Pew!

Well, it has been quite a month so far. I don't even know where my memories of these past few weeks start ... maybe by getting in an accident with three children and crashing the van, followed by injuries to two more vehicles in the family, getting the the flu first ... topped off with the stomach flu. Oh, it has been quite a month.

When mommies go down, they go down big time. I don't recall being sick in recent history this bad, to the point that I did not even want to get out of bed but still had to because my little ones needed me and felt the same pains as I did. But we made it. Lutza and Vidor are such troopers and unfortunately know the drill when tummy troubles come. But little Goo-Goo just wanted to be hugged .... when I could not even stand my own clothes touching me. I did not make - or at that matter ate - a square meal for days and got the puzzled looks from my children that 'you did not feed us dinner' after I served them toasted bagels (that's the cooking part) with cream cheese and strawberries. And when I thought things can't get worse, the washing machine quit - QUIT! When I had piles and piles of sheets, blankets pillows and towels to wash ... why could not just the dishwasher quit?? So I officially declared that it was family emergency and my darling husband (who has been working and living out of town) drove home and took care of business .... and peace returned to our house. There is a reason why God gave two parents to each child and a man for a woman!!!

So this past week has been a blur but we still got a little green spirit going. Before we all got sick, we made green salt dough for evening activity. Whoever thought about the idea of giving children dough to play with ... I owe him/her big time. Without play-dough I would never have dinner made. Lutza made this happy green witch that we dried. We also made shamrock cutouts that we painted and glittered to use for further decorating. We embellished an outside door hanger with it and I used them at school to make St. Patrick's day pins by adding a pin to the backs with hot-glue-gun.

I also found random green card stock that we cut into shamrock shapes to string on the mantle.

Since Daddy has been out of town through the week, we made the traditional St. Patrick's day dinner a week prior. Being gentle on the recovering tummies, I stayed away from fancy desserts, instead we made healthy banana muffins and decorated them to be rainbow muffins. They were pretty good. Oh, I was brave enough to cook something yesterday and I could not stop with only the main dish. So I made tapioca pudding by using coconut milk, hint of cinnamon, raisins - sounds pretty good. Cracks me up even if I just think about the faces that my children made ... Vidor - bless his heart - says "Mommy, thank you so much for making this wooonderful dessert! Is it okay if I don't eat it?". So tapioca was not a big hit in our house ;0) and I did not even have to go as far as coloring it green.

Their present - a marble racer - was greatly appreciated. It has been keeping them busy for hours every day.

And this is our St. Patrick's day portrait without Goo-Goo. He refused to participate sadly. In spite of all the troubles and challenges of this past few weeks - as Jeff said - we are still blessed and fortunate that we have not been swept away by a tsunami or fear radioactive exposure. May God bring peace to all the people in trouble around the world.

Crafty Saturday

We love Home Depot. We sometimes go to Home Depot just to walk around and look at stuff ... finding things we can't live without ;). Jeff has a spot with his name on it (Contractors Only), and oh, we like to use it ... it's like rolling into an expensive hotel and walking right into the action.

This Saturday was the first time the children attended the Home Depot craft hour. They offer this one hour activity every Saturday at 8 am and the participants - smaller and bigger kids - get to bang around to their own enjoyment and create something cool. There is a group of 'regulars', children with numerous pins on their aprons, who have been attending for a long time. And there are the rookies, like us, who were also so warmly welcomed. The children all received an orange apron - just like the Home Depot employees - customized with their names.

I though this would be a great way to get the family going on lazy Saturday mornings and it was a complete success. Lutza was not hesitant, after putting on her apron and safety glasses, she got to choose her tools and nails, pick through the wood pile and 'warm up' by banging around and trying to build something. Vidor was not so sure if this whole affair was for him. He even pulled his neck into his coat and just watched, which was rather surprising since he lives for tools.

Lutza started to build a 'Birds Welcome' sign and did excellent with driving her nails in. I pounded the nails in just far enough that they would be standing stable and she did the rest. Tongue has to be just right!!!

