Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday!

I love this crazy guy! He taught me many things, but the number one is... Never give up even when life is really really hard!!!

My dad grew up without the stability of a Mom and Dad. He never learned what it felt like to know your family will always be there for you. As a parent he always wanted us kids to feel loved and tried hard to be a better parent than he ever had.

He served a mission for our church in Brazil many years ago. I grew up learning that Brazil was a wonderful country full of loving people. Now I live here in Brazil with my own little family. I feel blessed to be here among the people who showed my Dad such love and acceptance.

Happy Birthday Dad! Because of you I know I can do hard things....

Jake turns 17

We celebrated Jakes birthday on New Years Eve with our great friends. After a yummy meal and lots of fireworks we sang Happy Birthday to him just after midnight. He and Danilo are planning a huge BBQ at our house to also celebrate so I will be posting about that soon!

Happy Birthday Jake!!! We don't always see eye to eye, but I think your AWESOME!!!!

WEEKENDS!!!

I am climbing on board with this whole staying up late on the weekends. We have great friends here who have become more like family to us this past 11 months. This is the gang at our house trying to decide what we want for dinner. It took awhile with this many. We ended up sending the men out to the bakery for sandwiches and ate at 10:30pm. Good thing I took a nap :)

The view from the 2nd floor.

NATAL 2011

We celebrated Christmas this year Brazilian style by opening presents after midnight Christmas Eve. It was great because after we went to bed there were no children waking me up every hour to see if it was time yet!!!

All Jake wanted this year were clothes and money!!!

He is constantly going out with friends and is finding out how expensive this is and not being able to earn any money has been hard! He had his first job at age 11 and loves having his own money!!!

Tyler loves all things soccer !!! His favorite team is Real Madrid.

He also loves all things xbox!!!

Kyle loves to read the Diary of a Whimpy Kid books. He has been waiting patiently for this new one. He finished it in 2 days!!!

Skateboarding is a new favorite thing as well. He has many scrapes and bruises, but refuses to stop!!!

Alison adores all things Justin Bieber!!! She is a little Bieber crazy!!!

She wanted a guitar so bad. I asked her how she was going to learn and if she wanted me to sign her up for lessons, but she says she will learn how to play from youtube!!! I laughed at this , but she has already learned a song! I will post a video later.

Tim spoiled me with lots of my favorite Bamboo kitchen stuff.

Tim wasn't so sure about staying up so late, but he was a good sport! Santa brought him new pants and shirts and his favorite gum Big Red!!! which is not available in Brazil.

Overall Christmas was a big success!!! We missed our family in the US and spent a lot of time on Skype. We also had four missionaries for the day so they could talk with their families. I've decided that I don't want to be away for another Christmas so I have one year to talk Tim into the idea. Wish me LUCK!!!

CHRISTMAS EVE

We spent Christmas Eve with our favorite Brazilian families. The party started at 8pm and dinner was at 10pm. We were the first to leave at 12:30am! Traditionally here in Brazil you stay up to welcome the birth of Christ at midnight. I heard the party lasted till 3am! Crazy people!!!

SUMMER TIME

I can't believe we survived an entire year of school here in Brazil. We had some ups and downs, but overall it went smoother than I expected! This is a picture of Kyle with his teacher. She loves to hug and kiss him which is normal here in Brazil. He is still trying to get use to this practice.

Here is the snack area where Kyle and his friends have a sandwich of bread with some kind of cheese spread and a piece of fruit everyday. They sit at those tables then have a few minutes to play hide and go seek tag!

Tyler had a super successful year of many friends!!! His grades struggled a bit, but the girls didn't seem to mind. I think at his age it is harder to feel comfortable with a new language. The last few months he has come a long way and I am so proud of him!!!

Jake has a group of really fun friends. This picture is on the last day of school when they tried to have a BBQ in the classroom. Jake supplied the George foreman which was promptly confiscated by the administrator. Jake has done so great with the language. I worried most about him because he will need to get into college in a couple of years, but he studied so much the first couple of months and now you would never know he is an American. He also has adapted to the environment here quickly. He loves everything about the Brazilian way!

