Reindeer brownies that Pooks and I made for her school 🙂

Makeup tutorials (i have hilarious video of this that i have to upload)

bahaha

Dada found a visitor in our yard and brought it on in for Sabsy (sissy was at school)

So unbelievably sad that Pooks school won’t be there this coming year but totally stoked that we bought two of these whiteboards from her teacher b/c the kids love em!

Well over a 6 hour drive thanks to missing the ferry and construction but we made it to SJ! The girls were fantastic and we had a fun ride after Sabs puked up about a jar of peanut butter 2 hours into it. Sophie was puke free this time around and I felt on the verge of puke for about the first hour but somehow after Sabs barfed her brains out it took my entire barf sensation away. Thankfully pb smells exactly the same going out as it does going in. It is also quite sticky and thick so it was a really concentrated puke that just required a change of clothes and wipe down. I would say on the puke front this was the easiest we’ve had so there’s that.

The condo Will found and rented for the month is absolutely killer! It is so perfect for us and I feel so thankful. We all settled in straight away. The views are beautiful, it is spacious, it has a pool, workout room and nice private balcony. The bed is insanely comfortable and everything is super clean. Ugh, big time score!

Our rental car situation was not as ideal. Will went to pick it up yesterday (we were switching from our SUV we drove here to a regular car b/c it was much cheaper for the month and out of no where they told him they needed to charge an extra 600.00 for insurance and something like a 5000 deposit. I have heard about this happening before and thought we might have an issue but it was a really good deal so we gave it a go. Anyway, when they told him what they wanted to charge (aside from the 300.00 for the month) he said um, ok no, and left without a car.

This morning he called our rental car place from Mal Pais and rented our same SUV that he just dropped off yesterday. He is currently picking our car back up now. We rented it until Christmas eve and then may drop it off and not have a car for a week or so since we realized we are in walking distance to so many places and cabs are super cheap. I am actually looking forward to walking everywhere like we did in Italy and it’ll be good to explore more by foot. This week we needed the car so we can get our christmas things, pick up a tree, etc. So i actually think it turned out better that the car was a rip off, just feel bad for the fiasco Will has had to go through renting/not renting/picking up/dropping off, etc.

Here are some pics from our travels here and our arrival to the condo!

Here are some of the condo. It is 2bdrm/2bath. The shower is like a room in itself (i’ll have to take pic). It is so bright in the condo that it is hard to photograph b/c the sun glares. Love that problem!

Here I am! Relaxing while kids are napping AT THE SAME TIME!

and here are some pics from our first night. Sabs figured out how to climb the handles and get on the counter top- such a jungle kid

Before we left town the girls had a playdate with Riley and Luka who are from Holland. They are 4 1/2 and 1 1/2. It was precious. They all met the other night at a restaurant and hit it off so well that their mom and I immediately set up a play date for the weekend. When Sophie arrived Riley had a card waiting for her that she made that morning. Sophie is queen of making cards and is typically not on the receiving end b/c she is always wanting to make them, but this time her face just lit up when her buddy had a card waiting for her. Her mom said she was sitting at the window all morning checking to see if Sophie was there yet. They really just clicked and were so loving and sweet together the entire time. This is the first friend that i have really seen this type of bond with and her mom said the same. Super bonus that she has a little sis close to Sabs age. A fun time for all! We will def. be getting together a bunch when we get back. I didnt get many good pics b/c i didnt want to be too creepy on their first date. Next time for sure 😉

From Riley to Sophie 🙂

This was so completely trippy…on the way to SJ we stopped at our Pops ice cream shop for our “almost there” ice cream tradition. While he was in the shop with the girls my phone sent me an alert of a photo memory from that day 4 years ago. This was the photo that popped up

a minute later Sophie walked out of the ice cream shop eating this

Super trippy moment.

This big tree fell down in the road the other week by Sophie’s school. They came to chop it all down and a look inside the middle is just crazy. Sabs favorite part was the sticky sap inside.

The crew spent the morning making cards for a little 5 year old girl in NY who lost her family to a fire that was intentionally set and also lost her arm and leg from being burned. In my newsfeed the other day i saw the story and how this year she wanted Christmas cards from kids around the world to fill her tree. I messaged Ashley about it and her and the crew read the story and got to preparing cards. We are going to go mail them next week in SJ. 🙂

The kids all went Christmas caroling in town with the little ones from Puedo school. They had a teacher dressed up like santa and raised money to help a family in need from Cobano. So precious!! I wish someone took video and that we knew the little 2-3 yr olds were going b/c i would have sent Sabi too! These pics were sent from the teachers. xo

Pookie’s social schedule is seriously busier than all three of ours combined. Things have been just popping up all over the place. This week after school she has had gymnastics, dance, art, and then she had a tela class with the crew (pics below). She is having a blast!

She absolutely loved gymnastics and then the next day did the Tela class and said she liked it even more! Looks like we will have a few new classes on the agenda when we get back from holiday.

Yesterday we took Sophie and Sabi to a new school that is about 20 minutes away and they took a dance class together. I don’t have any pictures b/c we left the window so they couldn’t see us but i could hear Sabs yapping to all the kids during the class and she didn’t come looking for me once. She is so diff from Sophie as a baby it is hilarious. They both had a super duper fun time!

Today Sophie and her crew are going Christmas caroling to the stores to raise money for a family in need that lives in our town. Ooooh i hope Ashley takes some video- haha.

Here are some pics Ashley sent me from Pooks recent adventures at school 🙂

The girls standing across from Sophie and smiling is her friend Venus from school. She is 13 and her and Sophie have gotten a real strong bond lately. Venus has taken her under her wing as a big sister and is always taking care of her and helping her at school. She is amazing. Ugh reason 1,000,0001 why i will so miss this school.

Venus helping Pooks again

Sophie asked Ashley to take a picture of her and Asher. Asher is autistic and very shy. He usually doesn’t talk much to the other kids but i told Sophie to just be sure to always say hi to him and smile…so her is her big photo with Asher which she was dying to show me as soon as she got home.

and here is Gaia

Oh what a blessed day we had yesterday! I saw a post about a hotel in town that lets you use the pool if you spend just $10.00 at the bar/restaurant (kids are free so $20.00 total for us), so we decided to try it out with the peanuts and what a fun day it turned out to be. On the way there (it is literally 2 minutes down the road) a horse was roaming on the side of the road and we pulled over to say hello. She was one of the friendliest horses we’vet met and came right over to the car so the girls can pet her. They were in heaven. It was magical.

Then we arrived at the hotel a minute later and the pool was perfect for Sabsy and Pooks. It was beautiful, had two sections for little ones, had a little waterfall, and was empty. The people that worked there were so super duper nice and the girls obviously hammed it up. It felt like we were on holiday. The food was so yummy and Pookie wanted to try everything. She kept asking to eat this and that and decided that she liked hard boiled eggs (the white part only). Will and I looked at each other laughing like is this day really happening?? Just one of those magical days. Sabs stayed in the pool for about 2-3 hours. By the time we left she had zero fear and was floating on her back with just my hand under her. She was jumping into our arms from the side of the pool and kicking her feet. Ugh it was fantastic! Yup, we’ll be back here for sure. Score!