Of Bunnies, Eggs & Chocolate

This past Easter weekend was an especially exciting one for our family! I had never experienced first hand Brazilian Easter traditions until this year, and I must say, Santa Claus definitely has a HUGE rival in the Easter Bunny around here. I asked a friend one day how their family celebrated Easter and especially how it worked for the children, and this is what she said: Long before Easter, her daughter (currently age 7) starts looking at all the different large easter egg options in the stores for the ones that she thinks will have her preferred toys or candies. She then writes a list for the Easter Bunny of the ones she would like most. On the night before Easter, she then leaves out some carrots and a bowl of water for the Easter Bunny to snack on when he visits her house. The next morning he will have left a hidden “nest” with treats and eggs and such. (Let me clarify here that hard-boiled eggs are not normally involved in these festivities, but rather large, hollow chocolate eggs wrapped in fancy papers. There are some chocolate bunnies and smaller chocolate eggs as well, but as they do not have as many nice toys inside, the children prefer the big eggs.)  There will be a few bunny foot print clues and some dirt and things that mark a trail for the little girl to follow, which eventually lead to the nest. Then of course she gets to open all of her eggs, ignore the chocolate shells (or at least most kids do), and play with her new treasures.

While we definitely enjoy trying out local traditions for all of the holidays and special events, we also tried to incorporate a lot of my family's American traditions as well. (I'm just not sure I can let an Easter go by without coloring some hard-boiled eggs!)  This proved to be a bit more of a challenge than expected. Since there were no egg-dying kits for sale in any of the stores here, we decided just to use the good ol' reliable food coloring, like our family used when I was growing up. :) There was only one problem: None of the stores we normally shop at carried food coloring. There is one candy/party goods store that we were pretty sure would have some, but on the day before Easter (yeah, we kinda procrastinated this one a bit) when we stopped by, there was no parking and long lines at each check-out register. (Remember Walmart the day before Christmas?) So rather than hunting 30 minutes for parking and waiting another hour to check out for just a few bottles of food coloring, we decided to try one more grocery store. Still nothing. It was time to get creative: Jello!! It comes in so many colors, and stains everything it touches! Surely it would work on eggs too!! :) (Kool-Aid was my other idea, but here there is no Kool-aid powder without sugar already added... Equally sticky either way.)  So we bought some jello packets, went home, poured in some boiling hot water, and dunked those eggs. 

Settling In

After 3 months in our new home, things are really starting to feel more like a nice, normal, every-day life for us.  We've managed to collect most furniture and appliances that make a home more comfortable, and have even started decorating the walls a little!  I enjoyed a very happy birthday this year, an electric oven and dishwasher being included in my gift list.  (Oh how I missed baking!!  And not having to wash silverware by hand!! )

After many dinners in the absence of overhead lighting, our dining room area is now well-lit with a chandelier, and we can also appreciate fine art while we dine. :)  (The paintings in the following photos are borrowed indefinitely from Tiago's parents, who are art collectors.  Obrigada Mae e Pai!!)

 We've managed to add a bit more color to our living room area . . .

 . . . and thanks to our sounds system, a little more noise as well.  (Also please note the change in light fixtures in this room as well.  The ugly one has finally been replaced!  Yaaay!  See previous blog entries for pics of the old, tacky one.)

Another reason we've greatly enjoyed the addition of the rug in our living room:  It provides a much softer floor area on which to play.  Lissie and I worked together on the puzzle you see below.  Can you tell which pieces she put in and which ones I did?  While she is still not quite proficient at making all the princesses in the picture look the way they're supposed to,  she is starting to figure out how to match the colors on the pieces.  Sure, arms may be attached to heads and corner pieces may be in the middle... But she is getting closer all the time! :)

 Here is Lissie's little play area, now complete with toy box and fine art decor. :)

One of Lissie's current favorite games is "Rock-a-bye Lissie" on an upside-down chair, like the one below.  These little chairs go with her table and serve MANY important purposes in our home.  Besides just daily playing and eating snacks at her little table, sometimes they are helper stools in the kitchen. She can "help" (watch) me cook or help put away clean dishes.  She especially likes to help put away silverware and tupperware.  Or in reality, once the tupperware is put away, she enjoys pulling it all out again and spreading pieces around the house.  And a final use for these little chairs has just begun recently:  the dreaded "Time Out" chair.  She's starting to learn that when mommy says "Crayons, pens, and pencils stay on the paper; NOT on the couch.", that mommy means it. (Luckily, ink pen comes out of the upholstery fairly easily with a little rubbing alcohol. Thank you, inventor of rubbing alcohol and/or alcohol gel!)   

The painting we hung in the stairwell was painted by one of my favorite artists, Marilene Maffei.  Tiago calls her "Mom".  We think she is very talented!

It has been a great experience for us, living in a different land and starting from scratch again.  I can't say that everything has been perfect.  (One word:  BUGS.)  But I feel like the installation of our dishwasher got our house a LOT closer to perfection! :)  Oh, and we did have an exterminator come and spray for bugs and spiders.  So, life is good.