Baptista Sunday

We enjoyed a quiet Sunday morning at home as a family.  Cesar flipped pancakes as bacon cooked in the oven and I baked banana muffins and sliced strawberries.  The sun came out and Hugo explained his big plans for his tree house.  The girls played at feeding their bears with Vovo and I read pages from my book here and there.  We were quiet and relaxed and warm.  We snoozed, we ate, we puttered outdoors.  We made the most of our beautiful Sunday together as a family.

Baptista Weekend

Our long weekend with the Baptista's went too fast.  How do I know this?  These are the only pictures I took!  I can hardly believe it. 

Sofia helped Hugo to make his first snowman of the season.  She also taught him how to make snowballs.  Hugo soon melted into a puddle with no takers on his idea of a snowball fight.  Back in the house, they played hide-n-seek upstairs and down.  I had ambitions of making cut out gingerbread men and decorating them with the kids, but alas, they didn't happen. 

We ate and ate. 

We were warm by the fire.

We welcomed in the New Year together!

Baptista Weekend

VawVaw and Marlo

Our house was brimming with Baptista's this weekend. January 1st is Jose's birthday and was a lovely excuse for us all to be together once more. This was the first time Tio Rafael and the cousins Charlie and Sofia met our girls. Jose and Carolina wanted to make things as easy as possible for me so they generously arrived with their arms laden with food. I wish I would have photographed my kitchen counters for a visual record of all their planned out meals. It was wonderful and delicious! Thank you!

Hugo received his very first remote controlled car from Vovo.
Rodrigo and I feared for our toes.
Hugo beamed.

Popsha brought yummy treats of Sumol in all sorts of flavors and chourico.

We hadn't seen Charlie or Sofia since their early summer visit due to our not traveling because of my baby bump. Now the girls are out and we were all together. Well, not all together. Our thoughts were full of Alistair, Helena, Ari and Gina far, far away in frozen, western Canada.

Tio Raf gave Hugo Lego Star Wars and Indian Jones for Christmas.
Trouble is, we need Charlie to move in so we three know how to play!

Rafael and Sabine

Charles and Marlo

Weekend With The Baptista's

Cesar's family came to play for the weekend. We had cousins galore and lots of fun, good food, sleep outs in the camper, a bonfire with smores, and puppet making. We also visited a small animal zoo where we were able to feed the animals carrots, lettuce and popcorn. Everyone was in on the feeding fun, both the tall along with all the short folks. We scratched Tulip the pot belly pig's tummy, she is on a diet at the moment and not allowed any extra food. She wagged her tail as fast as she could to distract us from her do not feed sign! Mary the sheep was a bit greedy with the carrots this visit. My favorite is the bull with his long, twirling blue tongue ready to happily devour whatever is offered his way. Hugo couldn't believe his luck that their were kids in the house for sooo long. He stayed up late, skipped his naps and slept in, a small miracle. About a half hour after our guests departed for home, Hugo passed out cold on the couch. Cesar quickly and silently carried our sleeping boy upstairs for the night. Peace and quiet filled the house as we snacked on leftovers from the fridge and watched Errol Flynn and Olivia de Haviland in the great swashbuckler favorite from my childhood - The Adventures of Robin Hood. I even scored a foot massage!