Good Days In The Sunshine, But Mostly In The Kitchen

Mooj came down with the flu, and now Freddy is the next victim. We had a few days break in between, but I'm ready to be at a point in life when I don't need to make note of someone's last dose of medication.

It has been sunny, warm, and Spring like with mornings spent outside. The usual afternoon hustle of getting kids where they need to be and the dinner time rush is every day, but somehow it's easier in good weather. 

Seb maybe sort of might have turned a corner, behavior wise, and seems to have settled down a bit. Routine, routine, routine. That's what he needs and that's what he is getting.

I got lost for two days in the Serial podcast after resisting strong suggestions from just about everyone. Now there is a void that is not being filled by other podcasts that I've tried since. Just like the defendant in the case, I really can not recall what we have done for the last ten days. Last weekend? No idea. Last week? No clue. 


My perception is that I spend 90% of the day in the kitchen making meals and snacks, and then cleaning up after meals and snacks. I'm sure it isn't true, but if someone asked me where I was on any given day and time, the most likely answer would be "the kitchen" with "the car" as a good back-up.


 Seb will eat anything blended and called "ice cream."  Yesterday's "ice cream" was banana, plain yogurt, rasberries, and strawberries frozen and then blended. Before I could even get his face clean, we were already cracking eggs for a blueberry upsidedown cake. The big kids arrived shortly thereafter four lunch a which point I grilled turkey for them. See what I mean about the kitchen?

 Caramel sauce for the upsidedown part:

 Almost finished product

 I regretted this later when I saw that Seb smeared bluberry sauce all over the guest bedroom pillows.

The kids arrive in 45 minutes for lunch so I have to get down to the kitchen :)

January Snapshot

I'm savoring every moment with my sweet toddler Sebby. We fill our mornings with singing, puzzles, books, Little People, animals, and lots and lots of cuddles.

I've kept to my resolution to stay off the phone for almost two months now, but I haven't gotten anywhere close to some of the exercise goals I set for myself (read: I've done zero exercise).

I don't ever want the kids to look back at their childhood and associate me with a phone glued to my hand. I also feel like by devoting my mornings and early afternoon 100% to Sebby, I can focus on the big kids in the afternoon/evening and help with homework, music, projects, cooking etc. and not make them feel like they are always second in line, or constantly waiting for me.

Sebby's Portuguese has exploded in the last few weeks and seems about even with his English. He has the five of us laughing all day long with the phrases he parrots. Things come flying out of his mouth like he's been running a family for years and we all find ourselves looking at each other in amazement.

Freddy moved to an older group for tennis during the week. It finishes at 8pm, which is so so late for a 7 year old, but he gets his homework and cello done beforehand. At least that's the idea. Monday didn't quite turn out like that, but by Wednesday things were seamless. 

Zita is learning Blue Moon on clarinet as one of two pieces for the Spring concert. I can't help but sing along and poor Zita has exhausted every polite way to ask me to please not sing. 

Her biggest triumph has been keeping her room clean for three weeks. I did the initial clean up with her by breaking it down into steps, and she has kept it clean! 

I think same old same old with teenagers is a good thing, right? So everything with Mooj is same old same old. He has school, rugby, tennis, homework, sleep, repeat. Oh, and a lot of snacking and meals in between. Actually, something has changed with Mooj this month. Seb now idolizes him, and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. Seb is always going around the house calling for "mano," and climbing into his lap. Even 15 year old boys melt when their baby brother says " love you Mano." 

Friday Photo Dump

All six of us are still fighting this cold that does not budge.  No fun. 

Today is Freddy’a first cello lesson,  Zita has tennis,  and Mooji  has a rugby game. Since I can't triplicate myself,  Pai is going to try to catch the end of the rugby game, I'll take Freddy to cello with Seb, and the three of us will catch the end of tennis.  Thank goodness Friday is pizza night. 

Here are a few photos from the week on my phone. We all went to Zita's clarient lesson, but wound up on this bench counting the buses that passed by. 

This has been our favorite treat lately. It's yogurt with frozen raspberries. Sometimes we add vanilla, or mixed berries. 

This was Zita's dinner idea. It's pizza dough cut into squares with portobello mushrooms, broccoli, chicken, and tomato on top. Oh, and poppy seeds too since she saw it on a cooking show. Love this girl and her flare for cooking and baking, 

Freddy doing homework during Zita's clarinet lesson. 

Seb loves a good cuddle with Zita. 

School Picture Miracle

The first week after Sebby was born, Zita and Freddy had school picture day. I was certain they would be horrible after our experience last year with pictures at this school. Zita looked like a contestant in a messy hair contest, and the photos haven't left her drawer since then.

