Pancakes - Brazilian Style

Several weeks ago I invited a couple of girls from our ward to bring their kids swimming at our house. Before they left their husbands ended up coming over too. It was starting to get late and we didn't have much food in the house but I felt like I should offer to have them in. After asking if they wanted to come in and eat the bishop responded, "No, we should get going. I'd only take you up on your offer if you were going to make pancakes." Of course! I had everything to make pancakes. So, they all came in and we ended up making waffles ( I still had to borrow eggs from our neighbors - which I'm not sure people really do that here! Oh well! We really had no food in our house that day) Anyway, a few days later Dianna told me she wanted us to go to their house and learn to make Brazilian pancakes with meat in them. So, last night we all got together and made salty pancakes and they were very good. I now have one more item I can cook each week. I think I am up to about 10 different things I know how to make here! Yeah, cooking is not a strong point for me here! Andy will think he's died and gone to heaven once we get back home and I am cooking real food again!


This is Dianna showing me how to make the batter

This is what they look like cooking



Here is Elainie helping to prepare them
And here is everyone enjoying the food - although this picture does not reveal the FIT Ethan threw when his fell apart and he realized there was ham inside and suddenly he hated ham and has never liked ham. You've got to LOVE those 3 year old fits while everyone is looking on and nothing the child is doing or saying makes sense!!

Our Search for Happiness!! (Ha!)

For almost 6 months now we have been on the search for Salsa which apparently is impossible to find. At one point they did sell it here. Little did we know we should have stocked up because we would no longer be able to find it in the stores. I can't tell you how many stores we have driven to and how many times we go back with the high hopes that a new shipment of salsa will be there. After speaking with many store managers we have come to find out that they have stopped stocking it. So, this week our search ended and we were filled with great happiness when Matt and Camie came to visit and brought with them a 64oz. bottle of salsa!!!! Given it is such a big bottle, we'd like to think it will last us until we move back to the states. However, we are loving it so much I just don't see it will last too long!
They also brought the easter candy I had asked for (along with a suitcase full of other requests). Andy has already had to hide the candy (at my request) because after opening one bag just to "try" the candy and after revisiting the bag many times I could tell we might not have any candy left for easter if Andy didn't hide it. I have attempted to look for it but have had no luck so far. I guess that's a good thing! There's no will power when it comes to chocolate!
We had a wonderful time with Matt and Camie. Even though we only got to be with them for a little more than 24 hours we had a great time and were grateful they made the effort to make it to our house. We had fun going out to dinner (with NO kids), playing games, getting our basketball picks in (and matt thinking long and hard for the perfect name for himself -"speedo de Janeiro"!!), getting pedicures, going out to lunch at a juice bar, swimming, and Matt even managed to see a bit of March Madness! Isn't it great hanging out with family! Our kids loved being with Matt and Camie and keep talking about their funny uncle Matt. Oh and Camie was looking cute as ever!

Little Cinderella

If you walked into our house you'd think Lucy was Cinderella because it seems she is cleaning and organizing all day long. She is definitely related to my mom. When Lucy wants to have "fun" she asks if she can mop the floors, wash the windows, or organize her drawers in her bedroom. One night before she crawled into bed she said, "Mom, tomorrow when we wake up we really need to clean out my drawers." And sure enough she held me to it and after finishing her room we had to move on to Ethan's room. The other day while Ethan and Lucas were taking naps I was working on the computer and trying to get to some of "my" things. Lucy began cleaning and organizing the computer desk. Finally she looked at me and said, "I just really wish you'd help me. Don't you want this desk to be clean!" It was as though I never clean and I sit around all day making her do everything! It was so funny. Sometimes she gets the crayon box and sorts through every crayon - throwing out any crayon that is broken. I never gave her that idea - she just came up with it. Another day she cleaned around our t.v. placing pictures on one side and then informing me that my keys were to be kept on the other side of the t.v. (which is funny because i admit that I am horrible when it comes to my keys. They are never in the same place and I am constantly looking for them) A few days later she saw them on the table and she came over the me with keys in hand and said, "Mommy, your keys don't belong there. Remember where I told you to put them!" (She's very serious when she tells me these things. She's not trying to be funny.) Oh boy! It is so funny and I could go on and on. Lucy has always been a good helper but all of these stories come from the last couple of months. It's nice to have a good helper!

