A month

Josh pointed out to me yesterday that it's been a month since I last posted. How did that happen!?

Life has been going on as normal, which is a good thing when I so enjoy my normal.
Except for when Josh got the flu. That wasn't enjoyable.
But it was enjoyable that the rest of us did not get it.

The weeks just fly past and already I see the men out putting up the Christmas lights displays throughout the city. I've heard that it's quite the sight when they turn them on. I'll have to go on a photo tour and share them here.
I've been chipping away at the to-do list for the holiday season-- updating addresses for cards, ordering gifts, etc. I'm hoping that an early start will make it more of a joy than a chore.

I'm looking forward to our first Christmas at home together in a couple of years. Last year we were in transition moving from California to Spain, and the year before Josh was in Afghanistan. It will be nice to have a quiet Christmas in our own home.

But for now I'm happy to be enjoying a gorgeous fall. I never did manage to get the kids dressed up for pictures in the park, but I snapped a few of them dressed-down in the park.

Not too shabby for our neighborhood park ;)

At the end of October we had a visit from some fellow Air Force friends who are stationed in England currently. We met them when Josh and Matt were in squadron officer school together for 6 weeks in Alabama, many moons ago. But we've kept in touch since then, and were happy to get an opportunity to see each other again. The kids were all fast friends and had a great time together.

5 munchkins playing dress-up. 2 gymnasts, 1 Fairy, 1 tiny princess... and Iron Man.
Derek was outnumbered :)

We've been keeping with our plan to tour the nearby cities during the fall. Two weekends ago we went to Toledo, a cute little city about an hour from Madrid.

It was a beautiful day!

Every turn you took in the city was another narrow winding street. Some people braved driving around, but we were happy to leave the car outside the city walls and walk.

Gorgeous views from the top of a church.

And yet another menú del día. This time outside on the terrazza because the day was so nice.

Where is my baby? He's getting way too big.

This coming weekend we're going to take a mini-getaway to Segovia. It's only about an hour and half from here, but we thought it would make it more fun to stay the night.
And so we shall.

Hasta luego...