Birthday Breakfasts

On birthdays, the kids get their favorite breakfast ... with a candle in it. Mia chose on Thursday soft boiled eggs and toast whereas Ali chose a pancake souffle that she loves. The also wake up to their presents on their table and a decorated house (balloons, streamers, etc). Here are some photos of our birthday breakfasts this week.

Ali this morning

Mia on her birthday morning (Jan 22)


Their presents from us

Mia's birthday videos

Here are 2 short video clips from Mia's ice skating birthday party. I have another great one of cake time where the kids sang Happy Birthday in French then Hungarian then English. It was fantastic! They are all such little linguistics (for those of you that may not know, Mia attends the French Lycee here which is 100% French speaking. She grew up speaking Hungarian from the day she was born as our nanny is Hungarian and she also attending Hungarian nursery school for 2 years before starting at the French school). I'll have to try and figure out how to send you the video of the birthday singing. I can do You Tube but sometimes feel that's a bit too public... so, we'll see.

Anyhow, for those of you that may not have read my earlier post about her birthday party, we had 4 ice skating instructors helping the 5 and 6 year olds out on the ice.

In the first video, the boy at the very start of the clip is Gauthier. He's a French boy in Mia's class that she really adores. She calls him her boyfriend. I'm not sure if she likes him as much as he likes her. Everytime I see them together he just stares at her like he's in a trance. I guess she likes it... ;-)

Anyhow, the videos are funny to watch. The kids are just all over the place and falling on top of each other. You can easily spot Mia as her ice skates are pink (most of others are blue from the rental shop).






You may notice all the kids had one of these on their necks. Erika (our nanny) helped make these for each one with their name on it. We used my laminating machine (I love my laminating machine, by the way) to make them stronger and a bit more special so they can keep as a memento.

Thanks Aunt Sue and Uncle Peter

ALL three of your birthday cards arrived in the mail yesterday.

Here are the 3 birthday Clements getting ready to open them....

Cupcake Time

I just finished baking 50+ cupcakes!!! They are for Mia and Ali to take to their schools to celebrate their birthdays with their classmates. Mia will take hers in tomorrow (22nd - her actual b-day) and Ali will take hers on Friday (23rd - her actual b-day is on the 24th). Instead of frosting them all over, I decided to just add a flower of pink frosting with a pink flower candy on top of it. The cake (Yellow 1-2-3-4 out of my Joy cookbook) is delicious and all the kids love it but I think the frosting is too all-American for many of them. Terence and Mia have reported back over the years that most of the kids eat the cake and leave the frosting - so opposite of our kids! Well, this is my solution this year. Let's see if it works out. If so, I'll have to source something other than flowers for T's b-day in March...

Kids' Birthday Parties are Exhausting

I totally get the rule that mothers set for their kids that they can have as many friends for their birthday party as they are old (ie a 6th birthday party would consist of 6 friends + the birthday girl / boy). However, when you are Mia it is ALL or nothing! She gets invited to everyone's birthday party. I mean everyone's - even kids she barely knows. So when her birthday started nearing this year I first thought, why didn't we plan better and have summer babies (for an easy garden party). When I came back to reality and realized that wasn't going to happen, I then started to think how and where can I have a fun party for her without too much clean up duty. It was definitely not happening in our house. For those of you that know us, you know I can throw a big party with a ton of kids but that has to involve at least one parent staying to help ... or, shout when their kids get out of line... So, ice skating seemed to be a great January birthday party venue.

As I'm not a great skater and didn't want to be on the ice holding 24 5 and 6 year old's hands, I had to first find instructors / helpers. So, we hired 4 wonderful ice skate instructors who were great with the kids. Most of the kids were on the ice for their first time so it was very, very funny. They were falling all over the place but each fall ended with laughter and no tears!

The party was the best ever and all the kids had so much fun - especially Mia so that means success!

Curt and I are both exhausted! He took the day off work to help me with the party. I was so thankful as it would have been tough without him. Birthday party planning, coordinating and then monitoring on the day is a tough, tough job! Of course, it would have been much easier with just 6 friends but if you're going to do a party you might as well do a PARTY!

