Conference 2012

Conference was so good this year. In fact we were so busy with meetings, fellowship and fun we forgot to take pictures!








Myla was very independent this year doing many of the afternoon activities with her friends instead of dad and mom. She loved every minute of it (and so did we!). Myla sang several specials during the MK recital. She and some of her friends made up the Joy Quartet and sang I've Got the Joy Joy Joy.







Ellie made some first time friends and it was so cute to see her with them. She was pretty independent herself. Like Myla, she ate most of her meals with her friends. It was pretty funny to see a table of all 4,5, and 6 year olds eating and conversing like little adults.







Daniel went to VBS for the first time instead of the nursery. I think he had fun once he got in there. The first day he escaped several times, but managed to find us each time in our meeting. That was a little scary as there are pools and a lake right near where we had our meetings.







Flavia was the big surprise as most of the missionaries did not know she was part of our family since we went home on furlough soon after she was born. Everyone was charmed by her but she would always roll her eyes and turn away when anyone would try and talk to her.







BJ led our prayer time each morning as missionaries and did a great job helping us to focus in on praying for one anther. He was elected treasurer of the South Region. He enjoyed talking with other church planters getting ideas and tips for effective church planting. He and Daniel went out piranha fishing one afternoon! He was able to get in a game of basketball and soccer two of the nights as well.







Melissa kept busy getting everyone where they needed to be when. This year she joined the choir that sang for the evening meetings and loved it! Pratices were a guaranteed 45 minutes without kids! Of course three meals a day cooked and cleaned up by someone else wasn't too bad either!







Next up is Carnival Camp....stay tuned for details WITH pictures!

The long awaited conference is coming up next week.  It is that time of year when all the missionaries in the south region of Brazil come together for a week for fellowship and daily time around God's Word.  The kids especially (me too!) look forward to seeing their friends they only see once a year!  My sewing machine usually makes an appearance the week before conference.  This year Myla got a new skirt.  She is growing so tall her skirts are being quickly passed down to Ellie.

Okay, so the skirt was supposed to be a Christmas present that only made it as far as being cut out but it is finished now and she loves it, so that is all that matters.  Isn't she looking so grown up!  She is such a big help to me with Flavia and folding clothes.  She loves to give Flavia her bath and even put her to bed!  I love it too! 

Bath n Beads

Who can resist this cutie when she gets out of her bath all snuggled up in her pink butterfly towel!

Tia Dori left a fun bead craft for the kids before she went back to Sao Paulo.  It helped fill that last lonely day with Daddy up in the Amazon.

This little girl is really into dressing up these days and of course making big messes is high on her to do list!

  

Breakfast in Brazil...

Hot fresh bread and coffee with lots of hot milk and even more sugar is breakfast in Brazil.  It is really yummy...but since walking to the bakery in my pajamas is on my do not do ever list, no one eats hot fresh bread for breakfast.  We never really have been coffee drinkers.  I still have coffee filters from the original pack purchased by my father when he also purchased our first and only coffee maker when he came to visit us eleven years ago!  So, no one drinks hot coffee with lots of hot milk and even more sugar for breakfast either.  This family has to rely on Mama's creative cooking.  Sometimes it gets interesting.  Yesterday it was bacon and egg pancakes and they were actually pretty tasty.  See recipe below. 

Bacon and Egg Pancakes

3 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons sugar

2 cups milk

1/2 c. oil
3 eggs scrambled
1/4 cup bacon, cut into bitesize pieces and fried crisp

Sift dry ingredients together.  Combine milk and oil and stir into dry mixture until just blended.  Gently fold in the scrambled eggs and fried bacon.  Cook on a non-stick griddle or cast-iron pan.  Flip when edges are dry.  Enjoy with butter and maple syrup.

This little girl sure enjoyed her pancakes!!

Baking in Brazil...

Sometimes baking can be a bit of challenge here in Brazil.  I appreciate any recipes that are completely from scratch so I can adapt them to the ingredients I have available to me.  Recently I found a yummy recipe online for peanut butter filled brownies baked in cupcake tins.  See recipe here: http://www.bakedperfection.com/2009/07/peanut-butter-cup-brownies.html

I decided to revamp this recipe using a wacky cake recipe for the brownie part.  Here is my version of Peanut Butter Cup Brownies:



3 cups flour
2 cups white sugar
8 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons vinegar
12 tablespoons oil
2 cups water

Combine all into a large mixing bowl and beat until thoroughly combined.  Pour into 24 muffin tins lined with cupcake papers.  Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until the centers are set but still wet looking.  Fill a ziplock bag with peanut butter that has been softened in the microwave for about 1 minute.  The amount of peanut butter you use will depend on how much of a peanut butter filling you want in the cupcake.  Snip one corner of the bag.  With a toothpick dig out a little hole in the middle of each cupcake while they are still warm.  Poke the snipped corner down into the cupcake and squeeze peanut butter until it is level with the top of the cupcake.  You can drizzle peanut butter across the tops and some chocolate.  For the chocolate, just melt several tablespoons of chocolate chips in the microwave with 1/2 teaspoon of shortening for 30 seconds and then stir until smooth.  Repeat the same process in the ziplock bag with the chocolate.  Cool completely.

mmm...somebody's ready for a taste test!



What are we up to these days...

We have been busy getting the house back to "normal" after Christmas and enjoying some good cousin time with Melissa's cousins who are currently in Brazil.  Whitney shared some chocolate Temptations by Jello.  You can see it tasted REALLY good.

Tia Dori has been visiting from Sao Paulo and has been giving the girls some art and music lessons.  They did several art projects about perception or perfection as Ellie will excitedly tell you.

Lots of hot summer days to play outside!

 

Mr. Bushy Boy got himself a haircut.

Our good friend Paloma and her new husband Igor were visiting her parents for Christmas so we enjoyed seeing them.  They celebrated their one year anniversary last Sunday.  She helped a lot taking care of the kids when Flavia was born.  Her parents are helping out with the starting of the church here in Bento Ribeiro.



I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Well, okay, not exactly, but bubbles on a cloudy day do give the feeling of snow in the air as long as you forget about the heat and humidity.  Christmas is just around the corner and we are busy decorating, making goodies, handcrafting presents, opening the advent calendar, listening to Christmas music and frequently saving the tree from untimely disaster.  Not that four kids could possibly do any damage to a small featherweight fake tree or anything! 

A new member has joined our family since Myla had her 8th birthday.  Her name is Cinzel Natasha Holmquist.  Flavia especially loves the bunny and tries to feed it blocks or open the bag of rabbit food to refill her bowl.  Needless to say, "bunny" is now among her newest vocabulary.



Myla keeps busy with school and being big sis to Flavia.  She can often be found curled up with a book!

Ellie lost her first tooth and is learning to read!  She loves learning Portuguese and sings the day away.

Daniel continues to be the comedian of the family and is very protective of his sisters.

 

And Flavia, well she is 18 months old and that says it all!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!