The school tried a new photographer this year and the new company did a fantastic job.

Freddy had me study the names of his classmates with him, and then he quizzed me afterwards. It wasn't too hard given there are four girls named "Leonor."

Here's Zita's. She regrets not leaving her hair down, but this is by far her best school picture.

They each got the traditional head shot as well.

I can't wait to see Moojie's now.

Radom Updates:

Mooj has a test every day this week, and then he gets to cruise into Christmas break starting on the 14th. Zita and Freddy have finished the last of their tests.

Zita and Freddy both gave up a toy bring to catechism today, which is such a win win. I love reducing clutter! They are going to put on a nativity play this morning at school and Zita was not pleased to be cast as a poor villager who she insists is not even officially part of the nativity scene.

Sebby turns 1 month old today and had a check-up that I will post about tomorrow. Happy 1 month Sebby!

Things I Want to Remember

I haven't done one of these posts for ages so it's about time I capture the happenings of these first weeks of school.

Sticker mania has swept Portugal, and Miss Zita is caught up in the craze. She very earnestly made lots of homemade stickers last night after I said she had to work for and earn new ones. I'm using this to my advantage and requiring one full week of car rides without complaints before I'll buy her stickers. Have I ever documented that the flood gates of sorrow open up every time we get in the car? Well they do.

Mooj has double the homework load this year and it actually seems easier for him to stay on top of too much work than a bit of homework here and a bit of studying there.

It has been so intensely damp lately that every morning when we step outside, a sweet smell of salt water and Fall ushers us to the car.

A deep fog horn bellows, which I love, but that gets the neighborhood dogs howling, which I don't love so much.

Freddy still loves all things first grade, and is just an open tap of flowing joy.

I long to cuddle this mystery baby boy during the day, but nights are hard and busy, making me wish we could just keep baby in until after Christmas. Just last night I was quizzing Moojie for a test, while Zita kept begging for synonyms of words I hadn't heard of, while Freddy called from the next room that I "never" help make welcome signs for Pai. I can't quite figure out how a fussy baby will fit into our nights. A quiet baby, sure, but a colicky baby, no way.

By 8 pm, my head hits Freddy's pillow for reading time, Zita settles into her own book, and Mooj is either in his room doing homework or in the sala doing homework.

Like the Northern Lights, Pai sightings are rare but treasured. We are all hoping things will ease up at work so we can have him back.

Party Planning and Other Random Happenings

Zita casually asked if she could have her friends for a dinner party this Friday. I said yes without thinking through what that means in Zita's world. She promptly came up with invitations and distributed them all at school. I never got closer than three feet from them and I certainly didn't get a chance to go over the details.

I just had a father on the phone asking about Zita's "birthday party," so I'm a little worried about the misunderstanding. He also wanted our address since it wasn't on the invite. Oops. He asked me to confirm the time and I had to ask him what the invitation said.

There are three girls in Zita's class with the same name, and those three girls were the first and only (so far) to confirm.

The tentative plan is to have the girls for a BBQ dinner where she'll serve various colorful meat and fruit/veg skewers and then do an outside marshmallow roast afterward. This is a novelty here so it should be a hit. I just have to keep her away from Pinterest for the next 24 hours.

Moojie meanwhile, came home today with a bad headache, which is not normal for him. He's not a health complainer.  He couldn't eat an after school snack and the thought that my sister-in-law is on duty in the emergency room right now immediately reassured me since snack refusal is a level 9 sign of sickness for the boys of the house. He went straight to bed and crashed. This is so out of character that my otherwise rational self woke him at 8 to check for a sore neck, fever, or any other signs of meningitis. I think he'll be fine.

We haven't properly seen Pai since Sunday and we miss him like crazy. The kids have made big signs to welcome him home every night with things like "best Daddy!" and "we love you Pai" written on them. It's not lucky to have to work such long hours, but it is lucky to have such a fan club at home.

I have no cute photos for this post since my camera sat in Pai's car all week, but I'll have plenty after the dinner tomorrow.

Friday Photos

I don't know what's come over me, but I didn't take many photos this week. I didn't get any bump shots either, but I'll enlist Zita to help with that this afternoon before I hit 33 weeks tomorrow.

Today wraps up the second week of school. Getting up early and getting going has been easier than last week, but we might need to make a few check-lists this weekend. Pai has had a few SOS calls to bring various things to school on his way to work, and today I had to double back and drop off Zita's lap top.