Oh, and by the way, Mia's bday party was held on a Wed as the French Lycee has no school on Wednesdays making it the perfect day for birthday parties! Anyhow, I'll fill you in on more about the party (including more snaps) later. Right now I need to rest my brain with some TV.

I'll leave you with this group shot of Mia and almost all her party guests on the ice. She's the super tall one in the back row with the brown hat.

Ode to Emilia Divina Clements

I've been desperately trying to upload videos today and yesterday but have had zero success. There have been so many good ones that I want to share. Especially from our recent trip to the new Aqua World indoor water park that we had a great time at on Sunday. It's advertised as Europe's largest indoor water park and I believe it. The kids loved it!! We took lots of fun videos of the wave pool, high dive, water slides, etc. I hope to share them with you very soon.

In the meantime, we are getting ready to celebrate our 2nd child's 6th birthday. Yes, our little Mia will be 6 very soon. Some days I think she wants to be closer to 16 years old and other days she is my little girl who needs me and just wants to be babied.

What a character! She is and will always be noticed. She came into this world seeking attention as it was not a smooth or even predictable entry. On my due date, on January 20, 2003 I learned during my doctor's appointment that she was most likely expected to arrive within the next 24 hours. Her head was in the right position and I was already dilated so we knew it was time. We were so excited to meet our daughter.

That evening I was quite tired and remember resting on the sofa after dinner while Terence sort of bounced around (and sometimes on top) of me as any toddler boy does. I felt fine and was ready (and very nervous) about her upcoming arrival. After making sure our bag was packed and Erika, our nanny, was on call to rush over to look after Terence we went to bed hoping for a few hours sleep before the contractions began.

Well, she never came. Instead, we returned to the doctor the next morning to figure out what was happening. To his and our surprise, she had flipped out of the head down, locked, dilated position. Our doctor was stunned. He called every other obstetrician he knew to inquire about this unexpected event. No one had heard of a baby turning - any direction - after 38 weeks let alone in the 40th week. Well, leave it to our Mia to get our full attention and come into this world seeking everyone's attention. After a night of waiting for her to return to her position, then an early morning wake to labor pains, she was finally delivered via emergency c-section on the morning of January 22, 2003.

Mia 1 day old at the hospital

To this day she always leaves a lasting impression on everyone. After her first 4 months of crying every night, she became the most pleasant, beautiful baby. Everyone wanted to hold her and make her smile. To this day she still has this charm and is a friend magnet. Where ever we take her, friends (of any age or gender) gravitate towards her and want to be her friend. She's girlie yet sporty. Without thinking about it, she can climb up a tree or pick up a tennis racquet and hit a ball perfectly. She picks up everything with ease. She does well at school but isn't overly clever. She can do anything she puts her mind to but isn't out to impress anyone but herself.

Mia in the sink at 2 weeks old.

As of this week, she is 128 cm and 24 kg wearing a size 33 EU shoe. She's the tallest in her class but doesn't feel self conscious about it. She's very confident but starting to become more and more concerned about her appearance - what she wears, her hair style, etc.

She is, however, boy crazy. More so than I thought a 5 / 6 year old would ever be so we are worried. Her boyfriends change with the season and she tells us that she likes it when they do what she tells them to. The mothers at school often come up to me and tell me how much their sons are in love with our Mia. Can you smell trouble?

Maybe it's her laugh that everyone falls for? When she laughs, her entire body laughs. It's irresistible and infectious. When she is happy, everyone around her is happy. Her moods can be serious and we always say that about 5 - 10% of the time, watch out for her... The rest of the time, she is the best. She takes care of herself (does tasks without being asked like brushing her teeth, bathing, etc), helps us out often, looks after her little sister, tidies up without being asked (she's really into keeping her room in order and clean right now), eats almost everything and just seems to be a great daughter.

She does keep us on our toes and I think she always will. Other than the boys and her occasional mood swings, her health worries me. She's constantly at the pediatrician's office for swollen lymph nodes and a swollen spleen. We've had test after test after test and fortunately have not discovered anything serious. I hope in time her overall health issues improve and she becomes stronger. In the meantime, we keep a close eye on her.

