Basket Cases

update

2012-01-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

E is very flexible. I thought it was hilarious that she could fall asleep this way.

M2 is rolling over and creeping a lot. To distract him from teething pain, we go outside, watch the washer and dryer run, or watch E dance.

M1 is a cub scout! His first pack meeting was the pinewood derby. He won 3rd place in his age division. Pinewood derby is high tech. There was specialty software going on.

E spent one whole day like this. It was especially amusing peeking at her in the car.

Project Run & Play Junebug Remix

2012-01-05T07:15:00.000-08:00

I decided to sew along for a few of the challenges over at Project Run & Play. This week is a remix of a cute little dress tutorial from Craftiness Is Not Optional. Here's my take on it. I used an asymmetrical color scheme -- 2/3 hand-dyed fabric (the orange fabric), 1/3 Kona cotton with texture. This particular length of fabric I dyed based on a project in Ann Johnston's Color by Accident. Lots of yellow and a bit of fuchsia. It's a no-closure dress, my favorite kind! My kids love clothes they can get on and off themselves. The pattern for the dress is mine (well, adapted from a sloper) -- with cues from the original Junebug dress.

The colors are very Starburst. E couldn't stop playing with the buttons, and although I didn't get quite the pictures I wanted, she was a trooper for being outside in the cold with just a cotton dress on! The yellow trim is made from more Kona cotton. Canary, I think.

There are a few rows of stitches at the bottom, for added interest.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but not as happy as E!

New Year's Goals

2012-01-04T15:04:00.000-08:00

So I'm still working on my goals. I have several ideas, but I'm trying to find the balance between things that will benefit my life and things that are too ambitious when I've got a baby in the house. Tricky, that. My weight-loss goal is an easy one, since I'm already working on that. (I'm saying that it's an easy goal to make, not an easy one to achieve!) And some goals will come naturally, like having E totally potty trained, teaching M2 to sleep better, and eventually weaning my last child. Anyway, still mulling on some others. But the kids made some goals that are so amazingly cute.

M1's goals:
1. Learn how to rollerblade really well.
2. Read the Book of Mormon. (I had to talk him down from setting a goal to read all the scriptures -- meaning the Old & New Testament, plus the two LDS works: the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. I love this kid!)
3. Prepare for college. (Seriously, what's not to love here?!?)

Of course, he's also hoping to do some awesome stuff in Cub Scouts this year. First goal is to get his Bobcat by the next meeting.

V's goals:
1. Learn how to ride a bike.
2. Cook at least 1/4 of the recipes in her new cookbooks.
She's also hoping to grow some front teeth. This picture is her crazy, "look, I'm missing teeth" face. I hope she doesn't grow teeth too quickly.

I can't really remember E's goals, but I know learning to read was on the list. Of course, this is also a goal for her Mommy (by the same token, V's learning to ride a bike is a goal for Daddy to help her accomplish). And isn't this picture awesome? She was dancing around so much I kept getting crazy shots. That's my mother dying of laughter in the background.

M2 is hoping to get as many things into his mouth as possible and figure out how to move. He's got some serious food envy, so I think eating real food is on the list.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T08:30:00.000-08:00

All she wants for Christmas ...

2011-12-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

are her two front teeth! So awesome. She's got an enormous gap and is learning how to sing the appropriate song. Her lisp is 1,004 times more pronounced, as she would say herself. V likes to let her teeth hang until they fall out on their own. I know some parents are bugged by this, but it doesn't bother me. As long as I don't have to pull it, I don't care. Yesterday I almost fell over laughing because she had turned her tooth all the way around and then couldn't turn it back. Luckily she wasn't concerned that I was laughing at her and cheered right up once the tooth was back in place. E (just turned 3) occasionally tries to wiggle her teeth, to no avail.

Gratuitous pic of the baby. Apparently the bumbo seat is in the news again for being unsafe. Don't put it on the table, parents. My kids have wiggled out of it, yours will too. Apparently we have to litigate this. Oy.

Also in the news, the death of Vaclav Havel. He was the George Washington of the Czech Republic (and Slovakia, for that matter) -- a world-changer, and he is missed by millions.

Last Friday was the sugariest day ever. It was the last day of school before the break, so my two older kids had class parties. Junk food is heavily restricted at our school. (I think they get 3 non-nutrition days a year. Otherwise things like birthday cake are food non grata.) So when one of those free days comes up, there's a lot of sugar and fat going on. They ate treats at school and then brought home goody bags to eat and share with their little sister.

M1 had made a gingerbread house. When I went to pick him up, another 2nd grade class came out of the building first, each kid carrying a gingerbread house. Their teacher showed off all the cute things the kids had come up with -- an ice cream cone as a tree or as a Santa, marshmallows as chimneys. And then my kid came out. "Look, I made a machine gun!" Yes, a machine gun on the roof of his house (cleverly made with a large marshmallow, chocolate chips and a pretzel stick), a tree that had fallen down and was crushing the house, etc. I have no further comment on this.

Further treats: of course, this would be the day that E decided to finally make the next big step in potty training, requiring a trip to Braum's for some ice cream! So after the early day at school, we headed over and got pink ice cream for her. And of course the other kids got ice cream, too. THEN we had a church party making ... gingerbread houses! They had pre-made the houses for us (using caramelized sugar, which I haven't seen before), and there were quite a few extras. So we came home with a lot of houses. E in particular loved putting things on her house. She made two houses and then really wanted another, but Nathan convinced her to make a yard for her houses instead. That cute house in the picture with the smiley face is V's, of course.

Extra funny moment: the following day, M1 had eaten all the good stuff off his houses and experimented with eating the graham crackers. He told me that the one from church didn't taste good at all. "That house is not put together with sugar. It's not sweet at all. I think it's glue. I just ate glue!" Yeah, it wasn't glue. I tasted it -- the sugar had just gotten a little scorched.

Giveaway day!

2011-12-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

GIVEAWAY CLOSED.
Winners!

Sew, Mama, Sew gift certificate:
SewLindaAnn

Electronic copies of Snarky and Sweet:
cradke
bethandodd
jaya
texheks
javede

Congratulations! I'll be sending emails shortly (after I feed the baby). I've loved all the comments -- everything from sweet statements about having already achieved life dreams to be wives and mothers, to amazing goals like growing your own food or opening businesses. The most poignant were acknowledgments that sometimes our goals change -- we choose the greater good. Best of luck with all the other giveaways, and thanks for lifting my spirits!

I'm giving away $30 at Sew, Mama, Sew! as part of their semi-annual giveaway day madness. Check out all the other amazing stuff!

This year has been a very exciting one for us. My husband and I bought a small business early in the year. We now own Alcor PetroLabs, located in Fort Worth and San Antonio. It's a culmination of one of my husband's life-long dreams. In the time that I've known him, everything he's done in school and his career has been with the aim to own his own business someday. And it's going fabulously well. He loves it, his employees love it, and so do the customers. It makes a huge difference at home to have a happy husband and father. So proud of him.

Elsewhere in the family, this year has brought us a quilt in the Quilt National show, one of many amazing goals my sister Naomi Adams has completed recently. My little sister Georgia Leigh had her sixth child and continues to homeschool, run a fabulous online shop with PDF patterns (check her out this week, her giveaway is fab), and is currently selling her house to move closer to us! OK, so they're moving because of a job, but the closer to us part is very exciting.

And my dear mother has finished a life-long dream of having a book published. I don't think she expected to wait until she had 10 grandchildren to complete this goal. I don't think she expected this particular novel to be the first one published. She works hard, running a shop with vintage patterns, working as a reporter for a local newspaper, and writing novels. I hope she publishes many more. In honor of her, I'm also giving away a few copies of the electronic copy of her first book, Snarky and Sweet. It's clean and fun, a fabulous holiday read for anyone. Think classic Elizabeth Peters or Georgette Heyer, but featuring a Texas schoolteacher.

To enter and win $30 at Sew, Mama, Sew or a copy of Snarky and Sweet, please just leave a comment! If you want to tell me about your life-long goal, go for it. (Mine? PhD.) But any comment gets an entry. If you win an e-book, I'll let you choose Kindle or Nook format. (Kindle e-books can be read on your computer.) Giveaway open until midnight December 16th, winners chosen randomly.

Good luck and enjoy Giveaway Day!

Recent sewing and pattern reviews

2011-12-12T05:57:00.000-08:00

Here it is! The infamous mermaid doll that E already saw in process. So the picture was taken in my closet -- I don't want her to see the finished product! Some parents tell me that it's OK if their little kids see a present or two ahead of time, because they'll forget by Christmas. This is 100% not true. At least for little Wickers. Every time someone talks about presents, E mentions the mermaid doll. Yeah. Anyway, I made it with a pattern from Dolls and Daydreams -- e-patterns on etsy. It was fabulously easy to follow, and turned out just like the picture in the pattern. Highly recommend her patterns.

Here are some dresses I made recently for V. I've been feeling like I haven't done any sewing since having our newest baby, but obviously I have. Just not as much as I want to be doing. These dresses are from my favorite knit pattern -- Hopscotch by Oliver + S. Yes, her patterns are expensive, but this one has been totally worth it for me. The knit portion of this pattern runs small, FYI. I redrafted the front to make the pink dress. I took away the cross-over yoke and added a pleat instead. Aren't the little buttons cute? A vintage gift from my mom. And on fabric choice -- I think of zebra print as more of a tween/teen choice, but it's so cute on a 5 year-old! The first day she wore it, V spent a lot of time pretending to be a zebra, often using our zebra hand puppet.

M2 has long outgrown these particular ones, but I wanted to mention my sister's e-pattern for zippered swaddlers. It's available from Georgia Leigh Designs. These were very quick to make, and since I use a lot of knit fabric anyway I was able to use up some extra left over from other projects. So they were very close to free to make -- compared with $30 to buy a good one! If you have a baby that likes to be swaddled, these are so much easier to use than other options. And the baby doesn't get too hot, which is excellent (and safer).

A nice boring one to end with -- since I was making E a fabulous present, I thought I should make something for the other kids, too. M1 is getting pillowcases. They take almost no time at all, and he'll love them! I used a tutorial from MADE for this one. And after reading that post of hers, I totally want to make pillowcases for kids with cancer. Planning to make an apron for V, although I was very tempted by the fishy purse on Make It and Love It this week. Maybe for her birthday.

In other news, we went to a holiday party last night with a white elephant gift exchange. Best gifts: fireman cookie jar that says "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the cookie jar", book of cards called using animals to give bad news (picture of a puppy and the caption "It's Syphilis", or "Grandma's Dead", or "Daddy's not coming home", stuff like that), and the definite winner: a live goldfish! So glad we didn't end up with that one. But kudos to the couple who brought it.

funny stuff my kids do and say

2011-12-05T06:06:00.000-08:00

First, may I report that 5-year-old V put my newly turned 3 E to bed last night. I had told them that everyone was getting extra reading time while I fed the baby (this is code for I'm sending you to bed early, and they buy it every time and even like it, ha). So V decided to read some herself and then read to E. And since she was brushing her own teeth, she helped E brush hers. And then tucked her in bed! I was so surprised, and then quickly ran to put E's nighttime diaper on her before she fell asleep. Just imagine what little mommy V is going to be like with M2!

Other funny stuff:

E: I'm peed is not a word. I'm wet is a word.

Makes the linguist mommy happy.

M1: I'm buying my lunch today since you didn't bother to make it. (Ouch.)

M2: doesn't say anything, but coos more than any of my other babies. And he laughed in his sleep yesterday :)

I was singing the B-A-Bay, B-E-Bee song the other day and when we got to P there was total pandemonium. V and M1 were both so amused that the song says "pee" AND "poo". Rock on. The song's from a Three Stooges routine and called Swingin' the Alphabet. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Y6UKMp8Qw

Also, V let her tooth hang until it literally moved back and forth every time she talked. She finally lost it over a piece of toast one morning, but her nice teacher still let her go to the school nurse to get a treasure box for her tooth. I don't have a good picture of her yet, but I'll get one soon. She's really hoping to lose her other front tooth on Christmas Eve so that Santa and the Tooth Fairy will come the same night. Love that girl.

M2 blessing

2011-11-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

Little M2 was blessed by Nathan on Sunday. This is the dress -- the dress that has crossed oceans, mountain ranges and political boundaries. The dress that my grandmother made and so many of us wore. I love using it, but also live in fear that my kid will be the one to finally stain it (didn't happen).

Nathan of course gave a sweet blessing, and it was fabulous to have extended family there and at our house afterward. I have no pictures of that part. Unfortunate, but I think Naomi got a few.

Had to take a picture this morning of E's little orphan Annie hair. It's always fabulous on a humid day.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

Halloween! We had a little drama at the trunk or treat last week, so we had to acquire a new costume (E needed to wear the princess dress). I give you Supergirl! V was much happier with this costume, anyway.

M's been a Star Wars person for several years running, and doesn't seem at all bothered by this. Maybe next year I'll get it together and come up with some new costumes, but maybe not.

So, this is E's princess pose. More like a zombie pose, right? She was so happy to be wearing our one and only princess dress (obviously she would like more, but luckily has a birthday and Christmas coming up).

A note on the pumpkin buckets: we always used grocery sacks for our candy-gathering bags as kids. We often decorated them, which was fun, but only ever managed to get enough candy to fill the very bottom, which wasn't fun. I always thought that those kids with pumpkin buckets were the rich kids. Yeah, they cost $1. Of course, grocery sacks are free. Another note -- I thought that the stash from last week's Trunk or Treat activity at church was excessive, but surely the real trick or treating wouldn't be quite as bad. You can hit a lot more cars in an evening than houses, right? They're further apart. So wrong! The houses give more candy to each kid, so we ended up with an even bigger stash last night! Candy, candy, candy.

And here's a gratuitous pic of M2. He's doing great, and we finally had a normal night last night. As in, he woke up a lot but went back to sleep right away each time after I fed him. Miraculous.

Crayola reviews

2011-09-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

Random, I know, but as E's on the floor coloring, I thought I'd throw out some hits and misses from Crayola. This 64 pack of markers is definitely a hit at our house. The same size as crayons and with the same variety of colors, what's not to love? Of course they're tiny and the ink runs out faster than larger markers, but they're still awesome.

Color wonder books with markers. Ideal for my 2-year-old. No mess and she likes to see hidden pictures appear on the pages. Downside is the price.

I have mixed feelings about model magic. It's lightweight, so easy for small hands to manipulate. It's fun to make your own colors (starting from a white base, you can mix in colors from markers or color a finished model. Downside is that if you actually leave these out to dry, they will harden as promised, but they fall apart easily.

We've tried color wonder sets with paint pens as well as regular paint pens from crayola. Supposedly it's water colors in the paint brush. Really they're just nasty markers. Total fail.

Bath tub crayons! Love these. They color on the tub - even under water -- and wipe off easily. Only disadvantage is that they don't wipe off grout as easily.

2011-09-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

I know that most of you who read my blog have already seen pictures, but here are a few extra. Baby M2 was born quickly, once things actually started (as usual, I was on the sloooow road to baby). A couple of hours of painful contractions, a couple of pushes and he was here! The nurses and doctor all commented on how pink he was. A very healthy infant. I'll try to get some detailed shots later -- he has the longest fingers (and toes) ever, as well as just big hands in general, which makes me think Rachmaninoff. Or basketball, I guess, if we were at all sports-inclined. He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, which is just barely bigger than my last baby. 21 inches.

And now a whole series of proud siblings. M1 is very good about telling me that he wants to make the baby dance, or something equally cute but not appropriate, instead of actually doing it. Just like with his littlest sister, he finds M2 quite adorable.

V is serious about the baby. The day we came home, all the grown ups were elsewhere and M2 started to cry. She ran in to help -- and will definitely be our little momma with this baby.

E seriously grew two inches when she was holding M2. She is very tickled by him when she notices him. Luckily, she mostly ignores. I was a bit worried about smothering him with love, but it looks like we've got a bit of a respite before that happens.

Smiles! He's eating and sleeping and doing all the things infants are supposed to. So glad to have you, buddy!

pictures

2011-07-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

visitor

2011-05-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

New furniture!

This one is V's favorite, because it's just her size.

The nursery class at church has gone posh, and E had her nails painted for the first time. She was very excited about this. I just realized I have no nail polish remover in the house, to take care of it once half of it falls off.