The new American Girl Magazine arrived showcasing the fish tail braid. Zita showed me the how-to instructions in the car as we pulled up to school, and above is what I came up with. She was the talk of the morning with that hair and the American Girl Magazine is a huge hit with all the girls.

Permanent desks were assigned and I think it's a good sign that Freddy is not assigned to an isolated desk, but in a row of three. My take is that the chatty or distracted kids have separated desks, but that's just a guess.

Some sort of boat race was going on all weekend which always makes the scenery all the more beautiful. We are so spoiled with great views here.

Tennis has been a killer for Zita. They push her so hard and make her do so many drills that I spend half the time wanting to just swoop in and save her, but the rest of the time thinking that it's so good for her to be pushed out of her comfort zone. Definitely no ego coddling in these tennis classes.

We had Pai's Godson, who is is cousin's son , for the day yesterday. I loved having a baby around, but it made me realize how much of a big kids house we are now. It seems there are sharp objects and hazards all over the place. We don't even have bibs any more, but a clothes pin solved that problem. Freddy was an absolute sweetheart with the baby. I was melting all afternoon long watching them.

Animal water and food dishes, and Apple products are the number one baby toys. It's scientifically proven.

Crawling after the cat's tail was a pretty good distraction too.

Moojie will run the annual Destak 3k race this weekend so stay tuned for pictures and results!

Things I Want to Remember

Freesia sprang up all over the garden this week, and despite my determination to capture these gorgeous flowers, little Patches had a different idea. Every time I got close enough to take a picture, she jumped and pawed the zoom.

The scent of Freesia is even more divine than crawling Jasmine.

We've been playing a new game during the school run that involves license plates. Every Portuguese license plate has two letters and the kids try to call out a two word phrase beginning with the letters on the plate that passes us. So instead of squabbles, I hear "fabulous x-ray!; slithering worm; Freddy's ball;"  and on and on. We were driving in the gate and Zita said "hey, what two letters do we have on our car?" She hopped out and called out " BS!" at which point I stayed frozen waiting to see what they would come up with. After a lot of thinking Freddy piped up from the back and said "boisterous sea lion!"  Exactly what I was going to say, Freddy " boisterous sea lion."

We sped through The Adventures of Huck Finn since listening to it was all the kids wanted to do all week long. We started Tom Sawyer last night and they are geting the biggest kick out of Tom's antics. Right when we get home from school, the three of us throw the covers back on my bed, snuggle up with one hot sweaty head on each of my shoulders and read until it's time to do homework. Even Moojie listened in on two chapters last night.

Moojie is now a member of the national tennis federation, which means he can play in tournaments where points are awarded or lost and players gain a rank. He got signed up for the wrong tournament (unclear website!) and is playing in his first ever competitive tournament tomorrow morning against 18 year old  men- broad shouldered, wide jawed, hairy legged type men.  When he realized the mistake, he begged the tournament director over the phone to withdraw his entry pointing out that he's only 13 and has never done a real tournament before, but the guy refused, warning he would be fined with "falta de comparência" for not showing up. The coach told him last night to just play and get it over with, and in true frank Portuguese fashion said "oh you'll be creamed and lose badly, but that's no reason not to play."  I'm definitely suffering  more in the lead up than he is. Tomorrow morning at 8am, the two of us will load up the car and head out. Oh, and I of course googled his first opponent for tomorrow, it will be the opponent's one hundred and thirty third tournament.  I think I feel an ulcer coming on.

Things I Want to Remember

This week I participated in a treasure hunt at Moojie's school that was organized and run by the 8th grade students. It involved quizzes on Dom Bosco, and carnival type games like throwing a ball and hitting pins. I did my best to limit the embarrassment factor as much as possible for Moojie's sake, since everything is embassaring to a middle schooler.

The best thing I could ever hear after we left the school was "other moms just don't bake like you do- I'm so spoiled by your cooking Mummy." (everyone brought a baked good) This comment coupled with this article in the Wall Street Journal on a boy's relationship with his mother has had me feeling pretty pleased with the course we are on.

Everyone is pretty crazy about Pai this week, and wanting to see him every chance they get. I should go away for a weekend alone so that everyone is crazy about me for a week!

We loved Swiss Family Robinson despite the slaughter of animals at the turn of every page. It got to the point where Zita would say "I wonder what innocent animal they'll kill in the next chapter."

We're half way through Huck Finn right now and it's so refreshing to have politically incorrect things in a children's book. It's making me more convinced that modern children's books are just edited to a vanilla death. Thievery, smoking, lying, alchoholism, escape, and adventure are what intrigue my two. Not only that, but the classics provide great prompts for teaching Zita and Freddy about parts of American history that just don't come up in books like Junie B. Jones. Slavery, for example, is now part of our nightly dialouge after we read.