Emilia Divina will always keep our lives filled with excitement and entertainment. From her quirky habits like hoarding clothing tags and receipts to her sense of fashion (ie designing her own clothing from scarves or accessories she finds around the house), she is one-of-a-kind. Everyone needs a Mia in their life to keep them smiling and to remind them to stop and smell the roses.

Mia at 3 weeks - relaxing at home.

I love how Ali is looking up at Mia in this photo above.

Her birthday is in 2 days but her birthday party is tomorrow. We are expecting about 26 of her friends at an outdoor ice skating rink in town. See what I mean about her having lots of friends?! 26!! It's going to be a wild party!

This photo is from December when she first hit the ice.

INCREDIBLE

Kudos to Pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger on US Airways 1549!!!

This is unbelievable! All passengers survived after landing in the Hudson river. The photos and stories are unbelievable!

photo taken from cnn.com

Ali Gets Jiggy With It

Love this little clip from our hotel in Ramsau, Austria. She loves to sing and dance and keep us entertained.

Stay tuned for my tribute to Emilia Divina who only has 6 more days left of being age 5 - boo hoo.... Can't we somehow slow down time?! Just a little?!

My Almost 3 Year Old

On January 24th, my little baby is turning 3 years old. Am I ready for it? Sure, why not? Am I a bit sad? Yes, a little. They do grow up quickly. She's at an adorable age. I especially have enjoyed her 2nd year of life. It's when her personality really started to shine. Her humor became apparent, her communication skills started to soar and her memory just gets better and better everyday. She amazes us all the time. Today it amazed me when she blurted out a 4 syllable word, "Comfortable". She was fluffing up a pillow saying, "I'm going to get comfortable". Where did she learn how to say such a long word? When did her vocabulary start to blossom?

All 3 of our kids have been bilingual since the day they were born so sometimes their vocabulary seemed a bit slower than many of their unilingual peers. I don't remember it ever bothering me. I've always tried not to compare our kids to other kids (or each other). They are all unique in their own way.

Ali loves animals and seems to care a lot about all of ours. She nurtures all her baby dolls and mimics cleaning tasks - especially ironing - like a little mommy. She can easily play by herself, play rough with her big brother or play girlie games with her big sister. She's always had a huge appetite and tries almost all foods. Lately she's been procrastinating at the dinner table and either needs coercing or what we've learned works better is when we ignore her procrastinations and before long she's digging in. She absolutely loves her 'chips' and has been chewing gum for way too long. I remember Terence never had a piece of gum until he was about 5 years old. Ali, on the other hand, has been chewing gum since just before her 2nd birthday. The first few times she may have swallowed it but now she knows better. It may not make some of you feel better, but we only buy sugarfree...

Unlike her big sister, Mia, Ali's been quite fearful of swimming. When she was 1 1/2 (during the summer of 2007) she was a fish and swam solo with arm bands. I'd actually have to fib to other parents and say she was older than 1 year old as arm bands should not be used by kids under 3. We didn't use them as babysitters and never abandoned her but it was amazing to watch her swim at 1 year. Maybe too much time had passed during that winter and she forgot about her joy of water because during her 2nd year of life she feared swimming with or without arm bands and also got upset when water got in her eyes (even in the bath tub). She now gets upset when we wash her hair as she cannot stand water in her eyes. During the last 4 months she has only let Mia wash her hair. Except when Nana and Aunt Lisa were here - she also let them wash her hair.

Just tonight while she laid back to get her hair wet, she discovered floating in the bath. She's always pretended to swim in the bath but tonight she was actually floating on the top of the water without one part of her body touching either the bottom or the side. It was fantastic! She loved the feeling and just lay in the water like a floating angel. I had to take this one photo of her wild hair - which, by the way, has never had a pair of scissors near it!

Ali still says 'me' intead of 'I' like "Me go potty" or "Me want juice". She's slowly starting to change the latter to "May I please..." as she has started saying without a reminder just this weekend to my excitement.

