I have been sick for just over a week. It has been miserable, but I didn’t want to get on just to whine about it. Today I woke up and felt so much better that I wanted to make the whole world smile…
Enjoy: :-D
“It all tastes good!”
-Ginger
Just over a week ago Marcio’s brother was visiting from California with his family. We went to lunch with them and Marcio’s mom and another brother and his wife. Afterward we decided to continue our visit at a local park to give the kids time to play together. We miss their family a lot and are so grateful for the time we got to spend with them. Here are just a few of the pictures that we just got from that afternoon. These were all taken with Fernando’s camera, and I believe he also snapped most of them. I should note that two of Marcio's brothers are missing from the pictures because of previous commitments. Also, Jordan fell the day before causing the big scar on the center of her forehead--poor girl.
At the restaurant with Grandma Tania.
Jordan and Gabe played a lot on the tallest slide. No Fear!
We got group shots of the brothers, the sisters-in-law, the sisters-in-law with Grandma Tania, the couples, Grandma and the kids, and three of the four grandkids.
I was grateful that Fernando was thoughtful enough to snap a few close-ups of my kids.
At the end of our stay, the kids kept running off into this field together. They seemed to have more fun in the grass than they had enjoyed in the playground. Jordan and Sam especially loved running around together. It was so cute that all of the adults couldn’t stop laughing at the pair of them.
I couldn’t tell which version of this picture I liked better, so I just included them both. You will have to vote for which one you like better so I know which one to get a print of.
-Ginger
Jordan has been fascinated with the bathroom for a while, but lately she is almost obsessed with Caio’s ability to use the potty. Whenever Caio runs to the bathroom or has someone take him when we are out she says, “Caio! Potty! Caio! Potty!” over and over until he returns. The other day I was getting the kids ready for a bath and Caio hopped on to do his thing and Jordan got so excited that she was literally squealing with delight the entire time and trying to peer into the bowl to see what he was doing. I had to physically restrain her to protect his privacy, but I encouraged her enthusiasm as much as I could by talking about how Caio uses the potty because he is a big boy. She also asks from time to time to sit on the potty and is really happy when we let her do it, even though nothing happens… That is, until last night… :-D
Last night, Marcio was getting the kids ready for bed and took her diaper off to replace it with a fresh one when Jordan began to get up and said urgently, “Potty! Potty!” Marcio almost disregarded it, but decided that it wouldn’t hurt to just let her sit there for a minute. He took her in and placed her on her perch and waited. Suddenly something wonderful happened: my baby girl tinkled on the potty. I guess it was only a couple of droplets, but it still happened and she was VERY happy with herself. She came and announced her success to me and was so excited that she couldn’t stop laughing while I told her what a big girl she is. Caio was even happy for her. Don’t know how permanent this is yet, but I guess we will kind of watch and see. :-D
Ginger
Today my husband introduced me to a blog he has been following for a while. I think it is absolutely fantastic! I am officially recommending my devoted followers to take a moment to check it out.
I guess now I know his secrets of manliness. No wonder he is such an amazing catch! ;-)
Happy Reading!
Ginger
Just a quick note to my avid readers:
Today we were getting our Sunday lunch on the table and realized we had forgotten a couple of things. Marcio and I hurried over to grab stuff from the fridge and stove. As I straightened up from leaning into the fridge, my head cracked into the door frame. Before I could even think of a reaction, I heard my sweet husband’s voice full of concern, “Oh, Honey! Did you bonk-a bonk-a???” I looked over at him and then the two of us started laughing. Bless him! He is a daddy! And a good one, too. :-D
Ginger
We were asked last week to speak in church today (Marcio and I). We have lived in this house for two years and this has been our ward for around a year, so they asked me to introduce our family. I have a tendency to be long winded, so I pulled out a snippet from my journal that I wrote for my kids and read that (I may or may not include this in a future post b/c it is kind of cute).