Alison is still the most shy about speaking Portuguese, but i know she understands every word because she translates for me all the time. She has the most darling friends that spend lots of time in our home. She will continue in her extra help Portuguese class until she has more confidence in the language.

Tyler and the Ladies! Oh boy!

I am looking forward to relaxing for a couple of months with no homework or driving to the school six times a day!!!

THANKSGIVING 2011

On thanksgiving day the kids had school and Tim was at work so we had to celebrate our holiday on Sunday. It was a little sad for me since Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday. I have never actually cooked a turkey before, but I found one and paid a small fortune for it, but it turned out super!

Pedro gave Tim a quick lesson on the correct way to carve the turkey!

Tim's new boss at work is American so his Family came to our house along with other friends who have lived in the US for many years.

It was a fun time and everyone spoke perfect English which is a real treat for me these days!

It definitely wasn't a grandma Kathy dinner. No cranberry ice cubes and sparkling cider which Alison was very sad about, but we managed.

We miss our families back in the US, but I am grateful for all the good experiences we have had here. I am especially grateful for the easy transition this has been on the kids.

We have much to be Thankful for!!!

THE BEACH

We had a long weekend from school so we decided to take a trip to the beach.

It was Beautiful!

It actually rained most of the time, but it was warm so we didn't mind!

The water was great and the kids could play in the waves forever.

I get a little stressed out and keep counting heads, but I think the kids had a lot of fun!!!

A little cold at first!

Men come around pushing little carts selling corn. They cut it off the cobb and it's pretty cheap so everyone tried it.

Alison was nice to share with our friends.

I have also been wanting to try the coconut water everyone talks about.

I didn't think it was that great, but it was starting to get cold and the coconut was very cold so maybe I will have to try again.

Everyone ate Pastels also. They are very common in Brazil. It is basically fried dough (very thin) stuffed with all sorts of crazy meats and cheese.

One of the beaches you had to take your car on a ferry to get there so we spent lots of time in traffic.

Once you get parked on the boat you can get out and walk around for a few minutes, but the ride is very quick. This is Alison and Pamela on the ferry.

The boys on the boat ride. Danilo, Tyler, Jake and Kyle.

Tyler buried in the sand!

The GANG!!!

Good Times and Good Friends!

Friday

I usually love Fridays because it means i have a whole week before my next Portuguese class and Jake does not have early morning Seminary so we get to sleep a little longer. Last Friday I took the kids to school at 7am, picked up my maid at 7:30 and made it to the gym by 8am. I pick up Kyle, Alison, and Tyler at noon, but only Kyle comes home with me because many days the kids have other classes or activities after school. Jake gets out at 1pm and I usually just end up giving them money to eat lunch near the school. My kids love to stay in the city with their friends all day. This always makes me a little nervous. Last Friday was no exception. I got a call from Alison to pick her up at her friends house at 4pm instead of the school because there was a rumor that a man with a gun was causing problems. When I picked Tyler and Jake up from school Tyler was telling me how some man chased him from a store and he had to find a cop for help. Fortunately, there where many cops around because of the unknown gunman!

While I was paralleled parked to get Alison another car swiped my car and ripped off the side mirror. Gotta love Brazil! They didn't even stop!

Just another day in our new life!

I'll save the food poisoning and 4 hours I spent on my bathroom floor for another post!!! :)

CAMPINAS BRAZIL TEMPLE

Yesterday we spent the morning at the temple in Campinas. It took us about an hour to drive there from our house.

It was a beautiful day and the temple and the grounds surrounding it are just amazing.

It was Alison's first time to be able to do baptisms at the temple so I went with her and Tim went with the boys.

Kyle is still not old enough to go inside the temple, but he had a great time rolling down the hill with other children waiting for their parents.

The Temple is on a big hill just outside the city. Here is the view of the city of Campinas from the temple grounds.