Preschool

We started a little preschool group with a few moms in our ward.

It has been so much fun. 

Lucas really looks forward to it. 

We meet once a week and the main theme is always based on

a children's book.

 

I chose The Very Hungry Caterpillar on this particular week.

These kiddos are a lot of fun!

 

Penny, Lucas, Mia, Olivia

oh the joys of life...

Jimmy has been traveling a lot for work and it seems like whenever he is gone something goes wrong.  There was the time the power went out and blew out our refrigerator.  My keys got stuck in the door and the gate and it was getting dark and I thought for sure someone was going to come and rob us. 

Recently while he was gone on a trip I had QUITE the day.  Our car had FINALLY arrived.  We were without it for 7 months.  It was sitting at the embassy waiting for plates and whoever parked it left the windows down and the back door partially opened.  It rained for a couple of weeks on our poor car with open windows.  When we finally got to it it was so damaged. There was mold growing on the seats and everywhere else.  The smell inside was unbearable.  The battery was dead because of the open door.  Anyway, the battery was replaced and I kind of told Jimmy he could just take care of it and really I didn't want to see it until it was cleaned up and usable. 

Back to the traveling. Jimmy left on one of his trips and I got a call saying they were ready to go get the plates on our car and they needed me to be at the Embassy at 9 a.m. the next morning.  Okay, fine.  I will deal with the car.  Lucas had preschool so I was just going to be taking Jonas with me.  I could handle that.  The next morning came along and my friend Heather came to pick Lucas up for school.  She asked what I was doing and I told her I was going to get plates for our car.  She volunteered to take Jonas and I was SO thankful.  They headed to preschool and I went to get in the rental car to head over to the embassy.  I went to start it and it wouldn't start.  The stinkin' car was dead.  I was already stressed about the whole thing with our car and this kind of threw me over for the moment. After some brief tears I called a taxi and rescheduled my time to an hour later. I arrived and the man that was taking us took us to our cars.  Our car was seriously SO BAD!  I didn't know if I could drive in without throwing up.  I was also nervous about driving because well, I hadn't driven anywhere really and driving in unfamiliar places FREAKS me out.  Weird, I know.  I asked the guy to drive my car for me and although it is against the rules he did and I was so thankful. 

We got to the place where you get the plates and waited roughly 3 hours.  When it was finally time to get them, they had the wrong plates.  The guy from the embassy decided that we would just go back to the embassy and that he would pass by later to pick up the plates and put them on at the embassy.  So, we headed back to the embassy.  By this time it was almost 2 and I was STARVING.  I called Heather to tell her I was on my way to get a taxi and that I would be there soon.  She told me to take my time and that she would take Lucas to swimming and then bring the boys home afterwards. Have I mentioned that she is an angel?  Seriously.  So I went and ate something and caught a ride home with my friend Khanyi. 

Heather brought the boys home and offered to help me jump start the rental car.  I have never done it myself so I went to our neighbors house and he came over to help us.  We rolled down our driveway and got to work.  The gate to our driveway was up while we were doing all of this and suddenly one side of it fell and smoke started coming out of it.   I called the owner and he told me to call the number that was on the sticker that was on the gate. Okay.  So I called and they told me to turn off all of the power and someone would be by in about an hour.  Okay.

So I sat on our front porch guarding our house for about 30 minutes when the Embassy security guys came by.  They do this daily, several times a day.  They asked what happened and I explained and they left.  They then came back and said they wanted to wait with me.  They waited outside the gate until the repair person came. It was about 2 hours.  I was so thankful.  It was getting dark and there is a reason we have these crazy gates with electrical wire across the top.  The repair guy came and told me that the panel had to be replaced. He let me pull the rental car in and then we closed it for the night.  The next morning some guys came and replaced the panel.  They told me that the panel was so old that anyone with a remote like the one I had could open our gate.  That's comforting.  So anyway.  It's fixed and working and good now.  I went to bed very tired that night and was in and out of tears all day long.  As I am writing this I am thinking, that wasn't so bad.  But when it was happening it was overwhellming and stressful.  It made me so thankful that I can speak the language here.  I can't imagine trying to do everything I had to do without the language. 

Anyway, just another adventure in my life overseas. 

P.S. The car is okay now.  The mold is gone and it doesn't stink.  I'm so glad.

Lucas Swimming Lessons

We decided to put Lucas in swimming lessons while we are in Brazil.

Our house has a pool and sometimes this little boy is too brave for his own good,

which means Mommy gets to jump in the pool in her clothes to save him...a few times.

 

He has been taking lessons for about a month now and he is so good at it. 

He really is so good.  I am always so impressed when I watch him put his little head

under the water and swim by himself. 

 

He makes me so proud. 

 

Miss Camila has lessons rain or shine and on this particular day it was POURING.

They kept on swimming and occassionally hid under the little trampoline.

Lucas wasn't too sure about it at first, but once he kept going he loved it.  

Lucas James, 4 years old

I sure do love this little boy. 

A few days before his birthday I asked him if he wanted to hear the story of when he

was born.  After he heard it, he asked me to retell it probably 10 times.

This little boy is a sweetheart. He is so genuine and wears his heart on his sleeve.

You ALWAYS know how Lucas is feeling.  His emotions are VERY visible.

If he is happy he is jumping up and down and dancing.  He is giggling and smiling. If he is mad, he will growl and yell and sometimes hit.  He keeps me on my toes. 