A nice young lady came to pick up our old couch, and V got to the door first. "We have a rodent in our kitchen." Remarkably, said young lady thought V was cute and still took our stuff. Of course, it wasn't really a rodent. It was a young possum, caught in my bathtub UPSTAIRS at 2:30 in the morning. By Nathan, thank goodness he was home. I did not get close enough to get this picture. That was Nathan, realizing that M would be disappointed that he didn't get a peek at it.

winning

2011-05-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

Win: Homemade Ben & Jerry's chocolate ice cream (4 oz unsweetened chocolate!) + Walmart brand peanut butter cups

Fail: Accusing frequent culprit V of removing the laces from Nathan's shoes, only to have E explain, "I did it!"

*I 100,046% do not need another mischievous sprite in the house. (100,046 % in honor of V who writes lots of love notes, saying "I love you [ridiculously huge number] %")

Win: M and V die laughing over a clearance joke book from Half Price Books.

Fail: Money flashcards bought on the same trip have the wrong answers printed on the backs of the cards.

Win: My kitchen is clean, thanks to my husband and kids.

Fail: No more library trips until we find the NINE books I couldn't locate today.

Win: E's crazy wink face showing up often.

Win: M made his own mother's day coupons at church yesterday, offering items like "a new house", or "a new sewing machine".

Win: V learning to add in her head and count to 100.

Win: Nathan worked from home today, so we got to have lunch together.

charades

2011-05-07T08:08:00.001-07:00

My kids played charades last night with our fabulous babysitter, and we got reports on the game from her and the kids. Here are some of the more memorable items:

M -- white blood cell, sneezing nose, a tooth chomping, the solar system, the water cycle

V -- a light blinking, a piece of glass (hint: it has to do with fire), a computer mouse

Apparently the babysitter understands our kids and acted out photosynthesis for M's sake. So awesome.

M

2011-04-27T20:37:00.001-07:00

We were having a pretty rough afternoon (I'll spare you the details), but then I sat down to play through two options of the song I'm teaching next month in primary. (I was looking at a possible key change.) I asked M to come over and sing with me so I could see how the versions worked for him. He sang the first verse in both keys, then asked if he could sing all the verses, just for fun. So he did. Love my sweet boy.

Easter

2011-04-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

My camera battery was almost dead this morning as I tried to get one good picture of the kids before we headed to church. Of course, this is what I mostly got. It may not be the most beautiful, but I find it so amusing -- what's with M's pious hands, and V's squished face? Not to mention E. I don't think she even knows how to wink.
Today was pretty low-key. We did church and later had chef salad and deviled eggs, also leftover lemon meringue pie from Auntie's birthday celebration yesterday.
We combined Aunt N's birthday with an Easter egg hunt. M was especially great at leaving the easy eggs for his littlest sister! This is a picture of her first egg. After that I couldn't get a good shot, because she was busy. Finding eggs is fun!
Uncle Zach was also over for the fun. He and Nathan really got into the sneaky egg hiding places. Here V has retrieved an egg from the pool, courtesy Nathan. Uncle Zach loved that our backyard is full of camouflaged locations for bright eggs. Pool toys, kid chairs, frisbees, even the blue tape on a wire served to hide some eggs. The kids got Easter baskets yesterday morning and were lucky enough to have Kinder surprise eggs. Kinder has a new trick -- long plastic strips that they roll up in the egg. E now has a 6-inch giraffe toy that came out of a chocolate egg! Sadly, the kids did not buy into the Easter bunny aspect at all. They kept saying, "Thank you, Mommy!" when they looked through their baskets.

april

2011-04-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

I included this picture because it's pretty much the only good one I've ever gotten of the kids on swings -- I'm always tempted to take pictures because they're stuck in one place. But not still, unfortunately. See the cute shadows? E says good-bye to hers every time we walk into a store.
Last week I got this great package in the mail. By some series of clicks, I ended up on Micalah's blog, Scarlet, and saw that she had tried to give away this adorable dress, but didn't get any takers. Apparently she doesn't live in longhorn land. So I got it! Which just goes to show that random time on the internet does pay off, once in a blue moon anyway. She made it as a sample of the toddler dresses she makes from adult T-shirts. And the color is absolutely perfect for my orange-haired girl. Thanks, Micalah!
She was saying "hook 'em horns" right before I took this. Note the bare feet? Such a luxury -- I'm loving Texas right now, hail and mugginess and all. Little bit helped me check the mail, and she always needs some mail of her own when we do that. Lucky me that we have a constant supply of junk mail to supply her needs. I thought we could escape this for a while, but no. Buying a house gets you on ALL the lists. In fact, some people get on the new house lists on purpose in order to get the Lowe's and Home Depot gift cards and other goodies.
Here's my own take on using an adult T for a toddler dress. This shirt got too short for Nathan after a few washes, but it had a cute picture and was made of nice fabric with a bigger lycra percentage than usual.
So I added a bit of PINK to appease the little one. The fabric I added at the neckline and the bottom is rib knit that I dyed. The fabric was in a flat container, and I added turquoise dye on one end and fuchsia on the other, so there are some purple sections where the two mixed. I never buy white clothes for my kids, but this one is holding up so far. Thank you, Dreft fabric spray.

Texas

2011-03-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

Little things I love about living here:

the plastic wrap has a cutting edge

my kids play with children they meet at parks

parking lots

big washing machine

big dishwasher

big oven

blue sky

enchiladas

singing hymns in English

so little smoking

Kashi frozen waffles

Amazon prime

science and children's museums

milk sold in gallons

cotton fabric

oak trees

peanut butter cups

screens on the windows

WRR 101.1 (fab classical music station)

public library -- not a little thing, actually, but I couldn't leave it out

free school

lovely, kind people bag my groceries for me

2-wheel drive grocery carts (they go where you point them!)

great service -- again, not a small thing, but people smile at me (!)

did I mention the sunshine?

sunshine

Little things I miss about Prague

fresh bread

walking to a destination, rather than going for a walk

architecture

Riverside School

small shops

speaking another language every day

"strong" chili-lime chips

the river

bridges

boats

wafer cookies (american ones are gross)

tile roofs

pedestrians

public transport

food that actually goes bad after a couple of days

eggs that have evidence of the farm on them

Krtek (little mole)

street musicians

hazelnut flavored sweets

Easter markets

practically free opera, ballet

my phone (new one is not as good)

cell phone coverage

double hinge windows

old stuff

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T15:44:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a great family vacation to San Antonio. We all spent the weekend together, and then Nathan worked a couple of days and I played with the kids. Yesterday V found her version of a 4-leaf clover while we were visiting the bridge in Waco. You know, the old bridge. Waco is also the home of Dr. Pepper, so we went to that museum, too. No cool I'm a Pepper shirts, unfortunately. They had them, but only in white which is not what I wanted.
Here's E at the Witte Museum in San Antonio. It has a cool science tree house, plus a real tree house outside. M's favorite part was a huge floor area with lights. Select your game via computer, and the lights play with you. He played a dodge ball game many times. A light ball moved randomly around the board and he had to get away. If he dodged it long enough, 2 balls started going. Fun!
We met up with some family members and went to a state park. On our hike, we discovered the large remains of a dead tree. E is a super-great hiker. Her big sister, not so much.
Here we are on a river boat tour! The kids had a great time, and the weather was absolutely perfect.
Remember the Alamo! They have employees that memorize something like 30 minutes worth of information about the battle of the Alamo, and they recite it in the beautiful grounds outside. Pretty sweet job. Oh, and we're expecting a baby in September.

beautiful dress giveaway

2011-02-27T14:00:00.001-08:00

Do you know the site Shabby Apple? They have fabulous modest dresses. And for kids, and swimsuits. Great, vintage-inspired stuff. The Train to Crazy is giving away one of their dresses! Head on over and sign up :)

new business!

2011-02-15T17:05:00.000-08:00

It closed! Only the fourth time a closing was scheduled, and it finally closed -- we have a new company! It's called Alcor PetroLab, located in Fort Worth and San Antonio. It's a testing lab for fuel and lubricants.

My feelings on all this are perhaps too personal to blast on a blog, but suffice it to say that I'm very proud of my fabulous husband. He's been planning for this day as long as I've known him. Congratulations! Parabens! Blahoprani!

V's birthday

2011-02-04T17:50:00.000-08:00

And my brother Zach's birthday, which we planned to celebrate today along with V's, but couldn't because of the weather :-( Ironically, V preferred Zach's chosen birthday meal (baked ziti) to her own yesterday (fish, mashed potatoes and peas). We'll freeze some for you, Zach, because we have TONS. And I'm planning to make beef stew tomorrow, so we won't eat up all the leftovers. Being stuck inside has encouraged me to do a lot more cooking than usual. Of course the best cooking I did today was ...

Snow ice cream! We ate it with V's birthday cupcakes. Isn't she a lucky girl? And then we had this conversation:

V: Does anyone else know how to make snow ice cream?

Nathan: Sure, lots of people do.

V: Mommy, how did you learn how to make snow ice cream?

Me: From Grammie (my mom).

V: How did Grammie learn?

Me: From Gramma (her mom).

V: How did Gramma learn?

Me: From Gammy (her mom).

She would have kept going. Then Nathan exaggerated a little bit and said something about Adam asking Eve to make snow ice cream. And V said Eve must not have known how to make it, so she asked God. Yeah. We like to track things to the source.

Nathan took some time off work today to go out with the kids -- twice! They went sledding this morning, at a local park. And this afternoon I sent them out with tupperware (IKEA style) to build forts. No, I did not go out, because I have a fabulous husband who does it for me. I don't like the cold, and Texas gives me an opportunity to indulge that. I didn't complain (much) in Prague, but when I don't have to go out in it, I don't :) I kept the hot chocolate coming. For those who aren't local, we've been having extreme winter weather all week. M hasn't had school since Monday, because ice fell Monday night and temperatures have been very low since then (temperatures like 9, stuff like that). And of course, Dallas doesn't have the infrastructure to clear the roads, other than the main highways. But it was all worthwhile because last night we got about 5 inches of snow, which is an infrequent event here, to say the least!
See the candle smoking? That's V's satisfied face that she finally blew out her one candle :)
Our kids have the best winter gear in town! I lucked out that we got the snow this year. M will outgrow his stuff at some point, and I can't see replacing it for the rare cold events. But the sleds will be with us forever. Apparently E didn't last long on the sledding trip, complaining that her hands were cold (true, I'm sure), but very happily sat in the warm van watching a movie while the other kids played. M's favorite part was hitting his dad with snow balls. I tried to talk him into a Calvin and Hobbes snowman, but he didn't feel up to it. Maybe tomorrow, before it melts.

And last, but not least, here's a pic of E's cupcake-eating method -- hands-free:

dyeing fabric fail and win

2011-01-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

I know it's been ages, but honestly, most of you who read my blog know the general idea of what's going on anyway. So suffice it to say that we're fine, I just haven't been blogging. But now I want to tell you about my exciting fabric dyeing adventures! My big sis, the fiber artist, showed me her method for fabric dyeing, using Procion MX dyes. (Similar to Ann Johnston's method.) So then I bought some fun stuff and did some more dyeing at home. It's really fun! And addictive. Because as soon as you rinse the fabric and realize what color it's going to be, you want to jump right in and dye something a little bit different. Anyway, I've had some good success, but some surprises. Mainly the lovely picture above this text. See the great effects? Cool stripes and such. But so 70s, argh! Yeah, my yellow dye did not dissolve all the way before I put it on the fabric, so that tiny amount of red took over. (I was trying for a fabulous project in Ann Johnston's Color by Accident, but yeah ...) Instead of a yellow and green effect, we have crazy harvest colors going on. As I type, that fabric's in the dye bath again, trying to salvage it somehow. Sorry if you liked it. Oh, but I did keep the onesie -- I figure I'll applique a pumpkin on it or something.
A small break from the fabric. E sharing her milk with a puppy. My only child who actually likes dogs. A quote from her this week:

E- Mommy, Mommy, read me the Dora book.

Me - What's the magic word?

E - Abre.

(If you don't speak Spanish and don't watch Dora, it means "open". I think it must have appeared as a magic word in a Dora episode once, I'm not sure. E was very pleased to get such a good laugh, though.)
Here's some of the pretty fabric I've done. I've tried a range of different fabrics, including quilting cotton, cotton lawn, interlock knits, knit ribbing, even that patterned knit on the left. I didn't use rubber bands or anything. The effects are all from the fabric crinkles and the dyes themselves. The ribbing I've been using takes extra dye, and the lawn ends up lighter and softer than the others, but I think it's all beautiful. One of my favorite experiments was using the leftover dye water for a new piece of fabric -- after pulling out my finished fabric, I threw in a new piece, plus soda ash water (the fixative for these dyes). Voila, a lighter shade!
And here are a couple of items made with my pretty new fabric! This one features vintage trim -- a gift from my mom.
OK, so the only part of this I dyed is the light blue ribbing, but it's cute, no? From this free pattern. I was a bit skeptical, because of the sleeve design, mainly (no tapering, and unusual shape at the top, too), but knits can do anything! It turned out great. I accidentally cut out a back in E's size, so she's getting a dress, too. I didn't have enough fabric for a whole one, so she's got some color blocking going on. I'll post a pick once I'm done. If I don't disappear from blogland for another 6 months. A project in the works for my little boy, too. He's currently obsessed with the game Bohnanza. I highly recommend it. He likes to play the 2-player game with his dad, but especially loves it with more people, because the 2-player game doesn't have the trading that's the main component of the traditional game.

Giveaway day!!

2010-12-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

It's giveaway day at sewmamasew.com. Lovely stuff being given away everywhere, plus a chance to find fun new blogs about sewing and crafting. Here are a few samples:

My sister, at Puking Pastilles is giving away *16* fat quarters from the Tailor Made line by Cosmo Crickets.

Sweet pea fabrics is giving away *$25* to use in her shop.

Renovating Our Foursquare is giving away 2 yards of Anna Marie Horner fabric of your choice!

Awesome, right?

Happy hunting.

Daddy's old shirts

2010-10-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

Grammie sent E a Dora backpack! She wears it often and does not like to take it off when Mommy says (for instance, to get in the car). The backpack is terrycloth and folds out into a towel. E wore it to the gym, takes it on the school run, jumps with it on the trampoline (it makes her fall over even more than normal).
Here is darling M with no teeth. They're coming in now, and I have no idea where all the teeth are going to fit. They're huge!
V and M are both loving science right now. They're doing science fair projects at the school, and I think V might do one, too. Probably have to buy a board for E, too, because no one can stand to be left out at our house. Much screaming when Daddy takes someone out in the jogging stroller. Everyone wants to go.
Speaking of screaming, I had trouble getting good pictures of this dress. (The other picture is at the top of the post, I couldn't get it to move and am too tired to fight with it.) E was so busy on her motorcycle that I couldn't get a straight shot. But isn't it precious? I've been very busy sewing the last couple of weeks. This dress was made from Nathan's old shirt, off a tutorial I found. So cute that I've made one for V, too. There are several ideas online for how to turn a man's shirt into a toddler dress, but this is my favorite because it's so clever. It not only uses the back yoke for the front dress yoke, and uses the button for the back closure, it evens uses the curve of the armhole opening to make the flutter sleeves. Some of the other tutorials are just basic dresses cut from a shirt, but this one appeals to me. And V is so happy about having something made from Daddy's shirt that I don't even have to put pink on hers! I could have avoided the pink on E's, but it looked beautiful with the navy blue, so there you go.

With all this renewed interest in sewing (renewed because I finally have a sewing machine and all my sewing equipment and my kids in the same place! and a permanent sewing table!!), I'm realizing what a cheapskate I am when it comes to this stuff. I'll post pictures soon of the charming jumpers I made for the girls, with $2.25 fabric. V's dress from $1 fabric didn't turn out quite as well, but still cute. So I don't get exactly what I would have chosen otherwise -- working within my cheap preferences pushes me to be more creative, right?

knock knock

2010-10-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

My kids love jokes, but they don't always get them, if you know what I mean. Well, they get some jokes -- we adore the children's CD by Barenaked Ladies (Snack Time), and the first song is about M's favorite joke! 7 ate 9.

Knock knock jokes? They sure try. But it's not the easiest thing in the world to come up with a knock knock joke. Anyway, M finally came up with one that actually works. Nathan about fell off his chair in astonishment.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Chooch.

Chooch who?

Choo-choo there's a train coming through!