Vidor finally took his coat and cap off and got busy ... he was so gentle and precise. I think the possibilities almost overwhelmed him. There were so many things he could do.

After about 20-25 minutes of 'warm-up', the Wood Doctor gathered the children together. I just called him the Doctor because he was wearing white work gear and glasses - a perfectly grumpy but funny character for the job. He reminded the children to the rules. The most important was to always wear eye-protection - unless any of the children wanted to borrow that extra eye-ball he was carrying around in his pocket.

Eventually the real builder, Daddy, joined in too and showed us some tricks.

Lutza said that it was okay that her house was a little crooked, the birds wouldn't mind it (I was her assistant and I am officially the Queen of finding knots and missed nails). She was very proud of her job!!!

It was a perfect way to start the day and have some family time together. Next week we are making race tracks. Do you think Vidor is excited?

Thanks Presidents

Lutza has Show-and-Tell every Thursday at school and they always follow a monthly theme, this time Italy. But as usual, I forgot to find something in time. As we were scrambling to get our shoes on, I spotted the last box full of pictures and frames that I failed to unpack in our new house yet. YES!!! (And NO too in the same time, because I just got reminded again to all the 'picture-stuff' I have been planning to do). But YES, because on the very top was sitting a framed picture of Mr. and Mrs Bush! There you have it, show-and-tell for this week. So in the car I tried to explain Lutza who is the president. It's a tough one! Try to choose your words and concepts in a way that an almost 5 year-old understands the importance of this position.

Momma: What is the name of our country?

Lutza: The United States of America!

Momma: Good deal! You know, the president is the leader of this country, like in the old days we had kings, today we have presidents who guide our country toward making wise decisions and to protect our people.

Lutza: Does he know the Queen of England?

Momma: Oh, yes! They meet sometimes to discuss important things.

Lutza: Do they have tea together?

Momma: Yup, you are getting it now ... over tea you can talk about important stuff. But he is a person who is also responsible to provide you with laws so you can have health-care (oh, deep stuff so... I had to make is sound more down-to-Earth), so you can go to the doctor, and you have schools and education, and we have soldiers who protect us.

Lutza: ... and he makes you eat healthy food and brush your teeth all the time ....

.... And our short drive is over. I think the only thing that I drilled in her that on the picture is President Bush who is our old president.

So at the end of school I talked to her teacher. Miss A. thought it was wildly funny what Lutza said at show-and-tell "Yupp, these are my daddy's friends on this picture!" - and that's it. THAT'S IT??? (Jeff always says 'my Buddy the W' when he talks about President Bush. S0 Lutza pays attention to that .... but my speed lecture on the importance of our president was probably never processed).

Being President's Day, we decided to celebrate by taking it easy and enjoyed our freedoms and privileges without limitations. Thanks to our great leaders for this great day!

On the above picture is Bendeguz, making a fashion statement (and enjoying his privilege of being able to wear anything regardless of race, gender, social-, economic-, or ethnic status). For snack he consumed one jelly tortilla roll, a bowl of rice with peas and chicken, 1 1/2 bananas and two oranges .... and out of the leftovers he made a nice 'soup' in his milk cup that he proudly stirred and showed off.

This is my lovely Lutza who found a new box of markers and loved every minute of her coloring.

Vidor (marker lines on his face) finally allowed me to wash and refurbish his cuddly bear. He willingly put 'Brumy' in the wash and kept him company so the bear is not scared and held his hand while I stitched up the hole after we put fresh stuffing in him.

Bendeguz is obsessed with seeing himself in my phone, so we made some silly pictures, too.

So Dear Presidents, thanks for all the great stuff you do for us, and thank you for letting us spend a fun day together.

