The Clements Family Life: 3/16/08

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Easter Egg Time

Mission Accomplished! The Eggs have been officially painted by the Clements 5! Enjoy the photos below of us in action.

P.S. Nana and Lisa - we'll need some more die kits for next year so if you are at the store and see them on sale please pick some up. Also, our plastic eggs (the ones that open up to put things inside) are diminishing. I think we must lose a couple every year to damage, dogs, back of closets, etc. We'd love a few bags more (maybe 30?) please.

P.P.S. Thanks Lisa for helping out the E.B. this year! Great selection of candies and toys from the US!! The kids will love their baskets filled with all this great stuff!

How do you get this stuff off your hands??

The Easter Bunny is coming!

This was the sky tonight at sunset from our upstairs balconies.

Terence woke up this morning and asked me how many more nights until the Easter Bunny visited us. I told him that the Easter Bunny was coming tonight (or tomorrow morning). He couldn't believe it was already upon us. Very exciting.

Yesterday was a very busy day with Terence and Mia's 1st swimming lesson with a new swim instructor at Petnehazy Club. Their new teacher's name is Miki and he's a great guy. He must be in his mid-20s. The kids did great and Mia surprised even herself at all that she could do. While they swam, Ali and I walked around and visited the horses excercising and grazing in the fields nearby. There's a barn for the horses as it's a riding club too. She loved the 'Posies' (she can't say Horsey).

Three other funny things Ali has been saying are: when you ask her how old she is she says '3'; when you ask her what color something is she always says 'Pink' first. The newest was this morning when I sneezed she said, "Dress You". I guess it does sound like "Bless You". Funny little thing. I was explaining to Papa (Curt's dad) the other day that she mixes up Hungarian and English and her own language so much. The other day she got a cup and was going to fill it up with water (she does this alone) and was having trouble getting up to the water so she handed me her cup and said, "Ebben Foo". It took me a minute but then dissected this and figured out that 'Ebben' in English means 'In this' and 'Foo' is what she has been calling 'water' for a while now. We have no idea why she calls it 'foo' but it's her thing. I always correct her and sound out slowly 'wah - t - er' but she replies 'foo - oo'. Who knows?

Yesterday, Curt ended up going into the office against our original plan. Too much is happening and after 2 weeks away he needed to get in there to check up on things. Poor guy flew ALL night long. Arrived at home around 7am then left the house to the office by about 9:30am. He thought he'd be home after school but called to say he'd only get home later, before we had to go back out for dinner. Then, he called me at 6:15pm to say he wouldn't be making it home at all and would have to meet me out. The kids were crushed but at least they had him all morning today and now tonight as we've canceled our evening plans to be with them.

The kids all had programs on this afternoon. Terence went to his Belgian friend, Arnaud's birthday party from 1 - 5:30pm. Actually he went to play at Tom and Lucas (twins) from 1-2:30pm then their mom took them over to the party. Mia and Ali went to Disney on Ice with sisters Brigi and Linda and their mom, Marcsi. Some of their friends like Lara and Keira also went. It's 6:30pm and we are expecting them to get dropped off any minute.

Tonight we are painting EASTER EGGS! I am so excited. We decided to hard boil them, paint them and play a game called Egg Picking tomorrow morning. Egg Picking is a game where you have to try and knock your egg with another's points or butts to see which one breaks. Then we switch sides and try again. Who ever has an egg that doesn't crack wins. I think the kids will have fun with this.

Must run as they all just arrived home!

Ali vs the Lipgloss

Don't be scared by this next photo. After I wrote my post yesterday about Ali never getting out of her own bed until one of us go up to get her, guess what happened?! After her afternoon nap yesterday, she found Mia's little purse on the nightstand next to the bed. Inside was one of Mia's lipglosses. It actually could have been one of mine as Mia steals mine and hides them around her room all the time! Anyhow, Ali decided to try applying the lipgloss to her... entire face and head!! It looks like she'd been gooped by one of the Ghostbusters! I was shocked and I think that is why she looks so sad here. She expected to be greeted with a positive response and when I said, "Oh Ali! What have you done?!" She just pouted. Couldn't believe it.... Oh, forgot to say that she came down the stairs (probably to show me her work) by herself after her nap and make-up session yesterday afternoon.

FYI - it took 3 shampoos until her hair no longer was sticky, greasy, gooey!

