This is absolutely hilarious!

Sunday Night

I found it interesting that the same day I got stung by a jellyfish (yesterday), and the kids were busy clearing the ones they saw off the beach, that nearly 300 people were stung by jellyfish in Sao Paulo, Brazil in Praia Grande:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4066528

This miserable cold lingers on. This morning, I woke-up with almost no voice. It got a little better as the day progressed, but my voice is two tones deeper than normal, scratchy and raspy sounding. I can't do much because my body aches and I get tired quickly. Wah wah wah! Enough of my complaining. Good night!

Day 5 of No Taste

I'm now on day 5 of being taste and smell deprived. This is the worst cold I've had in years. We just returned from an afternoon at the beach. I hoped it would be good for clearing-out my sinuses. I figured too that we should go because a cold front is supposed to be coming. And the kids are in absolute heaven when we take them there.

They had a great time digging holes in the sand for the water to come in, running in and out of waves, and collecting treasures. They even went "jellyfishing" (SpongeBob fans will appreciate that!) They caught around 6 or so and plopped them in a bucket full of seawater. When the jellies would wash ashore, the kids would scoop them up with their shovels. I had taken one last dip in the water, and on my way out of course, I was stung on the thigh by one of their cousins. It felt like a bee sting.

Isabella was also very busy running along the beach collecting kelp. It was very funny to watch her. She piled the brown flowery kelp high and would drop some into a bucket of water. Perhaps she was making some sort of kelp soup? Anyway, it was precious to see her with a bouquet of kelp in her hands as she went gathering it up off the beach.

Nutcracker Day

The Nutcracker
Ballet Florida
Kravis Center for the Performing Arts
West Palm Beach

In the car about to leave.

Anthony, Jas, and Isabella. It "snowed" in the theatre during intermission.


With some of the cast members during intermission.


Photos by the poinsettia tree.

Christmas Day

Loving siblings with bed head on Christmas morning.

It's Christmas afternoon and we're hanging-out at home. We've been talking with friends and relatives on the phone. My mom is visiting my brother and his family in Colorado. They've had a bit of snow for Christmas. It's funny to think about as we had Christmas Eve dinner sitting outside in our neighbor's backyard last night. While my kids are on a bike ride later, my brother's kids will be sledding.

As mentioned, we had Christmas Eve Latin style last night at our neighbor's. It was a fun time; especially for the kids as there were several other children to play with. There were presents for the kids that were opened outside in the yard after we ate dinner. It was to go on until midnight as is the custom. But we didn't make it that late. Our kids went to bed at 10 p.m. Even as a night owl, I never made it that late in Brazil (especially because they had their dinner at 11 p.m.). I prefer the earlier to bed, early to rise to open presents tradition I grew-up with.

Either way, this has been a very different Christmas in South Florida. But as I said to my mom on the phone, I've had a lot of those!

Pictures of the kids taken last night:

Christmas Eve is here!

Christmas Eve is here. I am being tortured. This is the only day this entire year I've had a problem with taste and smell. It's the only day that this dreadful cold I have has attacked those senses. I've got a turkey in the oven. I was looking forward to the smells of a home filled with the smells of a baking turkey. I can't taste the delicious chocolates someone just gave me. I most likely won't be able to taste tonight's Christmas Eve dinner. This just can't be happening!

It can be said I've cooked and baked sacrificially for others because I won't be getting to enjoy the fruits of my labor! Maybe tomorrow's leftovers? They always taste better anyway, don't they?

Oh, to be able to sip a glass of wine and enjoy it with my chocolates. It's just not going to happen. Someone pass me some warm salt water.

Queen of the Kitchen Today

A title I would never normally give myself (not much of a cook, but I do love to bake), but today, I feel I deserve the title (maybe just "princess" of the kitchen). Probably because it is so unlike me to get so many things accomplished in the kitchen. It's easy for some (like my mother) to whip-up a dozen dishes for the holiday meal. I've never felt accomplished in this area whatsoever.

Today I prepared for Christmas Eve dinner (which we're doing with our neighbors) in hopes that on Christmas, we can take it easy with just leftovers (after a big breakfast, of course!) I made frozen salad (family tradition), a quadrupled recipe of New England potato stuffing for the turkey, two chocolate cream pies and brownies. All the while, doing several loads of laundry, keeping the kids happy with some attention (Isabella "helped" me with some of the cooking and even did a few dishes), and keeping the kitchen and the rest of the house tidy during the process.