For the love of baking

Do you see this sweet lady???? It is all her 'fault'. It is because of her that I love to bake so much and appreciate the joy of crafting something delicious for others enjoyment. This sweet lady is my Grandma, and when I say sweet, I mean salt of the earth, the most caring, loving, giving person who God could have given me for a grandmother. She bakes up the most wonderful things out of nothing, things that were lowered in wells or tucked away under pillows to rise just to turn into delicious pastries that are famous in her village. She is in her 76th year and it is nothing for her to get up at 3 am to turn 15 pounds of flour into warm buttery biscuits and rolls to please any cultural event in her village - in fact there are no public gatherings without her goodies. She refuses to use time saving or electric devices, still kneads her bread and whips her cream and meringue by hand. The joy and happiness that her baked goods bring out of people is her biggest complement - you wanna win my grandma's heart 'dig in and enjoy' (it worked for Jeff). She shares all her receipts and hears it a lot that "I tried it, but mine was just not like yours' - and this is how she ends up doing the holiday baking for half of her village friends.

My grandma was the one who planted the seed and nurtured my love for baking. She let me crack - and ruin - dozens of eggs before I learned to separate the white and the yoke, she let me stir the batter both ways - despite superstition that it would flatten your cakes, taught me to braid and fold and twist and to put all your love into what you are making (and always 'draw' a cross over anything that you put in the oven - I bet you all wonder now how come your baking sometimes doesn't come out right?!). She has always been and she will always be my inspiration, my go to person when it comes to new or really old receipts and I hope I can preserve and master making some of her delicious goodies.

I think I have came a long way. I know that, as sometimes I can't pass along my receipts, because I can't remember how much of what I put in it. But it has not always been like that. I mean yes, I was always lousy at following receipts, the 'I know better' attitude often ended up with something bad. But I was not always a good baker. There were times when I got the bread baking fever and baked away 25 pounds of flour just to be disappointed over and over. They were not failures, just small steps. Those were the times when the ducks would run away when they spotted me on the trail - in memory of my previous loaves that they could hardly swallow even if they were choking it down with water. Or the days when you could have a loaf of my 'wonderful' bread for a doorstop any day of the week. Yup, those days, they were fun, especially when I found out that the pound of yeast that I wanted to use up was not SO active any more - hence the bricks that kept coming out my oven.

But now things are as easy as pie, as whipping up a great loaf of bread or making birthdays cakes in shape of insects or flowers or cars or you name it. I love baking and I love sharing my baked goods. This is why I am so thankful for my family and friends who love to eat so I can stay in the kitchen. And I am so thankful for my wonderful grandma who helped me find this joy in my life and who inspires me every day.

This was fun ... held together by 'nails'.

One of my grandma's famous pastries - plum jelly filled with toasted nuts on top.

Oh, and the .... no comment.

Our Christmas Story

It is almost the middle of January and I am just getting around to record our Christmas memories ... I guess better later then never. Looking at this picture I realized ... again ... how fast our children are growing and that I really don't have any day or hour to waste. I need to spend as much time as I can with them, enjoy their company, their humor, and innocence.

Christmas was fun and relaxing, we had lots of family time together and found countless excuses to just do nothing but watch movies and eat popcorn. Christmas was so anticipated this year ... mostly because I totally confused the children with all the things that I used to do growing up and wished to share with them. In the same time we started new traditions too, like making our gingerbread house from scratch and ending up using real carpenter tricks to keep it together. We laughed so hard as I struggled to build it ... must be a repeat next year.

We got our tree only a week before Christmas - we always do it this way, so the whole concept of the Holidays stays special. Our tree reminded me to Hungary, with the cool little ornaments that my Mom used to make out of pine cones and cinnamon sticks. Lutza and I spent a lot of time making felt stars and hearts which we gave away as presents to friends .... and none actually made it to be hang on our tree. It also took us a week to complete the popcorn string ... on all those cold evenings the popcorn was just eaten faster than I could string. BUT when it was finally done, it served the children well on nights when they didn't eat their dinners and got hungry before bedtime ... imagine a competition of who can bite the kernels off faster without using hands.