Friday, March 21, 2008

Home At Last

Curt arrived this morning shortly after 7am!

Mia actually woke up about 10 minutes before 7am offering to help me cook breakfast (they always get a hot breakfast - something my mom used to do for us and something I believe strongly in). She was funny when she woke up as she started to tell me about her dream. I'm trying to remember how it went. It was something like, "Mommy, I had a dream about beautiful hair styles." Then, her story jumped around a bit so don't think it's my bad memory but this is really how she explained her dream, "Mate from school and I had to pick out jewelry for Judit" (Judit is their Hungarian teacher and Mate is a French boy in her class) "I was a mermaid and so was Mate. We were swimming and had mermaid tails. I was the queen mermaid." She seemed very happy about her dream. I think this explains a lot about what goes on in Mia's head...

Terence woke up at about 7am which is very unusual as he is our child that is impossible to wake up in the morning. On weekends,when we have no morning programs, he can sleep until 10am. Curt and I always say he's like a teenager when it comes to sleep. He came down the stairs rubbing his eyes this morning asking if dad was home yet. I said he'd probably be home any minute. We had a long cuddle (he only cuddles now when he first wakes up or in bed when he's going to bed so I treasure these times) and I got the porridge going on the stove. Suddenly we heard all the dogs outside going nuts. We'd just let them out a little while earlier as they always want to go out and do their business first thing in the a.m. They weren't barking but whimpering. Especially Blue who sounds like a pig squealing when he is excited. The 3 of us (Ali was still asleep) all ran to the door and found Curt lugging in his heavy suitcases. 'DADA!!!' The kids were shouting and jumping up and down with excitement. The screams woke Ali who shouted from her bedroom 'Dada!?!?' Even though she's been in a bed since she was about 19 months old she still doesn't get out of it alone. She hollers out for someone (usually me) and waits for us to come up and get her.

Ali's nursery school is on break today, Monday and Tuesday so she gets to stay home but Terence and Mia had to go on their way to school. Curt handed out some presents (lots and lots of DVDs) and volunteered to drive them to school this morning. They knew he was going to take the day off of work so they were ok about saying good-bye knowing that they'd be seeing him again at 3pm. Ali, on the other hand, hasn't let Curt out of her site. He's now in the shower and she is in there jibber jabbering away to him.

It's 9am now and he will take a short nap so he can make it through the day. We actually have dinner plans tonight. Poor guy! And, tomorrow night! Then Sunday is Easter with friends. Another typical Clements weekend. Always non-stop!

After school we will take Terence and Mia to their first day of swimming lessons with their new instructor. They will be taking lessons together 2 days a week for the next 3 months. Terence took lessons all last summer and is a great swimmer. Mia, who has never taken lessons, is a natural fish (she even dreams about swimming!) and has been swimming bravely without arm bands since the age of 3. It will be interesting to see how she does with an instructor.

It's so nice to have my family back together again!

Wishing you and your family a very Hoppin' Easter!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Always Saying Good-Bye

Being an expat = lots of farewell parties!

However, the positive side to this is that we have friends EVERYWHERE now! Seriously, we have friends in Australia, Singapore, China, Thailand, U.A.E., Kuwait, Italy, Sweden, UK, Mexico, Panama, Hawaii, India, Russia, New Zealand, Canada, Ukraine, Romania, Norway, Denmark, France, Spain, Slovakia, Belgium, Austria, Croatia, Greece, Poland, US (of course) and soon Switzerland.

Last night I went solo to our friends' leaving party. Faith and Charles will be moving with their 4 year old son, Isaac, and their new Bernese Mountain dog, Flo, to a town near Geneva at the end of March. Since all our weekends seem to be packed, packed, packed they had to have a little party on a Wednesday night. It was so fun!

Champagne and speeches at Four Seasons. Then, 2 limos with more champagne, sushi and Indian samosas for an hour around the city. Girls in one limo, boys in another. Last stop, Tom George for dinner. Farewell in style... Larkin-style!

Here is Charles and Faith

One More Night-Night

Until Curt returns! The kids are so excited it almost feels like Christmas Eve. They are upstairs all giggling and having trouble falling asleep. He called me a few hours ago saying he was getting ready to board. He was in Beijing for his 1 stop over back from Shanghai. The flight from Beijing to Budapest is direct on Hainan Air. It's a long one! I've been on it several times with Curt before.

