Okay, so I am entering a contest. I made this YouTube video entry and after the ten finalists are chosen the one with the most views will win (as calculated by YouTube). So please watch my video, share it with a friend, blog about it, twitter about it, facebook about it, or whatever. Thank you for any help you can give me! :-D
Lots of Love!!!
Visit my video on YouTube by clicking here!
-Ginger
Jillian taking time to talk. (*wow*)
Posing for the crowds!
I will try and get a few more photos (not as good) taken with my own camera later.
So two nights ago we gave Jordan her bath first. Marcio pulled her out and gave her the comb to bring to me so I could do her hair. She hid the comb, but I saw her do it, which was pretty funny, actually. When she and I were finally seated on my bed with the comb she insisted that it was her turn to comb my hair. I didn’t mind since I let her do that from time to time and the routine is always pretty much the same:
she combs my hair, it hurts, I smile, she says over and over “pittie-pittie {pretty-pretty},” she says, “Ah Done!” and I say, “Thank you!”
This seems to pretty much please us both for the most part, but this time went a little differently. Instead of complimenting me endlessly about my “pittie-pittie” hair, she babbled semi-incoherently while doing the job—and the job took forever. At one point I finally asked, “Jordan, is Mommy’s hair pretty?” She stopped mid-sentence and scowled at me in disgust before responding, “No! My’s hair pittie!” She fingered a lock of wet hair hanging by her ear and repeated, “My’s hair pittie…” LOL.
Lesson Learned: I guess there is only room enough in this house for one pretty head of hair.
On to bigger and better news:
Last night we realized why our fridge has been smelling so bad for a couple of days: IT BROKE! LOL! Oh wells. We finished eating dinner and I ran the treats over to the church for pack meeting and made my excuse so I could make it to the store before it closed. We frantically dropped the kids off with my mom and grabbed my two manly and kind and strong and charitable and muscular and willing little brothers to come and help haul a fridge home. We got to Home Depot and rented the truck, bought the fridge, got it home and installed and returned the rental and got back and salvaged any foods we could and got the old fridge down to the garage to be dealt with later all by around midnight (whew)… Now it is laughable material…
Okay, so, back to a better story:
We got the kids home close to 1 AM. Caio was wide awake, but pretended to be asleep so that I would carry him to his room. I remembered doing this when I was about his age and my mom and dad were so sweet to play along that I had to accommodate his poor acting. He kept peeking to see what was going on and when I told Marcio that I was going to change his clothes he lifted his arms to help get his shirt off… LOL! My favorite part was when we were saying family prayer quietly in their room and we thanked Heavenly Father for helping us with the new fridge and I couldn’t help looking to see what his reaction was. He was craning his neck from his pillow to see down the hall and try to get a glimpse of the novelty, but when prayer was over his eyes were shut again.
That is all I am awake enough to talk about tonight. Stay tuned for my exciting news/events update from today {with pictures}. It was very long and very cool. It really feels like it had to be more like three days. WOW!
-Ginger
Lately we have started some new routines in our home. Probably one of the bigger ones involves Caio starting pre-school. My sister runs a home-based preschool and offered free enrollment for CJ in exchange for me helping her kids learn some things that I can do. It has been interesting and fun, to say the least. He loves going and hanging out at his cousins’ house and never wants to come home when it is time to pick him up. There are seven kids in his class and two are cousins. The class is two days a week and lasts for two hours at a time. We have to get up earlier than he is used to so we can get Marcio to work on time and keep the car for the day. The funniest part is when I tried to wake him up the other day and told him it was time to get ready to go to school again. He held up his hand with his eyes shut tight and mumbled, “I am going to sleep for five more minutes, Mom!” and rolled over to go back to bed. Marcio had been over getting Jordan ready and he stopped to look at me and we both started laughing. Marcio responded, “I don’t know that he knows what one minute is, let alone five!”
We are starting a new Tuesday night tradition in our home (for now): Ginger will watch Biggest Loser at her sister’s house, and Marcio will stay home and read boring, three-thousand-page-long books about computer stuff. Believe it or not, we are BOTH excited about this. And we also feel like we are doing good by not taking away from the other person to do the things that we both want to do. (Speaking of Biggest Loser… I love watching it and I am SO EXCITED that tonight it starts a new season and I have watched all of the online pre-season premier episode stuff and I am SO HAPPY that Dan is coming back on and I think he is AWESOME and I can’t wait to see what kind of things go on this season except that I heard Jillian mention that there is someone who she thinks is “evil” {a lady} and I don’t want to see someone I think is bad because I just like being inspired by watching these people overcome really difficult stuff and become better and… WOW! I really am going on and on… Ok! Well… I should have put a TMI (too much info) alert. Let’s just say that this is my secret obsession lately and I love the show.)
Okay… Jordan is also getting so big and being so VERY cute. She really scares me because she watches me so closely and mimics so much of what I do. I worry that I am not a good enough roll model for her. I want so much more and better for her than what I am. The stuff that we catch her doing is so incredibly funny, though. She will take dolls and try to nurse them and change their diapers and wrap them in blankets and give them kisses and she will tell us that they are sleeping and talk to them. It kills me… she is a riot. She also speaks so much and so well (way more than CJ did at her age) and she is the biggest tease and thinks she is so funny (hmm… who does that remind me of???). She also LoVeS to torment Caio for fun and attention (poor caio) and we are constantly trying to figure out how to dissuade this particular trait.
Anyway, time runs away from me and I need to go. (((HUGS)))
-Ginger
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