Bwahaha. Even good knock knock jokes aren't funny. E is hilarious. She just says "knock knock" over and over. Smiles and fake laughs.

update

2010-09-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

We have a couch, there are pictures on some of our walls, and M's been in school for more than 3 weeks. Nathan and I have assignments at church, we've met our neighbors on both sides, and we've survived a tornado watch. M has settled down with a best friend, at least it looks like that right now (a kid who lived as an expat recently, I guess they bonded -- shockingly, he doesn't love the same stuff M does. Ben 10 rather than Star Wars and Pokemon. Must be true friendship.) E has probably tripled her vocabulary since we moved here, and she's moved from words to sentences. Her strategy has long been to make "sentences" by babbling when she doesn't have all the words she needs, so now she's moved onto all real words. She's also learning Spanish from Dora. V is reading even better than she did before, thanks to unlimited library visits. She named our backyard lizard "Bug Eater". She likes him, but doesn't coo over him (she does coo over caterpillars, snails and slugs). She collects acorns from the front yard. What else ... the kids of course have developed as swimmers. One day E decided she wanted to swim on her own (with a swim vest on), and she's so funny to watch. It's mostly leg action, and it looks like she's running in the water. V doesn't use floaties now, and M is working on grabbing things on the bottom of the pool. Nathan's crazy busy, consulting and looking for a company to buy. And I finally have enough time this week to be missing Prague. I love it here, don't get me wrong. I'm very happy, but just missing my other home a bit.

homeschool, furniture

2010-08-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Our shipment arrived in the US of A!!! Yippee! "The shipment" is a well-used item in the idiolects of my older children. Especially V -- "When the shipment comes, I'll be so happy to play with my Barbies." Also M -- he reports that since he's had his first set of work done at the dentist, now he can have his new bionicle once the shipment gets here. (I don't like bionicles, but that's a discussion for some other time.) We've all been looking forward to it, and yet ... moving in, again. All will be chaos, again. I'll be happy to have kitchen scissors and trash cans and most of all a couch!

School starts Monday :) Good thing I've already got some things lined up for V's first week of homeschooling. Otherwise she'd be out of luck. My evenings will now be spent getting the living room painted before Tuesday, the big delivery day. Our first topic is Texas. So we're going to plant wildflower seeds, learn all that classic stuff like the state bird and song and the Texas pledge of allegiance. ("Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.") What, your state doesn't have a pledge? Poor you. We might even bleach T-shirts with a Texas theme -- an idea I got from my little sis, just like the rainbow rice we made. www.pukingpastilles.com

I'm still getting our schedule worked out. Personally, I really dislike having a lot of scheduled activities. A few are fine, too many make me faint. So right now I think we're going to have a preschool co-op on Wednesdays, a run to the gym a couple of times a week, and story time once a week. Sounds like a lot already, plus anything we do with M after school hours. Luckily I can combine the gym trip with the school run ... real American school. Supply lists and everything.

long time no blog

2010-08-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

Finally, a few photos. We stayed in an apartment for a couple of days before we left Prague. I had to take this picture of the kids in the cabinet really quick before Eliza fell out.
The kids were literally laying in the middle of the foot path at the Amsterdam airport. I also let them eat off the floor and scrub their backs with toilet brushes. Now, why do my kids always seem to get sick after a long plane flight ...
Best thing about our new house -- the ice cream maker attachment I bought for the KitchenAid. They are eating chocolate malt frozen custard.
This weekend we went to see my grandparents in Shreveport, along with Aunt Naomi. It was a fantastic visit. We had Poppi burgers, the kids played the organ, we chatted. E loved these little dolls that my sibs and I played with many years ago. There are three dolls and 2 beds -- because Gramma and Poppi have a daughter and twin boys. Poor guys have to share a bed.
M lost one of his front teeth just before we went to Shreveport, so the tooth fairy visited him there. The gap is really, really big. I need to get a good picture of it. He's showing off his tooth box the dentist gave him.

impressions

2010-07-14T04:05:00.001-07:00

A few things, and I promise I'll get some pictures soon. The house is gorgeous. Anyone here who's heard that I hadn't seen the house before we bought it was shocked, shocked I say. (Less so in Prague, where everyone understands the distance and the jetlag and the kid watching.) Nathan did a fantastic job. The downstairs is perfect for entertaining, or just for letting kids run around. Wood laminate or tile everywhere. Big and open and unbelievable storage in the kitchen. Also downstairs is a bedroom, which will be Nathan's office. It's off by itself, so he'll be able to work comfortably even when we're having a dance party or screaming our way to bed. Upstairs is also great -- plenty of rooms, a massive playroom above the garage, and nice bathrooms. Coming from Europe, where built-in storage is an anomaly, I'm loving closets, and utility rooms, and pantries, and cabinets. The house is almost completely done in bright colors, which I like the idea of, but a lot of the colors just don't go well together, so we'll be doing some repainting pronto! We want to get it done before our shipment arrives from Prague. I was planning to repaint the kids' bedroom (M and V share) since it's purple, but I actually love the color. It's OK for boys to sleep in purple, right? I'll put up Star Wars posters on the wall ...

What else? Our pool is cute, pint-sized. Perfect for the kids to paddle around in, and we've been having lots of fun. I'm hoping to do some shopping really soon to get the last of the summer items in shops. We need extra bathing suits, shorts, and pool toys. First, we've got to get our cell phones worked out and get cars. Nathan got us set up with cell phones yesterday afternoon, but we don't have coverage in the house, so we're going to have to utilize their 30-day return policy and hope they don't kick up a fuss about it. This move-in has been quite an ordeal. So many things are quick and easy, but an awful lot seem to be very painful processes. For instance, I'm looking forward to having my own car, but I hate car shopping. Gives me a headache.

We made it to the library yesterday, to much rejoicing from the kids. I swear they wanted to bring everything home. We are nearly equidistant from Carrollton's two libraries, so we'll be able to give them both our love. We visited the newer one, at Josey Ranch Lake. The selection is great, the kids get a free new book for completing the summer reading program (I got a paper for Eliza too, is that wrong? She reads more books than anyone in the house, and they have board books in the give-away bins :) People were so nice! Seriously, this just isn't good training to make sales people nice, these library folks actually want to help. Inconceivable! And they have a cool self check-out. M is going to love learning to do that himself. E did not like the check-out because she had to let go of her book for a minute. "Doda", meaning Dora. Rapidly becoming an obsession.

made it!

2010-07-12T17:18:00.001-07:00

We finally moved into our house tonight. The kids are asleep and Nathan and I will be soon ... it was quite a deal, and obviously a long way to go, but I wanted to let everyone know we're here and doing well. And thanks to all the many people who have helped out. Really, really appreciate it.

Our plane flight: Martin took care of himself, which is the only good thing I have to say about it. Good thing my shirt was already brown.

The storage unit move: It all made it safely to the house, which is a pretty big thing. Never mind the 3 police cars who arrive to take care of Nathan's "disturbance" at the storage facility. The truck didn't work, and they were very rude about how it wasn't their problem. Imagine!

Other thoughts: My washer and dryer are HUGE, my refrigerator is HUGE, and Wal-Mart is really, really cheap. I know because I went through the store converting all the prices into Czech crowns. Really cheap, trust me. Having a pool rocks, the heat isn't as bad as I expected (and yes, it hasn't been at its hottest, but it did get to the high '90s today), but the humidity is a bit more than I remembered (major understatement alert). People bag my groceries here and tell me to have a nice day. They feed me Mexican food. They speak to me in my own language. And contrary to our previous experiences, they are truly interested in where we've been and what we've been doing. The Czech Republic is great, America is great, and we're very happy. I saw a brother, a sister, a couple of brothers-in-law, lots of nieces, a nephew, a mother-in-law, a sister-in-law, all in just 3 days. So nice.

we're off!

2010-07-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

Starting the big adventure today. I've never had movers come, so I'm pretty excited about that. It was still a lot of work, even without doing the packing. Nathan's just happy he doesn't have to pack all our books again. Today the movers pack, and we shift the family to a holiday apartment in the center. Tomorrow they load the truck, and Thursday we'll hand over the apartment keys and turn in Nathan's company car. His Passat was new when we arrived, 5 years ago, and it's definitely showing its age. It's been a great car for us, but certainly not Japanese :) "A lot of good cars are Japanese." Friday, it's off to the airport, very early. We fly through Amsterdam and are hoping that no volcanos erupt in the interim. At the same time we're doing all this, family members are letting in a cleaning crew and carpet cleaners at our new house. Thanks, Naomi, Tyler and Zach!

So Friday we'll move into a hotel and pick up our rental car. Saturday we'll move items from our storage unit, which is also in the Dallas area. Thanks to everyone who is going to help with that! I'm not really certain what's in storage at this point, but I know we'll have beds for everyone once we add one air mattress, a dining room table, and a bunch of books. While Nathan orchestrating the move, I'll be taking the kids shopping -- baby gates, pillows and sheets are on the menu. Followed closely by toilet paper. Sunday we go to church and also move into the house, ready or not. Monday we receive delivery of a refrigerator, washer and dryer, and guys come to hook up our internet. For the rest of the week, we'll be buying essential items, including cars and cell phones. We'll get library cards, eat Mexican food, and swim in the pool. We'll unpack all those mystery boxes. And we'll also be waking up at 4 am daily. Sounds like we'll be doing our shopping at a 24-hour Wal-Mart, doesn't it?

Yes, it sounds like a ton of work, but it will be so fun, too! I'm happy to have a bit of time to visit downtown Prague before we go, and I'm going to love the moving in on the other end. This is the first time I've moved anywhere and felt like it was a permanent move. No guarantees on the permanence, but we don't have a time limit. How nice to be able to shop for long-lived items, rather than disposable ones. Na shladenou!

Riverside School

2010-07-02T07:13:00.001-07:00

We finally had our last day of school on Wednesday, and I've been thinking about what a great place Riverside School has been for our children. The teachers and administrators at the school have created such a lovely place for kids and parents. These are the teachers who accommodated M being advanced a year, and not just tolerated it, but really encouraged him and helped him grow. They taught him how to spell, do fractions, and the life cycle of a frog. V's teacher learned about the reading scheme for older children and sat with her every day to hear V read a book. Her teachers helped her bake and plant a garden, paint (which she loves and I hate) and write letters for the "nursery post". The classrooms were always, always open to parents (and younger sibs). Teachers always had time for parents, and of course, the kids.
Riverside School brought some great friends to us. M found 2 kindred spirits on the first day of Year 1. He sat next to them when we walked in and they did a puzzle together. M was introduced to Power Rangers, Star Wars, and the real pleasure of having best friends.

some good-byes

2010-06-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

I don't like all the good-bye stuff, I just don't. But there are perks. Some beautiful paintings of Prague, and a doll that my girls have been forbidden to touch. Seriously, a dear lady knitted the doll's clothes, even pantaloons. And the paintings are still drying, because someone cared about us enough to paint them. And yes, maybe this is why I don't like the good-bye stuff. Emotional overload.
The paintings were from one good-bye event today, thankfully mostly focused on the Czech mission president and his wife who are leaving this week. They're amazing! Another fantastic couple will arrive to take over for 3 years. The mission president's wife reminded me I had helped her get settled in her first week in Prague. I do love helping new expats get settled in. There are so many tough things you have to do, and it makes me feel so helpful to tell someone how to find sour cream at the grocery store. Because buying buttermilk instead can be the proverbial straw. Anyway, the zebra is from a much happier event for me, because it was a casual one thrown by Nathan's former employees here in CZ. So not as emotional for me (plus) and I got to see people who actually know how great my husband is (double plus).
It was out at a "chata" - a cottage in the country. The kids had a fantastic time, playing with balls, stuffed animals, the other kids. E didn't stop toddling around, M didn't stop playing some game any game will someone play with me, and V did her sort of floating about routine. Wandering uninvited in the house and taking off her shoes in odd places, giggling.
This picture is out of order, from another event last weekend. Lots of church friends all together :) Again, V is on her own program. M is not pictured. He was playing ping pong, or possibly badminton. Who knew it was so popular.
Nathan got a copy of some book about Lovosice that actually has info about Flexfill! His factory is immortalized, too bad he can't read the text. And a gorgeous Czech glass bowl, an item we had been wanting anyway, and so great that we can remember his employees when we use it. And no joke, Jana actually blew this glass piece Nathan's holding herself. 2 varieties of sugar-free Coke were available at the shindig, Nathan's favorite. Seriously, because of Nathan's schedule and his more introverted personality, in most areas of our lives I'm much better known than he is. It's really lovely for me to see people who can appreciate his awesomeness.

And the trip home this evening? M read out every half-kilometer marker he could find. Commenting if we'd missed one, predicting (correctly) what the next marker would say, and giving other exciting commentary. "Ooooh yeah! 19.5" "9.0. We're getting closer!!!" Seriously getting closer. Our agent has the keys to the new house. The movers are coming in 9 days. School's out in 3.

signed the papers

2010-06-22T01:27:00.000-07:00

Took the girls to the embassy yesterday in order to sign the papers for our new house! They have the only American notary in town, so they can charge rather shocking prices for the service. But it's all done and the documents should arrive in Texas tomorrow morning, when the sellers will sign everything. I'm really hoping we didn't miss any initials ... we checked it twice, but still. Anyway, I showed the kids just the front of a couple of houses when Nathan and I were making up their minds, and this was M's favorite, because it looks like a castle to him. V is excited because their room has the upstairs bay window, which looks like a perfect reading spot to her.
I'm trying to just post photos that don't show too much of the current owner's stuff, just seems like a better idea. This is the view when you walk in. Photographer is standing in the formal living room, which will be entirely empty even when our furniture shipment arrives. Although I might put the piano in there.
I'm very excited about the kitchen. Note the double sink, double oven and not visible ... a disposer! Now I realize that the double sink and disposer are standard equipment, but having done without them for 5 years, I think they rock. Ok, wait. We didn't have a disposer in McKinney or Portugal either, so make that 9 years.
And the unwanted but soon to be beloved pool. First week in the house, I'll start teaching E how to swim. Sunblock, lots of sunblock.

at least we're enthusiastic

2010-06-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

Here's why I love my kids:

One more item I really could have done without on my long to-do list was acquiring water guns for tomorrow's water activities at school. But, with some help of a friend, I managed to find a few minutes to pick some up. I got a couple of traditional cheapies, and 3 water pump type things. They work a bit like a balloon pump or a syringe. They're simple, the exterior is just like a water noodle toy, and they cost about $2. And my kids had so much fun, without ever putting them in the water. Seriously -- E was dancing out of her seat in the car because she was having so much fun just pumping the thing aimlessly, M was pretending to shoot bad guys with water, and V after shooting air in her own face announced "It feels like what Disneyland smells like." Which in V syntax means the smell reminds her of Disneyland (plastic, artificial and fun). $6 well spent.

Grammie and Grandpa Bond's visit

2010-05-27T04:19:00.000-07:00

I didn't have any pictures of E in the post, so I added this one. Upon the grandparents' arrival, E immediately enlisted them as book readers. They read a LOT this trip, at least to her.
This picture's from our trip to Cesky Krumlov. It was raining, so we stopped for a meal at Laibon. It's a cute vegetarian restaurant with a great deck on the river, which of course we couldn't use. But the interior's pretty fun, too.
Grammie giving an impromptu show at the marionette museum in Cesky Krumlov, because that's the kind of grandmother she is. Our trip was pretty fun -- the kids were amazingly good in the car and even during a rather dry tour of the castle theater (I liked the theater, but the tour was not great.) It was a bit odd for us, though, because Nathan was in Dallas at the same time picking out a house for us. So I'd get phone calls at odd moments and have to split off while the grandparents watched the kids (or drove the car), and I was busy on the hotel's wifi looking at pictures every night. Our hotel was great, by the way. Aparthotel Castle View. It's right next to the square and is very nice. Kitchenettes with microwave and fridge, plus breakfast at the hotel down the street. We were in a 2-bedroom apartment with a contained outside area as well.

And here's M in his school's production of Peter Pan. If he looks a bit serious, it's because he was. He did a great job and was quite intent on getting it all right. He was one of the best dancers in the group. Our other kids were great, except for V randomly throwing a program at another guest. E was seriously dancing during the musical numbers. And I fed her lentilky (M&Ms) during the dialogue.

All hail the mighty state

2010-05-10T02:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, we're moving to Texas. Yes, we've been in Prague for 5 years. Yes, we're starting our own company. Yes, I'll be homeschooling V for PRE-school next year. And that last statement is the one that has garnered the most shocked faces so far. Seriously -- she's 4! Nathan's starting his own company, and no one blinks about that one. Oh well, just cultural difference. Public pre-school is free here, so everyone does it.

