Tea Time

Convento de Cristo, Tomar e Castelo do Almourol

2011-05-04T16:26:00.000+01:00

Last day of the trip... First stop Convento de Cristo, a huge, old beautiful convent that sits above the city of Tomar. After spending the morning wandering through the Convento and enjoying the scenery we headed down into the town of Tomar.

Tomar is a super cute little town, we quickly found a little restaurant that Ana Maria (Tirza's teacher) had told us about. It was great, delicious food and lots of it for not a lot of money! After eating we wandered around the town, enjoyed watching the ducklings and boys jumping off bridges. So fun!

Then it was on to the Castelo do Almourol, an old old castle that sits in the middle of the Tejo river. We took a little boat to the castle, and hiked our way to the top of the castle. The view was amazing! We enjoyed the scenery for awhile and then when the 2 French guys, who apparently decided to strip down to their underwear and swim to the castle, showed up we decided it was time to head back. :)

We finished the trip off by stopping at a gas station for treats, Lindsey's pick, and then back to our fav city of Lisboa! It was a great trip, there are SO many wonderful places to see in Portugal!

Day 2

2011-05-01T14:58:00.000+01:00

Day 2 of our Spring Break adventure we went further North to a little city, Aveiro, that we visited and fell in love with over the summer. It is a small town but as charming as anything with 5 canals running through it. We rode a boat, enjoyed some lunch and the city's typical treats called, ovos moles, YUM!
After that we decided to explore a new town in that area called Costa Nova. It has a big beach and cute striped fisherman houses... we found a surprise treat there called Tripas. Oh my SO tasty, made fresh while you wait! Then it was back to Aveiro for dinner... the girls dishes were all looked like faces... to cute!

Ferias da Páscoa: Day One

2011-04-29T13:04:00.000+01:00

We decided to take advantage of the girl's time off from school to take Lindsey to see some of our favorite Portugal places outside of Lisbon. One of the top activities on the list was to go to Nazaré and rent a room from one of the grandma that hang out on the main street. We ended up getting a great little apartment... we had a charming time in this little charming town!

Festa da Páscoa

2011-04-20T15:05:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday we had our annual Festa da Páscoa (Easter Party). It was SO much FUN! We started the morning out dyeing the eggs. The kids did such a great job we had a table full of colorful eggs!

Then we used our great Resurrection Eggs to tell the Easter story. The eggs are such a fun way to get everyone involved in the details of Jesus's Resurrection story.

Next it was on to decorating the bags for the Egg HUNT! The Dads headed out to the park to hide the eggs for us while the kids worked on their bags. After the bags were done and the eggs were well hidden we started our parade to the park:)

It is always so much fun to watch the kids all dash off in a mad rush to find their eggs. This year was no disappointment, we had to hold the big kids back and let the littler ones get a head start!

After the eggs were all found, and all the prizes and candy discovered we headed back to our apartment for lunch. We ate and talked and the kids played and played... it was a super fun day!

Thank so EVERYONE who sent stuff to help make it such a special and fun day for all of us!!!

Sahara's field trip

2011-03-26T19:02:00.000Z

Guest Blogger: Sahara Marie Bustrum

This is my field trip that I went on, it was fun and interesting. We walked a lot, we stoped and ate our snack and then after a few more hours we ate our lunch by the Castelo de São Jorge and then after eating we walked some more to visit more places.

I hope you guys like it a lot because I loved it.

*We are experiencing some technical difficulties, the slideshow won't upload to blogger today:( It is on Facebook so check there to see the pics Sahara took of her big Lisbon Field Trip!

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-03-14T22:57:00.004Z

Did I warn you that the blog might be random and out of order for a little while... I am enjoying the new computer so much, being able to organize my photos, make slideshows...

I couldn't miss posting about V-day because Bria was SO excited about it this year. She started planning and making cards weeks ahead of time. She planned the dinner, made cards and presents for everyone, did a show for us... it was SO cute! We all had a sweet day together:)

Prague

2011-03-10T17:35:00.000Z

Last month Mark and I had a meeting in beautiful Prague, Czech Republic. We left the girlies in Lisbon with sweet friends, it was a whole week so we were a little nervous but they had a WONDERFUL time. Thank you friends!

Mark and I loved the seeing Prague, being with friends, going to dinner, seeing snow, going to the OPERA... and just having some time together! It was a fabulous week! And on top of all the fun it was a helpful and encouraging meeting. We did FREEZE, we are NOT used to that kind of cold, bbrrrrrrr! It was alright for the first few days and waking up to beautiful snowflakes falling was great. But we were happy to come home to sunshine and 3 sweet little girls!

Carnaval 2011

2011-03-07T17:52:00.000Z

We're back...

2011-03-07T10:39:00.002Z

We're back in computer land again... and I have SO many pictures to share! Here is just a teaser of Carnaval. Friday the girls all dressed up and had parties at school. The little girls paraded to the park and had a little fashion show there. It was a SUPER fun day! More pictures of Carnaval and many others to come!

Bria's Ear Piercing Adventure

2011-01-10T19:22:00.000Z

Another free collage by Smilebox

Palaces, Cookies and Lights

2011-01-09T18:59:00.003Z

All my cookie decorating girls!!! :)

Back to the beginning of Mom and Dad's visit... we went to the Mafra Palace just North of Lisbon. None of us had been there before so it was fun for all of us to see a new place. Later that week our friends came over and made us a wonderful Portuguese dinner, arroz de camarão (Shrimp rice), it was SOOO good! After dinner we made Christmas cookies and all the girls helped decorate them. There were sprinkles everywhere:) and lots of really cute and yummy cookies!

The next few days we did lots of Christmas shopping and took one evening to head down to the Baixa for more shopping, seeing the sights and all the lights. Thankfully the rain stayed away long enough to let us enjoy the evening. And yes, there are several camera contributing...

Create a free digital slideshow

2011-01-08T11:34:00.002Z

I do realize how far behind I am, again, but Lindsey took these of the girls for me one day while I was sick and they are just too good not to have posted somewhere... so here they are! I guess I am just a backwards blogger now, maybe I will do better now that it's 2011... vamos ver!

Customize your own photo collage

Bria's Christmas Pictures

2010-12-31T12:15:00.002Z

Bria got a REAL camera for Christmas so she has become the new family photographer! Here are her pictures from Christmas day...

Digital slideshow generated with Smilebox

Christmas Time

2010-12-28T11:13:00.002Z

Our first Christmas present arrived a week early... Umma and Babu are here!!!

We are SO happy to see them, to celebrate Christmas with them here with us and to show them around! Here we are down in the Baixa doing some last minute Christmas shopping.

More Christmas fun soon!!!

Thankful

2010-12-01T21:21:00.003Z

Since I missed Thanksgiving completely I think I will start December with a Thankful list...

I am Thankful...

1. It is December which means my Mom and Dad arrive THIS MONTH! 16 days!

2. For better or worse, my language test is OVER!

3. Friends, they are here there and everywhere but I am so thankful for the women I call friends!

4. My apartment, this is our first winter in our new apartment and it is SO much easier to get and keep this house warm!

5. Bon Jovi. Yes you read that correctly! If there is ever a movie made of my life Bon Jovi will have to make several appearances on the soundtrack AND I have tickets to see them live this summer.

6. My girls... they keep life exciting, they challenge me and inspire me.

7. My Mark, my soulmate. I love the life we have built and look forward to the adventures yet to come...

8. Lisbon, I LOVE living in this city! The people, the charm the beauty... so many things I love about living here!

9. Airplanes, well really who they will bring to me and who and where they will take me to... hopefully we will have several airplane encounters before this time next year!

10. Christmas. Focusing on Jesus coming to this earth to save us from ourselves, arriving as an innocent baby... our HOPE!

SOME pics from Doug and Heidi's visit

2010-11-21T19:32:00.005Z

We got so many fun pictures when Doug and Heidi were here... so I couldn't miss getting some of them posted, emphasis on the some because there are many more. We went so many great places, it was a BLAST to show them around Portugal!

Cabo da Roca

Inside the Sao Jorge castle

Doug and Heidi in the Torre de Belem

At one of my favorite downtown resturantes, Amo-te (I love you)! Notice the heart shaped tosta, such a cute place!

