"D" is for daisy

In our morning activities I have been doing the alphabet with the girls. The little ones are doing coloring sheets and working on sounds and Bianca is doing handwriting. We also try to do some type of craft that reflects the letter of the day. Today we did "D is for Daisy" and we made daisy crowns. Adorable! I also wanted to share some of my favorite sites for any of my at home mom friends who may be looking for rainy day activites or for just some fun learning/reinforcement type things.

My two favorites are: dltk and first school

Giada is saying "Daisy Princess!!!"

Such easy supplies- colored paper for printing, scissors (I did the cutting on this one) tape and glue sticks. 

Good food

I know I talk about food alot, BUT it is my love language:) I have said many times since being here that it is a good thing I know how to cook- otherwise, I would be in trouble! Not much in the way of prepared foods or canned goods. Don't get me wrong they have them, but maybe just a few veggies in a can and that is about it. The frozen food section in the largest grocery store here is only small rows of the chest type freezers. No huge freezers with doors. There is more yogurt than frozen foods! Everything is fresh and I love it! It makes me fell so good to feed my family all fresh, unprocessed food. I feel better, and I think my body is responding well to the changes. I haven't had the opportunity to weigh myself but I know I have lost some weight. Now- I know we have an entire aisle devoted to chocolate but you can do that when  you aren't eating crap all day long. I am missing the occasional Raisin Canes and some good Mexican, but I know I will live.

I have attached some pics of my fridge and pantry so you can SEE what I am talking about. It is just amazing to me to think about what my last few pantries have looked like :(

Bread and pastry shelf

Pantry - that big green and white rectangle a the bottom is a flat of milk (6x1Litre)

Fridge! the feezer is only 3 drawers and it has only ice cream:) and meat/seafood.

We eat a bowl of fruit this big about every 4-5 days. Some may not think that is a big deal, but for my girls it is.

What is wrong with this picture?

She was so proud of herself!

Hi all! I know I haven't posted as much personal stuff here lately, but there as just been so much! It is sensory overload at all times. I think I am really going to love life here once I can get around and talk to people. Things still seem really confusing to me right now. Life moves at a much slower pace here, but is super predictable.  You may have heard how things "shut down" for siesta- it is totally true! Trying to find something to eat for dinner before 730 is nearly impossible. You can get some little tapas like things are some of the bars, but mostly nothing. Kids get out of school between 12 and 2 to go home for lunch. My favorite part is that most extracurricular activities for kids take place during those in between hours.  So while your kids go to school from 9-5 they get a nice lunch break AND when they get home at 5 they are truly done. I love that! Grocery shopping has been interesting....they have a store here called Eroski that is kind of like Target. They have everything there and the quality is pretty good.  I just don't know what anything is.  Milk is NOT sold in the refrigerator section, but on a regular aisle. The way the milk is pasteurized is different here so it doesn't have to stay cold until is has been opened. It is also sold only by the Litre and it comes in this plastic box ( like you buy chicken broth). Juice is sold this way also- all to be recycled, of course.

Did you know that chocolate was good for you?? And I am not talking about dark chocolate that is full of antioxidants. I mean good ole milk chocolate. Well, they believe that it is good for you and so they eat it on anything and everything possible. There is no peanut butter, but they have almost a whole aisle dedicated to chocolate spread. Yeah- Yummo!

Driving is crazy- I am grateful for mass transit. I will have to take a video of what has to take place just to get our car out of the garage...pictures will not tell the whole story. Be prepared to be amazed and amused.

 Well, that is all for now...I will try to do better keeping everyone posted on how I am settling in and new cultural experiences.

Our Beautiful new country

Hi everyone! We are here in Spain doing fine. The girls did great in the flight over and have done pretty well getting over the jet lag. This is a very late culture, so they go to bed late, like 9 or so and then sleep late. Not too bad. We are still in our one room hotel and that is kind of a bummer. We thought we had found an apartment, but that fell through so instead of moving in this week we are going to start the process over again. We really need to get in a place in the next 10 days. School starts for us on the 20th and I really wanted to find a nanny for the girls instead of them going to school. There are only about 7 weeks left and that is just hard for them to transition to school and then to a nanny for the summer. I am really praying I can find someone to come to the house. We just need to find a place first. We are moving to a Basque farm house on Monday and that should give us more room and a kitchen, but we are still having a laundry problem. We went to San Sebastian today and did 2 loads at a co-workers place, but every load takes about 3 hours start to finish and the loads are small, so that is hard. BUT- things will be better soon...the Lord is taking care of it all-just in His time and not mine.
Well, here are a few pictures...try not to get jealous:)