The Clements Family Life

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Slovenia House

I loved this little house on one of the canals in between our pension and the ski resort.

Such a princess. Wearing mom's sunglasses to keep the sun from stinging her eyes while eating Doritos (yes, we have them here now!) with her perfectly polished fingernails. Too much! At least she rocks on the skies!

Snickers are our snack of choice while skiing. Mia loves them and never gets them any other time of the year other than on the slopes. So, they are a special treat.

All bundled up and ready to go. Then, taking a break with dad.

Boys Skiing!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Ski Videos

I figured before our next ski trip (in a couple of weeks), I would post some videos and photos from our last trip. Terence and Mia are doing so well. They really enjoy it and most days begged to go back for night skiing with Curt. Curt was amazing as he often took extra kids along to the mountain for night skiing. The lines were not so long for the lifts so they got a lot of skiing in after dark.

This was one of the first days. I think I was trying to get the surroundings on video. Hope it doesn't make you to dizzy.

I love this video. Mia actually out-skies her instructor!

Terence loves to catch speed at the bottom of the hill after he's come down.

Curt's Birthday Update

I've been asked to follow up with a description of Curt's birthday celebration. First of all, thanks to Paul, Jon, Jay, Erik, Carl, Asta, Szilva, Zsofi and Annemarie for making it to Trattoria Toscana for Curt's birthday dinner. We went to Trattoria Toscana last year for Curt's birthday too. It's just such a great restaurant and we always get fantastic service and incredible food (and vino)!

Believe it or not, my camera is completely on the blink (a.k.a. not working). Not sure of the problem. I took it with me and it didn't work so I thought it was just the battery. The next day when I put in new batteries it still wouldn't work - ugh!

Zsofi and Szilva had their cameras and took some shots. Thanks Zsofi for sharing. Sorry only a few turned out well. For some reason the one I wanted to post didn't work out. Will try some of Szilva's (when she shares them with us - hint, hint, nudge, nudge).

Dinner started with sour cherry palinka. Or at least I thought it was sour cherry but to me it all tastes the same - terrible! We then ended with limencello. No wonder my head hurt on Sunday morning!

After Toscana we stumbled the few blocks to Fat Mo's. An old favorite bar / club of ours. We've been going there since... well, a long time ago. The first time I set foot into Fat Mo's it must have been around 1997! Curt and I used to take everyone there as it was the place for drinks and also for steaks. It's still great and going strong.

Curt and I were not the first to leave. Paul and Annemare snuck out before us! While we waited for the taxi Jay and Asta snuck out leaving Jon and Szilva with Erik and Zsofi on the dance floor!

Happy 43rd birthday Curt!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Curt's Birthday

Today is his 43rd birthday. Fortunately everyone slept in a bit allowing me to get a lot done between 7am and 8am. I cooked bacon (nothing like the smell and taste of bacon - something we have very rarely), Mexican style scrabbled eggs with mozzarella in corn tortillas, fresh smoothies and cafe lattes. Curt got breakfast in bed! He also got his two birthday presents: skateboard t-shirts picked out by Terence and Mia. He can always use new t-shirts.

After Terence's soccer practice and Mia's dance class we went to Budapest's new IMAX theater to see a dinosaur film in 3D. It was great but Ali and I dozed off for the last 20 minutes. It was nice to have a nap!

Tonight Curt and I will go out with 10 friends for dinner to one of our favorite restaurants: Trattoria Toscana (Italian - as you can probably guess by the name).

Last of Ali's Birthday Photos

Not sure what these 2 silly girls are doing, but here they are with the birthday cake made by their nanny, Erika Takacs.

Present opening time.

Ali still has trouble smiling on command. Surprising with all the photos taken of her! This is her newest 'smile'. It looks painful.

She loves the butterfly wings that she got for her birthday.

And her absolute favorite gift is her new baby pram. She is such a good little mommy and is always telling her babies to 'shhhh' as she tries to put them to sleep.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Ali's Birthday Morning and Nursery School

When Ali woke up we greeted her with 2 candles in her favorite breakfast - pancakes.

Here are the photos that they took of her at Heidi Ovoda (her nursery school)

Lunch

The birthday chair and nap

Present time! Norbi (aka Shoo Shoo) is always by her side.

Birthday Girls with Mom

My 2 birthday girls. Photos are from this evening after Ali's birthday celebration (photos coming soon). What a busy week in our home. Saturday will be Curt's birthday!