Some details, for those not on the up and up -- we'll be living in Carrollton, but don't have an address as yet. Nathan's just arrived from a house-hunting trip and we're got an option on 2 houses. Yes, Nathan picked out our house. We've never bought a house this way, but we rented an apartment this way when we moved here. Nathan visited lots of flats, took a ton of pictures, and drew floorplans. Then he made a powerpoint presentation (permanent legacy from his consulting days, I think) with all the details and maps, etc., and we picked an apartment. No problem at all, and no surprises about the flat when I arrived either. So I'm not worried about the house. After a long 3 days for both of us, we've got 2 fantastic choices.

We expect to move in early July. If the house needs it, we'll do a bunch of painting and flooring. Definitely lots of visiting with family, time at the public pool, I need to make sure we've got library bags for everyone, about a million small trips for settling into the house needs ... and M will be doing some testing before school starts. I think we'll find that our summer is not too long this year. We probably won't even have our shipment from Prague before the first day of school. This week we've got companies coming in to give us estimates on the move.

My parents are in town right now, more on that later. I'll post some lovely pictures!

Happy Star Wars Day!

2010-05-04T12:34:00.001-07:00

May the 4th Be With You -- international star wars day. Hope you have a great one!

illegal immigration

2010-04-28T01:47:00.000-07:00

Pretty much anyone who reads this knows that I've been abroad for several years now. In fact, more than half of my post-college years have been spent in Europe, and 2/3 of my married years. I have sat nervously behind a desk, a counter, or some bullet-proof glass, waiting to hear if I've filled out all the proper forms, if my newborn's eyes are open enough in her photo, if our marriage certificate has been properly translated and apostilled, if our visas and residency permits have really been approved. I've paid people to stand in line for me hours before a government office opens, so that we would have some assurance that we'd actually see someone that day. I've driven 5 hours and spent the night, only to have my application turned down the following day. I've supported a friend as she asked for a student visa to the US, and realized that in the training and practices of our diplomatic staff, potential immigrants are guilty until proven innocent. Although my family and I live legally and lawfully in the Czech Republic today, I cannot say for certain that we have always been on the right side of the law. At the very least, we've been thisclose to being illegal immigrants at some point in our travels. I believe in following the laws of the land and work hard to do so, and I have great sympathy for immigrants everywhere, legal or otherwise. I find the new Arizona legislation on immigration offensive. It limits the liberty of everyone who sets foot in the state, and particularly hurts those who have worked so hard to reside legally in the USA.

volcano of doom

2010-04-17T08:41:00.001-07:00

Yes, the volcanic ash is over the Czech Republic these days. M came home from school and told me about it, which required much waving of the hands. Nathan's stuck in Dallas for the time being. I parent a lot on my own, because of his travel schedule, and I don't really think about it. But it's always hard for me when he's away for longer than expected. I think lots of things in life are like that -- going past your due date, realizing it's mile 23 not 24, sticking with a job 6 months longer.

I've finally watched the Twilight movies while Nathan's been gone -- I hadn't before, because of mixed reviews, but they were a lot better than I expected. The actress playing Alice should get off my screen and Robert Pattinson is so not Greek-god-gorgeous, but Taylor Lautner is a real find, and Kristin Stewart didn't bug. The guy playing her dad Charlie was great. One major beef was lots of mumbling. Would it kill you to open your mouth?!? Seriously.

On the positive side at our house, the weather is absolutely gorgeous, my children are brilliant and beautiful, and E never gets sad (M added the last point, not sure I entirely agree). Cheers.

2 icing recipes with no powdered sugar

2010-04-12T05:25:00.001-07:00

This post is especially meaningful for fellow expats living in CZ -- the powdered sugar here isn't exactly like home. Almost everyone has made an icing batch and ended up with a grainy mess. You expect 10x sugar, and it's sadly 7x. (I'm sure all the Czech gals in the USA get frustrated with our limited selection of flour textures. C'est la vie.) So with that in mind, here are 2 lovely recipes that use granulated sugar!

The first frosting is from The Cake Mix Doctor. She uses it to cover a chocolate-cherry cake that is fantabulous. The icing is a rich chocolate glaze, with the major advantage that you ice the cake while both cake and icing are still warm. It is reminiscent of fudge icing, without all the work. Designed to go on a 9 x 13 cake still in the pan.

Chocolate Glaze:

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup milk

6 ounces/1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Place sugar, butter and milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips. Once it's smooth, pour it over the warm cake. It will firm up as it cools.

Frosting number two I got via my sister, via pioneer woman. She calls it "the best frosting I've ever had", I call it sweet cream frosting. It's nice anytime, but stellar after it's refrigerated. I've made it twice and had the recipe requested twice. Good stuff. We used it to make the traditional "eggs in a nest" cupcakes. I found pre-colored coconut and my mom sent me Starburst jelly beans in my birthday/Easter box, so I figured it was fate. (These Easter treats are just cupcakes with some kind of frosting; my mom uses fluffy white, I tried out the sweet cream frosting. Top with colored coconut and some jelly beans for eggs. V's nests all had pink grass.) I do have pictures, but they're on Nathan's camera in Texas at the mo.

Happy baking!

Obamas in town

2010-04-09T01:45:00.000-07:00

We passed 45 policemen on the way to the airport this morning, standing at every intersection. We counted.

Paris

2010-04-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

E loves ice cream! And she spent tons of time in the backpack, thanks to big, strong Daddy. All the museums we visited had strollers for rent, or just to borrow. We just traded our backpack in for a stroller and off we went. By the way, if you want to get into Paris museums quickly, borrow yourself a baby. Having a baby along lets you use the handicapped entrance, bypassing all the lines! We happened to attend the Louvre on the monthly free day, meaning it was even more of a zoo than normal. The line curved around the courtyard where the pyramids are, through to the next courtyard, around 3 sides of that one, out onto the street and down 2 blocks. There was someone with a sign informing visitors how long the wait was from that point. Loooong, but at least they didn't have to queue for tickets as well. Our bigger kids were fantastic museum visitors. M loved following the map of the museum, and both kids liked the artwork. The Musee d'Orsay was especially fun, because we have a lovely series of board books using impressionist artwork. So they got to see several paintings they are already familiar with. E loves those books right now, so even she had fun. Unfortunately, we always had to leave the museums earlier than the big kids would like due to little bit's need for a (food) break. Child needs her snacks. She even got worn out at the children's museum (rather the children's section of the science museum) after a while. We're huge children's museum fans, and this is a great one. The main science museum is really cool as well, but we didn't manage to see it this time, since it's really aimed for much older children. The complex includes a 360 degree movie theater, a submarine, and lots of other amazing things. It's out at La Villette, which isn't as bad a hike as you think. The museum is directly in front of a metro stop, so all is well. It was V's favorite stop in Paris.
Here is V, standing in the very center of Paris. This spot is in front of Notre Dame cathedral, walking distance from the (rather bachelor-pad-ish, don't-look-at-the-bathroom-tile but otherwise OK) apartment we rented in Le Marais. The Le Marais area is a fantastic place to stay in Paris. It's quiet and residential, but has lots of funky, artistic shopping (salad tongs shaped like crescent wrenches), restaurants, and an unbelievable number of food shops. Such a perfect place to rent an apartment, because when you see food like this, you just want a kitchen to cook it in. Absolutely gorgeous produce, cheeses, bread, pastries, we didn't even make it to the meat shops but I'm sure they're fantastic, too. It was Easter weekend, so lots going on at the chocolatiers. I think there were about 20 in a 5 block radius. I'm not sure if that's the chocolate center of Paris, or if Parisians really love chocolate! Why can't I get food like this in Prague?!? Of particular note was a cupcake and cheescake place called Berko. Although cupcakes are their primary business, I think they are much more successful on the cheesecake front (cupcakes were fancy and beautiful, but I found the cake a bit too dry). I know that cheesecake and cupcakes are not exactly classic French food, but I swear I ate the best New York style cheesecake I have ever had (and I love cheesecake). A crunchy, cookie-like crust, perfectly creamy cheesecake with whole blueberries, and to top it off? A particularly soft-set meringue with whole, uncooked blueberries. Divine.

The kids' favorite food? Crepes. Seriously messy.
These are the fountains next to the Centre Pompidou, also very close to our apartment. M called it the Inside Out House, and claims it as his favorite site in Paris. Nathan took the big kids into the museum and also watched a huge street performance in the sloped space at the entrance. Checking off another classic Paris experience. The kids loved the street performers in general. Of course, we have them in Prague, but mainly on the Charles Bridge, and we don't go down there too often (too many tourists, hah). M's favorite was a 5-piece jazz group, including a sousaphone, who seemed way too good to be busking. V preferred a soprano with keyboard accompanist. She was American, which was funny, and she was OK on her jazz pieces, but totally compelling singing an Edith Piaf classic. She stopped all the foot traffic on a bridge during that one.
Doesn't Notre Dame look great? She's all clean and beautiful right now, with tulips out on Easter Sunday. M liked the flying buttresses and gargoyles, of course.

Disneyland Paris

2010-04-07T04:46:00.000-07:00

That's right, it's not Eurodisney, it's Disneyland Paris. We had a fabulous time at Disneyland and in Paris itself ... since we started at Disney, I'll start my blog about that. It's really hard to get good pictures of people on rides, but I did manage this great one! There were so many great moments on this trip. We splurged for a suite at the Disney Hotel New York, which actually meant in our case that we ended up with a one-room suite plus a connecting room. I think they do have 2-room suites, but none available at the time. We opted for this because we travel much better with a separate room for the kids, and you get benefits from staying in the Disney hotels. At any of them, you get 2 extra hours before the park opens, so you get some selected rides all to yourselves. And because we were in an upgraded room, we had breakfast in a separate lounge (with characters), and a VIP fast pass, plus some other little things. Any ride that offers a fast pass allows a VIP fast pass owner to go directly to the front, any time. This rocked! We rode Peter Pan soooo many times. I know that's all a bit too much information, but some friends were interested in where we were staying and how it all worked.
The weather wasn't as bad as I expected, and some things were lovely, like the flowering trees. Here is E and her Daddy after riding Small World. As I expected, she loved this ride. So many things to look at, and music to dance to. Surprisingly, our big kids loved it as well (I thought M would be a party pooper on this one, but he got a kick out of naming the different countries and watching his baby sister.) Since we had several days at the parks, we reserved some rides for the later days of our trip, not even telling the kids about them. M's face when we told him about the Star Wars ride was priceless. I did ride it with him once, but then allowed Nathan the honors. It is a flight simulation ride, which made me a bit queasy. I love the little kid rides -- Small World, Peter Pan, Buzz Lightyear is probably my favorite. You get laser guns and the game keeps score. Fun for all ages.
Here we are in the breakfast room with Pluto. E was beside herself about the characters, and Pluto was her favorite. Even just looking at the pictures today, she got very excited. The handlers noticed at one point and were tickled about how much she loved Pluto. Some of the characters have more fun than others, and Pluto did a great job of acting like a dog. Also having fun were Wendy, Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Tweedle Dee was annoying and starting bouncing V up and down in the stroller. Funny to him, maybe. It was also made apparent to me this trip how small some of the characters are! Minnie Mouse is so short. Even my little sis might be too tall.
As expected, V wore her princess dress a lot (see how it rivals Goofy in shine?), and M wore his pirate costume less. That's totally OK since his costume took about 30 minutes. I'll post a more detailed look at V's dress at some point. The dress pushed her over into full-fledged pink love. Nathan and I kept giggling over statements like, "Yes! I want some of your salmon. Because it's pink!"
Most of the food is poor at Disneyland, but there were some highlights. Breakfast at the hotel was good, and E developed a taste for pain chocolat. The fresh juices were pretty amazing as well. We rented a stroller at the park, which became E's home away from home. She enjoyed the music playing in the ultra-clean park, and often bopped along as we walked.

spring

2010-03-23T01:25:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm still here, just neglecting my blog lately. Spring has finally sprung, the snow is gone (although it's always possibly to get a bit more ...) and we're going out with light jackets. Do you know how much time is saved by not putting on hats, scarves, boots, mittens and extra layers? When there are three little ones, it seems like a lot!

The kids have 2 weeks off for Easter, so we're leaving for Paris and Disneyland shortly. M and V are counting down. E doesn't know what's coming, but considering how excited she was about the people in bunny suits last weekend, she'll be a huge fan. I envision riding "It's a Small World" until our ears pop. We've been to Disneyland Paris once, 2 years ago. M remembers a remarkable amount, but what he doesn't know is that there's a Star Wars ride. Very close to the Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, so we'll be spending some time in that area. We're very excited about Paris as well. I've made activity books for the kids with random French stuff and Easter coloring pages. I haven't been to Paris in many years, and Nathan's only spent a day or two there, so it will be fun for the adults, too. And the food will be good, even if we can only manage crepes and cafes with the little ones. April in Paris ...

V's birthday

2010-02-13T06:25:00.000-08:00

V was lucky enough to have a birthday party early (Dad was out of town on her bday, so we asked if it would be OK to have it on Sunday instead. No one says no to early presents) AND fun on her real birthday. She took cookies into school (sugar cookies in the shapes of pumpkins, ghosts, angels and hearts, with purple icing) and had an open lesson during her dance class. I took some pictures and video of V and her best friend. The dancing is pretty random, but very cute. Hard to beat girls in tutus. Speaking of dancing, there was a valentine's disco at M's school this week -- I was slightly surprised to hear the kids sing along to Michael Jackson songs. I knew a lot of his songs were getting played on the radio, but I didn't really expect the kids to know them. And how about the macarena? Ha. When M was in the cloakroom getting ready to leave, he told us how lovely the peace and quiet was after all that noise. Yup, he's ours. (He did do some excellent dancing at the disco, I must say.)
Have we traveled in time? My little pony has not changed, guys. Even smells the same.
Aw, everybody loves the baby. E's giving hugs these days on demand. She also has a few words in addition to her signs. She probably says "baby" and "ball" 30 times a day. Maybe a lot more, I lose track. She also learned how to climb on the couch yesterday, which is not so lovely for me. She knows how to get down safely, but doesn't pay a whole lot of attention to the edge.

In other news, snow. And more snow, and did I mention the snow?

Birthday, Christmas

2010-01-18T04:04:00.000-08:00

In brief, traveling backwards in time: M had a birthday party with his friends, for the first time ever. It was a big pain and took a lot of time to prepare, but the kids all had a great time! It was a Lego Power Miners party. Lego should be paying me for advertising. Power Miners are on the hunt for crystals, but have to watch out for rock monsters. Here the kids are tossing dynamite beanbags at a rock monster.
Although I didn't intend it that way, Nathan ended up running the party games, while I chatted with the moms and took care of E.
M did have a party on the actual day, also. He asked for chocolate cake with green icing.

The famous Christmas morning entrance. They were much more excited than they look, I promise.

still alive!

2010-01-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

Hi, everyone! My apologies for the long hiatus. I'll be posting pictures soon, but let me just say that we're all doing well. With chicken pox for all the kiddies and a long Christmas break, we've been a bit busy. Christmas was great -- I made piles of enchiladas, which really hit the spot and may be a new holiday tradition at our house. We had just the right number of presents under the tree, enough to be exciting but not so much that we started wondering about our consumption habits. Best presents included: E's new baby doll which she loves and has already lost an arm (I'll repair it soon, but it is pretty funny to see her play with the loose arm), V's slinky and Barbie jeep, M's legos and cool Sudoku kids game. We are currently buried under more than a foot of snow. I am very grateful for 4 wheel drive, and also that I don't live in Minnesota. This is by far the most snow we've seen in our 5 years here, and the temperature isn't expected to go above freezing anytime soon. The kids had a snowman making contest at school yesterday, in their house teams. That's right, the school has houses just like in Harry Potter and they recently extended the program so that even the little ones have a house. You know you wish you'd had one too.

Nathan's birthday

2009-12-04T07:44:00.000-08:00

Now, for an even older event. Nathan had a birthday in November, too! We had all the traditional festivities, plus some bunny-shaped balloons.
For his sixth birthday (see the candles above -- 6 plus one to grow on), I gave Nathan tickets to the Pet Shop Boys concert last night. They're his favorite band, so it was quite serendipitous that they were coming into town at the right time. The show was great, lots of clever games with a bunch of white cubes on the stage. They projected movies onto the cubes, and arranged them in different configuration. Dancers threw them at each other during a song about a relationship gone wrong. They also wore cubes on their heads for much of the show. Quite cleverly, 2 of the 4 dancers/backup singers didn't show their faces until toward the end of the show. When revealed, they were twins with punk white-blond hair. They got a big cheer. The lead singer, Neil Tennant, sounded great. Seriously, I don't know how you can sound the same after so long. Their first hits were in '85 or '86, something like that. In fact, it was a great evening, with the downside of it being terribly cold! The arena is apparently a hockey arena, and wood was just thrown over the ice. Brrr. We were fine due to our winter gear, but I'd have worn warmer socks if I'd known!

