Final "before" shot

We, I mean the pocket book, calendar and my daughter are brace free!!!

8 years, three children in braces, thousands of dollars, spilt tiny elastic bands in the bathroom, no taffy, no gum, 6 weeks appointments are finished

Until it's Jo's turn but until then I'm enjoy the break!  

Barking up the wrong tree

Our family had a chance to babysit a dog last week

It was a three day commitment

What I realized is that I make a great dog grandma

I can fill him with treats, let him stay up late, deal with the messes for a few days and then...

send him back on his way home

Sorry girls, we won't be getting one of our own anytime soon

Easter hunt x 2

The Embassy hosted a Easter party/breakfast the weekend before Easter.  My littles were spoiled and enjoyed 2 egg hunts in one week.  The bigs just had another excuse to hang out with their gang of friends at the embassy for the morning.  We had been up the night before helping Sam with a job that she had received.  She was asked to bake 200 chocolate chip cookies for the party.  She gladly accepted the job since she is desperate for money.  As the clock started ticking she was happy to have everyone chip in make the process move along.  200 is a lot of cookies!   

 Maybe this is why the process was taking longer than expected??

 Jo working on a craft project and meeting Muffy the bunny

 Sorting fun

Weekly Roundup

 

Gwen playing with her BFF, Coop Dog.  She is always looking forward to a playdate with this little guy.

I had to resort to using a mail cart on this particular day for mail pickup.  Usually I can get it all in my arms.  This shot didn't include the super long package that was holding our solar cover for the pool.  When we first moved here I was trying my best to survive on what I could find in stores here.  I've broken down, I'm now know at Amazon as one of their "loyal" customers.

Poor baby girl was super sick last week and Dad was out of town and then I got sick as well.  It was a long, not sleeping well week.  Came into her room one morning to find her like this.  This is a sure sign of the babe not feeling well.  She typically slows down for nothing!

Got a minute to peek into the girls school and see one of Madison's pictures on display for the school art show.  I love her drawings!

A typical banana stand at the grocery store.  Usually at the store there is one or two varieties to choose from.  When I walk into the farmers market I don't even know where to start.  On one particular day I think I counted 7 different choices.   

Little one starting to perk up a bit.  At least long enough for a few pao de queijo from the bakery

Salsa is one thing that we really miss not having here.  I usually make fresh pico every few days to put on top of our eggs, beans or anything else that we what to top it with.

Shouts from the rooftop

This past weekend our family enjoyed watching church at home!  It was our semi-annual general conference.  We loved having friends over for the Sunday "morning" session which was actually afternoon for Brasil.  I had gone upstairs with my little one to lay her down for a nap right as the session was starting.  A few minutes later I heard a huge shout, scream and joyful yelling.  I figured it had to be our prophet announcing a temple.  A temple in Brasilia, Brazil!  What an awesome thing to get to witness.

(From lds.org) Temple Announcement:

On April 2, 2017, President Thomas S. Monson announced the Brasília Brazil Temple, Brazil's tenth temple, during the Sunday Morning Session of the 187th Annual General Conference. There are six operating temples in Brazil including the Campinas Brazil Temple, Curitiba Brazil Temple, Manaus Brazil Temple, Porto Alegre Brazil Temple, Recife Brazil Temple, and São Paulo Brazil Temple. Three other temples are announced or under construction including the Fortaleza Brazil Temple, Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple, and Belém Brazil Temple.
Brasília is Brazil's beautiful national capital, renowned for its unique architecture. More than 1.3 million members of the Church live in Brazil, more than any nation in the world other than the United States and Mexico. The Brasília Brazil Temple will bring the blessings of the temple closer to the thousands of members living in Brazil's vast interior. There are five stakes in the immediate Brasília area with five additional nearby stakes and more in the surrounding region.

Passing the time with couch cushions and rainbow loom

One of the families brought cinnamon rolls with chocolate chips!  Why has that thought never crossed my mind before?  Goodbye raisins, bring on the chocolate. 

#Because of Him

Happy Holy Week everyone!  This video is a great reminder of the gratitude that I have for my Savior Jesus Christ.  I'm trying this week to focus with my children about the many events that occurred and lead up to the resurrection of my Savior.    

Bits and Pieces

M&M's even exist in Brasil

Nasty corner of our driveway that has punctured 2 holes in our van tire.  Finding a replacement has been an ordeal. 

Picked some beautiful fennel from the Embassy gardens this past week

Rob has ridden into work a few times with the princess.  This particular morning she had woke up super early so her bike ride included a little snooze in the trailer

Checking out pre-schools with my baby

Took the older three to see Beauty & the Beast.  It's a strange feeling to watch a movie in Brasil.  You walk into the theater and feel like you are being transported back to the USA.  The movies are in English, popcorn and sodas are just as large and it's just an odd feeling.

Girlies enjoying their new favorite treat, acai while watching Sam's volleyball team compete in a tournament

Sam's team took third place.  In the semi-final they came within 1 point of beating the best team.  It came down to a bad call and speculation that the ref was friends with someone on the other team.  Just another day in Brasil :)

Certain Woman

Last Saturday our church held it's semi-annual conference for woman.  I took my ladies out for an all you can eat pizza buffet.  We had a chance to talk about things going on in their lives, school work, goals they are setting and a question they were going to think about during conference.  After dinner we headed for home and watched the conference being broadcast from Salt Lake City, Utah on my computer in Brasilia.  Technology is amazing! 

I often feel inadequate raising such strong, capable woman of God.  Then I listened to this talk by Linda K. Burton: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2017/04/certain-women?lang=eng

"When we have become distracted, doubtful, discouraged, sinful, sorrowful, or soul-stretched, may we accept the Lord’s invitation to drink of His living water, as did the certain woman at the well, inviting others to do the same as we also bear our own certain witness: “Is not this the Christ?”

Forget the glass slippers. These princess' wear running shoes.

The girls school hosted a 5k, 3k and fun run this past weekend.  All the girls had been training during their PE period for the event.  Jo would come home each week and report on the fastest girl in her grade and how she was always trying to catch her.  The older three came home and complained that if they paid R$60 to enter the 5K whatever time they came in with their PE teacher would give them a passing grade.  If they ran the 5K at school the following week during class they would have to complete the run in a set amount of time.  I could see the wheels rolling in their head and also heard many a times how unfair it was that they had to pay for their grade.

Due to others things going on that week and not knowing if they would make the run we planned on registering Saturday morning. Turns out the registration had closed the night before.  They were still able to run on the Saturday, secure the passing grade and saved themselves R$60. 

Gearing up at the starting line

 The littles cheering on the racers

 M&A coming into the finish line!  I didn't get a chance to snap a photo of S coming in. She wasn't far behind

   

 Little one patiently and sometimes not so patiently passing time

 Jocelyn lining up for her fun run.  She got to run the track 2 times which equaled a 500m

All my runners, vying for 1st place 

 Jocelyn with a few of her friends

The gentleman in the middle is a Olympic athlete from Kenya that has an amazing 10k time.  He helped the kids warm up and then ran the 5k with the school group.  At one point my girls "passed" him and were so proud to say that they, "ran with and then passed an Olympic athlete."  For him I'm sure the 5k was just a warm up, fun run.