Marry Christmus!!

Oh my heavens. Our card situation has been such a mess, but we finally got them, for half off and misspelled, but they are here and we are still sending them. :) My cute and awesome cousin did them for me, but according to Winkflash I did them too late. A month before is too late??? You can't get them to me in a month?! Needless to say we got them half off, then when we finished stuffing them into the envelopes I looked closer at the card and (ahem) noticed Budapest was misspelled. oops. I thought I proofread it carefully, but alas, I am going to blame it on my eyes. I am actually legally blind in two states. True story. sigh.

Funny thing is that this is like the 5th draft and I had it on my background desktop for weeks, so from parties to playgroups, to dinners to family, NO ONE NOTICED!! And dang it. Maybe most of you wouldn't have noticed either, but the cat is out of the bag and all you who would have noticed now won't have to feel bad telling me.

Just disregard the HAVE a merry Christmas and just replace it with HAD and then replace Bud-pest with Budapest. ug. Next year I said we would start in October, but maybe I am leaning toward a wimpy blog Christmas card.
(no offense to those who did. I love them and I think they are a fantastic idea.)

Actually, our card isn't LATE it is just really really really REALLY early for next year, so that means I won't have to send one next year, right? :)

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that you know we are thinking and praying for you all.

(And you know me better than that! I am so doing a Christmas card next year too. I will start in October though. Just remind me in August please. Thanks. And no I am not changing my blog background until all my cards are sent. It's still the Christmas season by golly.)

I have another SISTER!!

Stefany 1 week old. Look how beautiful she is!

Stefany 8 hours old at my dad's home! Look how alert she is.

What a great present right? For a day filled with thoughts of family, I can tell you that this one makes me the saddest to be away from. I will spare you the details of how, but I am already in love with her and I haven't even met her. She is MY SISTER!!! After 29 years of saying that I have 4 brothers and sisters, it is really hard to think that I have 5. This Christmas day I couldn't keep my mind off of her. Fighting back the tears I think about my life and how much I was given growing up and think, "Will she even have CLOSE to what I had?" I was able to play any sport imaginable, forced to have piano lessons, after school activities galore, family trips all the time . . . my heart aches for her.

She lives in Tulum, Mexico with her mother and I am dying to meet her and be apart of her life. It seems to tear me apart sometimes that I can't even see her and watch her grow up, but I will try my hardest to be in her life. She was born on December 3rd (I was hoping to share my birthday with her since her due date was November 22nd) and she is gorgeous. She weighed 7 lbs and was 21 inches long. Just like me. The mother had a cesarean and was out of the hospital 8 hours later . . . walking and showing up at my dad's doorstep surprising him with baby Stefany! I guess the chances for infection go up the more you stay in the hospital there. Still crazy. Dear sweet little baby Stefany.

She is with a loving mother who already has two beautiful daughters, so I want to think that she will grow up happy, healthy, and strong, but that hope is so hard to hold on to when I compare my life to hers. It's just doesn't seem fair some times. She can have such a wonderful life, just different. I have to keep reminding myself that.

We had a wonderful Christmas and it even was a white one! It started snowing at 10pm on Christmas eve. We had fun together all day today and I can't believe how blessed I am to have such an amazing family. Hope you felt the love of the Savior this special day.

Merry Christmas!

We've been busy...

We celebrated the Hungarian way...

St. Micolas comes on the 6th of December for all Saint's Day and you put your shoes by the window so that he can fill your shoes with goodies. Haley and Maleia lined them up for us.

Then Haley wrote who's shoes were whose just in case Micolas couldn't tell. They read: Brandon's - shoes - Monique's - shoes - etc. :)


He did NOT dissappoint. He arrived in the night and brought Hungarian candy, cookies, and some Hungarian toys to play with.


Haley was concerned that St. Micolas would forget our friend, Dan, who was staying with us while his family went back home to CA, so she made a note and filled his shoes with treats of her own and even wrapped a Hungarian trinket for him. All by herself. If that's not the true meaning of Christmas, then I don't know what is.
P.S. Micolas did NOT forget our dear friend Dan who is now reunited with his family.

Okay, so on to the OTHER things we have been busy with:

1. Decorating the home to look like Christmas


2. Going caroling and delivering our baked goodies
3. Visiting the Christmas market in Budapest

This is an advent calendar that they put in the square in downtown Budapest.

And this is the yummy deliciousness that I will be craving forever now. It's vanilla-sugar bread cooked over hot coals and then dipped in either cinnamon sugar, coconut, or walnuts. Yes, I would consider making a special trip to Hungary JUST for this. To. Die. For.

It's quite the operation. The lady on the right is the one who rolls out the dough and wraps the bread around the long stick thingy, then she passes it to the guy who dips it in the vanilla-sugar who passes it to the baker who watches the bread cook then dips it in the toppings (if you so desire), who passes it to the cashier to waves it back and forth in the air to cool then bangs it against the ground to loosen it enough to give it to you packaged in cellophane. I want one right NOW!

4. Taking pictures with Santa at the Embassy party

Dylan is thinking if he likes Santa...

Nope. Take the picture quick!

5. Emailing our peeps and a little blogging here and there


6. Opening our packages and making messes aka: "Swimming" in the packaging peanuts. I've ALWAYS wanted to do it myself, so I said, "Hey, why not?"

we don't need presents, we just need packing peanuts.

Do you even KNOW how hard this stuff is to clean up?
Let alone the millions of gasses that we just let into the air to damage the ozone?