E's first birthday

2009-12-04T05:12:00.000-08:00

Yes, I'm a bit late posting. But, hey, I'm doing it now, right? Our busy little girl is a whole year old, and she had a lovely birthday party with the family. She was a bit sick at the time, so please ignore the red eyes. She's all better now.Cake! Mommy, Daddy, and the big sibs liked it. E did not. The icing made her fingers sticky, she tried to shake it off, and that was pretty much the end of it.
M and V helped with all the preparations. They were much more excited about the birthday party than E. I let them decorate her cake with a little help. Yes, that's a LOT of icing.
E's first experience with ribbon. We haven't put up the Christmas tree yet, or put out any presents, but I anticipate a lot of baby fun when we do.
This is probably the favorite toy, one of those classics. Animals pop up when you push the buttons or levers. The Tinky Winky in the background is pretty great too. He says stuff when you shake him, or even honks sometimes.
Bonus shot -- when traveling with the kids, I love to get candy/toy combinations. I visited the novelty candy section at ToysRUs this summer and found this gem -- the gummies glow! It was on clearance, possibly because no one else wants to eat something that glows, but I think it's pretty awesome. The tweezers have a red light that activates when you squeeze them, so they work with any clear gummy candy.

Let someone else pick

2009-11-08T06:56:00.001-08:00

When Nathan and I were dating, we were both working full-time -- well, Nathan was working double-time or something like that, but normal full-time for him -- and we often had the same conversation on date night.

N: Where do you want to go for dinner?

M: I don't care. Where do you want to go?

N: I don't care either.

M: I don't want to decide. It's your turn to pick.

N: I don't want to decide either! Let's play paper-rock-scissors.

M: I don't even want to pick paper, rock or scissors.

I'm not sure about the paper-rock-scissors, but definitely not choosing the restaurant was the preferred option. I think we were so tired after a long week, that we just couldn't stand making one more decision. Not so much of a problem now; I've settled into the mom job, and I like to make ALL the decisions. Ha. That's only sort-of a joke.

But I have recently started a no-decision activity -- letting someone else pick my produce. There's a produce delivery service in town, and twice now I've bought a fruit box and vegetable box from them. I've also bought some things I actually chose myself ... the ready-to-eat haas avocados are worth using the service all by themselves. (If you have access to California avocados, be grateful.) Having someone else choose for me has actually been really good -- tonight we had eggplant parmesan, garlic bread and pomegranate for dinner. Not something I would normally throw together, but since I had to use up the eggplant, here you go. M got really excited about the pomegranate and talked all about how they are used in Jewish feasts. I think. He didn't have my full attention. Of course, I now have to use up the other 3 eggplants in the fridge. I left 2 weeks between orders, and all that was left in the fridge were 2 eggplants when the second shipment arrived. Hm. I'm thinking Indian food for the next eggplant dish ...

The picture is our favorite house in the neighborhood, at least when we have autumn colors. In an old house in Prague, all covered with vines ...

Halloween

2009-11-02T05:04:00.000-08:00

There is a neighborhood here, next to the American-style school, where many kids go for classic trick-or-treating. It seriously is just like my childhood, except with 10x as many children. Our biggest attention-getter this year was V, as Princess Leia. Star Wars was a popular theme, we saw several Darth Vaders and one other Leia. V also got to go to a friend's "fancy dress" birthday party (that means costume party). Very exciting. I chatted with her little friend's teenage sisters for a minute when I dropped her off. They questioned V about Star Wars and I was a little embarrassed about the depth of her knowledge. What's sad is that she doesn't even like Star Wars that much -- as she says, "I only like the movie with the Ewoks." She did love her costume.
M says that we made the baby Chewbacca because she chews on everything. Too true. She was a little bundle of joy on the trick-or-treating outing, as long as we held her. She didn't want to ride in the stroller, contrary to her normal preference. We even let her collect some Halloween candy. The loot was pretty amazing this year. The variety! Russian-labeled crumbly milk stuff, sour patch kids, 8-inch marshmallow sticks, lollipops, chocolate eyeballs, lots of hard candy no one likes, caramelized biscuits, snickers, soft fruity candy from many countries, and some plastic vampire teeth. M got points for offering to share his first piece of candy with his dad, since he heard that Daddy likes KitKats.
Daddy carved the pumpkins, and Mommy made the Halloween cookies. I roasted the pumpkin seeds this year for the first time, and they turned out OK. Not sure if I'll bother next time.
M is definitely going to get the most use out of his costume, as he wears it almost every day. He told me he was a mixed up Star Wars character. Dressed in Jedi costume, but carrying a red light saber (because the red one is the coolest we have). He's also going to get the longest enjoyment out of the candy. V's is nearly gone already, which partially explains why it took her 2 hours to go to sleep last night. She's been playing word games lately, making everything start with V or B. My favorites are Vommy (that's me) and Flabby (not sure how it morphed that much, but it got a good laugh so Daddy may use this for a while). Ha.

what the kids said after school

2009-10-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday on the way to our swim club, I got an earful about Japan. M's been studying continents in school. This week they started Asia and his friend's parents came in to teach them about Japan. He told me about geography, population (Tokyo has as many people as the Czech Republic, did you know?), greetings, food, how to hold chopsticks. So that was yesterday. Very informative, and remarkably accurate. Today he started spouting off some Norwegian in the car, with a pretty great accent. "You are an airplane." "You are a pass gasser," or "You are a tooter."

Then at home, V gave me this line: "My tummy hurts because I ate too much healthy food." She's currently mad at me because I'm writing this -- she says it's not funny. It's apparently the only thing in life that's not funny, because she gets the giggles like crazy. A couple of friends were sitting with us at church on Sunday, helping out, and one was whispering to V, giving her a scarf to play with, etc. Every single thing we said made her giggle, which gave all of us a fit after a while. Some poor missionary was trying to slog through a talk in Czech at the time. We were rude (or wude if you speak V.)

more sewing

2009-10-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

Here's E's new dress, and a glimpse of her chubby knees. (Matching leggings are the next project.) Drafted off of an existing garment, with small changes. It looks more like spring than fall, so good thing it's a bit big. I'm really excited about how my machine did with knit fabric -- not as good as a serger, but it has as many knit stitches as regular ones. I had fun checking out all the decorative ones. Do you see how tall E is getting? She kept changing the temp when I was cooking rice today. Danger!
The front looks more asian than I thought. The original I copied from doesn't, so maybe it's the crazy pattern. The best thing about the dress is that it requires no fasteners. I swear that snaps, buttons, and zippers can take more time than the whole rest of the garment.
The skirt on V I made from an idea online -- it just has strips of tulle slightly gathered and sewn on the outside. It satisfies her need for fancy, but I let her wear it outside. (Dress up clothes stay inside at our house. As do toys, with few exceptions. M's buddies brings piles of toys to school to play with during recess. I'm the mean mommy.)
She wanted to be a zebra, or at least that's what she told Daddy after the fact. Perhaps she was just being a squirt.

stuff

2009-09-28T12:28:00.001-07:00

We've been playing Apples to Apples Kids the past couple of days. I do like the kid set -- I opted for that over the adult set because there are so many references in the adult set that kids don't get. On the other hand, I think the kid set simplified the vocabulary too much. Yes, V learned an adjective she didn't know, but she's 3. Fun factor is high for both my kids. M can play the game quite intelligently, and I also have fun seeing how his mind works. (Apples to Apples is a truly great game -- each player takes a turn being the judge and throwing down an adjective card. All the other players put in a noun-ish card. The judge picks one.) M was a judge with the word "big". I had thrown in "basement" thinking it surely wouldn't win, but it did. Because "football players" and "popsicles" can fit inside a basement. V just likes to joke around. She throws in something funny and picks something funny as well. E's stuffed animal Myrtle the Turtle is a pretty good player.

I had one of those moments today, when you're doing something and saying to yourself "I can't believe I'm doing this." Sadly, I wasn't jumping out of an airplane or singing for thousands of people. I was saying, "You have to put on underwear before you eat dinner." At the time of the comment, V was standing naked on a stool helping me cook dinner. My low expectations are what made me giggle. No black tie at our house.

sewing, swords

2009-09-28T00:19:00.000-07:00

E gets very excited about fighting swords with her sibs. It's best when I'm holding her -- that way she can reach better.
Here's my first project using the Wild Ginger pattern making software. I adapted it after printing (the sleeve detail and the button placket in the back) so it's not all Wild Ginger. I like it a lot, except for the fit. That's not a problem with the software -- I just have to get used to their different ease settings and how much room kids need. The software is very clever, but I'm finding that I adapt it more than I expected. Not a point and click thing. I was also experimenting with bias tape and making buttonholes on my new machine ... I didn't show a picture of the flower buttons. V picked out the fabric, can you tell? I said corduroy, she said flowers.

proud moment

2009-09-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

M had an "about me" page to fill in for homework a week or two ago. It included the typical info like his height and weight and favorite color ("all the colours"). And his favorite singer? The Beatles. OK, so they're a band, but still, I was pretty happy about it. Granted, he thinks Yellow Submarine is their greatest song, but he's 5. V is really into music lately and tells me what she likes about each song. We've been listening to some classics lately, the Beatles One album and Raffi's Baby Beluga. Eleanor Rigby is "the cool song", and I can't even describe what she says for Raffi's Oats and Beans and Barley Grow. Amazingly garbled. I have to be careful what they listen to, though -- V pays a lot of attention to the lyrics. I had on a Cake song today; the refrain is "Sheep go to heaven, goats go to hell." Catchy song, very tongue-in-cheek and clever, but I can 100% predict a question about the go to hell part.

I wear my sunglasses

2009-09-24T03:51:00.000-07:00

E is at such a fun age! She surprised me today by understanding exactly what sunglasses are -- she tried to put them on me and on herself. Totally glam.

Check below -- V and M usually feed themselves breakfast while I'm getting up or taking care of the baby. Today they opted for "Kangus", all over the couch and rug. The couch cover is currently in the wash, and the living room is clean thanks to my fabulous housekeeper. Seriously, she's great because she really loves her job. Cleaning my house makes her feel satisfied that she's really helped someone. We've had some cranky cleaners over the years, so a cheerful one's a blessing.

School!

2009-09-22T03:51:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally posting about the first day of school -- it's not quite as bad as you think, we've only been in school for 2 weeks now, unlike some American friends who've been at it for more than a month. So here are my cuties on V's first day, M's second day. They actually look alike to me in this photo, usually I don't see it. M is in Year 2 (first grade), and the work is really starting. He eats it up. Yesterday they talked about some Jewish holidays, so he got to try a bunch of special food. Then it was someone's birthday, so he got cake. His entire lunch came back home with us -- their food was more interesting than ours. All pretty smooth so far. We start swim club in a couple of weeks, so we'll see how that affects our schedule. The pool is not far away, but close to the building-a-new-tunnel zone, which is a traffic nightmare.

V is attending the nursery class 3 days a week. Before they started, each child had a home visit with their teachers. V was so excited on the day her teachers were coming that we had to make zucchini bread and draw pictures for them. Since she's staying full days, she needed a pillow and blanket for rest time. I happened to have some pillow stuffing around, so I whipped up a cute pillow with my lovely machine. (Bright yellow, hot pink with skulls, and a flower button/ribbon detail, all in 20 minutes.) V loves her pillow so much that she actually sleeps at school. The first day she didn't want to go to bed at home because she didn't have her pretty pillow. We'll add that to the list of why-I-can't-go-to-bed excuses. They include these classics: I need a drink, I have to go to the bathroom, it's too dark in my room, I need 3 books in my bed, no not those books, I need the big Pooh bear and the small Pooh bear, my legs are cold, I don't want these pants, I want to sleep in M's bed.

E is the belle at school. She smiles at everyone and shows off her 6 teeth. Her hair is redder than ever, and curly too. She loves to get into stuff she's not supposed to have (laptop, legos, markers) and is starting to understand simple phrases and baby signs. She slimmed down a bit because we had the stomach flu last week, but she's working hard to gain back the weight or grow or something. On Sunday she ate through 5 slices of watermelon, one handful of stars, 2 pieces of chicken, 4 crackers and a bottle of formula. That night she did not have a stomachache, but she did wake up hungry.

Kid quotes

2009-08-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

M, talking with his tongue hanging out of his mouth: Everything I say is funny!

V, the definitely 3-year-old: I don't understand the word "no". I only understand "yes".

E wishes she could talk. Baby signs coming soon. What will her favorite baby signs be? Food-related, I'm sure. She's actually not quite as food-oriented right now, because she's very interested in pulling up to standing and doing all kinds of perilous things. She always looks surprised when she falls down.

One more week until school! Our school keeps class groups together from year to year, so M is really looking forward to being back with his buddies all day. Just hope his best buds stay in Prague for a while. You never know with expat kids.

Legoland and why lego doesn't like girls

2009-08-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

One last hurrah for the summer, a trip to Legoland! We had a great time and the car trip (4 hours each way) went very smoothly. Maybe our children are finally getting used to car travel ... The tuba was one of my favorite lego items on display. The musical instruments played if you stepped on the controls. Other favorites included gargoyles and crocodiles. We somehow ended up at the park on one of the hottest days of the year, so the water rides were great. The pirate boat, complete with water cannons both on the boat and the shore, was lovely. Infrared dryers available for a fee. Another cool thing was the bionicle ride. I actually hate bionicles, they're very nasty looking fighting things made by lego. Apparently they're supposed to be robots, because their ride was totally robotic. Nathan rode and we watched on the spectators platform. First, you get to plan your robot's routine from a set of moves. Then, you get to be thrown around by a big robotic arm.
OK, this is actually a picture from the park next to our hotel. We often comment on how unsafe playground toys are in Europe (and therefore often more fun) compared to the US. Litigation at work again. This is one of the most dangerous and coolest toys we've seen. It's somehow compelling, if you see it, you have to try it! Well, I didn't actually. But Nathan of course did.
Back to the park. Lots of rides were designed for 2 kids together. I liked the canoes (with dinosaur scenery) and the safari ride (with safari animals of course).
E likes Legoland, too!
The merchandise. My favorite part of the park was the factory where you could see legos being made and then buy separate bricks by weight. The kids each got a lego letter for free (glued together) and got to build their own lego people. My kids' choices were rather classic, I thought. V would have stayed all day trying on different bodies and heads. Taking apart lego people is one of her favorite activities. In the price-per-pound, we got pink bricks (I refuse to buy the Belleville horsey stuff, so this is the only way we're going to get them), wheels and axles, lego rafts and a dog, etc. You can buy by the brick online, but it was really fun to let the kids pick items in person. We also got a big boxed set for each kid. We've played with them all day. And here's where I rant about lego for girls. All I can figure is that they don't really want the girls' market? Or they don't have any girls working in the design department? Lego for girls really stinks, which is a shame because girls like legos, too. Duplo (lego for little kids) has great stuff that appeals to boys and girls, but the real lego stuff, not so much. I can think of so many ways they could make it more appealing ... *sigh*

Dear lego, how to sell to girls: cuter + more girl minifigures, better girl-friendly colors (step away from the gray), more shops and houses + fewer fire engines, castles with princesses and turrets not just fighting equipment, more animals, more furniture and food, most of all more pretty. V has spent much of the day decorating her lego items once they were put together. Her bus had a whole forest of items on top, flower handles on the doors, and a trash can riding inside. I had her minifigures put together for about 2 minutes before she had them dancing together. Such a girl, but luckily not a dress-up-like-a-princess-all-day-girl. One guess on what kind of a lego set M picked. It came with most of the key Star Wars characters, my favorite is Chewbacca.

US trip round up

2009-08-15T02:27:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite pic of the summer. Gotta love grandparents who aren't afraid to get silly. Note the hopscotch in the background -- when we got back here, someone had made a hopscotch that covered half a block of sidewalk. It went to 123 or so.

I put this in just so you can see the rolls. She's shot up a bit and thinned out slightly, but no one else can tell. Only Mommy Moo. (V calls me that. We all get to be Moos except for E, who is a calf.)
Most of my pictures from Knoebel's amusement park don't show the extent of the fun we were having. But I threw in a few anyway. What's great about the park: pay by ride, so it was way cheaper for us than Six Flags, etc.; old stuff that's well kept -- rides I've never seen before because they've got the only one left; beautiful drive to get there. And more. It was a huge hit with our kids, who love to ride rides. Here's V and Grandpa Bond on the carousel. I really loved the carousel because they still have the rings you can grab. It's a machine that feeds out small metal rings. The people on the outer horses can try to get a ring each time around. If you get the brass ring, you get a free ride in the park. (Hence the "brass ring" phrase.) I've never seen a carousel with one before and I don't know why -- it's fun! You're a fun park, let us have some fun!
First time having cotton candy! M also drove bumper cars, mini go-carts, rode a real roller coaster, we all went on a log ride ... great day.

