Mid-Month Update

Can you believe it's mid-March already? Weird.

Orchid Update

Well, you'll all be happy to know that my orchid is alive and well. Check out all of these blossoms:

It has now officially been in my care for one month and two days. Hard to believe it's even alive, let alone gorgeous! For my flower friend BG, here's how you care for them: the more you ignore them the better. While they are blooming, water once every 5 days (pick up the pot to tell if they need water instead of feeling around the top of the dirt-if it's light, it's time to water). When they are not in bloom water approx. once a week. DO NOT place in the kitchen next to ripening fruit. DO place in a spot where they will get a couple of hours of direct sunlight. Spray flowers and leaves with water occasionally. It is better to under water than to over water.

Race Update

Fortunately (and unfortunately), my nine month bout with plantars fasciitis is coming to an end (knocking on wood right now). After buying almost every product on the market to treat it-massaging foot balls, calf exercisers, orthotic inserts, a hard boot to sleep in, I came across my new best friend (I feel like I should name him):

It's called a "Strassburg Sock". I don't know who Strassburg is or how he or she came up with this nifty little item, but I can walk again! I can run again! I have practically no pain. (if you ever suffer from plantars-don't waste your time on anything else, just order one of these babies).

That's the good news.

The bad news, that comes as a result of the good news, is that now I really have no excuse for bowing out of my portion of our relay race. No one else is dying to do it and so I have come to the realization that IT IS MINE. I am owning the 24.7 miles I will have to run in less than a 24 hour period.Oh, but wait-they've changed the route once again and increased my mileage up to 25.2; I know that's only a 1/2 a mile but it's on the last leg, taking it up to almost 10 miles. Not good.

This is a serious time drain for me right now because a) I'm trying to work out twice a day a few days days a week now so my body gets used to it and b) I can't sleep at night because I'm so stressed about it.

I will do it.

A Swimmer is Born

After what she thought was a horrible try-out, which included crashing repeatedly into a supposedly uber popular boy in her grade and being less than confident in her butterfly stroke, Margarita made the summer swim team. The girl is willing to be in the pool every morning of her summer at 6 am. I personally would NEVER opt to do a sport that would require me to be up at that awful hour-but more power to her.

I Saw The Jimmer

(This portion of my update is dedicated to my old roommates, Lynne and Steph-the two most loyal BYU fans I'll ever meet. I felt guilty being at those games being such a fair weather fan-they should have been there. Shhhhhh- I hadn't even heard of Jimmer until I read about him on one of their blogs recently (gasp! I know). What a lame Cougar I am.)


One of the perks of living near family is that my dad's bank has a suite at the Pepsi Center and they will often give him tickets and he often gives them to us. Four of us were able to go to the BYU game Thursday and Margarita and I went last night. We sat in the suite surrounded by Gonzaga fans and people making fun of BYU and Mormons, so it was pretty cool to win so decisively. (I guess you could say "they got Jimmered"-did I do that correctly?)

And "The Jimmer" is pretty awesome.

And now I must focus my attention on keeping my kids happy during their 10 day spring break (ummmm, I don't remember spring break being 10 days long) despite the fact that we aren't going anywhere.

Ideas anyone?

It's that time of year again

The two month span of time when 5/6ths of us get a year older.

My baby is now 4. My oldest is now a teenager (gulp!). How can that be?

Here's Pedro at preschool on his birthday wearing the birthday crown.

His day started off on the wrong foot-Julio had decided that since Pedro likes his mini-basketball hoop that's on his door in his room, he would upgrade his own using an Amazon gift card he got for his birthday in October, and then wrap up his old one for Pedro's birthday. He was so excited to see the look on Pedro's face when he realized he was going to have his very own hoop. I can't remember exactly what Pedro said when he opened the "used" present, but it was something along the lines of, "Why the heck are you giving me your old junk on my birthday!?!"

When it was bedtime that night and Margarita was NOT going to bed, he complained bitterly, "but, I'm four now!"

He has also started pointing out when I have bad breath.

The kid continues to be a charmer.

We had his birthday party a few days later at the place where he does his tumbling class. After 3 years in Brazil where parties cost a small fortune, it was nice to have a relatively inexpensive party for Pedro and 11 of his closest friends.

Margarita's party was even easier for me; two of her sweet friends planned a surprise party for her at their house-so I didn't have to do anything. Around 15 girls were invited and NO ONE spilled the beans-amazing.

This sight at her party cracked me up:

Margarita hitting the pinata-little did her friends know about the years of pinata training she'd had in Mexico. The dinosaur didn't stand a chance.