It was midnight China time (6pm here) when he called and he lands tomorrow very early. He may even make it home before we leave for school (at 7:50am). He'll be so exhausted. He always sends me an email from his Blackberry upon boarding to warn me about possible air rage issues. He is so funny about traveling and getting more and more inpatient about travel issues as he gets older. All he wrote in this email was, "Getting on plane. One million chinese on board." There is nothing worse than a packed airplane during such a long journey!

Anyhow, we are all very much looking forward to his return after 2 long weeks!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Snow in Budapest

Just had to log onto my blog for a minute to write that we are getting huge snow flurries in Budapest (local time 12:09)!! Last week we were in shorts! What is going on?

Monday, March 17, 2008

Jumping and Bonding

Every kid in our family is very different in personality. However, at times they are almost identical. Here is Terence and Ali acting like 2 peas in a pod. Ali's been jumping for a while but has mostly jumped with her shoulders and not by bending her knees. Terence is proud of himself for showing her how to do it properly.

Birthday Paintings for Papa

Mia and Ali did mostly abstract art while Terence painted a picture of him and Papa playing tennis. He made both of them yellow with a green ball. And, of course a sun in the top corner...

You can hear Ali calling Terence her nickname 'Boo Boosh'. It's so funny. Even if we say, "Ali, can you say Terence?" She'll reply "Boo Boosh".

Pink Tent Fun

We had a great weekend at the McGann's home. We went out there for dinner on Saturday night and ended up spending the night as we were all having too much fun. Terence stayed up with Riley and Liam just passed midnight! He was so proud of this accomplishment...

The girls enjoyed the giant pink tent that Kerry set up in the family room. It looks like every little girls dream come true!

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Puppet Show Time

The kids performed puppet shows for me today for almost an hour. They love doing puppet shows. Even Ali tried this time.

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QUOTES OF THE DAY:

Today, July 1 2010 while driving through McD's drive through Terence and I got to talking about what a job at McD's would be like. I told him that my brother worked there and that was one of his first jobs. I explained how he was in charge of the french fries and used to come home with lots of grease burns. T told me that if he ever worked at McD's he wouldn't be able to work on the Big Mac assemblies as they would all end up disappearing. The Big Mac is his favorite!! He's not a french fry kind of guy, just a burger boy!

June 10, 2010. Ali has been a bit curious about dying lately. Fortunately, she doesn't remember anyone close to us that has died but she hears Mia and T sometimes talking about it. The other day, she came up to me very sad and said, "Mama, I don't want you to die." I told her that I don't want to die either and this is why I have to exercise and take care of myself so that I can stay alive and healthy longer. She nodded in agreement and then, while playing with my pink wallet on the table, she followed up with, "Mama, if you DO die, can I please have your wallet?" Glad she jumped back so quickly...

Today, May 24 2010, is a public holiday (Pentecost). Ali woke up - only at 9am - and since she had no idea of the time I reminded her that there was no school today. She smiled and said, "Yeah! I'm going to stay in my pjs ALL day". Later she asked me about the cat's birthday. I told her I did not know. She then asked me when Blue, our border collie's bday is. I told her it was in August. She smiled and said, "Let's have a birthday party for him. What kind of cake do you think we should make for his party?" We decided to make him a dog food cake! However, she is now trying to figure out if it is better to give him a cake with or without candles...

This Saturday morning (April 17, 2010) I am at home with Ali while Curt is doing the dance and football taxi service. My main responsibility is to work on our US visit travel schedule (flights, rental cars, hotels, etc.) It always takes a lot of coordination but it's all worth it as we love our summer returns to the US. Anyhow, I was telling Ali what I was doing and she asked me to remind her who we were going to see again. The main people I mentioned were Nana, Papa, Aunt Sally and Uncle Mike as these are the first people we will visit. I asked her what we should take to Nana for her birthday present. She thought for a second. Then, her eyes grew wide as she thought of a great idea. Her animated answer (she always uses lots of hand motions when talking - is that from me?) was, 'A nice hat, a scarf and if you have a dress that you out grow then we can take it for her!'. Funny little monkey... Don't worry Nana, I won't be bringing you any hand-me-downs! x o x o

