January 09 in Review

We started our first few moments of the New Year in the Sao Paulo Airport. Having just arrived from our long flight we heard the countdown to the new year in Portuguese while we waited for our luggage. That was a first for us. We were a little disappointed after waiting 30 minutes to discover NONE of our luggage made the flight to Brazil. What bummer news! Especially as we had to wait a couple days for it to be delivered because of the holiday. The neighbors were happy to have James and Lilah back home again. Some of our friends rented a beach house for the week and they invited us to come spend a day with them. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was Lilah's first time to the beach! I often allow James to use my camera. Here is a photo he took of his mommy on the drive down to the beach. The children are lined up eating the good food from the churrasco. (Brazilian BBQ) This was my first year to spend a birthday in Brazil. My sweet friends planned a party and made a beautiful cake topped with fresh fruit. This was the first time I had ever seen fresh blackberries and blueberries in Brazil. It was a real treat. A photo of all my lovely birthday flowers. ( only one is still living....definite black thumb!) Our main reason to getting back to Brazil so quickly was to prepare an apartment to receive Rick's parents. The family decided it would be best for Mom and Dad to come live in our building where we could better care for them. Not only us, but there are many friends that live in the building who love them and could help if needed. Unfortunately, I don't have a good photo of the two of them together. Here is Mom giving Lilah a lift on her walker.

Back to Blogging

Well, it appears that I have been on a blogging "furlough" for 5 months. I am happy to be back and have much to share with you.

After our Pastors/Leaders Conference in October, we flew back to the states in time for the kids to enjoy dressing up for Halloween. James was Batman of course, and Lilah had two costumes this year...a ladybug and a black cat. My mother and grandma came over and passed out Ringpops to the kids that came to our door while Ricky and I took the children through the neighborhood. I had to give Lilah a couple lollipops along the route to keep her seated in the wagon I took her in! James used his scooter to move from house to house quickly. We ALL had so much fun that night. You can see it in his face....he believes he is Batman.

Lilah playing in the driveway after going through the neighborhood. That little tail wagged with each step...so cute!
Lilah at the pumpkin patch.

Daddy and his boy.

Lilah is almost the same size as this pumpkin!

"Mommy, look at this baby pumpkin I found."

We spent Thanksgiving in Greenville, South Carolina with Rick's family. It was so nice to see everyone, especially Rick's mom and dad. My mother-in-law had just suffered a mini stroke in September and by God's grace was released from the rehabilitation center in time to be back at home with the family. We had much to be thankful for.

Getting ready to dig in.

Lilah and Grandma playing us a song.


The children loved playing in the fall leaves.


Auntie Faith giving Lilah a trim.

We went back to Greenville again for the week leading up to Christmas. We always celebrate on Christmas Eve with a big feast. I am happy to announce that after 8 years of being a part of the Denham family, I finally have my own "dish" for Christmas dinner. Rick's sister Dawn has the Broccoli cheese casserole, Faith has her famous green bean casserole, Saralee makes mac'n cheese and always brings the pies and now I have..................the Corn souffle!!!! It passed with flying colors and I am happy to say it's a keeper! Our Family Christmas photo Christmas Eve 2008

This was the photo for our Christmas card this year.

Lilah had enough of the photo shoot! Wow...was that difficult for all of us!
Mom and Dad Denham and their 5 children.
All of the Denham Grandkids.

We left early Christmas morning and drove all the way back to Melbourne, FL where the Reese family was waiting at our house for our arrival. Yes, Christmas was at our house. Imagine coming home to your house after a long drive and everyone is there cooking, playing in the backyard, and waiting for your arrival. It was great! Lilah got a tutu for Christmas.James got a tool bench. He loves fixing things!Crazy Aunt Carol and Li take a spin all throughout the house on James' plasma car. These cars are the coolest. Cousin Alli and Lilah at the kid's table. All the girls are in the kitchen getting the meal ready.

This was the first year we didn't have a traditional turkey dinner on Christmas. This was fine with Ricky and I as we just stuffed ourselves with turkey the night before. So Mom made her famous meatloaf, Grandma made her famous fried chicken and Carol and Jimmy grilled up some baby back ribs. It was fabulous!



Random Photos of our time in the States:
We took James and some Miller kids to the circus one night. We especially enjoyed the camels and elephants.

Ricky took this photo of Lilah while she played in the front yard. So sweet! James had the opportunity to play soccer with a local Christian league when we first got back. He was a little young but they made an exception because he is an MK. (missionary kid) Some of these kids towered over James.

Look at him go!At his last game, the children were given cupcakes, popsicles, and bubbles....he loved it. Here are 4 generations on the soccer field cheering for James. This photo still cracks me up. Lilah put on James' Spiderman mask and kept it on for a long while. Normally when you put, say a hat on her, she rips it right off. I think she was loving it!

Lilah's very first pigtails!My wonderful little man! Lilah liked playing with the doll that I had played with as a little girl.

A Dino-Mite Party!

Our little James turned 4 on September 29 and to celebrate we had a party at the local play center in our mall. In typical Brazilian fashion, it just wouldn't be a party without the balloon arch. Special thanks to Nana for buying all the dinosaur decor.....I couldn't find anything dino here! The sweet table guarded by dinosaurs.....chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and chocolate covered marshmallows.
"Hey Toofers, having fun?"

This amazing cake was made by my friend Debora. Would you believe it weighed more than 7 kilos? (1 kilo=2.4 lbs) This massive cake was a 4 layer vanilla cake with strawberry and white chocolate filling. Insane right?

There's No Place Like the Park

Saturday, I took the kids to the zoo and afterwards for a picnic in the park. The kids had a blast playing in a different park with new "playthings". It's nice to switch it up a bit......I found myself using the zip line and climbing through some of the obstacles. Now that Lilah is walking, I let her down in the sand to play and venture about........Que alegria! (What happiness!) She loved it!! James played with this for a long time. I tried to get Lilah on it, but she would have none of it.
I put Lilah on the bench to take some photos of her but she flipped over to her tummy and slid off before I even stepped back ..................this girl wanted to play! "No time for photos Mommy."


"Yeah, I think I can do this too."

I just loved this furry chicken we saw at the zoo.....isn't he cute?This monkey was BEGGING for food..............Too bad the "Do Not Feed" sign was not a little lower....it would have made a great picture! James has the Camera smile down pat.
"Having fun baby girl?"

Isn't this sweet?