We were so relieved to find Margarita her normal, sweet self despite the fact that she's a "teen" now. She's always gracious, rarely back-talks, and never tells me I have bad breath.

Where does the time go?

Random Holiday Post

Holiday shopping

As of today at 4:00 pm I.am.officially.done. Everything is wrapped. Everything is shipped. I will buy nothing else.

Except, what do people generally give to the mail carrier? Money? If so, how much?

Margarita Redeemed

We had a busy week of holiday parties, concerts, and recitals. And we're not done yet. At Margarita's choir concert Tuesday night this was a sight that made me happy:

The lost and found table. Apparently Margarita's not the only middle-schooler who temporarily can't find things (they are never lost; even if we haven't seen them for months).

The Problem with Mormons

I thought it'd be fun have a casual "little" get together Sunday evening with a three other families from our church. You know- hot chocolate, snacks, some relaxed conversation.

I just added up how many kids will be here.

EIGHTEEN.

Any ideas for high-yield snacks?

Holiday Cheer

After contemplating for months about how my children would no longer have holiday celebrations being in US public schools, I have been happily surprised. Sure, Julio had "Secret Snow People" instead of "Secret Santas" in his class, but Margarita's choir concert had a couple of songs about Jesus' birth(I thought that was a huge no-no), the teachers wished us "Merry Christmas", and Pedro's class even had a special visitor today:

I know, what a crappy photo. It was bad lighting for my poor little iPhone, but I also discovered later that the lens was totally gooped up (how in the world did that happen? Pedro, I'm sure.)

Look at this one:

Santa asked the kids to be quite while he read them a story so Pedro sat like this for the next few minutes. What a little monkey.

2 Minutes of Fame

Julio's basketball team got to play for 5 minutes at the halftime of the CU game tonight. There are 10 players so they each got about 2 1/2 minutes. Julio said it felt like 23 seconds. He attempted one shot and got a rebound. His little buddy who hasn't made a basket all season (tomorrow's the last game), scored.

See? I cleaned my lens. Much better.

Hey, What About Juan Carlos?

I just realized I've talked about every kid but Juan Carlos; as I mentioned before, this week has been crazy. So on Wednesday morning as I'm walking the boys to school I realize his clothes look a little too familiar. We had gotten home from the choir concert late and they kids scurried to bed-some of them not even bothering to change into jammies. He got up and wore the same (visibly dirty) clothes the next day. Lovely.

Oh well, at least he was at school.

So, that's what we're up to. My kids finished school today. I'm not sure if things will be more hectic because they are around, or less hectic because we don't have all of their activities we have to be at. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Happy Holidays!

Trip to Sao Paulo

So, I'm doing something I never do and covering past events. A few weeks ago I traveled to Sao Paulo with Margarita and Julio for their regional Destination Imagination competition. Ballerina Girl and I traveled on the bus with the kids. It took 8 hours each way. Thank goodness for Dramamine- while BG used her time wisely and read three books during the combined 16 hours, I took a really, really long nap.

The cool thing about the trip was that I got to go and be supportive of my kids, but I wasn't in charge of them. Their team managers were. I didn't have to do anything-just say hi, give hugs when I saw them, and cheer a little here and there; I didn't have to wake them up, make sure they were in bed, make sure they were ready in the morning, make sure they were on the bus. It was someone else's responsibility.

It was absolutely delightful.

During our down time, which was quite frequent, BG and I were socially introverted, preferring to find a couch to curl up on and read our books (or Kindles, or iPhones) instead of chitchatting with the other temporarily irresponsible parents.

We did take a little time to be social and met with our fellow blogger Fabiola who lives in Sao Paulo. We had a delightful breakfast together in the hotel. She is just as cool in person as she is on her blog:

I realize that none of us are actually looking at the camera. Had I used the "good" one of me, BG never would have forgiven me. (that's the kind of sacrificing friend I am. :) )

My kids did great-they both won their challenges for their age divisions.

Here's Julio and his group performing their skit about a teacher who had a change of heart towards his students.

Julio even got to show off his Beethoven's 5th symphony (I swear I hear that song in my dreams). (and nightmares).

Margarita's group only had her and two other boys; there team name was the "DIlanders". It was supposed to be the "DIslanders", but the boy who made the sign spelled it wrong. Oh well, they still won.

Their group had to make a structure out of only newspaper and glue and then during their skit (about the earthquake in Haiti) they had to see how much weight it could hold. Below is Margarita adding the weights which was actually really exciting:

Here's the Rio group in front of a famous bridge in Sao Paulo (sorry, can't remember the name).

