Oktoberfest

The German's hosted Oktoberfest up at the "office" where DH works last night. It's the big event of every year. Last year, I was sleep deprived (read: two children under the age of three) and stifled yawns all night. This year, I made sure I was well rested (read: took a nap). The food did not compare to the food we had in Germany several months ago and the band wasn't very good. But, who can complain when you're in good company and have pretty decent beer to drink!

Oktoberfest in Pictures:

After a few beers, DH tries to speak to Pedro in Portuguese...

Chris and Ana

DH tending bar

Shannon, Judy and I being "good" while our husbands' help kick the kegs

Quotes of the Month

I'm removed my sidebar box that included quotes and I'm going to post them as they come along. That way, I can keep better track of them by referencing the Quotes tag and make some sort of journal for each of them...someday!

September quotes:

"I love it, love it, love it! I want to stay all day and take my nap there!" - Olivia on preschool

"My boyfriend, Joao, doesn't kiss me a lot." - Olivia (unprompted)

"Frizzly and I are going on a campback trip (read backpacking) "- Olivia

"Shh, Lila! You woke up my baby!" - Olivia

"Mama, I butt naked!" - Lila Kate after stripping naked

"Oh, no! A bad guy!" - Lila Kate

"Oh, No! It dark out! - Lila Kate

Embracing Preschool

Olivia listens to a local tell her about her dog

Olivia has been in school a few weeks now and has quickly decided that she loves it!

Last week, DH asked her if she had any new friends at school. She told him that she had a new friend, Maria. Later that week, I overheard DH ask her if she had a boyfriend (we’ve since discussed that “boyfriend” is an inappropriate word to use with a three-year-old!). Without hesitation, she replied, “Yes, I do! His name is Joao!”

And, boy is she learning Portuguese! Her comprehension is coming much faster than I anticipated (I was worried about the language barrier. Her teachers do not speak to her in English). And, just yesterday, she came home singing a song in Portuguese. I am more than thrilled! She’s already gained so much self-confidence and pride. This is a wonderful opportunity, indeed! I wish every American child could experience this!

Imagine, if, like most other countries where, beginning in preschool, children learn English, American children learned a Latin language (once you master one Latin language, it’s easier to master other Latin languages, and, often, any other language, in general)! Imagine the opportunities and worlds opened up to them! DH works with in a place where 29-countries (I believe that’s the number) are represented. The British and the Americans are the only countries who, typically, only speak one language. Many of DH’s friends speak up to five languages! DH tells me he is often humiliated by his lack of language knowledge.

Sorry about the rant. Back to Olivia:

Monday morning, she got up and walked outside, in her PJ’s, to greet our gardener. I was sitting in the dining room and didn’t catch what he said to her. I doubt I would have caught too much anyway. He speaks Portuguese as fast as I speak English (My international friends tell me I speak much too fast). Suddenly, Olivia stomped into the kitchen and we had the following conversation:

Olivia: “Mom, I don’t know what the gardener is saying to me.”

Me: “Olivia, what do you think he’s saying to you?”

Olivia: “I think he’s telling me to go get my shoes on!”

Up the stairs she went, where she got fully dressed and went back outside. Listening carefully, I heard the gardener thank her for putting her shoes on. A few minutes later, she sulked back into the house and, whining, told me that he asked her to go back inside. This made sense because he was watering the flowers on the deck and the deck was getting soaked.

On the way to school that morning, she begged to stay all day. Since she’ll be staying all day on Monday’s (starting in October) because of ballet class there in the afternoon, I decided to let her.

When I picked her up in the afternoon, she was playing closely with a few of her new friends. I caught her shrieking with delight as I walked into the backyard to pick her up. On the way home, she proclaimed it a good day and said, “I’m not afraid anymore, Mom! I want to sleep there and play there all day, everyday!”

If that’s not embracing preschool, I don’t know what is!

A Day in Cascais

Lila hiding from the camera

We've spent some time in Cascais the past couple of weekends and I thought I'd share some pictures of toddler-wearing, smiles, art, sites and daily life in the area.