... courtesy of those who shall not be named ...*cough* Harpers *cough* :)

7. Scrapbooking!! Yes, I've been REALLY busy.


8. Planning on attending Brandon's office party tomorrow (who all happen to be good friends), getting ready to go to Disney on Ice on Christmas Eve day, then that night having friends over to do the Nativity and dinner at our home, then Christmas day chillaxin with the fam, then traveling to Aviano, Italy the 26th for four days!! Cross your fingers that we can actually go this time...

Real vs. Unreal

I was THIS close to writing "choice spirit" with a permanent marker on the foreheads of these kids of mine last week just to remind me how precious these little ones are. Believe me, I needed the reminder. (Stories to come later. I haven't stopped twitching yet from last week...People really have more than three kids?)

update: On Sunday while Brandon was on the stand, they were pretty good. Monday= good. Tuesday= good. Today... could be better, but kind of good. I started behavior charts this week and I think they have helped.

All in all these kids are unreal!! In a good way.
They really are good kids.

I love that these three are becoming better and better friends. They play all together now and you can tell the energy level boosted now that Haley is out of school for Christmas break.

Why do we say cheese for a picture?
Dylan loves to yell it at the camera.

Maleia: Close your eyes daddy? B closes his eyes.
Tada!!!! Here you go daddy!
B: looks at the nothingness that Maleia gave to him.
What have we here?
Maleia: It's your favorites.
You like BYU and Guitars Hero. Doncha?
B: Of course.
Maleia: Sorry I couldn't give you mommy. She was real.

Haley: She just came over to the computer and asked what I was doing. So you are writing about Maleia? Can you write about me?
Mom: Sure, but I can't think of any stories about you right now. Do you remember any?
Haley: I don't remember any stories about me, Mom. I'll think of one and get to you about it.

(a few seconds later... long enough to write the dialogue above. She "got to me about it." :) I am writing as she is talking.)

Haley: Okay mom, here's a story: Once upon a time. There were two ladybugs.

Mom: Is this a story about you?
Haley: No.

Mom: Can you tell me a story about you?
Haley: ug! Okay. Once upon a time, I saw two ladybugs. They tried to talk to me.
Mom: Is this a real story?
Haley: No, it's a pretend story, but it's about me. Anyway, they tried to talk to me, but they couldn't. And so I let one crawl up my hand. It tickled me. So I got a jar and I put my ladybugs in it. Then I went inside. The ladybugs were sad. So I put them in my room instead. And I went to sleep and they were happy and they went to sleep too. The End.
(Her friend Abby just sent her a story that she wrote about ladybugs, so ladybugs were fresh on her mind.)
Mom: That was great! Do you know any true stories about you?
Haley: Well, I'll just make sure I do this in the summer, okay? That will make it real.

Dylan:
1. Walks around with the numerous magic wands we have and whacks everyone and everything with it and yells, "BOO!"
(Like Bibbity-bobbity-BOO!)

2. Throws things on the ground from his highchair or over the baby gate or out of his crib or out the window of our car!! and says, "Uh-oh that?" While pointing and looking at it. (I still have no idea what he threw out our car when Maleia rolled down the window on the way to the store.)

3. Calls me dada. still. But he is such a momma's boy. ???
I don't get it?

4. If he sees ANYTHING remotely edible, he'll say, "Mmmmm mmmm mmmm" until you give some to him.

5. If he has something in his mouth that he is not supposed to have I will say "Spit that out. That's yucky, Dylan" and he will respond with "ckkkkkkk that ckkkkk."

6. He soooo wants to play with the hanging balls on our Christmas tree. He will go right up to it, squat and yell, "WOW!!! Ball? Oooooo! Ball?" and point at all the "balls" on the tree. Poor guy. There are nothing but round things on the tree this year. ***Tonight at FHE when we were cutting snowflakes and he was left to wander, he broke three hanging balls and ate two hanging chocolate balls from our tree. (Chocolate balls are a Hungarian tradition BTW.) He was sooo good at not touching!! eh, he's one.

7. If he sees or hears a telephone, he will yell, "Hey-woah? HEY-WOAH!? HEY-WOAH!!!!" Until it is given to him or you distract him with something else.

8. His dance is hilarious! He does these deep squats and then just "twirls" aka: walks in a circle while waddling. All the while singing "wa wa wa wa." (la la la la)

9. Does all the "normal" Chapman tricks. Touchdown, waves and yells bye-bye, peek a boo by himself, high 5s, clap, tackles anyone already laying on the ground, hugs and kisses to everyone, (including strangers. Maybe this is why Haley thinks kissing her friends is okay? oops) opening every cupboard that we have, dumping every toy bin that we have, and unrolling every TP roll that we have. He also does this funny "gasp thing" that sounds more like someone being strangled or gasping for breath whenever he sees something he likes or wants. Which is every few seconds.

10. If he sees a camera he yells, "cheese!"

11. When it is time to pray he is the first to "fold" his arms and when we are done he yells, "Uh ma!" (Amen)

Dylan's words:
up, all done, that, dada, duck, wow, woah, no, yeth, uh-oh, bye-bye, bottle, hi, num-num, hello, bath, cheese, nigh-night, and of course, ball!

says "nana" - for banana
says "boo" - for book
says "bo-woah" - for doggie
(Hungarian dogs apparently say bow wow)
says "neigh thhhhhh" (slobbery thhhh)- for a horse (thanks B for teaching him this. When he sees one he slobbers all over you.)
says " baaaa" (complete with the bleating sound) - for a sheep
says "mow" (sounding like now) in a high pitched voice - for a cat
says "moooooow" (like you are 'mow'ing a yard) - for a cow
says "waoh" - for a lion or dinosoar
(any other moving creature either makes a kitty noise or a sheep noise.)