And, finally, here's Julio jumping on a trampoline at the big final DI party the night before we left:

It was a really fun trip!

Trapped in My Apartment with Three Hyper Boys and One Novice Trumpet Player

We had our first school cancellation due to weather in nearly 3 years today. It started raining buckets late yesterday afternoon and is still raining. School has already been canceled for tomorrow.

Sadly, this incident has coincided with Margarita's first opportunity to bring home a trumpet from school. (the perfect storm, if you will) She is to master playing "Hot Cross Buns"; after today, I'm very confident she will achieve her goal. As if things weren't acoustically trying enough around here with her latest piano piece, "The Entertainer" and Julio's 5th Symphony by Beethoven.

Of course, Guapo was able to make it to work (even though he has the flu), he's like a postman-"neither rain nor sleet" or however that little saying goes; it was just him and one other guy who lives a block away. He called me on the way to the office, "I'm the ONLY car on the road, can you believe that?" Yes. Actually, I can. He had to do some fancy maneuvering (driving on sidewalks, on the wrong side of the road, crossing over dividers, and passing through small rivers) to make it to his office.

I don't blame him for the Herculean effort, being stuck in the house with the boys and the trumpet is enough to do most people in.

So, are you wondering how our house is holding up after all of that work (read: overpriced paint job) we had done in November?

Not so well.

Let's have a little look-see, shall we?

Here's part of the family room:

Another part of the family room:

Margarita's bedroom, this is dripping right down on her bed:

This is right above our TV and DVD player in my and Guapo's room (notice the washcloth on top of the DVD player):

And this is a new one, right above my side of the bed (ugggh!), bringing the percentage of bedrooms with water leaking directly onto the beds to 75%:

But poor Julio has it the worst.

He came into our room in the middle of the night to tell us it was raining on him. We told him to push his bed out of the way and go back to sleep (poor kid, we were still recovering from our sleepless Saturday night). He wasn't kidding; here's just a little part of his ceiling that is leaking:

and the remedy:

I actually had to add more containers as these weren't doing the trick, but I am too tired and lazy to take a new picture. (and just to clear Julio's cool name, he doesn't play with that little ride on car with the blocks; that belongs to Pedro. I have to store toys where I've got the space.)

Here's how much water they collected after only a few hours:

Finally, here's a picture of the lake this morning, you can see the huge amount of runoff water:

But even with the leaks, the restless kids, and the trumpet, I am very grateful to be safe, (relatively) dry, and with electricity and water and Internet service (knocking on wood). This is a storm that has caused landslides, serious flooding, and many deaths, and it just continues to rain...

My Kids-September 2009

Here's a very grandparent-friendly post-a little synopsis of what my kids are up to right now. (read: you may be wise to have a little shot of caffeine before you read on).

Margarita (11 1/2 years old)

She is adjusting to life in middle school- lots of things to remember, assignments to turn in, etc.

She's getting great grades- we're almost at the end of the first quarter and she's got all A's.

She's learning her FOURTH language- French.

She still loves animals, especially cats.

She still fills my water bottle every night.

She is taking piano lessons.

She is on the middle school basketball team. I'm so proud of her, she is one of only four 6th graders that play with a bunch of much bigger girls (practically women, I tell you) who have played together for years and she never gets discouraged.

She is doing Destination Imagination again this year, despite the fact that her best friend isn't doing it with her.

She gets Pedro ready for bed almost every night.

She doesn't care if her clothes match at all, she has taken a dislike to normal white socks, and she avoids brushing her hair at all costs. It's (mostly) fine with me (except for the hair part), the longer the boys don't notice her the better. We lovingly refer to her as "Punky" (as in Punky Brewster).



Julio (almost 9 years old)




Julio is my non-tween tween.

He would live with his ipod going 24-7 if I let him.

Sometimes I have to go into his room to tell him to "TURN IT DOWN!"

He likes all of those Disney singers-like the Jonas Brothers and Demi Levado, but he also loves John Denver (?).

He takes awesome photos with our good camera (this irritates me to no end).

He is taking piano lessons. His teacher is teaching him some Star Wars songs and the Indiana Jones song. His favorite place to practice these is during Primary at church (much to my chagrin).

He cares what he looks like and his clothes are always matching.

He plays soccer and tennis right now.



He must be bouncing, kicking, or throwing a ball at all times.

He is doing GREAT at school. Does well at every subject (not to sound braggy-but it's true!)