We even made it to church this evening. Unfortunately, we were meeting in a borrowed space at another church because where we normally meet, they were doing some maintenance work. We got lost trying to find the place (stupid Google directions). And even though I got the kids fed and dressed and out the door in enough time to get to church, we were 30 minutes late!

You see, when we finally figured-out where we were supposed to go, we got stuck downtown at several red lights, and then had to wait for a draw-bridge! It was unbelievable. But wait...there's more. We got to the huge church building and all the doors were locked! We couldn't get in. There were signs of life (lights) and we knocked on the back door, but nobody heard us. We walked around to the front. In the foreground, we could see a beautiful candlelight service going on. Everyone was seated in a circle around string instruments and a piano being played. I wanted to be in there!

The windows were tainted and thick. Nobody could see us or hear us knock! Thankfully for us, our friend's baby got fussy and she was up walking with her in her arms. She saw some movement at the distant window (that would be us). She kept coming closer and pressed her face up to the glass to see through the dark tint. She signaled for us to go around to the back. Her husband met us there. Alas, we were finally in! I told Edilberto that I was feeling a bit like Mary and Joseph trying to find a place to stay.

There was only about 40 minutes left of the service, but at least we got to participate some and see people afterwards and wish everyone a

Merry Christmas!

Bye-Bye Tooth

Well, Liam's pain, and mine, are past. He got his abscessed baby molar extracted today. He was such a great patient. So brave! The whining started after we got home. Understandable. I let him eat almost as many Popsicles as he wanted to. That way, if he ever has anything like this happen again (hope not), he'll at least have some good association with the experience.

I also got him a Mylar "Get Well Soon" balloon with SpongeBob and Patrick on it. More screaming when Isabella accidentally let it go into the sky when they went outside briefly this evening! I said I would get him another one, but not if he doesn't really forgive his sister for the accident. He kept saying, "I forGIVE you, IsaBELLA." Emphasis on the end of the word meaning, "You horrid brat!" Not really a forgiving spirit there. He did eventually have a softer heart and recognized that she didn't mean to do it and genuinely forgave her.

This Would Be A "Do-Over" Day

A do-over day not because it was a great day, because it wasn't. It was one of those "heavy" feeling days when you feel lost and aimless. In fact, even those around us seemed to be in the same funk! Just a weird day. Nothing I had planned for the day happened. That's normally just fine with me, but with Christmas fast approaching, it just puts off things I need to do making it feel more rushed than I'd like.

It was one of those days when the kids argued over diddly things. Our neighbor seemed in a daze. She had come over with her boys to play with Isabella. Liam was at school. Right as they were preparing for the end of the day at his school, Liam was on the floor picking-up paper when a classmate accidentally banged Liam's top front permanent tooth with a chair he was putting-up. The tooth was painful and seemed loose. Although the unexpected trip to the dentist gave us the relief that things were fine, just sore. I was very thankful to only be charged $15 for the X-Ray they took!

The biggest problem with the banged front tooth is that it may interfere with Liam's baby molar extraction this coming Friday. He had an abscess and has been on antibiotics. I pray he'll be able to go through with the extraction. We will know tomorrow. I'd hate for him to have to be on antibiotics any longer than he already has.

I mentioned winning four tickets to the Nutcracker Suite in my last post. I decided I'd go with Isabella and take two of our neighbor friends who we've grown quite close to. One of the neighbors I invited, our next door neighbor, who has two young boys, 4 and 7, and who play with Liam and Isabella. Her oldest boy has terminal cancer. She said she'd like to take him as she knows he'd just love it. What a wonderful idea that was!

My thoughts then were, "I wish I could buy his ticket." The seats we won are around $60 a piece. I knew I couldn't buy the ticket and knew that she'd be more than willing to. I just wanted it to be our treat. I phoned the ballet company and explained that I needed to know how we could get a seat reserved next to the seats we had won (the theater was to choose for us in the orchestra section). I explained about my neighbor who I'd invited and how she wanted her terminally ill seven year old son to go as well.

The nice man on the other end asked my name, address, and phone number. He said, "It's been taken care of." I then asked how much it all would come to for his ticket. He replied, "It's on me!" I choked-up and thanked him and told him how sweet this little boy was and how nice it was that he'd get to go. The man said it was his pleasure to provide the ticket for him to go. That sure made my day!