At the Convento dos Capuchos, an incredible old convent that is lined in cork. It was our first time to visit this convent and we really enjoyed it!

At the Sporting game cheering on Mark's team! Don't worry Benfica fans I am still loyal, notice my pink scarf!:) The tickets were just cheaper! POIS!

I could go on and on but these are some great highlights! It was special for us to have family here and to show them around our home!

Halloween

2010-11-05T11:42:00.002Z

We had a big Halloween party with our friends this year and it was a BLAST!!!

There were costumes, food, crafts,food, games and more FOOD! We made jack-o-lanterns, bobbed for apples, went trick or treating at the kitchen and all the bedroom doors:) Halloween isn't traditionally celebrated here so it was a fun excuse to have a BIG party! The day before I had some friends over for a tea party and we decorated the cupcakes for the Halloween party. It was as fun as the big party for me and the cupcakes came out SPOOKTACULAR!

It was a big night of Friends, Food and FUN! Can't wait for next year... I think next year we will have to include a costume contest so I better start planning now!!!

Happy Halloween!

Free slideshow design personalized with Smilebox

Translation-Bria

2010-10-30T17:12:00.001+01:00

my life

I am Cambria, I was born in america in 2002 on the 10th of october. Now I live in Lisbon, Portugal. I am going to school at O Poeta. I really like school and it has been 2 years that I have been in school. I learn a lot and this is my life and I like it a lot.

Translation- Sahara

2010-10-30T17:01:00.002+01:00

Hello, I am Sahara
Hello, I am going to do a blog and I am going to put things that are happening.
It is almost Halloween!
Now I am going to talk about myself
I am 10 years old
I go to São Vicente de Paulo (her school)
I am in 5th grade
I am tall and I am nice!
Kisses,
Sahara

a minha vida

2010-10-28T16:53:00.002+01:00

Eu sou a Cambria, eu nasci na america em 2002 no dia 10 de outubro. Agora vivo em Lisboa, Portugal. Estou a andar na escola O Poeta. Gosto muito da escola e já estou há 2 anos que estou na escola. Aprendo muito e este é a minha vida e gosto muito.

Fim da minha vida por agora.

Olá, sou Sahara

2010-10-27T19:44:00.004+01:00

Olá, eu vou fazer um blogue e vou por coisas do que é que está a acontecer.

Está quase o Halloween!

Agora vou falar sobre mi própria

Tenho 10 anos

Ando no São Vicente de Paulo

Ando no 5º ano

Sou alta e sou simpática!

Beijinhos,

Sahara

Heidi and Doug are HERE!

2010-10-21T23:09:00.003+01:00

This picture was taken the last time we were with Doug and Heidi, it was 2 years and 3 months ago....

But they are HERE in Portugal with us NOW! They arrived tonight, after two weeks in India with another one of our sisters, and we let them shower, feed them and headed out to a birthday party! So they got to meet some of our friends, enjoy some great Portuguese food and deserts, right off the plane!

We are so happy to have them here with us and we can't wait to show them around our beautiful city!

Bria's flower cake

2010-10-20T17:49:00.007+01:00

Here are the pictures of Bria's birthday cake (that Lindsey took after our camera quit, thanks L!)

She decorated the cake herself with candy she picked out at the mall. She had fun and it turned out cute! Her BIG party with her friends is Saturday. She and her friend, Beatriz, are having a party together, so sweet!!!

Here is what happened to the cake when we let Mark doing the cutting... I walked out of the room for one minute and he chopped all the petals off while I was gone:( but it still tasted GOOD!

10-10-10

2010-10-12T11:19:00.002+01:00

We celebrated 10-10-10 in style, Bria style!

My little Bria turned 8 years old on Sunday, I really can't believe she is 8! She got to choose what we did all day long so it was a big day!

We had pancakes for breakfast, opened presents and then went out to the mall for lunch.

She chose McDonald's, of course, BUT she got to have COKE with it! And sweet Bria not only wanted coke for herself she wanted her sisters to get to have it too!

Then she went shopping and spent her money from Umma and Babu, new outfits! After that we headed to see a movie, with popcorn and COKE again! :)

After the movie she picked out some candy at a candy store to decorate her cake with and we headed home to make the cake and have a spaghetti dinner (and we needed it after all the sweet!) We had fun making the cake together and she decorated it all by herself. The camera died right as she started decorating it. Lindsey was here with her camera so I will post the pictures of the finished cake when I get them from her!

Bria had a fun day of celebrating and she isn't near done yet!!! She still has her BIG party with friends in a couple weeks. She is having a double party with one of her best little friends, Bia! They are so excited about their big party! And we will have special guests here, Aunt Heidi and Uncle Doug!!!

I love you my sweet Bria girl, HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY!!!

Create a free slideshow

A Night at the Ballet

2010-09-30T20:46:00.005+01:00

For my birthday this year my in laws bought me tickets to the BALLET! I love going to the ballet so this was a wonderful surprise. And it was Romeo and Juliet, a great classic story, so exciting! My friend (thank you PAULA!) offered to keep all three girl overnight so we could enjoy the evening. That's right an overnight DATE NIGHT!!!

We enjoyed dinner at one of my favorite restaurants downtown, Amo-te, walked around and then headed to the Coliseu to secure our seats.

Someday we are gonna go all out and get one of the boxes, maybe for the Nutcracker one year!

We had open seating tickets so we rushed in as soon as they opened the doors to get the best seats we could.

Mark is debating if we have found the best seats yet... Yep, this was our view!

It was such a fun night! Dinner, ballet and sleeping in the next morning... all while the girls had a BLAST at their sleepover! Thanks In-Laws and Paula for making it possible for us to have a wonderful BALLET/DATE NIGHT!!!

Back to School

2010-09-22T23:02:00.006+01:00

School and all the routines are back in full swing for us. Here are some pictures we took of the girls on their first days back to school...

Bria on her way to the first day of 3rd grade. She was so excited to go back to school and to be with her sweet friends again. She has a new teacher this year, and after just a couple of weeks she already loves her.

Tirzy Joy, on her way to the first day of Cinco Anos (5 year old class.) She is so excited to be in the "big kid class" of infantário and she will start learning to read this year! She is with the same teacher, Ana, that she has been with the last two years and she just loves Ana to pieces!

Here is Sahara on her way to the first day of 5th grade! What!? How is it possible that she is in 5th grade? But she is and she is SO excited about it. She started a NEW school this year as the other school only goes through 4th grade. We looked at SO many school and we are very happy with the one we ended up choosing. It isn't far from the little girls school, everyone has been so nice and helpful and she is there with 4 kids from the other school.

The actual campus of this school is much bigger than the other school so it has taken some adjusting to learn our way around. Sahara now has a directora of her class and has different teachers for most subjects. She is loving the new school and we are so thankful to have found another sweet school to entrust our Sahara with!

Here she is showing off her new uniform. She is still so happy to have a uniform, she wears the shirt ALL day long and would wear it on the weekends if I let her:) I am so thankful that she is enjoying the new adventures of 5th grade!

Barcelos and Bom Jesus

2010-09-08T15:07:00.002+01:00

The final chapter of our trip is Barcelos and Bom Jesus. After Porto we headed just a little North to the city of Barcelos. It is a cute little town that has an old legend. It is the legend of the Rooster and because of this legend the Rooster is one of the symbols of Portugal. Roosters are everyone! If you have a Nando's near you the story is even written on the bags! So we visited the monument that the guy who was saved by the rooster made, peeked in on a beautiful wedding and had a great lunch. Oh and we bought ourselves a little painted rooster to take home with us.

After lunch we headed out to Braga another city just a half and hour up the road. Up above the city of Braga is this HUGE church called Bom Jesus (Good Jesus). It has a climb through a pretty wooded area and then stairs, so many stairs! Wow! There are little chapels along the way that depict the 12 stations of the cross. It was a little scary to me and sad because the resurrection wasn't a part of the walk. I wanted to see the Hope after remembering the suffering that Jesus went through for us! There was other symbolism along the walk as well, we did it backwards, started at the top and walked down. There is a nice little tram that took us back up! Oh and there was a wedding going on in the church, beautiful! The girls loved seeing the bride!