When he sees a car, truck, motorcycle, tram, etc., he pierces his lips together, vibrates them, and makes a car sound. Even when he plays with anything that has wheels he does this.
I LOVE THIS ONE!!!

And the Quote of the Day goes to Maleia:
Noticing the Red Robin seasoning on the table before dinner: "Rebember Daddy? We went to Rib Robin Lasterday?" (yes, in question form.)

Dylan says: "I just looove this pose that the girls think is so cute and I think it's great that they want to do this every time all three of us are in a picture. Seriously guys. This is getting old."

Sent $800 order!!!

THANK YOU

As I went through the Scholastic order one last time, I had mixed emotions. I was tearing up at the generosity of those who I didn't know and laughing at the book choices of my friends and thinking, that is something I can totally see her reading as a kid (or even now.) Then, I was also surprised at some orders thinking, "Hey! Why didn't I think of getting a class set of those?" or "I don't remember seeing that in the book order? Wow!" and "A reading game? That is so fun! They will love that." Then I was thinking, "Am I going to fit all these books in my car?" :)

My kids had a blast going through and picking their own books to give away and just seeing them dump out their entire wallet and piggy bank to pay for them was a little overwhelming. I have great kids. Maybe it was easy to give because they found most of that money lying around, but some of it came from birthday money and chores. In any case, it was theirs, and they gave.

Just so you know, I put in an eight hundred dollar order to Scholastic books today because of you all. $800 dollars and 3000 points for free books!!! This was incredible and I am soooo excited to get the books and give them away. I'm not sure after this that the embassy will let me use their postal service for charity again (I had to get permission) because I'm not sure they knew how many people would donate, but I am grateful for their willingness to let me do this in any case.

I am going to leave the order information up on the right side of my blog if anyone is still interested in donating books to this Orphanage. I have 5 DIFFERENT order forms you can peruse and purchase from. I love this feeling that I have right now of contributing in this way and I know many of you donate to many different charities, churches, and organizations . . . even anonymously, and however you give to whomever you give, know that you will receive MUCH more in the long run. Thank you so much for donating to this great cause.

Monday

And you thought this was a new post on a new subject! :) Right now I feel like this Charity is more important. Next week. Stay tuned... pictures and funny stories will come back! Promise.

In the meantime, Monday is the last day to order books this time around. I wanted to get the order in as soon as possible (today), but when I went to place the order, I couldn't even enter the order in because the international ordering offices are closed on weekends, soooo that means you have TWO EXTRA DAYS! (Phew.)

"Lucky!!!" Napoleon Dynomite

Here's the info again on how to order:
(just in case you can't scroll down that far. Hey it happens.)
__________________________________________________________________

1. go to http://www.scholastic.com/clubsordering

2. You will see "Book clubs online." Right under that you will see 5 tabs
Click on the "Place an Order" tab. (There is a computer mouse with a red circle around it next to it.)

3. You will see Teacher Sign in. Right under that you will see a green rectangle. Click on that green rectangle that says "Place your child's order"

4. You will see a Parent sign in on the right. The user name is: Monique and the password is: Charity (it is not case sensitive)

5. Then all you do is click on the order form that you would like to donate from. (You can look at them all if you want.) When you click on the order form, there will be 4 tabs again.

6. The easiest ways to order are either to "Shop by Flier Page" or to "Shop by Order Form"

Thanks again. You are so great!!!

BRO: Charity Give-away

So an update on our Scholastic book orders is this: we have about 200 books going to the orphanage right now. woo-hoo!! (Which includes the mini "sight words books" that I ordered with the points from the orders.) We are sooo excited, but if you could spread the word and let people know about this, that would be wonderful. Maybe you overheard someone asking what charity they should donate to this year. You never know. It could come up in conversation. They just found out that this Romanian Orphanage are going to have an ENGLISH teacher come (who is really a missionary from some foundation) and teach English to the children full time!! So now they need books books BOOKS!!

I also think I should do a Charity Give-away!! There is a really cute children's cookbook called Kid's Fun and Healthy Cookbook that I will buy and give to someone who has placed an order. There is over 100 recipes and 42 pages long. Just comment here and I will use that random selection ... thing ... on the web to choose the winner. Also, I will throw in an added bonus ... a special Hungarian treat! Those who have already ordered will be included for sure. If you don't re-comment from the last post, I'll put a comment on for you if you don't see this in time.

*****Deadline for this: is Saturday when I place the order. *****

Operation: BRO

Operation: Books to the Romanian Orphanage

Thanks for those who are lending their support for this cause. (see below post for more details.) I am really excited for this and hope it works out without a hitch. I just got off the phone with Scholastic Books and set up an account for people who wish to donate books to the Romanian Orphanage online. This is a great!! Thanks so much.

1. go to http://www.scholastic.com/clubsordering

2. You will see "Book clubs online." Right under that you will see 5 tabs
Click on the "Place an Order" tab. (There is a computer mouse with a red circle around it next to it.)

3. You will see Teacher Sign in. Right under that you will see a green rectangle. Click on that green rectangle that says "Place your child's order"

4. You will see a Parent sign in on the right. The user name is: Monique and the password is: Charity (it is not case sensitive)

5. Then all you do is click on the order form that you would like to donate from. (You can look at them all if you want.) When you click on the order form, there will be 4 tabs again.

6. The easiest ways to order are either to "Shop by Flier Page" or to "Shop by Order Form"

It may not let you pay with a credit card since I am overseas, so you can just email me your order and I will send you my address for you to send a check. There is no shipping or tax on these. If you just want to donate a sum of money and let my kids pick the books (with my help), that is fine, too.

