Hermana Dantes

Some chicas from the ward and I have been practicing to sing on hermana Dantes-Nashmar’s home coming. About two months ago her mom asked me if I could sing "Piece in Christ" in Portuguese to surprise her daughter who was finishing her LDS mission in New Hampshire in a Portuguese area.

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to finally meet her, sing to her and welcome her back home.

Storytime

Giovanna is reading beautifully. I am so proud of her! She is still a little behind, but she is progressing so much. This summer she will be on a reading program to start second grade on fire!

Her little sister is making sure she practices it by reading to her every night.

Also, I am still bragging about Utah's beautiful weather right now. I love taking the girls to the park; I can stare at the blue sky, feel the breeze and smell the pine trees.

Isn't summer wonderful? Have a good weekend!

Egged on

Although we still have 55 days until summer, it is looking and feeling like summer already, and I love it! A while ago I bought a new game to play with the kids during hot days, but it's been so warm and beautiful lately I decided to open the game and play with them!

It is called egged on and basically one person fills some eggs with water, then the players spin the wheel which will point to how many eggs should be cracked over our head or somebody else's head. If we get splashed we are out. It is a perfect summer game since involves water!

  

Giovanna asks to play it everyday now after school.

This game is so much fun and super affordable. I paid about $4 bucks for it. I bought it at Walmart, but I am sure it can easily be found at any store.

United States of America

I just want to express how thankful I am for this beautiful country. We have definitely built a life here. I remember it took me a long time to get used to the American life style, but today I can't imagine my life (well, I can but I don't want to) any other way.

This is the land of opportunity- opportunity to educate ourselves, to work and grow. It is beautiful how the leaders in this country want their people to succeed. Ale and I always mention that US citizens don't succeed in life if they really don't want to, because opportunities exist. A lot. 

That is why we've been pleading with God for the wonderful blessing of eventually become permanent residents. All these years we've been studying, working hard to follow the law and statutes of this country, and waiting faithfully for this to happen.

May is always an exciting month for us as we wait for the chance to be benefited with a green card. Heavenly Father knows the right time for everything, and as I always say He is aware of us and our needs.

Disney World & Universal Studios

One of the things that helped me decide picking a family of four kids was the trip they offered me to Disney World. I remember my mom once tried to take me and my sister to Disney when we were kids, but my father didn't let us go afterwards. I was very excited about this trip.

We stayed at Universal Orlando resort and we had a blast. What an awesome place- the rooms, the pool, food, the park, everything! The Kelley girls and their cousins were all cheerleaders and they had a competition in Orlando. It was a fun experience watching them perform. Those girls worked so hard everyday on their cheerleader routine. It was crazy!

Then a couple of days after the competition we went to Disney World. I was so happy! It was my first time at Disney and I wished my family was there with me. Disney is a beautiful and magical place. We had breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and his friends, then we explored the parks.

I also wished I had a better camera. Luckily, the Kelleys took good pictures of me.

I definitely want to go back to Disney World. Ale and the kids have never been there before. So far we only had the chance to go to Disneyland- which is also great. But I am itching to finally meet Pandora- the world of Avatar.

Dominic is two

This weekend we celebrated Dominic's second birthday. His mama which is an amazing party planner threw an awesome Batman birthday party for him. 

The kids had a blast playing games, dancing, and enjoying the nice weather outside. 

Even Batman himself showed up to play and dance with the kids! It was a really fun afternoon!

Happy Birthday Dom Dom! We love you!

Mama of two

I try to be a good mama and do to baby Bianca (she is still my baby!) whatever I have done for baby Giovanna in the past. I have two pregnancy journals, two baby photo albums, and now I've been working on Bianca's scrapbook, since I've made one for Giovanna's first birthday. That's because I love them both very much and I don't want to hear in the future I've privileged one over the other.

Giovanna and Bianca will have all I have made for them on their wedding day as a gift.

Beautiful day

My girls only need sun, chalks and bubbles to be happy.

The weather has been a little crazy lately, but today was a beautiful, beautiful day!

Dance, dance

For a long time I've been repeating this mantra: "you should do something for yourself". Those words kept coming in a time I was super tired and frustrated. I was working outside the home, taking care of the kids, and everybody else but me. 

Besides being tired and frustrated I was also out of shape, but my biggest concern was my lack of energy. So about a year ago I started going to the gym. First I used to go just to run and bike. Then I started on U-Jam, and after that came Zumba, yoga and high fitness.

I love them all, but U-Jam has a special place in my heart. I love the songs, the rhythm, the dance and the people. Everybody is super nice and we are a big U-Jam family.

I might be still far from "fit", but I am sure happy and grateful for the couple of hours I have to dance all my cares away and have tons of fun!!!

Au Pair in America

After talking (or trying to talk) to several different families across the USA on the phone, in mid-May of 2007 I flew to this beautiful country to start my Au Pair program. My English was so little back then I could barely understand what the families were saying.

Sao Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport - 2007

Au Pair in America is a program for U.S families seeking Au Pairs to provide live-in child care over a year long cultural exchange. The family I picked was from Massachusetts- the Kelleys. My host parents Patrick and Betsy had four children- Alanna, 13, Paige & Jordan, 6, and Braeden, 4. Before heading to Massachusetts, I along with other hundreds of Au pairs stayed in a hotel in Connecticut for four days of orientation. 

My host family left a voice message for me and sent me welcome flowers on the last day of orientation. How sweet!

I had four fun orientation days while eating good food, exploring Stanford, and speaking Portuguese with some Brazilian Au pairs. We even got to visit New York. It was my first time in the Big Apple. It was cold and rainy!

Things got harder when I had to travel from Connecticut to Massachusetts by train. I lost my passport at the train station and it was difficult to explain it to people and get help. Unfortunately, none of the Brazilian girls I met traveled with me, so I had to try communicating with an Au pair from Germany who left about three stops before me. I was so anxious and I remember signing the porter every fifteen minutes to make sure I hadn't missed my stop.

When I finally arrived to my station, Helga deTorres (my counselor) was waiting for me. She introduced me to the Kelleys who were waiting for me on the upper level, and we all headed to their home on a dark, cold night. I was frightened and kept asking myself what in the world I had done.

The first weeks were really hard as my kids had a super busy schedule and I couldn't understand one word of what my host mother wanted me to do.

Alanna, 13

Paige, 6 and Braeden, 4

Jordan, 6

Massachusetts is a cold state. I wasn't used to that type of weather and I had a hard time driving the kids everyone specially on snowy days. The family provided me with a mini van which I could drive everywhere I wanted, and a credit card for gas and the kids expenses. They were really good to me. The kids were a bit of a challenge, but I tried my best. Reflecting with my older self now I think I would've done a few things differently, but I really did the best I could at that time.

  

Summer and Fall in Massachusetts are BEAUTIFUL! I really enjoyed the nice and humid weather in summer, and the wonderful colors of Fall. It was magnificent!

 There is so much more to talk about... Stay tuned!