Friday, December 30, 2011

You have to watch this...

Christmas from kids' mouth. This is the sweetest thing I came across this month:o) Please watch it.

A very special Christmas. Once you are their web, click on play.

http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/mini-movies/27181/A-Very-Special-Christmas

Christmas in 30 sec

Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.

Christmas

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Christmas break

The kids got out of pre-school on December 23rd but we started to prepare our hearts for this beautiful holiday pretty much after Thanksgiving.
Advent is such an amazing waiting period. Mom sent a gorgeous wreath with four candles from Hungary and we started two traditions with the kids.
One was a box( well, an egg carton with 24 plus 1 slot) and each day they could open the number, which matched our calendar that very day. Every wrapped surprise had clue in a form of a parable, which we read from our Bible first. We all loved it and it was such a precious time. Mate's first question was what number are we going to open today? (he is really into numbers these days) Here is a link to the idea: http://daniellesplace.com/html/christmas_page2.html
It's called Advent count down.


Each night when we lit the candle(s) we were reading a chapter from Jotham's journey. http://www.jothamsjourney.com/node/39


The library was also a great help with their good Christmas selection. This month we were able to have some missionary friends over, which is such an amazing way to see how the Lord is working all over the world through these precious families.


We also did some baking . It's neat to compare it to last year's experience and see how much easier it is with them now. Yes, it was messy but boy, we had so much fun. This year we painted candle holders for meaningful people in the kids' life like our therapists and school stuff.

Right before Christmas the kids and I dressed up and played out the nativity story in a simplistic but precious way. We all had a blast. It's so neat to see how they all cherish the newborn King Jesus and know Christmas is about Him.


Another fun family evening was when we all got to visit Watt's Christmas farm in Zionsville. The kids fed their deers, played with their trains and we were in awe of their beautiful Chrismas decoration and ornaments. http://www.wattstrainshop.com/


On Christmas eve Dave had to work at the firehouse but with our angels (Cliff and Debbie) we were able to go to our Christmas eve candle light service. It was so amazing and the kids did TERRIFIC sitting, listening and singing.


On Christmas day David's family came over for brunch. We had a good time and after everyone left the seven of us went for a bright and sunny walk around our neighborhood.

It was a simple and very great day.


Enjo the slides.

Have a wonderful new year!


Love, the Manleys

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Christmas wishes

"For unto us a child is born." Isaiah 9:6


And you shall call his name JESUS...

may you see Him....

receive Him...

know Him...

live in Him...
and enjoy Him forever!



Merry Christmas!

December update





















December is always a great time to share about what the Lord has dones in our lives and reflect on the year behind us. Our children turned 4 this October and we still keep marveling how the Lord is opening thier little minds and hearts every day. Since late spring, they are now potty trained. They enjoy going to pre-school for a couple days as week and home schooling is a learning curve with our busy and hectic schedule. It is a blessing to be able to be home with them.

Annabelle:
likes to be first in line and she really sets the example for all of us in many ways. She is straightforward, outspoken, resourceful and diligent in accomplishing projects. She loves to be a peer friend in her class. She really grew up in front of our eyes. Praise God for our 1 pounder who thrived for life and still does.

Tomi: graduated from developmental pre-school early this October. He took a 180 degree turn and matured so much. He is very creative with anything that he finds around the house. His passions are construction, building and helping in the kitchen.

Hanna: still loves books and she is our #1 translator. She knows her Bible stories the best and when we are quizzing we need to put a band aid on her lips. She has one God given memory. She also loves to be a peer friend in Matthew's class.

Lili: Where are you??? We often need to bring her back from "princess world" to reality but we love that about her. For a few weeks she took Tomi's spot in the morning class. She is such a bubbly little sweet heart.

Matthew (Mate): is still fully booked and always has so much on his schedule. The Lord's work and his abundant provision in every sense are just remarkable in our little boy's life. He is a so hard working, very musical, has a fantastic memory. He loves school and riding the school bus. His gentle, cheerful personality and humor come through so well and life is never boring when he is around.

"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ."-2 Corinthians 4:6

Monday, September 5, 2011

2011-09-05

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July 4th Memories

July 4th as always was a lot of fun this year especially because we had Virginia with us. It was great to introduce her to our friends and take her with us to different cookouts. We enjoyed our friends' Bob and Jayna's hospitality. (They traveled with us to Hungary the first time in 08). We played outside, the kids got scared of Star Wars movie (they are not used to watching movies like that) and we stayed until dusk. On the day of we visited the Kempsons. I have to say that day was one of the highlights of our summer. Just because their beautiful family, warm hospitality, swimming in the lake with our kids and getting in a boat with them was an amazing experience.
We will cherish these memories and looking forward to having some more beautiful celebrations like that with them in the future.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Loooong time no posting...