Once we were done there we headed back to Coimbra and to relax and enjoy some more time with our friends. It was a great vacation! Beautiful new places and sites and lots of catch up time with great friends!!!

Free digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Porto

2010-09-07T10:31:00.002+01:00

Part 3... After spending the day in beautiful Aveiro we head a little further North to the city of Porto to visit our friends who have recently moved there. It was fun to see where they live and to catch up with them a little.

They showed us around their beautiful new city. It is wine country and built up mostly around the river Douro, so it is a beautiful riverfront city with wine boats, beautiful bridges and an old charm to it. We enjoyed walking around and seeing the city by day and then had dinner on the riverfront and then went for a little stroll.

Porto is very different than Lisboa, it has it's own unique charm. We enjoyed getting to see it and to spend time with our friends! It is definitely a city we will visit again!

Personalize your own free slideshow

Finally Part 4: Barcelos and Bom Jesus (the end of the journey) coming soon!!!

Part 2- Aveiro

2010-09-01T15:06:00.003+01:00

After visiting our friends in Coimbra we headed just up the road to a little city called, Aveiro. It is famous for it canals. Someone told me about it our first year here and it has been high on my list of places to see in Portugal. I wasn't disappointed, it is such a beautiful city! The canals add a special little charm and there is just a calm about walking through the streets next to the canals. We took a boat ride on the canals and it was a BLAST! We all enjoyed it! After a great lunch of fresh caught fish we went to a little sweet shop, on a tip from teachers at the girl's school, and tried ovos moles.

YUM!

It is hard to explain so if you want to try them you will just have to come visit!

Slideshow design made with Smilebox

It was a great, relaxing and fun day!

Coming next: Part 3 Porto

Vacation North

2010-08-29T14:16:00.002+01:00

We took a week to go North and visit friends who have recently moved to two cities North of Lisbon. This first stop was with the Gerecks in Coimbra. We saw Roman ruins, a great castle, a huge beach, played at the park, got to catch up and enjoy their new house and city! It was a blast!

Personalize a photo slideshow

My fabulous Birthday!

2010-08-26T13:02:00.002+01:00

Finally I am getting the pics of my fabulous birthday posted! I wanted to spend the day at the beach, of course, so we decided to see if we could find a new beach we hadn't been to yet. The beaches that we planned to spend the day at were so crowded that we would have had to park and walk for about 20 minutes to get there. Not exactly the relaxing hide away I had imagined. So we changed plans and jumped on the ferry, always fun, to go to Troia. It is a little peninsula with a great beach and crystal clear water. The main beach sits in a little lagoon so there aren't many waves and the girls loved being able to really swim. The best part was when 2 beautiful dolphins showed up and played in the water right around us. Tirza thought it was very nice of them to show up just for my birthday!:)

After the beach we headed back to Lisbon, cleaned up and went out for a night on the town. We had dinner at a great little Italian place and then went to the main square for a lights, music and fireworks show. Again, sweet Tirza was impressed and the amount of effort people put into my birthday... fireworks! Above and beyond!!!

We walked around then finished the day with dessert at Hard Rock Cafe, yum!

It was a GREAT day of celebrating!!!

Personalize a slideshow

Noite dos Museus

2010-08-24T11:41:00.002+01:00

During the first part of August there were a ton of free cultural events around the city. This one was a night when several museums stayed open until midnight (and were free). We headed down to Belem, one of our favorite parts of the city and enjoyed three free museums, a great dinner and the city all light up at night! It was actually a couple weeks ago but there are some great pics of the girls (again taken by Lindsey) that just have to be posted!

Still to come... my birthday and our vacation up North!!!!

Create your own slideshow design

Pig Party

2010-08-08T13:43:00.003+01:00

Last Saturday we went to the annual Pig Party on the beach. This was our third year to get to go and it has been a BLAST all three times. This year did not dissappoint... the pig roast, YUM! A georgous beach with huge waves to play in! Lots of friends to relax and spend the day with and then the evening ends with Arroz de Marisco (Seafood), can't even tell you how good that is!

You will notice that the quality of photography has greatly increased... it's because my camera isn't responsible for any of these shots... Lindsey went with us and so we just borrowed all her pics from the day. Thanks Lindsey!!!

Free digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

11 years

2010-08-01T17:01:00.002+01:00

On July 24th Mark and I celebrated our 11 year wedding anniversary! Our friend, Lindsey, kept the girls so that we could go enjoy the afternoon and evening together. We went downtown and up to the castle that sit on a hill above the city. It has beautiful views of the city but I don't really like to go up with the girls because there isn't much in the way of safety. So we enjoyed the castle and the views, found neat necklaces made from old coins, had ice cream and spent some timing cooling off in any shade we could find, it was so HOT!

After that we walked back down in the downtown area and then went to eat at really cute little cafe called amo.te (I love you.) It is on the side of a theater in the middle of town. We enjoyed a quiet table, people watching, great food and the a/c!

It was a wonderful day, being with Mark and celebrating 11 years of being married!

Create your own slideshow

Madrid Vacation

2010-07-28T21:29:00.002+01:00

Vacation pictures from our time in Madrid, Spain!

After our company meeting we stayed in Madrid for a few days with some friends that live in Italy. We had a blast!!! It was so nice to just relax, laugh, do some site seeing and to enjoy some fun foods that we don't get all the time. It was SOOO hot while we were there but we did enjoy running the AC at the hotel without having to worry about how much it would cost us:)

We saw several plazas, the palace (which is still used today by the Spanish royalty, how cool is that!?), ate tapas and went to the zoo. I think the day we went to the zoo was the hottest of all the days. We met some other friends, that also live in Portugal, there and we all attempted to enjoy the animals despite the heat. It was fun to be with all our friends... and if you have facebook be sure to check out the shots one of them got of Mark fishing Tirza's hat out of the penguin display... crazy! Funny now, it wasn't then...

A big highlight for me was free refills of Vanilla Coke Zero at TGI Fridays... oh wow!

I could go on and on it was a great trip... enjoy "seeing" a little of it!

This free picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

World Cup

2010-07-21T19:35:00.002+01:00

If you know us at all you know we love SOCCER and therefore the World Cup is an extremely ENORMOUS event for us! Getting to be in Madrid while Spain was playing in the final- WOW! Being in Spain when Spain won the World Cup- there are no words, PRICELESS!

Cheering Spain on, as the game when on and on... don't ming that little bit of orange in the corner there, they really live in Holland so they were allowed.

WHOOHOO! Spain WON! Time to CELEBRATE!

Out on the streets joining in the festivities. And the Spaniards did not disappoint, they brought the celebrations like I have never seen... we enjoyed celebrating with them and then when the traffic stopped, the sprinklers got broken and the clothes started coming off we decided to it was time to head back to the hotel:) What a night!

There was really no way to capture the fun in a picture so I will post a few videos too!

Well done Spain, good game! And thanks for winning while we were there but next time... Portugal is gonna take you down!!!

Sahara is 10 years old!

2010-07-07T19:40:00.002+01:00

Sahara's birthday was actually before Tirza's but we had Tirza's party first. Sahara wanted to have a big girl party this year and just invite a few girlfriends to go to the movies with her. It was so much fun and she got to enjoy celebrating with her 5 sweet friend. We got up that morning and let her open presents and enjoy the day. Then one of her friends and I rode the bus to the movie theater (the girls still think public transportation is a blast, wish I shared their enthusiasm). We meet her other friends at the theater and after loading up on popcorn and soda we enjoyed the new Nannie McPhee movie. After the movie Mark and the other girl met us with snacks and CUPCAKES!

Sahara's 5 friends are all from different places, one friend is from school, one was our neighbor at our old apartment, one is American from our team here and the other little girl we met through another friend. Just goes to show that my little social butterfly can make friends anywhere and everywhere she goes!

I can't believe that Sahara is 10 years old, time has flown by since she was born! Double didgets, crazy I remember turning 10 and what a big deal it was for me. Now my baby is double didgets too! Happy Birthday Sahara Marie!

This slideshow design personalized with Smilebox

Tirza turns 5!