Yesterday (Feb 24, 2010), while Ali went to visit her old nursery school, I took Terence and Mia for lunch before picking up T's new passport at the US embassy. There is this little cafe that I really love and they have great wraps, onion rings (I have a weakness for good onion rings), burgers, salads, smoothies, coffees, etc. Terence decided on a plain burger with onion rings and Mia decided on a bacon cheeseburger with onion rings. I got a smoothie and hoped for some bites of both of theirs... When the burgers arrived, they both lifted off the top bun and frowned. T grunted, "I asked for a plain burger. Not a burger with this sauce!" The sauce was sort of a 1000 island dressing type of tangy sauce. Mia pouted about this matter, too. I immediately got upset with them and told them not to judge it until they tried it. Then, I followed with, "you both need to become more adaptable." After a second of silence, Mia told me she was going to tell dad. I asked her to clarify and she told me that she was going to tell dad what I had said. Again, I asked her to clarify as I hadn't said anything rude or even a bad word (I sometimes have trouble with the latter). She then told me very angrily, "I'm going to tell dad that you want us to be adopted!" Adapted ... Adopted ... Pretty close!

During our ski trip to Schladming, Ali and I often spent some time together in the afternoon (after her morning ski school) drinking hot chocolate at the top in one of the restaurants. One afternoon she made a funny observation. Actually, she made 2 observations that went like this: "Ma!" she began. After I responded "yes", she asked me, "why are there some teenagers working here?" Before I had time to answer, she asked me another question. "And, why are there so many teenagers kissing?!" I looked around and there were 2 young couples nearby kissing... on the mouth! She was very interested. I answered to her that many teenagers worked when they were on break from school and regarding the teenagers that are kissing, they must love each other. She took this in and thought for a while. I told her that I'd like it if she also worked when she became a teenager and asked her what she thinks she'd like to do. The response has had us giggling for a few days. With little hesitation, she answered that she wanted to be a penguin when she was a teenager. I asked her where she would work as a teenager and who would pay her money. She thought for only a second and then answered, "the Four Seasons Hotel. They will pay me and I'll work there." I bit my tongue and asked her what she would do in the Four Seasons dressed as a penguin. She looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "Ma! I would swim!" She said this with a slight roll of her eyes like I was born yesterday. What else would a penguin in the Four Seasons be doing???

Just yesterday (Sept 18, 2009) I heard Ali saying to Mia, "drink me". I had to turn around and see what they were talking about. Mia was holding Ali's cup while she sipped out of it. Ali must have thought 'drink me' was the way to ask to be fed (?) a drink. We do say 'feed me' but what do we say if it's a drink item and not a food item?

The other day (early June 2009) the girls were taking a bath together and Mia blurted out "Oh Man" about something. Ali thought she was referring to her as a 'man' and shouted back at Mia, "Me not a MAN, me a LADY!" For obvious reasons I have never called her a 'lady' but she's somehow picked the word up. Loved how she defended herself as being a lady...

Yesterday, March 31st 2009, Terence, Ali and I were sitting at the table and talking. Terence made a joke about going to jail. After Ali laughed, I asked her if she knew what 'jail' was. She answered 'yes'. So, I asked her if jail was a place for good guys or bad guys. She correctly answered 'bad guys'. Then, I asked her, "How does Brigi call 'jail'"? I know this is correct but this is the way Ali would understand me asking how would she say 'jail' in Hungarian. Brigi, by the way, is her Hungarian nursery school teacher who she has a very close relationship with. Her answer to my question, "How does Brigi call jail?" was "with a telephone".... Very clever she is...

This afternoon (Jan 28, 2009) Ali pulled out a DVD and asked, 'we watch this when dada come home?' I looked at it and said, 'Ali, that's not a good one for you. It's a little scary.' (it was Men in Black II). She had recognized it and was ready with her quick reply: 'Don't worry (pronounced woowwee) Mama. Me cover my one eye with a pillow (piwwow).'

On Ali's birthday (Jan 24, 2009) while we were driving to Aquaworld, I turned around and offered the kids a stick of gum. I guess normally I / we say a 'piece' of gum. Curt then followed up with a joke asking if any of them wanted a 'stick of dynamite'. The girls were a bit confused but T, without missing a beat, said 'we can't buy dynamite, only people like miners can buy sticks of dynamite.' This is something he got out of one of his books that he loves to read. I believe it's the Richard Scarry What do People do All Day book that he has practically memorized and still goes to bed reading it and examining all the detailed pictures every night.