Well… we were asked to speak on the atonement and what it means to us, or something like that. I worked all week to try and write something, but I couldn’t get anything down. Finally, this morning, I gave up and left it in the Lord’s hands, taking only a few notes with me. By the time I was standing in front of the congregation, I felt like I would throw up. I have never felt that way before speaking in my life. I finally started speaking and threw it all out there. I felt better as I spoke and hoped that it came out with some sort of coherency for the congregation to follow. Then I finished and sat down. That is when I really felt better. A lot of people told me that I did a really good job. Then Marcio told me on the way home that it was really good until the end and then it kind of fizzled out. LOL! Well, maybe they won’t ask me again for a while.
Ginger
Please go to Modern Expressions Photoblog for a preview of our family pictures.
These pictures were taken on Friday, July 3rd in the evening. When we first got there the kids were just waking up and very unhappy. We had to coax and cajole them just to stop crying. Then we started the session for some of the more serious shots. Later they warmed up enough that they were actually smiling. By the end of the shoot they had enjoyed tearing the roses apart and running around kicking a soccer ball and being rather pleasant about the whole thing. I can’t wait to get my whole packet later so I can share how everything turned out.
Please let me know what your favorite shots from this group are.
:-D
Ginger
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a lot of things in my life. And I have a tendency to start linking everything I see or hear to whatever is taking a center roll in my life at the moment. Lately, for instance, I have been thinking a lot about inertia and gravity and how you can’t turn a 747 on a dime.
I think this is an important set of concepts that my mind has never really grasped before. I wonder how often we look at a commercial airplane on the runway and realize that it can’t just leave the ground without a little momentum. Gravity pulls and claws at the mass and tries to hold it down. Do you think we could have convinced anybody 200 years or more ago that something that size could leave the ground and stay airborne for hours? It is absolutely amazing how adding enough momentum can do wonders toward advancing us heavenward.
I have heard that the hardest part of reaching the moon or orbiting the planet is breaking Earth’s gravity. Large pieces of gear strapped to every shuttle NASA launches falls off before it ever makes it to space because its only purpose is to push that shuttle forward, adding momentum to the ascension every second it burns fuel. It is amazing to watch and staggering to think about and presumably difficult to execute.
I guess what I’m getting at are the gravitational pulls that hold down the hearts and minds of mankind, such as habit and ease; trial and temptation, etc. Sometimes we look at what we are facing in life and bemoan the fact that it seems like we have been asked to single handedly move a mountain to the other side of the world, one tablespoonful at time. But when we really examine that mountain we can see that it is a fully operational airplane that just needs a little push to get it started and a lot of fuel to continue its momentum. The most difficult part of the whole journey is getting that plane off of the runway in one piece without backing off or pulling back on the throttle.
I once had a seminary teacher who encouraged us to begin a habit of reading The Book of Mormon daily by telling us that we could get full credit by reading at least 15 seconds a day and at least 15 minutes in a week at the same time (you do the math). I had never before mastered myself enough to make a daily habit of scripture reading because I felt I had to read at least 30 minutes to make it worth my time, but that 30 minutes seemed too difficult to get going. Really all I needed was to get my feet wet every day to build up my momentum.
I hope you understand where I am going with this idea. I have been thinking about it for so long that it feels good just to get it written.
Ginger
Scriptures:
Alma 37:6 (The Book of Mormon)
Luke 1:37 (King James New Testament)
I thought I would include this video in case you had ten minutes to view something truly spectacular. Enjoy!
Caio's Ballet ClassI just went back and realized that it has been months and months since I shared pictures. I wanted to hurry and give you an overview of the past few months in photos that you may not have seen.
Halloween with my dragon and baby pumpkin.
Just being cute.
Caio on his way to his birthday party.
The next few pictures are of Caio’s actual birthday (about two weeks before the birthday party). We went to temple square because Caio loves Christmas lights so much. A funny side story: we went through the Joseph Smith Memorial Building that night and had the kids in two umbrella strollers. We were just about to go home and I almost had a head on collision with Caio’s stroller and a man. When I looked up I realized it was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. He and his wife and their security detail nodded and rushed on out. Marcio and I stood stunned for about half a minute or more and started giggling. Anyway, on to the pictures:
Outside the General Conference Building
Inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. (There was a children’s display near the genealogy area that the kids loved).