This is Lucy mopping with a squeegee - that's how everyone mops here!

Lucy washing windows

Lucy rolling out the carpets after mopping and I failed to get a picture of her vacuuming the rugs which she does often.

A Must Watch!

I have found a new TV show that I think you would all be very fascinated with. We don't get great selections here but we do have the discovery channel and 2 weeks ago i came across a show that is very interesting. I believe it is called I shouldn't be alive. I'd love to write about the 2 episodes I have now watched but it'd take too long. It's such an amazing show that I always feel a need to tell someone - as though the incident happened to me! So, poor Liz has endured my lengthy recaps 2 weeks in a row! (sorry liz but you know you love it!) Anyway, if any of you get the discovery channel I think it's worth finding out when it is on! Oh and if you do watch it you will have to call and let me know if it's as good as I think it is.

How Embarrassing

Oh my gosh!! I just got on our blog only to find ME on it! I really am dying right now and was going to go delete but hmmmm looks like almost the entire family already commented which means andy must have sent out an email telling you to check it out before i got to it!! Yeah, I'm on to you andy!! We never get so many responses so quickly after posting! Yeah, I still have baby weight to lose and funny so many of you should comment on the tan. I don't feel like I have one but I guess you are all in the middle of a snowy winter right now so anything would look tan!

Did I mention that my wife is a hottie?

Ok, so I somehow snuck onto the blog to post this very cute picture of my wife. Yeah Alisa-- the pearls were fantastic. This is Amy after her big talk in Church (notice the smile?)Now quick, post your comments before Amy kills me and deletes this post!

-Andy

Dual Citizen

Well, here is our little dual citizen! Here is Lucas holding onto both of his passports! We went last week to pick up a Brazilian passport for Lucas. He can't leave Brazil without a Brazilian one. Apparently they won't even recognize his U.S. passport because he is a Brazilian citizen. So, he now has 2 birth certificates and 2 passports. (Isn't he cute?!?!?)

Sacrament talk

I'm happy to say that I actually gave a talk today in our church....in Portuguese. Thanks to Andy who helped me write out my talk in Portuguese and listen to me say it over and over. He had it memorized by the time I gave it today. I was so glad for all his help and am glad the talk went well. Of course, who knows if anyone understood what I said but I felt good about it.

Peanut Butter Anyone?!?!?

You can't buy peanut butter here. So, we stocked up before leaving St. Joesph and have had our moms bring us some. Just thought you'd all like to know that we are the lucky owners of the contaminated peanut butter that was recalled last week. Luckily we had not opened it and it will be going into the garbage tonight!

Carnaval

This week was Carnaval. Andy had Monday through Wed. off of work. We loved having him home and spending time all together. People kept telling us we had to go to the carnival parade here and that it was tame compared to what you find in Rio. They said it would be safe to bring the kids. So, we decided to give it a try and experience small town Brazilian carnival and are glad we did.


Here we are waiting for the parade to start. It was SUPPOSED to start at 8:00

.....still waiting and enjoying a churro filled with dolce de leite - yummmmm!
......and still waiting so we bought popcorn a little later on
......and still waiting so kept giving the kids licorice that we brought from home

.....and still waiting! So, even though this is a bad picture I had to include it. We arrived at 7:30pm. Keep in mind our kids are usually about ready for bed by now. Plus we had Lucas who has to nurse every 2 1/2 - 3 hours. So, 8:00 came around and nothing was happening. It was about 9:15 (1 hour and 45 min. after arriving) before it actually started. Luckily our kids were good. No melt downs until we walked through the door later that night. We had to take pictures of the time because this is VERY Brazilian. Nothing ever seems to start on time and I'm not talking about being just 5 or 10 min. late!

But, once the parade actually did start our kids LOVED it. They were dancing to the music and amazed with all the colorful costumes. We had a great evening.