If you have any issues, please comment here and I will try to help out. If I can't answer right away, I will call them to figure it out. I can't wait to update you on how many books were ordered and will be given to the Orphanage!!!! Won't that be a fun post? Maybe I'm a little too excited about this. But it is ALL going to charity, so I feel good about that. Sometimes you don't know where your money will be going. No compensation for gas to get to the orphanage, no compensation of time spent on organizing, ordering, etc. No Almond chocolate bar that I will buy if I get lost on the way to the Orphanage. Promise! I will post pictures and updates when this all happens. We are planning to personally give them to these kids, so I will try to put a video of it as well.

I just got an update from a friend that just came back from the orphanage yesterday to help with a little party she helped with. She was with the people who were helping to get toys and clothes to them.

"Dear Monique,

"I am still processing what I saw this weekend...terrible poverty, so much need, but so much good work being done by the orphanage foundation.

"It is really more of a children's shelter - some of these kids actually have parent(s) who are simply too poor or otherwise incapable of caring for them. Many don't know their parents and neither does the orphanage. The orphanage is an immense step UP in their quality of life, which is not how I would have imagined life in an orphanage...

"It is a real treat and something you won't forget. The kids, despite overcrowding and not much food, are happy and eager for attention. Little ones just jumped into my arms when I walked in, others would take my hand when they could, all wanted a piece of anyone who would show them affection. I fought back tears many times.

Thanks,
Sharon"

This gets me every time I read it and helps me realize that what I am doing can not only bring a smile to their faces, but could help them increase their quality of life by just learning English.
Hope your Holiday Season is not too crazy and that you are truly enjoying it.

Making a life better than you know...

Our Chapman Christmas charity (service project) this year is donating books to a Romanian orphanage using scholastic book orders. Anyone want to donate to an orphanage that has one toy for each child and they (the Hungarians) are TRYING to teach them English without any books to reinforce their learning? Toys would be great, but another organization has that covered. I am concentrating on the English books part. Thankfully there are three US families (yes, only three families) that fund this orphanage, so they are fed and get clothes through donations as well. Are they state funded? no. They are completely charity funded. You wouldn't believe how many orphanages there are here. Then when they get older, they are put in programs to try to learn a trade, but we hear many many girls go into prostitution. Human trafficking is HUGE here. Sad. Hence, they want these children to learn English to give them more opportunities than the bottom of the barrel. If you are interested, please let me know. I have scholastic book orders where ALL books and points from those books are going to this orphanage. Yes, there are $1 books and even great phonics and pre-reading sets that are great for learning English. The only books they have are their primers. Text books. Fun, huh? Brandi hit my charity pet peeve button today. My family always got flack from everyone when we would try to get donations for a Mexican orphanage that we would go to every year. Why would you want to help them out where there are so many poor people here in America? sigh. We like to help ALL people. Go check out Brandi's blog too.

Thank goodness for Preschool!

Today was a riot! I just cranked this edition out so fast! ...

I held up a normal, nothing-weird-about-it picture of a turkey and asked: "What is this?"

This is what I got:

child A: Turtle!
child B: He's sorta like a turtle.
child A: yea! A turtle.
Me: It's not a turtle.
child C: It's a Duck!
child D: Pigeon! (you know what a pigeon is, but not a turkey?)
child E: A HUGE chicken!
child B: It's a peacock. Look at those feathers! (you know what a peacock is, but not a turkey?)
Me: Close. I'll give you a hint. It says "Gobble Gobble"
child E: Dinner!
several children: A turkey!
Me: yes!
child A: (with head in hands.) sigh. I'm going to ask my mom if it looks like a turtle.

I'm almost sad to say it was my own daughter that said it was a duck. But hey, she could have been the one who said turtle.

Thank goodness for Preschool!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

I asked them what they were thankful for and these are their answers:

Steven: For plants I grow at my house, my family, and feasts (typical boy)
Mimi: My Barbies, my dog, myself, my mom, and the rest of my family
Jenny: Roxy and Milli, the park, and my friends. They are so sweet to me. (she was a hoot today :)
Sky: Playing with my board, and Indians, Zebras, and my family. (this was the first day she has even heard about Indians)
Maleia: My huge family, eating with my daddy, the bumpy house at my birthday party, and airplanes. (Are you saying I'm fat? And, yes there are a lot of us compared to everyone else in Europe)
Ava: All the things, leaves, preschool, and Irving (her Zebra that comes to Preschool with us some days)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

I held up a turkey without it's feathers on this time and asked, "What is wrong with this turkey?"

Ava: I think he's sad
Maleia: He is sad because he wants to see his daddy

I changed my question..."What is this turkey missing?"

Mimi: A mom and a dad
Steven: He's missing an eye! (It was a side profile of a turkey)
Sky: Hands!
Maleia: The flat things he needs to fly like ducks.

Me: Yes! Those are called feathers. He is missing feathers. Sadly, he doesn't fly.
Ava: So he is sad.

Jenny. No. He's missing those pointy things on his back.
Me: Yes he is. Those are called feathers.
Jenny. mmm. I don't know about that.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

We were making butter by shaking whipping cream and Jenny said, "Sometimes I get butter in my eye."
The whole class turned and looked at her like she had butter in her eye right then. Then I asked, "How did you get butter in your eye?" and she responded,
"I have no. I. dea." Then Maleia said, "Maybe it tripped in her eye!"

Oh for the love! These kids just crack me up!

____________________________________________________________________________________

Sky was such a trooper since she doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. This was all new to her. I asked who is all having a Thanksgiving feast tomorrow and all but Sky raised her arm. She replied, "You are ALL going to American tomorrow to have food with Indians?"

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to ME!

I know it's my birthday, but this is also my journal, so I'm posting. So there. For my birthday, all I am asking is for is this:

Memories:
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, write anything you remember!