He has a big heart and loves his family very much.

Juan Carlos (6 1/2 years old)

I picked up my copy of So You Want to Raise a Boy by W. Cleon Skousen (yikes-what a name), which I've never actually read cover to cover, but pick up occasionally just to see if my boys are within the range of "normal". I was cracking up reading about 6 year old boys-it fits Juan Carlos to a tee (keep in mind this book was published in 1962):

"First and foremost he appears to be a wiggle-worm. He acts as though every part of his anatomy were attached to springs or someone had put itching powder in his breeches. Even when he's sitting he puts out more energy than a whirling dervish...He wiggles and writhes. He is so uncomfortable in one position that the teacher may see him pulling faces, jerking his arms about, striking some nearby boy or girl just to get a rise out of them. He wants to wrestle, run, jump and holler...he talks incessantly...With all this loose energy being thrown around, parents may get the idea Junior will accomplish something. Unfortunately, this is not the way he feels about it."

The kid is ALWAYS in motion.

He does what he refers to as the "Happy Dance" where he moves his feet so fast you can't see them. It looks like he's samba-ing.

He is happy with his teacher and his friends.

He was recently a fireman for his career day at work.


He takes a tennis class once a week.

He still resists going on playdates without me, and I don't push him.

He loves reading and has, on his own, started reading "chapter" books at home.

He was a proud owner of some sea-monkeys. Now he's grown bored of them and wants to take them out to the lake and set them free.

He still hasn't lost a tooth. (hehehe)

Ever since we went to Disneyland, he does this weird thing where he puts sunglasses on and says, in a very creepy voice, "Do I look like (pause) Micky Mouse?" He's got Pedro doing it now too.



He still loves me, but sadly (for me), I see him wanting to spend more and more time with his dad. This is another thing that book says happens between 6 and 7 with boys.

Pedro (2 1/2 years old)



Where to begin?

He is, for the most part, a very sweet little boy. However, when things don't go his way, he turns into a monster child in a matter of nano-seconds.

When he's mad he kicks, screams and hits. Today he pulled my hair in the checkout line at the store. When I put him down so he couldn't reach my hair anymore, he kicked me in the shin.

He eats only with his yellow fork and spoon.

He talks like a trooper.

He takes a nap in his crib (2-3 hours, yay!), but sleeps at night in the big bed.

He's taken to getting up before dawn and playing with his trains while the rest of us sleep on.

When I answer "yes" to whatever he is asking ("Can I have a pickle mom?" "Can I set my train down here?" "Can I watch a train show?") he responds with an enthusiastic "Yipee!"

When I tell him to do something that he doesn't want to do he says, "No fair!"

He likes to play "squeeze the lemonade" where he squeezes you or you squeeze him.

We sing Primary songs every night before he goes to sleep; if a song has the word "spirit" in it, he immediately stops me and says, "Mom, it's 'spirick' NOT 'spirit'".

He refuses to go on the potty, but tells me exactly when he's pooping (and asks me to leave the room) and when he wants me to change his diaper.

He is always a big hit with the ladies. Here he is with Margarita's basketball team (I am so kicking myself I didn't have the right lens on when it happened).



He loves all things to do with transportation, but especially trains and airplanes.

My kids are all healthy and happy-so I feel extremely blessed. :)

Avocado Milkshakes and Thousand Dollar Field Trips

I can't say my life has gotten anymore exciting lately. Maybe a little busier, but not a lot more interesting.

First up on the list of semi-interesting happenings was the avocado "shake" I had this week. Apparently here where I live, avocados are used more as a fruit than a vegetable. Pedro and I go to our neighborhood juice bar once a week where one can find about every kind of juice you could ever think of. I usually stick with the "normal juices" like orange, tangerine, passion fruit, guava, and an occasional exotic kiwi juice. But, I've always been intrigued by the avocado juice.

It's avocado, a little milk and some sugar.

I decided this week was the week I would forgo a juice that I knew I loved to try something new.

I should have stuck with the old faithfuls.

I really tried to like it; I drank more than half of it all the while telling myself, "it tastes good, it tastes good, it's not just for guacamole." Then I started to feel really nauseated.

I don't recommend trying this at home.

Oh well, at least I don't have to wonder if I'm missing out on anything anymore. Oh and one more Brazilian treat North American tastebuds may want to avoid? Corn- flavored popsicles. Also not good.

