Oi! Tudo Bem para todos amigos Brasilados! Hoje, nos tivemos uma festa para a Samantha. Ela tem nove anos agora! Ela é muito feliz. Nós convidamos oito amigazinhas de Samantha para a festa. Todos as criancas nadaram em piscina. Que lindo! Eles nao quiseram sair. Eu acho as meninas quiseram ficar aqui para a toda da noite. :)

Hello to all of my dear American friends! We miss you. Samantha and I celebrated our birthdays this past weekend. We had a tremendously wonderful time. All of my gifts were flowers--bem bonita. I recived a cactus--gorgeous (I've always wanted one), a gorgeous orchid plant with about 20 blooms on it, a beautiful chrysathemum, and two other flowers I don't recall the names of, but I need to find out and write it down!!! :) Samantha made out like a bandit as usual! We had our family party on Saturday, and today (Sunday) we had a pool party with Samantha's closest girlfriends and one boy. Samantha's nanny came with her husband, and Samantha's riding teacher and her mom and brother. We didn't invite any other adults as we wanted to keep it small. We once again were the only English speakers, and we had a great time! I understand so much more than I can speak. At the end of the party we had some moms drop in and visit also. All of us women are planning a trip to Argentina to do some shopping together. Apparently, it's a lot cheaper to purchase things there. I love these times when I am completley immeresed in the language. The women I have had the priveledge of knowing are so fun and so sweet. They have been some of the best teachers for Portugese.