Stocking Up

Last week my sweet husband traveled to the States for business, leaving the kids and I home alone in a still fairly new country!  He's traveled a lot in the past, leaving us in much more familiar surroundings.  I have always been supportive, but never really like it when he's away...  accept this time!  Not that I was excited for him to be gone, but I was excited of where he'd be!  Things are outrageously expensive in Sao Paulo.  When we found out he'd be heading back to Michigan for a week, Amazon.com and I were more than happy to get reacquainted with one another!  I purchased things we don't have access to here, or are just too darn much to even consider purchasing.  I shipped box after box to my girlfriends house for him to bring back.  He brought 3 large suitcases and filled them each to the brim with as much as he could!  Every hour he wasn't working, he was running to stores for me.  Costo, Target, WalMart, Best Buy, you name it!  He was quite the trooper through the whole process, and I'll tell you what, it was SOO exciting when he came back home!  It was the little taste of home that we all needed!  For a moment I almost felt like I had all my favorite stores here with me! :) 

I know what you're thinking, what does a family of 6 get in the States (while they are still waiting on everything they own to show up)??  Oh, just a few things...

• Christmas gifts for the kids (the new LeapPads! Complete with headphones for our long flights back and forth to visit family in the US. Shh.. don't tell them!) Although I already had Christmas taken care of in our shipment, it most likely won't be here in time so we had to prep again "just in case"!
• A new read for me. The Help - I HIGHLY recommend this book!
• Portuguese language books (501 Verbs & a Visual Dictionary)
• Coloring books for church
• Clothes for the kids
• FLAT shoes for me! :)
• Birthday gifts for Sir L (turns 3 next month!) & paper goods for the event
• Misc birthday gifts for all the parties my kids keep getting invited too (Barbie's, Nerf ball sets, etc.)
• Kindergarten & Preschool work books
• nylons
• Christmas gifts for Amazing V's family (small digital camera & toys for the kids)
• Bathroom towels

•  DAIPERS!!!
• Movies - some for the kids and some for mom and dad! :)
• Kitchen Utensils
• Salad Shooter
• My Nikon D7000!!!  (Technically for Christmas, but I have been previewing it a bit early.. hehe - NO this horrible pictures were not taken with that beauty!  How could one even think such a thing??)
• A fabric tree for Christmas that my mom made for us.  It seriously turned out SO cute!  And of course she sent a few goodies with it for the kids too. :)

•  Halloween candy
• Oatmeal
• Oatmeal packets
• Ziploc bags
• Dishwasher tabs
• Raisins
• Cleaning sponges and rags
• Misc cooking supplies
• Plastic wrap
• Tin foil
• Cream of mushroom soup
• TUPPERWARE!!! (Yes, I get overly excited about this kind of thing.. tupperware containers with matching lids.. wow!  Sometimes it's the simple things!)
• Ranch and Caesar dressings

And THIS!  A perfect new stroller (since the airline broke ours on our way down here).  I've been without one for two months now, and may I just say how much I LOVE a good double stroller with 4 kids running around?!  Amazing V was almost more excited than I was to see this! :)

Moral of the story??  We are now counting down the days to daddy's next trip back to the US! :)  We LOVE Brazil, but it's always nice to have access to the familiar things as well!