A stranger took our picture in front of some of the lights. This is how it turned out. :-D
Caio and Jordan in front of the lights.
The birthday boy! (Random Facts: I made that hat. :-D I made one for Marcio too. These hats were my first crocheting project ever).
For Jordan’s birthday we went swimming as a family because she loves water, but we didn’t get any pictures of that. Here are the January pictures that we did get:
Marcio sliced his finger open while doing dishes one morning. I was getting the kids ready to get in the car so we could drop him off at work. Then a glass bowl slipped and broke and the next thing we knew we were on the way to the doctor’s office to stitch him up.
He got three stitches. The doctor told me to go ahead and take the stitches out myself after about 10 days. This was the picture we took after two were gone. We decided (based on the doctor’s instructions) to leave the last stitch in for another couple of days before taking it out.
Well… I have run out of time for now, but I will be coming back to update you on our Dance Dance Revolution pictures as well as February and March.
Ginger
“Guns don’t cause problems any more than pencils cause misspelled words.”
I don’t know the name of the guy who said this. I heard it while listening to the Glenn Beck program this morning. He had a guest from some radio station in Huston, Texas. All I can say is, I think this is my new favorite gun quote. ;-D
Ginger
With rosy cheek and droopy eye
She hears her mamma’s lullaby.
And snuggled safe to Mamma’s chest
She breaths;
She sighs;
At last she rests.
There is something very rewarding and satisfyingly maternal finding myself at the end of a long day of being thrown up on every half hour to an hour and nursing a very sick baby back to health. She has been a very good baby, and Caio has been a very good big brother and “big boy.” He really is my “Super Helper” in so many ways. Sure he got into tons of stuff, but isn’t that one of the many wonderful things about being three years old?
Anyway. Poor Jordan threw up all over Marcio late last night without really much warning at all (poor Marcio, too :-D). She got a bath and Marcio got changed and I hopped on the internet to inform my friends that I would not be hosting playgroup tomorrow (today) after all. Then I found out that she must have gotten it from one of the other children from that group, because quite a few of the kids have been going through this exact bug. I wasn’t upset at all, actually. Rather, I was relieved to know what to expect and to know where she got it from and what the incubation period is that I am looking at for Caio and the rest of the family. I guess we are probably staying at home as much as possible for the next few days.
As for the rest of last night, Marcio took the spotlight as the best dad and husband the world has ever seen! I think he took more turns at holding her and comforting her than I did and he definitely got thrown up on a lot more than I did. It sounds horrible, but because she isn’t feeling well all she wants to do is nurse, so its mostly like baby spit up in large quantities. And today when she has been awake she has been darling. Just before she fell asleep the last time she asked me (by doing the hand actions) to sing “Popcorn on the Apricot Tree” to her one more time with her hand participation. The funny thing is, I couldn’t be happier as a mom than I am right now. I love watching both of my kids grow. I know she will be better and that all of the laundry and bedding and carpets are all cleanable (and she has made good use of a lot of all of it :-D). I am just happy that God loves me enough to let me hold her and to be her (and Caio’s) mom.
What a pleasant sort of nothing day!
Ginger
You may be wondering what I am doing on here posting this instead of celebrating “Love Day” myself? Or you may not be? Either way, I figured I would get on here since I am inclined to think a lot on the topics of love and marriage and (yes, sadly enough) even divorce lately—well, and my love-kins is making me a surprise dinner and has asked me to occupy myself alone until the unveiling :-D. So, here comes my ramblings:
Five years ago tonight my gentleman friend took me around to visit parents (his and mine) to let them in on our little secret (namely that we had every intention of tying our own proverbial knot) that we had been keeping for a couple of weeks (because neither of us wanted to be blushing when we said the word “fiancé” in front of strangers or not-so-much strangers ;-D). Most people who know us seem to think he popped the question on Valentine’s Day which is just cute to me. One way or the other, five years and two kids later, here I am, happier than I could have ever imagined and more in love than I ever thought I would know how to be. I just wish I could help everyone be as happy as we are.