I just wanted to write about some of my most memorable birthdays. This is for posterity, so you can skim it if you want. It's quite a bit of heritage.

I think my most memorable experiences at most of my birthdays was that my dad would take me to breakfast for a daddy-daughter date and my mom would either make my favorite dinner, or we'd go out to dinner and I got to choose where we went. It was usually either Western Sizzlin, King's Table, or Fargos Pizza. Breakfast was always somewhere sit down. Which was fine with my dad bc all the other kids wanted to go to McDonald's and I always wanted to go to IHOP, Villiage Inn, Cracker Barrel, or Denny's. I love to eat out. Let's be honest.

Then, of course, every 7 years my birthday was on Thanksgiving, so I got a candle in the turkey and pies. Good one. Very clever. I wasn't even a huge fan of pies, but it was fun having the whole family and some dear friends there for the dual event. I got to play football in morning, come home for the parade, eat some good food, watch football, then usually go to the Meadowland Church Building to play volleyball or basketball in the evening with a ton of kids in our Stake and family. There's more than one reason why Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.

I remember when I was younger I had a best friend Jimmy Christensen who happened to have a birthday 4 days earlier. Our moms were in the hospital together when they had us and apparently we were next to each other in the nursery and everything. At church we would play together even as babies. We were linked. I remember having two separate birthday cakes, separate gifts, but we did everything else the same. He moved my second grade year and I was devastated. We even tried to hide out for a loooong time, then tried running away together. We still kept in tough throughout the years, but lost touch in High School. THEN, the third day, or so of college we were sleeping out to get the best student football tickets and I hear a "Monique!" And then I saw him. I ran to him yelling, "Jimmy!!!" And we totally embarrassed ourselves. :) Remember? We are connected.

Skate City. Need I say more? I remember more than one birthday being held at Skate city and even remember seeing some friends who happened to just be skating the day I was having my party and I felt bad for not inviting them, so my mom said they can join in the fun.

I remember quite a few birthdays at my home during middle school where I had a swim party with our hot tub. Many times it would be snowing and we would spend our time daring each other to do crazy things in the snow and then run back and jump in the hot tub. I wonder how many of my friends were sick the next day?

One year my parents were gone for my birthday, so I had a party at my house while they were gone. It was pretty large. Okay massive, and people from four different high schools showed up and then the next day my parents' friend came to check on my brother and I, saw the mess, and told my parents the house was a wreck, but when my parents stepped through the door two days later, the house was spotless... thanks to some friends who helped clean and a pretty cool brother who even covered for me. Do I want teenagers?

The kidnapping surprise party!! Oh how can I ever forget this one! I have a friend, Tom Paul, who also has a b-day around mine and we were both kidnapped together early one Saturday morning and taken around the city blindfolded until we were dropped off together a couple of times, then picked up again, and finally taken to his house to a surprise party. It was so fun! I had never had a surprise party before, so I relished in my "feeling especially special" day with a great friend. I LOVE sharing birthdays with friends! I also LOVE surprises!

I remember my boyfriend at the time, Mark Gardner, did this awesome video scavenger hunt for me which was seriously cool. I was even video taped during the excursion by another friend and was surprised by him at the end. It was pretty thoughtful. He is still a good friend with an even more amazing wife and the funny thing is, I first got to know my husband better at one of Mark's birthday parties in college. (Mark and I were long over by then, but still friends.) How creative, huh? I hope I still have it somewhere...

One year (actually my parents were gone for this one too) my friends got me a birthday cake with someone else's name X'ed out on it and written next to it (in what I think was a Sharpie) was my name. It was a Barbie cake and they knew how much I hated Barbies growing up, so they of course got me a Barbie cake and a Barbie for my birthday. (I don't remember how they got it, but I want to think that it was a mistake cake and not taken from a girl's B-day party. Next thing I know I am going to have a comment on my blog about how my friends ruined her B-day bc they stole her cake...) Anyway. Oh, and I do need to mention that they also had collected the cards that I gave to THEM during the year, crossed out their names and put mine in and switched a few words around. :) It was pretty funny. Then we went out to dinner and hiked up a canyon in Colorado Springs where we ended up overlooking the entire city and throwing my Barbie off a cliff at 3am. Fun sober stuff. They knew I didn't drink, so they brought Martinelli's and fun Sobe drinks to try out. Funny thing was that one of the guys names was Jimmy, but not the same Jimmy as growing up. It was in Nov, but I don't remember being that cold. . .

And of course my birthday during my honeymoon. That was great because B took me to a Steak House in Park City and we were married. I remember that I kept telling him that we were married during the dinner. "Guess what? We are married!!" "So I got married three days ago." "Hey, you are now my husband." As if he didn't know, but I guess it hadn't hit me yet. We even had a really cool DJ there that sang a song to us and we got to dance to it alone on the dance floor while the whole restaurant watched and cheered when the song was over. Not to mention that it was snowing really hard by the time we were done and were lucky enough to follow a snow plow to our condo, but still got stuck twice and even had to have someone come and help.

I remember one birthday when B took me to Red Lobster (B said we could go there once a year, for my birthday!) The waiter came out with two dishes. One a Cajun Chicken Alfredo and the other a gargantuan plate of crab with extra sides. The waiter stutter stepped a moment and switched the meals thinking B had the Ginormous plate, but I said, "Oh no. That one is mine. Aaaaall mine."

So all in all I have had special days in my life that I can call my birthdays, but the really special days are those spent with as many family and friends I can have under one roof at the same time. Now that's a party!

Fire & Ice - 7 years strong!