2010-07-06T20:41:00.002+01:00

We had Tirza's party the Saturday before her birthday. She had tons of sweet little friends over for a big celebration! They played and ate and got face painting done and did a craft and sang and played some more! It was a super fun day! On Tuesday, the 29th, Tirza woke up to a package from Umma and Babu and Auntie Letha (great timing)! And then presents from Mom, Dad, Sahara and Bria. Bria went shopping with me and picked out her own present for Tirza. Then we all headed out the the beach to enjoy the sunshine with the teachers and kids from the girl's school. On the way home we picked up Tirza's melhor amiga, Beatriz and her sister and the girls played all afternoon. Tirza insisted that we sing Happy Birthday to her again so we had more cupcakes:)

It was a super fun day (weekend) of celebrating. I can't believe that my baby is 5 years old! It doesn't seem possible!

A free picture slideshow by Smilebox

Beginning the birthdays

2010-07-05T16:28:00.003+01:00

Before anything else happens we have to get the birthday fun posted:) We started the fun a couple days early with a package from Grandma and Grandpa Bustrum. The girls were super excited to open everything and have had even more fun with all the goodies!

Customize your own free picture slideshow
More to come... parties and turning 10 and 5 years old:)

Happy Birthday Tirza

2010-06-29T15:54:00.000+01:00

Happy 5th Birthday Tirza Joy!

Happy Birthday Sahara

2010-06-27T12:42:00.000+01:00

Happy 10th Birthday Sahara Marie!

Mark Simão

2010-06-24T19:45:00.002+01:00

A few months ago when Mark went and got his hair cut the lady gave him the Simão haircut. Let me explain two things about why this is blog worthy.

1. Simão is one of Portugal's best soccer players.

2. Mark has had the same haircut for YEARS now, years. Over the years it has not varied, maybe a little shorter when he was in the military but really the same do.

So a new-do was kinda a big deal for him, and the first time around he just couldn't take it, by the next day he was back to styling it same-o same-o.

So when we went back the hairdresser was a little disappointed but wasn't deterred. She tried again and this time we convinced him to give it a real try, and over month later we still have the new-do! I think Mark looks very handsome with the new-do!!!

Oh and while we are mentioning soccer I just have to say...

Força Portugal!!!

Catching up...

2010-06-23T19:25:00.003+01:00

Last month the pope visited Portugal and his first stop was Lisbon. We were in language school at the time and our school was close to where he was going to be later that night giving a city wide mass, so we went and checked it out. And I have no idea why this is underlined but I can't make it go away!

Crowds watching him arrive, this was several hours before the mass and people were already there waiting, watching the visit on the big screen.

Papamovel:)

It was interesting for us, since we are not catholic, to see the preparations and reactions of people before and during the Pope's visit.

Little funny story for ya... here the Pope is called Papa Bento. Mark and I had a little conversation while we were on our way home about how Americans would pronounce the name Bento... it wasn't until later that day that we realized that Americans would not be saying Bento just Benedict, LOL!

Festa da Escola 2010

2010-06-20T20:41:00.002+01:00

The girls had their end of year program yesterday afternoon. It was a BLAST! Cute, hilarious and fun from start to finish. The teachers do such a good job making up the programs and teaching the kids the songs, dances and their parts. So well done so sweet!!!

This year's theme was basically stories with a twist, they rewrote old famous stories, very cute!

Tirza's class did Peter Pan and Tirza was a dancing fairy, she was SO proud of her pretty little self. Bria's class did a story about a little beetle (Carochinha) that gets rich and looks for husband, Bria is one of the Carochinha. I didn't know she was going to be singing part of her lines, she did so good!!! Sahara is a finalista this year, big stuff!!! Their school only goes through 4th grade so she is graduating from O'Poeta this year. So her class had several parts in the program... they started it off with a song and dance about being at O'Poeta, then they received diplomas, then sang the O'Poeta song for us and then later in the program redid several old fairy tales. Sahara is Little Red Riding Hood's Mother, she did great at her part.

It was just an adorable program start to finish!!! Unfortunately our camera is refusing to actually take a normal picture anymore (donations welcome) but we managed a few shots and some video so you can get a good idea of all the fun!

Enjoy!!!

Personalize a free slideshow

School's Out for Summer

2010-06-18T18:38:00.002+01:00

It is hard to believe but another school year has come and gone. The girls had their last day of classes today, last day of 4th grade, 2nd grade and 4 years. This has been a wonderful year for all 3 girls. They have WONDERFUL teachers, sweet friends and have learned SO much! Tomarrow is their end of year program and I can't wait. At our school we just have this one program each year and they go ALL out for it... singing, dancing, costumes. Last year was so fun and so cute. We don't really know what their little parts are but all 3 are super excited for us to see them. I am sure there will be LOTS of pictures to share. This year Sahara is a finalista (graduating from this school, it only goes through 4th grade) so she get a special graduation as a part of the program.

Now we get to enjoy my favorite season of the year, SUMMER! We just need the weather to get the memo that every day should be sunny and hot!

Zoo day

2010-06-16T18:38:00.002+01:00

I am back and I hope to be a better blogger now. Life has been busy lately but I think things are slowing down and getting back to normal. Well normal as life seems to get for us:) This is the girls last week of school. Can you believe it, last week of 4th grade for Sahara, 2nd for Bria and the 4 year old class for Tirza, crazy!

Enjoy the pics of our trip to the zoo with our neighbors. More to come, AND once we get a few more things arranged I will take some pics of the new apartment. Especially Bria and Tirza's new BUNKBED!

A photo slideshow by Smilebox

Bad Blogger

2010-06-04T15:17:00.002+01:00

I have been a really bad blogger lately... the sad thing is that there have been SO many things to blog about, so many things going on that I just have't had time to sit down and blog.

Right now I am sitting in our new apartment... I have grabbed just a second on the computer before I head back to unpack and trying to organize the new place. But I will get updates on here soon and I will get caught up from the last month.

I have a zoo trip, party at a quinta, the move and so many other things to blog about... Soon, I hope soon! This week we have a team from Virginia coming in to help us and I gotta keep getting the house put together not to mention finishing up at the old apartment... so SOON!

Catch up time...

2010-05-18T20:39:00.002+01:00

Hello friends... I know I have done a horrible job of updating the blog lately! Mark and I are back in full time language school (class every day) for the month of May. We will be taking our final language exam on the 26th so we are studying hard, trying to get prepared! Notice I said "trying!" Pray for us this month and especially on the 26th, that we will be able to relax and do our best on the exam!

I downloaded the pictures off the camera today and will go back to the beginning of the pics to update...

At the end of April we said goodbye to Buck and Donna Waters (or Uncle Buck and Aunt Deedee to our girls). They have been with us since FPO in Virginia and we are so sad to see them go but we are excited for them as they head out to their next adventure!

We shared a lot of laughs, some tears, celebrated EVERYTHING, struggled through language and then laughed some more!

We will miss dinners, beach days, stories after 10pm... the girls will definitely miss Uncle Buck buying our their Art Store when he came to visit!

This isn't goodbye just,

Until the next party...!

Tirza and Boby

2010-05-07T10:00:00.002+01:00

Photo slideshow created with Smilebox

Tirza's class at school has a special little buddy named, Boby. Each kid in the class gets a week to take Boby home with them. He comes with his little bed and a little vet kit, so cute! While you have Boby you take pictures of what you do with him and then the next week you get Boby's book. And each child has a page to put their pictures and explain what they did during the week with Boby. It is SO cute and the kids get so excited to have their turn with Boby! The name Boby (and I wish you could hear Tirza pronounce it... you have to say it with a serious accent on the y, like BobEE, it's so cute!) is a combination of Bolt and Brilhante. The kids in the class got to pick that it would be a dog and the name. The boys wanted Bolt and the girl Brilhante, so the compromise was...BOBY!
Tirza really enjoyed her special week with Boby!

Backward Blog- Evora

2010-04-29T17:27:00.004+01:00

I was so excited to blog about our Easter party that I forgot to blog the last day of our vacation. On the way home from Spain we stopped in a little Portuguese city called Evora. It is a really charming old city with so much history. We had a little picnic here in a little grassy area in front of these Roman ruins of a Temple of Diana. It is incredible to think of how old these ruins must be!

You can see how huge the temple must have been when it was all still there.