I have been listening to music for a video I am making for my BIL’s upcoming wedding. Today I started reading “Covenant Hearts” by Bruce C. Hafen for a book club I belong to. Tonight I dropped my kids off to “hang out” with my parents (in other words “free babysitting *thanks Mom & Dad*). And, frankly, all of this has me thinking more and more about my own marriage and my thoughts on all of this stuff in general. So, to tie it all together (or not):
I am so grateful to my parents. I am happy to see two flawed humans who bungle around and struggle through their imperfections, but who have never EVER given up! That may sound like a backhanded compliment or something, but in my eyes it is anything but that. I shy away from false praise and phony, sugar coated description and I celebrate seeing the whole messy picture and appreciating the good in context. I think it is far more inspirational to know that a person has made the right choice and done good when they are just as human as I am (in other words, when it is a decision and not just a lucky coincidence). My parents give me hope for my own future and the future of my own marriage just by making theirs work through good times and bad. They help me know and see that love isn’t always just a feeling and it isn’t about what you get from another person (or spouse), but it is a decision and an action that you bring to it and do for the other person even when the going gets tough. How often I have heard people describe their desires for a couple to divorce. It has become so acceptable in our society that it just breaks my heart! I cannot abide it. Especially when covenants have been made in the house of God. I think if we could really understand just how much more is in store for us after enduring the hard stuff we would have a better understanding about why Satan gloats over those broken hearts and trampled covenants. I think if we could have the tiniest glimpse into heaven to see our Celestial Father and His plan and desire for us, we would walk through fire before entering into a covenant lightly or before breaking our covenants (no matter how good a reason we feel we have). I know I am long-winded, so I will simply say that tonight I learned more about enduring love by seeing my mother prepare a simple surprise for my dad of one of his favorite deserts than I could have learned by sitting through a thousand sermons on the subject. I want my children to catch me making my marriage work. I want to give them that hope and encouragement that some things CAN and DO last forever.
Today I am grateful for those who never give up on marriage. I am grateful for intact families and un-broken covenants. I am grateful because (as I am learning through reading this book) it is so important for society as a whole and for every child individually. Most of all, I am grateful to my wonderful husband, Marcio. I will never quit or give up. I promise. Eu te amo com todo meu coracao. Soh voce pode entender a minha alma. Obrigada por cinco anos bonitos e maravilhosos. Vamos ter sempre e sempre praticar esse “amor coisa.”
Ginger
I just thought this was pretty funny. Very subtle humor to point out some pretty poignant truths. I guess I will let you see for yourselves and draw your own conclusions.
-Ginger
Jordan makes my heart melt. She is so cute and cuddly, and she is definitely a girl! She talks so much while she plays and giggles. She has been walking really well for a while and has started saying more and more real words.
When someone gives her something she wants she says “Dah-doo,” which sounds like when Caio says “Thank you,” so we think that is what she is trying to say. She also shakes her little head “no” to tons of things (even sometimes when she means yes).
My funny story of the day is that while we were driving to my mom’s house today, she began saying very clearly, “Hi, Daddy! HI, DADDY! Hiiii! Daddy” until Marcio finally responded, “Hi Jordan!” Then she giggled and giggled (one of her favorite games since Dec or Nov has been to sit still and whisper “Daddy! Daddy! Daaaaadddyy!” as quietly as she can until Marcio responds—she giggles endlessly for that one too). Before we left the house we had been talking about something else and Caio heard Marcio say “soup and water” and Caio busted up laughing and repeating it, so while we were driving Marcio brought that up again and said, “Who wants soup and water for Christmas dinner anyway?” to which Jordan piped up, “I DO!” We got a really good chuckle out of that one. The funny thing is, she just likes making that noise (“I do”) and she usually doesn’t really seem to think it means anything.
While we were at my mom’s and dad’s house, Caio got grumpy at one point and started covering his eyes. Jordan saw this and began to giggle, thinking that he was playing a game of peek-a-boo. She immediately covered her ear with her right hand and took it off while exclaiming “I DO!” (a.k.a. peek-a-boo). She got such a good response from the adults in the room that she continued to cover both ears and remove her hands, exclaiming “I DO!” after each round. Caio actually got into it too and stopped sulking to think his sister was so cute.