 

Just a few things we love about Lucas at 4 years old:

 

I love that he is so cheesy when it comes to taking pictures.

I love that he has his own style, and currently that means he wears a tie with all

of his t-shirts. 

I love his belly laugh.  It is so infectious and you can't help but smile

when you hear it.

I love his hugs and kisses.  I love that he has to give you a bazillion before

you leave to go anywhere.

I love his conscience.  When he does get mad and do naughty things it may take

a while for him to calm down and it is nerve wracking, but when he does calm down he

is sincere and will say sorry and give hugs and kisses.  The other day we had a rough one and

I was mad at him (shame on me) but he started crying and said, "Mommy, please stop being

mad at me." Made my heart hurt that the thing he was worried about most was me

being mad at him.  I quickly changed my mood.

I love his imagination.  He is so good at playing.

I love the different voices he uses when he is playing. 

I love his little dimpled smile and his LONG eyelashes.

I love how he can't resist dancing when he hears a song that he likes. It's like

he can't stop himself and he goes for it. 

I love his snuggles and how right before he falls asleep, he almost always rolls

over and tells me he loves me.

I love how excited he gets to play with his siblings.

I love that he is candid and will say what he feels or thinks.

I love his determination.

I love it when he wakes up from a nap and comes out to find me all sleepy eyed and sweet.

I love that when he is mad or sad or hurt he just wants me to hold him.  Today he told me that he didn't want to go to time out when he does naughty things.  We talked for a few minutes and I asked him what he would like me to do when he makes a bad choice or is feeling mad.  He said,

"Just hold me." 

I love his courage.  He is in swimming lessons and he just goes for it and tries so hard

to do a good job. 

I love his sweet little voice.  He really has the cutest voice. 

 

 

We feel so blessed to have this little guy in our family.  He is such a joy and a blessing.

We love you Lucas!  Happy Birthday!

Lucas turns 4!

Lucas has been so excited about his fourth birthday.

He probably asked me at least once a day for a month if it was his birthday yet.

One day he cried for two hours because he was convinced it was his birthday, but it wasn't.

Jimmy was traveling on his actual birthday so I had to pretend that it wasn't.

Which, was so HARD!  I felt guilty all day long.

 

Jimmy got home late from his travels and we decided to celebrate the big 4 year olds birthday

the next day.  He woke up to decorations and presents. 

 

We also decorated his door.  

Lucas was so excited that his big day had FINALLY arrived! 

He got spoiled.  This year he got Rescue Bots, Cars, soccer goals, games, clothes, and puzzles.   

He requested birthday waffles and bacon.  

The cake he requested was chocolate cake with

vanilla frosting and strawberries on top.  

It was a wonderful day, celebrating how much we love this little guy. 

More on that to come next....

Carnival Weekend

We ventured out during Carnival to find some family friendly activities.

Our children begged and begged us to take them to McDonalds, blah.

We gave in.  They were happy. 

Madeline showing off the fancy shoes Daddy brought back from Colombia. 

 

Jimmy also brought back a Fedora. 

Everyone had to try it on.  

We decided to go to Pier 21 because they were supposed to have

some great stuff for kids.  It was a little disappointing.

The venue was too small for the crowd, which resulted in ridiculous lines

to do anything.  We decided to skip all of that and went down and ate ice cream by the water.

Afterwards we headed home to celebrate Lucas' birthday. 

Lucas made me stop and take this picture of him.

He has become quite the little cheeser in pictures.  

Carnival EAB Style

Carnival is a BIG holiday here in Brazil.  It is celebrated before Lent and Easter.

It consists of parties, parades, dancing and all sorts of craziness.

You can see anything from beautiful costumes and floats to naked dancers in the street.

Ha, we chose to skip on the naked dancers in the streets and played it safe by celebrating a

little bit at Madeline's school. 

 

Madeline was soooo excited about Carnival.  For days before the actual event at her school we would lie in bed at night and she would tell me how hard it was to fall asleep because she was so excited about her first Carnival.  She also told me that because she was so excited she just knew she was going to dream about it. She got to wear a costume to school, she pulled the whole thing together by herself.   She even made a mask to go with the ensemble.

 

The gym was decorated colorfully and the children did a class parade to some selection of Brazilian music.  Madeline's class had Samba. 

 

Jonas was pretty pleased about the confetti on the ground.  

 

There was confetti EVERYWHERE! 

Lucas couldn't resist and pulled out some of his break dancing moves. 

Before long his little friend Mia joined right in.  

Livia, Katherine, Madeline, Anna

 

She was so excited that she could leave early and ride home with me.   

Valentine's Day 2014

I have said this before, but I

LOVE

holidays.  I love making a big deal about them and

I love how excited my children (especially Madeline) get about all of it.

 

This year has been a little different and things have just been on a very small scale in comparison to what I would normally do.  This probably makes my husband happy.  ha ha. 

 

Anyway, this year for Valentine's Day I wasn't going to really do anything. 

Jimmy was traveling and I felt exhausted.  However, my little Madeline had such high

expectations and was so excited about it and I couldn't let her down.

 

I looked around the house and found a few things and stayed up late putting it all together for them.

I think they were pretty pleased about it. 
We had some friends over later that night for a fun movie and pizza night. 

It ended up being a whole lot of fun!

 

 

To celebrate Madeline got to wear red, pink, and white to school.