Ethan's 5th Birthday

Things were very busy and crazy around Ethan's 5th birthday and I never posted pictures of that. For the last year, it has been on my to-do list. It was quite a fabulous party. Isaac and Ethan each got one big Brazilian blast party. Ethan's party was even cooler because he got to share it with his friend Emma.

Here is Ethan and Emma with their birthday cakes.

Blowing out the candles.

The party was so wild, there were so many young children. I am so happy they all survived unhurt, and got back to their parents. I really do not know what we were thinking. The kids had a wonderful time, and the kids in Ethan's class are super sweet.

We had a trampoline. That was a huge hit. Ethan is jumping with some of his friends.

We also had a ball pit. Emma is playing with some of her friends in the ball pit.

Here is Owen with a ball. You can kind of see all the decorations we had. We hired a party service to decorate. It is very normal to do that here. We had 2 balloon arches, chair covers, center pieces and the huge table setup in the front. It was kind of over the top, but looked really cool.

Near the end of the party the kids took down all the balloons and popped them on the trampoline. Now that is a fun party game.

Isaac with one of the crazy decorations.

This is all the American kids on the trampoline with the balloons.

Emma and Ethan were in the mix, too.

Here is Ethan with his stash of presents. We waited to open them up until we got home. It was just too wild at the party.

I painted these little shirts for Ethan and Emma. Neither one liked them. Scott had to bribe Ethan with R$5 to get him to wear it.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Ethan Turns 6

I can hardly believe it! My little Eenie Beanie is 6 years old! I think he had a great time yesterday celebrating his birthday.

He kicked off the day with pumpkin pancakes for breakfast. That is what he chose. Isaac and I made him a little sign.

Here are all the boys enjoying their pancakes. We even took some to Scott at work. After breakfast he opened his present from Grandma and Grandpa Wilcox and the Winters. He was very excited about his snap circuits, and probably more excited about the cash! The boy likes money. Then we skyped Traci and Grandma Carol for a long time. For lunch Ethan chose to eat out at a new restaurant in the grocery store called Fome Mania.

In the afternoon he had school. We planned a little party at school. They let the parents have birthday parties during snack time. Here is Ethan leading his class to the party. His main teacher is with him, Profi Adrianna. She is a wonderful teacher.

Here are the decorations that I put up for the party. The main request Ethan had was to have his name on the table with the cake. I made cupcakes because that is something that they do not really make here. The box of food on the left contains salgados, salty snacks. They are a must for any Brazilian party, and easily ordered from the bakery. The boxes on the right are juice. Scott took off early from work to help with the party, too. He was a great photographer and juice passer-outer.

The boys are crazy about Beyblades, so we decorated the cupcakes with homemade Beyblade cupcake toppers. They were a hit with the boys in the class.

The whole class stood by the table and sang Parabens Pra Voce. His teacher on the right is Profi Casey. She is a high schooler that helps. She is smart and great with the kids. She even got Owen to leave my side and go to the park with Ethan's class.

Here is Ethan sitting with his friends. His teacher said that he always sits in that desk for snack. The boy on his left is Eduardo, his best friend.

Every classmate gave Ethan their present and a hug. This is Riley, the little American girl in his class. She is so cute!

Ethan and Eduardo.

This is Andre. Ethan talks about him a lot. Notice the look on Ethan's face. The boys have never gotten used to all the hugging here.

Now look at Ethan's face. This is Nicoly (Nee-col-ee). I guess he likes the hugging when it is with a cute girl.

We have pictures of all of Ethan's colegas, but I will add just one more. This is Marena, another best friend. She is a cutie, too!

For supper, Ethan wanted a picnic. When I asked him what food he wanted at the picnic, he chose chicken and rice made by our maid, Alice (Ah-lee-say). What can I say, she is an excellent cook!

Last but not least, Ethan got a DSi from Scott and me. He was really excited, and got to playing right away.