And, blowing kisses

No, Mia hasn't outgrown her clothes. She's wearing a traditional Indian outfit (with skirt) that we brought her back from our recent trip to Mumbai. She loves the outfit and has worn it every night since she received it on Tuesday. When she first tried it on she did worry that it was too small for her. I explained that the belly was supposed to show and it fit perfect. She looks so sweet in it - especially since she still has such a big belly.

Ali's Cupcakes

Ali wanted blue (more like 'boo') frosting on her cupcakes. Here are a few all packaged and ready to take to nursery school.

Mia's Birthday - Packed with Fun

It's become a Clements family tradition that for each child's birthday they get to go out alone for dinner to a restaurant of their choice with mom and dad - no siblings. We only start this from around the age of 5 as before this they can't sit still to even eat at a restaurant so it doesn't make sense.

Mia had a difficult time choosing one restaurant as she loves all food. Therefore her request was to go to a 'mommy / daddy restaurant'.

This was a funny request but she really wanted to see where Curt and I go with our friends when we get dressed up and go out. So, we decided on one of our favorites: Tom George on Oktober 6 utca. When I told her that this was the restaurant that I chose she asked me, "Are we going to be able to dance?" I couldn't refrain from laughing and told her that there wasn't dancing as it was a restaurant. She replied, "Well, I want to dance" then asked, "Will there be music? If there's music then we can dance, or at least I can dance next to the table." I told her that would be fine. I realized that she was hoping to go to a Ball. Curt and I often have to go to these charity balls and she sees us get all dressed up and she always asks me what we do at these 'balls'. I usually explain that the night consists of eating and dancing and chatting with friends. This must have been what she had in mind! Again, she's only 5!

However, she first had to wake up to her favorite breakfast (soft boiled eggs and toast) with candles. I thought this video was funny.

I picked her up from school with a bunch of big helium balloons. She asked if she could get her nails done by our friend Eszter before going with me downtown to meet dad. Here we are having her nails done, per her birthday wish.

We had an hour before dinner so I took her to Vorosmarty ter where they just opened a gigantic new H&M. It's quite cheap so I let her pick out a few things totaling an equivalent of about $15. She skipped the clothes, the jewelry and went straight to the makeup. They have a whole section of Hello Kitty make-up, lotions, perfumes that are very kid / preteen oriented. She picked out a small perfume set, a compact with mirror and a lip gloss. Oh, I also got her a little pink makeup bag to put it all in.

We then walked over to Tom George where we met Curt. Mia insisted on sitting at the bar for a drink. She loved the big bowl of peanuts and couldn't believe they just gave them to us for free!

We brought several of her gifts to the restaurant to open. She was so thrilled. She was the hit amongst the waitresses as she tried so hard to act like a little grown up. One of her presents was a box of bangles that we got in India. She put them all on and showed them off to all the girls in the restaurant!

After dinner they surprised her with ice cream, a big flaming candle and the Happy Birthday song on the load speakers. The whole restaurant clapped for her at the end. She blushed and giggled.

It's good to see she's still such a kid and needed to run around after all the sitting still in the 'mommy / daddy restaurant'!

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Alexandra Turns 2

Ali's 2nd birthday is today. It is official. The Clements' home no longer has any babies! She was greeted this morning with a few birthday presents (a Weeble fire truck and some play princess jewelry) then 2 candles in her birthday pancake! Last night we made more cupcakes for her with blue frosting, per her request. We tried adding red food coloring to the blue to make purple but it turned out more like silver. We'll save those for Curt's birthday! ;-)

This morning she went to nursery school where they are having a big party for her. She took 20 cupcakes and her big sister, Mia. Mia still has many friends there as the nursery school goes up through Kindergarten (age 6 - 7). I let her skip French school as she really wanted to be with Ali at school to help celebrate.

After I pick Terence up from school, we will pick up the girls with 3 big helium balloons for Ali. Tonight we will celebrate at home as a family. I'll make her favorite dinner of salmon. Sides will be very strange as she likes some bazaar foods: pickles (she loves the little ones), cherry tomatoes, french fries, beans (either chickpeas, peas or the big white ones - still not sure). We'll have cake afterwards then she can open her main present. A big baby pram! She'll love pushing her babies (and Mia's) around the house.

Pictures of the girls' birthdays will be posted very soon. I had to send my camera in with Ali today so they could capture it all for me.

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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.