Hello Everyone,

Yes, we are still alive, in case some of you would be wondering.
Unfortunately the photo sites we used closed down so we will have to restore the slideshows from the past. I stated to upload the best photos of the summer. So very soon we will share some more.
We had a FANTASTIC SUMMER. We received a beautiful GIFT directly from Hungary. Manna's brother's girlfriend Virginia was able to come and spend the whole, I mean the whole summer with us.
Can you imagine for 2 months we had somebody living with us and helping. Boy, our life was so different. I almost felt like a regular mom, who was able to take her kids to fun places thanks to Virginia.
She is one of the most beautiful servant I have ever met, a true reflection of Christ.
The funny thing is I only met her at the Indy airport the very first time.
Our whole family fell in love with her and it was hard to let her go (August 28th).
Whipped cream on the cake was that my parents were able to join us for 2 weeks too. So we had so much fun.
We will share some more and also the most recent photos too.


Manna and family

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

a packed weekend in April

April 16th and 17th was such a fun weekend. This weekend I had the chance to bond with each one of them as we went to various places.
We were invited to a sweet little birthday party. Lili and Tomi were healthy so they got to come to celebrate Sophie's 5th birthday. This was our very first "friend's party" we got to go. How fun! I certainly did not have this growing up (at least not this young)
There was a little dance with ribbons, decorating water cans and cupcakes and of course Easter egg hunt.
We all had a great time.
On Sunday Annabelle and Hanna had the chance to come with Miss Christina and I to watch some ballet pieces performed by the students of the Ballet School of Indpls. It was mainly from Coppelia (which reminded me a lot of home, since it is from the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy times) The music, costumes, dances and these young talents were spectacular. It's fun to expose the kids to things what we adults enjoy. I consider myself more of a nature person rather than a mall girl but it was cool to do some window shopping and try some things on with the girls.
The best part was our spring stroll in the park of the Art Museum where we stopped by. I loved seeing the girls just running around freely.
The flowers, bushes and trees were so beautiful too.

I will cherish these hours as we have been getting so much rain and many cloudy days. Hopefully we will reap in May as everything will turn lush and green.

March

The first month of the spring! Yeah! We celebrated David's birthday in the beginning. We also enjoyed having an OT student in our home working with the boys on Fridays. On Thursdays I have two more faithful helpers. Two sisters who are absolutely fantastic to have during busy evening hours. They keep the children entertained while I am making dinner or getting some things done around the house. They also make it possible for me that I can spend some one on one quality time with them right before bed.
Two more outings:
We went to see the Dora exhibit to the Children's Museum. Boy, they are so much easier to keep track compared to 5-6 months ago when we first went. Well, we are maturing slowly but for sure.

While the boys were on spring break we took adventage of our free Thursday mornings and visited the Library's story time sessions. It was so much fun and they really have a love for books. I wish we can do this every week but we have to wait until everybody will be on the same schedule again.

On March 19th we visited our newborn cousin Max and his family. We had a great time with them.

around the house

These coming ones are just some photos around the house since we were kind of home bound because of the cold weather. The girls enjoy dressing up. Our house is pretty open and it is always fun to have some visitors who hang out, read or just spend some good moments with us.

carneval photos

Here are some more heart photos and of course all the preparation before that. Daddy has lots of decorated hearts around his neck. Each heart says why they are thankful for him.
We were invited to this masquarade party organized by the local Hungarian club.
Oh, we had so much fun making their masks from paper plates. Busy little hands and lots of safety pins. Of course they all picked their favorite animals:
Lili was a pink piggy, Annabelle was a fuzzy little bear, Hanna dressed up as a brown doggy, Tomi reflected a shy lamb and Mate took it easy but he looked handsome in his moo costume.

