My forbidden picture

-REWIND-

I am super behind on blogging. We had a wonderful week with my mom, the day we dropped her off we picked up Letha, my sister. Took a huge language exam a couple days into Letha's visit and then got to relax and enjoy Letha. We put her back on the airplane this morning:( all that to say we were busy enjoying and so now I will attempt to catch up...

Oh and if you haven't watched the videos from the last 3 posts, GO WATCH THEM NOW! They are from the girl's school program and they are simply adorable!

Now on to my forbidden picture... while my mom was here a friend told us about a special night at a near by palace. Every year they have a Day of Museums and lots of museums have special programs and one every opens at night and has special events. This year it was at Palacio da Ajuda, it opened at 9pm and had classical concerts, magic shows, dancing and it was all FREE!

During the magic show I was standing in the back watching the kids enjoy the magic and the guys calls me out, serious I was just standing there, and asked me to come help with a trick. I was SO nervous! Why, because there was a large crowd, he was only speaking Portuguese and I hadn't exactly learned that set of vocabulary. But, I pulled it off... I understood what he said and I did a card trick! Surely that is extra points in language land!!! Oh and Bria did a trick too, she didn't say a WORD, she was so nervous but he put 2 toy bunnies in her hand and then had her throw them and there were tons, very cute!

Well also during the show I saw a lady that works there taking pictures, BIG NO-NO in this palace, no pics allowed. So I asked if I could take some too. She said I could so I started snapping away, we were in our favorite room, the throne room. I think the lady meant I could take pics of the magic show cause another lady told me to take one more and then quit:) People are just so sweet here, so I have my forbidden picture of the thrones!

Rock and Roll

Yesterday afternoon was the girls HUGE school program. It was a festival of music and each class had a different type of music that they performed. Every class was totally adorable, and all the kids did SO good! From country to heave metal...the river dance to a Spanish opera...rock and roll to Brazilian Samba!!!

Tirza's class was adorable and every single one of her little friends did their little dance, including Tirza... if you have been following the blog you know that she normally can't handle the stage pressure:) Apparently dancing is her thing or it is just the incredibly sweet way they handle the kids here. Either way it was a blast to watch!

Make sure you scroll down and see the last 2 posts... I have videos of each of the girls so posted them each in separate blogs. Enjoy!

Samba

We had no idea what to expect for Bria's performance... all we knew was that she only needed a bikini and a headband for her dance:) Her class was dancing the Brazilian Samba... in the first video she is the super shaker right after the flag. She shook her maracas and shook her cute little white self...adorable!

Micaela

Sahara's class did a Spanish Opera. Sahara worked really hard to get and play the part of Micaela. Notice her fancy skirt from India, so pretty... we thought she was a gypsy, like all the other girls, but really she was a Spanish girl- hence the special part:) Her whole class did so good acting out the drama and Sahara LOVED being on stage!

Boca

While Mom was here we took her down the coast to the Boca. It is one of our favorite spots to visit... for 2 reasons.

1. It is amazingly beautiful! The waves crash up against the rocks and this day was especially dramatic. The waves were crashing so hard and the water was almost green. Beautiful!

2. There is a great hand-craft market there with great traditional pottery, tiles and linens. Fun shopping! As much fun as I have shopping there I think my mom had even more fun!

Tirza was with us, the big girls were still at school, so she soaked up the attention:)

It was a little cool and very windy but worth getting blown away.

Sparkly New Earings

Yep, that's right... Sahara got her ears pierced! Can you believe it. She has been asking for a little while to get it done and so we decided for her 9th birthday we would let her. No don't worry her birthday isn't here yet but Umma said would take her and get it done while she was here visiting. Added to the fun, and since my Grandma pierced my ears (like with ice, a needle and a potato), it seems like a good time to get them done. Sahara was a little nervous but it was quick and she has been doing a great job taking care of them. Sahara picked out the sparkly, diamondy earrings herself. She looks so cute and SO big! She is counting down until it has been 6 weeks, which just happens to be right around her birthday, so she can go pick out some different earring and switch them out everyday. I think she saw some cute dolphin ones that she is hoping someone might pick up for her birthday:)

Umma's visit

This last week has been a whirlwind of fun! My mom came for a visit, our first visitor, and we had so much fun showing her our new house, city...life. The week went way to fast but we enjoyed every minute of it!

We have lots of pics and so I will try to get a few up in the next couple of days but our whirlwind is far from over... a couple hours after I dropped my mom off I went back to the airport to pick up my sister, Letha. Good timing!