Christmas Decorating

We went out yesterday to buy our tree and decorate the house for Christmas. It was the perfect day to stay indoors and decorate as it was cold, windy and rainy all day. When you buy a real tree in Spain, you get the root bulb included which means you have to plant the tree. I know, it's crazy but there is not a tree stand to be bought anywhere. The good thing is that the trees are dirt cheap and I got a new ceramic pot to plant something in later! I nicknamed our tree "Squatty". You'll understand once you see him. Good enough size for a house like ours.


O and I putting the first ornament on Squatty.


O got the hang of decorating the tree quickly and then demanded that she hang every ornament. She got to hang all the ones that were not breakable.


After we decorated the tree and house, we all sat down to write a letter to Santa. We went to the mall the day after Thanksgiving and I picked up a catalog from the toy store. She has not put it down since and looks only at the Barbie page. Here she is dictating to Daddy what she wants in the letter.


The final copy. The list is hilarious. O and I are going to the base post office tomorrow to send it.


O cozy on the couch with her catalog while Squatty shines bright in the corner. If he loses his needles and dies before Christmas like last year's tree, mark my words, it is fake hereafter.

NS Rota Cinderella Ball

Our base planned a much anticipated Cinderella Ball for Daddies and daughters ONLY to attend. The daughter could be as young as a baby to as old as 18 years and the attire was formal. Party dresses and tiaras were highly encouraged for the girls and the dads could wear their dress uniform, suits or even tuxedos. It was held at the grade school multi-purpose room and was decorated beautifully for the occasion. They provided refreshments, horse-drawn carriage rides and Cinderella and Prince Charming made an appearance at the ball! I was so excited for Justin and Olivia to share in this event together as there is just not enough offered specifically for dads/daughters on the base. Olivia and I went to the mall and picked out her dress and tiara and it's a toss-up who was more excited for the event, me or her! Justin said they had a great time together even though she ditched him to dance by herself on the dance floor.



Getting ready at Mommy's vanity for the big night. Her hair was curled for the occasion and she even got to wear some of my blush and lip gloss to complete the look.


All dressed up for the ball!


She felt like a princess and she looked like one too!


All the ladies ready for their big night with their daddies.


The dads and daughters.



Walking to the ball. The beauty of living in base housing with the school a block away.


Olivia petting the "horse".


I know. There's a joke here somewhere with the parking sign behind the carriage. And the fact that the carriages are being pulled by horses (?).


Enjoying her cupcake and punch. No moms were allowed in to the ball at all so I relied on Justin to capture some pics of the night.


Dancing ballet to the music.


Getting down on the dance floor. Justin had been ditched at this point.

Toledo, Spain

We decided to take a last minute trip over the Veteran's Day holiday. Justin had 4 days off so we headed on a road trip to Toledo (pronounced Toe-lay-doe), an hour outside of Madrid. This was the old capital of Spain before the monarchs moved it to Madrid almost 500 years ago. It is a beautiful city with many remnants of its Moorish and Medieval days.


Inside Toledo's cathedral. O wanted her picture taken in front of this wall painting. It gives a nice perspective of how big this wall and painting really are.


Headed out for some dessert at a local cafe. This is about 8pm. Spain does not even start dinner until 8pm. We brought some food with us to eat and decided to just get dessert instead so O could get back for a somewhat decent bedtime. We just can't hang with the Spaniards and their mealtimes.


Sitting at the cafe waiting for me to come to the table with the desserts.


O and I in front of the Alcazar, the original castle of Toledo. It was turned into a military academy when the king moved the capital to Madrid and now it is a military museum. Crazy awesome displays of suits of armor, old weapons, etc.... inside!


Stopping to enjoy the views of the countryside (and give preggo a break). Toledo is all hills so it was a rough couple of days for me.


Justin and O in front of the gates to the city. Even O did not mind being in the stroller after she walked for a while.


Stopping for a drink break in the plaza.


We drove the outskirts of the city to get some fabulous views of it. Justin and O in front of the city of Toledo.