Christmas was special because the children made it special. Lutza and Vidor exactly knew what to expect ... so we mixed it up a little bit.

Santa comes to Hungary on December 6 ... due to some weather delays he only arrived to us on the 7th (in reality I totally spaced out). He requires children to clean their boots and put them in the window ... of course he only comes to good children so listening, obeying and well behaviors were A+'s on that day. Wish we could do this well every day .... work in progress I guess.

On this picture is the drawing Lutza made for Santa ... I took a picture of it in the evening ... good thing because Santa liked it so much he took it with him.

The Hungarian Santa is a humble Santa, in my childhood he used to bring only oranges and nuts, maybe something a little sweet. So keeping the traditions, the children got only a few little things.

Christmas is about Baby Jesus ... he was a gift to us and we celebrate his birth by getting gifts from him. In Hungary, Jesus brings the Christmas tree and the presents. Sorry Santa, but by this time you are already back in Finland, resting up for next year.

But, we had to bring in the American traditions as well ... So Santa (this time the one from the North Pole) came and left presents in our stockings for Christmas morning .... AGAIN (talking about confusion). Among all the toys, cars and dolls, the packages of underwear were a huge hit for all three of the children - favorite characters ... "Can I put one on right now?" So we had to do laundry too on Christmas morning so our darling little children could wear their new undies.

Oh, life is good ... small pleasures and memories make it so special. I can't even express how grateful I am to have such a wonderful family!

Vidor and the Beanstalk

We had lima beans in our soup last night, so daddy told Vidor a story. This is Vidor's first time retelling it.

Goo is two!

Little less than three years ago we were living in a small house with two babies, I just applied to a Teaching Certification program and we were planning our future .... but God had different plans and little did we know, but his plans changed our lives like we would have never imagined. Our dear baby, Bendeguz was on the way and he quickly reorganized everything. We are so grateful to have him and he reminds me every day that "In his heart man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

Our little boy is the wild card in the bunch, the sweetest-cutest little man who goes by many names: Guzman, Guzer, Guzie, Goo-Goo, Gu. And as many the names are, even more are the adventures with him around.

He is the little boy who sings "Happy Birthday to Me" - origin unknown. I have no idea how he found this grammatical tweak to the song, but he used it generously during his birthday week.

He is the little boy who loves to sit on people's faces - so they can't even take a breath - who climbs tables and chairs and performs acrobatic trick just like his brother and sister. On this picture he proudly wears his pirate mustache that he got after climbing the office table and him and dad found an eye-liner.

He is the boy who goes along with every game, but who is very picky and particular about his clothes. Out of three costume options, at Halloween he would only wear the elephant with joy. Just like L&V, he also refuses to wear certain shoes, pants or coats if it does not suit his fancy - making me throw my arms up in dismay "but he is not even two". He also enjoys putting sister's clothes on (hopefully he will not get upset at me in about 12 years that I spilled the beans).

Did I say yet that he is 'all boy' ... he is right in Daddy's footsteps. Dirt, grime, sand don't bother him. As one of our relatives would say 'go big or go home' - this could easily be Guzer's motto.
He only has two speeds: fast and faster - regardless of being on wheels or foot.

He is the little boy who had this smile since he knew how to smile. He is a master of copying faces. As a chain reaction, particular faces sweep through the family - starting from sis to brother to him. If he does not get his way, he folds his arms, crinkles his nose and says "I am angry" in such a way that I can't stand not to smile.

He loves Avocados "Cado" as he calls it. He is known for eating two in a sitting, along with anything that is made out of meat. He could also win any eating competition against his brother and sister. One day he will have a plank on a restaurant wall for his accomplishments.

We celebrated his birthday with turkeys in a blanket and chili - a few of his favorites - and a sad fire engine cake that was not the height of my cake decorating career (the only time I used store bought frosting due to Guzies allergies, and it slowly started to flow down .... bad news big time). The presence of special friends and lots of balloons however made the day.

We love you little Guzie so much, thank you for teaching us new things every day!