Carnaval

No School the rest of the week. Today the oldest three got to attend Cohen's playgroup and had a great time hanging with the preschoolers. They celebrated carnaval (big here) and got to dress up and get their faces painted. They've never wanted to have that done, but after today, Eli said he's never taking a bath again.

Side note about carnaval: Gavin said he learned in school, that carnaval is a time to party and dance and be crazy, because the next 40 days you have to be really good. Gavin (who usually always makes good choices) is pretty positive that the next few days are his time to get it all out. Huh? Not sure I like this expensive education he's getting.

The Way to a Guys Heart

I love homemade cookies. They don't last long around here as I eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and as snacks in between. So, I must keep my Betty Crocker moments to a minimum. Cookie dough is not at all tempting for me, making the Costco/Sam's bucket of cookie dough the perfect solution. I can make a pan instead of a whole batch, and save myself the belly ache the next day. With that not being an option here, I have to make my own, and then fight with my lack of self control. Four cookies were left from last nights batch, one for each child when they got home from school. Seriously, I had to wipe the drool off my chin each time I went through the kitchen. Somehow the cookies made it through the day. I hovered around the kids as they partook or their sweet morsels, waiting for a handout or some reward for my discipline. Between bites (his not mine), Gavin told me he wanted me to make these cookies when he was grown up, so he could marry them because he loved them so much.

Me: "I'm sure your wife will make some for you".

Gavin: "But I'll love you more". (So loyal)

Me: (cringing at the thought) "It's okay, you'll love your wife more".

Gavin: "yeah, because she'll probably make LOTS of cookies".

I guess I should cut down on my indulgences and make sure there's a few more to go around.

Note: I did share some with my neighbor, if that makes me any less piggy.

Not 1, but 2, living in a world of...

WARNING: MAY CAUSE LOSS OF APPETITE!!
Let me start by saying, I love it here. With that said, here is a glimpse of Spain beyond the palaces, gardens, fur hats and churros. It seems every one has a dog or two here. And one does not venture out for a stroll with poochie, unless appropriately attired (forget sweats -only runway best will do). Well it seems that it is unfashionable to bend over and scoop puppy poo whilst on the "cat walk". Leaving your pets digested dinner is against the law here, and they just upped the fine in an effort to fix the problem. There are special trash cans dotting the streets WITH DOGGIE DOO BAGS ATTATCHED for your convenience. Yet, countless times there's a doozy right in front of the can. There is waste all over the sidewalks right smack dab in the middle, with no effort made to fertilize the weeds along the edge. We usually do a pretty good job dodging these gifts as long as we stay focused. Unfortunately a couple of weeks ago, Cohen lost his balance while riding his scooter and fell into a mess of it. Unpleasant.

Today, the fecal matter epidemic has risen to a whole new level. Actually, I only realized it today, it's been going on for much longer. Last week, I was appauled to see toilet paper in a pile or puddle rather of very loose movement on the street right in front of our house. I mean who wipes their dogs bum and throws it in the street?

As we were walking up the front steps today, my neighbor ran over looking pretty frazzled. Turns out, while her and her son were sitting in their car out front, a CRAZY lady felt a need to relieve herself by their back bumper. I'll try to spare additional details but it turns out she was the source of afore mentioned toilet paper. As my neighbor and I stared in aghast at her gift, the wind picked up and we were chased (screaming and all) by smeared toilet paper into the safety of our iron gates. And now I know why we have the wall around the perimeter.

I let our homeowner know (she lives up the street), and she knew just who I was talking about -apparently our CRAZY lady is a regular. And so, amidst the charm of Spain, we are surrounded by pure bred sidewalk obstacles and flying TP.

Tourist Tuesday - Lockdown

A) Our primitive iron peep window B)Visual monitor and intercom

This isn't necessarily touristy, but more relevent to residency. Every night the kids plea for their turn to push the buttons. The buttons that close out the world around us. Each window and door has them, some even have two. One for minimum security "blinds"(you can still see the light of day), and one for maximum (not one ray of sunshine is getting through). These exterior metal "blinds" are in addition to iron bars on the windows, alarm system, video intercom, bazillions of locks/gates, one brick and iron wall outlining the perimeter, and many booby traps strategically placed on the sidewalk (courtesy of the neighborhood canines). It takes nearly a full set of keys to penetrate this fortress and some patience to park. We don't wait for just one garage door to open, but 3 remote operated (very slow) doors/gates. A few of our neighbors even have on-sight security staff with their own little booth. Now, I'm not complaining about all the security, but it does seem a little excessive. It is satisfying though when lock down time comes and we get to block out the rest of the world (also handy when it's still light out at bedtime).

Tourist Tuesday - El Escorial (but just a peek)

We love having so many adventures so close by. Saturday we drove the 30+ minutes to check out San Lorenzo de El Escorial. It was sprinkling but still didn't stop us from wandering through the hedge mazes, chasing a church mouse, and waiting in secret behind the stone walls around the massive monastery. Charming, charming, charming. Which may become redundant in my posts, but I can't think of a better synonym. We didn't have enough time to do the full tour inside, so we'll have to save that for next time. I mean, what inside could possibly top chasing a mouse anyway?

El Escorial - A huge mausoleum/palace/monastery built in the 1500's in honor of the day's martyr and a victorious battle. It boasts fourteen courtyards, one thousand doors, and two thousand windows. The floor plan is in the shape of a grill in honor of San Lorenzo who was martyred in Rome -roasted on a grill. Nice.

Mmmmm...

Banana bread has become Brett's calling (I hear his brother is also an excellent maker of banana bread). Cohen is now in training to follow suit and happy as could be to spend time with his Papa (pronounced the Spanish way, not the Grandpa way). I love cozy home baked smells on wintery days. It started snowing while we were at church -which is unheard of. It hasn't snowed in Madrid for a long time, so for it to snow twice in one season, must be something we dragged with us from Cincy. Too bad those huge flakes didn't stick around for long. It started to rain before the kids could get out and play.