Tumbling

Olivia joined tumbling on base and absolutely loves it. She is the only girl in the class but she could care less and fits right in with the boys. I give their teacher, Miss Jenni, a lot of credit for putting on a class like this with 3 and 4 year old's. They can be a handful.


Each class the kids start with practicing their balance.


Olivia practices walking on the balance beam with Miss Jenni.


Ready to flip over.


Posing after her roll.


Trying out her backbend.

Posing for the camera as she tries a handstand.


A pretty good handstand for a 3 year old!

Random Illinois Pics

I realized I did not post some other pics from our time in Illinois in October. These are a random mish-mash of things we did while visiting. It was such a wonderful visit and one we wont forget. Precious time spent with family.

Asleep on the couch with her fairy wings on. This is jet lag at its best.


Playing in the "fort" she built with her aunt and uncle.


At the Children's Museum with our close friends and their kids, the Fulton's. Here O helps the skeleton move his exercise bike next to her.


O and my best friend's son, Alaric.


Me best friend Katie. We are so lucky that when we visit Justin's family, Katie only lives about an hour away and I get to see her as well!


O's Mama dries her hair after a bath.


O loved helping her Mama make iced tea everday.


We went to the local zoo again as the weather was perfect. O rode the carousel with her Aunt Sarah.

One happy girl to be riding on the giraffe.


O and her Uncle Aaron check out an animal.


The petting zoo was awesome. The goats just sat their while the kids brushed them.


O loved playing in the raked up leaves. Who doesn't?

Halloween 2010-Rota, Spain

Halloween is always a crazy affair on this base. The base usually holds a personal American only Halloween Trick-or-Treating in an empty part of base housing for the small kids a few nights before actual Halloween.
And then on Halloween, base housing holds their Trick-or-Treating for the kids...Spanish included. The Spanish love this holiday. They love candy and they love to dress up in costume. And EVERYONE, adults included, dresses up for the occasion. The Spanish arrive on base and start patrolling the streets about an hour before the T-oT'ing actually starts and once you come out, game on. Everyone comes rushing. Add the Spanish with the Americans and what should be about 2 hours worth of fun is almost always done in under an hour. Unless you break the bank buying about 15 bags of candy. Last year, we consolidated our bags with friends and 40 bags of candy were gone in an hour. This year, we took O out first to enjoy T-o-T'ing and then came home to give out our 5 bags of candy. We took O out promptly at 6pm, got home at 6:30pm to start handing out the 5 bags of candy and by 6:45pm...all 5 bags were gone. I was bum rushed at the front door trying to get out to the end of the driveway to give out candy and was trapped at the wall by my front door. 15 minutes. 5 bags gone. I had to beg people in English and Spanish to give me space and Justin had to be my bodyguard while holding a petrified Olivia clinging to him.
And then, these kids start attempting "Happy Halloween" and "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" in English as do their parents and you just melt. They really love this and so do the kids. And they are really trying to be polite as they suffocate you for a Tootsie Roll Pop. And so, next year, I'll go back to buying about 10 bags again because it's worth the 15 minutes of cultural bonding over that sucker.

Olivia ready for the little kids T-o-T'ing on Friday night. Fairy costume provided by her Aunt Sarah and cousin Anna. Huge hit. Huge, huge, hit.




Meeting up with our dear friend Molly at the T-o-T'ing.


O is a pro at this. She knows how to yell "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You" every time. I guess you learn quick if you want candy.


Sharing some candy together.


Checking it all out as she chomps on a Tootsie Roll.


Evidence of the Tootsie Roll on her front teeth. She spoke to another little girl with this mouth and the girl actually recoiled at the sight and was trying to figure out how to tell Olivia she had something on her teeth. Hilarious.


Halloween night. The other Fairy costume we got her. We decided on this one for the actual day because of how crazy the neighborhood gets. If anything happened to this costume, we didn't care.


Pure joy as she skips away from her first candy stop.


Heading to Captain's Circle for some candy.


Captain's Circle. You don't pass their cement barriers and they had security standing at their stop. The Commanding Officer's wife is in the cow costume. And I even got festive as well. The most you will ever see me in costume for this holiday.


An example of said chaos. This is a line just to get candy at one house! We opted out of waiting in this line and just stood watching.