**********************************************************

Yesterday I was at school all.day.long attending both the elementary and middle school open houses for my kids. One of the main topics of the middle school portion was the upcoming 6th grade trip to the north of Brazil. The mandatory 4 day trip will cost just over $1,000.00. Luckily, Gaupo's company pays for stuff like that or I'd be a little peeved. But, it's par for the course when your kid goes to a super-rich Brazilian school where money means nothing to most of the students.

Anyway, they opened it up for questions. I was cracking up at the questions that were coming from the 6th graders. It went like this:

"Are we going to the beach?"

"Are we going to have free time?"

"Will our free time be at the hotel?"

"Can we pick our roommates?"

"What time do we have to go to bed?"

"Do we have tv's in our room?"

"What kind of cell phone coverage will we have?"

"Do we get to pick who's in our room?"

"Can I go surfing?"


They were actually better than some of the parents' questions:

"What happens if my child has swine flu?" (Ummm, they can't go on the trip.)

"What happens if my child gets swine flu there?" (Ummmm, they'll get sent home.)

"Are they going to fly on a reputable airline? You know there was a crash a couple of months ago" (No, we just hired some guy off the street who says he can fly who's going to take them in an refurbished WWII plane. But, thanks SO MUCH for bringing up the Air France crash in front of 51 6th graders who are shortly going to be flying without their parents.)

"What if there's someone on the plane with swine flu?" (???)

"Don't you think you should take the school nurse in case one of the kids has swine flu?" (And that would help because?)

Do you see a common theme here? People are just a little bit preoccupied with the dreaded swine flu.

May you and yours (and anyone you may come in contact with) be free of the swine flu. And remember, avocados and corn should be used only as vegetables (except in the rare case of corn bread).

What to Blog About When Your Life's Boring?

I really wanted to get back in to blogging-but nothing's going on. We're currently unbloggable.

My kids started school-but we are starting the 3rd year at the SAME SCHOOL. That never happens and frankly, it's all a bit boring. The kids aren't nervous to go, they all have friends, they knew who their teachers were before the first day, they know where the lunchroom, bathrooms and playgrounds are. Not a lot of drama.

...we're not moving any time soon.

...I have just over 4 months until I travel again (ok, 4 months and 4 days).

...my maid continues to be awesome.

So what to write about when there's nothing to write about?

1. The Weather

I have been loving the weather this week. I write every year about how much I miss the fall. I love the changing of seasons, especially fall. I have missed out on fall now for the last TEN years while we live in a perpetual spring/summer. It's not good for a person who's accustomed to fall and winter. At least not this person. I get sad during the Northern Hemisphere's fall.

I know, it's still mid-August, and it's actually winter here, but my kids started school and therefore in my mind it's fall. And, the last few days it's actually felt like fall around here. Nice crisp air, falling leaves-I love it. Granted it's not that cold-it's in the low 70's so I'm still wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but the Brazilians are all dressed in jeans, sweaters and scarves, so that also helps me further descend into my lovely make-believe fall world.

(I'm trying not to think about the fact that in a month or so I'll be sweating like a pig, trying to cool off by hovering in the air-flow of my inefficient window unit)

2. My Kids

Margarita started Middle School. I can't really grasp that I am a mother of a middle-school student, but I guess I am. She loves everything about it-her classes, teachers, the fact that they change classes every hour, her friends. Everything. How I got so lucky to get such a positive daughter, I'll never know.

She had the goal again to not miss a single day of school this year. Last year she almost made it-she only missed one day after I blogged about her goal and ruined it. Sorry Margarita! :(

She came down with the croup Tuesday afternoon and hasn't been able to go to school the last two days. When she was lying in bed Wednesday morning and I definitively told her she could not go to school after I took her temp (102.5 degrees), she cried her eyes out. She did the same Wednesday night when I told her I didn't think she'd be able to go today. And this morning when I told her that she really should stay home so she can get all the way better, and not be sent home, accused of having the dreaded swine flu. (There is a major Swine Flu frenzy going on here-but that's a post for another day)

She has been doing this ever since she started preschool when she was 3 1/2 in Venezuela. While I'm happy that she loves school, I'm even happier that she hasn't changed a bit.

Moving on to Pedro (2 1/2 yrs)

Please meet "Soda":


He ran around all night last night saying, "Look at me, I'm Soda!" He wouldn't touch that thing last Halloween when I wanted him to.

And here he his this morning at the zoo (we were taking full advantage of the nice fall weather). He couldn't wait for his turn with the monkey statue while other kids were hanging all over him, but once it was his turn he was a little apprehensive about getting too close:



Trying to get him to lighten up I told him to "Smile!" He looked at the monkey and looked me and said, "Mom, he can't smile," like I was completely clueless.

