sorry no picture today.  I left my phone at a friend's house. 

Homemade pizza, games with all my boys, hot cookies...almost perfect. Unfortunately, Stella has some awful stomach bug. I hope she gets better soon.


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Sleepover

We had a super fun day with old friends. We first met these three in Spain. Coincidentally, we both ended up in Brazil. The kids (and the moms) have so much fun together.



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Beach day

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Native

We've gone native. You can't tell me that a little boy doesn't look adorable in a speedo. Especially, this little guy.



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1/2/2012

Today we made play dough. Our new recipe turned out great.
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
Food coloring
Mix everything and cook on medium heat until thickens. Knead and play.





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1/1/2012

Happy New Year!!! 

These 3 are in heaven.  They could build Lego's for hours. 

Seven months later...

It's moving day!





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Because once just wasn't enough

Don't ask me why we needed to go to another mall, that's not important. What is, is that Santa and his entourage travel faster than our Brazilian mini-mini-van.



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Papai Noel

Brazil knows how to do Santa! No line and a good personal visit. Even a little sage advice from Santa. The kids didn't even let the language barrier stop them. When Stella asked for a "cachorrinho" (a puppy), Santa was wise enough to recommend the "stuffed" breed. Great way to kick off our Brazil holiday season!




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Buenos Aires

Day 3
We went to the Zoo.  It was so great.  It was the perfect size, enough animals to see all your favorites but not too big that you can't see everything.  The weather was perfect.  The animals were so active.

 The Buenos Aires Zoo is amazing.  

You can buy animal food and feed the animals. 

   Here they just fed the elephants.  

This rhino was huge.

The kids really liked the sunset tonight.  I didn't quiet catch it but here's a snapshot.  

close call

We had a really fun afternoon.  We met some friends at the pool.  The kids played.  They swam.  They laughed.  The mom's enjoyed the warm sun, hoped for a tan, had a lovely conversation and nearly missed getting pooped on. Then we ran, laughed some more and said good bye.  I'm so excited that Spring just started for us.  We get to enjoy the beautiful outdoors for a long time.  ;)

miracle

Hers's the best update ever.  My Mom just found out that she is cancer free.  They took out half of her thyroid and after dissecting it her doctors have told her she doesn't have cancer.  Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.  We are all feeling really blessed.  

Looking good

My Mom's surgery went really well. We are still waiting for her to wake up. Thanks so much for the prayers and comments.


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prayers and faith

About a week before we left for Brazil my Mom was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.  I was at the movies with my kids and a few friends and in the middle of the movie my Dad called and told me the news.  I was shocked.  You never want to hear the word cancer.  Luckily, my Mom was diagnosed early and so tomorrow she goes in for surgery.  She could use any extra prayers possible.  I know she's going to be okay.  I have faith that everything will work out according to the Lord's plan.  I know she is a strong woman.  She can overcome cancer.  I love you, Mom!  Good luck tomorrow.  I wish I could be there with you but I know Dad will take good care of you.  I'll be praying for you.

I've been busy

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth yet.  I've just been busy.  Doing what I'm not exactly sure.  Just busy.  Mainly it's been associated with school.  My school, the older kids school, finding Joaquin a school, starting Joaquin is his new school and homework.  Drew's been busy with his work too.  Don't worry, we never forget to play!  I promise to blog more tomorrow and with pictures.  Good night!

so thankful

I've been really stressed about our finances in brazil lately.  So much so that I've let it get in the way of enjoying our time here.  I need to focus on my blessings and trust in the Lord.  So here's the beginning of my list of all the amazing things about Brazil.

-The People.  I've never met a happier, more loving and inviting group of people.  It's going to impact my kids lives so much.  I hope we can really incorporate these traits into our lives.

-The food.  It's so good.  I love beans and rice.  The fruit is so sweet.  The juices are so fresh.  I like almost everything I've tried.  

-Living in Portal.  I was hesitant to live in here.  The apartments are smaller than I was expecting but everything else about it is amazing.  It's so close to the kids school.  We have so many friends here.  Each one has been such a blessing in our lives.  Pasta night.  The playgrounds.  The Jungle.  The freedom.  