Liv shares a laugh with a local and her dog (notice the strawberry smudge on her face- the strawberries barely made it out of the market)

Dowtown Cascais

Life in Cascais - Cafe lounging

Bed and Breakfast

Toddler-Wearing on the Boardwalk and Boardwalk Art

Catch of the Day

Ending the day with a cafe on the way home

Market Morning and Pantry Purge

There are markets all around the area in which we live. The most popular one is in Cascais on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. We occasionally take the train down on Saturday mornings and bring the girls. This week, we encouraged Olivia to take her own bag to fill up with the fruit and veggies of her choice. Always looking for an opportunity to do as mom, she grabbed her green sac and hurried us all out the door, truly excited.

The prices are always better than supermarket prices and the flowers are "practically free," as DH likes to say. We took our time walking around the market. I love listening to the locals barter and sort through the produce. Many stop to admire Olivia's blonde hair and Olivia, irritated, pushes their hands away when they reach out to touch her hair and her cheek. Olivia picked out a peach, strawberries and kiwi. She was so proud to be carrying around fruit that she, herself, picked out!

Going to the market is something that is increasingly becoming more important to me. Over the past couple of years, I've been purging my pantry of ingredients that are contributing to very serious health problems in Americans (Type II Diabetes-runs in my family, obesity-runs in my family, increased hyperactivity, heart disease, etc). Ingredients such as, refined sugar (white granulated sugar, regular brown sugar, etc.) high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, juice from concentrate (I no longer buy juice - we just use a juicer to make our own juice - it's quick and easy-though, I'm not quite sure juice from concentrate isn't healthy - my more health care professional readers can weigh in on this one), any and all hydrogenated fats and so on.

I'm appalled to find high fructose corn syrup in yogurt and often as a SECOND ingredient in whole wheat bread (Not quite as much here in Portugal, however)! Your seemingly healthy yogurt and whole grain bread could, in fact, be considered junk food. Since so many Americans are either uninformed or too stubborn to take the time to make sure they aren't ingesting these unhealthy, potentially dangerous, ingredients, they should just be banned altogether (IMHO) (Suggestion for you frugals: you don't have to buy expensive yogurt to get the "healthy" kind - just get plain yogurt and add real maple syrup, raw sugar, agave syrup or honey to sweeten it).

So many people ask me how I do it. Reading labels, cooking from scratch. They proclaim it too hard and time consuming. I look at it this way: I am married. I have two children. I have three people depending on me for generations to come. I want to be there for them. I don't just want to be alive. I want to be healthy. I want to have fun. I think it'd be cool to see my grandchildren graduate from kindergarten, middle school, high school even! I do not want to be a liability. If I can prevent certain diseases by taking care of myself, I think it's my responsibility to do that. I would never want my husband and my children to go through tremendous heartbreak and worry, all the while, feeling an obligation to take care of me years before they really should have had to (some of us get sick despite taking care of ourselves - I'm not talking about that kind of sick). Now, I'm only 31. You think, "That's all years away." Well, I don't know about you, but time isn't moving at a snail's pace here on my end.

Boy do I struggle! I'm always looking for great healthy recipes (send what you have my way), eating well suggestions and information. I'm sure T and her husband, L, over at Seeking Contentment, could walk into my home and have even more great ideas and pantry purging recommendations.

Certain foods do, occasionally, find their way into our home and are consumed. DH and I love to eat out. I battle portion control (this and weight could end up a seperate post eventually). I feel that my body has betrayed me because I can no longer eat the amount food I used to without putting on weight. DH is having a hard time giving up a particularly unhealthy soup and often struggles with a certain nicotine habit. I've given up trying to find Cheerios without the refined white sugar around here (and shipping the organic kind here is just going too far-especially since we'll be moving to where they're more readily available in less than a year). The girls visit friends who parents have different views on the matter and who, therefore, serve food I don't. When that happens, I just roll with it. I try to lead by example and don't freak out when we're out and about with friends.

I would sy we eat healthy most days of the week. Not all. By doing such things as bringing the girls to the market or allowing them to help me make orange juice with our juicer, I hope I'm teaching them that eating well and healthy can be delicious and fun!!

FYI: Refined sugar and HFCS were my most recent purges. After just a couple of months, I've noticed that I have more energy and less sugar and chocolate cravings!