Monkeys and Cookies

This is a little monkey. Her name is Laura. She likes to climb and swing from bars (trees are too tall for now). She's getting very good at it. :D

Here's the same little monkey all ready for her bedtime story:

This is her older sister. She helped her mommy make butterscotch cookies for all the monkeys. Yum!

Introducing Cousin/Niece Serafina

The latest addition to my side of the family is adorable, beautiful, big, baby Serafina Lilith, born on March 7th to my oldest sister Angelina (or Nini as I call her :D). She has taken the place which Laurie previously held of youngest grandchild. Welcome to the world little angel! 

Some Summer Fun

As usual, the kids' summer days have been filled with swimming, playing, and watching a ton of movies. Laurie now manages to swim across the pool length-wise (I think it's 9m) holding her breath. Such a good swimmer! Alina learned how to make fruit smoothies and has been having fun coming up with her own concoctions which she kindly shares with us. 

Carnival was this week which means we got an extended holiday. Yay! I didn't take any pictures because I was lazy. :D We had loads of fun though, which is what matters anyways, heh. 

We went to a friends birthday party/barbecue on Saturday, rested on Sunday, went to another barbecue on Monday, and on Tuesday went to one more barbecue at one of Laurie's classmate's house. The girls were able to play with other kids (it gets kinda boring just the two of them, even though they have pretty fertile imaginations) and of course, swam a lot.   

Alina with the Littlest Pets resort she set up:

Daddy and Laurie goofing around:

And here are some shots of our lovely mullberry tree. This is Alina's latest favorite spot. She loves to sit on those logs underneath it and read or daydream. :D

In other news, Alina's bunny died ... sniff. His gravestone lies beneath the mullberry tree.

Guava Goodness

It has sort of become a tradition in our family to make guava jam each year some time during summer. Naturally, that's when it's guava season and they are literally everywhere! 

There's a park relatively close by that used to be part of the artificial Pampulha lake. Over time it became a polluted, dirt/plant/rubbish-filled heap. The city planners decided to add more dirt, plant a ton of guava trees, put two gates and call it a park. Ok, they did a little more than that, heh. 

Anyhow, it's just perfect for us because most of the guava trees bear the pink kind, which is yummier for jam. So we spent a sunny Saturday at the park playing, having a picnic, and picking a ton of fruit. When we arrived home I got to work cutting out all the bad spots and scooping out the inside (can't have seeds in the jam!). 

The girls are great helping with the picking, but then they lose interest in the rest of the process and just want the final results. Such bums. Our guava mush came out perfect though. Hooray! I made a jar of applesauce as well since I was in the making-sweet-mushiness-mood/groove. 

Here is Alina grumbling about something, probably that there aren't any guavas (yes, those yellow things on the floor are guavas):

Laurie monkeying around before helping out:

That's the biggest one we picked!

Time to turn into extra yumminess ('cause the natural fruit is already delicious!):

Guava, guava, guava, apple mush!