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