Jonathan's Birthday

Jonathan has his birthday right before Christmas, so we tend to do Thanksgiving, and then focus on Jonathan before we begin to focus on Christmas! :)  We always try to make Jonathan's birthday special, so he doesn't feel like it gets overlooked in light of Christmas being so close. :)  I think he had a good day...

Jonathan wanted a soccer field for his cake... this time it was so incredibly easy, b/c we found the players and the nets in a specialty shop in Marbella. 

He got to put his players wherever he wanted. :)

And he got to choose dinner... Pizza, of course.

Jonathan is SEVEN!!

Marbella, Spain

Two years ago, when my parents came to visit, we also went to Marbella for a week's vacation.  My parents have a time share, and we went back to the same Marriott resort.  The kids were all older this time (obviously!), and we were able to enjoy the resort a little more.  It was incredible.

On our way! Obvious excitement here!

This is a tradition that started when we stayed with my parents while waiting for our visas to come through 3 years ago.  My dad makes coffee for all the kids first thing in the morning and they all do devotions together.  This is where my kids first started to like coffee!!... and this quiet time with Papa will always be something special to remember.

Don't know if you can see it, but Carolina wrote her own name!  There's a big gap between the "L" and the "I" but the rest it pretty clear. :)

This is one of the playgrounds on the resort property.  Carolina loved to play here while the boys played soccer.

 love this look.

Shuffle board became a daily favorite!  All the kids could play, so we played often.

Carolina and her Papa!

They had face painting one day for the kids.  Carolina LOVED it.

So... face painting combined with mommy's scarf and boots... a perfect "dress-up" situation. haha...

They played hard all day and slept hard at night!

The pool... Carolina really enjoyed it, because she has just become an independent swimmer... with swimmies, of course. :)

Carolina and her Grandmommy! 

Mom and Dad's visit in November

Oh, my goodness, I'm so behind.  Why is that I feel like I can never catch up here!? :)  We've had a ton of stuff on our plate these past couple months, but I know I need to get y'all updated on our life here, so here are some snapshots! :)

My parents came to visit in November, just before Thanksgiving.  We had SO much fun together.  It was such a special time.  It happened to be right after our language exam, so it was the first time I really was able to put everything on the back burner and completely relax.  It was wonderful and so needed!

Waiting for Grandmommy and Papa to arrive!

YES!  They finally made it!

They arrived on my Mom's birthday, so we celebrated when we got back from the airport.

Then we celebrated Thanksgiving together!  It was so wonderful... the first time in 3 years that I've had help with making the food!  It was a dream, having mom there with me!

Getting a whole turkey here is very unusual, but we have built a relationship with our neighborhood "butcher" and we order one from him every year.  This is the biggest turkey we've seen yet! :)  As always, it comes with feathers and all... we plucked the best we could, but then Mom decided she could get the rest with a razor.  haha... it actually worked!!

Thanksgiving dinner.

Yum! :)

We had a great time celebrating together.  Then, we packed... and the next day we left for Marbella... vacation at the beach!