Spring brings big decisions....

Spring has arrived, and with it some very pleasant weather! This weekend we had our first pool action at the sailing club, Jangadeiros. Kids were in heaven! The other thing I adores about this weather is the kids clothing that comes with it: it is so cute to see Kaio in tank tops and Josefine in mini-skirts or both kids just in underwear!
We also made a big decision at the end of September and are finally putting it in action. From which the most recent was to buy our one-way plane tickets to Denver! Yes, we are moving back to the US!
After our first year in Brazil we had decided that we would like to raise the kids and "grow old" in the US. Brazil is a great country and we have had a lot of opportunities and fun while here, but we believe that the US is safer, more developed and will bring our family more and better opportunities in life. I also have been very eager to move sooner rather than later. Kaio is 5 now and I think it is a great period to move to the US for him to start first grade there.
We have started sharing our big news with family and friends. Of course it brings very mixed feelings as people here in Brazil were not expecting us to leave and our family in the US is very excited to have us closer.
We shared the news with the kids first and they have been great in keeping it a secret until now! They are also very excited about the move (especially as their last experience in the US was Disney!) although Josefine does not really comprehend what "moving" is. She just is excited to go on a plane again and touch Vinny! (As she always sees him through Skype)
The next couple of months will be busy....

Early mornings...

We have always been very strict about respecting the kids sleep. We have made sure to always put them to bed early (8pm, without any problems as they are tired by the end of the day and fall asleep in minutes) so they can get a good night of sleep. Both kids dropped their afternoon nap after turning 2. Sometimes, Josefine still likes to take naps when going to school (after lunch) and it makes a huge difference in her mood!
The last couple of months Josefine has been the morning bird and wakes up around 6am. The kids’ rooms are upstairs and ours is downstairs and we have a gate on the stairs so she can´t just come down. So, Josefine often just starts playing in the playroom or sits by the gate calling us. When I get her from upstairs, she comes with us in bed and sometimes she falls back asleep, but mostly she just comes in bed with us and after some cuddles goes to play in the living room.
Kaio sleeps a little longer (until 7 - 7:30) and also likes to come in bed with us for some cuddles, hugs and kisses! They are very sweet!

Tu não me manda!

Josefine continues to be very bossy and repeats things I say for Kaio to do, like "tidy up", "put your shoes on", etc She imitates my tone of voice and gestures too! The funny thing it that most of the time, she has not done her part of cleaning or put on her shoes... One day Kaio said: "Tu não me manda" (you are not my boss or you don´t give me orders), which is clearly something he picked up at school. Surely, Josefine now uses that whenever Kaio says something to her. 
Kaio was playing nicely by himself today and she (as she does often) goes and starts bothering him (no, not playing along, really bothering him) and he asked for her to stop doing that. In one nanosecond she replies with a loud: "TU NÃO ME MANDA!!" Kaio and I had to laugh! At lunch she said the same thing when I told her to finish her plate....
This weekend we went to the launch of a fun children-cd. The kids had a blast! It was a small venue with lots of interaction. When the singers invited the kids to dance and sing, Josefine was the first one on stage and pretty much led the other kids around. Kaio, on the other hand, did not want to go on stage at first and only warmed up to it on the last song. We bought the CD and have been listening to it since. Josefine was singing along the next day and Kaio is more of a listener and asking questions about the lyrics. 

5 years!

This week Kaio turned 5 years! Where did my little boy go?! He is a big boy that is 110cm (he grew 3 cms in 3 months!), speaks two languages, dresses himself, is a very loving big brother to Josefine, knows how to write his name and make beautiful drawings, hugs me and says "I love you SOOO much" every day, recognizes all letters of the alphabet and started learning math. He is a sensible, loving, caring, smart, sweet and funny boy that just fills our lives with so much joy.

We had given him a couple of options of what to do for his birthday and our day was as following:
- Breakfast: skinny pancakes that mommy makes (they are like crepes that you can choose your own filling and roll them up to eat) with doce de leite and fruit
- Lunch: McDonalds. (he loves to get the toys)
- Party: at Boom Mania, a place you can hire that has all kind of toys and activities. They provide the food, drinks and entertainment. We invited his 17 classmates and they spend 3 hours having a blast (all kids were exhausted at the end!). Josefine, titia (Liesbet) and my mom also joined us. He really loved it!
- Dinner: leftover cake!

We spend the whole day with him and he kept saying he could decide everything because it was his birthday! Josefine was happy with it but asked when her birthday was going to be. Kaio got lots of presents and is still in the process of opening them all.
Jason and I finished the evening with a nice bottle of champagne celebrating the birth of our amazing son!
It was an awesome day!

 Kaio with his buddies

 Mommy and Kaio

 Picnic time

  

Even Oma and titia had a blast!

 Kaio and his friend

Getting ready for the "happy birthday"

 Blowing the candle with Josefine´s help!

 Happy Birthday my amazing son Kaio!

Kaio the gaucho!

Last week Rio Grande do Sul celebrated it´s independency. For the occasion, we dressed Kaio as a gaucho! The pants are baggy bombachas, with a nice shirt, a bandana around the neck, boots and a hat. Kaio loved being all typical and loved his boots! (he wore them the next day with jeans) We went to the acampamento Farroupilha to eat a good barbeque and see all the typical gauchos and prendas (the "gaucho woman)
Both kids loved seeing all of the tradition and animals!
Gauchos also have a typical dance, called Chula, where they dance around a stick. I showed Kaio some videos on youtube and then he went for it!
Just completely adorable. Focussed and dancing very nicely.

Brother love...

I have mentioned several times how these two kids just love each other! Of course they have their little fights but overall they are just plain out ADORABLE together. Besides playing nicely together, they share, hug and kiss each other constantly!

Josefine´s best friend at school is Gabriela (she is the granddaughter of the owner of the school). The other day the owner approached me and said that over the weekend Gabriela told her she had a brother named Kaio. And that he was a cute little baby! (She actually does not have any siblings) She was so convincing that the grandmother actually thought the parents were expecting again! It just shows how Josefine talks constantly about her beloved brother to the point her best friend wants to have a brother just like him!!!!

First Joke...

I remember posting Kaio´s first joke here on the blog and now it is Josefine´s turn. Jason went to pick her up at school and she said "olha ali" (look there) pointing and something. Jason then looked and did not see anything but a wall and said "what?!" and she said: "OLHA ALI!" pointing at the same spot and Jason continues puzzles since he did not see anything. Then she said: "NADA!!" (nothing) and started giggling. It was funny!
As always, Kaio is really good in eating his vegetables and fruits, Josefine follows his lead and also eats fruits and vegetables, although not with much enthusiasm and sometimes needs extra encouragement. The other day when we were having lunch she was not very excited about the broccolis, so I explained that she had to eat it to grow and become as big as mano, mommy and daddy! She looked at it and ate all her broccoli. The next morning, while preparing breakfast, she came in the kitchen and said: "mãe, eu comi todo o brocoli ontem" (mom, I ate all of my broccoli yesterday) to which I praised her and as a bit puzzeled why she was bringing that up. So she said: "mas mãe, eu ainda não estou grande" (but mom, I am still not big). She was expecting to grow overnight after eating broccoli!