Thanks Hannah for giving me this award! I admit, I hardly feel I deserve it with how bad of a blogger I have been lately. Fortunately this is something I can do quickly without having to worry about pictures!

Here is how this thing works: 1st I have to answer a little questionnaire, which is all about me (Sorry!!) Then, I have to choose 7 bloggers who I feel are BRILLIANT and I give them the award. They will post their own answers to the questionnaire on their own blog and they will choose 7 more recipients. And so on!

A. Attached or single?

Attached

B. Best friend?

My husband Filipe. He is my favorite!

C. Cake or pie?

This is a tough one. I probably love pie more, but whenever I am on a diet (like now) I always crave a good cake. I guess right now I will say cake

D. Day of choice?

Saturday. I love having my little family all home together with nothing to do but play all day!

E. Essential item?

I think I am going to have to go with a book, though there are times I force myself not to have one so that I can manage to get something in my life done.

F. Favorite color?

Green

G. Gummy bears or worms?

Gummy worms, though all things gummy make my teeth hurt

H. Hometown?
Currently... somewhere in Oklahoma. But I was born in Phoenix and Lisbon is the hometown of my heart.

I. Indulgence?

An occasional coke. I typically only drink water and think soft drinks are bad, but sometimes an ice cold coke just sounds wonderful.

J. January or July?

January! I detest the heat and love the cold!

K. Kids?

One precious little girl who has me wrapped around her little finger.

L. Life isn’t complete without?
God and my family

M. Marriage date?

11/11/2000. I can't believe it has almost been 8 years!!!

N. Number of brothers & sisters?

Two younger bros

O. Oranges or apples?

Oranges, even though they make my mouth itch

P. Phobias?

Spiders. I hate spiders and always make my husband kill them. Actually I guess that applies to all bugs.

Q. Quotes?
I don't really have any personal quotes, though I do tend to laugh at my sis-in-law, Tara's, quotes a lot. Her most recent is "Put it on my tab" from Steve Carrell in Dan in real life. She does the voice when she says it and I laugh every time. You would have to hear it, but trust me, it's funny.

R. Reasons to smile?
I have so many! My husband and daughter! My family. The many ways God has blessed me!

S. Season of choice?

The Fall! I love the crisp cold air, the changing leaves and the excitement of the holidays to come!

T. Tag seven peeps! (see below)

U. Unknown fact about me?

This is hard, because I feel like there isn't much people don't know about me. I have crazy toes. I can pick things up with them, thread them together like when you are holding hands "going out" style. Normally they are all spaced out. I can't make them all scrunch together. I hope that makes sense.

V. Vegetable?

I don't really know. I like all vegetables, though I am really bad about eating as many as I should.

W. Worst habits?

I am kind of pushy when it comes to backseat driving. I drive my husband crazy, but I am working on it. I never close things (ex. drawers, cupboards), I tend to get defensive easily. Ok, these aren't the worst ones, but I can go on if you wish.

X. X-ray or ultrasound?
I am really pretty neutral about this one. Ultrasounds I guess, because they are typically for more exciting reasons.

Y. Your favorite food?
This is hard because I am on a diet so everything sounds good. I guess good spaghetti bolognese (spaghetti and meat sauce), though I am really picky about it. I don't like it made with sausage. I am also a sucker for desserts.

Z. Zodiac sign?
This is debatable because my birthday lands right on the line, so ocassionally I will be something else, but usually Gemini.

I tag:
Kim
Tara
Andrew
Steph
Kim
Krystal and
Kathy

Also, I will post pics and info from our Washington DC trip soon! We have had a ton of family in town, but I'll do it soon, I promise!

Photo shoot

Sunday we had a photo shoot with my friend Megan. She is starting up her own photography business and was kind enough to give up two hours of her Sunday to go outside in the 100 degree heat to take pictures of Filipe, Shiloh (a very uncooperative 16 month old) and I. Here are a few of our first glimpses:







Thanks Megan! Can't wait to see the rest! Wednesday we are headed to Washington DC until Sunday. Filipe has to go there on business, and it just so happens that my brother is there for an internship, so we decided to make it into a vacation! I am getting pretty excited! It will be fun to take our new little American to the nation's capitol. Unfortunately, on the way home I will be coming back solo because Filipe has another stop on his business trip. I am kind of worried about flying half way around the country with Shiloh by myself. I just keep telling myself that even if it is horrible, it is still temporary and eventually we will be home and it will be over, but it would be really nice if she could just take a little nap for the flight! I'll let you all know how it goes.

