Oh Crap!! :)

Remind me of the reasons why potty training is better than diapers again?

I forgot.

All I Want for Christmas

I WANT HIM FOR CHRISTMAS!!!

Seriously.

Chrismas Party at the Intercontinental

All dressed up.

The girls.

The guys.

Keesha and I.
Our fish is named after her.

The set up and bar.
We don't get the full appreciation of a good bar...

Look familiar?
This is the same space that they did the cookie making for the kiddos, but this time, it's elegant. The Castle is lit up outside, there is a live band, there is lively conversation, awesome friends, and amazingly gourmet food.

The mood.
Can you tell we were lively?

The food.
And my hair fell down. ug.

I get to wear my ballgown about once a year, so far. And what a great event to wear it at! We were able to get many of our friends together and thanks to my good friend Mirjana, whose husband happens to be a manager for The Intercontinental, they were able to organize a banquet there just for us. It was amazing! We were able to look out the window at the Castle all lit up, eat all-you-can eat gourmet food, and chat it up with some amazing people. I mean, really, I had my doubts about the food. I'm just not that fancy when it comes to food. I figure if I can't spell it our pronounce it, it's probably not my thing, but I got THREE platefuls of dinner and finished them all. From duck to lamb to Salmon to something I can't pronounce... it was all good. And then there were the desserts! Wow. I shouldn't have to eat for a few days.

Cookie Making at the Intercontinental

The Intercontinental is a 5 Star Hotel where one of my good friend's husband is the manager and they hold events for children every so often and Mirjana was nice enough to hold one for 20 kids! Yes. 20. It was madness, but I wasn't in charge, and the kids had a blast, so it was AOK in my book.

Agenda:
1. Cut out the cookies
2. Toured kitchen
3. Ate food
4. Decorated some cookies
5. Shaped Marzipan
6. And took a boxful of cookies home

I barely saw Haley. She was independently working the whole time. When did she get so big? She thought the best part was that she got to take the real child-sized apron home with us. She cracks me up!

Maleia and Dylan needed a little more assistance.

I think she ate more gingerbread dough than she baked... and good thing. The dough was way better than the cookies.

While the cookies were baking, they gave a tour of the kitchens. VERY sanitary, I know.

Dylan was a little clingy since there were so many people around. There were even people there that would help your child out if you didn't want to help them yourself.

Dylan sat next to Scarlett!! :)

Then they had Marzipan shaping. Who wouldn't like edible playdough??

I give this event 5 stars.
We are even going to go back for the Pizza making in a couple of months. Right Mirjana?

New AISB

Haley's the one in the yellow... oh. The one SMILING in the yellow. To the left is her fabulous teacher, Ian Connell. He is British and teaches Haley all sorts of fun words!

I love how Haley can always find the camera.

I'm the giant in red.


Ray Holiday (director), Vito, Me, Ros, Monica, (PSA) 3 kids on Student council, US Charge (standing in for the Ambassador since Hungary doesn't have one yet!!), Mayor of Nagykavacsi, President of the Building committee, Board someone, Board of Director's President, Principal.

So Haley's school moved buildings in November and we (PSA) have been working ever so much to make the transition as smooth as possible. Basically, it's been more work that I had EVER imagined!! The official "Opening" of the Nagykavacsi Campus was great and the kids were the best part! They sang this outstanding song and worked so hard to make it a special event. Dignitaries, Ambassadors, Mayors, Administration, and Parents were all there. Complete with gold scissors cutting the ribbon to the new school.

The worst part of it is that the commute went from 3 minutes to 23 min... not so fun. I'll tell you later if I think it is worth it.

Live for Today

B ran outside to take this picture since the day before the leaves were green and he announced, "They won't stay like this for long." I was thinking, "Eh. They'll probably be there for a week or so."

Nope.

There was a wind storm the next day that blew them all off.

What a great lesson for us all. Look what we would have missed out on!

Laugh #1, #2, and #3

This is what my kids told me tonight as I was cuddling with each of them. I usually get the best stuff when they are tired and giddy.

Laugh #1: Me- Dylan, time to go in your bed buddy. Dylan- 2 minutes! I a boy and boys need to cuddle. 'Member? Me- Okay, only because you are cute. Dylan- I not cute. I a gutsy racer! (A quote from the movie Cars.)

Laugh #2: Maliea- (whisper voice) Do you want to smell my armpit?

Laugh #3: Haley- (whisper voice) Hey Mom. You look like a flashing robot.

To Dance or To Dance a lot... there's no question

Her whole class. This is the scrunched up nose that reminds me of Ashley's little girl pics.

Maleia and her teacher, Janine.

Maleia with Ava Stuart.
(And for all those who know my family, Ava Stewart was my grandmother's name, so it's quite the coincidence.)

There are some things that just isn't hereditary from the mother's side. Maleia has loved to dance since she was 6 months old. If there was music going, she was dancing. I still remember when she first learned to twirl. The only reason why she would stop was when she got too dizzy to stand. More and more reason that she reminds me so much of Ashley (her aunt.)

Recipe for an Aunt Ashley look-a-like:

1 c. Sweet
1 c. Party
A pinch of Spunk
2 c. Dance
1 c. Smile
3 c. Wrinkle-your-nose-laughter
1 c. Night owl
1 c. Golden straight hair
A tad of emotion
10 c. Friendliness

Twirl it all together, leave to set at a party all night, and call me in the morning, afternoon, and again late at night.

And of course, my mom thinks that she is just like me.
But I'm not that cute. :)

NOW I know where they get it from...

Dylan saw B kissing me and yelled, "No Daddy! My mommy!" Then ran up to us and tried to wiggle in between us and pushed B away.
B said: "Whatever Dylan. You wouldn't be here if I didn't kiss your mommy!"
Dylan responded: "You no more kiss mommy, k?! What you say?!"
B said: "Dude, I'm not saying sorry to you."

B was venting a little bit about his day to me, how he was feeling right then, and then talking about our busy schedule that we have planned... I teasingly asked, "Are you complaining?"And B responded, "I'm not complaining. I'm just giving you a play by play."

It's been a good day.

For Mo-Mo and Sarah from Shelly Hale

Okay Mo Mo that last post was totally for you... but it was because I promised you a post... and this one is to say how EXCITED I am to see you and Sarah in just a couple months! I can't believe it! We are going to have so much fun =) I miss you girls so much. Love you!

Sorry each of you has a kid missing... I had to steal these pictures from your blogs because I didn't have many. We need to fix that!

From, Shelly Hale

Happy Birthday from Jen Harper

This is one of the nicest birthday gifts I have ever received. I even cried! It goes to show you how thoughtful gifts go farther than anything else! I also received 46 messages on facebook to tell me Happy Birthday. *sniff* I definitely felt the love on my birthday!

Monique is still the most beautiful person I think I've ever met, inside and out. She just lights up rooms!

Look how amazing she is! She'd *just* had Dylan.

She has so much love in her heart, it just spills over onto everyone else. Theres nothing she wouldn't do for her family, she is just the most incredible mother.

Happiest of days to a woman I know has at least made our world a little brighter!! We love you and wish we could celebrate with you!!

Love, Jen Harper

3-0, Sho nuf!

May we all act our shoe size.

May we all love with all the fibers of our beings.

May we all bloom where we are planted.

May we all find beauty everywhere we go.

May we all love one another.

My birthday today was wonderful and I just have to say how wonderful it is to be alive in this day and age. I think people concentrate on all the bad that is around us, (believe me, I have those days) but if I really think about it, I have to say that I know too many people in this world that are amazing and wonderful people, SO THERE IS HOPE! Now if only those people would procreate...

see? I have faults. That judgment just flew out there without warning. I'm working on it. I figure I have at least another 30 years to figure that one out... Here is to another 30 WONDERFUL loooong years with hopefully more doses of good than bad. Bring it on.

Now for my birthday, I only want one thing. A quick memory of me. This will go down in history in my blog book, so be, um, kind. :) I wasn't that bad. . . or was I????

Eyeball Spit

Haley was joking around and told me that tears are like Eyeball Spit. We laughed until our eyeballs were spitting.

Then today I cut up some strawberries for her snack and a while later she came in and put the bowl on the counter without me looking, then ran into the other room and yelled, "I left you some strawberries, Mom!" "Oh, thanks!" I said without looking. Then I saw Haley peeking into the kitchen with a huge grin, so I knew something was up. I looked at the bowl and she had made paper strawberries to put in the bowl. We laughed and I pretended to eat them while chasing her around the big room.

Maybe I do like this stage.

Thankful

This is the only picture I have of Thanksgiving this year. Those crazy turkeys. Well, really they are trying to dress up like Indians, but some took extra convincing. And I even tried to convince them it was cool becuase they were made from McDonald's bags. No go. Two pictures later, both boys have their hats on the ground.

I am thankful for girls who like to dress up. :)

Gag Me with all the Cheese

#8??? Really?! 8 years??

My husband is better than me. Phew! I said it. You know it's true.

Just to prove it, I will relate some experiences that I don't want to admit. FULL of judgmental ammunition. (Just no mudslinging please.)

1. The first time I figured out that he was better than me was when I was so excited to tell him I was pregnant (with Haley) and planned a whole night for him. Complete with cheesy note in the fortune cookie and have a family member deliver it to a favorite park of ours. The second before we left the house, the phone rang. I shouldn't have answered it because it was my work telling me that I was supposed to be there. I was so mad I threw my planner across the room after I noticed I got my days crossed (I'm claiming hormones) and it exploded with a rainbow of papers everywhere. As I was tearing up, fuming, and feeling sorry for myself, Brandon silently picked up and organized my entire planner and offered to take me to work and then come and pick me up afterward too. What a guy! To add insult to injury, I ended up just telling him while we were doing dishes the next day and even said, "Like you didn't know already." As if that whole ordeal the day before was a text-book "I'm telling you I'm pregnant" ordeal. (Again, claiming hormones.)

2. When B goes out of town, I don't do dishes for a couple days and then clean them up before company comes over. Don't get me wrong, the house stays clean, I just HATE dishes. When I leave for a night out, I come home to a SPOTLESS house. Thanks to Mr. Clean (B).

3. He actually has a laundry day. Wait. He has TWO laundry days. He does it and it's done. Only two days to worry about it. With me, laundry is a lifetime process and sometimes I don't do it until I run out of underwear, then it just continues. Forever. He's also VERY picky about laundry and gives him an excuse to watch sports, so he does most of the clothes. I fold, do all the linens, towels, etc. I still think he wins though.

4. He's nicer than me. A week ago B was on the phone with someone who was treating him very poorly and just plain rude. I had no idea. He was still so nice and polite and even said "thank you for your help" at the end of the conversation. He told me how he was treated afterward and I DEFINITELY would NOT have been so nice. I give people the benefit of the doubt 2 times. I really have to contain myself, but I even have to count it in my head before I let my tongue fly. And no matter what, I tell people that I do not appreciate their rudeness and confront them. B turns the other cheek... though I know he appreciates my confronting personality becuase when it gets a little tough, he will turn to me and ask (in a polite voice of course) "Would you like to handle this?" My answer: "Would I ever!" ;) Let's just call it spunky.

5. I will organize, I just don't love it like B does. He's good at it too. I will look at some closet he's just tackled and exclaim, "Well that makes much more sense!"

So I really want to throw something at someone who introduces their spouse as their "Better Half" not only because is it gaggingly cliche, but how do you really respond to that? I usually ignore it, but I want to ask, "Do you have a name or do I just call you Better?" It really would make it that much more awkward. Anyway, I do have to say that B is my better half in many ways, but I can still out-party him and out-blog him any day. So there.

And as if the rest of this post didn't gag you with a spoon I will go on limb and say: B, you are the BOMB.COM! (Yes, that was ALMOST as bad as watching the new Twilight movie, New Moon, that we watched tonight. almost. gag!)

Happy Anniversary Babe!