Mom Life in São Paulo

Mom Life! It is never dull (even though I wish it were sometimes) On Wednesday the kiddos and I went to a birthday party at an indoor trampoline place. We found out that loads of sugar+hours of jumping =disaster!

I managed to get 4 hot and sweaty, sugar induced (but happy) kiddos loaded into the car and we headed off home. We didn't get more than two minutes down the road when Eli started PROJECTILE vomiting everywhere. All over Skyler's school backpack, the seats, the floors, probably a bit on the roof. It was a sight to behold. This sounds bad, but I honestly thought in that moment,"Thank goodness that didn't just happen on the trampoline in front of the ENTIRE party!" We can handle the car. Even though we were using daddy's work vehicle that day.

I pulled into our condominium and this is where the tricky party comes in. I have to communicate to the staff that I need to find some place to clean my car. This is how my Portuguese sounds in English:

"My son is sick. He Vomit. I need to clean. You have water?"

The guard just shook his head and looked at me and our vomit filled car and decided we were one hot mess he wasn't about to deal with.

That meant plan B had to happen fast. This is tricky in a foreign country. My Portuguese isn't good enough to just start calling places and find out where to take the car. The guard wasn't offering any help so I find myself always having to just wing it. I remembered that there is a car cleaning place in the mall down the road so I decide to give that a try. It was just about 6pm so I knew I had to hurry or it  would be closing soon. I gave Thais instructions to shower little Eli who was completely plastered in puke ( she loved that idea).I had Gracie come with me and we took off to the mall hoping we would be able to save the puke-mobile.

Five minutes later, I pulled into the car place and was THRILLED to see that it was still open. Again, I got to use my excellent portuguese as the attendant looked in my vehicle like he wanted to die. It went something like this:

"I'm sorry. My son was sick. Much vomit. I need help to clean. I will pay a lot!"

We agreed on r200$ (about USD 70 bucks) and the guy told me to come back in two hours. I gave him a high-five and sympathetically  told him, "Boa Sorte!" (Good Luck!)

As we gathered our things out of the car to head home that's when we realized that Grace has no shoes. Why is that?!? No one knows!!! These are the Mom Life mysteries that keep life exciting.

 No problem. We were at the mall so I decided to buy her 100th pair of  that Havaianas that somehow keep disappearing. 

With the new shoes on Gracie's feet. I thought that rather than taking a taxi home, we'll enjoy the beautiful weather and walk. We passed by a Brazilian bakery/diner on the way and I decided to get some  rice and beans for Eli because that's pretty much all our little feijãozinho will eat these days.

With food in hand, Gracie and I head for the door and see that it is POURING rain. So much for our beautiful day on foot!

 We only had about half a mile to walk but I wasn't feeling like getting drenched.  Luckily there is a taxi station near the bakery so we made a mad dash toward the station and hopped in a taxi to drive us 45 seconds down the road.

The end of the story is that we finally made it home. My Portuguese was good enough to get us by. Thais was pure awesomeness and had Eli showered and changed. I scooped up my little puker and gave him his favorite meal of all time....Rice and Beans! The End

Tchau-Tchau

Home Sweet Home-For The Homeless

There is a serious tug at my heart for two competing desires- 1) the desire for my children to have a home with deep roots some where  2) the desire to live a life of adventure. I want so much to have both, but alas, life just doesn't seem to work that way! Although I am loving our adventures here in Brazil, sometimes I get this unsettling feeling that we are totally rootless. There isn't a defined place that my kids would call home and that makes me a little sad sometimes.

Maybe that is why Arizona will always be near and dear to my heart. It is the one place in my life that has always felt like home. It fills my tank to go back and be with people that I have loved through the many different stages of my life. There are friends from high school and college. Friends that have watched my babies be born and I have watched theirs. I have friends where we spent countless hours raising our kids together and a few of us even took classes and joined mom groups as we earnestly tried to be the best mothers we could be. I felt like I had a village.

Going back is always bitter-sweet because in all honesty it opens a wound back up that formed when I had to leave, but it is so much fun to see all of these great people that I love!

Here are some highlights:

Boating With the Eagars

We might have boated on the the most perfect lake day in the history of lake days. The water was like glass, perfect stillness, and it was warm and cool all at them same time. I could have floated aimlessly in it all day and been perfectly happy! Plus, who doesn't love hangin' with the Eagars! It was a blast!

This girl just makes me happy. The end!

Getting to see Friend-Cousins
There is a lot of history with all of these kiddos. Thais and Tyler met each other when they were still in diapers. Chase and Sky have been best buddies from the get go, My kids were in heaven riding bikes through the Gladden Farms neighborhood, swimming and playing soccer to their hearts content.

We were so excited to see that Gladden farms now has a McDonalds! Woot-woot!

How cute is this inside-out oreo cookie? I love these cute girls!

I loved this day at the splash-pad! It is the coolest seeing how much all of these kiddos have grown. SOOO many of these kids I have loved and held as babies.

Love these Mamas that made all of those babies!

Going To The Temple

My history with this friend of mine could fill the books. The two of us standing in front of the Tucson temple has so much meaning to me it brings tears to my eyes. I love her!

Meeting Babies

Jamie, Karli, and Jenn all had babies I needed to meet! I absolutely loved getting my baby fill.

Visiting the Uof A Campus With My Crew!

Epic Photos Sessions

James and I were roomies in college 9 kids later you can see we've been a little busy since then ;) I love this girl!

Breakfast With These Fine Ladies

Thais Turned Double Digits!

Thais turned the big 1-0! Can someone please explain to me how in the blink of an eye, she went from the tiny little baby wearing a butterfly on her back, to the confident young lady rockin the number 10 on her back?!? This birthday was a hard one for me. Suddenly it feels like Thais is on the fast track to growing up I want to magically turn her back into my tiny, dark curly haired first-born baby.

Can I just say, Brazilians know how to PARTAY! There are streets with rows and rows of party stores. I think my kids have gotten more birthday party invitations here, than they have ever gotten in their entire lives. The problem is many of the birthday parties here are nicer than many weddings we have been to. I was leery of throwing Thais a party here because we don't do parties quite the same way in the U.S. Let's be honest,Chuck-e-cheese is about as extravagant as we get but Thais has a friend here who was born a day earlier than her so the Moms decided to do a a fun, but tame version of a Brazilian Party!

The decor was mainly girly tissue flowers and lanterns. I made tissue flower center pieces for all the tables.

We had an art project the girls took home as a thank you gift.

Nail painting

A hair and beauty station!

And the coolest outdoor games!

The girls even got to dance their hearts out with a DJ!

Here are the birthday girls!

Thais has made a fun group of friends here! They had a great time!

                                       The party planners!

                                We love this girl of ours!!!!!