Zuby

2009-08-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

Zuby (ZOO-by) = teeth. A fun Czech word to say. We've had a lot of tooth action lately. M lost his first one today! Major excitement. He asked to go to bed several times, so anxious was he for the tooth fairy to come. Do Czechs have a tooth fairy? I kinda think they do, I must have asked about it at some point ... We had to call Daddy as soon as it stopped bleeding and M could talk on the phone. I think Daddy might be in Wales today. Or maybe central Spain. Let's hear it for international cell phones, I can always get him on the same number, hooray!
E's top teeth are finally coming in, so I've been trying to get pictures of the fangs before they disappear. She was very excited to have her portrait done, and cried when I put away the camera. E is definitely getting around these days and even trying to pull up to standing. She's much more interested in crawling over things than my other kids were (Mommy's legs are a favorite obstacle), which makes me a bit worried. I'd hate to have a climber, but there's nothing I can do about it. Her hair is also growing in at long last. Grammie called it correctly, it's curly, at least during these hot (ish), humid (ish) days.
Nathan and I had pretty much decided to cut bait in another year and head back to the US, which of course meant that his company would offer him a new position here just in time to foil our plans. Looks like we're planning to stay for another several years, although it's always somewhat tentative. In a spirit of commitment to Europe I asked if I could have a 220 voltage sewing machine, since I had so much fun with my mom's last month. Above you can see M with his new Jedi knight cape on, made on my new wonder machine. The cape also works for the Emperor or Darth Vader.
Oh, how much they like to mess with the machine, and how seldom they have the chance. I can't hold E and help them sew at the same time. But the baby's sleeping so well now that we're back and unjetlagged, so we actually get a long naptime break to do things like that. I bought a Pfaff, fully mechanical (the Select 4.0 if anyone's curious about details, let me know). I got this one for several reasons -- being a German make, it was actually cheaper here than it would be in the US, of course Pfaff is a lovely reliable brand, and it has some cool innovations. The best one is called IDF don't ask me what it stands for. Basically an integrated walking foot. You just pull down a lever, and the machine feeds from the top and bottom. It's really cool. So far I'm very pleased with my purchase, although I'll be happy when I get my English manual. I think they only translated a small portion into Czech, as the info I've got is scanty. At least I hope there's more in English ...

Crayola factory/Canal museum

2009-08-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

V loves her Grammie. They spent lots of time together this trip, especially in the kitchen. They made sugar cookies, cupcakes, pancakes, muffins, waffles ... I ate them.
One of our big trips was to the Crayola factory and National Canal Museum (they share a building). The men in the family liked the canals best. It was a great space for kids -- they got to take their boats through a series of canals, learn how to make locks, and play on a riverboat.
One of my favorite parts of the museum was a mule -- you could get him fully ready to pull a boat and then undo everything. The whole place was very hands-on, learning through play. Grandpa Bond enjoyed the trains room and V loved the kitchen on the riverboat. M spent a long time making locks.
The Crayola factory had a more frantic feel. They had a mini factory and we watched crayons and markers being made. It was like watching that Mr. Rogers crayon segment in real life. Fun. Then they had tons of art activities. Clear walls that you could color on, fingerpainting, a ball-run area for small tots, sidewalk chalk, a glow-in-the-dark section. It was great fun, especially for V. I found the noise overwhelming after a while, but she could have stayed there all day.
My favorite play area was the magic clay stuff. That's the copyrighted term. At the factory they only had white dough, so you could use markers to make different colors. The dough is very lightweight and easy to mold and hardens after you play without baking. The very best part of the museum was the crayola store. So many items that you can't find elsewhere. Nathan thinks that the company should build "Crayola Experience" centers in major cities, recreating the crayola museum and shop. I think they'd do well :)

Odyssey

2009-08-04T01:50:00.000-07:00

More picture from NY -- the Manhattan Children's Museum. I love children's museums and really wish we had one in Prague. :( The rotating part of the museum was all about Greek and Roman legends. M ate this up, which I didn't quite expect, but I probably should have. Here he is inside the Trojan horse. Later we'll catch up with him on his journey home through perilous dangers.

Behind the fire engine was a station with laser guns you could use to make some fires go out. Those smart designers put this section right next to the shop/kitchen area, so I could watch both my big kids at the same time. At one point there were 3 3-year-old girls in the shop, and none of them wanted to leave. Around the corner was the baby area ...
Perfect for Miss E! There was a crawling obstacle course, an electronic peek-a-boo station (people sit on either side of a cloudy glass, if you put your hand on the control, it clears so you can see each other), a ball run, a mirror with a bar for standing babies.
This station had foam peanuts and a blower. Hold your hand on the control and the peanuts fly everywhere. So perfect for a baby who slaps everything to make it work, as noted by Grandpa Bond. Sometimes we call her BamBam. Chubber BamBam.
One whole floor was Dora and Diego themed. Lots of fun animal activities, including a 3-D puzzle the kids really liked. Here V's waking up in Dora's bed.
And here we catch up with M on his odyssey. The kids loved hiding under the sheep. Escaping the cyclops, of course. The kids also had the chance to dress up and sing karaoke (sirens) and walk a balance beam between Scylla and Charybdis. The museum also had an outdoor water area and a section about amusement parks. Good times for all.

Statue of Liberty

2009-08-03T01:56:00.000-07:00

I've got so much to post in the next while! We had a wonderful trip to the US, spending tons of time with Grammie and Grandpa Bond, time with Nathan, and we visited some fun stuff. I'm going to start with the end of our trip -- a few days in New York City. Nathan and I heart NY, so we had a lovely time. The kids enjoyed it, too, but it was obvious that after a month away from home, they were ready to get back to Prague. It's hard to be away from your own bed for so long!
This picture cracks me up. I couldn't get them to look at me because they were so busy watching the signs in Times Square. It was E's favorite place in NYC. She loves to have fun stuff to look at. The kids liked the M&Ms TV the best. We went into ToysRUs and wished we hadn't. Cool to see the indoor ferris wheel, but such a crush!
Happy baby at a park close to our hotel. We lucked out with the hotel -- Nathan did the research and booked us into a suite at the Lucerne in midtown. As it happens, I spent a couple of weeks in the Lucerne some years ago when I was doing some work training. I highly recommend it, especially for families. Walking distance to the Manhattan Children's Museum and the National Museum of Natural History. And a Chipotle, hee hee.
Bedraggled -- it poured in the afternoon a couple of times and we got caught. Again, E loved it. Rain is exciting! The big kids thought it was fun as well.
The pretty lady herself. We took a boat trip to see her, and it's definitely worth it. Some things are really powerful in person and the Statue of Liberty is one of them. Our guide on the boat was hilarious. He sounded like a radio announcer and kept up a fast-paced banter about NY and the US of A for much of the trip. It brought home to me how much New Yorkers think of themselves as the epitome of Americans -- in Texas, tourist info is all about being Texan, but in New York, it's all about being American. An interesting difference.
Dinosaurs! The museum of Natural History was amazing. Most impressive were the dinosaurs (many, many of them) and the blue whale. Huge, or kuge if you prefer V's description. I'm really glad we made it this year. We fly in and out of JFK to get to the grandparents' house, and it seemed a shame to be so close to all the dinosaurs and not visit while the kids are excited about them.

Knoebel's

2009-07-18T18:08:00.001-07:00

We visited Knoebel's amusement park today, and it was awesome. It's an old park that they've kept in very good shape. I think Coney Island must have been like this long ago. Lots of fun rides, cotton candy, remarkably good food, and E learned to wave hello. V's face is priceless when she's on a ride. Total joy. M went on a real roller coaster with Nathan. Lovely time for all.

live from Grammie and Grandpa Bond's house

2009-07-11T17:27:00.001-07:00

Hi! No pictures today, since I'm not planning to upload them on G & GB's computer. I'm currently hanging out in the office since V can't be trusted to actually go to sleep without someone nearby. We've had quite a few wow-I-can't-believe-she-did-that moments with Miss V this trip. It was a good day when we arrived at the brand new Sonic without my wallet (the grandparents were planning to pay anyway, and tater tots are just as greasy and lovely here as in Texas). We arrived home from Sonic and I asked the kids to help me look for the wallet. V said, "I know where it is!" and was so proud to find it for me. As if we didn't know who put it there. Other adventures include smashing a PF goldfish cracker under the presser foot of Grammie's sewing machine, blocking Grandpa Bond's tuba mouthpiece with play dough and emptying the contents of Grammie's purse (the peppermints were eaten, the cough drop was left, slightly sticky).

The other kids are quite busy also -- E's creeping and getting close to crawling and sitting up consistently. She definitely can hold herself up, but tips over sometimes still. Her favorite place to creep to is wherever the big kids are. Beware. M is reading a lot and loves the library. He's also doing a lot of Star Wars stuff. Legos, books, even got to watch the first movie. It's been a long time since I've seen a grin that big -- he was ecstatic to be sitting with his dad during the opening credits, listening to the music. "It has the real Han Solo? And the real Chewbacca?" He was actually bouncing a little bit on the couch out of excitement. Good times.

wobbly teeth and other fun stuff

2009-06-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

Take a good look at M's beautiful smile! He's got some wiggly teeth. Exciting times.
E is now big enough to look at books, and Peek-a-Who? is her favorite by far. Of course she can't ask us to read it for her, but once we start reading it we can't stop unless we want some screaming. It's a great book, the text goes like this: Peek-a-WHO? Peek-a-MOO. Peek-a-BOO. Peek-a-ZOO. Peek-a-CHOO-CHOO. Peek-a-YOU! Cute illustrations, peep holes of course. Ask me how I feel about it after another couple of weeks of constant reading. Heh. I'm not sure what's in the back of V's shirt in this photo. It's not a tumor.
V finally had her big performance at her preschool (Our Submarine) last week. I was curious to see how it would go. When M has performances, V tries to run up on the stage (I think that came from her aunt, by the way, not her mom and dad). She did seem to really enjoy performing. They did a little dance to a Bob the Builder remix, including putting laminated paper "bricks" on a dog house. Cute idea, because all the kids could participate in that, even if they didn't want to do the dance. Here V is saying "can you fix it?"
Aaarg. Dress up like an explorer day, I guess pirates count. There were several Doras at the school -- one with Boots and a map and everything. But she was apparently a little bummed because, "Mom, Dora has orange shorts!" Right. Can you see the snap pea in M's hand? He loves them, probably the best thing we've gotten out of the garden so far. Some carrots are almost ready and we've got squash, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries flowering. We could really use some sun, it's been cold and cloudy. Sports day at the school today and it's 55 degrees and raining. Come on, world, it's June already!
Dads love to tease, it's something I don't really understand myself, but Nathan definitely likes to push the kids' buttons sometimes. His favorite trick is to sing a book instead of reading it. Much hilarity here as Nathan begins to sing The Gruffalo. "Daddy nooooo!"

rush hour

2009-06-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering on a silly philosophical question today -- when (if ever) are you obligated to hurry?

I was thinking about this because of grocery shopping. Grocery store employees do not bag groceries here, so patrons always bag their own. Most Czech customers, well, most Europeans for that matter, buy small amounts so bagging groceries isn't a big deal. I, on the other hand, buy huge amounts at one time and often have one or more small children strapped onto me, pulling on my clothing, trying to run out into the mall (yes, grocery stores are often in malls) ... SO I used to get stressed about all the people behind me in line and work so hard to quickly get my things bagged and out of the way. Often the checker would simply sit and wait for me to bag a few more items, freeing up space for them to scan a few more things. Once a checker ostentatiously checked his watch and closed down his station. He stood looking at me (still bagging, with a baby trying to grab every item) for several minutes before he finally walked off, leaving me alone at the station. On the plus side, sometimes people behind me in line would get frustrated and ask if they could help me bag (that was rude, sometimes people genuinely wanted to be of service and asked if they could help me). I love grocery shopping, but the checkout process stressed me out! I was rushing because I felt obligated to.

But then at some point long ago, I decided not to rush, and grocery shopping is pleasant again. I put my items on the conveyor at a speed I can manage, and I bag groceries the way I want to. I decided that if people are bothered, they can offer to help me. Otherwise, they can wait or they can share the bagging area with me, or they can move to another station. It's fantastic! No more stress. So the question is, do I have some obligation to rush? I don't think so, but it can certainly feel that way when someone's tapping their foot behind you.

What about driving? Are you under some obligation to go the speed limit? It sounds silly to say that you have to drive at the maximum speed limit all the time, and yet other drivers might make you a bit self-conscious if you drive under it. Surely we all have a right to roll down the windows and enjoy a leisurely drive sometimes ...

Of course, there are cases of a true moral obligation to rush -- to someone's aid, for instance. But in general, I say give it up. Getting stressed about needing to leave the house doesn't really help the kids get ready any faster, and it makes our whole family miserable. I banished the bagging groceries stress, and now I'm going to banish the get-your-shoes-on stress. We'll see how it goes.

my girls

2009-06-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is what we do with baby dolls at our house. Isn't she so beautiful? Says the incredibly biased mother. Every child needs a mother who thinks they are the best thing ever. Just saying.
V has been posing for the camera a lot lately. Here she is with a bowl of lettuce from our own garden. V is a skilled lettuce tearer. It's one of the few tasks in the kitchen that she can do with no help, which is very exciting for her.
My kids love these footstool-type things from IKEA. The windows are just right for peeking out of or climbing through. A blanket on top makes a tent. Scoot a kid chair up to one and it becomes a table.
Her pose here reminds me of those people who pretend to be statues and charge you money for taking your picture with them. One of the least exciting forms of street art, but funny in the living room. Among the pile of lanyards around her neck, V is wearing a medal Nathan got from running in the Prague half-marathon last year, or the year before ... anyway, she wore it for a whole day last week and told everyone she met that it was Daddy's. "He got it because he winned a race." So cute -- she and M are both convinced that Daddy won. He got a medal, didn't he?

Totally unrelated item: Jimmy Fallon is trying to reunite the cast of Saved by the Bell on his talk show, and Zack Morris made an appearance recently. No really, he just had to change his name to Mark-Paul Gosselaar because there was already a Zack Morris in SAG. Very amusing for anyone who used to watch the show, and I know at least one of my sibs used to watch with me? Apparently I don't know the show well enough -- he explained away some issues like the show moving from Indiana to Cali at some point, didn't watch enough to know that. Just gotta say -- who is the makeup/hair artist?!? He looks exactly the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awxXPSQ5E0k

kid campout, crazy end of school madness

2009-06-11T05:14:00.000-07:00

I can't count the number of things going on with my kids in the next two weeks! Activity Week, Water aid day, sports day, BBQs (3), school performance, E's teething and cranky, parent-teacher conference, and when am I supposed to get ready for our trip to the States?!?

The kids spent last weekend with Nathan and some church friends. They reserved a whole pension for a father-kid "campout". Apparently it was lots of fun, and I was glad that girls were invited. (Often these activities are just for fathers and sons.) They went on a rather verticle long hike, roasted sausages, and didn't want to come home. I'll add photos as soon as I get a chance.

gifted?

2009-06-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

We're headed to the US in a few weeks, which means it's time for us to deliver a small pot of gold to Amazon's headquarters. (We just bought 2 new bookshelves this week and we still have 2 layers of books on many shelves.) Our luggage when returning to CZ is always heavy -- children's books can be especially unwieldy. Anyway, I've been rummaging around online looking for book recommendations. I searched for books for my young advanced reader and got off-topic, exploring gifted children sites for a long while. As a parent of gifted kids, a former gifted child and wife of former gifted child, I wonder why I haven't looked at this body of literature before. I don't know that I'll spend a lot of time with online gifted parenting communities or anything, but I definitely found some interesting info.

1. Vindication!! Research indicates that acceleration is the best way to teach a gifted child. Accelerate certain subjects, skip grades, do AP/IB classes, start college early, or best of all, early entry to kindergarten. I already felt totally confident that we had made a correct choice in placing M in school early -- he's so happy, he's challenged, he's excelling. But seeing official government studies showing that accelerated curriculum is the key item in gifted education makes me very happy. Gives me the extra support I need to go ask about getting V in early, too. And I need the support -- I have to tell you I did not at all like asking schools about accepting M early. Made me feel so pushy. "Our Dudders is such a special widdle boy."