She also loves telling a story and ending with "You remember?" except 'remember' comes out sounding more like 'wah-mem-bah'. I love it. She babbles all the time and half the time I can't pay attention as she is like a wind up toy... It's so funny. She normally makes perfect sense to us but she does mix in a lot of magyar (Hungarian) words. Most recently she's been saying 'Bukfenc' (pronounced 'booh-k-fence') and it's taken me about a month to figure out that this means 'somersault' in Hungarian. She'd often go and stand on her head when she was talking about 'bukfenc' but since she's still not proficient at somersaults it wasn't completely clear to me.

She loves her nursery school and likes being around other kids. She's extremely active and unlike the other two at her age, she cannot sit still for any kid show or movie. The 5 of us just went to see the movie Tale of Despereaux (in English) at the theater today and Ali just could not sit still. She moves around a lot. At some points she sort of wandered around the theater and danced a little bit even (she always dances whenever there's music). She moved between seats and even sat on Curt's lap for a while then my lap for a while.

She's not a smiley type of kid but she does love to laugh. Like her dad, she laughs the hardest at her own jokes. She has a great, infectious laugh that gets all of us laughing along.

Lately she's started being concerned about her appearance and has asked for a certain shirt or even skirt or dress. Skirts or dresses have never mattered to her much up until our recent trip away to Austria. Mia was sort of having a melt down about wanting to wear a skirt to dinner and so Ali also decided she needed to wear a skirt. I didn't even have a skirt for Ali but convinced Mia to lend her a denim one and we just pulled the elastic tight so she could wear Mia's 6x denim skirt to dinner. She was very happy. She also loves her rainboots and calls them her 'cow boots' as she thinks they are 'cowboy boots' like Mia has.

Every night Ali insists on getting her back and belly rubbed at bed time. Our routine at bedtime (after bath) is to brush teeth, empty the bladders (she's been fully out of nappies for almost 5 months now), read books and then good-nights. If I forget to rub Ali's back or belly, or if Curt does the book reading, Ali tiptoes out of her room and calls down to me, "Mama, you forget to rub my back". So I tell her that I'll be up in a minute and she shouts down "okay!" and pitter patters back into her room waiting patiently for me to arrive. We do the entire procedure of back and belly rubbing and scratching and almost always she's asleep within 5 minutes.

I still cannot believe that it was almost 3 years ago when Curt drove me to the hospital at about midnight. Not knowing if we were having a boy or girl, the anticipation was exciting. Actually, I wasn't thinking about it at all during those horrendous contractions while laying in the warm bathtub but once she arrived I didn't want to know anything but our little baby's gender. They handed her to me in a towel and I just loved her from the minute I saw her. Naturally I had to unwrap the towel and exam everything (first making sure she really was a girl) about her.

We were worried that she would never come as she was 2 weeks late and Dr Csermely, my ob/gyn, wanted to look into taking matters into his own hands. As much as I wanted my pregnancy to be over with, I wanted nature to take it's own course and didn't believe in interfering - especially if she and I were both healthy. So, we waited and we waited and we waited. Every day I received what seemed like hundreds of emails and text messages asking "Did you have the baby yet?" Curt stayed nearby as he was worried he wouldn't make it in time knowing how quickly I went into labor and how far our office was from the hospital.

We didn't expect for me to go into labor at night time as I went into labor in the afternoon with T and in the morning with Mia but they are all different. Our nanny rushed over to look after T and Mia (who were both asleep) while Curt raced me to the hospital. Again, pulling over for each contraction like we had to do in the past. We were so excited to welcome our perfect little girl, Alexandra Patricia Clements on January 24, 2006.

This is actually what I looked like 3 years ago (to the day)!

On a 2 Horse Open Sleigh

One of the highlights of our ski trip to Austria was on New Year's Day (Jan 1), we went on a horse drawn sleigh through the village and country side of the Schladming Dachstein area where we were staying. It was a one hour ride and just beautiful. It started snowing on the morning of the 1st so it felt extra special to be riding with the big snow flakes coming down on us. We weren't too cold as the sleigh had big wool blankets for us to cover ourselves with. Plus, our driver gave us some schnapps to help warm up our insides.

