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:

2 months flew by

I canpt believe it has been almost 2 months since I almost posted here! It has been so busy with work, school, kids, travelling, etc
In May we went to Florida! It was AWESOME. We spend 3 days at Grandpa Bernard´s (Pepe) house and then 7 days at Disney. Grandma and Grandpa spend most of the time with us, I think they had a great time and a blast spending so much time with the kids (and going to the parks)! It was great to see Kaio spend some more time with Pepe and bonding with him again. He really is great with kids and just knows how to entertain and interact with him. He also knows how to entertain adults, with some good food and a nice cold beer at the end of the day.
Needless to say, but Disney was a complete hit with the kids. And although I though Josefine would not enjoy it as much, she really did! It was a pretty busy week, but we managed to do the following parks:

• Disney: kids were so excited and it all started with the "going to Disney", from taking the train to the gates, getting on the boat and then being overwhelmed with all the great experiences Disney brings. One of the first things we did was to great Mickey and Minney. Kaio was so happy and gave both a big hug and "high fives". Josefine wanted distance. She was excited when we were waiting, but once she saw that they were actually big, she did not want to get close. She did manage to do a "high five" with Minny. Later in the day we came across Pluto and Goofy, and once again, Josefine was a bit affraid but she talks about that experience until now! (although she mixes Goofy and Pluto...) We went on several rides and the kids were just running from one side to another and the 4 of us just admiring the energy they had. Kaio´s favourite ride was the Toy Story ride.
• SeaWorld: Kaio´s favourite park! He just loved feeding the dolphins, seeing all the fish, turtles, sharks and whales. The killer whale show was just spectacular and Josefine thought it was hilarious that they were getting everyone wet with all the splashing.
• Typhoon Lagoon: It was an overcast day, which ended up being perfect since the park was pretty much empty. We had a great time just floating around in the lazy river, going on some of the slides and having lunch. There was one ride that seemed big and apropriate for Kaio, so he went with Jason. Josefine and I watched. When they came down, someone mentioned it could also be appropriate for Josefine. So we all went up. The plan was for me to go first, then catch Josefine followed by Jason catching Kaio. (we had to go apart and I had to wait for Josefine at the pool at the end). When I started going down I immediately thought "OH NO!" It was a rough slide, going around, into dark tunel, with some major drops... all I could think was that Josefine would be petrified by herself. When I finally saw her coming down she was backward and on her back, she fell in the pool and I caught her (totally excpecting her to be in tears), however she looked up smilling and said she liked it. So I asked "let´s go again", to which she instantly replied "NO!". I was very proud of her!
• LegoLand: This was an unexpected hit. Kaio really enjoys legos, so seeing all kind of them in large scale was great. The rides were also very good, however Josefine was a bit too small to go on all of them. To our surprise, Kaio wanted daddy to go with him on most rides!
• Animal Kingdom: Our kids love animals, so this was also very interesting. All kind of animals and activities for them to do, even petting a salamander and driving through a forest full of rhinos, dears, alligators, etc Just like a real safari! However, this was our last park, so by now the kids were getting tired and not as "amazed" with everything.

Kids had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. They got lot´s of presents and enjoyed getting the extra atention! But I am sure that they were happyt o head back home and get some good rest!
Jason and I took advantage of the trip to do lot´s of shopping and I feel I bought all the cloths and toys we need for the next year (we arrive with 3 luggages and left with 7!!!)
Overall it was a great trip, (including the flying part!) and we had a hard time coming back. Vacations are always so nice and when they are so good, they are harder to 'let go'.

Kid´s pearls...

Sometimes the kids drop some real pearls and I wish I could memorize all of them. But here are a couple:

• Kaio started "computer class", where they play on games and learn how to use the mouse, etc. He came home and said - "eu tenho que 'clickcLar' nas letras e números" (it should be clickar, but he puts and extra L and it is absolutely adorable the way he says it) I have asked him several times what I am doing while I am clicking on something just so he repeats the word.
• Josefine is doing really well with the toilet, however sometimes we leave her for a couple of minutes (for nbr2) and before we know it she comes to us, with her pants on the floor. I tell her we need to clean her and she says "eu já limpei" (I´ve already cleaned), just to then see that she has put half a toilet paper role in the toilet! She even has started trying to clean Kaio after he goes to the toilet ;-) 
• In a couple of weeks we will be going to DisneyWorld and the kids have been very excited. The other day, they were on our bed playing "going to Disney". Kaio was combing Josefine´s hair to make her pretty, he had grabbed his donkey and they were very happy on the plane towards Disney. 
• Josefine sleeps in her own bed now, she sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night and sleeps wherever she likes. We have found her by the stares (on the floor), in our bedroom (on the floor), in her own room (on the floor), in the play room (on the floor). Just like a doggy. When I told her the other day that she needs to sleep in her bed and not on the floor, she said "é verdade, eu não sou cachorro" (you are right, I am not a doggy!) 
• Kaio and Josefine were playing; Josefine did not want to give one of her cars to Kaio. So Kaio said “Josefine, tu é muito linda e maravilhosa, mas se tu não der o carrinho tu não vai mais ser linda e maravilhosa!” (Josefine, you are beautiful and marvelous, however, if you don´t give that car, you will not be beautiful and marvelous anymore” Josefine, of course, did not care about that and continued playing with the car. 
• We are getting a tablet for the kids to play on, Jason was explaining that now we have a DVD and a tablet we will have the share (they tend to always want to play with the same toy at the same time…) So Jason said he did not want to see and fights about the new tablet. Josefine then said – “novo tablet, briga briga briga briga” (new tablet, fight fight fight) 
• It´s mother´s day in a couple of weeks and Josefine has been learning about "pregnancy" (being in mommy´s belly) at school. When we got home I got some pics and showed how I had a big belly and explained she was in there. Kaio was with us… she looked puzzled and then said – “Josefine estava no belly da mamãe e o Kaio estava no belly do papai!!!” (Josefine was in mommy´s belly and Kaion was in daddy´s belly). It was very funny. Kaio almost instantly replied “Eu estava na belly da mamãe primeiro!!” (I was in mommy´s belly first” 
• Kaio is a very sensitive and very concerned about other people´s feelings. At night the kids get to watch 30 mins of  TV, they get to choose which program. They have been watching DuckTales (also Jason´s favourite!) however recently they started watching Diego. Kaio went to Josefine and said “agora, vamos escolher Diego todos os dias, tá bom?” (Let´s Always watch Diego now, okay?) Josefine generally doesn´t really care about TV, however Kaio makes sure she is okay with the decision! Cute to see!

