Quick Trip to Madrid with the Girls

A couple of weeks ago, I got another break and flew up to Madrid with just the girls.  We were gone for only one night but the flight left early friday and came back late saturday so we basically had two full days to sight see.  And without kids, you can see twice as much.  Since Beatriz is from Madrid, she knew all of the best places to go.  So friday we spent the day in Todedo.  It's a beautiful old city, about forty minutes outside of Madrid, that is known for it's sword making.

The second day we spent in Madrid.  The last time I went, I had all five kids so we didn't go into the Palacio Real or the Prado museum. This time, we went in and it was super cool.  I love the architecture in these old buildings.   And to see the original artwork from famous painters was amazing.

It was soooo cold there compared to here.  I've lived in a warm climate for a while.  I know I'll be in shock when we get back to snow someday.  That was the coldest I've been since Cleveland. Brrrr.  It was short and sweet but I had a good time and feel so lucky that Madrid is only an hour away by plane.  It's a beautiful city.

I don't know why but all of the pictures loaded in the wrong order, so we are in Madrid in the first seven pictures and Todedo in the last ones other than when we were on the Metro train.

Toledo Pictures below

Funny Twins-

The messes are a daily occurrence here.  These cute babies are sure giving me a run for my money.  As you can see the climbing has begun.  Spencer is pretty quick getting up.  We have learned to put the chairs down on their side to keep them from climbing and potentially falling.  The spilling of cereal is going to be the death of me.  My cute older boys forget to keep their food out of their reach.  Oh, I love these guys.     

New Years

New years was another fun party with the Dubons, the Cuadrados, and the missionaries.  We played spoons for a VERY long time.  Lots of fun.  As we got close to midnight, we watched (in Spanish) the events happening up in Madrid on the internet.  The tradition here in Spain during the countdown is to be able to eat 10 grapes during the last ten seconds for good luck.  You have to be done chewing and swallowing at the stroke of midnight.  As you can in the pictures many big cheeks trying to get them down. Max was the last child to survive the late party.  He made it until 2:30 am.  A great way to welcome 2011!  

Christmas Eve, Day and Night

On Christmas Eve, Tanner started our holiday events with the flu.  We had plans to go to our friends the Phillips for dinner, but with Tanner not feeling well, I stayed home with the babies and Nick went with the older boys for the fun.  They had a great time and came home excited already from the ton of gifts the Phillips got for them.  My evening was quiet and low key taking care of the sick baby.  Our tradition is to open new pjs every year.  The babies opened up their pjs and then went to bed.  Then when the older boys got home they opened their gifts, left out cookies for santa, and went to bed.  Surprisingly, they stayed in their room all night and came in right at 7:00 like we told them.  It was a great morning with excitement to open their presents and give to each other.  I love that they are just as excited to give to others as they are to open their own.  After the busy morning, we cleaned up and prepared for friends to come over.  Thank goodness Tanner was feeling better.  We had fun playing games, with the Cuadrados, the Dubons, Tim James, David Stubbs, (they are two guys that just got here on a deployment away from their families) and the missionaries from our church Elder Ferguson, and Elder Wells.  It was fun to have them here for the holidays.  We have one more Christmas in Spain!