 

Posted with Blogsy

First Day of School

Isaac and Ethan had their first day of school on February 18. Isaac is in 3rd grade here and Ethan started kindergarten. They were less than enthusiastic about starting school again, but both went with smiles on their faces. They are doing great! Isaac loves to play speedy ball (tether ball). Many days I have to wait an extra 10 minutes after school because he is playing with his friends, but I don't mind. Ethan's favorite thing of the day is normally patio. The school has a little play area with some plastic slides and other big toys, which they call patio.

Here is Ethan all ready to go. We only live 3 blocks from school, so we walk most days.

Isaac in his uniform and backpack. He got the backpack for Christmas.

This is the pile of supplies the kids had to bring to school. It is crazy! I probably spent 6 hours and US$200 gathering and organizing this pile. I will be glad to get back to the $32 PTA supplied box at Cody.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Florianopolis for Tami's Birthday

We had so much fun celebrating Scott's birthday in Rio that I jokingly said we should go to Florianopolis for my birthday. Scott seriously agreed, and 2 weeks later we were off on another trip. Florianopolis is a large island known for its beautiful beaches. It is world famous for surfing, but we visited the beaches with calmer waters. It seems that most people in Horizontina vacation in Florianopolis yearly. We just had to check it out while we are living here.

It was a quick trip, five days total and we spent two of them driving. It is not extremely far by distance, but the roads are 2-lane the entire way. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains.

Our first stop was Canasvieras Beach. We stayed at a little bed and breakfast just 1 block from the beach. The boys immediately spied the little water park in the ocean, so Scott toook them out to play.

There are the boys on top of the slide. The picture is not clear because my lens was dirty.

As usual, Scott was playing with all the kids. He coordinated everyone to climb on the big saucer thing. That was no small feat because it was hard to climb on, and most of the kids spoke only Spanish. Isaac is on, too with his back to the picture. Ethan chose to play more on the slide.

While the big boys played at the waterpark, Owen and I played run in and out of the waves. This was the first time Owen went in the water. I love it when he runs to me. He is so sweet.

Cute close up of Owen. He just saw me put this one in and said, giggling, "That's me! That's wrirry wrirry me!" He can't say L or R sounds. It's so cute!

We ate lunch at a restaurant on the beach and ordered their shrimp feast. Mmmmmmm!

Our second stop was Praia do Forte. This beach is gorgeous, and almost completely undeveloped. There were hardly any waves. We got directions to this beach, in Portuguese, of course. I never totally understand everything, but can get the gist well enough. Well, part of the instructions were that we would come to a "periodoso" or something like that. I did not know what that was, but figured we would figure it out when we got there. Well, we did figure it out. Turns out that is a one-way, very steep, brick road covered with sand. We were a little nervous taking the ole Zaphira on the climb, but we made it, and it was worth it.

This was the perfect spot for Owen to "boogie board" like his big brothers.

Ethan is playing in the sand. He discovered that if you run really fast and drag your feet in the sand, you can make a squeaking sound. He and his brothers liked to do that.

Scott and Isaac playing fogobol. We were all terrible at it, but it was still fun. Now we are hanging out at Praia das Inglesses.

Ethan with his boogie board. This beach had perfect boogie boarding waves. Ethan is not a big fan of boogie boarding yet.

Ethan, Owen and I had fun for a long time playing our version of fogobol. I thew the ball and then they tried to hit it. We spent lots of time running after balls.

Scott and Isaac heading out to boogie board. They did that for hours. Both of them got pretty good at it.

Scott and Isaac riding a wave in.

The kids made me birthday messages.

For lunch, we ate sausage sandwiches on the beach that we bought from a beach vendor.

For supper we went out for Mexican, which is the type of food I miss the most in Horizontina. The restaurant was called Guacamole's.

I was disappointed with the food, but the meal was a success because we got to eat a free brownie sunday while wearing sombreros.

It was such a great way to ring in my 36th year. I will remember it always.

 

Posted with Blogsy