Professional Pics

This year we went to take some more professional pictures and they turned out great. The first set can be seen in the previous posts and here are some more:

E aí....

Josefine is already 2 years and 4 months. As mentioned before, she imitates her brother in a lot of activities, however there are 2 she does exclusively.
1) She loves to put her dolls in their crib or on a blanket and tap their back and sign them songs to put them to sleep. She imitates how her carers put her classmates to sleep.
2) The other thing she has started doing a lot it grabbing a book and, instead of reading it silently, she turns it to "people" (=dolls, Kaio, us) and starts telling us the story. "E aí... o que que aconteceu?" (and then.. what happened?) she looks around, widens her eyes, expecting a response..... It clearly seems she is also imitating the way her teacher reads to them at school. It really is adorable!
This weekend we moved Josefine into "a big girl bed". Now she can go in and out her bed. So far it has been great and in the morning she comes out of her room and looks for us. Keeping my fingers crossed she continues accepting the bed well.
Josefine talks very well. She forms perfect sentences, conjugating verbs perfectly and using adjectives and prepositions correctly. She also counts till 10 in English and Português.

Maravilhosa

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned how Kaio would say I am "maravilhosa" (marvelous) and how Josefine did not want to be maravilhosa... well, after more then a month of Kaio saying daily I am marvelous, he came home one day after spending the night at Oma´s and he told me he also said Oma was maravilhosa and that she liked it very much! As always, I said it was very sweet and that he was also marvelous. After a couple of seconds he turns to me and asks - "o que é maravilhosa?" (what is marvelous?) I had to laugh but also thought it was adorable that he had been saying this for weeks and did not really know what it meant, however he saw it made me happy and I liked it, so he kept saying it! He is such a sweet boy!

Holiday pics

Some pics from our holidays in Florianópolis:

Férias!

We have had a fun and busy summer. We have not been able to leave for extended periods of time since our business still needs our full attention. Having our own company has been great with the flexibility of hours, especially being able to spend extra time with the kids, but it also requires a lot of work and micro-management.
In January we had the family Keymeulen (my sister and her family) here from Belgium. The kids LOVED every day of it. Josefine played nicely with Ana Julia (7 years) and was absolutely fascinated by Victor (6 months) and kept trying to hold him, cuddle, kiss and play with him. Luckily he is a great baby and loved the attention. Kaio also loved playing with Victor and even asked for us to have another baby!!! Very cute! Kaio and Lucas (8 years) played non-stop, although I was surprised to see how Kaio also adored playing with Ana Julia. Overall, they all got along great and we had a lot of fun! They don´t speak the same language and only a couple of times they came to us to ask for translation. (it was mainly Josefine being stubborn and we needed to help them to sort it out)
In February we finally went to the beach! Kaio, Josefine, Oma and I went to Torres for 2 nights. We stayed in a hotel (all in 1 room) and we had a great time. The first day we only spend 1 hr at the beach (it was overcast and late), however the 2nd day was perfect and we spend 4 hrs at the beach. Kids were great. They loved playing in the sand and the ocean (although Josefine was a bit cautious at first). She kept saying the ocean was a "piscina" (swimming pool) and the sand (which was very white and soft) was "leite" (milk). They loved the popsicles and the corn-on-the-cob we would get from the beach vendors.
After that Jason came to Torres with titia and we followed on to Florianópolis. We met up with some friends that flew in from the US and had 4 wonderful days!!! One of the days it rained, but all the other days we went to the beach. Our record was 7 hrs (straight) on the beach (although Josefine and daddy went to take a nap around noon). Kaio was just unstoppable. He loved going in the ocean, playing with the sand and running around. (I had to make him drink liquids and eat, otherwise he would not stop!) Josefine loved to sit in the shade, have some toys in front of her and watch people; however on the last day she was really enjoying the ocean. They loved the fact that titia was with us (me too, as it was an extra pair of hands to help and entertain them! ;-)
Now that we are starting to go back to a "normal" routine after the holidays, we are having a hard time adjusting them back to school. Kaio understands that he needs to go, however he asks daily "hoje é dia de ir para o colégio" (is it a school day?) to which is expects a negative answer. Josefine starts crying when we enter their school´s street and it is difficult to hand her over to the teachers. I am hoping we will adjust soon!