MB: It's pajama day at karate school today!

MB: Daniel's Self Portrait

We are impressed by this, especially since he's been reluctant to draw, color or write for a while. It's a breakthrough indeed. Congratulations Daniel!

Recent Times to Remember...

We have been busy visiting friends and doing other fun things at the weekends. Recently, we went to visit our friends/neighbours in Laurel again -- we miss them so much but have kept in touch. It was wonderful to see the Sliwinskis and then the Zaveris (who cooked us a wonderful dinner). Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the Zaveris but managed to take some photos of baby Lena (6 months old; she looks just like Enya looked as a baby!) and Enya (age 4).

We had a fun time playing with water colors the other day. It was Daniel's idea and it we all enjoyed it. I'm not naturally a "crafty" mother but I do always like it when we do something creative together. And Jonny really gets into it too!

We also had a lovely time visiting the Purcells recently; we hadn't seen them in a while and it was so nice to get together again - we love them so much! Here are some fun photos of Daniel showing them his karate moves!

I Love You Daddy!

My dad sent me some photos from our time in Brasilia this past January and my favorite one is this one:




I didn't expect it to be so cold in the evenings there so I had to borrow his pajama! I love you Daddy! And I'm missing you very much...

This is Daniel Today at Karate School...

 

Daniel was SO excited to have his first "fight" during class and wear a head guard. He said he was a Star Wars trooper and that they were fighting with lightsabers! It's so much fun having a little boy!

Memorial Day 2012

It was Memorial Day here recently and as we do every year, we visited Jonathan David's grave, cleaned it and put new flowers. This year Daniel understood why we were there and asked many details about his brother, death and Heaven.

It was very special and it's amazing how we've been having such deep conversations with Daniel about this at only age 4. And what has been so touching is that he truly loves his brother and misses him so much, even though he never met him. We cried together recently, missing Jonathan David, and it was healing for both of us.

Daniel wanted to put the flowers himself and didn't want to leave the Memorial Park. He wanted to walk around, ask questions and just be... we stayed there for more than an hour.

Going to the Memorial Park every year is always a good reminder of how fragile and temporary life is. It helps us remember that there is so much more to life than all the things we are preoccupied with. It helps us focus on what really matters, our relationship with God and being ready to go to Heaven when it is our time.

Fun Times in May!

Hi Loved Ones! I've been so bad at blogging recently, sorry about that. We've been busy as usual and when we are not at work, we are enjoying the lovely summer weather, meeting up with different friends and having fun outdoors. Here are some highlights from May!

1.  Aternoon of games with our Brazilian Friends. For the last few months, we've been getting together with our Brazilian friends, Daniel and Larissa and their two sons Alex and Dylan, once a month for an afternoon of games. We usually play "Buraco" (Brazilian card game) but last time we met we also played the "Settlers of Catan" board game and loved it! As we play, snack and laugh (a lot!), the boys also have fun playing together around the house. We enjoy these monthly meetings so much! Next week we are actually going to spend the night at our friends' house so we can play late into the night -- it will be Daniel's first sleep over ever!

2. Mother's Day. For Mother's Day I was treated like a queen by Papai and Nani and felt very loved. We went to my favorite ice cream place (Daniel got to eat ice cream on a cone for the first time!) and just enjoyed having a wonderful time outdoors together.

3. Washingtonian Center. Only 5 minutes from our house is a nice shopping and restaurant area with a lake and playground that we love to go to. We went on the pedal boat and saw some nice "wild life" too!

Sweet moment between the two loves of my life...

And cute random photo of Daniel:

4. Reunion with Katie and family. We finally got together with my English friend Katie (we did our Master's degree together in London) and got to meet her gorgeous son Jonas for the first time (just turned 1). Sophia (3) and Daniel loved playing together and it was so nice to catch up with Katie and Dov! And we went to my favorite ice cream place again!