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:)