First off, Thanks babe for being an equal partner in our WONDERFUL children. There are so many reasons I can think of that I love you (check back to year 5, I believe, where I wrote 100) but this year I'll just show you a few of my top reasons:

#1

#2

#3

Has it been 7 years already?

I know many of you are thinking: Wow! You two are totally different! But to our defense, we are alike in all the important things. The other things are just details and I like to say that we just complement each other. Plus, it keeps us on our toes and where one person falls short, the other is in abundance.

We are alike in our dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ, our love for children (we actually both said that we wanted 11 children before we got married), our sense of adventure (though I show more excitement, I've found he is just as excited. He just doesn't say, "I'm excited" every ten seconds like I do :) , we both have a love of learning (we both want a master's someday), a strong work ethic (I worked at my parents campground since I was real little and B has worked around the house and had jobs early in life), we are both pretty creative (I've never met a guy who is as good at organizing as he is and actually has an opinion on and appreciation for the decorating in our home), we actually like reading and writing (hence the long blogs posts and you should read the things he writes. Witty and fun to read), we both love sports (watching AND playing anytime anywhere), both came from families of 7, both aren't pet people so much, and we love each other with all the love we can muster. That's a good amount if I do say so myself. Oh, and we both HATE tuna and LOVE country music. It was meant to be!

Drinking pop/soda:
B- says "soda" and likes it straight from the can. If he could have extra fizz, he would.
Mo- says "pop" and likes it in a big cup with ice and a straw. My favorite is what I call "Stadium Sprite." Going to watch a game (football, basketball, volleyball, baseball, etc.) and getting a Sprite on tap. I get hicups when it's too fizzy and my eyes water, so B laughs when I stir it with a straw to get some of the fizz out.

Pancakes:
B- He eats them all separate and each one is different. One with Maple, one with Strawberry, etc. Little to no butter.
Mo- Stack em! And I eat them with Maple Syrup, lots of butter, and powdered sugar on top. Preferably stacked three high.

Salsa:
B- The hotter the better. Says he can still taste his food when it's fire hot. I don't believe him.
M- The milder the better with a tad of kick. I like the flavor of salsa, but I also like the flavor of the food that I'm eating with it with too, so burning my taste buds is not my favorite. I tear up if it's too hot. (What's up with my eyes watering all the time?)

Party:
B- The best party for him is no party, but he like the low-key, good friends/family kind of party. He's not a huge fan of the big scene with lots of people.
Mo- Can I plan one tomorrow? I love me a good party with tons of people.

Restaurant:
B- If the food/service is bad, show it in the tip, but he'll still give 10% no matter what. Nice guy.
Mo- If anything is bad, I tell someone nicely about it. Really. I'm nice. I think of myself as the manager or owner of the restaurant and would want someone to do the same thing as I am doing. We usually end up getting our food right and/or compensated for, but hey, I don't get out much, so I want it right. That's not too much to ask for. On the contrary, if we have an excellent experience, I let it be known as well.

Personality:
B- Laid back. Easy going. Easy to get along with. Doesn't talk much in new situations. Seldom let's anything bother him. Naturally very forgiving.
Mo- Go-getter. Schedule oriented. Fun-loving mover and shaker. Talks sometimes too much. I worry more than I want to admit. (I usually blame Haley's worrying on the Chapman gene pool.) And I am also very forgiving, I just have to work at it more and need more help to forgive.

Family Background:
B- Home body. He remembers doing a ton at home with his family and going to reunions with extended family and reading a lot at home together. They would go the park and throw frisbees and go on walks together. Singing at the piano was a favorite family pastime and watching movies. They are super tight and continue to stick together no matter what.
Mo- I think we used our home mostly just for sleeping. If we weren't camping, waterskiing, working, motorcycling, hiking, or playing sports, we were playing board games (which got extremely competative at times) going out to eat together, fishing, throwing parties, vacationing, or going to other people's homes to visit. Again, we have a super tight family that stick together no matter what hardships befall us.

Night vs. Day
B- He's a morning person hands down. When we got married he got up every morning at 5:30 and got things done! He still gets up at 5:30, showers, does his morning routine and goes to work early. After the kids to bed, he could easily go to bed. He can fall asleep anywhere ater 8pm. It's a Chapman thing that sometimes I covet since he can fall asleep in seconds, but it can be annoying. Hey that was a funny part in the movie. Brandon?... Wake up! You missed it!
Mo- You couldn't pay me enough to wake up that early on a regular basis. The only reasons I am happy to get up that early is if I am trying to get the smooth skiing water, beat the rush to the ski slopes, go to early morning sports practices, leave early for vacation, etc. It is rare that I go to bed before midnight. I just get things done at night. I shower at night, read at night, clean at night, play games, watch movies, scrapbook, you name it!

Movies:
B:Hates spoilers
Mo:Predicts movies

Dinner:
B: Doesn't mind cleaning as long as he doesn't have to cook
Mo: Don't mind cooking as long as I don't have to clean.

The other things we are different in are just because he's a guy and I'm a girl. I guess the only other surprising difference is that he is quicker to be emotional than me. Though, sometimes I am emotional at things and he just looks at me and says, "Are you really crying?" Nice. Thanks a lot. :) But apparently I do the same thing to him, so there you go.

We are great and are looking forward to another fun year. My advice to all of you,

"No matter how long you have been married, marriage is work! Some of the work you do is easy, and some of it requires more thought and tough dedication, but all the hard work you do to keep your marriage strong requires two people with the drive to keep the relationship smokin!" by Monique Chapman

Who couldn't love a father like this?
7 years down, eternity to go!

FOR THE LOVE !!

of TAGS! ug. Since I love Melissa and I thought it would be quite an easy tag, I went with it. Thanks! :P

Alright peeps, time for another tag. Someone did this to me a while back, too, so now I have double the reason to do this.