I could not quell my berry cravings and got strawberries, blueberries and rasberries for our weekend breakfasts.  Exhorbitant berry prices are a definite downside of Portugal living.

I enlisted Zita and Freddy in more bread making today. Kneading dough is just about as fun as it gets in the kitchen, but the mess was multiplied by 10.

Moojie has two weeks of solid tests coming up before coasting to Easter break. We just had Carnaval and I'm already desperate for Easter.

Things I Want to Remember

Zita, Freddy,  and I have finished the Baby Sitters Club and either the modern  version has been edited to death, or I'm reading books with a mother's lense now. Either way, I was pretty disappointed and it was nothing like the book I remember loving as a young girl. It's back to the classics we go! Freddy has been subjected to just about every girly classic so to give him a break, we're starting Swiss Family Robinson next.


I've shown a bit of Downton Abbey to the kids and we are getting a kick out of their ability to put on a Yorkshire accent. Zita and Freddy are in stitches saying "yes Mr. Bates" to Moojie who doesn't think it's very funny at all.

I made another big batch of marmalade last week. I had to boil it twice over since missing 300 grams of sugar turned out to mean the difference between marmalade that sets and marmalade that is pure liquid.

We finally have a new smaller sink for the guest bathroom downstairs to replace the broken sink.  It works, the bathroom door closes with no tricks, and the light turns off and on,  so this might be the one and only room in the house without quirks or a necessary insutrctional brief before anyone can enter.

Excitement over Carnival has started. My hope of all hopes is that it never occurs to Zita to ask to have a Carnival party. She is however begging me to make a Lady Liberty costume. This is probably one of the few costumes I have no chance of finding in a store here. Why didn't I think to order one months ago?


Zita has garden fever and has been busily getting seedlings started. The only problem is that my bathroom has been her staging area and potting soil is getting everywhere.

I've been waking up Zita and Freddy every morning with this clip of Good Day Sunshine by the Beatles from YouTube. It's pretty hard to be grumpy about socks when this song is blasting away.


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I would love to be able to scientifically measure the number of calories that Moojie consumes and burns in one day. I send him off to school every day with what looks like 1 week of survival supplies and he always comes home starving. I think all that food is going to his feet!

Things I Want to Remember

I haven't done one of these posts in a while and there are so many things slipping by. Freddy said something yesterday that I made a mental note of writing down, and now here I am less than 24 hours later and can't  remember what it was.

Zita had her annual class tea last week.  She loves having both of her parents at school and since Freddy came along too, she got to bask in the attention of three family members all at once.

This was the scene from the parking lot at the doctor's office last week. We drove home along the Marginal (coastal road) as the sun set and once again I did my best to make sure the scene wasn't taken for granted.

I was outside last week when Freddy came to me and said "I'm not a chef, and I'm only 5 years old, but I think you're burning dinner!" All three of the children know that when Mummy turns the oven on and leaves the kitchen, an extra set of eyes on that oven is a good idea.

At Caroline's clarinet lesson, she stayed into the next lesson to play a duet with a trumpeter. I once again had to hold myself together because-  gracious me oh my- wind instruments are so very evocative. They were working on My Heart Will Go On, which granted is the biggest ball of cheese rolling around this earth, but listening to the two of them together made my 2012. I can't wait until the Spring concert. 

We had stree-free car trips thanks to iTunes rentals. Matrix for Moojie, and the original 1971 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the other two. I love that Zita and Freddy's short list of favorite movies is almost an exact list of my childhood favorites.

Annie
Sound of Music
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Zita's Veruka impression is a house classic now)
Mary Poppins

They know every word of every song in all of these movies, and we are all walking around with "Oompa Loompa Doompity Do..." stuck in our heads.

Things I Want to Remember

The arrival of the Lands End catalogue was a time to rejoice! It's the first ever catalogue to come to the house by mail and we now await the arrival of flannel lined trousers and cozy sweaters.

I finally got those white board markers, and Zita and Freddy are almost always parked on the carpet in the middle of our sala,  drawing or doing legos.

Freddy has spent hours every day creating his big sand city. Despite shoe removal, sand is getting everywhere.

Moojie has started going for a run on days when he doesn't have tennis and his caloric intake has increased accordingly.

Breakfast with just Vasco is all the date night I need and it's the best way to start my day. This has been the biggest perk of quitting the gym.

Christmas shopping is in full swing. I'm so grateful for my sister allowing her house to become a seasonal Amazon warehouse.