That's all I've got folks. Really, it's totally boring here...

3 Weeks, 5 Hours, 32 Minutes (But Who's Counting?)

Just that long until I leave for home. I feel like a little kid who physically cannot wait any longer. So, what do I do when I feel that way? Make myself insanely busy with projects. So here's a quick update on my life:

Kids

Margarita arrived without incident from Knoxville Monday morning. It's so nice to have a complete family again. It's been a 4 days now and Juan Carlos keeps saying, "I'm so glad she's home." So cute.

Along with getting her home (which was the biggest prize), I also got lots of goodies from my mom. The most important goody was a big box of Tide. I'm sure it will only last a couple of weeks as the maid just can't accept the power of concentrated soap and uses way to much, but at least I have it for now. Pedro got enough diapers to last him til we leave enabling me to fulfill my strange goal of never buying a diaper here. I guess that's where Margarita gets it from. And some new American candy, of which I am partaking even as I type this post.

The end of the year is crazy; we've got 3 music programs, portfolio sharings, 2 graduations (kinder and 5th grade), and who knows how many other things before it's all said and done with.

Running

I had my worst long run to date this week.

I was supposed to run 1 hour and 45 minute. Guapo was out of town so I had to wait until the maid got here which put me leaving 30 minutes later than normal. When I started my run at 7 am, it was already 82 degrees out, not a cloud in the sky. Not good. I had to take a break after 1 hour 25 minutes and if you know me, you know that's not like me. I rather be sick or injure myself than quit a run early (stupid, I know, but true). I made an exception this time because I really started to worry that I was about to have heat stroke or something so I stopped and sat down for a few minutes and then started again, DETERMINED to finish.

I only made it 10 more minutes at which point my body utterly refused to go on.

I spent the rest of the day feeling like crap. And, now I'm worrying about next week's run. :(

Organizing

I think I have some kind of organizing sickness.

Is that a thing?

Not like obsessive compulsiveness, because I'm not like this all the time. A couple of times a year I get in this mood and it's like I am only happy if I am organizing something. Last night, I was slightly stressed out (probably from trying to organize with 4 kids at home) so Guapo offered to bathe the kids and get them ready for bed while I "relaxed". So what do I do? Sit and watch TV, or read a book, or get online? No. I snuck downstairs and organized 3 drawers and a little cupboard that had been bothering me all day. Today I organized all of the pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils into their own designated holders. That will last all of 10 minutes.

In the last week I have:

-sorted through all the kids clothes and shoes
-sorted through all the school work from this year
-scanned important documents and special school work
-cleaned all closets out
-organized toys and games
-gone through all medicines, sunscreens and bug sprays looking for expired products
-gotten rid of all cruddy looking picture frames
-gotten rid of all old magazines

Agggh! I'm driving myself insane. I lay in bed at night and think of what I want to organize the next day. I think there's something wrong with me.

Photo Book Project

(An extension of the organizing problem)

Last year I made a goal of making a photo book for each kid for each school year. They loved getting their book last year and look at them often. But, it is pretty time consuming to find all relevant pictures of each kid from the last year. And, I finally finished a book from our Christmas trip.

Piano

Did I mention I started taking piano lessons again? I have the greatest teacher here- I just love her. She has several adult students and holds a "recital" for them every 2 months. My first one is in two weeks. I loathe playing in front of other people, but I will do it because I really want to get better.

So, there you have it. That's what I'm up to and why I haven't been posting more. I'm trying to keep myself so busy that the next three weeks fly by and before I know it, I'll be drinking cold, fresh milk and visiting Target twice a day.

I Need Someone (Specifically, Margarita) to Fill Up My Water Bottle

I miss Margarita. She's been gone for almost a week now.

Just a little example of how thoughtful Margarita is: she fills my water bottle ever night before she goes to bed. Every night. She never forgets. So, every time I drink my water, or even look at my water bottle I think of her.



She's doing fine-my parents are there with her now. They said her team did a great job on their performance yesterday, that they were very confident and commanded the attention of the audience.

Two more sleeps and she'll be home. :)

2 Massages in Less than 24 hours and Margarita Heads to Knoxville

Our little getaway was great. I won't make you jealous with all of the relaxing details, I'll just give you the basic outline of our trip:

1. Drive there-take a nap in the car
2. Get a massage upon arrival
3. Go out to dinner
4. Come back and relax before bed-read my book
5. Sleep without interruption until 9:00 am
6. Eat breakfast
7. Get another massage (hot stone-ahhhhhh)
8. Drive home-take a nap in the car

Sounds nice, huh? It was fun. The place was beautiful. Here was the view from our deck:

Flowers in our room:



When we came back after dinner our bed looked like this:



One awesome plant/tree:



One very mean tree:


And now it's back to reality.