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Answer the eight"8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1. American Idol
2. Around the Horn (on ESPN)
3. America's Funniest Home Videos
4. Sports Center (on ESPN)
5. House (I've seen three episodes total. . . last year, I think. But it was good.)
6. So You Think You Can Dance (I saw the year with Benji)
7. ??? (Now you know how I have time to blog!) Doogie Howser was really cool!
8. BYU vs. UTAH this week!!!! Goooooooooooo Cougars!

8 Things I did yesterday
1. Shopped at Tesco (like a Walmart)
2. Had my Hungarian class in my home
3. Read scriptures and did my Bible Study workbook
4. Ate Chicken Paprikas that Irene made... yummo!
5. Had Family Home Evening
6. Helped my girls with their Primary Program Parts
7. Dishes, Cleaned, did hair, read to the kiddos, played with the kiddos, watched Dylan walk all day, got ready for Playgroup today...etc.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to:
1. Going to Italy. It's been put off waaaay too long.
2. Carrie and Kyle coming to visit next month and going to Germany with them
3. Thanksgiving with friends
4. Haley and Maleia's primary program next Sunday.
5. CHRISTMAS! And all the parties that go along with it: Chapman Caroling party, Compound Progressive Christmas Dinner, Budapest Branch Party, Embassy Christmas Party, Kid Embassy Christmas Party, School Christmas Party, Preschool Christmas Party, Cookie Exchange, and our Christmas Eve Party with just our family... phew!
6. Paris in the Spring (sounds like a poem, huh? Wasn't this on Sleepless in Seattle?)
7. More visitors in the Spring. My cousin and my dad so far.
8. Having an eternal family and being able to have all my children get married in the temple, go on missions, and have kids of their own.

8 Favorite Restaurants (that I miss!)
1. Cafe Rio (duh)
2. Famous Dave's
3. Teriyaki Stix
4. Pei Wei
5. Chick Fil-A
6. Panera Bread
7. Outback (or ANY good Steak house really)
8. Chipotle

8 Things on my Wish List
1. To continue to grow in the Gospel and to see my hubby and kids do the same
2. Elliptical
3. Rice Cooker big enough to feed our family
4. Learn to make movies from our pictures or home videos
5. Finish my scrapbooks
6. Get Lasik eye surgery someday
7. Piano for Brandon
8. Have another kid without being pregnant. (Hey, a girl can dream, right?)

8 Pet Peeves
1. People taking advantage of old people and children (anyone really, but these get me MAD!)
2. B burping at the dinner table (I don't care if it makes you feel soooo much better and no I do not think of it as a compliment like people in Tonga.)
3. People putting empty boxes back in the cupboards or fridge instead of the garbage (It just teases me and gets my hopes up. STOP it people!)
4. People lying to me when I know the truth
5. People not squirting the water out of the bath toys after they are done so they get mold in them. Ew.
6. Blinkers people. BLINKERS! They are not optional. And don't get me started on merging...
7. People bringing their obviously sick kids around mine. I'd much rather you just smack them than get them sick. "My kid just threw up twice today, but I brought her anyway. I wonder why she is asleep on the ground?" She's SICK!!! grrrrrr.
8. People not disciplining their kids when they definitely NEED it. (Notice I did not say hurting.)
9. Yes. 9! Policemen or security guards or anyone who THINKS they are cooler than they really are and think they can get away with pushing people around because they wear a uniform. It's all about MUTUAL respect.

8 Things you would like to be remembered for:
1. My amusing blogs :)
2. This one is lame.
3. How about we do 8 things I would like to ask and tag people about?
4. Now I know why this one was taken off Melissa's list

8 things to ask and tag people about... AHEM!
1. Why they think that Christmas music is appropriate before Thanksgiving :)
2. Why they can't fly here and take a photoshoot here in hungary of my family
3. Why they can't just get a job in Hungary and set up a scrapbook store here. They don't have any in the whole country. Poof! We'd make mucho moolah!
4. Why they have to go Private and I have to keep checking like the "old days" to see if they have posted
5. Why my upload speed is horrid and won't allow me to upload vidoes or see Slingbox well
6. Why the paylists won't let me just push play if I want to listen to music (stay tuned for mine soon)
7. Why people have pets that bark all. day. long.
8. Why people think they can get away with not standing up for what they believe

8 People I Tag- don't you DARE get mad! (I did some of the As and Bs of the people that I know, next TAG will be Cs and Ds, and so forth... jk. maybe.)
1. Amy
2. Becky
3. Brandi
4. Allie
5. AnnDee
6. Annie Marie
7. Autumn
8. Beth

Y'all better do it! And I won't be offended if you put "I can't stand it when people tag me and say, ya'll better do it" under your pet peeves.

Funny Sundays

B is playing the piano for the Primary Program for our Branch and so he gets to be a fly on the wall. They had a practice today and there was a little girl that was supposed to say "I am grateful that Heavenly Father gave me a body and a great family." But what she said was, "I am grateful that Heavenly Father gave me a GREAT body." All the adults busted up trying to hold back their laughter.

(BTW, he is now the 1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency and we found this out 2 minutes before church started. I was eager to find out and he said, "Guess!" The brat. Just tell me you fool! So when he did, all three kids seemingly went berserk and I got visions of me sitting with my three crazy kiddos while B sits on the stand enjoying the view. double brat. Oh, you know that I know he will do great.)

Then tonight we were playing Apples to Apples as a family which is always fun because they don't get all the words and they can't read yet. At the end of the game, we have a tradition where we read the green cards that we win and they are supposed to describe you.

