Spain Dad, a baby blog

April’s younger sister Heidi is living with us for the summer, and she decided last week (for no apparent reason) that it would be funny to teach Alleke how to say, “Hello Cheese.” Not only has Alleke learned the phrase, but she’s repeated it so many times it’s beginning to sound normal to me (just [...]

West Africa by babasteve. Byron and Lisa are some friends of ours who live in Tanzania, and for many years lived among the Maasai people in Kenya. For a short time, they lived with their kids in Portugal where April and I would visit them once a year before Alleke was born. They would invite [...]

This summer I would like to write a book, inspired by this blog. As I begin, undoubtedly my most valuable resource is you, my reader. You’ve helped me shape my thoughts and opinions along the way and you’ve given me a reason to keep writing. Because of your involvement so far, (if you’re willing) I [...]

This post is part of a series called Spring Cleaning where I asked you, the reader, if there was anything you wanted to know, but never asked about me or my family. Today’s question was asked by Valerie: My husband and I are being transferred to Spain this summer and we have two small boys [...]

I was lying there with the pillow over my head. I had managed to recover from jet lag earlier in the week, but now that April and Alleke were home, the process had started over again, and we were all awake. Because we share the same bed, I was invited to their slumber party. Not [...]

I was an ocean away from my wife and daughter on Mother’s Day. We had decided beforehand that they should stay an extra week in Iowa with family, even though I had to return to Spain for work. I got back last Friday, which meant I was home alone for a few days before Mother’s [...]

I watched DJ copy his spelling words onto lined paper. s-c-a-r-e-c-r-o-w t-o-o-t-h-p-a-s-t-e a-w-h-i-l-e c-h-e-r-r-y k-a-p-u-t I stared at the last word. “Kaput?” I asked. I looked at my sister who was making rice in the kitchen. “DJ has some Dutch spelling words,” she explained. “You know, the words we still use around here.” I raised [...]

Legos by PPDIGITAL. April sat on the couch with a book watching her two nephews construct guns out of legos. The two boys worked quietly and carefully until they finished, at which point they stopped to admire each other’s work. Hunter, the older of the two boys, ran upstairs to find a snack, and DJ [...]

April and I were walking through town last night when the sirens went off. A woman ran out onto her porch and yelled at us. “Do you have a place to go?” she asked. “There’s a tornado coming.” She held the screen door while we ran inside, and all of us, including her three little [...]

April has been thinking a lot lately about how to make our home more environmentally friendly. While we’re here in the US, she’s been doing some online research and buying books and supplies. Last night we were sitting at the kitchen table with our laptops when April looked up and said, “Hey, what do you [...]