10 year anniversary!

Last week we celebrated our 10th anniversary! Since our last trip it was just the two of us (in august, for Jason´s 35th birthday) and we missed the kidlets so much, we decided to plan a trip to celebrate our anniversary with them! We also decided to explore a different part of Brazil and decided for Rio Quente in Goiás.
It was PERFECT! 
They have amazing hot springs and a huge waterpark and lots of fun activities for the kids. For us, just being with them and having fun together was also priceless! The kids did very well on our trip there and back (which was almost 10hrs each way)
Kaio improved his swimming even more and loved all the options for him to practice diving, swimming, looking under water, etc. He did several rides and did not stop for a second! Josefine is also very confident with her floaties and did not ask for us to hold her, she continues being very independent.
We had an amazing trip as a family! 
It has been 10 years since we got married!  Back in 2003, we were living in LA, in a small rented apartment in Marina Del Rey.  On the 24th of January we went to the LA courthouse (close to the airport) with 2 of our good friends (Tom and Phil) and got married! We had a lovely afternoon at the four seasons hotel in Beverly Hills, with a bottle of Don Perignon. We spend the weekend up the central coast in California.... In these 10 years we have become a strong family with 2 amazing kids and lots of experiences around the globe! We couldn´t be happier!

 

Happy 2013!

The last couple of weeks of 2012 and this first week have just gone by so fast! We have been very busy! First Karolien and her family arrived from Belgium and it was great to get the cousins to play together! It seemed they had seen each other last week, as there was no shyness and they started playing instantly. Victor, who is now 18months, was a bit cautious and it took him a little bit to loosen up, but he finally did and he is adorable. Kaio and Josefine were all over him and they kept asking for kisses and hugging him. We also had a lot of fun hosting and entertaining some dear friends from Belgium (Lesley is my friend since I was 12 she is married to Toon and they have a 7 year old daughter called Noor). We hosted our first Christmas dinner at our house, we didn´t have a huge stock of presents under the tree since we will be moving soon. After Christmas we went to the beach (Ibirquera) for 7 days, including NewYears. They kids loved playing with Noor and Kaio did a great job in speaking English (as they did not speak portuguese) and even helped translating for Josefine!
At the beach Kaio also started swimming by himself. (with no floaties!!!) We have wanted to work on that, as he is 5 years. One day Jason and Toon (who is a former competitive swimmer) took an afternoon and he got it almost instantly. He swam 5 meters at the end of the holidays at the beach.
At the beach, as last year, Kaio had a blast and loved playing in the sand, catching waves with his board and just the joy of playing with us. Josefine also enjoyed the sand, but was a bit more afraid of the waves; she kept asking to go to a beach without waves. But overall she had a lot of fun and often she would just lie on the towel and watch people go by and see the waves come and go.
Some pictures:

Josefine, Victor, Lucas and Kaio

 Newyears Eve

 Newyears Eve

 Godmothers with godkids

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 Cousins!

 Pool time with friend Isa

Christmas Dinner

 Beach!

 

Year end presentation -> a SUCESS!

Every year the kids have an end year presentation of their school. This is the 3rd year Kaio has done it and the 2nd year for Josefine. 
It was amazing! The kids did so well! 
Each class represented a country. Kaio´s class was Spain and they danced along a Gipsy King´s song. He did all the moves perfectly and had a huge smile on his face! He really was enjoying himself. Josefine´s class represented Portugal, and just like last year, Josefine was very focused on her task! She danced and smiled.... she also looked around to see us!
I was overflown with emotions and cried several times. It was the last year of presentation here in Brazil and the kids did so well and were just adorable in their costumes!
Oma and titia also attended and the kids were very happy with their presence!
(We don´t have many pictures since they had a professional photographer and we will be buying those pictures!)

 

 

And she is 3!

Josefine turned 3 yesterday! Often we catch ourselves admiring how big she is. How much she can say and how much she can do. She is not a baby anymore, she is a big girl!
Of course, she still has some moments she regresses to being a 'baby', but most of the times she communicates well, she expresses her feelings, desires and needs. She is able to play by herself, draw nice paintings, count until 20, recognize several letters and sing lots of songs. She can dance, jump, annoy her brother, hug and kiss her brother, she can be very loving but also be very stubborn at times. She is funny and smart and wants to learn.
On the 30th of November we had a birthday party at her school for her classmates. I took her to the store and let her choose between the several themes available and she decided on Minnie (I guess the trip to Disney left a great impression on her). She insisted on an apple cake (normally birthday cakes are chocolate, vanilla or something "simple") but she kept firm in wanting an apple cake. After looking in several bakeries without much luck, Oma offered to make one. We also decided to buy a "normal" birthday cake in case the kids did not want to eat the apple one. It turned out Oma made it such a fun, beautiful and delicious cake that it was a hit amongst everyone!
On her actual birthday (sunday, the 9th) we started the day with lots of hugs and cuddles. Daddy made American pancakes and then she got to open some gifts. We were invited to 2 other birthday that day and so we spend the day having fun, playing, eating delicious food and lots of cake and enjoying our big girl!!!

Our beautiful 3 year-old!

 Birthday Party at school