Christine Engels's blog

A Minnesota Christmas

And it was a white Christmas indeed...as you can see from the picture of the Engels cabin in the northern woods of MN. Doesn't it look like a Christmas card?!

We are not sure Bia enjoyed her first encounter with cold and snow...but we had a fun time showing her the winter nors. She sled a bit and made a snow angel...we couldn't do a snow man because the snow was too cold and would not stick together. Imagine that!

We all had a great time opening presents, eating and talking (lots!), and playing with the cousins.Thanks Terry and Steve for hosting such a wonderful feast.

 

December in La Florida

Bia about to crawl

One of the big events of December is that Bia began crawling.  She had been scooting and going backwards until now...which was a bit frustrating to her, then suddenly she justs began going forward... at 8 1/2 months. She likes that a lot more!

a good watch dog

Bia loves Barty... and he is very gentle with her...always trying to lick her hands or face...and he seems to watch over her and loves when she scratches his back while sitting on the high chair...and of course enjoys all the scraps of foods that fall down.






In early December we went down to Stuart, FL for Axogen's Christmas party. It rained a lot the day we got there, but the next day the skies opened up and we had a nice time at Jaime's house. Bia was in great spirits and posed to the camera a lot...so I took the chance to snaps lots of shots of our Bee...she had fun playing in the sun.

mom & Bee

We had a nice intimate Christmas at home and  opened our Xmas stockings right before taking off to MN... Bia's and Barty's first Christmas.  Highlights were the kitty cat Santa brought Bia, which she loved! She was so excited when kitty began moving towards her and she hugged him, again and again... Barty also loved his present...a stuffed bunny rabbit that is great for tug-n-war, his favorite game.  Christine was also very happy with her present...3 hours of massage! Can't wait to use it! and JP...he got a brand new golf bag.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
FELIZ NATAL E PROSPERO ANO NOVO!

the cracker Engels

We finally took a family picture, just in time to send our Christmas cards... On the first try we were able to have some good smiles from everyone - everyone other than Barty! We will have to work on that...maybe next year.

A Time to be Thankful

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. John signed up for cooking the bird again. He is becoming quite the expert...it came out very juicy and tender.  I made the famous rutabaga and wild rice and our friends brought the traditional mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, pies etc.  Amanda, Juan, Rodrigo, Tracy, Sofia, Rosana, Antonio, Paulinho, Serena, Tita, Pablo, Simon, Katie, Byron, and others joined the feast. John read a nice passage from the Engels 'A Minnesota Christmas' and we gave thanks to all our blessings ...our wonderful and beautiful daughter Bia and all the support we received from family and friends this year. THANKS again!

From left to right: Bia and her first turkey, Byron and JP carving the bird, Time to eat, and a Thanksgiving passage

November Days

Early in November we attended Miriam & Mat's wedding at Anastasia beach near St Augustine. John was the officiant and did a wonderful job. The setting was beautiful and the wedding party small and very personal, only family. We feel very lucky to have been there to witness another great union. Bia, as always, enjoyed socializing with everyone and was in great spirits

train ride

Later in the month we met with Lisa, Marcelo and the twins, Mariana and Gustavo. We had a great time at the Animal Kingdom.  Here we are enjoying a ride in the cho-cho train... the kids loved it and we were able to rest a bit from walking all over the place.

head to head

Here is Bia having a head to head chat with tia Lisa. We loved hanging out with the tios and cousins... and hope we can do it again soon.


Although Bia missed it, I finally got my childhood dream realized...I met and took a picture with my favorite Disney character... Donald Duck!

Donald Duck

Hippo swim

This was pretty cool... John and Bia watching the hippo swim under water.  When taking the picture of the hippo I also captured their reflection in the window. The hippo looked like a ballerina under water!

We took so many great pictures that day...Bia was so happy...and actually started to pose for  the camera!  Here are a few for you to enjoy. What a great smile, no? Ok, I'm a 'mae coruja', as we say it in Brazil.

The fam

More October Happenings - Baptisms and Visits

There were another two major events this October, Bia's baptism and visits from vo Michael and vo' Ruth - and auntie Liz.
 
Bia was a bit traumatized by the baptism... no wonder since she was dunked from head to toes, 'buck' naked in front of the whole congregation... Not sure why we let that happen... for the sake of tradition?  Well, now we're having a bit of a hard time during bath time. Below you can see us at the altar, next to the tub, and Bia with her God parents, Liz and Peter. She looked adorable in her baptismal gown, didn't she?

We all had a great time with vo Mike and vo' Ruth... visiting the Paynes Prairie and Silver Springs...too bad it was so short. We're looking forward to the next time already, and hoping to spend a longer time together.  Thanks for the visit!

October Happenings

Lots have happened this month...goodbyes, weddings, halloween... We've had a great (and exhausting!) time...Bia has been a joy, in all of her 6 months. She is not sleeping through the night yet, but has been breast feeding better and loves to eat solids, especially bananas, carrots and apples.  Here are some pictures of the last month's happenings.

We've been having loads of fun eating (and spitting) all kinds of mashed foods.

Howdy, cowgirl

A Prairie Sunset for Lin

We all went to take our hats off to our friend Lin who was on her way back to her motherland Botswana.Bia (and us) had a fun time trying all kinds of hats.

Aha, ha, ha

Weeeeee

Anna and Nick's wedding at Rainbow Springs was a grand event. Bia was her charming self...smiling and cooing to everyone who laid eyes on her. We're able to catch some of her playfulness on the camera.  Here she is laughing away with Shona and Anna

John was the officiant of Anna & Nick's wedding...and what a great job he did! Bia (and I) were very proud of him. Bia also loved the party 'eats'. As you can see here she loved eating corn on the cob in the old FL 'cracker' style.

Later in the month we're all off to Texas to attend David and Karen's wedding- another grand event that happened in the Austin hill country. We also had the chance to meet little Oliver Joaquin Engels at 3 weeks old - what a good baby he is, we barely heard him cry!

Bia was a little darling at the wedding...happy as could be and very elegantly dressed as you can see!

Later we tried some cowboy hats...but she decided she does not want to be a cowgirl after all.

Then of course, there was Halloween... Bia was a busy, busy bee...and her friend Calvin was a tall giraffe.  We all went trick a treating and got lots of candy...for mom and dad, of course = )

 

A Mad Dash through NY, the Cape and CT

DSCN2433

Here's about all I saw of NY... a few bridges and some yellow cabs.  Well, I actually got to see where my mom works - the Museum of Natl History - and I met several of her work colleagues.  I also rode the NY subway for the first time... it's exciting! All in all we spent about 12 hours in the big apple. Then we drove off to Falmouth to attend to our good friends Claudia & Dan's wedding. It was beautiful and fun...Our FL friends who were also there  were Gabi, Amy D., Nick and Anna.

Finally we stopped in CT to visit with grand-uncle Peter and grand-aunt Helen. And cousins RJ and Gabriela came to visit with us, together with their mom and dad, Helen & Bob.  Loved playing with Gabi and RJ.

Playing time

happy babies pose

laughing away

This is my friend Calvin. We like to play while our moms talk away. Calvin loves to give me kisses and we like to babble away to each other too.

Sunset moments...

Here with Lin & Wendy-lin in Cedar Keys, FL.  Some of the last weeks with our good friend Lin here in FL.  Next time we'll see her in Botswana! 'Till then we'll miss you Lin!