After enjoying out picnic, walking around the city and seeing a huge cathedral we decided to hunt down the famous Chapel of Bones. I am not sure what I expected but it really is a small chapel completely covered in bones. No one was killed in the making of the chapel the bones were dug up from the cemetery by monks and the chapel was "decorated" with the bones as a statement on the human condition (or something along those lines). There is an creepy inscription at the entrance that says, Nós ossos que aqui estamos, pelos vossos esperamos: "Our bones that are here wait for yours!" We all thought it was super creepy except Sahara who thought it was super cool!

One last picture of the city so I don't leave you with the last picture being the bones:)

Festa da Páscoa/ Easter Party

2010-04-21T12:07:00.002+01:00

These are pictures from our Easter party on April 10th. It was an incredibly fun party from start to finish. We made bunny bags, dyed eggs, the kids (all 28 of them) played and played, Mark told the Easter story using Resurrection eggs, we had a HUGE egg hunt, made crosses and ate and ate! It was so much fun making the crafts and having time to talk with all the families.

By far my favorite part was the chaos of the egg hunt! I just can't explain how excited everyone was for the hunt... there were kids and parents in every little corner of our garden hunting eggs. We really missed having a big egg hunt last year but this SO made up for it! It was a BLAST! The kids had so much fun hunting eggs that they dumped the candy into their bags and keep hiding and finding eggs until dark.

Everyone had pitched in and brought all the food, drinks and goodies so we had an awesome spread... we partied from 3pm-9/9:30!

It was so fun to get to celebrate with so many of our sweet friends!

Is it too soon to start planning next years party?

Digital slideshow customized with Smilebox

Easter Sunday

2010-04-17T20:43:00.002+01:00

We had a wonderful Easter! We celebrated in Sevilla with our friends and loved every minute of it. We started the day off worshiping with a our friends new gathering, in Spanish, and it was AWESOME! We understood more than we expected too, enjoyed the music and just loved getting to celebrate Jesus rising again!

After that we headed out to a great park, had a picnic, a little worship in English and then a BIG egg hunt. The girls had a blast hunting the park for eggs!

Jesus is ALIVE!!!

This free photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Sevilla- days 2-3

2010-04-15T17:30:00.002+01:00

We spent 2 more fun days in the city of Sevilla. Another day our friends took us in and showed us around, it was another beautiful day. The 3rd day we headed in alone to find check out some pottery shops, so fun! Unortunately I forgot about siestas... I didn't want to carry the pottery all around so my plan was to come back to the store after we did the rest of our site seeing. But all the stores close at 2:oopm and on Saturdays most of them don't reopen. Opps, luckily we were staying until Monday so we went back through on our way out of town and I got my new pottery:) And the girls found cute little fans, fun souvenirs. Tirza broke hers before we even got back to our friend's house but she wasn't too worried about it:)

Sevilla is a really charming city we really enjoyed walking around and seeing the sites, it is a revisiter for sure!!!

This free digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Sevilla, Spain

2010-04-13T20:09:00.000+01:00

After hanging out in the Algarve for 3 days we headed just a couple hours over the Spanish boarder to Sevilla, Spain. We got to visit some friends there and they took us in to the city to see the sights. It is such a charming and beautiful city. We loved walking around chatting and seeing the city. It was especially interesting because it was Semana Santa (Holy Week) and Sevilla celebrates it BIG time! There are huge processional through out the city. We even got to go into the cathedral and see two pass through.
This was just day one, tomarrow we are back for more sights!

Create your own slideshow

Vacation...1st stop... Algarve

2010-04-08T16:52:00.000+01:00

Last week we headed out on a little Spring Break vacation. It was a BLAST from start to finish. So fun and relaxing...we were a little sad to come home.
Our first stop was the Algarve, the most southern part of Portugal. The Algrave is known for its beautiful beaches and fun beach towns. We hit a couple days of not ideal weather but we still enjoyed our stay.
There were other people from our company staying at the same place so we got to play and picnic on the beach with them. The girls loved having other kids around and Mark and I enjoyed new friends to talk to. They even invited us to bbq with them one night, if you know us you know we love to bbq and it is one little thing we have missed since living here in an apartment.
Oh and another bonus was the Indian restaurant we went to for dinner another night, it was delicious! Best naan I have had in a long time:) The food was even a little spicy, yumm!

This scrapbooking design created with Smilebox

Next stop...Sevilla, Spain!!!

Goodbye Asses Hello Glasses

2010-03-21T06:00:00.001Z

Ever since Tirza was about 2 years old (like in the picture) she has called glasses...asses!

I know a good parent would have quickly corrected their child as to the proper pronunciation so that their little one didn't swear every time the sun was shinning. I am NOT a good parent:) I thought it was hilarious, I did not correct her. Tirza loves her sunglasses, she has several pairs, keep them in the car with her and uses them whenever the sun is shinning. So we got lots of mileage out of the funny mispronunciation.

For Example:

"Momma do you know where my asses are?"

"Sahara are you sitting on my asses?"

"I have pink princess asses!"

I could go on, it still just cracks me up!

So today in the car Tirza says, "Mommy can you give me my GLasses!"

Awww, the end of an era, my baby can perfectly pronounce GLASSES. I have to admit I was a little sad, my baby is a becoming a big girl, no more funny swearing in the backseat:)

Hand-me-downs

2010-03-18T20:39:00.000Z

I love me some hand-me-downs! Always have, it may even be more fun than actual shopping. Free clothes, yep more fun than shopping! Now there are two types of hand-me-downs...the kind where people just want junk out of their way and really it should go in the garbage and the other kind, the good kind...perfectly good clothes (or shoes, purses, coats whatever) that for whatever reason they don't fit, want, need anymore- good, free stuff!

I am seriously missing some great hand-me-down suppliers (Allie) that we had in the States. And I am loving pictures of my little niece, Selah, in some of my favorites of my girl's little clothes. But the reason for my entire post dedicated to my love of hand-me-downs is because I got a bag FULL the other day. And they weren't just any hand-me-downs... they were pants PANTS! I have had the hardest time finding pants that fit me comfortably here and especially jeans. I now have 2 new pairs of jeans, TWO! Oh Happy Day!

Thank you, Caroline, for not having a car, having to walk all over Lisbon and losing just enough weight to not fit into my 2 new pairs of jeans! Really I love ya and your skinny little self:)

So yes, it is the little things that make me oh so happy- and this week my happy was hand-me-down jeans!

My trip to Switerland

2010-03-11T17:53:00.001Z

I got to go spent a week in Basel, Switzerland with a group of ladies. It was work but most if the time it didn't feel like it. I had plenty of time to catch up with old friends, make new ones, SHOP and eat!

I had a fresh pretzel everyday I was there and some days I got it filled with cream cheese! Tried local breads, cheese dishes and of course chocolate!!! I traveled with 2 friends that live here in Portugal and at the airport on our way home we stumbled upon a chocolate festival complete with lots of free samples. It was a great end to a wonderful week.

Oh and there was SNOW! One day we woke up to a light snow falling, it was so pretty! Perfect tiny little snow flakes. And then the last day a full blown snowfall making everything white, beautiful!

Mark and the girls did great at home without me. Mark only had to cook one time (thank you friends for helping him out) and they even kept the house clean!
In fact they did so good I just may have to make this a regular event!

Make a free digital slideshow

Home from Basel

2010-03-09T21:33:00.000Z

I spent last week in Basel, Switzerland for a meeting/ladies get away. Okay really it was just a meeting but it ended up feeling like a refreshing fun get away. I had a great time but I am happy to be home with Mark and my girls! More details and pictures soon!!!

My Valentine's Date

2010-02-23T18:46:00.000Z

My sweet husband took me out for a special Valentine's dinner this year and it was wonderful! The j-girls stayed with the girls, we got all dressed up and went out for dinner on the docks.

We have been saying that we wanted to try out one of these fancy restaurant on the docks, just under the bridge. It is such a fun area and so beautiful, you walk along the river where all the boats are docked. We ate upstairs so we could see the bridge and Cristo Rei statue across the river. It is an old line of warehouses that have been converted into restaurants and we choose to try out a seafood place.