I think carneval is more fun than Halloween. Maybe because I am from Europe?!

first outing in the nature this year

I think we have the best neighbors we could possible be given to. A sweet Christian homeschooling family. They love God, good family times and nature just like us.
Their girls Elizabeth and Katherine are two sweeties I can count on when I am alone in the evenings. They are wonderful big girl friends to our children.
Our families shared a fun Saturday morning when we visited the ornithology and the nature center in the neighboring Eagle Creek Park.
We all loved it.
Here are some photos from that beautiful weekend.

cool website

Another post about our cousin Anita, who is an excellent, creative and gifted photographer.
Here is her website. http://www.nittartphoto.com/

We were dealing with some sick and tired children while she was here but I really like her captured close up photos.
Enjoy!

Sweet February

February is always a month I am excited about. First of all my birthday, Valentine's day (which we do not really celebrate but always fun to share some lovely moments and make it specail) and of course going out of the winter...Well, this year we got a lot of extra snow and ice on top of ice then snow....
This year our sweet cousin Anita visited us from San Diego where she is currently working right now. We were all so excited to see her and spend 4 days together.
It was neat to see how quickly the quints bonded with her. Of course the language is always an instant connection and a very special treasure we have in common. She also brought many goodies, fun things for the children.
We had most of our close Hungarian friends over. We played play dough, read and spent some quality time with the children in the morning. Then during nap time we watched a beautiful documentary film together and had lunch. This was such a special way to celebrate my birthday.
Guess what my very favorite birthday gift was? Hanna potty trained herself exactly on my b'day. We made a big deal out of that, called Hungary, took photos everything under the sun.
Finally!!!!!!!!!! I guess if we have to wait for something to happen we have greater appreciation for it. It is so exciting though.

Another cool thing was that David and Debbie surprised me with a huge 30th surprise party while Ani was here, which was AMAZING. I guess that is one good thing about turning 30. It's also easy for the children to remember they just place a zero next to their age and that way they get mommy's age.
By the way they started to call me "Marianna" and I love how they are starting to roll their letter 'r'.
Enjoy these captured moments with Anita.

Christmas break

"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." Isaian 9:6

Wow, I have so much to go back to. I have not journaled about our Christmas. It was such an amazing time. Not just the holiday but the whole season. I always knew it will be special once we have children but it seems like it is getting better every year. We had so much fun preparing for Jesus' arrival. Everyday we were trying to make or learn something special about winter or Christmas. We loved the snow. I think if it's winter we shall have snow, ice and cold. We sure had plenty. It was neat to transport the boys to the school bus on sleds and pick them up that way :) Daddy and the kids made the best snowman. We named him Snowy Henry.

You can see our decoration and various crafts we added to our home each week. Little bells, sleds, angels, manger, colored wooden crosses etc. It was a lot of fun to pick the tree out with the girls and David. We enjoyed having the boys home from school, having visitors and going to the Children's Museum with Elizabeth, Miriam and Michelle.
The girls got into the Nativity so much that even in February they were acting like Mary, Joseph and the donkey :)It was so much to watch and hear as they played. Every night as they went to sleep they were listening to some special stories, poems and songs on cd related to Christmas.

Enjoy the slides

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Riley Reunion and visit in the OT school

Back to fall events.
Our fall was so busy that I am only able to catch up now.
Early September we had the chance to go to the annual Riley NICU Reunion.
This year was really fun when they could try lots of things and we actually enjoyed it.
Only Tomi got lost in the crowd but was soon found.
It was so heart warming to see their nurses who cared so much for them. They were doing face painting on them, made braclets etc.

Through our OT we had the chance to take the kiddos down to IUPUI to the first class of OT students. We all had such a wonderful time. For some of the students this was the first encounter with toddlers whom they had to do different playful OT assignments with.

These were real fun outings!
Enjoy the slides

October 19th

Another milestone. Age 3. It seems like we are having smaller and smaller birthday parties as they get older. I guess it's normal. Yet it was just the perfect size. We were able to talk to people and give enough attention to the birthday children :) It is so wonderful to celebrate birthdays with friends, family and be surrounded by their love.
I was so excited to make fun cakes. (love doing this kind of stuff)
Now as we are in the midst of 3's it's really not too bad.

Some pictures now...

Further fall fun

This year we enjoyed the fall to the fullest. For their birthday they got a special gift. We all got to ride on a real train and visited the pumpkin patch.
To me it was almost like home since Hungary we use trains as everyday transportation. Doing it with our children was so much more fun though.
At the pumpkin patch there was so much to do. Visiting different farm animals, going through the corn maze, different crafts and of course we had a hay ride.

Cliff and Debbie, thank you so much for this precious memory.
It is all captured on the folling slideshow