Birthday Boy

This Dork (the one on the left) had a birthday on the 1st of December.

December is one of our busiest months of the year with ministry, end of school year activities and lots of Christmas cookie sales going on. All of these things kept us from doing our tradition of a birthday blog. We aren't going to let the day go even though we are a couple of weeks late.

Here you go Stevo.

Quigs: "Happy Birthday. I like you when you yell like you did at the Chicago Fire game. I like you fighting with me. I hope you have a baby. I love you. That's all."

Anderson: "Stephen you are awesome! I'm so glad I got to see you at Wheaton and for all the fun times we had there. You are the best brother-in-law I've ever had and probably the only one I'll ever have. I love you and happy birthday!"

Vivi: HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE O!!!!! Let me just say that that certificate of achievement should not have gone to anyone else cause you are awesome!! you always make me laugh and are always doing goofy stuff with me. I'm so glad that you are married to bronwyn and are now a part of my family! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH or for us cause we are the cool kids ILYSMA

Garrett: Happy Birthday Stephen! Hope you had a great birthday. You are awesome dude! WHERE IS RACHEL.. Love you bro
P.S: Still waiting to be an uncle

Ans: "Happy belated birthday Stephen! I miss you so much!!! (I really really do). I am so thankful we got to hang out a ton last year, that was definitely one of my favorite parts of Sophomore year. Thank you for being a great role model and someone I can always turn to for advice. I always really like hearing your opinion on things and also laughing at everything you do. I can't wait to see you so so so soon!!!!! LOVE YOU!"

Will (we took advantage of him being here): "Happy birthday Stephen."

Benay: Happy (super late) Birthday, Stephen!  I am so happy that you are part of our family.  Thanks for being so easy going and fun.  Thanks for making us all laugh, especially Bronwyn.  I know this past year has been awesome, but stressful too.  Hope 2015 is the best year yet.  Love you!!!

Me: "Hope you had a great birthday in your new city. Very thankful to have you in our family. You are a blessing to B and to us. We love your goofy, fun ways and I love how you have fun with all of our kids when we are together. They really love being with you. Thanks for taking care of B and being a great role model for the rest of the punks in our house. Sorry we missed your day but hope you enjoy your late birthday blog. We love you."

Happy late Birthday Stephen!

Birthday Boy

Today this little chunky dude has a birthday.

He's the big brother now and he looks like this:

Everyone knows by now what we do on birthdays. Here we go:

Gi: " Happy birthday garrett!! I like playing soccer with you and wrestling with you! I love you!"

Canderson: "Garrett happy birthday buddy! I love you and i can't believe you are 18! Have an awesome birthday!"

Vivi: "HEY G-MAN HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I know we fight a lot but i love you a lot! Sooooo much! Have a great day! And i will beat you at bowling so prepare yourself."

Ans: "Happy birthday G-dawwwwg! I love hanging out with you and watching movies and cracking up. I really miss you a lot when Im in college and I wish you could come to ACU so we could hang out for a year before I graduate! But it's ok i know you have to go be big soccer star somewhere else.... whatever. I hope you like your birthday today and I am so glad I get to be here!!! You are one of my best friends and Im ready to watch that funny movie tonight hahah!"

B: "Hey Quariti!!! Happy birthday!!! I'm so glad I get to be with you on your birthday this year. You are so sweet and cool, and I'm so glad I get to be your sister. I love you so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DORK!!! It's too bad I can still take you out."

Stevo: "Garrett, Happy birthday brother. Sometimes I forget that you are younger than me because I look up to you in so many ways. You have a sterling heart. I am praying for you as you negotiate some possibly big transitions coming up! The unknown is scary, but I am so excited to see where God places you next. Live it up today, you are now an ADULT. A MAN. I love you brother, happy 18."

Girlfriend: Happy Birthday, Garrett! I want to apologize for stuffing you into the little bunny outfit (above). You look like you just loved every minute of wearing that! I am so proud of you and can't wait to see all the neat things that God has prepared for your future. You have a wonderful, servant, humble and generous heart and tons of talents. You are a great big brother and son. Thank you for being so good and for setting a great example for your younger brothers to follow. I love you so much. Love, Mom

Me: "I can't believe you are 18. I'm very proud of you and the man you've become. I love the example you are to your friends. I love the way you take care of your mom and brothers/sisters. I especially love the way you are growing your own faith in Jesus. You are owning it and not borrowing it from other people. Praying for your future and I know the Lord will put you in the perfect place for you to do His will. I also love the fact that you are 18 and I can still pound you! Sorry about that one. Have an awesome day! I love you.

