Bikes

The girls all got new bikes from Santa this year. The day after Christmas was sunny so we headed out to the park to try them out. Tirza took off riding (I didn't get a good video of her but she did great.) Sahara had learned how to ride in the States but hasn't had a bike to ride since we got here. She wobbled for maybe a minute and then took off. Bria has never learned to ride without training wheels so we weren't sure how she would do and when we got started she was so wobbly and unsure. Then she decided that she was going to ride that bike, by herself... so about 30 minutes after we got to the park she took off by herself. She got braver and braver as she rode around. It was so cute, she was SO proud of herself!

Now we are just waiting for another sunny day so we can go bike riding again!!!

Christmas 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow We had a wonderful Christmas here in Lisbon! The girls were so anxious and excited for Christmas morning to get here! They got bikes from Santa... Sahara says it is a good thing Santa brought them bikes because Mom and Dad sure couldn't have afforded that! Haha We were thankful to have Lindsey celebrate with us too! She was great... taking pictures, playing with the girls, helping cook, I think we'll keep her!!! Enjoy the pictures, I hope everyone had joyful Christmas!

Feliz Natal/ Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas full of family, friends, presents and love!

Getting rained out seeing the lights

We took a trip downtown to see all the lights. It is a fun area of town with lots of shops, cafes and a pedestrian area that I love to just walk around in. It is all lite up and decorated for Christmas so we decided to go and enjoy it.

It started out as a really nice evening, not to cold, lots of people, vendors roasting and selling castanhas (chestnuts) and lots of lights to enjoy. I need to go to my little jewelry store so we headed there and since it was such a pleasant night decided to keep walking... away from the car. Mark the and the girls stepped into a little cafe to get a drink and Lindsey and I keep window shopping. I thought I heard a little rain drop onto an awning we were standing under and the next second it was a torrential downpour... I mean pouring, wind blowing the rain sideways... crazy! We were completely unprepared... the Lisboetta ran for cover, waited for it to slow down, popped out their umbrellas and continued on their way. We had left our umbrellas, in the car... all of them! The girls all had hats, which helped a little but Lindsey and I looked like we had just stepped out of the shower by the time we got back to the car, we felt like it too! It was hilarious, we laughed and came home to warm up by a nice fire and with some good cafe!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Natal at Sete Rios

On Sunday the girls got to participate in the Christmas service at our little church. They all sang, Sahara and Bria read and Tirza rang a little bell and held up a little star. It was so cute! Sahara and Bria did SOOO good reading aloud in Portuguese! And Tirza showed off the WHOLE time, she is such a mess!

Giselle

On Saturday we got to go see the ballet Giselle. It was wonderful!!! We had so much fun! It was the National Portuguese Ballet Company and every now and then they have a family afternoon, which means the prices are much less and there are lots of kids there. For all 5 of us to go we paid what would normally be just one ticket, score!!! My friend booked the tickets for us so we got to sit with them (the first picture is Sahara and my friend's little girl, Matilde, isn't she a cutie!)

When we got there a helper from girl's school was there and she was so excited that we were there. Turns out that her son is one of the lead dancers, he was the prince! The girls were so excited, it made it even more fun!!! He is a great dancer and the ballet was beautiful. Lots of dancers, great costumes- we all loved it, even Mark!:)

After the ballet we went to my friend's house and had dinner with her family. We met her at the library and we meet up with her and her two little girls at the library often to chat and let the girls play. It was fun to relax at her house, meet her husband and get some more time to chat.

We love that we can go to the ballet and can't wait for the next family afternoon so we can go again!!!

Fireplace

Mark surprised me the other day while I wasn't feeling so good with an early Christmas present. Fireplace stuff so we can have a fire! We have been talking about it since last year but needed the wood/fire holder (I have no idea what it is called) and a screen but never actually went and got it. 

It has been especially cold lately and we learned the hard way last year that we can't afford to run our heat all winter... so the fireplace has been wonderful! 

The girls loved reading bedtime stories and doing our Christmas countdown in front of the fire  last night. Now we just need something soft to sit on in front of the fire because that marble floor is not warm or soft. 