This morning (Jan 27, 2009) when we were hunting for Ali's shoes for school she looked outside and said, 'Mama, it's raining'. I turned to look out the window she was looking out and replied, 'Ali, I don't see rain'. She then followed up with something in Hungarian that I didn't understand. When I asked her to repeat it she looked at me, switched back to English and said 'It starts snowing after Halloween'. Not sure what this meant, why she said it, how she even remembered what Halloween was as that was ages ago in her little lifetime. Very sweet.

Mia's newest line (as of this first week in Sept 2008) is "I'm having the worst day ever". She's also been saying, "I feel like an idiot". She tends to say the latter when she's feeling a bit shy or lost for words. The first one is usually after she falls, stubs her toes, gets hurt or drops something. I have no idea where either lines have come from. Very funny to hear a 5 year old talk like this...

Every summer we take our 3 kids back to the US to re-familiarize (I'm sure this isn't a word...) them with their American roots. They were born in Europe and have only lived in Hungary their entire lives. Terence, our 7 year old, knows he's American. However, sometimes when he's asked 'Are you English?' he answers 'yes'. I think I've finally gotten it through to him that just because he speaks English doesn't mean he is English. In America (and several other countries), English is spoken... He now gets it and corrects people if they guess he's English. You may think that they would recognize his American accent but I think this misunderstanding usually happens when he is speaking Hungarian or French.

Mia, on the other hand, thinks we are Hungarian. When we were talking about Hungary beating America for the gold medal in water polo, she shouted out 'Yeah, we won!'. We had to explain that Hungary won and not America and we are American. She answered something about us living in Hungary which makes us Hungarian. Needless to say, she is a work in progress.

Then there is Ali who is only 2 1/2 and is still trying to not mix up English with Hungarian in her speech so she has no idea where she's from but will in time.

Anyhow, going back to our trips to the US. Curt and I like to give them an all-American cultural experience whenever we are in the US which includes baseball games, summer camp, carnivals, dunking machines, donuts, bagels, catching lightning bugs, looking for Cardinals and Blue Jays, spotting alligators in the lakes in Kiawah and this year a rodeo and a demolition derby. In addition to introducing our American favorite pastimes to them, we also have to teach them how to talk about it. For example, when our plane was landing in Kansas City on July 4th 2008 we had a perfectly clear day and could see everything. Terence looked out the plane's window and in his loud voice shouted to me, "Look at that baseball court mom!" I could hear heads turning wondering why the American accented boy who should be in at least his 3rd or 4th year of little league just called it a baseball 'court'. Well, that was at the beginning of our US summer trip... ;-)

Tonight (July 11, 2008) on our way home from the Sedgwick state fair (hee haw), Ali shouted from the back seat, "Mama, home now! Me tired!" It was about 9:30pm so way past her bedtime. I told her that we were on our way home (or at least Nana and Papa's) and would be there soon. I followed up with something about daddy is driving as fast as he can. Then, she shouted, "Dada, faster!" She is so funny and so expressive. It's funny to hear her bark her commands. And, when she is tired, she tells us....

This morning (June 24, 2008) as Mia was changing from her PJs to her school clothes I noticed her PJs had several holes in them. I mentioned it to Mia and suggested that maybe we just toss them in the garbage as it was so torn and damaged (plus small on her) that it wouldn't be easy to repair. Mia nodded her head in agreement but then asked me to do one favor for her. She asked, "Mama, can you please just toss them after I go to school? If I'm not here, I won't see it and then I can't get sad."

One morning while we were near Notre Dame in Paris (May 29, 2008), a group of school kids walked by where we were sitting. I heard T say to Liam, "Don't they sound like the kids at the French school?" Gee, I wonder why? haha

Two nights ago (around March 27, 2008) while Terence was getting ready for bed he said, "Mama, you know what?" He always begins his stories like this. After I asked 'what?' he proceeded by telling me the sweetest thing. He said, "I really like being a kid". I have no idea where this came from or why it occured to him at this point but I think it was really sweet. I know earlier in the evening his stomach was hurting him a bit and I was nurturing and taking care of him. I think maybe that is why he decided that being a kid and having a mom (and dad) take care of him when he needed it was okay!

