong for his birthday party!  Yes.. he is from the midwest!

Andy and our other neighbor, Justin were on a team

Matt's wife Tristin, busting a move..

And the winners..Andy and Justin.. I'm such a proud wife

Full Concentration

Drew is obsessed with airplanes.  He would be set all day long with an airplane and stay SO busy!!  We ordered him a kit were he could build a plane on his own and then paint it. He studied every part!

Putting the plane together..

And the final paint job!!

Huelva Wheat

August 15th is here.. the day the boyzzz of Huelva St. have been waiting for... the beer is done!  About a month ago the boys started to brew their own beer for the first time.  It was a month long process having the beer sit and so on.. and today was the day they we able to try it.  They decided on the name Huelva Wheat as Huelva is the street that we live on here. 

Above, is Andy reading the description of what the beer is "suppose" to taste like..

Analyzing the beers color...

The pour..

CHEERS.. to Huelva Street (they were all a little nervous..)

And the sip... a HUGE success!!!  The beer tasted professional if I may say so!  They are all ready planning their next batch.....

Summer Fun!!!!

Yes... Claire is still obsessed with toilet paper! If the bathroom door isn't closed Claire is in her favorite room and unrolling the entire roll and the funny part is she put's it ALL over her!!!  Between toilet paper and scotch tape her 2nd obsession she does not need one toy!

So this is a photo that will be great when she's a teenager... corn (that's on the ground..), a chocolate treat, and some slip n' slide!

I was in Claire's room getting her dressed for the day and Drew yelled to me, "I'm ready for work mom"  when I came out he had dressed HIM SELF in Andy's work gear!  He even knew to put on the black socks before the boots!

This past week day Drew was dressed in his pajamas and I told him to get dressed and we're going on a date!  Drew had a smile on his face that I will never forget and got dressed so fast!!!  We we went into Rota and hit the town!  As you can see  it's 8:30pm here and still light as day!

And as you can see the beach is still as crowded as ever at 8:30pm!

In the town they had a lot of jump houses set up and Drew picked one to jump on

He was in heaven and we ended our night with ice cream.

Over the summer the base hires stateside collge students to work as swim instructors and lifeguards.  Drew adores his swimming instructor and two of them are from Iowa!!  So this past week we had them over for dinner and Drew was sooo thrilled and excited1

And one with his helmet on...

Our house keeper, Ampara is also our Mary Poppins to us, just AMAZING!!  The kiddos love her just as much as she loves the kids.  When we have functions  to go to or just on a date, Ampara is the one to watch the kids and we are so at ease.  The other day when Ampara was at our house she picked up Claire and let her play in the sink.  Claire didn't know what to think and kept looking at us in disbelief!!

She then eased her way right into the sink and was in there for over an hour.. no joke...

This past weekend we had what's called a "Wetting down" .  What this is, is when someone promotes they throw a party.  This past one was at a bar on the beach and a great time!

The guys in the ward room threw Stan, who was promoted in the ocean for a "true" wetting down!

These are the bars/resurants that they set up on the beach for the summer and where the party was held at.  It's such a great idea so you can grab a bite to eat and continue to play!

It was so nice with white seats.. and cool lighting

And the mojitos were too good!

Did I mention how I love Spain!

Just What I Need

So the other day Andy came home from work and we were sitting outside and I was in a funk.  I was in a funk missing family.  We LOVE Spain and couldn't be any more happy.  We have awesome family time and are blessed with such a great group of friends who have become our family. 

Hearing about the good times at home and having kids at such a young and fun age it's hard at times to be this far away. Then I saw the red light blinking on the answering machine.  I hit the button and it was from my sister Allison.  She told me that her and her husband Jeremy (who is also awesome) are going to Germany the same time as us to be at Octoberfest!!!!  I was THRILLED and I couldn't have asked for a better dose of medicine at that time to see my best friend in a few months.  Maybe I should make a count down chain???

Pizza Mizza

The past few weeks the heat here has been CrAzY where one doesn't want to even walk to the end of their drive way.  Having the kiddos home with me all day I try to be somewhat creative with new activities.  Today's activity was make your own pizza!  I gave the kiddos sauce and then a few toppings and they loved it!  I told them to use their hands and go nut's!  Yes, maybe I took my crazy pill or in the back of my head I knew our house keeper comes in two days???  Anywho.. they loved it!

Drew being exact with where he placed everything and in order..

Claire took more the adventure path and made sure to taste it before applying..

And two onions here.. two pieces of ham here..

And then their was Claire eating an entire spoon full of ham..

Ahhh, the final product before the oven!  Cheese exactly in the middle!!  So much like his father!!