Our little fish

I thought this was a pretty cool picture! I just happened to snap at the right time. Ethan LOVES being in the water. He really can't get enough of it! Most young kids like the water but don't really like getting their heads wet. However, that is all Ethan wants to do. If he could hold his breath long enough he'd spend all of his time under water. He is definitely our little fish. He also can't get enough of Andy throwing him high into the air! It is fun to watch!

Oh Happy Day!!

I am happy to say the today I started running again and boy did it feel good! It's been a long time. It felt so good to get out the running shoes and headphones! I'm very much out of shape but it just feels good to be moving my body and sweat because I want to and not just because it's so hot here!!

Birthday Boy

Before Lucas was born Ethan was still my baby. Now that Lucas is here I have realized how BIG Ethan really is and it seemed so strange to me to be celebrating his 3rd birthday. Andy came home for lunch and we had cake and ice cream and opened presents. Ethan who has not been allowed to have many sweets ever since being diagnosed with diabetes was so thrilled to eat birthday cake. We had a great day!

We love Lucas!!

People keep asking to see more Lucas pictures so here they are. We are sooooo grateful for all the help we got from my mom and Andy's mom. It was very hard to say good bye. We enjoyed both the help and the company. I don't think we would have survived without the help! Lucas is such a WONDERFUL SWEET baby. If only they all came as good as him! He is so mellow and low key. He sleeps very well at night and I am happy to report last night he slept for 10 1/2 hours! Life is good when you are getting sleep!

Truth Be Told

I had to wait to post this for fear that my mom and mother-in-law would not want to come visit! The truth is WE HAVE BUGS!!! Below is just a sampling of some of the bugs and some of the random bites our kids wake up with. Check out the size of Ethan's "bite". It looks more like another knee cap. And yes, I am horrified every time I see a cockroach running across the floor. I was especially grossed out one day when I went to get a pair of pants out of my closet and found a cockroach crawling up the pants!! And I was alone when I discovered this GIANT spider. I trapped it and waited for Andy to get home. I could not kill it. It was too fast and big. Each night seems to bring a new bug. This week has been cricket week. We're not sure how the bugs make their way into our house but they always manage to find a way!!

Lucas has arrived!!!

We finally had our little baby Lucas. He was born on Sunday, January 7th at 5:08 am. He weighed 7lbs. 2 oz and was 20 inches long. He has been such a sweet baby (hopefully he will stay that way) and we are so happy to have him in our family. My mom arrived on Thursday and he gave us just enough time to take her out to dinner, go for pedicures, show her around the town, go grocery shopping, and teach her how to give Ethan shots and do finger pricks.Saturday night we sat down to play a game and shortly after starting I told Andy and Mom that I would be going to the hospital that night. So, an hour or so later we finished the game and packed our bags and headed to the hospital.





The kids were so excited to meet Lucas. Everyday before he was born they'd wake up and ask when Lucas was coming. When Ethan was holding him in the hospital he kept singing Away in the Manger to him. It was really cute. Lucy and Ethan are both very cute with him and love to give him lots of kisses.

Christmas

Our Christmas was a little different this year. Ever since we have been married we have always spent Christmas with family. This year we were all alone with just our little family. However, it turned out to be a very nice Christmas. Our kids were soooooo excited on Christmas eve. They opened the traditional PJ's from grandma and grandpa Christensen.
Then we attempted to sing Christmas carols - which consisted mostly of the kids choosing the carols and Andy and I sang while the kids wrestled on the couch and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Then we tried acting out the Christmas story - it's just not Christmas without doing it. However, it's a little tougher to do when 2 out of the 4 are reading the story and video taping which leaves us with just Mary and Joseph. Ethan didn't like his costume and felt the new Thomas PJ's were perfect for Joseph's outfit. So, our Christmas story was pretty much Lucy being a sweet Mary - sitting perfectly tending to her baby while Ethan raced from one side of the room to the next. OK - so it wasn't exactly how we had pictured but the kids were still having fun.

The next day was very fun. We spent the whole day together and played with the kids all day long. It was so enjoyable. It was also our first Christmas that was hot enough to go swimming. We made a couple of trips to the pool in our neighborhood and in between swimming we played with all the new toys. Ethan got some swimming rings from his cousin Lydia. They were a huge hit. He spent the whole time in the pool throwing the rings and and diving after them!