Margarita left yesterday for the Destination Imagination Finals in Knoxville, TN where she will represent Brazil. It was weird seeing her off at the airport-sending her to a different continent in a different hemisphere. She seemed fine with it all though and there were a lot of responsible adults going along, so I'm sure she'll be ok.



Poor Juan Carlos (6 yrs old) cried all the way home from the airport missing her. We finally got him calmed down and in bed when he discovered a note she had left him under his pillow and the tears began again. She left us all hidden notes telling us that she loves us and will miss us. How sweet is that?

My parents are going to be able to go to TN this weekend to see her. I'm pretty sure they deserve some kind of grandparent award. They are always telling me how they wish we lived closer so they could be apart of the kids' activities. I think being willing to fly to Atlanta, rent a car, and drive on to Knoxville to see their granddaughter for 2 1/2 days pretty much proves they are serious about that. Thanks mom and dad!

The wealth at our kids' school never ceases to amaze me. In all the other places we've lived, expats normally far out number local students within an international school and are considered kind of a rich, elite bunch. (Which isn't really true at all since most expats' perceived wealth comes from their company's money anyway, but whatever, that's how it is.) Here in Brazil there are many more Brazilians at the school than foreigners and we expats are kind of like low class hillbillies. They all know that we don't pay for our cars, drivers, apartments or the $25,000 tuition like they do.

Most of the local students are load-ed. Julio had a girl with an elephant in his class last year. All sorts of people have Gucci accessories, armoured cars, helicopters, farms in the country, beach houses, and a privileged few even have an island or two (yes, islands). Margarita is one of only three 5th graders that don't have a cell phone-and most all of the kids have an iPhone (or two). One of the kindergartners that came to Juan Carlos's birthday party was even toting a cell phone. (What in the world?)

Anyway, Margarita wanted to know how much spending money we were going to send with her. She informed me that one of her friends was taking $2,000.00 but that another one was only taking $500.00. I asked her how much she had accumulated from her $5.00 weekly allowance. And then I was generous and told her we would match whatever she took out.

So our "poor" daughter is travelling with $120.00 spending money. Which I think is a lot for an 11 year old!

And can I just say I am dreading tomorrow and my little 100 minute run? Uggggh.

(Update: I'm done with the run! Yay! And it wasn't nearly as painful as last week. I can still walk fairly normally.)

Taking Another Risk

...the birthday party being the first risk. It went rather well, so I'm hoping my next bet is as successful.

We don't travel here like we have in other places we've lived. It's just too dang expensive-and they are very strict about the number of kids in a room-so we would always have to have 2 rooms. We have spent a total of 2 nights in a hotel here as a family the last 2 years. That's not even entirely true, because we left Pedro behind, poor kid.

It's only partly the money though-it's just not that fun to travel with a toddler. Having to fight with him to go to sleep in an unfamiliar location? Trying to enjoy a meal at a restuarant? I just don't want to spend a lot of money to do that- I can do it for free at home, thank you very much. I know someday it will be easier, but right now it's tough.

Anyway. The problem is that when there's no school I have 4 kids in an apartment. No yard. No neighborhood. Just three wild boys who tend to irritate one another (and me) after being together for about 15 minutes. Not pretty.

This week the kids have their Spring/Fall break. They also had last Friday off-so really it's not a week-but 10 days. I knew I would be crazy after about Tuesday, so I started looking around for things for us to do this weekend. The first option was a decent hotel in the mountains. Their 4- night special package for a family of our size would have cost us upwards of $2,000.00 USD.

I think I would prefer to go crazy in my apartment.

But then a friend told me about a site where you can rent homes.

So, tomorrow we will leave to stay in the same mountain town for 3 nights at a cost of around $100/night. I am a little worried though, because the site only had pictures of the outside areas of the house, which looked lovely-pool, soccer field, fishing pond, forest- but no pictures of the interior of the house. It could be totally nasty and creepy.

Looks nice, at least on the outside. We'll see...

In other news (things I don't want to forget):

...I took the kids to the zoo today. A mean money threw a paw-ful of mud all over Margarita. Pedro told me the armadillos were "awesome"...