My list-making tendencies and need to plan has been unstoppable. I've already started the menu plan for Christmas week, yet I haven't figured out where we are going to get our Thanksgiving turkey, or even what we are doing for Thanksgiving.

The debit crisis in Europe has been the best way to explain macro economics to the kids, and it's definitely at the forefront of everyone's mind. Out of nothing on the school run, Zita proclaimed "Greece is really hanging by a thread, aren't they?" love that girl.

Zita has been busy designing our Christmas card, and also doing lots of birthday cake sketches for her January birthday. The mantra among females in this family is "it's never too early to plan."

Things I want to remember

There's not much more a Mom can ask for than her 13 year old son bringing her tea unprompted when he sees her snuggled in bed with a good book.

I should never promise to pick up said 13 year old son at 1am when I 'm almost always dead to the world at midnight.

Forts on rainy days are a good thing. I will accept the disorder if it means that their imaginations get some excercise.

Coats are for indoor use in old houses from October until March. Heat is for wimps.

"Looking forward to things is half the pleasure of them"- Lucy Montgomery. No where is that more true than in the heart of Zita. She is a girl full of anticipation and I love that about her.

Freddy started piano this week and 13 pages into John Thompson's Piano Book 1, we've learned 2 notes, how to read a time signature, and what the difference is between the treble and bass cleffs.

Watching those pudgy fingers clank away on middle C overwhelms me with happiness and pride

Zita settled on a jazzy version Silent Night on clarinet for her Christmas recital song. I could hear it 1 million times and still hang on every note.

Zita and Freddy fall asleep to my Sleepless in Seattle CD that I bought my freshman year in highschool, and they are always alseep by A Wink and a Smile.

Socks has finally been replaced by the Magic Tree House Revolutionary War book and a stack of Halloween books. Freddy now gets very worried by the mention of  "Red Coats."

Birthday party season is now in full swing; I need to get 5 birthday gifts before the afternoon school run today.

Getting a gift cupboard together should be at the top of my to do list.

Lisbon by night is spectacular. 

( Taken through a window)

Things I want to remember

Going into Lisbon is worth the drive, which is only 20 minutes, because I get to see pretty houses like this

and look out the window and see this

Moojie had 4 big tests this week which meant a lot of flash cards, quizzing, reading, and time spent up in his room

Freddy had a field trip to a bread making windmill where he made bread in an open fire brick oven, and happily showed off the bread to his brother and sister.

Zita is in her element with the holiday season upon us, and has listed and drawn countless Halloween ideas, and wants to discuss every minute detail of Halloween all day long.

We are sitting in front of the white board a lot doing homework and revision.
Someone remind me to buy more markers!

The Halloween Sounds app on the iPad got very annoying very fast

We are still plodding through Socks, but have also added watching one or two musical snippets through YouTube on the iPad. Mary Poppins, Annie, Sound of Music, and some Cat Steven's are the usual nightly requests

This week was smooth and calm compared to most weeks

Zita loves her music theory class and now brings her clarinet instead of the recorder. Hallelujah! Update: her second music class at school has now added the recoder. doh!

Blackie the cat keeps finding ways to sneak into the house and goes straight to Pai for a cuddle.

I'm on the Halloween committe at Zita's school, and spent the morning discussing games, prizes, decorations, and costumes with other moms.  School party meetings are so much more fun than work meetings. No regrets here!

Watching Moojie read a book to Freddy goes on my list of top 10 favorite things to watch.

Today is school picture day and Moojie went with his uniform sweater that is now a 3/4 length sleeve and rides above the belt line. I think I bought it when he was 6 inches shorter than he is now. Oops.

Things I want to remember...

...that happened this week

Zita almost breaking, but not breaking, but could have still broken, her arm at school.

Knocking on the kitchen window in an effort to bring the kids inside, and shattering the glass, getting shards stuck in my knuckles, and bleeding profusely all over the kitchen.

Freddy locking himself  in the car because of aforementioned broken window incident.

Snuggling up every night with Freddy and Zita to read a chapter in Beverly Cleary's Socks, with our own Blackie between us, purring away.

Watching Zita's love affair with her kittens, and what good care she takes of them.

The long bike ride I took with Freddy and Zita on Wednesday night, making me a "fun Mummy" for at least one day.

Driving in the car and catching a glimpse of Moojie walk out to lunch with his big group of friends, happy and grown up.

The early morning walk I took with Pai.

Freddy falling asleep in my lap like a baby, with hot red cheeks, and one pudgy hand gripping my finger.

The "kittens" are starting to look more like cats.