2. Lots of gifted kids are homeschooled, for obvious reasons, so the gifted sites tend to have some homeschooling info. Interesting fact? about 3% of US kids are homeschooled now, but a shocking 7% of kids with college-educated parents. Can't remember where I saw it, but I'll run down the article if you're interested. It just seemed like a lot to me.

3. OK, I did know a lot of this info already, like kids have long attention spans, need less repetition, read early, large vocabulary. But I was not expecting the info on temperament -- that gifted kids are often very sensitive and can have extremes of emotion. (We have a niece who is the posterchild on this one. And Nathan's the type they interview for studies like this.) And I'd almost forgotten to look for perfectionist tendencies. I laughed when I read that some gifted kids want others to do things perfectly as well. I thought it was just bossiness. Probably is; just because other kids do it doesn't make it right! Maybe I need to stop reading the info on gifted kid characteristics and move on to how to raise them.

Anyway, I don't know if anyone else even cares, but I had a fun time. The best part of all my research is the list of gifted-friendly games on hoagiesgifted.org, probably the biggest of the sites. They love some of our favorites (Apples to Apples, Set) and have lots of cool stuff listed.

Other news, V is interested in Barbie all of a sudden and I love them too! V had to ask for her Barbie back because I was taking too long combing her hair. LOL. Barbie and Ken multitask at our house -- their legs make good swords and their feet are E's favorite teething toys. Ken's kept E busy for *minutes* at a time for the last couple of days. I don't have a sewing machine here, but I'm going to use Grammie's to make some Barbie clothes this summer (yes I'm crazy). But not crazy enough to make needlepoint Barbie furniture (vintage patterns up on etsy now) or a Barbie house, although I saw a great idea for one. You just use a small bookshelf as the frame, very clever.

I'm still alive and well

2009-05-29T12:14:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with other things and lazy about blogging, so here's a quick update on everything. We have a trampoline! Kids are super-excited and spend a lot of time out there. V used to do a funny straight-legged bounce but now jumps nicely. M threw a ball into the neighbors' tree while playing an over-the-net game.
E is still happy. This is kind of a strange picture, but it's the only one I've taken recently.
V's school took a trip to the farm, with parents along. They all rode Sultan, the farm pony, and fed the horses.
M had his school play, The Jungle Book. It was performed by the whole primary school, so kids up to age 11 or so. M's class were the elephants, as pictured here. M is third from left. Seeing them in their oversized t-shirts just reminded me of how small they are. It's easy to forget that M's very young -- he's the oldest kid at our house! The play was performed at a real theater in downtown Prague (at the library, actually), and was quite well done.
We visited friends in Dusseldorf a few weeks ago, and I thought this picture was funny. Our kids have been together for 2 different weekends now and are BFFs.

silly stuff

2009-05-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Nate was browsing on Amazon last week and discovered that one of the top sellers at the time was ...

wait for it ...

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I'm not joking. Maybe you kids who live in the great US of A know all about this, but if not, this book is a combination of the original text (Austen's stuff is out of copyright obviously) and modern zombie fiction. Eliza and Darcy with lots of zombies, blood, and who knows what else. I do think it's pretty funny, but worth reading? Not.

Here's something else funny on drudge report today. A woman was arrested for neglecting her kid's teeth! I'm probably next, although we do have dentist appointments next week. Anyway, I love drudge report, and Matt Drudge loves to feature stories with shocking headlines, even if the story itself is a dud. This story, of course, is a sad one. I'm sure the little girl was truly in a bad way, and I'm glad she's getting the help she needs now.

A couple of weeks ago, M was playing bionicles or power rescue or something where he was more or less a superhero. His name? Barack Obama, pronounced with a strange Czechish accent: BAR-ack O-bama. He didn't know who that was, just thought the name sounded like a superhero. Or not.

hiking, baby food, science fair

2009-05-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Friday was a Czech holiday, so we went to Cesky Raj (Czech Paradise) to do some hiking. Cesky Raj is a large area with nature preserves and castles. We got to see the two castles on matching hilltops, but only from a distance. After the 2.5 km hike to see rock formations, the kids were past worn out. It was really nice to get out of the city for a while, but I confess that I like the Panska Skala rocks better.

E was totally uninterested in the rocks, but she loves to watch leaves moving in the wind. She's growing up fast -- I'm busy freezing baby food for her a couple of times a week. There's something quite satisfying about knowing exactly what's in your baby's first meals. And the purees can be lovely -- sweet potato, carrot and plum have particularly nice colors. I like to see all the baby food cubes piling up in the freezer, and E likes to eat them. (Baby food cubes = purees frozen in ice cube trays).

Science fair! Here is M's Partsmaster-sponsored project. Just kidding about the sponsorship, but he does love his Partsmaster hat. His board looked very professional, especially the graph and chart which he did himself. The typed stuff he dictated to me. M explained his project quite well to anyone who would listen. M was the only year 1 student to do a project, so everyone was proud of him. Tomorrow the kids will get certificates and awards at the school assembly.

Circus

2009-04-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the 1-ring Busch-Roland Circus! It was a fun time for everyone -- even E did OK with it. We saw trained llamas, tight-rope walkers, jugglers, and other acrobats. One highlight was the Mongolian trick riders -- turning around, dragging their feet or head on the ground, and the most amazing one climbed under the horse, of course all tricks done while the horses were galloping. The kids got to ride the horses after the show.

We loved the motorcyclists. 15 people stood in the cage while 2 motorcycles rode around them. Crazy? A bit. That cage is not very big. I was especially amazed when one of the guys on the outside of the group reached his arm way out to get his phone and take a picture. Then the people exited the cage, all limbs intact, and 3 motorcycles rode around, literally upside-down at times. Lots of media were there because of the motorcycle act, so everything slowed down in order to accomodate the photographers. They got their own turn in the cage.

Look! We harvested the first radishes from our garden! V liked the radish a lot, and M did not. More will be ready this week, and the other plants are growing well!

funny stuff

2009-04-23T11:39:00.000-07:00

We played I Spy in the van a couple of times in Egypt. Our favorite moment went like this:

V: I spy with my little eye something red. (I won't try to write phonetically, but remember that she has a lisp and l and r = w.)

Us: Lots of guesses.

V: Good guess, but that's not it!

Us: Guess, guess, guess.

V: No, no, no. It's something red and it's all around us.

Us: We give up already.

V: It's sunburn!

And here's a funny from her big brother, this also came up during a car ride. We saw a young Czech soldier on the street and had a discussion about his uniform and why he didn't have a gun.

M: I saw some soldiers with Daddy and they had big machine guns (note: this is true). There were two of them and they were twins.

Me: Oh, you mean they looked alike because they had the same uniform on?

M: No, they had the same head.

No real funnies from E this week -- she does make us laugh, but you know, you had to be there. Tonight M nearly fell over laughing when E knocked her bowl over and got pears and avocado all over the table and me. V used to love avocado mixed with her fruit, and I gotta say it's pretty good. Makes me wonder about fruit-avocado salad possibilities.

science fair and baby food

2009-04-17T02:10:00.000-07:00

M's preparing for the school science fair, and he's doing one of the most classic projects ever -- he planted radish seeds and is growing them in full sun, partial sun, and in a closet. Good times.

E had her first baby food yesterday! She had rice cereal and liked it very much. M got a big kick out of that confused look she had when I gave her the first spoonful. She's looking off-camera in these shots because V was next to me. Our baby girl often finds her brother and sister more interesting to look at than her parents. Not surprising at all, as they are more entertaining. She likes to watch M especially, because he talks with his hands and has an expressive face, to say the least.

E loves her feet right now. She can't quite get them in her mouth, you can guess why.

pyramids with kids

2009-04-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

To get to the pyramids, we took a 1 hour flight to Cairo and a 2-hour 1-hour (they said 1 hour, it took 2) drive to our hotel. The drive was long, but so fun. This was my first visit to a third world country, and I absolutely loved it. It was so lively and fun -- the major hold up on our trip was a stalled car being pushed by 8 boys in the middle of a crazy street. There was rubble and there were horses being bathed in dirty canal water; no one drove in their lanes and pedestrians were everywhere. Favorite sighting: sign for Pyramid Poultry Co. The picture above is our hotel, the historic Mena House. According to Elizabeth Peters, my font of all Egyptian knowledge, it sprang up as a competitor to Shepherds, the original high-end hotel in Cairo for foreigners. Mena House has grown a lot since then and is managed by Oberoi hotels, an Asian chain. It's lovely in every way and the food was marvelous. We ate lots of Indian food, something they do very well. I haven't had Indian food in so long! The best thing about Mena House is that it's at the foot of the pyramids, you can walk right over. A couple of the restaurants have lovely views of the Great Pyramid.

And here we are! I can't use enough superlatives to explain how happy I was to see the pyramids. I've been thinking about it since, and trying to figure out why I liked it so much. I think it comes down to my love of new things -- I felt the same happiness when touristing at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. It also is a totally unique site, and one that was quite different from anything I'd seen before. The thing is, I've done a ton of touristing in Europe, so seeing another cool castle is indeed cool, but not overwhelming. The pyramids and Cairo in general were new and exciting for me and I'm so glad we went. Guess we need to make some more trips outside of Europe! Anyway, the rest of the family loved the pyramids as well. As I thought, this kind of outdoor tourist site is great for young kids. V just played in the sand if she got bored. Behind us in this picture is the Great Pyramid. Did you know? The Great Pyramid of Giza was the tallest man-made structure until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889. Wow.

Here is Kafre, very close in size to the Great Pyramid. I posted this picture so you could see a bit of the texture of the pyramids. My photos aren't good enough to do it justice, but the texture is really beautiful. A combination of straight lines and randomized breakage, from 5,000 years in the elements. Organized rubble is what it looks like, and I just couldn't get enough of it. The top of Kafre is covered with limestone, and apparently it all was once. We went inside this one, everyone except E. The passage is low, so adults have to lean over while going up and down in a narrow passage. I confess to a short moment of nerves when I thought about all that very old stone above me, but chose not to think about it any more! It was fun to imagine how crazy the excavators were who expored all these with limited tools. M went inside twice, with Nathan and then again with me. The adults might have felt the lack of oxygen in the air, the stress of climbing up a steep passage while bending over, but M was bouncing he was so comfortable. All that's left inside is a sarcophagus.

The Sphinx! All the kids had a bit of trouble understanding that there is only one Sphinx. My kids and one of the friends with us thought that there must be more -- singular Sphink, plural Sphinx, right?

There's a nice overlook that we visited and got some great shots of all the pyramids together. I was impressed with the area -- they've got the whole area walled and gated. They heavily limit souvenir selling and other commercial stuff on the property. Cars are limited as well. The end result is that the views are protected and you get a real feeling of being out in the desert at the pyramids, even though you're in the middle of a large suburb. Policemen on camels are constantly running off the souvenir hawkers and guys selling camel rides. In this shot, Kafre looks taller than the Great Pyramid. M noticed this, but explained to me that it was an illusion. Smart cookie.

M and I took a ride on a camel. V sat on a camel, but didn't feel like going up. She and Nathan and E rode on a cart behind a horse. This was a great experience for M -- he wanted to go on the camel, but once we were up, he was scared and asked to get off. Then he quickly got used to it and later didn't want to get down. We were proud of him for sticking it out so that he could enjoy the ride. Camels are not comfortable, by the way.

this one's for Gramma

2009-04-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

My dear Gramma has a picture of me very much like this one, so I had V pose for her. She was quite the bathing beauty this week. I was especially happy to see how brave she got in the pool. After a day or so, she was swimming independently (with floaties on). I'll probably have several posts about our trip over the next few days. It was absolutely fantastic and I've got lots of pics, I won't subject you to all of them. Here are just some general pics from the resort in Hurghada.

Nathan spent so much time playing with the kids in the water, while I played with the baby. E got in the water a few times, but got cold pretty quickly. She likes the pool, though, and splashed around a lot. E was the youngest baby we saw at the resort, and she got lots of attention. She floats like a cork. The resort was very family-friendly. The pool shown here was just outside of our building, the family building. Each room is actually 2 adjoining hotel rooms. The pool had a deepish side and a very shallow kiddie pool. The big pool was heated for the first few days and then mysteriously got cold. Next to the pool is a playground and bar, which served ice cream every afternoon. That was pretty much the best part of the food. It's an all-inclusive resort and the food was like cafeteria food, without the yummy school rolls. The kids liked it and the grown-ups found it edible, if not exciting.

This is what I did the whole trip! Seriously, I spent every morning relaxing in our room or on our porch while E took a nap. Nathan did super-duty playing with the big kids, and I hung out with the one who needs me the most. That would be why I'm still as white as I was at the beginning of the week. Good thing I didn't go there hoping to get tan!OK, E spent a lot of time with her Daddy too, not just me. The Baby Bjorn did overtime, since E loves it.

Hurghada is on the Red Sea, across from the Sinai Peninsula. It's a big Russian destination. No one believed us when we said we were from America. The beach is man-made and quite nice. It's apparently illegal to remove anything from the Red Sea, especially coral. That was mentioned more than once, but we only got one warning about the water not being safe. Priorities? Anyway, the weather was all we could have hoped for. Blue skies, sandals, so refreshing after a long winter. Of course, Prague finally found some spring weather just as we were leaving and is gorgeous today. My garden's very happy.

Egypt!

2009-04-03T05:12:00.001-07:00

Just have a sec, because I'm in the middle of packing for ... EGYPT! Yes, we're going to the (man-made) beach and to the pyramids and possibly we'll all get sick from the water, but we're going to EGYPT! OK, so the kids are crazy excited and I think M's teachers have heard about this trip every day for the past 2 weeks. It's a common destination for Czechs, because it's pretty close and pretty cheap and hot when it's so terribly cold here. 4.5 hours on the plane, in the gosh-darned middle of the night. I think the US has laws against flights in the absolute middle of the night. Maybe for noise reasons? Anyway, Europe doesn't have that problem and lots of flights leave at really strange times. We've always avoided that, but we're giving it a go since it's the only way to get to EGYPT! (OK I'll stop the caps now, but you get the point) I've made activity books with coloring pages, etc., all about Egypt and also about Moses and Joseph. We'll be at the Red Sea, so the Moses thing seemed appropriate. We really lucked out because another family at school were also thinking about Egypt during the Easter break, so we've planned our trips together. What's better than hanging at the pool? Hanging at the pool with friends. We even started our kids on swimming lessons a few weeks ago so they wouldn't be freaked about the water. There was no freakage, by the way. Both of the kids lurve swimming and never want to get out of the pool, so I have high hopes for a good week. The only open question is how I'm going to do with the lack of sleep ... supercrank mom is a very bad thing. And what about the baby who really likes to go to sleep in her own bed? I guess she'll figure it out :)

Birthday

2009-03-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

So I woke up to snow on my birthday, always disappointing, but not unexpected. The weather's getting better now. Perhaps that was the final snowstorm of the year? That's my lovely car in the shot -- as part of my marvelous birthday celebration, Nathan and the big kids carnapped the Volvo and got it washed and detailed while I was elsewhere with the baby.

Here we are with our ridiculous amounts of birthday cake. I'd tell you the story of the 3 birthday cakes, but I'd have to make it up since the real story is not so interesting. Basically, I have the kindest husband ever. Luckily we had friends over yesterday to help us eat it up. Of course I received some lovely presents. M and V took turns helping me open them. And I have to laugh because I apparently always sit in the red chair, with E beside me. So both of us have lots of pics in this chair :)

I'm making a weird face in this picture, but I had to post it because E is so cute! She must have been interested in the camera.

Look! OK, you have to look very closely, but our plants are sprouting in the garden. V and I planted some carrots this week, and we're looking forward to the Easter break because it will be just about the right time for all the summer plants, so we can fill up the rest of our plot. Clever idea? Plant the same item every couple of weeks so that you can harvest over a longer period. You gardeners out there already know this trick, but a lot of it's new to me.

baby baby

2009-03-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

This shot is mainly for the grandmothers. Honestly, the chub is more evident in person, but this at least gives you an idea. She weighs 8 kilos now, wow. Note the crossed feet ...

And crossed here, too. I accused V of taking off the baby's socks twice last week before I realized the baby was doing it herself. She just crosses her feet and wiggles. She's doing all kinds of bigger baby things now -- kicking, swinging her arms, laughing, grabbing things, trying to put things in her mouth.