The food was soooo good! I had curry lobster and shrimp with rice, mmmmm, and Mark had a seafood/ fish rice dish. It was all really good. We couldn't resist dessert, apple pie and cheesecake, yummm! We will definitely be saving up to go back for another date night!

After eating a nice relaxing and tasty dinner we took a short walk by the river, actually it was VERY short because it was so cold out, we headed out to a warm movie theater. Yes, it was a BIG night out!:)

Thank you Mark for a wonderful Valentine's Day! I love you!

More Carnaval

2010-02-22T18:23:00.000Z

I am so slow and behind in blogging lately, sorry about that. But enjoy more pictures of the girl's festa de Carnaval at their school. They LOVED it! And I finally got pictures of each one of them with their sweet teachers and lots of their friends!

Make a Smilebox free slideshow design

Carnaval 2010

2010-02-13T13:06:00.000Z

The girls celebrated Carnaval at school yesterday. It was a blast! All the kids get to dress up, they have little parades and then lots of snacks. Very fun! I will get more pics of the whole day up soon but I wanted everyone to be able to see each of the girls dressed up!

More soon, enjoy!

Kidzania with Friends

2010-02-06T14:43:00.000Z

Last Sunday Bria, Tirza and I went to one of our favorite places, Kidzania, with the girl's friends! We had a blast! Kidzania is a little kid city where the kids get to do EVERYTHING! They work and make money and then can use it to do fun things. We all went back in the summer just after it opened. Bria best little friend's mom invited us to join them and it was such a fun day. I realize there are lots more pictures of Tirza and her friend, Marta than of Bria and Bea. That's because Bria is old enough to go off on her own and play. They have security bracelets and there are monitors you can use to track the kids so Bria and Bea just got to run off and do whatever they wanted all day, so fun!

Sahara missed out because she sprained her finger the day before playing soccer. If you know Sahara you know that she couldn't just simply move on and enjoy the day... so Mark took her to the doctor to make sure it wasn't broken. Truthfully I am not sure, from her perspective, that she actually missed out. She got LOTS of attention, and x-ray AND a splint and sling, oh and a note to take to school saying she couldn't write for 3 days, which meant more attention!

It was a super fun day for me... I got to spent the day with my friend too! Can't wait for the next Kidzania adventure!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Bad Blogger

2010-02-05T15:36:00.000Z

I know that I have been a really bad blogger lately... but here a a few pictures from last weekend, a little teaser... I will get more pics up soon.

This is Sahara after a trip to the doctor for a sprained finger she got playing soccer.

Bria being a baby nurse at Kidzania, so cute!

Tirza and Marta getting ready to play in Kidzania!

More soon, very soon!

Fresh Dough

2010-01-23T17:37:00.000Z

We have stumbled upon a great thing...

Fresh bread dough from local bakeries!

Our friends heard that you could go to the local bakery and ask for bread dough, so we tried it with them last night for pizza crust. It was great, we are hooked. After we realized how good it was for pizza dough we made bread sticks to dip in marinara sauce, yum! We still had plenty left over so I woke up this morning and experimented with making cinnamon rolls- WOW so good and SO easy. We about made ourselves sick eating so much. I finally asked Mark to go whip us up some eggs to counteract the huge amounts of sugar we were inhaling. Tirza asked me what "these things, these cinnamon rolls" are, we haven't had them here so she doesn't remember them.

We still have some left so I am going to make fresh rolls to go with our homemade pumpkin soup tonight for dinner. Another exciting moment was when my pumpkin soup actually turned out like they make it here, so good! Although, Tirza disagrees she still says that Eva's soup (Eva is the owner of the cafe accross the street where we eat dinner at least once a week.) is much better than mine:)

That was the exciting happening in our life this week!

Another Tooth Gone and Guilt Free Shopping

2010-01-17T18:38:00.000Z

Bria didn't waste anytime getting the next top front tooth out! She came home from school with it just hanging by a thread and finally let Mark just take it out. It came out ahead of schedule, or so the late tooth fairy said, so we had a delay getting the tooth fairy to remember to come back and get it, oops:) She looks very cute minus 2 front teeth!

We spent Saturday afternoon spending Christmas money, very fun! The girls had money from Umma&Babu, Great Grandma&Grandpa and Aunt Joy&Uncle Scott, they put it all together and basically got to pick out whatever they wanted:) Bria found the purple Princess & the Frog outfit at the Disney store as well as a notebook, two dresses and Hello Kitty tights.

Tirza went for the very fancy princess Tiana dress, she is such a princess and loves to dress up so when she realized she could pick out any dress up she wanted from Disney store she was thrilled. She debated a couple other toys but couldn't pass up the dress, it even came with the headband crown, wow!

Oh and she did get another little purple everyday dress too:)

Sahara went for the Wii game, she had a few other ideas but when she realized she could pick out her own Wii game she was set... apparently she had played this one at someone's house and just HAD to have it! She also picked out the Hannah Montana shirt:)

It was a blast to go to the mall and let the girls go crazy and get whatever they wanted! I did steer them away from a couple things, like rolling backpacks and blowing it all in a candy store but other than that they had free reign. Oh and Mark and I did try to convince them to put their money all together to buy the family Band Hero... We couldn't convince Bria, she's a tough sell, maybe next year:)

Tea Party and the Missing Top Tooth

2010-01-14T09:41:00.000Z

Monday Bria came home from school minus one of her top teeth. It has been really loose for a few days and apparently a helper at school convinced Bria to let her take it out:) Bria is very proud of her new space and has moved on to the second front top tooth. I give it about a week!

I didn't know we would be celebrating a missing tooth but has planned to have a tea party with the girls when they got home from school on Monday. Bria got a pretty little fairy picnic set for Christmas and we hadn't yet used it "for real." Like with real food and drinks, so I made scones and we had a fancy tea party.

Moving on...a new year

2010-01-12T10:54:00.000Z

We got to bring in the New Year with some fun Portuguese friends, Carlos and Sílvia.

The kids had a blast and lasted until about 3am! They played lots of Wii, ate treats, played with the other kids, made a band... lots of fun. We even saw a few fireworks out the window.

Tirza loved the Christmas singing toys, she played with them ALL night:)

Below is Lindsey and I... she is our newest j-girl and we were so thankful to have her with us for the holidays. She is such a trooper, we were at our friend's house from 8pm until 3am, nothing but Portuguese being spoken- have I mentioned Lindsey just got here in October! We even got her to sing a little Cheetah Girls with Sahara on the Wii, haha!

Alright we have to talk about the food a little...isn't the 2010 cake fun! It was really yummy too... And notice my zucchini and banana bread beside the cake, always a hit! But those little treats in the front...our new favorite Christmas treat! Sonhos de Abóbora!!! In English it would be something like Pumpkin Dreams, oh so yummy. Sílvia's mom made them... oh we are addicted. Sílvia emailed me the recipe so I am going to experiment soon and see if I can make them too!

On New Year's Day Lindsey made us her family's traditional meal- black eyed peas, cabbage and cornbread. It was great, and I think the first time Lindsey had made it herself. It is supose to mean something, like the cabbage-money but so far that isn't working out so much for us, oh well maybe next year!:)

Happy 2010!!!

My Grandpa

2010-01-02T14:05:00.000Z

Today my Grandpa, Graydon Geary Enbody, will be buried and then my family will have a celebration of life service for him. He was a very sweet special man and he lived an amazing life... I am so glad that we can Celebrate his life!

He lived first for God, he was a great example of man who walked with Jesus. Although we will miss him he left us with the gift of peace, we know that he is in heaven because we know that he believed that Jesus came and died and rose again and washed away his sins. My Grandma told me that after he died he even looked peaceful, we know he was with the Lord.

He loved my Grandma and they were a great example of love and marriage. They were married almost 60years! The picture above is me and Sahara with Grandpa and G&G's 50th wedding anniversary (Sahara was just a year old.) I am so thankful for the beautiful example they set for us... I pray that my grandkids will see the same example in Mark and I.

He loved his kids, my mom her brother and two sisters. No doubt they were special and important to them... but I honestly always thought that his grandkids were the center of his universe!:) Haha, I sounds a little egocentrical me being grandkid #4 and all but he made me feel that important and loved. It wasn't until I had my kids (the great grandkids) and I watched him play with and love on them that I realized what a big hearted man he was. And although I was very important and very loved by my Grandpa... he had enough love to go around, he made a lot of people feel special!

