our view.

the best part about our apartment is definitely the view. these are a few shots from over the weeks- spectacular, right?

right now i am working on a talk that i have to give in church tomorrow...in portuguese. ha! it's taking me 12 minutes to read a 3 minute talk. it is terrible. i'm terrible. and there will be no way in hay bells that i will look up at any point to look into the congregation-can't risk losing my spot, disaster. sorry in advance people of my ward.

happy weekend.

we're takin root

you know that quote "bloom where you are planted"? i think about it all the time. all the time since moving to brazil. in about every prayer i ask to know my purpose in brazil, and i guess i was just waiting for something spectacular to hit me in the face and say, heeellloooo this is why you're here! they want you to be the first woman, american, president of brazil! well maybe not that exactly, but something.

then tonight i was asked to teach the youth of our ward dance. and so i did. and boy did they dance. it was amazing to see them soak everything up and interpret my terrible portuguese and move, laugh, and not be afraid of what anyone else was thinking. it was really quite inspiring. and then they all wanted me to dance for them at the end and it somehow turned into an awesome improv session.

ah, man, i love to dance.

then the boys and i came home and as i was nursing charles, henry started improving and moving his cute little 2 year old body all over the living room. he was turning and rolling and stretching and saying "hode on mama, i dancing"! i put my tiny, sleeping charles in his crib and my heart ached a little bit to think that this was one less day with my baby boys. their growing like weeds over here! and as i was mopping up smooshed oatmeal off the ground tonight it all of the sudden became clear. why i am here i mean.  my purpose is small but oh so spectacular. supporting my sweet husband as he works day and night to provide for our family, raising my boys to love god, and trust in jesus christ, and then sharing and receiving love from everyone we meet. and that certainly includes dancing crazy in the church gym to irma at a wednesday night mutual activity. it's to learn from everyone we meet and to love and support each other as a family.

so, there you have it. our porch garden is not the only thing that is bloomin over here;).

over and out.

homemade gifters

 on saturday we had a birthday party to go to for our friend aurtur. the big 5! 

something you should know about us is that we never buy toys for our kids, and rarely buy gifts for each other (even on birthdays, christmas... is hit or miss). but we do make stuff for each other. daniel is always drawing me funny pictures with very cute love notes that follow. and of course i paint something or write him love letters as well. we like it like this. but what to do for kids parties?! anyways, i was debating if i should go buy him a superman toy or something but i couldn't get myself to do the deed. instead henry and i stenciled, painted, cut and hung (it was quite the process ;)) this little ctr banner. it was a party.

notice the underwear (!!!!!). henry is now officially going pee pee in the toilet. now, how do we do poo poo? help!

 henry made this in the meantime.^^^

 and then charles woke up and started eating the paint. that's normal. ^^^

 

 notice the underwear change;). then he starts singing "i'n goin to church, goin to church!"

 the party was so fun and so well planned. i could never even attempt at something like that^^^

 these are the two pictures i took at the party, daniel wasn't there and the big camera is like another child, sooo....^^^

and that's our view.

good night.

iLove

so last week was quiet something. i got the biggest stye (in my eye) on planet earth. i mean couldn't leave the house for a week, or open my eye, and throw away all my eye makeup afterwards bad. and it hurt muito. MUITO.

ok i did go one place during my stye stay and that was to our church's "festa julino" bash. wow. i threw on some shades and we all went. i have said it once before and i will say it again, brazilians really know how to throw a party. huge blow up play things for the kids, tons of bbq meat, sandwiches, homemade cotton candy, every dessert you can think of, drinks, decor, music, people, fun, and wow, a lot of the last one. really fun.

we have ourselves a fun little garden brewing on out deck nowadays. it is getting very romantic and green and practical all at the same time. today i kept going out to our garden to pick things for dinner, i felt so capable. it was wonderful. i keep telling daniel that i want our whole house to feel like a secret garden, to feel alive. and i think he is 90% on board. as i was cleaning up tonight he was looking up the best plants to grow at home. ginger, avocado tree and rosemary are up next for our garden. i'm so excited.

we have strawberries and whipped cream for all our deserts lately. daniel was noticing today that the strawberries here are different than the ones in the states, they are just them, ya know? no added hormones and who knows what they put into those giant california berries you see at the store. these are small, red, and have character strawberries. i like them.

charles and henry are growing like weeds over here and are becoming closer and closer everyday. tonight while we were eating leftover spaghetti on the floor for dinner (while daniel was home-teaching), they were crawling around, giggling their little heads off. it makes me so happy seeing them together.

we are really doing great over here.

xxx

team us.

^^^henry and i doing ear infection research for little brother.^^

isnt God so kind to give us families? we take care of each other.