...Pedro calls Yoda "Soda" and the W11 numchucks "dumbchucks"; he also calls both of my parents his gender-neutral creation "Tampa". It's not pronounced like the city, it comes out sounding much closer to "tampon"...

...Julio cannot be physically separated from his soccer ball. It irritates me to no end to hear the constant kicking of it, but then I try to remember we live an an apartment and the poor kid doesn't have a yard to go to...

...speaking of soccer balls, Pedro can play "kick-it" all day long. When we kick the ball to him he always says, "nice one!" so cute...

I hope not to post again until at least Sunday-if I post earlier that means we've returned prematurely from our scary rental house.

Have a great weekend!

Odds and Ends

Broken Streak-The Blog Strikes Again

Poor Margarita, the day after I blog about her goal of not missing even one day of school this year, she comes down with a fever and can't go. :(

Best Apple Cake Ever

I love apple cake. I have serious issues when it comes to making pie crusts, so I have to assuage my love of apples and cinnamon with cake instead of pie. I have tons of recipes (well, so really only 5) and am always trying to find the best one.

The Search Is Over.

I will be throwing out all other apple cake recipes the next time I organize my recipes. This baby is the bomb of apple cakes. Don't let the spring form pan scare you off (they don't scare you? Hmmm, I guess that's just me)-it is so worth the uneasiness I feel about using it.

1 3/4 c sugar, divided
1 t vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 c softened butter
6 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 t baking powder
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 t salt
2 1/2 t cinnamon
3 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Preheat oven to 350. Beat 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter, vanilla and cream cheese at medium speed until well blended (about 4 min). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture beating at low speed until well blended. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon. Combine half of this mixture with the apples in a bowl, and then stir into the batter. pour batter into an 8 or 9 inch spring form pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour until cake pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely before serving (good luck with that! We can never wait-I think it's better warm anyway)


Looking for a Good Book?

In my last few months of reading, I have read two books that I thoroughly enjoyed. They are both books I bought for my book club; the first I was a little embarrassed to introduce to the group-the storyline is so...gruesome and sounds so awful-but it had so many good reviews on Amazon (4 1/2 stars and an unusually large number of reviews-372) that I ordered it anyway. After seeing that it hadn't been checked out after a couple of meetings I decided to give it a try (truth be told, I was feeling just a tad insecure in my role as The Book Buyer).

The book is, "The Hunger Games" by Suzzanne Colins.


I could NOT put this book down. I took it with me on my little trip to Argentina last month and I read the entire flight (not what I had planned on doing since I rarely fly without children-I was thinking more of a nice long nap), and then I kid you not, I was reading every time I stopped moving, no matter how briefly, in the airport (waiting in the immigration line, waiting for my bag, waiting in line to use the cash machine, waiting for the taxi to pull up, etc, etc.).

The story line is not something that would normally attract me: a futuristic world where the central government requires yearly of each of its outlying "rebellious" provinces, one male and one female youth to compete in a nationally broadcasted reality-show where they fight to the death until one victor remains. Awful, huh? I know, it just sounds hor-rib-le.

But, I loved it. Romance, action, bravery, perseverance, friendship, loyalty.

Loved.it.

The second book is, "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.



It is set in the Mississippi during the 1960's and is told from the perspective of three different women: two black women who work as maids in white households and a white woman recently returned from college with hopes becoming a writer who struggles to fit in to her old life. She comes up with a plan to write a book that tells the personal stories of several maids that she knows. You can imagine that it's not easy to find even one maid who is willing to risk her job, or possibly her life, to share such stories in a book that could be read by their employers. She eventually finds 12 who are willing and writes her book, at a very heavy price for both her and for the women she interviews. But, along with the struggles and losses, there is also triumph of the human spirit-and that's why I loved it so much.

I think I'm drawn to books that involve issues of domestic help since I have lived in countries where it is commonplace, and have had domestic help the last eight years. This book really made me think about what some women give up to have their "freedom" from the mundane-ness of child rearing-the chance to be there consistently for their children in the simplest of moments-to give a hug, wipe a nose, or read a story before nap time. It made me glad I've never employed someone solely as a nanny-sure, I like to have a maid that is capable to babysit here and there when I have to be out-but I have never wanted someone else to be in charge of my kids. A lot of people do that here.

Anyway... two good books.

The Current Bain of My Existence

Library books.

I feel like I am in a constant state of searching. The three older kids are each allowed to check out 3 books, 1 DVD, 1 video and 1 magazine at a time. That's a potential of 15 different objects in my home at any one time that must be returned at some point to the school. There is always something lost...

And that's about it from here...