The Clements Family Life

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Ali's Ready for the Bus

Had to capture these snaps of my 2 1/2 year old waiting for Marcsi to pull up with the nursery school bus. We've had 3 days of non-stop rain here but she's happy as she loves her rain boots. Why do so many kids love wellies?

Anyhow, the little school encourages kids to bring cuddly animals to keep them company during their nap time. Ali has been on a 'Me wanna bwing aahwl o' dem' - she scoops up as many doodoos (this is want we've been calling them since Mia picked up the word at the French school) she can carry and she waddles out to the bus that picks her up right at our front door.

I love that she gladly wears a baseball cap. I'm hoping she'll be my little tomboy.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

8pm in the Clements Home

Kids are all cozied around the fire (the temp here suddenly dropped from 30s C to about 12 degrees Celsius this evening) watching the movie Over the Hedge, eating popcorn and not even thinking yet about bedtime. With school tomorrow (week 3!), I need to get them all showered up and ready for Lundi (Monday) and another long week. Wishing you all a very great week. Check back again soon for more Clements Family photos. Au Revoir.

More Somlo Shots

We had to take this first photo for our dear friends, Kerry and Bill, who we have went on many road trips with over the years but have always planned and packed very differently from. We all had a laugh with Peter and Sue when we opened up the back to unload our weekend clothes, toys, food, etc. Unlike our expert packers, Kerry and Bill, both Curt and I have the same style of just tossing everything in. Kerry - does this just make you shiver?

Is that a pair of Curt's underwear?

We finally made the hike up to the top of Somlo hegy (an extinct volcano). These photos are from the journey and then from the top.

The look out tower on the right. Then, heading back down.

These are a few more of my fav shots.

Mia picking me wild flowers.

Ali admiring the wild flowers in the field.

Autumn is near.

Our bedroom window view at Sue and Peter's.

Just Home from Somlo

After a fun night out on Friday night at our friends' home, we woke up early (but a big foggy) on Saturday and headed to Somlo to Peter and Sue's vineyard. It also happened to be the Somlo Wine Festival weekend so it was a fun-packed weekend. The drive took us under 2 hrs which is good time for us as we've always taken over 2 hours in the past. I think we've had to stop more frequently and we've also always seemed to get on the M1 freeway instead of the M7 like we are supposed. This time we went straight to the M7 and didn't even have to call Peter once to ask 'Where are we? And, which way do we go?'

Here are a few of my favorite shots.

Curt, Laci and Peter. Laci lives in Somlo and helps run Peter and Sue's vineyard.

Here's Sue and Peter with Laci, his wife Rita and their 9 year old daughter Veronika. Mia and Veronika play really well together. Laci and Rita are the nicest people. They were the ones that drove us all the way to the Ajka hospital on our last visit (in June) to get Ali's 3M stitches / tape thing on her eyebrow.

Horse and buggy ride. The 5 of us.

Terence was up in the front chit chatting to the driver about his 2 female horses.

Mia, Ali and Terence showing off their crafts.

Watching the band and waiting for the awards ceremony.

Peter, Laci, son Lacika (on left) and friend Antonia (on right) all checking out Peter's gold and silver certificates for 2 of his wines! Yeah Peter!

Some more fun photos from Somlo:

Ali loves pinching my cheeks. With her daddy.

Mia getting a tattoo with face paints on her leg. T learning how to do archery.

Lots of horses. Mia went for a ride. There's Somlohegy (Somlo hill) behind us. Peter and Sue's home is on the hill.

Mia is Back to Dance

Last week Mia returned to her dance class on Saturday mornings. She's now in the bigger group and has kids from Terence's class (at school) with her so it must be ages 5 - 7 years. She was happy to return - probably mostly because of the attire.

We are growing out her bangs again. She has too pretty of a face to cover it with the bangs...

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Thanks McGuigans

for making our visit to Kansas City a fantastic one!!

All of us after dinner at Jake and ? (what's the name of the restaurant we ate at again?) The kids loved it as they got little plates of sliced cheddar cheese, saltines and grapes shortly after we sat down.