Children's Day

Kids day is a day of the year to honor children. I never heard of it until we moved to Brasil but I found out recently that even the US celebrates it. It's the second Sunday in June.

In Brasil it's always the 12th of October. The week of Kids day our schools celebrate every day by doing something different.

Yesterday was dress up day at Gi's school.

I think it's safe to say the boys LOVE superhero's and the girls are kind of fond of Princesses.

Gi had a great time.

The Birthday-Part 3

Since we moved to Brasil in 2002 my mom has been pretty amazing at sending us packages on special days like birthdays, Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc. 

She has sent things before that never made it to our house. She usually has to send it 2-3 weeks before the date and we still usually don't receive it until 2 weeks after the date and she keeps blessing us with packages. 

It usually costs her more to mail the package than it does to buy the contents inside and yet she keeps blessing us with something fun to open. 

The latest recipient was Gi. He got a box for his birthday and he was super excited. Lots of good stuff inside like candy and pop tarts and even a Batman shirt. He's a superhero freak. 

Here are some pics of the box opening day and some pop tart eating time. Thanks Grandmommy!!!

The Birthday-Part 2

So Gi's real birthday finally arrived. He only had two requests. The first was to eat at Paulinho and Karen's and the second was to invite Felipe and Lorenzo to eat with us and to play at our house later.

The day started with some mom crepes on the special day plate.

Then he went to school and had a great time celebrating with his buds.

Then it was off to Paulinho and Karen's for our traditional birthday celebration.  Paulinho, as usual, got Giovanni a birthday gift.

Felipe and Lorenzo went home and then we had a little family party.

First the cookie birthday cake.....

......then present time.

He loved the presents from his brothers and sisters.......

.......as well as his grandparents.

Since he got so much soccer gear he had to try out some new moves......

.......and some headers.

All the soccer presents caused a one on one game to break out in the hall with Anderson which led to, as has happened about 20 times over the last 10 years with 3 soccer loving/playing boys, a broken light fixture. It happens.

Gi had an amazing day.

It is God's will that your good lives should silence those who make foolish accusations against you. 

1 Peter 2:15

The Birthday-Part 1

I've been trying to get back to blogging a bit. I admit that I haven't had much motivation to keep it going but I was thinking the other day how our kids, that now live in the United States, like to see pics of little brothers and sisters so I'm going to try to do better for them.

So this post is mainly for B and Stephen (since Ans was here), who had to go back home and missed the day, and also for grandparents who miss out on a whole lot of stuff.

Since Ans is amazing with little kids and she really wanted to be a part of Gi's birthday we decided to move his celebration up about a month, before Ans went back to college, so she could be a part of it and be the kids fun time coordinator. The Aggies were still here and they were a huge blessing, like always, in the way they helped with everything. They took pictures (thanks Tanner), helped set up, helped make the decorations/party gifts, carried stuff and played with the kids. We actually had lots of fun time coordinators. 

Anderson and I weren't able to be there because I was taking care of him while he was on his barf-a-thon tour 2014. He got a bad virus and threw up 24 times in 20 hours. How do I know this? He was counting each time he threw up. Paramedic had to come to our house to give him an IV, sick for 5 days, threw up at least once a day for 4 days and eventually gave it, but much lesser versions, to Giovanni and myself. It was lots of fun. 

If you know Gi then you know he is a superhero FREAK. He loves them. He is a superhero and he even made up his own superhero name when he was about 3. One day a week his school has bring a toy day. He always brings superheros. Always. So we made his party be all about superheros because that's, obviously, what he wanted. The cupcakes, the gifts for the guests, the plates, the cake and even the kids became superheros. It was pretty cool. My girlfriend has an amazing gift of creativity and turning what the kids want for their parties into realities. I love that.

Here are some pics from that day. Enjoy. 

 Even though not all the guests were good guys......

 Gi had an awesome day.