When Daddy has only been home for 5 days in the month of March is calls for 

lunch and ice cream

So happy to have him home for a few weeks now

Gwen after school today asked, "is Daddy on a trip or coming home tonight?" :(

Glad he's able to come home tonight

Just a bit of manga

It's Mango season in Brasil

Which means we are eating it by the case

I dried a bunch this week and let the littles gnaw on the pits

Makes for a messy, juicy, sweet and delicious snack

    

Dumplings

A few months back I took a Spring Roll class

A past embassy spouse was Chinese and taught really great cooking classes

I successfully learned how to make spring rolls and then I never did it again because its a process

Fast forward a few months later

A friend had taken a similar class and also learned how to make dumplings & spring rolls

She was the motivation I needed to jump in and get cooking

8 hours later, a trip to the veggie market, Asian market and local butcher we did it

Hundreds of spring rolls and dumplings

So glad I brought Aubrey along to be my sou chef

All of our efforts paid off

We enjoyed spring rolls and dumplings the next day and froze the rest

Suco e comida

My favorite burger shop, it's a joke because I don't even order the burger.  I'm always on the lookout for the best veggie burger and this little storage container turned restaurant is high on the list

One of my favorite parts of living in a new place is exploring food places

Rob and I have become "foodies"

I would define that as someone that enjoys eating, eating good food!

Friday nights we tend to save as date nights and it usually involved finding a new restaurant to try

Usually we try something new but there are a few places that have become our favorites

We now have a running list

Next time you visit we'll take you to some

Trying out a suco (juice) bar with the girls

Nothing beats fresh squeezed juice for a few bucks

Jamba Juice

Fresh juice and smoothies are one of the best parts of living in a tropical country

There are seasonal fruits but there are always so many delicious choices

Many many moons ago my sister-in-law gave me her grandma's juicer

This juicer is still going strong and helping our family get through bags of oranges

Fresh produce prices here are incredibly cheap, makes up for the overpriced cost of other goods

I go to the market and am able to pickup a 25 kg bag of oranges for R$25 which equals about $8 USD

Fruit smoothie anyone??

Awesome Acai

Our family has tried with many failed attempts to study the scriptures daily as a family

I came across a great article about breaking it down into segments

A little at a time

Our family made a goal to read the scriptures with a 95% track record for the month of April

We made this goal!

The prize was supposed to be a trip to the gelato shop but it was closed the night we were going to go, second place prize was the acai shop

My kids all LOVE acai and this particular shop pairs it with Nutella so I loved the acai as well