Nick Updates

Nick had 50's day at school and this is as good as we could do with last minute notice. He said he met Elvis...(his music teacher). He had a great day.


That same night he decided it was time for us to pull his first tooth. He was so brave and so excited. The tooth fairy brought him an Oreo cookie and a Golden One Dollar coin. What a day. We can't believe he's growing up so fast.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Hey Y'all-

Here is our big "Fall Getaway"!! Nick had two days off of school so we hit the road and drove 6.5 hours to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, Tennessee. For all of those of you who are like me and didn't know these places even existed.... these cities are considered the gateway to the Smokey Mountains and home to the famous Dollywood. What an amazing family fun vacation. There was so much to do we couldn't even decided where to start. We had an awesome helicopter ride, we rode a tram up into the mountains and did a water slide and alpine slide (helped with a bit of the longing for our own mountains back home). We played in an enormous indoor water park, we spent half a day in one of the most amazing aquariums we've ever seen. We will place some videos on the blog later. And we did experience Dollywood. What a trip. The kids were plane pooped out by the end. The drive to and from was gorgeous. The leaves are all changing colors and the Smokey mountains are extremely lush and full of beauty in every directions. We couldn't have asked for a better getaway. Thank you Heavenly Father for creating such a beautiful world around us. Next time we hope to see some bears and get some actual hiking in the mountains....

Part 1 Gatlinburg

Part 2 Gatlinburg

Nick's Soccer Season

Feliz Aniversario, Iolanda!!

Yae! Grandma Iolanda turned 66 today. What an accomplished age. Grandma was spoiled with flowers, cashews, a yummy seafood dinner at Red Lobster, and topped off with Marie Calendars chocolate silk pie. She loved the winter clothes we bought for her. We hope it was a great night. We love her a lot and are very grateful for her graciousness and assistance with the kids. Happy Birthday, Iolanda. We love you.

Iolanda's Birthday

Life in Olive Branch

Here are just a few pics in our normal everyday life. The kids are growing like weeds and we love it. Relaxing on our swing in the backyard is a favorite pastime for everyone. We miss you all and hope the pictures help to mend the distance....

Everyday Life

Nick & his bike

Nick learned how to ride his bike in about 4 days. He practised everyday after school until he could get started by himself, turn by himself, and not fall. He even was able to lose the full out gear after about a week. He still feels the helmet is very important but the knee and elbow pads make him too sweaty. It's awesome to see him growing up!!

I'm going to ride my bike, ya

Hurricane Relief

Houma Louisiana

Last weekend Sergio had the opportunity to volunteer for some hurricane relief efforts in Houma, Louisiana. The people were soooo grateful for their services. 1400 church members showed up to lend a helping hand. We feel so blessed to be part of such a great church that truly takes care of other people. Sergio worked his tail off and yet had an awesome experience that he won't ever forget. Way to go, Sergio!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN

Hey Brian, we love you so much. We wish you a very happy birthday. Nadia was screaming at you and wanting you to know she misses you. The boys wanted to know if you could catch a plane and come have cake & ice-cream at our house... I told them I would ask. So do you want to fly on out to our pad today and get some cake? If not, many awesome wishes to you on this great and glorious day that you were born. Rock on and party hard. Your card is in the mail!!

The Fair

Here we are at the fair. Why we decided to go to the fair, I do no know. I take the blame for wanting to go. Fairs are all the same no matter where you go. Some of the highlights were the yank it out your shorts prices, the foot long corn dogs, the deep fried candy bar (you only need to try once in your life time), the long lines, sweaty people, the pig races, the stinky petting zoo, the broken rides, or when PAT decided to pick Nathan up and returned him to us with a big ol' smile on her/his face. I think she wanted to show us her pearly whites (I mean her pearly white) and she gave Nathan a smoocher right on the cheek. That was especially nice. The coolest part was the motorcycle jumping... not $95 dollars cool, but the boys loved it. You could even pay extra to see the smallest horse alive and then around the corner you could pay extra to see the smallest living woman. I thought the movie the "Elephant man" did away with this type of cruel and unusual punishment, but I guess not. I decided to save my $2 dollars and bought ice-cream on the way home so that the big zit on my chin would go ahead and increase in size. Fun times.

The Delta Fair

The next Osmonds.....

Here are the kids showing all their moves...