Winterfest Boat Parade

We found a great venue to view the Winterfest Boat Parade last night. Here's a link to see some pictures taken from the event:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/entertainment/holiday/sfl-winterfest-boatphotos,0,5128567.ugcphotogallery

It was a far cry from the quaint Christmas boat parade in Gig Harbor, WA that I'm used to. I think I prefer the boats there in GH to the glitzy mega-yachts with booming dance music and lights that we saw last night. Although there were a few cute smaller boats that went by with some very creative decor. Our favorite was a beautifully decorated sailboat with people dressed as wooden soldiers with red coats and tall black hats. One had a cannon. Each time he made the cannon go off, the soldiers would all fall down!

Christmas Photo Shoot

The Pressure of The Season

'Tis the season.... and here we are. Not really knowing what we're doing here. Not knowing where we'll be spending Christmas. We were invited by some friends who live in Orlando, to spend Christmas with them. We'd love to be with them, but I am kind of wanting to be in our own little home for Christmas.

It would be easier if we had a plan for the coming year. It's such a strange place to be in. Not that we haven' been in this position before. But now with two children, it's a bit more intense to find ourselves in this place of not knowing. That is why I posted about faith yesterday. If we didn't feel that God has brought us here for another purpose, other than the one we came here originally for, things would be much worse. As it is, we are proactive in seeking what the purpose for our move here is. Although there have been leads that have come to nothing. One feels a bit without aim. This has all happened so quickly. I can only hope that we can get an answer to our dilemma just as quickly.

A couple of months ago, I won four tickets to see The Nutcracker at a ballet company in West Palm Beach. We'll be doing that at the end of the month. That will be a nice treat for us!

So Many Things to Freak Out About

I'm glad I have faith and can cling to God. I think I'd have to be medicated if not. I don't know what people do who don't want to believe (I guess some of those don't do medicate themselves!) Those who run from God. I can't imagine not running to God. Several things touched me personally over the weekend and early this week. Big news stories that I had a personal contact with in some way. It felt very strange. With all the things going on in the world, along with all the things going on in our own little personal world, it can all be overwhelming. Nothing like reflecting on who God is....on His character....on His promises....on Eternity...... Nothing like pondering the fact that He is on the Throne and nothing surprises Him....on the fact that He loves us and has nothing but good intentions for us....on the fact that one day all things will be put right again....This helps to put things in perspective. I know that can be difficult for some to believe who are in the midst of a crisis. But how else do you get through a crisis without God?

"Flap Your Flipper Once or Twice..."

We had a great time watching Isabella in her dancing debut. We weren't sure how she'd react to dancing on stage. Although she did once threaten to quit her dance class because she thought practicing in the dance studio was all she was getting. At that time she had said to me, "I don't want to dance anymore. I want to be on stage!" "Well, you don't get to go on stage unless you practice," I told her.

All the little girls did a great job out there. The school where Isabella attends dance academy was having a "block party" complete with carnival rides. The kids had lots of fun playing after the dancing was over.

Now, I just need to get that Penguin song out of my head....."You waddle you waddle you waddle you waddle..."

Lots of Extra Activities This Week

Liam's school had their Christmas program tonight. What fun it was to see the little kids singing Christmas songs. Liam really got into it on the top riser. He was singing with all his heart. That is, when he wasn't distracted picking something off of his tongue, listening to his neighbor make a comment about something, or wiping the sleepiness off of his face! It was priceless.

This weekend, we have Isabella's dance presentation. A penguin tap dance is what's on the program for her dance class. It will be her very first number performed before an audience!

Here are some pics. from this evening. I didn't take any of the actual performance because the school photographer was doing a good job. We'll get a print from him later.

Back Home....

Christmas lights on our house greeted me when I arrived from across the country last night. Edil and the kids had put them up while I was away. It was good to be back. I tried my best to wake-up Liam and Isabella to let them know I was home, but to no avail. Of course, the two of them found me in the morning and hopped into bed with me. Isabella wouldn't leave my side. It was so sweet.

I'm scrambling to get back into the routine here. I probably won't feel normal again for a few days! Here are some pics. from my mom's surprise birthday party for her 75th:

My brother and me with the birthday girl an hour after we surprised her at her doorstep to take her to her party. We took this shot right before we left for the party after getting ready to go!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

From Fake Snow to the Real Stuff

Last post, it was snow in Florida. Now snow here in Washington for my mom's surprise 75th Birthday Party (which went off w/out a hitch two nights ago. She was so surprised to see me, from Florida, and my brother, from Colorado, show-up at her doorstep without warning to bring her to "her" party!)

There are just a few snow showers here and nothing has stuck. I hope it stays that way because I want to be able to get back to my babies as scheduled with no delays because of weather.