MERRY CHRISTMAS!

My green-belly gaúchos

Our kids were born in Santa Catarina, which makes them, green bellies. Don´t ask me why, I just know that whoever is born in this state is called that. However, they have many more memories of Camaquã! Since September is the month of the gaúcho, all the schools in town make a big deal of dressing up. When you are wearing a typical gaúcho outfit, they say you are "pilchado". So here are my green-belly pilchado kids.

Eric´s 5th birthday party

I know I´m late on posting these...long past the time...but at least you get to see some pictures. The ones of his pirate toys was his idea to take, as well as with the cake...I love it how Eric gets INTO his parties, really involved in the details...

Tholl in Town

We had a unique experience one night a couple of months ago. An acrobatic circus-type group came to Camaquã..each ticket was exchanged for 2 kilos of non-perishable foods....and we had about a 90-minute Tholl show. The kids absolutely loved it!

Emily´s ballet experience

For about 5 months Emily did ballet classes here in town. She loved it at first, but after awhile lost her motivation. I would´ve loved for her to stick with it, but this was supposed to be a fun activity, and once it wasn´t fun anymore, it lost it´s reason for happening...but she looked so cute in her ballet outfit that I had to register it here in my blog.

Babysitting is FUN!

I LOVE babysitting! When I was a teenager, that was synonymous to making a little extra cash, but now it´s just plain fun...especially when the baby you are babysitting is your very own niece! Julia stayed with us for a couple of hours one morning, then again tonight while her mommy and daddy were having their anniversary dinner in a restaurant right next to our house. Emily was Ms. Mommy, wanting to hold her, change her diaper, make her feel comfortable and watching her every move, while Eric was more intrigued by the baby toys that came with Julia´s "stuff". Needless to say (you know, I´ve wondered about this expression...if you don´t 'need' to say it, why do we say it???), I was revisiting motherly/baby instincts and feelings, wondering what our life would be like if we had another one. Of course I would love to have another baby...but having a business to run and having a tiny little one who depends solely on you...doesn´t fit my ideal. So for now, I have decided to enjoy every little moment that little Julia is around

Eric learning to whistle

I can´t explain to you how much my heart warms when I see Eric walking around the house whistling.

Emily practicing

This is Emily practicing reading in Portuguese...I love watching her flourish in her new-found abilities!

Floripa video #2

Floripa again

Even though our reason for being in Floripa this time was sad, we still had to enjoy the sunshine, the beautiful view (I´d forgotten just how beautiful that city really is), being with close friends, and showing off Floripa to the kids.

These were some of the highlights...

- eating (actually playing) at McDonalds

- meeting cousin Suellen (Maicon and Maria´s little girl)

- running from the waves at Barra da Lagoa beach with Filipe and Ana (Fabiano and Ely´s kids)

- visiting the "mirante" at the Lagoa

- Leno imagining himself living at the Canto da Lagoa :-)

Running at the beach in the winter??

During our time in Floripa we had to get close to the water. The weather was amazingly beautiful and warm and was a great respite from our gaúcho winter.

Movies of Julia

Here are a couple of movies of Julia Joy!

Meet Julia Joy Dugan Batista

I´m am thrilled to be an aunt for the 4th time!! Here is my beautiful niece, Julia Joy...


Meeting Julia

Connecting...

It seems I´ve been so busy lately, getting our English school year started, our kids well adjusted in school and trying to keep up with the house, that I haven´t had time to think about writing anything in my blog, or trying to figure out what´s going on inside of me. Now that things are settling down somewhat, I´ve suddenly realized that I don´t have many close friends, or kindred spirits. There are very few people that I can open up to, that I feel understand a little about me, and not many people have opened up to me either. Even though I try to keep up on what´s going on in some people´s lives through their blogs, orkut and emails, I wonder, am I really connecting to them?

I just heard a conversation between two ladies in the drug store this afternoon that went something like this:

- Hi, how´s it going?
- Oh, fine, how is your mom?
- She´s doing just fine! And how are your kids?
- They´re ok...one of them was sick last week but is fine now. And yours?
- They´re ok too. See you!

It made me wonder if in their minds they felt they´d had a connection. To me it seemed more like a ready-made speech than a real glimpse of what´s going on with them. And so many of my conversations have been this way lately. I haven´t taken the time to really know how other people are doing, and haven´t felt that they´re interested in me either.

To me connecting with someone implies give and take. It implies a flow of thoughts, of interests, of hearts. By connecting we are plugging into someone else´s world, feeling a little of what it is to be that someone.

You know what? I am dis-connected. My own world has consumed me too much lately and I´ve barely had room for others. This is one plan in the making...connecting...there we go...I hear the signal now...

Leno´s Arabian Bday Party

This year Leno wanted to have a different party, so we put together some Middle Eastern dishes and decorations complete with Arab music, and had some friends over to celebrate his 36th birthday (he finally reached me at 36!). We had kibe, tabule, esfiha, humus, pita bread and cake. Eric fell asleep halfway though the party...poor kid.

Here are some of the special moments: