At the playground- the ultimate favorite

Since this summer was nice, hot at dry we had plenty of opportunities to try different playgrounds or just go back to our favorites.
Here are some sweet moments.

Labor day

September 6th Labor day. Since David had to work I wanted to do something fun with the kiddos. With the help of Cliff and Debbie we took them for a fun little walk and play to a park.
We walked about a couple miles loop but in the end we crossed through the soccer field.

The kids had their snack in the goal.

Here are a few pics from that day.

One, two, three say cheese- Family portraits

These beautiful pictures were taken by Grandma's friend Judy. She has an amazing garden where she invited all of us for some family photos.
It was not only a lot of work but we enjoyed our time in that wonderful enviroment.

Thank you Judy for your awesome patient, creative ideas and lovely talents!

Summer at home

Popsicles on hot summer days, helping mommy with piles of dishes, cooking and baking together, helping daddy to cut the grass and "fire fither fever"...
These all describe our days in the summer when we were just hanging out at home.
They love to help. I literally have to keep them away from the sink and they want to do dishes even when are not dishes to wash.

Lili loves getting her hands all floury and help making different doughs.
Here is the new slideshow.

Apple Picking

On a beautiful summer weekend Cliff and Debbie had a great idea: Let's go and take the kids to the apple orchard and pick some apples.
It was a lovely morning. We all loved gathering the beautiful red apples into the bags.
Lili desperately wanted to taste every single one to test them. She ended up in our "time out stroller" towards the end she understood that she is not supposed to bite in them because we are taking them home.
The other four were awesome help. Tomi became a professional "wurm checker" .
We all loved our tractor ride and the cool apple slash in the end of our field trip.

Dave made lots of yammy apple sauce and I prepared a bunch of apple pies for the rest of year.
What a great family outing!

Enjoy the photos!

Catching up with summer slides

After their Birthday (October) we are going to jump back in time.
I was organizing our summer photos and it's so refreshing to see green again in the summer photos as almost all the leaves are on the ground now.

Here they come...

Our sweetheart

Matthew the patient number five. He was already a patient gentleman at birth as he let Lili come to the world first.

Matthew (means the gift of God) but if you ask him he will say Mate Daniel. His Hungarian blows me away every day.

I have never thought I can be so close to a child like to Mate. When I simply think of him, he hits a special chord in my heart, a new tune, a beautiful melody. He is the most gentle, patient, loving, kind and hard working little fellow I have ever met. If I complain about life he always reminds me to be content. Mate has such a special way to reach people's heart with his sweet spirit and funny humor. My favorite moments are with him watching and hearing him pray. He seriously folds his hands, bows his head and says his little prayer before we eat. absolutely love taking him to ride the horse. He sings the whole time. So watch out even if you can't sing, Mate will make you sing. As Debbie says Mate is a beautiful trophy of God's grace. He reminds me that we serve a big, soverign GOD, who makes the best decisions about us and for us.

Lili who could not wait...

Lili who was numbered 5 but could not wait and came out 4th.

She is full of excitement.Lili is fun, spunky and almost always on clowd 9 and gets into trouble. We are constantly working on obedience with her. It is hard to discipline her because she is trying to get out of the consequences with her smile. She is our little sunshine or rather "funshine". We can't help but smile when she is around. She has been recently asking people whether they speak or understand "Hungrian"?

Number three

Our middle child or little mommy: Hanna

Boy, she put on some weight, didn't she. She cracks us up with things she says to mommy the others. Hanna is so sophisticated, serious young lady. Whose ballon did not pop during going through the staw maze? Out of 5 only Hanna's did not. We love her sweet intellectuel. She quizes brother Tomi with the memory verse from Sunday school and compliments him after a successful answer. She is usually the first one to bring you a book and you simply can't say no to her no matter how tired you are.

Thomas David

Big Brother: Tomi

He is starting pre-school tomorrow! He still has that charming and mischivous smile. When Tomi is around we can only laugh about the things he can come up with. Here is a Tomi thing for you: when the straw cup is not working it must be Tomi who stuffed a lima bean down just to test it. Or I can only think of Tomi when I find the missing screws who knows from where but in my socks getting ready to leave :O) I hope he stays like that. Such a joy!

Baby A rules

Our First born: Annabelle

What an incredible difference, isn't it.

Way to measure three years like this.

Yes, nurses she is still "spirited" or as her OT used to say "passionate child".

How can NICU nurses give you such a close description of the child's personality so early on? She is very opinionated, assertive, yet compassionate and loving. There is a tough firefighter and a snuggle bear inside her.

Happy Birthday!

October 19th is carved in our hearts and minds. This day will never be the same as 3 years ago or even before.
On this day in 2007 my precious friend Robin laid this verse on my heart as we received the sudden news it's time to take the babies out. I was not ready at all.

"He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is secure, he will have no fear;"- Psalm 112:7-8a

I wish I would be more like this every day. This is the kind of verse, which I still need to be remided of, when life gets hard.

Today our pumpkins turned THREE! I think there is something very special about celebrating your children's birthday. It is sort of mine yet so much better. Today brought up so many memories in me.
How fragile life is (like our Annabelle's "five buttersticks birth weight") yet what an amazing Creator we have who knows his plans with each created life.

I am so thankful for every single breath and healthy heartbeat, stomping feet all over the house that I often have to chase, fingerprints all over on the windows that I should clean more often, noisy mischiveous giggle from hidden corners because that all means they are alive!

It is such a joy and priviledge that we can be home with them a lot and see them grow up.
I am super excited about the threes because the twos already laid a great groundwork of discipline and now they are understanding more and more as we are trying to reason.

I wish I can thank you everyone who has been part of this incredible journey. It's countless serving hearts and hands. Doctors, nurses, professionals, Friends and family etc.

I could not help blogging today because it's such a special day in our life and our hearts are overflowing with joy.
Praise God for getting us this far!

and more pictures

These photos were mainly taken by Misi Papa and Agi. See what they have captured.
Thanks to Aunt Lisa we can use our pass to the Children's Museum. We enjoy going there so much.
I always ask myself. Who enjoys it the most? The kids or me?
It's beautiful to see how their little mind is opening up, developing...they ask lots of questions, they want to do things on their own...Is it familiar? In the midst of "thick" discipline I have to remind myself they have to go through this (and we have to go through with them) in order to be the little people God designed them to be.
It can be testing and you know what it shows how impatient my heart can be. Us parents have to change as well and grow in many areas as we parent them...
Anyways, here is an other slideshow.

with friends

To me another beautiful thing to see is when I watch our friends embracing our Hungarian folks with so much excitement and love when they come.
Friends who have been over there with us or have a heart for Hungary and Hungarians....It just always makes their visit so much special. A dinner with the Miyakawas, or a swimming with Christina and Tina's help or the State Fair and church with Cliff and Debbie. Their friendship, influence and our conversations with these precious people is huge.
It is also fun when other grandma (we call her Manley Mama) and Aunt Lisa come to see my folks. That is beyond language to me. Meaning when the two granmas understand each other with a smile because they have the same love for their grandchildren. They don't even have to speak the same language.

All this is a testimony itself because these people are our extended family. People that we count on when life gets busy and we have to be at more places at the same time.

Second week of August

Misi Papa, Marcsi Mama and Aunt Agi had a great time with us the second week of August.
David was so supportive that he let me join them for 5 days to tour with them (Illionois, Missuri and Tennesi) the week before. Getting back to Indianapolis I was ready to do lots of fun things with the kids and our family. Oh, it's so nice to have lots of extra hands and eyes to do special things with five toddlers.
We showed them our favorite spots like the sprinkle park in Zionsville, the climbing gym in Trader's Point Church. We visited the Zoo and the Children's Museum. It was fun to see animals at the State Fair.
They all get to meet with our First Step "Friends". Well, therapists...
During the year we send lots of photos and dvds over to Hungary (like little document films) to show what the kids are doing, how life is here. This was so cool for them to finally see it in person.
The kids all loved the Hungarian bedtime stories of Mama, Papa and Agi.
For them it was so wonderful to hold them, play with them, draw them what they ordered (Mate-balls, Bella-bears, Hanna-doggies etc.)

We will all cherish these memories and keep up via skype until we see each other again.

Here come the pictures.

Pool Party

As I am looking through our window the rain is coming down this quiet Sunday afternoon.It reminds me that fall is here indeed. It's hearwarming to think back when our family from Hungary was visiting this summer and we had a pool party to welcome them. It was such a perfect Sunday afternoon when many of our dear friends came to meet mom&dad and Agi. Thank you so much for the amazing hospitality of the Smith family.

Enjoy the photos here below.

Praise

"O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago." Isaiah 25:1

Another thing we have been enjoying recently with David as the kids are getting older is telling them about the Kingdom of God. It's amazing how much they can understand and remember this early on. What a responsibility and what an honor to raise them to know Jesus and God their Creator and Savior.

They just come the way they are (even if it's in diaper in the middle of a grassy field)

Marvelous

Lili is the kind of child who stops and smells the roses (similar to her mom). Sometimes it means that she is the one we need to wait for a long time until she catches up with everybody during our walk/hike in the nature. We love that about her because it's so Lili like.

Spontaneously

Another reason, why I love being around children is that they are so spontaneous and spunky.

I enjoy watching them as they spontaneously embrace the magic of the moment.

See Hanna experessing her love.

"Love must be sincere"- Romans 12:9

Joy

"The joy of the Lord is our strength." Nehemiah 8:10

It is so beautiful to discover this as we watch our children's joy come forth every day. It's a treasure, it's a joy and the Lord indeed grants us so much strength through this.

long time no posts...

Wow, I feel bad that we have not posted anything for such a long time.
It just means that we had such busy and fun summer.
Now we are easing into this beautiful early fall.

I am deligently working on uploading the best moments of this summer.
Until the new slideshow would be up I found some neat little photos of some of kids, which inspired me.
See next posts.

Happy Father's Day David!

What Makes a Dad

God took the strenght of a mountain,

The majesty of a tree,

The warmth of a summer sun,

The calm of a quiet sea,

The generous soul of nature,

The comforting arm of night,

The wisdom of the ages,

The power of the eagle's flight,

The joy of a morning in spring,

The faith of a mustard seed,

The pateience of eternity,

The depth of a family need,

Then God combined these qualities,

When there was nothing more to add,

He know His masterpiece was complete,

And so,

He called it...Dad

-Author Unknown'

Happy Father's Day our loving Apa/Daddy!

We love you bunches!

Bella, Lili, Hanna, Tomi and Mate

PARKS

We have been visiting many parks. If it's rainy we take them to Trader's Point Church's climbing park, which is indoor. It's fun for the kids but for us parents as well. Great way to burn our remaining energy.
I personally have my second childhood with them. It's fun to climb on top with them and be there as a safety net.

The outdoor photos were taken with Miss Shiela our therapist friend. We had just the most perfect little outing that Friday morning. That was my Mother's day gift.
This is actually the same park where Natasha took their 2nd Birthday pics.

Some of the swing pictures were taken next door. We have lovely neighbors who have a climbing swing set what we can use. They have school age kids and our children just love spending time with them. They became one of my most faithful baby sitters.

Visit with Daddy

How is life with a firefighter Daddy? Cool through five toddlers eyes. It's so funny they think everything is firetruck and whenever Apa (David) is gone he must be at the fire station.
Our neighbor's garage caught on fire and David intervened. The kids were all lined up by the front door and watched many firetrucks coming by with lots of firemen.
They talked about it for a long time and completely felt that this situation was scary. I so enjoy watching them how all the "puzzle pieces" of this life start making sense to them through life's many experiences. It's fascinating to me how a child's mind is developing and blossiming like a blooming flower.

It's so fun to see the kids and David bonding after they don't see each other for a whole day sometimes even longer if life is busy.
They loved visiting dad at work and run around in the bay among the firetrucks. They loved on the firemen's doggy and loved sitting with dad high on the engine.
Enjoy the photos!

SUMMER

Hi Everyone,
Before we would get further into the summer here are some precious moments from May in the forms of several slide shows.
We like to share lots of photos this way because you can have a visual "picture" what kept us busy in many fun ways.

Have a great rest of June!

Visit at the the Farmer's Market

Every Friday from 4pm-8pm Trader's Point Creamery has an Organic Farmer's Market. We found it a perfect evening program for our family. The kids love animals. So we took a little outing there. We had our dinner packed with us and we visited the farm and the animals. They were all so free...and loved it of course. Hanna melted down when the cow "greeted her" loud. The boys loved "dancing" on the wooden stage. Lili picked the freshly planted flowers from the pots on the deck. (We quickly stuck them back).
Hanna, Tomi and mommy went around the whole building to see the chicks, tractors and more cows. Daddy made sure the the rest of them had their dinner.
It was such a fun and exhausting evening. Way to start the weekend or end the week?!

FOR BETTER VIEW YOU CAN CLICK ON THE COLLEGE AND IT WILL BRING IT UP BIGGER! Enjoy!

Goodbye Miss Renee

This month we said goodbye to our PT who was with us for about 2 years. Since mid May we started with Miss Kim. Now she is in charge of working Mate hard, which she does and we like that very much.
We love Miss Renee and miss her greatly. Here are some fun memories with her in a collage. Of course it's impossible to put every precious moment in a mix but we cherish them in our heart and mind. Thank you so much all you have done for us! We stay in touch.
Love the Manleys

Happy Mother's Day Grandma!

Grandmas Wings

by Ricky R. Hernandez

Grandma I wonder

where you keep your wings.

Are they hung in your closet

with the rest of your things?

Do you put them away

and just use them at night

or give them to Rosie

to polish up bright.

I know you have wings,

for this must be true,

'cause God always gives

them to angels like you.

We love you Grandma Manley!

Happy Mother's Day!

Photo Sharing by MyPhotoAlbum :: MyPhotoAlbum :: April

Photo Sharing by MyPhotoAlbum :: MyPhotoAlbum :: April

Happy Mother's Day!

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
-Luke 6:38

"Her children stand and bless her."- Proverbs 31:28

HA P PY MO TH E R'S DAY!

The top verse is one of our most favorite Bible verses because it is so true in our life. Honestly this is how we feel every day (for the most part).
I feel very blessed because the Lord blesses me through our kiddos every day. If you would ask me is it more work than joy? I can firmly say it's more joy however we work hard. We consider our children as precious investments. I had one of the most beautiful gifts for Mother's day. A fun handwritten card from David in the name of the children, a beautiful craft by the kids, Cliff and Debbie. On Friday we all went to Zionsville and had such fun playing and having pic-nic at the playground.
My wish for today was to spend quality time with each one of them.
I am so thankful for this encouraging day, Mother's Day.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Manley!

April 29th It's Manley Papa's Birthday. We thought we will surprise him and everybody else on that day. So after the quints' afternoon nap we packed everyone into our Chevy bus and we were heading to Aunt Lisa's place where Granpa+Grandma and cousins gathered to celebrate grandpa's birthday.
It was such a pleasant spring evening. We all enjoyed the gentle breeze and the beautiful sunshine. It's so good to be outside, play ball on the grass, work on puzzles and enjoy cherry pie together.
Thank you Grandpa for making today a great celebration and gave us a reason to get together to see you!
We would like to enjoy you for a long time!
Love,
Dave+Manna and the five

The Girls' First Bridal Shower with Mommy

Early April we were invited to one of our cousins Bridget's Birdal Shower. I was happy and proud to take all three girls with me on this gorgeous spring Saturday.
We all had fun playing outside and enjoyed great company and yammy food.
You can see some of the best captured moments in the next slideshow.

Florida '10 Collage

Finally with spring updates

Dear Family and Friends,
I looked at the last post and I am so sorry that we have not updated our blog for soooooo long.
Once spring hit we started to be so busy in a good sense.
Kids sales, Spring break and our calandar keeps filling up... which is a great thing because it means we can get out more with the kiddos.

So what have we done since February?
Mid March we pulled out all the outgrown baby clothing, organized lots of bins, tagged and contacted lots of friends for hangers :) Many many nights of preparing for the South Side Multiple Sale. We recommend it to everyone http://www.sspom.org/ Their next sale will be September 18th at Greenwood High School.

Then we went on Spring break to Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Yes, with all the kids. David's whole family went too.
On our way down there we stopped in Montgomery, Alabama. We had dinner and stayed overnight at our friends' house. This was such a hightlight of our trip. Larry, Sara and Amanda, thanks for hosting us!

As far as Florida it was definitely an interesting experience. The weather was not too cooperative in fact it was too windy to enjoy the beach. We still made the most of it.
You can enjoy beautiful photos in the slideshow. These were taken on the sunniest and warmest day of our vacation.
The kids did really awesome during the whole trip (13hrs). We sang, had lots of snacks, watched soothing kid dvds. It was a novalty so surely kept them quiet and busy.
It was good to get out as a family and try out how much we can all handle but it was definitely not the most relaxing vacations we have done.

Then April hit and we were blessed with many beautiful sunny spring days. Easter was a lot of fun.
We were invited to Tom and Robin's house along with another family with five older kids. We did Egghunt (see photos in the slideshow). The quints were quite familiar with the game since we were practising the whole week indoor. It was much more fun outside though.
We had a lovely meal, the kids went down to the basement with the older friends so that us parents can have some "adult time". Oh, there is so much to learn about godly parenthood, disciplining. We are very blessed to have many wise parent friends who have already been through the "terrible twos" which are not that terrible as they sound or people warn you about.

Right around Easter we learned about some missionary families coming to visit from Hungary. It was quite fun to meet them and get some updates on how the Lord is working in such a beautiful and creative way in Hungary.
Andris, Anouska and their daughter Kira are missionaries with Word of Life Hungary. http://www.eletszava.org/This is the very camp where David and I met in 2005. The Lord started an incredible ministry through Andris (Hentes) amongst children. His mission is to reach children aged 3-12 with the Gospel, using puppets, magic tricks, balloon modleing, face painting and chalk board talks.
When they came to our home we had the priviledge to enjoy what the ministry is all about as Hentes demonstrated many of these things on our kiddos.

After Easter there was another spring sale we participated in. (The North Side Twin Club's) Here we had our own booth. It was also a lot of work and we could have not done neither of these sales without many helping hands. You can imagine transportation of clothing racks, lining up babysitters etc. So BIG THANKS for all of you who helped out and made it possible.

The kids sure enjoy the new toys we got (it's fun to do more pre-k things with them)

Couple more days and it's my very favorite month: MAY.

Enjoy the photos!

Happy Birthday Mom/Anya!

February 3rd-Manna's Birthday
The whole day was so delightful! I will tell you more about it in a little bit.

Enjoy the pictures and check back on us in a few days.

January memories

January update is coming soon!

A fun Saturday for everyone

January 23rd Dave and I had the chance to go out a little bit. We chose to go and work out in YMCA. Our dear friends Steve, Charlene, Jeremy and Abby made it possible.

Enjoy their pics!

Thank you guys again! We are looking forward to the next time when you can come and play with them again.

Happy New Year!

Dear Family, Friends and Visitors, Have a joyful and blessed New Year in 2010!

"May [God] give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.

May the LORD grant all your requests.
Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heavenwith the saving power of his right hand.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm.
O LORD, save the king! Answer us when we call!"- Psalm 20:4-9

Our Christmas in 2009

Many of you asked how was our Christmas?
It was wonderful but let us tell you a little bit about it in details if you are interested in.
We had our sweet Aunt Kay from Chicago and Grandma visiting. Thank you for your great gifts and the precious moments we could share together since we don't see each other very often.

To me as a Hungarian probably the day of Christmas eve was the most exciting and intimate. It's neat to combine tradition what we grew up with and establish new customs with our children. I enjoyed making our traditional sweet poppy seed and walnut Hungarian Christmas bread. It takes about 4 hours until it's served. The kids are so funny as they peek into the oven and I have the chance to teach them it's mommy's "beigli" for you guys... When we look through Christmas books and a mom is fixing goodies of course it is called beigli now :)
Anyways, our big dream came true as we put all of them around the table in booster chairs. So the seven of us had fresh waffles with some fruits which disappeared as they gobbled it down quickly. How did it feel? Oh, they all felt like big boys and big girls and we were proud daddy and mommy!
They took a nice long nap in the afternoon which gave me time to bake and Dave to do the grocery.
In the evening we all sat down again. Read the Christmas story, sang (Manna picked up her recorder and the guitar). We opened our sweet grandparents and parents packages from Hungary. Lots of goodies like great grandma's home made prunes and gingerbread cookies. We all loved the sweet shirts, books on cd, gloves and stockings. If you think about it they traveled across the ocean.
After the kids went to bed David and we could exchange our modest gifts and sing some more.
Our hearts were filled with joy and thankfullness.

Christmas day

Couple days before Christmas day we were invited to our friends to the Miyakawas for brunch. It was great to have breakfast with our friends and kids at the same time. And guess what? Dave and my lap was kid free because we had enough people to love on them and feed them.
After eating they went down to the basement with the older kids (rather teenagers). It was a strange but neat feeling that they were out of sight out of mind and you know what we all had the greatest time. In the end we took some fun photos. I think catching their attention was the most hillarious.
It was one of those memorable mornings we will not forget! Thanks!

Christmas day was different because David had to work but he was able to join us for two hours. Cliff and Debbie served breakfast and lunch this day. They also brought their thoughful gifts for each kiddo. Little people to learn how to focus and spark up little conversations as they play. It's also a great way to teach them share or trade (it's one of the hardest as you can imagine but we are working on)
Their favorite was the fireengine. Annabelle got so attached to the firefighter figure that it has to come with us everywhere. They spin around and imitate the sound of the firetruck. It's really funny.

The rest of the day was kind of quiet during their nap and in the evening we were thoroughly enjoyed the "little people's company". I wish all toys could stay new...

Merry Christmas Family, Friends and Visitors!

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."- Isaiah 9:6
We have many favorite Christmas Scripture but the above quoted is this year's choice. It's so comforting to know that Jesus is all above for us and not just at Christmas but everyday of the year.
Here is another one, which really made me think it's from a Christmas card:

If our greates need had been information
God would have sent us an educator.

If our greates need had been technology
God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greates need had been money
God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure
God would have ent us an entertainer.

But our greatest need was FORGIVENESS
So God sent us a SAVIOR.

May you see and know how great his love and mercy toward you!

Happy Birthday Grandma Manley!

Grandma Manley is one of our most faithful visitor. Wednesday is her day when she comes and plays with us, sings to us at the table and we have lunch with her. If you don't know her the following poem perfectly describes her. It was so neat to celebrate her in December on her Birthday. We consider her our gift and we would like to enjoy her and cherish her whenever we have the chance to love on her 7 times- David, Manna, Bella, Tomi, Hanna, Lili and Mate
Youthful Grace

You walk with grace,
Humble and fun,
With youth in your eyes,
Always on the run.
Ageless beauty,
From a far off land,
Filled with stories,
More plentiful than sand.
Legendary wisdom,
Shared with us all,
We value your company,
From winter till the fall.
Today we celebrate,
Another special year,
We love you more than ever,
Your heart is always near.
by Martin Dejnicki