Aunt Sally with Aunt Kat

Happy Birthday to Nana!
Nana in between her 2 sisters (Mary and Sally), Kat and Curt's cousin Julie

More McGuigan cousins and their spouses and kids.

Uncle Mike with Blossom. Our troop heading to dinner. The 5 of us walked there with Mike and Blossom.

Thanks Jim for showing us around Kansas City. Don't forget Ali and her giant scoop of ice cream! 2 seconds after this photo was taken her entire scoop fell out of her cone and she said, "Oh Shit"

Ali Counting

As I've mentioned numerous times, Ali was counting and speaking Hungarian really well before our UK / US journey began. After 7 weeks speaking only English, she progressed leaps and bounds. Here she is counting in mid-Aug 2008 (2 years and almost 7 months of age) in the car in Virginia (sorry about the bumpiness).

Can you hear me fighting the giggles at the the last part?

Monday, September 8, 2008

Ali in the Ocean

Our entire family loves the ocean. We enjoy spending our summers in Kiawah Island, South Carolina for several reasons. 1. It's a private beach so it's not overly crowded and much cleaner and safer than a public beach. 2. It has 10 miles of white sand beaches. 3. The ocean is warm, warm, warm. 4. The ocean is relatively safe. Occasionally when a storm is coming or at high tide the waves may get a bit wild but overall they aren't the kind to knock you down and keep you rolling underwater while you say a little prayer. Also, there aren't any hidden dips or valleys under the water for the kids to fall into while walking out. 5. It has fantastic bike paths all over for us to go on long rides with the kids. 6. Camp Kiawah. The kids cannot get enough. Even when friends and family come they still want to go for the day. It's an all-American camp where they learn camp songs, go on treasure and scavenger hunts, tie dye, play tug of war, etc. 7. The food. Great seafood (we especially love the crab cakes). 8. Our favorite restaurant Cassique. 9. A fab spot for catching up with all of our loved ones.

I'll slowly catch you all up on our recent summer holiday photos in Kiawah.

This first set are of little Ali who is not as courageous as she was last summer at the age of 1 1/2 but she did love the sand and playing in the shallow area.

Testing out the boogie board with Dad.

This is what she looks like after she gets salt water in her eyes. Not a happy camper.

Her solution: goggles! Much better.

Pokemon Still a Hit

Each of the kids are allowed to take one cuddly animal (if they want), a small bag of toys and a favorite book and / or toy when we go on vacation. Terence decided he couldn't leave home without his Pokemon cards. While in the US, we picked up a few new packets for him. I found him one morning in his bedroom in Kiawah, South Carolina, laying them out and comparing their point values, pictures, etc. He can sit and do this for hours.

Look at how he can sit. Those are his feet under his elbows! I don't remember ever being able to sit in a chair like that!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

A Big Thank You to Joe and Evy

...for having us over to your lovely home in Staunton, Virginia. Staunton is a town I had never been to before but it is only about a 2 hour drive from Washington DC in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. The drive from where we were staying (near Washington DC's Dulles Airport) was a very scenic drive making us wish were doing it in mid-October to see all the trees in their autumn foliage.

Jon and Evy Harman are the parents of our good friend (and Director of our Relo Division), Jon Harman. They have really done a lot for the town of Staunton and have settled into this area (where Joe is originally from) years ago.

The kids enjoyed spending our first day out at the Frontier Cultural Museum even though it was a very hot day. We followed it with a walk through the very quaint Staunton where Evy and Joe's b&b is as well as a restaurant they now lease out. They have many other properties and treasures (including their sold jewelry shop) throughout the downtown area.

The highlight for us all was their massive, beautiful, old home and their wonderful hospitality. The kids had the best hide-and-seek game ever and really enjoyed making dinner and dessert with Evy.

Thank you both for having us. Looking forward to seeing you again in the near future.

The kids loved the giant staircase. This was the main staircase. They also had another back staircase down to the kitchen plus a huge attic (with proper stairs going up into it).

Downtown Staunton shots. Believe it or not that is Mia squeezed into Ali's buggy napping with her thumb in her mouth. She managed to sleep through our entire lunch!

Their fish pond.

All of us.

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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.