Dress up!

We have a box full of all sorts of costumes and once in a while the kids spend the day dressed up! Yesterday Josefine spend the day as Minnie Mouse and Kaio was Spiderman! They were just adorable and have an awesome time! It is great to see them explore their creativity with games and moves. Although Josefine was more about being cute to everyone, Kaio was jumping, 'protecting' people and got into the Spiderman role pretty intensely!

 Spider Man and fairy

 Minnie Mouse

At school they take professional pictures every year. They dress the kids up a bit and make them look just adorable. Here are a couple of those pics:

Can they be any cuter?!

Oma returned!

Oma and Opa have been in Europa\Belgium for 3 months. They travelled around Europe and spend quality time with Karolien and her family. Kids have been patiently waiting for her return. When she arrived at our home, both kids started screaming with excitement, Oma got hugs and kisses for 15 seconds and then Kaio popped the questions - 'Aonde estão os presentes?' (where are the presents?). Of course she had bags of toys, clothes and fun things for everyone! 

Kaio got some nice Legos and he was amazing putting them together (they were for 5+years but he did it perfectly). 

Josefine got a little purse with a daschund in it. When I was younger my parents had such a dog and we called it Flapke (due to the hanging ears, little flapping ears). Josefine liked the name and calls her doggy FLAPLEK! It is adorable as she says it differently.

We are all happy Oma is back!

Vamos para o círculo

On our way home a "Vostok" circus has set up camp! The kids have been excited to go and I have explained what the circus actually is. However instead of saying circus or circo (port.), both call it the "circulo" (circle). Unfortunately we drove by today and they are taking the tent down and we have not had a chance to take them... We get busy during the weekends with birthday parties, playdates, barbeques, meet ups, etc and we missed this performance, but both kids were very good about it and Kaio even explained to Josefine that the "circulos" goes around the cities and will come back to Porto Alegre and then we will certainly go!
This weekend we had a birthday picnic and the botanical garden. The kids had a blast and met up with several of their friends!

Making funny faces with Isadora, 20month old daughter of my best friend Mariana, whom I have known for 20 years!

On sunday we had a barbeque with another set of friends and they also had a blast together. (they both passed out in the car after playing and running all afternoon!)

Playing with Ben and Bento, sons of my great friends from vet school, Velloso and Carin (Bento, 14 months) and Gustavo and Adreza (Ben, 3 1/2 years)

When I see these friendships starting (they recognize each other and even ask about some friends at random moments) with the kids of some of my dear friends, it warms my heart to think that (hopefully) in several years from now they will still be friends. I am also so happy we are in Brazil for this period, as the kids get hugged, kissed and given attention much more then in any other country we have lived!

Big, hairy elefant...

Yesterday I took the kids to check out an exhibition of the animals from the Ice age! They were extremely impressed. The animals were their "actual" size and very different then the animals they usually see. After we went around and looked at them, they got to pick their favorite. Josefine´s favorite as the "elefante cabeludo grandão" (the big hairy elephant) and Kaio preferred the tiger with huge teeth. Kaio was also very interested for me to read the explanation of each animal, what they ate, where they lived, etc.

To finish the morning of fun we went to McDonalds! (I had promised to do so if they behaved nicely at teh grocery stores and the other errands we ran while at the mall) We don´t take them often only on "special occasions" (when we take Kaio to the movies or theater). Kaio really likes it, although it might be just to get the toy in the "McLanche Feliz". Josefine seems to just follow Kaio´s excitment and was "muito feliz" to go to McDonalds!
We had a fun morning and I wanted to spend the rest of the day with them....

Josefine !

Although Josefine is officially in the "terrible twos", she has been so much fun! She has a vast vocabulary and talks a lot. I adore watching her play and invent situations (like she is the mommy of her dolls, who did not behave and need to go to the naughty step or she has to put them to sleep and sings them songs, etc) She knows how to challenge and test her limits, however I noticed she is starting the understand the consequences to certain behaviors and avoids them. A couple of weeks ago she did not go to a baby shower with me (although she was very excited to go) because she had not listened to me earlier in the day. She understands that she needs to eat her vegetables (some she really doesn't like but some she never tried!) to get dessert. She has a very fun personality and loves to jump (she has been so excited to be able to get off the floor when she jumps).  She continues not having much interest in TV but does like to look at pictures on my iPhone or computer. She also loves reading books (huge influence from Kaio!) and she also likes to "read" them to us or her dolls.

Kaio !

In a couple of months Kaio will be 5! It just amazes me how time has flown by. I clealy remember being pregnant of him, his birth, bringing him home, changing his first nappies, his first steps.... so many great memories! We have started organizing his birthday party because September is a busy month fo birthdays (it is the months with most birthdays because it is 9 months after Xmas, Newyears, etc ;-) Kaio is such a big boy and continues to get lots of attention for his sweet personality and maner! Of course he is a boy, so he has energy and does "boy" things, but overall he is very sweet and considerate of others. When we go to parties he plays and runs, but he is also careful with other kids and helps younger kids. We continue to receive many compliments in how good looking he is (which is very true) and how he is just a copy of his daddy! He continues having a huge interest in books and you can often find him quietly reading a book for hours. He is writing his name (Kaio Hall) very well and recognizes a lot of letter and numbers. His drawing has improved and he colors nicely within the lines and makes very colorful drawings.He continues managing both languages and actively tries to speak English.

Pictures of Disney

I finally had time to sit down and go through the pics (and also made a fotobook!) Here are some of my favourites:

- 1st days at Pepe´s:

- Getting ready to hit the parks:

- DISNEY:

- SeaWorld:

- Animal Kingdom:

 - Some Pool time:

- Happy family that had an awesome holiday: