Saturday is Running Day

I guess after watching Andy and I leave to go running enough times Lucy decided it was her turn to try. A little over a month ago Lucy asked if she could go running. Ever since then she goes running with either Andy or myself every Saturday morning. She runs a half mile and is actually pretty good. The first time I went with her I was so amazed that those little legs could keep going. I kept asking her if she wanted to stop and walk. Her response is always no. As soon as we leave the gate if I don't start running right away she wants to know why we aren't running yet. Halfway through the run we stop and stretch and then turn around and run back home. It is so cute and brings back memories of running with my dad when I was a little girl. I am sure people look at us out with our 4 year old daughter and think we are crazy parents pushing our kid into sports way too early in hopes that she will one day be really good. But let me assure you it is 100% her idea! It's really cute!

Happy 30th Birthday Andy!!

Well, Andy is an OLD man - a whopping 30 years old! I know for some it may not seem old but leaving your 20's feels really old! And I am glad he can no longer claim that he is in his 20's and I am in my 30's! Although Andy's birthday isn't until tomorrow we have already had fun celebrating it. The kids surprised him with some balloons last Saturday morning. Inside was a message explaining the birthday surprise we had for him. I had arranged for him to go in a glider airplane. I had thought about this for a REALLY long time but was a bit hesitant because I didn't want to leave Brazil as a widow! Given the luck we have had here I felt like that might just happen. However, after checking into everything I felt fine about it and am happy to say I still have a husband! (I did have him give me all the info on I'd need to access our Brazilian bank account and life insurance policy!!) Anyway, Andy had a great time flying and I was happy to finally surprise him. I'm just impressed I kept it a secret from him. I'm not good with surprises and wanted to tell him so bad!

As you can see, Lucas was very excited about the whole thing!!!

Yes, this is a dirt runway!! One of the reasons I felt the whole thing might be a bit sketchy!!

This weekend we also had fun doing a Churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) at our house. We had 3 families over and had lots of fun and REALLY GOOD food! You can't beat a Churrasco!

Notice all the smoke coming off the cake - definitely a sign of being old!!!
Not that I am proud of this picture but here is me doing what I do best - cleaning up after the party!! This is one kind of cleaning I love to do!!!

For my Dad

I always think of my dad when I see a cow. I have memories of my dad telling me if he could be any animal it'd be a cow and then he'd make a great mooing sound!! Does anyone else in my family have memories of this or am I delusional? Anyway, these pictures were taken especially for my dad! (Don't you think they are pretty bony cows though? I've decided it's Brazilian because all the cows I see here are extremely bony!!)

A Trip to Brotas

We had a really fun weekend. Andy had Friday off of work so we decided to go to a town called Brotas. It's a place people go to do river rafting, rock climbing, hiking to waterfalls etc. We had so much fun we plan to go again. We of course couldn't do the extreme sports but enjoyed hiking to waterfalls and visiting other places. Our first stop was to a place called "Singing Sand" It was a natural spring with white sand. When you rub the sand it sounds like it is singing. It was really fun. Then we hiked for about a half mile to the picture below. It was here that the kids had a blast playing in the water and Andy had fun trying out a natural rock slide and jumping into a waterfall rapid. The town has tons of different waterfalls you can hike to. It's a really beautiful place with things to do for all ages.

This is me and Lucy in the natural spring with the "singing sand". It was really cool!


After lunch we went hiked to a waterfall and enjoyed standing under it.


Lucas was quite a trooper and enjoyed his first -but not last - hike! He was the only one who didn't get to enjoy going in the waterfall!!

Lucy and Andy hiking to the waterfall
What a DAD!!! He's carrying one baby on his tummy and one on his shoulders - keep in mind it was VERY HOT!! I'm sure people were wondering why I wasn't helping but Andy already had Lucas and Ethan HAD to be with Andy!! Our kids did a great job - at one of the stops they walked about a mile. It was a lot of walking for those little legs!

Lucy Speaking Portuguese

For a long time we have felt like Lucy has understood a little bit of Portuguese. And, other than "oi", "tudo bem", and "chao" she really hasn't been speaking Portuguese. However, we have suddenly realized that she understands more than we thought and is now starting to speak it. The other day I was speaking to our neighbor - all in portuguese of course. She told me how she had to go to the doctor (medico) because her daughter wasn't feeling well. After the neighbor went back into her home Lucy turned to me and said, "that's too bad they have to go to the doctor." She understood that the baby was sick and knew where they were heading. This has happened many times. She listens closely to conversations Andy or I will have with other people -in person or on the phone and then she always asks questions about those conversations indicating she knew exactly what we were saying. Then this weekend she asked Andy if they could play in Portuguese. So, she and Andy began conversing back and forth in Portuguese while they played. Lucy threw out a few terms that I am still not sure how she knew! And today she did the same with me. We were playing house and she was speaking in Portuguese and I was talking in English. She finally looked at me and said, "No mom! We are speaking only in Portuguese!" It is very cute. I know she will forget it all very soon but it is cute to watch.

Ethan's Friend

I try not to leave Lucas and Ethan in the same room alone if Lucas is on the floor. I don't trust what Ethan will do to Lucas. Ethan has a way of appearing to be so innocent and yet when he thinks nobody is looking he can be pretty rough. Anyway, I thought this was funny. One day Ethan began playing on Lucas' back. He would line up all of his toys and watch them fall off when Lucas would move. It was really funny and apparently Lucas was loving it too!

Nap Time

A couple of days ago Ethan went to his room for nap time. A couple of hours later I opened the door just to check on him and he was GONE!!! It made NO sense. I had been in the family room and then upstairs on the computer which is right next to his room. I felt a little panicked. I glanced at the window to see if it looked like someone had climbed in and taken him. Although it would be nearly impossible in this neighborhood that was my only thought - someone has taken him. There was NO other explanation. His room is tiny and he was clearly gone. I ran out to Lucy and asked her if she knew where Ethan was. She looked at me like I was crazy. I went back into his room - called his name and no response. I looked in his closet and finally the only other possible place - under the bed. Sure enough there was Ethan sound asleep on the HARD tile floor. When I asked him why he was sleeping under there he said, "my bed was too full" Sure enough, he had lined up lots of toys on the bed and I guess didn't want to move them!! It was really funny!

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!