And sucking her thumb! I know a lot of moms freak out about this, but I think it's so cute. Especially when they're small -- her hand covers half her face and sometimes she pokes herself in the eye, but she still does it! M was the same way -- both kids sucked their thumbs once or twice right after birth, but then weren't able to do it as they lost some of that in-vitro coordination. Then they picked it up again around 4 months. E is on a bit of a nursing strike right now. She's still eating, but not very often and cries and turns her head away at the breast, all that kind of stuff. Not sure what's causing it, but I have lots of ideas: she's so excited about finding her thumb again that she prefers it right now, she's ready to eat some real food not all this milk stuff mom!, she's more interested in moving and such and has no time for nursing, her teeth hurt since she's constantly teething. Ah, who knows, but it seems to be getting better. At least I know she's not going to waste away (see top of this post).

note

2009-03-18T04:49:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've reached some new milestone in parenting. Our son has started sliding down the banisters.

kid pics

2009-03-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

M appeared this afternoon in his coach attire. He taught me how to play tennis and V wanted her own outfit.

The sunglasses are mustaches in this picture, according to M.

gardening

2009-03-16T00:16:00.000-07:00

We have a garden! Nathan dug for a couple of hours on Saturday to make this garden plot for us. The kids are already learning a lot -- how to get their hands dirty, how to wait, and all about what plants need. It's rained twice since we planted our first batch of seeds on Saturday, so all is well. Our kids' biggest ew gross moment wasn't the worms, but rather the compost. "Cow poop?!?" The garden brings back lots of memories of childhood gardens. Luckily we don't have to water the garden as much here as in Dallas. But we don't get as much sun. We're heavily considering pulling up some of the landscaping so we can plant some tomatoes in the sunniest part of the yard. I'm particularly excited about foods we couldn't grow in Texas -- here I'm planting raspberries and strawberries! We had strawberries when I was a tiny tot in Arkansas and I still remember them. What I learned from gardening as a kid? We are so not planting corn.

Our neighbors came to help us plant. They don't have their own yard (it's a shared space), so they're sharing our garden. Hopefully they'll help us eat the excess. With 4 kids helping, the 2 moms weren't able to regulate everything perfectly, so I think we're going to have some plants popping up in strange places. Once you get them started planting, it's hard to make them stop!

2 tired kids. They're just pretending to sleep.

Funnies

2009-03-10T02:21:00.000-07:00

When M was home sick last week, Nathan bought a couple of books to keep him occupied. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes was a huge hit. The vocabulary in some of the strips is beyond him (he still slogs away, though, sounding out "in-fan-ti-cide" etc.), but a lot of the humor is right up his alley. He loves the Sunday strips with Spaceman Spiff, which incidentally, I've always found boring. Even V will sit and look at the book for ages. The best part, though, is watching M crack up. He literally falls over laughing sometimes. One of his favorites is a strip where Calvin hits Susie with a snowball and then teases her because her snowball is far to big to lift. Joke's on him when Susie puts Calvin into the snowball head down. Insert hysterical laughter here. Everyone who has been in our living room this week has said, "Oh, I love Calvin and Hobbes!" or something like unto it.

The other book Nathan picked up is The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr Seuss. I was reading the short story Too Many Daves to V this morning and couldn't read it aloud without laughing. The premise is that Mrs. McCave has 23 sons all named Dave. Here's the part that makes me giggle:

And often she wishes that, when they were born,
She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn
And one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm.
And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim.
And one of them Shadrack. And one of them Blinkey.
And one of them Stuffy. And one of them Stinkey.
Another one Putt-Putt. Another one Moon Face.
Another one Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face.
And one of them Ziggy. And one Soggy Muff.
One Buffalo Bill. And one Biffalo Buff.
And one of them Sneepy. And one Weepy Weed.
And one Paris Garters. And one Harris Tweed.
And one of them Sir Michael Carmichael Zutt
And one of them Oliver Boliver Butt
And one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate...
But she didn't do it. And now it's too late.

Paris Garters really gets me, who knows why. Also Putt-Putt and Stinkey. I especially love the -ey on Stinkey. Makes it fancier, right? Speaking of names, I need to find out the names of the kids in V's pre-school class. She's been talking about one boy with an incredibly garbled name. Shades of "Oddleboddle". (My sis' name for our childhood friend Alvaro).

prescription drugs

2009-03-04T12:22:00.000-08:00

We ended up at the doctor today to get some antibiotics for M. The flu the kids had a couple of weeks ago went away and then M got sick again with a vengeance yesterday. I'm not the type of mom who calls the doctor a lot, but sometimes you just know that antibiotics are all that will help. After our visit, I was thinking about public healthcare and drug regulations ... for instance, I went in to the doctor today specifically to get antibiotics. In some countries, like Mexico for one, I could have just gone to the pharmacy and picked them up. No doctor visit, lower costs for everyone, pharmacists still give it to you so you're still going to be informed. Why not? Here it's the opposite of that -- drugs seem less likely to be offered over the counter than in the US. I asked for some antibiotic cream one time. So sorry, you have to see a doctor. Lots of things have gone OTC in the US and are prescription-only here. And then there's the fact that even non-prescription items must be requested at pharmacies. So you have an embarrassing problem? Can't slip the Preparation H under your other items at check out, nope, you have to ask for it. And if you're a foreigner, that might involve even more embarrassing sign language. (Actually, not, because pharmacists like other college educated folk here speak English and often something else as well.) Yeah, the whole counter-service thing is cute and quaint, but sometimes less convenient. Anyway, contrary to what it may seem, it doesn't bother me unduly, but I do wonder about the cost-effectiveness of the public healthcare system. When I'm sick, Czechs often ask if I've been to the doctor yet. I'm always a bit surprised -- why would I go to the doctor when I've just got a cold? But if the doctor is free, or practically so, why not? Well, even if it was free, I still wouldn't go. I'd rather sit on my favorite chair and blog about nothing.

friends' visit

2009-03-02T03:03:00.000-08:00

Here is V in her beautiful dress and sweater from Grammie and Grandpa Bond. She really likes this outfit and lets us eat the candies on her clothes. Can you see the Fisher Price cash register? Some toys are timeless.

We had a really great weekend -- some old friends of ours from our college days recently moved to Germany on an assignment. (Such good old friends -- she was my roommate at one point, the guys used to play a weekly pool game, our first date was a triple with them and one other couple. Good times.) So they drove over with their 3 kids and stayed with us for a couple of days. It's amazing how much we still have in common -- at least partly because our big life changes have happened at about the same time. So our kids are close in age, we're all in Europe now, etc. The kids played really well together (boys + legos = BFF). We even managed to get a baby sitter and go on a date, with only my baby in tow.

Big grins from our little chubber. Her shirt is even gapping!

pictures

2009-02-24T04:43:00.000-08:00

Here's our beautiful baby and her handsome daddy. She had just thrown up all over herself (part of our lame holiday week -- we were sick!), and apparently felt much better. Nathan's still traveling, but will be staying home quite a bit in the next few weeks as they're cutting travel at work in order to cut costs. It won't last for forever, but we'll sure enjoy it in the mean time.

E loves the Bumbo seat. Where did they get the name? Well, there's a picture of an elephant on the front. The Bumbo seat is thick foam and snugs your kid in so they can't get away, without using any straps or belt. And it works perfectly for kids who can't sit up on their own yet -- this is why E loves it, she gets to sit like the big kids. And check out just how big my big kids are! V tends to treat her baby sister a bit like a pet.

Happy Valentine's Day from the "Prince of Hearts".

Sir Terence Pratchett

2009-02-19T04:54:00.001-08:00

In case you didn't catch this in the news, one of my favorite authors has been knighted. Terry Pratchett writes fantasy novels that are funny, satirical, clever ... I think he's one of the most original authors producing right now, and some of his most recent books are the best he's written. I'm really glad that he's been recognized by the Queen, but a little sad that it came after he announced that he has early onset Alzheimer's disease. It feels a bit like, "oh we'd better do it now before it's too late". But I'm sure his name has been on the list as a possibility for some time -- he was the UK's best-selling author during the 90s (until Harry Potter, that is :). For anyone who is looking for a first book of his to read (there are many), may I recommend: Guards! Guards! or The Wee Free Men (this is a young adult book). Those books feature my 2 favorite characters of his -- Vimes and Tiffany Aching, respectively.

It's still snowing here. We haven't had a winter with this much snow since we moved here! The kids are a bit blase about it now, although they still get excited about "snow treat". Growing up we called it snow ice cream. Ingredients: clean snow, milk, sugar and vanilla. Stir it up and eat quickly. Snow does have its own flavor and it's tasty this way! You could also make *ahem* snow cones, but I've never tried it.

fill in the blank

2009-02-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

M's off school for the week, which would be great, except that the kids are all sick. So we're staying inside and eating chicken soup, and the kids are getting bored. I made up a fill-in-the-blanks story for M and I thought his choices for adjectives were funny: Tasmanian girl, alien cheese, toothpick cheese, and "with a sword" prince. I think the Tasmanian thing must have come from the International Fair at M's school last week. Apparently it was quite an event. The kids were invited to wear national costume (their own or anyone's), and each classroom prepared things from a particular country. Then the kids got to visit some of the other classes. M dressed as a cowboy and learned about Ukraine and Canada. We got a play-by-play of the real hockey player (female, I might add) who visited the Canada room and also all about the Ukrainian alphabet. It's really a lovely school -- and they've got their positions listed for next year, if anyone's interested: www.riversideschool.cz I would totally look into it if I didn't have little ones. There are more expats here than you would think -- I can list 6 English-language schools off the top of my head, and then there's the French school, Japanese school, German school ...

In other news, we had our big district conference meeting at church last Sunday, and as usual my little choir sang. It literally swells to more than double the size it usually is when we sing at a big event like this. It's very fun to have the bigger choir, but somewhat disappointing when it shrinks down to normal size again. The choir members really outdid themselves this time, as did our accompanist. We sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace?" and "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" -- 2 powerful hymns, both with gorgeous new Czech translations. The leader who was visiting based a lot of his remarks on the hymns from the meeting, so that was nice. In fact, I got so much positive response this time it felt a bit like the end of something. Change is in the air, but I will be very sad someday when I hand the choir over to another director. Sometimes other assignments at church do feel like duties, but for me the choir never does. It's a pleasure, and I'm so thankful for a supportive husband who runs after my cranky, wanting-their-naps kids during choir practice.

stuff and v's birthday

2009-02-14T02:39:00.000-08:00

I posted this pic of E so you can get another look at her great cheeks, but also so you can take a peek at her hair color. I keep saying I won't get my hopes up, but her hair does look pretty red. We'll see -- we've had cousins who were redheads early on and then turned blonde. Unfortunately, the picture doesn't do justice to her complexion. She has beautiful peachy skin, a lot like her Aunt Georgia's. The downside is that her skin is quite sensitive. Don't know about sunburns yet, for obvious reasons. V complains every time we get a sunny day. "The sun is hurting my eyes." You are not from Texas, child. Where, exactly are you from? I've been reading up a bit on 3rd culture kids (children who grow up in a country that is not the country of either of their parents). Yep, they pretty much don't have that "now I'm home" feeling about any country. Speaking of V, here she is holding her little sister.

And here she is blowing out the candles on her cake. M had some issues at her birthday -- because he didn't get to blow out candles, open up presents ... yeah, the whole joy of giving thing isn't working for him yet. Luckily, Grammie had sent small things for the non-birthday kids, so we wrapped up a gift for M, too.

V specifically requested "girl presents" for her birthday. We don't focus too much on the princess dress up stuff at our house, so she's not obsessed (I fully realize that many girls are obsessed without any parental encouragement, by the way.) But she does enjoy it sometimes. She also received an alphabet puzzle, duplo animals and a zoo keeper girl, and a cell phone with covers she can change. M gave her the phone and I think it's her favorite gift. And it cost 79 crowns, or something like that. Less than 5 bucks.

hi

2009-02-10T04:02:00.000-08:00

Hello, everyone! Thanks for all the responses to my last post :) I know it's been ages since I blogged, so here's an update:

V turned 3, potty trained, and started pre-school, so she's pretty much a big girl now. She really wants to sit in the "way back" of my car with M, but I told her she has to be able to do her own seatbelt first. She's trying hard, but we've had some tears over it.

M added a Bionicles obsession to his adoration of all things Star Wars or Power Rangers. (Bionicles are those scary-looking Lego monster things.) I will mention that I don't support these in any way -- they are fully engendered and fed by his school mates. He worked extra hard on his spelling words last week, because he had a bit of trouble with the word "because". He was very happy to get 6/6 correct on his test last Friday. He uses more british-isms all the time, including "rubber", "full stop" and "on holiday".

E is getting a tooth, which is WAY too early, but there's a little corner poking through her gums. Yay. Even with a little teething crankiness, she's our easiest baby by far. She's very engaged in the world now and often gives one of those full-body smiles (you know, when the baby smiles and wiggles and generally acts like you're the greatest thing ever? total payback for lost sleep.) Some new friends brought us great stuff from the US, including a glow worm for E. She lurves it. All wiggling stops while the glow worm's head is lit. She just stares. I seem to remember Nathan calling it a devil baby, but I think it's kind of cute.

the most

2009-01-29T05:45:00.000-08:00

Hi, Readers! Today I have a few questions for you. You can respond as a comment, on your own blog, just think about your responses, or talk about them to a friend ... whatever. Here are the things to think about:

1. What book have you read the most times in your life? Excluding books of scripture and picture books. (I've read Peek-a-Who? So many times!)

2. What movie/tv episode/whatever as long as it's a video of some sort have you seen the most times? Scooby Doo doesn't count, you only think you've seen the same episode many times.

3. What person do you talk to the most? We'll focus on people who actually talk back, so yelling at the tv doesn't count.

Here are my answers:

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I suspect this is an answer that many others will have also. It's pretty much the perfect book. I have large passages memorized. When I was a kid, I read The Secret Garden over and over. This happened for 2 reasons -- I liked it, and I owned it. We didn't own that many kid books. We didn't have to, because of the public library! So when I ran out of reading material, there were only a few choices and The Secret Garden was usually mine.

2. OK, so I don't own a tv and haven't ever in my adult life. So this one's a little hard. We have a DVD player now, but I don't watch that much ... so the answer ends up being stuff I saw as a kid. Maybe The Philadephia Story? It's a good one and was my big sister's favorite. Again, I have large pieces memorized. Or a Christmas favorite like Holiday Inn.

3. The person I talk to the most has to be ... my 3-year-old V! She's the one at home with me the most, except for E, who is difficult to converse with. We coo a lot to each other, but that's about it. But I seriously think I talk to my kids more than my husband, just because I see them for more hours. Nathan definitely wins if we're talking about adults.

brave combo

2009-01-26T03:18:00.000-08:00

My kids' 2 favorite CDs are both by Brave Combo (my dad terms them a nuclear polka band). I'm reminded on this youtube clip that they're 2-time Grammy winners. Behold, the rock version of the Hokey Pokey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK_lIcv7sic

The animation is just a little weird in my opinion, but the song is a favorite here. Best part? "Put your tongue in, your tongue out, your tongue in and blblblblbl". This is from the Group Dance Epidemic CD. The kids also love their version of the Chicken Dance. Random facts: A friend tells me the Chicken Dance was originally recorded in Dutch. I checked up on it, it is true, and you can learn more than you ever needed to know via a simple internet search. For better or worse, so much trivia is available at our fingertips these days. I had cause to reflect about changes in technology when my son asked me if TV was only in black and white when I was a kid. I denied it right away, but then had to think about when our family actually acquired a color TV ... we definitely had the black and white one for a long time. I can remember it in the house we moved into when I was 8. We had a color one too, but the black and white was in the other room ... its case was "harvest gold".

Back to Brave Combo -- they're a Denton, Texas, band and also claimed by the Univ. of North Texas (in Denton). So they're kind of a big deal in my home town. It's a funny thing, the whole "prominent citizens" or "important people who came from here". The nice thing about Brave Combo is that they're still based in Denton, unlike most famous people who come from someplace, but quickly depart for bigger opportunities. Here in Prague we celebrate Franz Kafka, Alfons Mucha and Mozart (half of Europe stakes some claim to Mozart, it seems like). Prominent Czechs living today include Vaclav Havel, Madeline Albright and Paulina Porizkova.

These famous people lists of course only exist for small places. I can't imagine a list of famous Americans or Parisians. But famous Belgians are one of those trivia things mentioned above. And then there are the places that are small enough and birthed a person famous enough that the famous person pretty much takes over the whole town. Stratford-upon-Avon, I'm talking about you. Also Hannibal, Missouri ... can't think of any others right now. Someday I might get remembered as the most famous person to have owned my toaster. Hehe.