Counting down until Christmas!!!

New Ornaments

These are the newest addition to our Christmas tree. Beautiful wood ornaments from Switzerland. Mark went to a meeting in Switzerland and while he was there found a Christmas market and bought each of the girls an ornament. I am so jealous that he got to go to a Swiss Christmas market! The one above is Bria's.

This one with the sheep is Tirza's, she loves sheep at Christmas time:)

This cute little snowman is Sahara's.

And don't worry I didn't get left out... Mark brought me home a big box of Swiss chocolates!

These little cuties were supose to have been new additions last year from Babu and Umma to the girls... But since the package took a detour in Slovakia and didn't arrive until February, the tree was all stored away. So the girls were very excited to get them up on the tree this year!

Tree Trimming

I love getting out the Christmas tree and all our ornaments. We actually put up the tree right after we celebrated Thanksgiving but I am way behind on blogging. In my defense, Mark was gone to a meeting in Switzerland for a week and then I was sick for most of last week...

But I am better now, just trying to hunt down those last minute gifts and enjoying the season.

A rare sweet sister moment

The girls love helping put up all the ornaments. It is so fun getting out all the ornaments and talking about whose they are, where they are from and who gave them to us.

Thanksgiving 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow On Saturday we had our Thanksgiving dinner with some sweet Portuguese friends. We went all out and made ALL the traditional dishes, we wanted out friends first Thanksgiving to be the real deal! I had cooked a turkey before but several of the dishes were new for me to cook and I had to be creative and substitute some of the ingredients. For example, I had to make creamed corn in order to make corn casserole, and I had to turn soup from a packet into the same consistence as what is in a can of soup. But I surprised myself and it ALL turned out wonderful! I couldn't have done it without the help of my j-girls! They peeled and cleaned and played with the girls, made brownies, gravy and tasted everything to make sure it was just right! The biggest hits were the sweet potato casserole, dream whip and pumpkin pie! Not to mention the desserts my friends brought with them. One of my friends makes this amazing lime tarte, ooohh it's fabulous! We were able to tell our friends how special they are to us and how thankful we are that God has placed them in our lives. And then we all ate just a little bit more:)

World Cup Qualifier

Make a Smilebox slideshow

On Saturday Mark and I got to go watch the Portuguese National team beat Bosnia in a World Cup Qualifying game. It was incredible! We love going to any soccer game but this game- most amazing soccer experience yet! A stadium FULL of screaming patriotic fans, the National team, we won, it was just fantastic!

Mark and I love being in a country that is SO serious about soccer and the World Cup is a big dea in our books. At bording school there were only 2 reasons, EVER, that we would be allowed out of the dorms late at night. One- to watch the safari rally cars as they drove threw the campus and TWO- WORLD CUP! Didn't matter what time it played we were allowed to watch it!

So seeing a real live game and a World Cup qualifier at that- Mark and I were thrilled! And by the it was the second to last game to secure a spot in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the final game was played last night and PORTUGAL WON! South Africa here we come! (Well not us exactly but we will be watching EVERY game!)

Tirza e Beatriz

This is Tirza's best, best friend at school. They have been best buddies since the beginning of LAST year, yep last year as in when Tirza didn't speak Portuguese yet.

Tirza started talking about her within the first month... she called her Blakblack:) Some of you may remember hearing stories about this mysterious Blakblack, after a while I concluded that it must be an imaginary friend. I had even asked Tirza's teacher about it and she couldn't figure out what Tirza was trying to say:) So one day when I was picking Tirza up from school she wanted me to meet Blakblack and to my surprise she was a very real, adorable little girl, named Beatriz:)

They have been asking to play at each other's houses so last week they finally got their wish. Bea's mom picked them up from school after lunch and let them play all afternoon at her house. Tirza had SO much FUN! We had Bea over to our house later in the week. From the second I picked them up from school until the elevator doors closed when Bea was leaving, both girls were giggling and talking. So CUTE! They played and played...

I have a feeling this was the first of many play dates!!!