Waiting for our sleigh

Loading up

T and Curt rode up front with our sleigh driver while Curt's parents and sister, Lisa, were in the middle. I was in the back with the girls.

Ali actually fell asleep while sitting upright. We laughed as she fell asleep on the sleigh last year too. It must be a relaxing rocking feel for her.


Next up our my scenery shots.

Tall trees in the forest.

And below a tiny tree amongst all the huge ones. It reminded me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree so I had to capture a shot of it.

Ski Shots of Mom and Dad

For 3 days in a row Curt and I had the freedom to ski sans kids. It was great. Even though it is lots of fun skiing with T and Mia, we had fun just skiing faster, not worrying about the kids and stopping for gluhweins when we wanted to.

We took lots of self portraits!

This one was taken by another patron in the cafe we were in. It was actually so sunny that it felt great to sit outside!

Terence and Mia Skiing in Austria

We arrived at our destination in Austria on Saturday evening. On Sunday we enjoyed sleeping in, going to the ski shop, getting the kids (T and Mia at least) new skis and T new boots (Mia grew into his old ones), then skiing with the kids for the day. I love that they are now at the age that they can ski with Curt and I. It's unbelievable and I'm so proud. This is, after all, their 3rd season skiing. And, like riding a bike, they always remember how to do it and do it well. T needed a bit of adjusting as his new skis are long. When we bought them at the ski shop the store clerk had to ask him if he was an advanced skier. He wasn't kidding, I guess these are serious skis and not for the 'beginner'. Terence didn't boast or lie, he just told him the truth that he knew how to ski and has been skiing for 2 years.

Ski school registration was also on our Sunday agenda. This was the first year that T and Mia actually got into a ski school which started on Monday at 9:30am. Each day they had lunch with their instructor and class and then we picked them up at 3pm (one day it was 3:20pm as they skied in another location). I'm not sure if I'll do ski school again for them. It's great for the beginner but they now need a bit more one-on-one focus to improve their skills. I think ski school was a better intro and a great babysitting service. C'est la vie. Next time. We'll be skiing again in 2 months time so we can work out something else then.

Anyhow, here are some shots of them with their class and the videos are of me picking them up at the bus stop after their one day's lesson. Curt only took these short videos but still we thought it would be fun to include. We video taped so that we could capture their exhausted faces. Mia was really tired (and grumpy as she gets grumpy when she's tired or hungry) and T was also tired from a long day of skiing.

One last note, at ski school Mia made some friends. Many who old spoke German but somehow Mia always seems to befriend people everywhere she goes. T also made a friend which isn't the usual case for him. It was another boy who looked about 10 that also spoke English. Sometimes that's the only thing in common required to strike up a conversation and short-term friendship. The funny thing is right after this video clip ended, Mia's friends were all saying good-bye to her. I congratulated her for making so many friends on only the 2nd day. T told me that Mia was a terrible friend as she made all her 'friends' carry her poles on the lifts. She then turned to me and said in a very teenage way (you know, the head shaking valley girl style) 'Well, they wanted to!'. Mia, Mia, Mia - what are we going to do with her... The funny thing is that she'll always get what she wants and somehow make people feel that they are getting a good deal out of it...

PS Curt's parents are still here and leaving to go home tomorrow. boo hoo. We're having such a nice time. It's not that we're doing anything special. It's just great having them here for me, Curt and the kids to spend time with. Plus, I love that they enjoy everything I cook. I've cooked almost every night because they are a pleasure to cook for. It's nice to hear their appreciate other than our kids who often say 'yuck, i don't like this.' T, by the way, is named Sam I Am at dinner as at least 8 out of 10 times he says 'Yuck' repeatedly. Then, I tell him he has to have one bite to first taste is as he cannot just judge it by it's appearance (like Green Eggs and Ham). He often finishes swallowing, looks up, smiles and softly under his breath says 'I kind of like it'. That's the best!