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!

School Days and More

First off, some before and after pictures of Lyla and Hazel and their new 'do!

 In other news, today was a super exciting day that has been culminating for months.  The kids are back in school!  On one hand this brings a sense of relief, and on the other hand I definitely learned a lot about my kids and would not have changed this time of "home-schooling."  I am somewhat sad to relinquish the reins, but I know that for them to learn Portuguese this is the best option.  I will still be working on their English and probably explaining some of the homework they get, but this week we're relaxing from homeschooling as they settle into school there.  We debated about sending Lyla, but in the end she did go today.  Seth was the most nervous, he is quite the thinker.  Hazel declared for her it was all about the new friends she was going to make, and was very happy to hear she would also learn Spanish!  Lyla has been clingy the last few weeks and very "babyish,"  maybe a result of talking about school.... however today she pulled it together.  It was helpful that the kids had all met their teachers and we had taken the time to find out where their classrooms were and showed them when we registered.  They are all feeling a lot more confident with their Portuguese due to the neighbour kids.... it's time to let go a bit and see how they do!  Here's some pictures of their first day. 

It was probably helpful for Lyla that her teacher attends the same small church as us.  She sat right at her desk and I knew I had to take the picture and leave before she changed her mind!

Hazel's teacher seems like the "in-charge" type.  Hazel informed us they immediately had a speech on manners (please, sorry, thank you), and when someone knocked over another student's pencil case they had to say sorry and clean it all up.  Hazel also got to eat her apple in the class with her teacher because the teacher said she couldn't understand her... not really sure what that meant.

Seth picked the front seat to sit in... probably better for his understanding.  However, he told us at the end of the day the teacher had moved students around five times to figure out a good seating arrangement.  The teacher had also explained how Seth speaks English and that they should try speak to him a little slower and simpler.  Seth had met most of the kids the last two times we have been here, when we sent him to school one day a week or so.  At the end of the day Seth brought home some Portuguese homework for me... well it was for him but we worked on it together.  We had to read a one page story and answer questions.  I can see how this will help my Portuguese!

I couldn't resist peaking through the window and snapping a picture without her noticing!

The kids took the bus home.  We have to walk five minutes down the road to pick them up.

To conclude, here's a few pictures of Jonas.  Can't make a post without them!

The kids think Jonas is pretty much crawling... what I notice is his poor arms can't hold up his body weight!  They also like to pile every single baby toy that we brought all around him and call it "Babyland."

In a nine month sleeper today!  He can still fit the six months, but his feet are getting a little squishy in those.

Have a good night everyone!

(One of) Shaun's Project(s)

As everyone knows, coconut is the new miracle fruit.  We're jumping on the bandwagon here as we have four coconut trees in our yard.  Each tree can produce 100 coconuts a year and there are so many things you can do with a coconut.  Young coconuts are a bright green and inside is mostly what is called coconut water.  This is a clear liquid that is very sweet.  Brazilians love to drink the water and then scoop out the rubbery mushy meat on the inside of the young coconut and eat it.  As it gets a little older, the mushy stuff turns into what we North Americans think of as coconut:  the drier chewier meat that shreds for baking.  In the middle is still some coconut water that you can drink, but it is not as sweet.  When the coconut is really old there is not really any water left and the meat is tougher and dry.  If you are looking at making coconut oil, you want the medium old ones.  Here's a pile that Shaun took from the ground to work on this project.

You cut away the outside shell, called the casca, and you end up with the coconut that you see in the produce section in North America.

On the left the full coconut, on the right is what you are left with when you chop away the casca.

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Soak the coconut in water.

Sieve it.

Squish as much liquid out that you can get.

Put in fridge overnight.

Can you see the layer of cream separating from the water?

Once the cream is hardened from being in the fridge, you break off the chunks and place it in a frying pan.

Cook, simmering for at least an hour.

The oil starts separating from the cream, water boils off and the cream starts to brown.  You are eventually left with the clear oil and a small brownish pile of cream.

 

Put that through a cheesecloth and you are left with....

VOILA!  Pure virgin coconut oil, to use for everything from cold sores, sunburns, cooking, and digestion problems.

Shaun used 16 coconuts and it took around 6 hours to dehusk and scrape out, soak and squish.  Then overnight in the fridge,  then at least an hour for cooking, sieving. 

Time consuming... YES!

Worth the Work? Shaun thinks so!  He's planning to make another batch this coming week.