New Old Stuff

Let me preface this post by saying that I am not a yard sale/ antique hunter person... at ALL! But awhile back our friend Caroline called and said she had just rescued a dresser and two end tables from the garbage for us. I thought, free furniture- can't hurt to look! I was pleasantly surprised!!! Beautiful, old wood furniture... extremely expensive and hard to come by here. Like I said I am not normally a fan of "old". But this dresser has such charm, beautiful wood work. So we hauled it off to our trusty carpenters, he agreed that it was vale a pena (worth it) to have it cleaned and re-varnished as well as make a few small repairs.

It wasn't cheap, I will admit, but since I didn't pay um centimos for the stuff I figure it evened out in the end. So a few centimos later.....wahhhlaahh...... my new buffet and end tables!
Aren't they pretty!?! My linens are all on top because I was still trying to air out the varnish smell... many coffee beans and a few dryer sheets later (internet tips and yes, suggestions are still welcome.) I have put my linens away and even bought a new bowl for the top.

Bria's 7th Birthday

Make a Smilebox slideshow Bria had a great birthday yesterday. Her party was a blast! Lots of friends, presents, food and CAKE! Happy 7th Birthday my sweet Bria girl!

Aqueduct

One of my favorite things in Lisboa is the aqueduct. I really can't explain why, I just think it is so unique. It stretches across two hills of the city, its huge and for the time it was built it was a major engineering accomplishment. It is a piece of the old city, beautiful and full of history.
I love driving under it, being able to see how huge and old it is.
Today, on our way home from a birthday party, in a part of town we had not yet been in we got to drive under a different part. It was a smaller part near the end of one side. It just renewed my fascination with the aqueduct.
Our afternoon was great... big girls had a birthday party, we had no idea where it was so some friends let us follow them. Somehow we have found the most wonderful group of new friends (somehow... we know how, GOD!) They let us join in their events, conversations...lives and they are always kind to us and our girls and patient with us as we learn the language and culture.
We have past our grace period now where people talk slowly and make sure we understand what they are saying... Now they speak full speed and expect us to understand, keep up and respond. It is GREAT! I can not think of a better motivation to keep learning and progressing in the language. I look forward to the day when I can not only keep up with all that is being said but can jump in and say whatever is it I want to say.
And if you know me you know I have plenty to say!:)

Fixed Car Anxiety

As many of you know I had a little fender bender in July. No one was hurt, thank goodness! And although you never want things like this to happen, I was glad it happened when it did and not sooner. It was actually a fear of mine during our first few months here... that I would get in an accident and not be able to communicate well enough to handle the situation. So I was glad it happened after a over a year of language. I successfully navigated filling out the paperwork and explaining to the other driver that we did have insurance.
Anyways, I didn't think the damage was that big of a deal, just a bent license plate and some dents on the front, but the car place said different and so last week we got the car "fixed."
Yeah, it is all taken care of... yeah! But now I am again afraid to drive. Well not afraid just worried about a car accident again. Now the car looks brand new, no dents, no scratches... perfect. And here, well... driving is a little crazy, parking is a lot tight and there are these crazy parking guys who scratch your car if you don't give them change. Aggghhh, it is a dangerous world out there for the newly fixed, brand new looking car.... anxiety!
Now don't worry I will get over it... most likely the call of IKEA or H&M will soon beckon me loud enough that I will forget my anxiety and drive again. And I am sure someday, somehow a new scratch or dent will come... I am just hoping next time it won't be my fault!

Bom

I realize that this might be showing off just a little bit but oh well... This certificate is a BIG deal to me! It represents 10 months of my life. 10 months really hard work! It means that I passed the B1 language level of Portuguese with a BOM. I didn't even just pass it I got a BOM which means GOOD!

I was extremely nervous about this exam. I do NOT like taking tests but God really gave me a calm and clear head that day. The significance for us now is that we are out of full time language stuff and can start "working." We will always continue to work on the language and we still have pass the next level sometime in the future. But for now we can relax and learn in less formal ways.

Oh and I say WE because Mark has the same certificate with the same score as me:)

Okay I am done showing off for now... time to go do something with my accomplishment!