Doughgirl

So today I decided to make some bread for the first time since Shiloh came home. I thought it would be fun to involve her in the process, so when I was adding the flour I put some on her highchair tray. She seemed to like playing with it, but mostly she just ate it - yumm. Then I added some water to one of the side compartments and showed her how she could "draw" in the flour with the water. She was pretty excited about that for a minute, and then again moved to eating it - again, yummy. While I was kneeding and shaping the dough, I gave her her own little blob which she promptly ate, of course. In the end this is what she looked like:

She was caked head to toe in flour crust. Even after cleaning her up I am still finding it in her hair.

In the end, the bread turned out great. Gotta love the smell of fresh baking bread! Shiloh seemed to think it was a success.

My grandma came to town this past weekend to meet Shiloh and Malak. She is the cutest ever! It was so fun being with her and so special to see her playing with Shiloh! I love you grandma!

Shiloh is growing more and more every day! This week she took her first steps! Funnily enough, it wasn't to Filipe or I, but to the dog. She LOVES the dog! It is so cute and amazing to watch her do these things! She isn't walking regularly, but today she took six steps, so I know it is just a matter of time. I can't help but marvel when I think back a month and I was walking with her around the hotel in Guatemala. I had to fully support her weight and she could only take these funny, little loose marching steps. Now she is walking all by herself. We also started having her take naps in her crib this week (not so fun.) She is so muh fun to be with! We love her SO much that it is just amazing to me. I can't believe we have only really only known this little person for a month! It feels like she has been with us forever!

We are still here!

Things have been going really good around here. We are definitely more into the groove with our daily lives. It is so amazing to see how much Shiloh has grown and changed in the one month since we have been home. She is like a different baby than the one we picked up in Guatemala in May! She is a very active little girl. She loves to play. She has started to stand for a while on her own and she walks with this little push toy all by herself. She is getting real close to walking. Yesterday she threw a ball and then stood up and just looked at it. I could almost hear the cogs in her head spinning as she contemplated walking to it, but in the end she sat back down and crawled. She is still sleeping with us for the moment, though we are taking little steps to prepare her to be able to put herself to sleep in her crib. we had been singing and rubbing her to sleep, but now we sing her one song and then fake sleep while she puts herself to sleep. It takes a little longer, but it the long run it will be better and we get a few moments to rest while she rolls around on the bed looking for the perfect position to fall asleep. Bedtime is one of our favorite times of the day. She is so happy before bed. We lay down with her, and she is all smiles, giving kisses and cuddling. They are such sweet moments for us! She is so smart! I swear I can actually see her learning things. She only has to see us do something once or twice before she is trying it (and usually succeeding) by herself. She is eating everything now. When we first got her she was really picky about food, but now this girl loves to eat. The more solid foods still take her a while to chew, but we're getting there. She LOVES the dog! Every time she sees him she says, "dada" in this super high pitched voice. (Almost everything is dada except for Filipe who is da-ay). She only talks to dogs in this super sonic, high pitched voice. It's pretty funny. She isn't much of a whiner anymore, though she still has her drama queen moments. Over all we are completely smitten by her and are amazed at how quickly she has adjusted and adapted! The pictures are from the last few weeks. You should be able to click them to see them bigger!

Our Portugirl

My husband is from Portugal, and I lived there for eight years. While I was there I caught the bug for international soccer and the Portuguese national team. About a month before we moved to the States, Portugal hosted the Euro Cup. Filipe wasn't working much anymore, and so for three weeks our whole lives revolved around watching futebol, hanging out with fans from all over Europe and partying with each victory. It was an amazing experience and a wonderful last good bye to the country we loved before we moved.

Hanging out with the Portuguese fans before a game

Meeting some fans from Spain.

Well, it is that time again. I can't believe it has already been four years! We made sure to get all the right channels so we can watch the games live, and made mini Portugal shirts for the kiddos. We had a party for some of our family and cheered Portugal on as they started the tournament by winning their first game! For the next three weeks we will live and breathe soccer and bleed red and green. Viva Portugal!!!

Two little Portu-girls.

Celebrating as a family
The three cutest Portugal fans ever!

We have been kept pretty busy around here. We are slowly but surely starting to get a bit into a routine and I am starting not to be quite as tired all day long. Shiloh comes out of herself more and more every day and showing more of her little personality. She crawls around and plays. She is always singing to herself, especially in the car. She is such a crack up and such a drama queen! She has the fakest whine that she does when she wants something. My mom just laughs and says I was the worst whiner when I was her age, so what goes around comes around. We had our first dr. appointment today. She is between the 75%-90% for height and 10% to 25% for weight, so she is tall and slender. She is also doing good developmentally, which is always good to hear.

My nephew Malak came home yesterday! I will post some pictures when I get them out of the camera. He is so cute and smiley! I think he and Shiloh are going to be great buds. It was so weird being at the airport on the other end of things. I felt like it had been forever since we came home even though it has only been about a week and a half.

This is our adoption announcement that we sent out (the white Raquel looks funny because I blotted out our last name). I will post some real pictures later when I get a chance.