Mia woke up crying 2 mornings ago. She was actually whimpering. I gently stroked her back and kissed her face while whispering in her ear "Mia, you're dreaming. Wake up. It's okay. I'm here. It's mama and I'm here". I repeated these soothing words over and over until she half opened her eyes and started mumbling. I leaned in to try and hear her better. I asked her what was upsetting her. She then said a bit more clearly, "The Easter Bunny pulled my hair!" Oh no. Poor Mia. "Why did the Easter Bunny pull your hair?". "He came in through the bedroom door and pulled my hair while I was sleeping in bed!" I reassured her that the Easter Bunny would NEVER do such a thing. I explained how gentle and giving good ole EB is. However, this morning (2 days later) she asked me how many 'night-nights' until Easter. I told her it was 2 weeks away (aka about 14 night-nights away). She then looked relieved and then asked me if she could get her hair cut short!!

I've been wanting to add another funny Mia quote that occurred over our New Year's (Dec 2007/Jan 2008) ski holiday. One night when Mia was having trouble falling asleep she crawled in between Curt and I as we were still awake talking. She explained that she couldn't fall asleep so we told her she could stay in our bed until she did. She closed her eyes for a couple of minutes and then started smacking herself in the head with both hands. I asked her what she was doing and she replied that she couldn't get it to stop. Curt and I were confused and asked her to elaborate. She said, 'I can't get the voices in my head to stop'. It was so funny as I immediately knew it was her thinking that was in her head. Curt asked her what the 'voices' were saying and she said it sounded like 'blah, blah, blah, blah, blah'. Curt couldn't resist by saying that he knew the feeling!

Last week (January 10, 2008) Mia came with me to the Indian Embassy in Budapest to pick up Curt's and my passports with Indian visas. She always makes me laugh as she's full of questions but never discreet. One of those kids that have to announce to an entire room that she has to go to the bathroom - even though she's only talking to me. While at the Indian Embassy she looked around at this new environment taking everything in. She had so many questions, "Mommy, what's that for?" or "Why is that over there?" She then noticed two paintings. At about the same time as she noticed them one of the consulates sat down next to her and said 'hi'. She returned the gesture with a shy 'hi' and then turned back to me to ask me who those people are in that painting. I had no clue and didn't want to embarrass myself in front of this Indian embassy employee. So, I asked him if he could answer my daughter's question. He looked at her and said, "That's our president". So then I showed Mia the map of India and told her that was the country we were going to. She returned her attention to the man and the woman in the painting and asked who the woman was assuming it was the man who was the president (reminder - she's still not 5 years old). The nice man had to explain that it was the woman who was the president and the man was the prime minister. Then Mia had to ask why the president had the red dot on her forehead and the prime minister had the pretty blue scarf (turban) on his head. She then saw a statue of Ghandi and asked me who he was. I knew that answer but had trouble explaining in 5 year old language why he was so famous. On and on and on she went... She had all the employees listening and entertained as not only was she interested but she was extremely complimentary. Many kids would say, 'that's weird or strange' but Mia found it all interesting and beautiful. They loved that she thought the turban was pretty, the red dot looked nice on the president and in another very Indian photo the traditionally dressed Indian woman looked so pretty with her gold bangles, henna covered hands, and gold outfit. Phew, I was on the edge of my seat nervous she would say something that might not be so kind. Instead she left them all with a smile on their faces and a very proud mom!

Yesterday (Nov 23, 2007) Terence came up to me and said, "Mom, I know America is one of the newest countries in the world but which is the oldest?" I said, "I'm not really sure but what do you think?" This kid is too much. He replied, "I'm not sure either but I would guess China." Not sure if this is right or wrong but it amazes me that he can even come up with something that is a really good guess. Will google it tonight for sure! If anyone knows, please send me the answer.

Last night (Oct 19, 2007) Terence asked me the loaded question: Do we come back to earth after we die? We spent a long time after the girls went to bed talking about it. I explained how different people believed different things and what I believe is that we do. He then asked me if we'd still come back as a family. I realized he had tears in his eyes with worry that he'd have to be part of another family so I answered 'yes'.

Terence asked me the other day why so many ants were eating our tree. He asked how they got onto our property when we have a fence all around it.

In first grade Terence is working on days of the week and months of the year. I asked him to recite what he's learned in French. After he said the days of the week perfectly I asked if he knew them in English. He couldn't think of them but suddenly I heard Mia's voice without hesitation say, 'Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday... etc'

Ali's word of the day was purple yesterday. Okay, so it didn't really sound like purple but it did sound like 'poopoa'. We were both wearing purple shirts and I pointed it out to her. That's how she repeated it after me.

The Clements Family Life