I get excited watching them both grow up so much!
Later I did her hair up with two pigtails and everyone decided that she looked just like “Boo” from Monsters Inc. LoL! I will have to get a pic of it later to put on here. She didn’t seem to like it, but I am desperate to get her long hair out of her eyes.
I know this is my brag spot for Jordan, but I can’t help plugging Caio at this point. The other day he was explaining to me that he is a big boy. I agreed whole-heartedly. Then he told me that Daddy is also a big boy. “Sure,” I responded. Then he asked, “Mom? You a little girl?” I thought a minute and responded, “No… I am a grown-up woman.” He got really upset by that and insisted that I agree with him that I am indeed a little girl. Finally I said, “Fine, I will let you call me a little girl.” This made him feel a lot better. Then he began going over everyone on his list again. Caio is a big boy? Yes. And Daddy is a big boy? Yes. And Mommy is a little girl? Sure. “And Mommy, Jordan is a… a big girl?” I looked over at her banging her baby doll with a blanket while singing, “Dah-dah-dah-dah-dah!” and I said, “No. Jordan is a baby.” LoL! I wasn’t about to be outranked by a 13-month-old!
Anyway. It feels like 2 or 3 AM (even though it isn’t) and I have 9 AM church. I think I will catch up with y’all later!
Ginger
Tonight during dinner, Caio dropped his fork on the floor. He gasped, “Oh, NO!! Mom! I lost my spoon!” Then he planted his hands on his cheeks and stared forlorn at his unfinnished food and moaned, “Now I’ll never eat my dinner!” Marcio and I could hardly contain our chuckles. Marcio told him to go get a clean one and he jumped up and put the dirty one in the dishes and retrieved a clean one from the drawer (all of which made him very happy).
One day he realized that Jordan was getting into something and he called out, “Oh, no, Mom! Jordan is getting into something!” “I’ll come and get her,” I sighed. “Don’t worry!” he commanded with full confidence, “Caio will save the day!!” I had never heard him say that before, but off he ran and pulled her out and shut the door to the room. He came back to inform me that he had saved the day and that he is my “super helper.” This has been a wonderful discovery, because there are many times that I have been able to remind him that I need a super helper (like when he is making huge messes and I need him to help pick up :-D).
A little over a week ago, he came up to me while I was getting Jordan ready for bed and announced, “Mom, Caio got hurt; needs see the doctor!” I smiled inside but put on a serious face for my baby boy while I looked at his stubbed toe. I didn’t think he liked his last doctor’s visit very much, but I think that after he saw me rush Marcio to get stitches in his hand recently that he just figures that is where you go when you get hurt. He requests a doctor visit frequently. The other thing he asks for are popsicles. He hit his mouth pretty hard within a day or two of this conversation and was crying pretty loudly. I rushed to grab a popsicle and had him eat it in the kitchen. Now he believes popsicles cure everything from a bonk on the head to a rug burn on his knee. LOL! He keeps me smiling.
On another happy note, he has successfully made magic on his royal throne twice. The first time was a bit of a pleasant shock at home (when I wasn’t even near the bathroom or expecting it—Marcio and I went pretty crazy--he informed me as soon as he was done washing his hands that he was now a big boy and wanted to wear underpants). The other time was in the middle of story time at the library a few days later. He came and told me he needed to go to the potty and then he actually used it. He is still working on it, but it is encouraging to see that he wants it and is leading the charge to get it in check.
Jordan is doing majorly cute things all the time, too. And I will get on soon to expound upon some of that. Suffice it to say that I love being a mom!
Ginger
My sister came to stay for a week with her family. While she was here she wanted to show me this music video on you tube. The name of this song is “The Show” by Lenka. (It didn’t embed into my blog, so you probably will need to click on the darkened screen to view this video… or click here) I really, really LOVE it and it has helped me be happier, so I hope you will enjoy it too.
“I want my money back!”
“Just enjoy the show!”
LOL!
Ginger
