Kids Update

Lucy has done so well in her Dance class. I am so proud of her for overcoming the initial hurdle of a brusque teacher - they have such a wonderful rapport now! And Lucy has gotten so flexible and stayed really strong.

Lucy is looking over my shoulder as I write this and just said, "Whoa, that looks so wrong." 

 I couldn't believe that right after I posted about Cathedral Art, Stone drew these pictures! He wasn't with me in the Cathedrals and I didn't mention a word to him - I had silently been wondering how the ubiquitous images of the dying Christ affected children... and he came upstairs with these drawings the next day.

Stone has caught our family's reading bug. When he doesn't know what to do we can give him a stack of books and he's happy for a long time. This is one bonus of picking him up early from school - we have lots of one-on-one Mommy-Stone time, and reading lessons every day have helped him take off into full, independent reading of longer and longer books! It makes my heart burst with joy to pass on my greatest love to my children.

Our friends the Martens dream up (and bring to fruition!) the most magical experiences!! The Bull Fight, the Flamenco Class, the Flamenco dresses, the Pop Rocks soup, the Opera.... and yesterday... a baking class at a local Italian Bakery! Enzo's Pastry Shop is near their house and has become a family friend of theirs, and they were so kind to invite us along to learn how to make a chocolate cake/custard/cream masterpiece from scratch!

 Pete and Isaac showed up halfway through, and Pete brought his accordion so Enzo could serenade us in Italian (while interjecting cooking intructions to the kids in Spanish). We were all laughing in sheer delight.

The painting on the back wall is of Enzo and his wife, painted by his friend. This man has so much joie de vivre - it makes me want to follow my bliss every minute and surround myself with the Art of my family and friends.

And not only was it a baking lesson, it was an "enjoy the moment with children" lesson. When eggs fell on the ground, he laughed. When the custard was ready in the tubes, he said "hold out your hands!!" and squirted blobs straight onto our palms. He asked "who wants a chocolate chip?" and then got his 5 pound box out and rained chocolate chips all over the table, the kids squealing and scrambling like he was a piñata. He alternated English, Spanish, Italian, singing and Donald Duck voice. I don't remember the last time I felt so much of the joy of childhood.

Lucy finishes the cake with shakes of cocoa

Today was a national holiday, and the school held a fair. This is the courtyard where the kids have recess, filled with families chatting, hugging, dancing to live music... and all the adults smoking, eating cured ham, and drinking beer sold at the food table. :)

The kids voted to stay home for the rest of the holiday today - we have seen and experienced so much in Spain, and now the kids just want to build blanket forts and read. Plus it's still freezing outside and (hooray!!) the owner of the house came and fixed the heater!!! We may never go outside again until we go to the airport. Well... until Saturday, when I take Lindsay to Madrid and Toledo. :)