Art Show

Last Saturday we walked across the street to the kids school for an art show.

The school was displaying the art work from every grade level and every class. Carys gave us a guided tour as the boys said, "No way I'm going to school on a Saturday!"

We got to see Anderson's handiwork which consisted of worms....

...the names of all the kids in his class...

....and then they were asked to recreate the Mona Lisa but using someone else for the picture. Who did he chose? Mona Marta (the best female soccer player in the world) of course.

We had Garrett's art work.

And the kind of art work that goes with 14 year old boys. Soccer, surfing, Reebok, Batman, Google, a Gaúcho and of course, Black Sabbath.

Then Carys showed us some of her work.

And this is one of my favorite pictures. Obviously because of our cute daughter but also because of what she is holding.

Here it is more clearly:

It spells the word peace (PAZ) and with those three letters she wrote the following, "The Lord is my shepherd and I don't lack anything. Thank you for making me who I am today." Carys

We love our kids' school. It's a Christian school. It's a Lutheran school with a Lutheran church right across the street. In fact, sometimes they have classes/activities at the church. They are taught Christian values.

Big deal right? I mean a Christian school should teach those values right? You would think so but our kids have gone to Christian schools before where they were taught things like the Big Bang Theory as fact. It was more a school where being a Christian was just part of a hodge podge of religions. Part of the buffet that a lot of Brasilians want to partake in to make sure they have their bases covered.

Last year Anderson's teacher regularly lead the class in prayer or as Anderson said (emphasis his), "She did it every single day and she always did it with us."

Do you think my son will ever forget a teacher like that? Not likely. Do you think we will? Nope.

We loved our art show tour and we loved the fact that our daughter openly thanked Jesus for taking care of her and for who He is in her life.

Futebol Sunday

This blog is about soccer. Everyone is welcome to read it but it's mainly for Bronwyn and anyone else who cares about soccer....and our sons. We know some people really hate soccer so you've been warned. 

Yesterday was futebol (soccer) Sunday for our family.

First we had an awesome house church with our Brasilian family. Right after that we had to take two boys to two different games.

Anderson had the first game. His team got beat 2-0. He actually plays futsal which is soccer played inside a gym on a court that looks like it's for basketball (same dimensions, hardwood, etc. but it's for soccer). Smaller kids start off playing futsal because it helps with their skill and ball control and really prepares them to move, as they get older, to the soccer field.

Anderson had three great shots on goal but just missed on all three. Hit the post on one of them. He was disappointed but he played great.

His pre-game warmup is worth the price of admission. I'll try to film it next time to share. Knowing Anderson you can imagine what his warm-ups might look like.

Before we left for the game he made a sign with his name on it. He encouraged us to raise up the sign and yell for him whenever he did something good. We did and he loved it.

He got a medal. He was in heaven.

Garrett had a game in another city. He took the team bus so we only heard his report of what happened.  It works out better for him like that. Ever since he was a small kid he's always preferred that we stay away from his games. He's told us that he's worried that our big family might yell loudly and embarrass him.  Like we would really do something like that. Very offensive.

His team also got beat 2-0. They played against Inter (our favorite team) school.  He played against guys that were 2  years older than him. When he called after the game he was frustrated because the guys were so much bigger than his team.

Garrett is one of the starting attackers (forward) and so he was constantly going up against these great big defenders. He said they were really shoving him around. It didn't help that he was recovering from a fever over the weekend and said he felt weak. He complained before the game, before he even knew that he was going to be playing older guys, that his legs felt dead. Not a great way to start a game. But after the game he said he didn't think it would've mattered if he had been at full strength because these guys were just so big. The worst part he said was they would just hang all over him and then burp in his face and blow on him. We laughed, he didn't.

We assured him that playing against great big guys like he did would only make him better when it came time to play against guys his own age. And 2-0 is not a horrible score. Of course he didn't agree but he took everything in stride (as is his nature) after the game. He never gets too bent out of shape with stuff like that.

Anderson and I ended our day with a game at Beiro Rio.

We have a friend (our mechanic) who has given us a free ticket to every Inter game this year. Kids under 12 always get in free so Anderson and I have been taken in as many free games as possible. You can't beat seeing your favorite team play for free.