I am so thankful that my kids have special memories of my Grandpa. He is the Grandpa that comes with his house:) and always had jellybeans to share:)! They loved it when Grandpa and Grandma rolled up in the driveway for a visit and they also loved getting to see him in Longview at his "real" house in the woods:) I also love that Mark got to know Grandpa so well, they spent lots of hours fixing up our house, putting stuff back together and telling old stories.

I will always miss my Grandpa! I am sad that I can't get one more Grandpa hug, hear another story (especially one from when I was a little girl) or answer any questions about Portugal. But I will always be thankful for the time I had with Grandpa, for all my sweet memories... riding lawnmower rides as a little girl, eating at Mimi's when they helped take me to college, him pretending to give Grandma a hard time for taking me shopping my first Christmas in the States alone, taking him on the German autobahn, watching him play with my girls and his other great-grandkids, listening to countless "a guy outta know..." statements and on and on... I have more special memories than I could ever share, I am blessed!

Most of all I will miss his laugh, he laughed a lot... the picture below is of my girls with Grandpa the last time I saw him just before we moved to Portugal.

Notice the laugh:)

I wish I could be with my family today, to give lots of hugs and to hear all the great stories about his life but I am comforted by the fact that we aren't saying goodbye to Grandpa today, we are saying see ya later...

Love you Grandpa, I thank God for the time I had with you!

Bikes

2009-12-31T13:14:00.005Z

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

2009-12-28T12:23:00.002Z

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

2009-12-25T22:54:00.002Z

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

Getting rained out seeing the lights

2009-12-24T13:20:00.002Z

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

2009-12-23T19:17:00.005Z

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

2009-12-21T12:22:00.000Z

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

2009-12-20T13:13:00.000Z

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

2009-12-20T04:00:00.001Z

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

2009-12-19T12:23:00.004Z

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

2009-12-02T17:12:00.004Z

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

2009-11-19T18:09:00.002Z

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

2009-10-31T20:04:00.006Z

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

2009-10-23T17:18:00.003+01:00

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

2009-10-11T23:01:00.004+01:00

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

2009-10-04T21:19:00.006+01:00

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

2009-09-26T15:05:00.002+01:00

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

2009-09-18T14:25:00.002+01:00

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!

Field Trip with Vera

2009-09-09T10:06:00.001+01:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Munich, the Final Day

2009-09-06T18:08:00.002+01:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

After K-town we headed back to Munich to fly home. We spent the afternoon down on the Marienplatz in Munich, we saw the Hofbrauhaus, watched the Glockenspiel chime, ate crepes and smoothies and then went back to the hotel to crash and get ready to fly the next day.

It was an amazing trip! We got to see so many new things, relaxing, be surrounded by incredible natural beauty, visit old memories and make new ones. And by the end...we couldn't wait to get back to Lisboa!!! Back to our apartment, friends, a language we can mostly understand, our beaches... the list goes on:)

Oh Memories!

2009-09-02T18:54:00.002+01:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

After France we went back into Germany to visit the city where we lived when Mark and I first got married and where Sahara was born. It was such a sweet couple of days. Our little village of Rodenbach is just like we left it...ice cream shop, bakery, pretty window boxes and Polish Pottery store. And our old house... now painted a light yellow but still with beautiful flowers everywhere. The best part of the trip was seeing Mrs. Muller, she was our landlady and we lived right above her. She was always sweet and helpful, not to mention her amazing desserts she would often make us, but most of all she just loved Sahara. We showed up at her door and as she opened the door she said, "I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" We got to spend and afternoon chatting with her, her granddaughter, her daughter and newest grandson. It was wonderful! Her daughter, Christiana, is a doctor and was a big comfort to us when Sahara was sick as a baby. We got to go see her brand new clinic built mostly by her husband. It was just a precious day walking down memory lane!

We visited lots of our old favorite spots and we went on a hunt for our favorite restaurant. With Christiana's help we finally found it and it was every bit as good as we remembered. It is Italian and the lady that owns it actually remembered us, crazy after 8 years! Yes, we really did go there that often:) Not only was (is) the food amazing but when Sahara was a baby the owners teenage girls were the waitresses and they would carry Sahara around for us while we ate... date night!

It was so fun for Mark and I to walk down memory lane... newly wed, first baby.... travels, visitors. Ahhh, all those sweet memories!

Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and France

2009-08-29T22:36:00.004+01:00

After a wonderful 3 days in Austria it was time to move to the next phase of vacation. I had wanted to stay in Zurich but it's not a cheap city, or country for that matter so we decided to visit for the day and then drive on to the cheaper city of Strasbourg, France. Mark had never been to France so it was Mark, Bria and Tirza's first visit. Sahara and I had been on several occasions for shopping trips:)

As we were leaving Austria we starting seeing signs to FL, we didn't know what FL stood for so as we crossed the border into Liechtenstein we were ridiculously excited- a surprise country for our trip! They don't really care for tourists there so there wasn't much to see but we can now say we have been to the country of Liechtenstein!

We stopped in Zurich for lunch and a nice walk around the city. Switzerland in general was beautiful, mountains, lakes, waterfalls- amazing! Zurich was a great city and we just happened to walk right past a Swatch watch store. I couldn't resist... I have wanted a Swatch watch since I was about 12 years old, and I have been looking for a new watch for over a year now. So.... I got a Swatch watch in Switzerland! So FUN!

Then after a nice afternoon in Zurich we made our way up into France for the evening. We enjoyed walking around another pretty city, and the people were much friendlier than we expected:)

Next post: Our return to Kaiserslautern!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Zoo, Innsbruck, Horse & Tractor Rides

2009-08-27T21:31:00.000+01:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

On Day 3, we woke up to rain but since it rained every day we were there we decided not to let it stop us. We headed out to the Alpine Zoo with lots of Alpine animals. Several I don't think I have ever seen, like a pack of wolves. It felt very much like we were somewhere near Narnia, don't know why but it did.

After the zoo we headed into the city of Innsbruck. It was a pretty city with lots of history. We went to see Maximilian's Golden Dachl. He built it in the 16th century to display his wealth. It has 2657 gilded cooper tiles.

After Innsbruck we hurried back to the farm for another horse ride. The girls just loved the horses, they couldn't get enough of them. They still talk about riding the horses. After the ride they helped clean and feed the horses and then we went to visit the new baby cows. One new cow didn't have a name yet so Tirza thought she should be called Hello Kitty:) The family like that but thought they would just call her Kitty:) Then the dad or Farmer, asked if the girls wanted to take a tractor ride so off Mark and the girls went on the tractor.

We loved our time in Austria, it was so relaxing... the scenery was just beautiful! Next post is our 4 county day!

Horseback Riding

2009-08-26T20:40:00.002+01:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I think the highlight of our time in Austria, for the girls, was the horses. The day we arrived they got to see the horses but it was raining so they couldn't ride. But Madelena, the daughter who keep the horses, promised the girls that they could ride the next day. The anxiously awaited the ride all day. It threatened to rain while we were waiting to ride but Bria refused to believe it would happen- she thought it was just a leak:)

The rain stayed away long enough for us to enjoy a beautiful ride. Remember we are surrounded by the Alps. We walked along as the girls rode and it was breathtaking!

There are also a couple pictures of the house that we stayed in... it was just across from the stables and barn.

Swarovski

2009-08-22T21:03:00.002+01:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We arrived in Austria and as we pulled up to the house the family whose guesthouse we were staying in came out to meet us. We knew that we were staying in a guesthouse on a farm but I had no idea it was an apartment in their house and that they would be such friendly hosts. They invited us in to have coffee and juice with them, sat and chatted with us, told us about their farm and the area of Austria that we were staying in. It was so cool!

Our apartment was so nice, had a varanda with a view of the mountains, a full kitchen...it was so relaxing and just a beautiful area! They had a playroom in the basement and a playground out side...not to mention the horses that I will post pictures of later:)

After a wonderful breakfast, made by our sweet hosts, made with lots of goodies fresh from the farm...eggs, milk, cheese, jellies...YUM! We went to Swarovski Crystal Worlds, it is like a museum/display next to the factory. It is where all the crystal fun started!!! I really thought that I would be the one to enjoy the trip the most but the girls LOVED it. Shinny, sparkling crystals everywhere..music and lights, they thought it was a blast! And then while I was spending over and hours making my way through the store...the girls played outside in the beautiful gardens and playgrounds all around the store.

