because i turned 26

yesterday i turned 26. it was a wonderful day and when i finally went to sleep i was charged up on that this is what life is all about feeling. like most mornings, george woke up full of giggles.  we threw him into bed with us where he took his happiness out on our sleeping bodys with well aimed face slaps and baby body slams. daniel tapped out after a few minutes and went downstairs to make birthday omelettes. of course the other boys wanted toast and george preferred what had fallen on the floor. 

what came next was yard work wars. us vs yard. whats great about yard work is that its a team sport. one at the rake, other on wheelbarrel duty, and your little offspring mimicking your every move.  you put leaves in to the wheelbarrow, they take them out.  you put your rake down, they drag it away. children want to do things. often it ends up being in the wrong dirrection but doing makes them happy. it makes me happy to see them do. just when i needed a cheerleader henry told me next year he would turn FIVE and would be big enough to marry me. daniel told him to find his own girl. a devastated henry then walked over to me and said, "but mama, i want to marry you!" 

after 7 hours of battle we put up the white flag and stumbled back to the house tattered and beaten for a late lunch of homemade pizzas of cheese and fresh tomatoes. my mom sent me a text asking why hadn't called her to thank her for giving birth to me. i always forget! 

for dinner we had sushi because that is my all time favorite food in the whole world. we took all three princes and got a table on the floor. the boys loved it and tried everything including octopus, mushrooms and raw sushi. they used their little chopsticks and kept commenting on how delicious everything was. really?! i'll take it! 

happy birthday to me! 

lets do this 26!

xo

dance pictures.

man! it is so hard to get a good dancing photo while actually dancing!. during rehearsal this week we watched the video from the competition and during the whole piece you could hear my three babies yelling from the audience. all day ballet competitions are not for the faint of heart!

if you look closely you will see that my eyes are closed while turning! #impressed!

before i go on stage i always take time to pray,  some of my most spriritual moments have happened before performing. usually, performers do their individual rituals before entering and it is a time of focus and quietness for everyone. i remember at juilliard i would pray out loud, hidden backstage in a nook and find so much peace, strength and love. i will never forget those nights. being onstage is really special for me, i feel really close to my heavenly father. this performance was also special, it had a little different vibe since it was a competition but before we entered the stage we said a prayer together with the women from my piece. i told them i would say it, and it was really neat to stand hand in hand with these ladies and thank heavenly father for all that we had been blessed with and ask for his help and his spirit to be with us. the spirit was strong in our makeshift circle. as i looked up there were not only tears in my eyes but in their eyes as well. just another reminder to me that god really cares and love each and every one of his children.

did i mention we won?

xo

brazilian mountains.

a weekend worth remembering! my little herd made a three hour trek saturday to campos do jordâo for a ballet competition. they are such devoted fans;) as it was a descent distance, we decided to put air bnb to work and make a weekend out of it, so glad we did!

the city is nestled at the  top of brazil´s version of the adirondacks and conveniently located near são paulo capital. the weather is notoriously 25 degrees cooler than the valley, which in a tropical place like brazil, makes for a unique desintation.  people drive hours for an excuse to dawn their sweaters, fleeces and hunter boots, bundled to their chins in winter gear while sipping thick hot chocolate and nibbling on boiled pine seeds and candied popcorn. the streets are windy, steep and narrow, weaving through the countour of the mountain valley dominated by half-hip german rooftops and gorgeous brazilan pines, giving it an almost european air. my internal tourist trap meter never hit mach levels and the city felt lived in and needed, supported by more than tourist dollars which was refreshing. it was different and beautiful. i love seeing and expereincing new places like this, and i love that my family was right there with me. i will post more of the dancing later, but for now i will just do the fun stuff! air bnb is neat beacause you feel like their visitor/guest, like you are getting a glimpse of how these people really live, see, feel and eat. it is really quite intimate and inspiring. i loved it!

this was our morning view. i didnt hate it! we shared the house with victoria and alex and we all froze our buns off during the night in the heatless home.  luckily, we couldnt get the fire started which made things even colder! wet wood seems to be the scape-goat the men were using.

see this gray pup by our feet? well he lived at the house too, and we kinda fell in love with him. henry named him cookie and we almost brought him home... almost.

xo

henry is four...

my baby turned four yesterday! now that is a milestone for all of us! can you believe i have been a mama for that long? i really have grown so much these past few years along side my baby henry, we have grown so much together. my heart has been full all week. i am so proud of the human he is becoming, he is the perfect oldest sibling to our little fleet.

 we went for a walk yesterday morning and he held george, goerge and henry giggled and played the first ten minutes and then i looked down and saw this sweet view. 

thanks for being ours, sweet henry! we love you so much! 

 xo

the egg

we have had our mini chickens/noisy rooster for about a week and a half now. we still don´t really have a coop for them so they are laying eggs, well we actually don´t know where they are laying eggs. ha! a few days back i went in to change the goats water and found a beautiful pastel egg nestled by the tree trunk. i wanted charles to find it, so i said, "ok, charlie, lets go look for eggs! lets see, lets go look over here by this tree..." "mama! dare it is! egg mama! egg!" he was super excited. he wanted to take a million pictures with the egg, and was so protective and careful. it was the cutest.

you can imagine the heartache when this happened. oh well, our chickens are laying a solid one a week, so we will be fine, charlie!

xo