Yesterday started off 2-0 against our team and we began to think it would be a day of 2-0 defeats. Canoas did those two goals in about 16 minutes. It didn't look good for us. We were playing terrible. Anderson then informed me that he thought it could still be 3-2 or 4-2 in our favor by halftime. I agreed on the outside but on the inside I knew he was nuts.

It was 4-2 at halftime. I won't doubt Anderson again.

We ended up winning 6-2.

We had a great time.

Here are your highlights.

1st Loss

I took Carys to tennis practice this afternoon which means we left Garrett and Anderson at home by themselves.

What do two boys do at home when they are all alone?

Yank teeth of course.

Garrett had the privilege of pulling Anderson's first tooth.

To say Anderson was thrilled would be an understatement. He proudly posed to show off his new look.

And my personal favorite.

I hope this isn't a trend. After pulling almost all of Bronwyn, Ansley and Garrett's teeth I only got to pull one tooth out of the mouth of Carys. Why? Because our daredevil, independent child had to pull all of them out herself. The one I did get to pull was just a token pull as she only let me do it because I was bugging her so much.

So we'll see if I get to pull any of Anderson's or if he will want Garrett to pull them all.

I think he looks pretty cool with that one tooth missing.

After I took that picture he told me to "put it on the blog".  I'm just obeying.

He's a funny little dude.

Side note: At 6:45 this evening Anderson came into my room and told me that he had brushed his teeth, gone to the bathroom and washed his hands. He then looked at me and said, "It's time to tuck me in." After I explained to him that if he went to bed at 6:45 he would wake up at 3:00 in the morning, he just smiled and said, "It's just that I am so excited about the tooth fairy and I can't wait to go to sleep."

At 7:05 he was back in asking when could he go to bed. I told him in a little bit and he wanted to know exactly how many more minutes he had to stay up.

At 7:30 he was conked out in his bed.

All I know is that the tooth fairy better not forget to visit Brasil tonight.

I love being a dad.

Do you speak English?

One of the things we have to remember when we go back to the states is that everyone speaks English.  That probably sounds dumb I know but when you speak Portuguese all the time and then you go to an all English speaking country we have to remind the kids.  

Why?  Because our kids, especially the young ones that haven't quite worked out the filtering system that our brain provides,  say what they think in English......out loud......in front of people. Why?  Because they are used to being able to speak to us in English in public and hardly anyone will understand.  We actually try not to speak too loudly in English while we are public here but sometimes things just come out.  

Why do I share all of this?

Yesterday was one of those times.  We had another 90 degree/100 degree heat index day so we took the kids to the pool.

Anderson and I were playing in the pool and he noticed a man playing with his child.  They were fairly close to us.  Anderson then announced the following:

"Hey dad look at that guy.  He has an upside down oval shaped head with big ears and a gigantic nose."

Wonderful.  

Like I said, the filtering system hasn't yet fully developed in this 5 year old.  

Benay came over with Giovanni.  I told her what Anderson said.  She looked at the man and began to crack up in the pool.   I then began to tell Anderson to not say things like that because (even if they were true......okay Benay and I both agreed that the guy actually did have an upside down oval shaped head) it could really hurt his feelings if he heard Anderson say it.  

No worries for Anderson.  He told me, "Don't worry dad, he doesn't speak English."

As I type this it makes me realize that the non-filter is universal in 5 year olds.  

When Garrett was 5 we went to an airport to pick up Sascha (our teammate).  At that time Garrett was fascinated by different sized people.  Especially, let's say.....small people.  And even the size difference between the small people intrigued him.  Anyway, back to the airport.  As we waited and the people started getting off the plane, a man walked by.  I would say he was about 4'10".  

I should've known that my son was processing.  I didn't.  As this older man got right beside us my 5 year old son loudly proclaimed:

"Hey look dad, there's a medium sized grandpa."

Yesterday we at least had lots of people splashing in the water making noise and the high probability that if this guy heard Anderson he didn't understand.  That night at the airport we had no such luxuries as this "medium sized grandpa" passed by in the quiet airport.  

I believe I shrunk to his size (no offense) with embarrassment as I began to explain to my son why we don't say things like that.  At least not outside of our mind.  

It can be embarrassing at times but I wouldn't trade being the dad of a 5 year old for anything.