Six Weeks of Jonas

Since I'm so far behind I need to catch up on my picture-a-week of Jonas.  I will try to keep it to six!

He's rolling over, grabbing for everything, sleeping, eating, pooping, drooling.  What babies have been doing for thousands of years, yet parents (and older siblings) act like their baby exclusively started doing it first.  It will forever be a source of joy to see a baby developing :) As a side note, at last weigh-in (Feb.25) our teeny tiny little baby was 8 kilograms, or 17lbs 10oz.

I still have one more catch-up post coming, mostly about what kept us busy in February!  I'm that far behind.
Have a great weekend everyone!

Lyla's Big Day

Lyla had her big day on March  9.  She woke up "bigger."

We had a birthday party for her here.  Yes, I took the plunge of inviting a group here.  It was helpful that the week before her birthday we were finally able to get into the house we had rented two years ago and collect a lot of kitchen stuff such as utensils, plates, coffee carafes, bowls, cups, trays, tupperware containers, pots, etc.  That's what you get when you inform people you are going back to Canada and can we please keep our stuff here while we're gone and we should be back in a couple months.  The house gets rented out with all your stuff in it and when you finally get back here you don't have kitchen stuff anymore...

We still bought a few disposable items, and served a typical winter-y dutch Sunday meal, soup and buns.  It may seem weird for North Americans that something that is a warm comfort food there is used for a lunch on a hot summer day, but I think you can't wait for cold days to serve hot food here.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Our Brazilian Grandma :)

Her very own Portuguese Bible for church.

We gave her books and a Skipper (Barbie's little sister).  She immediately sat down to read in the middle of the party.  She is getting so big.... she wakes up and is writing letters all day long, and has always had a love of books.

Tia Thecia made a beautiful crocheted little purse.

At church they sing happy birthday to everyone who has a birthday in the coming week.  Lyla's teacher from school had her birthday the day after Lyla, so she got to stand up at the front with her.

Not to forget, Lyla received gifts from Canada and lots of special emails and facebook messages.  After I read one such message to her, she smiled sweetly and said "Everybody loves my birthday."  Oh dear Lyla, mom and dad hope you know that it is true because everyone loves you!

Here's a little interview with four-year-old Lyla:

What's your favorite colour?  Yellow, pink and purple.

What do you want to do when you grow up?  My daddy is going to take care of my baby and my kitty cat.  I'm going to have a kitty cat.

Your daddy? Do you mean your husband? Yes. (I asked this for clarification purposes for the reader.  For some reason Lyla and Hazel both call husbands "daddies.") 

But what are you going to do?  Work!  

What kind of work are you going to do?  I'm going to talk to people... in Portuguese!

What's your favorite thing about Brazil?  I like Canada and Brazil.  I like to play.  I want to go to Canada and get my stuff.

What do you like to do all day?  Letters, write letters. Clean up my bedroom.

What's your favorite game? Paulo and Marco.  Huh? Where do you play that? In the pool (Marco Polo).

What's your favorite book? The puzzle from you.  What do you mean? The puzzle from you with the book.  Oh, the fairy tale book! Yah!

What's your favorite animal?  Zebras and giraffes. 

Alright mom, let's do a puzzle now....

I guess that's it for her attention span.  I still have more catch-up to do but apparently I have to go make a puzzle!  Stay tuned for more :)

Neighbours

This morning we drank our morning coffee as Seth dug a hole in our yard and the girls filled old containers with dirty water and made suco do chocolate and suco da laranja.  A neighbour boy had invited himself for breakfast and him and another boy were busy trying to crack open coconuts.  The boy's dog was making himself at home wandering around the yard and tracking muddy footprints around the patio.  Shaun did a good job of reminding me that dirt all over the  house was inevitable when you had healthy and happy kids and a yard full of dirt to play in next door.  I felt woefully appalled at my lack of blogging, yet pulled in all directions to clean the muddy footprints (kids' as well!) before they dried on our cleaned-thoroughly-just-yesterday veranda, as well as dealing with a slightly-under-the-weather Jonas.  Shaun pulled out a book "When Helping Hurts" as he is supposed to read and discuss this his next Mission Aid meeting, and I started uploading pictures to the old blog.  What a pleasant Saturday morning after a week of early morning schooling.  No time pressures and before you know it, it is one in the afternoon and I have to think about a hot meal for lunch.... oops!  I guess it's fries and who knows what else.

Seth already had to take one shower before breakfast.  He's had to rinse off his feet and legs numerous times in our outdoor shower to come into the house, and he will be taking his second full shower before lunch... if it ever is ready.

In this attempt to update you on our lives, I thought I'd show you a bit of our relationship with a few neighbourhood kids that has grown over the last few months.  We'd like to think it is because we are such a great family, but it might have something to do with the mango tree that the kids were getting overly comfortable coming into our yard without asking to pick fruit off of.  We straightened that out, and at least they started asking....

 Our street is a dead end street, and there is one other family on it.  This family has six children, and it has been really great to have them around.  It has been a real confidence booster for Seth especially, feeling like he can make friends with Portuguese-speaking kids.  We mostly see the four youngest, this is the oldest girl.  We think she runs the family when her parents aren't around.  Or maybe even when they are.

Playing hockey on our veranda.  One afternoon and all the sticks are broken... *groan*

A family from a town 20 minutes away spent some of the summer, weekends and Carnival at a house on our street that they rent.  They have two kids that are polite and respectful, and one of them accommodated Lyla's request to be biked around. 

 One of my favorite kids from the family across the street.  She is an energetic little tomboy.

Seth's lego is a big draw for the neighbourhood boys, and sometimes the girls as well.

Neighbour boy entertaining Jonas with a puppet.

Neighbour kids helping teach Lyla to ride a bike.

 And she's off!

Should we teach Jonas yet?

Polly Pockets and Barbies, what more can I say.

Fun neighbourhood activity: the boys made bottle cap guns with elastics and clothespins, and then shot at some old tin cans.

Our felts are also a source of wonder.  A few weeks ago a neighbour boy had drawn a picture of a legoman, which I hung up on the kitchen wall with our kids drawings, writings, etc.  Apparently another kid noticed it, because we are getting all sorts of pictures from neighbour kids to hang up on the wall now!

A kid helping himself to one of our coconuts this morning.

Keep tuned... there's more to follow!