It was a blast and I came home with a new sparkly necklace, earrings and hair clips (Happy Birthday to ME!) I couldn't help but think of my Grandma E. the whole time, especially while I was shopping...you would have had so much fun shopping with me Grandma!!!

Visiting Neuschwanstein Castle

2009-08-20T13:31:00.003+01:00

It was fun to see the castle from below but we we ready to see the castle up close. We had bought tickets on-line so all we had to do was pick them up and then wait for the bus to take us up the mountain. The bus drops you off about 20 minutes away from the castle, part of the walk is where the look out area where we took all the pictures that look down on the little town, other castle and lake. I think it was my favorite part of the day. The view was just so amazing. I just couldn't help but really see the Creator displayed in His creation. We stayed there just enjoying the beauty for awhile and as soon as we decided to keep walking we rounded a corner and starting see the castle.

The actual castle tour is really short. The castle was never completed because poor King Ludwig was declared insane (in this castle in his room, which we did get to see) and then the next day he mysteriously drown. After he died they realized there was no money and the building of the castle was stopped. What did get done was neat to see but really the views are what makes the visit worth while. The castle is beautiful, it was the inspiration for Disney when he created Cinderella's castle. Tirza was looking for Cinderella all day:)

We also walked to a bridge near the castle. Unfortunately I read the info about the bridge, and how old it is before I went on it. It is really high and the boards all moved, A LOT! I did walk to the middle and then quickly exited taking my children with me. Mark took some picture for us and I contemplated going back out but before I could several bus loads of people appeared and crowded on to the bridge at the same time. No thanks!

We road a horse carriage back down the mountain, I think this may have been the highlight for the girls:), had lunch in the little nearby town and then began our trip into Austria. Which to get to the boarder took about 2 whole minutes. Yep two! We had no idea we were that close to the boarder, it was really funny. It was just about an hour and a half to Innsbruck where we stayed. I have lots more pictures and stories about that part of the trip to follow...

My Birthday at Neuswanstein

2009-08-18T11:14:00.002+01:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our meeting ended on my birthday so we spent the morning riding a bus with all our friends back into Munich so that we could pick up our rental car to start our family vacation. It was a lot of fun and, of course, someone pointed out that it was my bday so I got a loud Happy Birthday song sung. We had lunch at the airport with friends and then headed back the direction we had come to see the castle.

I have wanted to see this castle since we moved to Germany 10 years ago. It just never worked out when we lived there. I was SO excited we were getting another chance to go see it. Neuschwanstein was no disappointment, it is beautiful set up high in the mountains. I had no idea that the area surrounding it would be so amazing as well. Mountains all around, cute little Germany villages with pretty window boxes full of flowers, crystal clear lakes... just beautiful!

After walking around, playing in the lake and settling into our cute hotel we drove about 5 minutes into a nearby town for dinner. Mark and I had been craving donner kebab, which had been one of our favorite things to eat when we lived in Germany, so we were on a hunt. Right by where we parked was a big fruit stand with the biggest raspberries I had ever seen. So we loaded up on fresh raspberries, blackberries and blueberries....oh they were so yummy! Better than a birthday cake by far! After we enjoyed that snack we walked down the street and found a great donner kebab cafe... it was everything we remembered.

Then it was back to the hotel to get some rest for the next day when we go up the mountain to see the castle up close. Oh yeah and after the kids where asleep I ended my fabulous birthday by breaking into my stash of Baby Ruth candy bars that a friend had given me as a present. Just perfect:)

I'm Back...

2009-08-16T13:35:00.002+01:00

Well friends, it has been a little while, sorry but we have been busy, the good kind of busy:) We have been gone for 2 weeks and just arrived home late last night. The first week was at a meeting with the others workers from Western Europe and the second week was FAMILY VACATION! I didn't get a lot of pics from the first week but I will post a few good ones and then I will do a day by day of the vacation.

Here we go....
Our meeting was called WE Celebrate and was in beautiful Bavaria, Germany. Mark and I had meetings, worship time, small group sessions and speakers from the States. It was great and so refreshing, it has been awhile since we have had the chance to do all that in English. While we were busy with all that (from 9am-9pm everyday) the girls got to do VBS, yeah!!! Boomerang Express, the girls loved it and especially loved being with friends ALL day long.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

10 years

2009-07-24T19:36:00.004+01:00

10 years!

Today Mark and I have been married 10 years, hard to believe. In some ways it went fast and it other ways it seem like we have been married forever. Honestly the day we got married I never once thought of 10 years in the future, never. 10 years seemed like such a LONG time... I imagined 1 year and maybe a few times 5 years but 10...never.

Never imagined that we would celebrate being married 10 years with 3 little girls, living in Portugal... many jobs, a degree, sickness, happiness, laughs, goodbyes and hellos. With all that has happened in the last 10 I can't wait to see what the next 10 will bring!

What else can I say...

2009-07-19T09:19:00.002+01:00

More soon...it's mine turn to hold baby Selah! :)

1 year in Portugal!!!

2009-07-12T19:06:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was our one year anniversary of living in Portugal. I think this year has been the fastest year of any in my life.

It was a good year, a year of firsts, a year of learning, adjusting, adapting... I never could have imagined a year ago what our life would look like now.

I was excited to get here but I had no idea how much I was going to LOVE life for our family here in Lisboa.

I couldn't have imagined the amazing people we were going to meet...friendly, warm, honest people. They let us attempt to speak their language, take us to try their foods, invite us to their parties and homes... they let us share life with them...they don't have to but they do.

I knew we were going to learn the language but honestly I didn't let my mind think about what that meant until we were in class the first day. Language learning has been one of the hardest, most humbling experiences I have ever had and also the most fun and rewarding challenges I have ever taken on. And, even though we are done with full time language study, we realize that we are going to be language learners for the rest of our lives.

I like so much about the culture and people that we live in. I want to be HERE! I don't wish to be anywhere else don't really miss anyWHERE. Now friends, don't take that personally! I miss people, miss friends and family very very much. I just really want all of you to come here, to see our new city, home...life! Really, really want each of you to come see this amazing place!

I could go on and on about why I love it here...food, weather, being in the city, the shopping, the BEACH!

I am so thankful that God is allowing us to be a part of His plan here in Portugal. I pray that this next year we won't get in His way... that we will be faithful, bold and attentive! I pray that our 2nd year will be even better than the 1st!

Fado

2009-07-09T10:43:00.005+01:00

We have been wanting to go to a Fado house since before we arrived in Portugal. It was complicated because they usually cost a lot, don't start until 9pm or later and go really late. But a couple weeks ago we finally got a chance to go.

It was a tiny house out by the coast, the price was decent and Caroline offered to keep the girls. Not only did she offer to keep our girls but she kept our friends 3 kiddos as well so that we could all go together.

We dressed up and headed out at about 8:30pm to meet up with the group we were joining. Dinner was so good! It was all cooked on a open fire that was in the little room we were sitting in. One of my favorite parts was that after we ate the cooks and servers were also the singers.

Now I have always been a night person and I really thought I could stay up with the best of them...not here. At about 12:30 there was a break from the fado for dessert and cafes... I will admit I was starting to fade so I had a cafe- a very strong one- to keep going but by 1:30 that just wasn't working.

The fado singing was so fun, but they turned the lights down, it was warm... it was 1:30 in the morning! So when a few people got up to leave we joined them and headed home (the other group was actually leaving to go to a party, haha). Maybe next year we can add a couple more hours to our late night fado adventures!

Mark and MG

Me and Christi

I am not sure if you have seen MG and Christi yet but you have seen their little girl, Lily. Lily and Tirza LOVE each other, they have the same little attitude so they are adorable together!

We called this guy Ralph Lauren, he was one of the fadistas. His outfit cracked us up, we are pretty sure he heard that Americans were coming to dinner that night and pulled out this outfit just for us:)

It was such a fun night! Good food, great company and beautiful singing!