My new valance

Mom,

Here's the valance you made. Looks pretty darn cute in the country style kitchen. Thank you for your hard work and talent. It definitely warms things up and does a great job covering the blinds.... Love you.

Tori's Visit to Memphis

Tori braved the heat and spent two and half weeks in the hot, humid, lushy green of Mississippi! We are so grateful she was able to come and do a lot of r & r. She shopped, texted, watched movies, texted, drove to Wal-mart, texted, shopped some more, texted, took a tour of Sun Studio, texted, had a night on the town in the middle of BEALE street, texted, saw the big gaping Mississippi river, texted, caught frogs, texted, got a million mosquito bites, texted, and talked a lot to her cooky aunt Stacy. It was awesome to get to know Tori better and spend some good quality time with her. She's not a little lady anymore, she's a Woman and a gorgeous one too! Best wishes to her in the upcoming senior year. May lots of fun times roll ahead... Come again anytime. We love you, Ms. Tori.

Tori in Memphis

Out at the Zoo

This was one of our fun, extremely HOT days out at the Memphis zoo. What a day. The pandas and penguins were the kids favorites. The giraffe's were Nogueira's (sergio's dad) favorite. The butterfly expo was my favorite but I had my hands full at the time and couldn't take pictures. The zoo is very nice. You're all invited to come hang out with us at the zoo.

The Memphis Zoo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, UNCLE TONY!!

WE LOVE YOU, TONY!! We wish we could be close by to give you a huge birthday squeeze from all of us. We hope your birthday is full of fun. Best wishes in this new year of life! May you be, see, and experience things you never imagined!!!

All our love,

The Nogueiras

Nick's Big Day!

I can't believe it. We've arrived to school age kids. Nick was so excited to go to school. He woke up by himself with an alarm clock that he insisted on having and ran downstairs to get movin! After a long boring photo shoot, Nick was dying to get to school. I slipped a brand new CTR ring onto his wee little finger as we walked into the school. He said, " mom, you're the best. Now I will always remember to make the right choices even at school! " He found his name on the wall to the right class room for Mrs. Dana. He sat down next to Greta and took over the Lego bucket. He then made it very obvious that it was time for me to leave. How awesome for him. I teared up on the way home only because I feel so grateful to have such an incredible 5 year old. Way to go NICK!

Look how pretty our yard is looking, thanks to the in-laws who have taken over the yard work. They are such a great help to us. Olha como o jardim esta ficando bonito por causa do trabalho dos jardinheiros...

THE HUDSPETH BLUEBERRY GROVE.

Tons of fun for the whole family. We woke up
at 6 am. Got to the grove by 7:45 am and by 9:30am
we had 2 bushels of berries and tons of sweat drippin'
down our backs. Good times in Mississippi.

.

Little Red Riding Hood in the middle of a huge blueberry grove. We had a blast picking the berries. Now what do we do with them once they're home. Maybe we can make our own Kyani juice!!!

Here's the replacement for the chevy prizm. Nissan Altimas are just 1 step up from the prizms but we love the smooth ride.

Check out this family fun...I have the four cutest kids in the whole world!!!

Instead of hating the bugs we have found a fun way to embrace the bugs.... Nicholas now has a bug collection board. The only problem is Mom gets to pin the bugs to the board. Yuck!!!

The famous "BEALE STREET"
where the blues and jazz were born. Famous singers of all kinds entered these cafes and night clubs hoping to be found and to make it big one day.

Who's jealous?

Then you better book a flight and come visit us so we can take you out on the town.

Here we all are rockin' out at BB King's Cafe. You can't beat the loud, live music and famous ribs. What a treat to be in the same place as so many famous singers. We had a blast.

Here we all are on our fun outing to the Riverboat float down the MIssissippi River. What an amazing amount of history lies within these waters. Everyone had a great time.

Father's Day was awesome for Sergio. Having his dad here to hug and enjoy the day with was more than he could ask for. It was a beautiful, sun shiny day. We are so grateful for our husbands, dads, and grandpas. I love you, dad!!

Aunt Kim--- We Love YOU!! We want to wish you a very happy birthday. Nick wants to know if you could save him some cake. He says it's not fair that he can't be there to sing to you on your birthday. We miss your guts out and hope to see you soon. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Last day of swim lessons - Nick stole Ms. Jana's glasses and Nathan has "NO Fear". They love the water. Nadia Mae tries to join in on a regular basis.