-Friends.  I don't know if I have ever moved anywhere and had so many close friends so fast.  It has been such a huge blessing.  I feel like each of us has multiple good friends.  We've only been here a month but with the friendships we have it feels like forever.  Thanks guys!

-My Kids.  This is by far one of my biggest blessings.  I have three amazing kids.  They are so good at adjusting.  They have embraced everything about this move.  We're living without all our stuff except the clothes we brought in our suitcases and they haven't complained once.  They sleep on hard crib size mattresses all in the same room and love it.  They have been so great.  I love them so much.

-My Husband.  Drew is the best husband I could ever have.  He works really hard to provide a great life for us.  He works really long hours but makes such a great effort to be a part of our lives.  He loves each of us so much.  He makes me laugh.  He's fun to be with.  He's a great example of living a Christlike life.  I'm so thankful for everything he does for me.  I love you babe!

So far Brazil has been great.  I'm loving it!  I can't believe we made the move.  It was such a good choice for our family.  I'm so thankful for this opportunity to grow so much.  I hope I can do a better job of remembering it.

Grocery shopping

I know I promised pictures of the apartment but that will have to wait until tomorrow.  I went grocery shopping today.  It's quite the adventure.  I took Zeli and Joaquin with me for help.  You might think grocery shopping is a normal everyday occurrence.  Maybe in the States but not here in Brazil.  Especially not if you go on Quarta-fiera at Extra.  Quarta-fiera is extra offerta dia.  I wish you could here how it sounds on the loud speaker.  You'd laugh.

Little portuguese lesson...

Quarta-fiera = Wednesday

offerta = sale

Back to the store.  Everything in the store is a little overwhelming.  Add tons of brazilians trying to get the current offerta and you have a madhouse.  It was totally entertaining and kind od fun.  We started in the in the meat section.  This is nothing like an american meat section.  They have all kinds of weird cuts of meat.  They have every animal imaginable too.  We bought a few cuts of beef, chicken breasts, some pork chops and bacon - but not american bacon - this stuff isn't refrigerated or cut in to nice even slices.  It's a hunk of pork.  Zeli said it's delicious.  Next up was the fish department.  This scares me.  I like fish but I really don't like seeing dead fish all over the place.  I prefer Costco frozen fish already marinated in its nice little prepackaged individual size pieces.  Nothing like that here.  So we bought a tilapia.  The fish butcher cleaned and cut it up for us right there.  Not bad.  We also bought a bunch of salted unrefriderated meat to make feijoada.  I'm hopeful.  

feijoada = super yummy black beans with meat

Then we went through the produce section.  It was crazy busy.  Tons of offertas.  We are all loving the fruit here so I stocked up.  

Next was the bakery.  They have the most amazing bread here.  I'm not sure what it's called but it's delicious.  They make it fresh several times throughout the day and it's cheap.  It has a hard crust and super soft and is light and soft inside.  We all love it.  The only problem is it only lasts until midnight.  Then it turns hard and crunchy.  I also grabbed a yummy treat for dessert.  I have no clue what it is but it looks good.  It was also an offerta.  

 This box of cereal is so deceiving.  They made the box at least 3 inches taller than the bag.  What's up with that?  Cereal costs a fortune here.  I want the whole box full.

Our soda, juice supply (pear, apple, peach and grape), milk (it comes in a box and no it's not refrigerated either), water

We bought a lot of other new to me things.  I'll post about them another day.  Let's just say grocery shopping is a totally eye opening experience here.  It also costs a pretty penny.  After checking out I spent R$508.96.  This will hopefully last me a week.  

Winter weather

It's winter here in Brazil.  And I'm feeling it. I remember thinking, "Why do I need to pack for cold weather.  I'm moving to Sao Paulo, Brazil.  It doesn't get cold there."  Um.  I was wrong.  It has been so cold the last couple days.  If you check the weather it doesn't look that cold but it is.  When you have no heat it feels ten times colder.  It also doesn't help that we don't have our stuff.  I packed warm blankets and even electric blankets in our air shipment but it's stuck in customs.  Gotta love customs.  Besides the weather we are doing great.  Tomorrow I'll post pictures of our new house.  It's totally bare but it feels so good to have a home.