Haley got: Fantastic, Intelligent, and Explosive... how true this is...

Maleia got: Lovable, Irritating, Swift, and Exhausting... wow! Who needs a horoscope when you have Apples to Apples?

Now some funny pictures:

Yes, this is B and Trevor playing Guess Who on Sunday morning before Church. Haley had a list of things to do before church and Tea Party and Guess Who were on the list. Notice the tea set sitting by Trevor. She made name places for each of us so we knew where we were supposed to sit and made us speak in British accents.

These cute rugrats. When we told them we were going for a Sunday walk, they were so excited and then both exclaimed, "I get to ride in the stroller!" I don't think they still get the gist of what a "walk" is. We brought NO stroller to fend of the temptation and whining. (Oooo. I just noticed that strange man in the picture all the way to the right. Creepy. Click on the picture to see what I mean.)

On our Sunday walk we went to a huge park that led up to the Citadel on Gellert Hill and Haley especially loved this sign, (if you knew her, you'd know she has a true phobia of the canine variety) though we saw a few people disobeying. Good thing the Hungarians didn't speak English (so we think) because Haley would say really loudly as they passed while trying to crawl up my leg, "They are NOT supposed to have dogs at this park! They are making a wrong choice!"

Maleia also wanted a picture by the sign doing the same thing, but her thumbs up turned into a thumbs down. Which is appropriate. She and Dylan go nuts when they see a dog and want to go and pet any that they see. My favorite conversation from Maleia to comfort Haley: "Don't worry Haley. They won't bite you too hard. Mommy, don't they have fangs? Wow that one is huge! Can I pet him?"

Okay, so this cute picture isn't so funny, but has a funny story linked to it. When we sat down for Sunday dinner and started to eat, I kept noticing some random noodles on the table. Then out of the corner of my eye I see Dylan throwing his pasta onto the table when no body was looking. That little goober has a good arm! Dylan started walking this week and now walks like a zombie with his hands out laughing the whole time. It's adorable. I am sad because I remember how quickly they grow out of this stage. Then they start RUNNING! (This will be extra fun with me sitting in the congregation by myself every Sunday.)

You might be a mom if:

1. You cry when your kids grow up, but cheer on every milestone.
2. You can say "Please hand me the nipple for the bottle" without blushing
3. You cut up your husbands and/or your food on your date without thinking twice
4. You sway when you stand up and talk to someone.
5. You can tune out chaos, cries, and fighting
6. You drive a mini van
7. You turn in the store when another child yells for his/her mom
8. When another child is hurt or needs something, you immediately go into "mom mode" and get 'er done!
9. You call the bathroom, "potty"
10. When you are standing in line to go potty, you see a child behind you with his/her mother holding him/herself, and you let the child go before you. You've been there. You understand.
11. You understand baby, toddler, talkingwhilebawling, and talkingwhilewhining
12. You have used anything and everything to wipe noses and mouths. Including, but not limited to: the underside of your child's shirt, the underside of your own shirt, receipt, your hand, scarf, grass, etc.
13. You have baby wipes stashed EVERYWHERE
14. You have a step stool in every bathroom
15. You know all the songs to every Disney movie known to man
16. And for those who have girls: You know the songs to every Barbie movie ever made
17. You point out a fire engine, though your kids might not even be in the car
18. You have 4 boxes of clothes and they have nothing to do with seasons. Pre- first pregnancy . . .
19. You blog and think that the things your kids do are funny, when they really aren't to the rest of the world. And vice avers: Things you can't stand about your kids are funny to the rest of the world.
20. You scrapbook and always have a camera handy
21. You have drank out of a sippy cup
22. Your purse is also your diaper bag
23. You have more stuff in your "purse" for your kids than for yourself
24. During election time, you worry about education and the future more than before... (that is NOT talking politics BTW!)
25. Your weekend is based on kid-friendly activities.
26. When shopping, you choose the isle without the candy in it.
27. You have all the Boynton Books memorized.
28. You praise velcro and zippers on shoes
29. You can hear your kid crying in a crowd of a million (or so) kids
30. You are always tired.

31. (add yours here!)

I love being a mom. LOVE it.

Quotes of the Day

First off: Here are my preschool kids! I love them! They are so easy and polite and well behaved and... well, not to offend any of you moms of students that I had before, but this has been the easiest year yet! Notice: I didn't say "favorite." :) I mean, it's been two weeks now.

I still have my token boy in the group. For the past three years I have had just one boy in the group and I am so glad that I have at least one. They really add a dynamic attribute to the class that I enjoy. The girls need it. Whether they like it or not. :) Doesn't he just look thrilled to be here?

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We had the missionaries over for dinner last night:

A Missionary: "Maleia, why do we pray?"

Maleia: "So that we can eat dinner!"

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Haley came home from school today in an especially good mood.

Haley: "Mom, there are now 3 people who love me at school"

Me: "Only three, huh? :) Really? Who?"

Haley: "Well, three boys. Nicolas, Chan Ho, and Adam. Today at swimming they were my babies and they LOVED it! They kept chasing me around and I was laughing and they were just so funny. (sigh) I do love boys..."

*Uh-oh. Someone help! She's supposed to NOT like boys until she is 12!
**Update: Brandon and I were talking to Haley about boys and how it's not okay to kiss them. She asked if it was okay to hug them, and I said yes, then Brandon blurts out, "But high-5s are better!" :)
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Dylan is walking now!!! He has officially taken 12 steps. He has been taking several steps at a time for about two months now, but now he is trying to walk on his own and it is so crazy!

It's awesome. When he gets a little off balance, he stops, says "Woah!" while stabilizing, smiles, and keeps going. When he falls, he starts clapping and yells, "yeah!"