Land of 1000 Dances

I would say that there is nothing more glamourous for a 6-year-old then to get dressed in a pink sparkling dress, wear make-up with permission and be pretty for three days. Our little Lutza soaked up all this glamour last week as her first year at her dance school came to an end with their recital.

I am a parent, which comes with the condition that I am biased. But the way this girl shakes, twirls and twists is pretty special. She is goofy through and through and her tongue often had to be just right (meaning hanging out of her mouth) to get the steps perfectly, but she is our girl and I love her sass and joy.

Both Vidor and Bendeguz kept telling her that she was so beautiful ... feeding that fire with oil.

With tears in our eyes we watched her as she boogied on the stage ... her father and I are so honored to have such a blessing for our daughter.

And seriously, how many pictures can a mother take of a girl all wrapped in pink ....

Camp-Run-A-Muck

School ended June 15 ... a day that marked the beginning of summer for our family and permission to be free and careless for two and a half months, to be barefooted and dirty, and eat lots of fresh fruit in strange towns. Three days after the last day of school we packed up our little van and headed out of town to Oregon. We spent three days and two nights at Beverly Beach Park. In our memories camping is so idyllic, perfect, just kicking back and enjoying nature. These three days were a slight refresher about how much work camping is - interrupted by only a few minutes of peaceful idyllic perfect moments when you can enjoy nature (without somebody saying "Mommy" one more time).

I can't even guess how many times we heard the question "are we there yet" before the children just accepted their fate that 'no, we are not there yet and it will be a while'. That sweet anticipation was in all of us, about walking on the beach, digging in the sand and listening to the waves roar. It took only 3 hours of driving and a 3-hour-nap to get awaken to this sight.

 It was raining and windy upon our arrival but we could see the upcoming break in the clouds.

{J building a bridge for crossing the stream (bridges, tunnels, windmills and screen-door repairs are his specialty after all)}

And an hour later the beach looked like this ... God is an amazing artist.

Capturing one of those peaceful moments, staring into the campfire .... a moment when nobody had sand in their eyes, had rocks in their shoes, had to go pee, wanted a drink, needed to be carried, lost his helmet or got a splinter ... a perfect moment, a moment which by we shall remember this trip.

Next day we were lucky to catch one of the local Newport beachmasters getting some sun ... priceless.

How lucky we are to live in such beautiful place.

Tune of the drive home:

"Dear Papa Duck

Dear Momma Duck

It's fun here at

Camp-Run-A-Muck"

-------Sang by Vidor over and over and over and over

Mischief Nance Style

This year I went way overboard with the Leprechauns. As a preschool teacher, we have been preparing for the Big-Green-Day and have planted some pretty fertile seeds into our little students’ brains. For two weeks, every mischief, every mess, every mystery was solely done my those little green men. As for my own children, I had to run with the same idea and I have a feeling that they are sort of Leprechaun experts now. To start with, we baked rainbow cupcakes. As for the final result, it was a complete waste of three hours of time and ingredients. I made home-made sponge cake that was super weird. But as far as the fun part ... it was quite a good time spent with my children. They all mixed the colors (which was a nice little art-science lesson on its own) and filled all the cups. Only few licks of that batter, elapse of about 3 minutes, and they all turned super silly ... as it is shown on this picture. The cupcakes - in spite of having a horrible texture - went fast and caused some serious alarm next morning at the potty - way too much food coloring).

We made magnifying glasses to look for Leprechaun dust and the three of them knew that some serious trouble will unfold the night before St Patrick's day. They went to bed suspicious; the boys even put their swords next to their beds. 

Well, next morning there were signs of visitors everywhere. The living room was a mess: the Leprechauns turned tables around, scattered books and the strangest thing ever .... they went pee in our potty. Now this concept was very fascinating to all the children ... very fascinating.

For morning project they made Leprechaun traps. The children were sure that the troublemakers will return and they were determined to catch one. They decorated a big paper box and set it up before nap. No luck catching one but the wild giggles were priceless when they found green pee in the potty again.

Imagination is so amazing, I am so grateful that my children have it and we can play with our minds and live a life that is full of fun and mystery. After all we all know rule #66 .... don't take life too serious. And how can we when our bebes are fully convinced that Daddy used to be a pirate ...

Love-Bugs

It has became a tradition in our house that if it is holiday of some kind, upon awaking there are presents on the table. It was no different on Valentines day either: Kennel Corn, Apple Sauce and a few toys (I know, I am a bit lame about the treat part but the children always insist on eating them right away so I try to make it semi breakfast worthy).

Biggest smile for this long-wanted car.

 Still a bit sleepy but breaking in his new shades.

Lutza had a Book-Character themed celebration for Valentine's day and she decided to be Lily from Lily's Purple Plastic Purse (by Kevin Henkes). She totally rocked her new '70s sunglasses and the cow-girl boots.

Family Pictures

Our first every family pictures ... I am not sure why we haven't done this before.

The reason for all ... I looked in his eyes just like this 9 years ago. "Do you think we are going to fly over the North Pole?"

Major 'cheese'
The brothers ... joined at the hip

I absolutely adore this picture!!!

Beautiful little Lutza!

My Silly Boy!

Yes .... this is the spot Bendeguz would go but he was cutting some big-boy mollars and refused to get his picture taken.

The joys of motherhood

Snow-week

Oh, the joyous news ..... 'it is going to snow' ... is just about as strong on the anticipation level as 'Santa is coming tonight'. This snowstorm had been labeled as the worst for two decades ... I would say NO-NO. It was the best of the past two because it came and it fell and it fell and it fell.

I am not sure how it happened but all three of the children were up at 6 am on that day, and by 6.20 we were outside trying to make the best of a pathetic 1/4 inch snow. If you know what is the like to have snow in Seattle, you would understand that you better get while the getting is good because this perfect hint of whiteness can be gone in an hour. So that being the practice around ... we were heading out before it disappeared.

Luckly, however, it kept coming down and it got cold enough that we got to build a nice snowman and totally enjoy the perfect slope of our driveway (which is a meatgrinder on a normal day).

Guzie learing to roll his snowball.

This is not Lutza's first rodeo though.

Snowman and his wife, customized by our lovely Lutza - they swaped hats for this shot ;o)

Vidor ... totally loving the sleds. Last year he refused to sit on one, not even with me. This year he would run from the top of the driveway, tummydive and not even stop till the end of the cul-de-sac.

One whole snow-week. Complete Bliss.

Historic Moment

Thanksgiving was a historical moment in our family's life. Jeff and all of his children were in one place . It was a crazy love and laughter filled few days with lots of emotions and ohhhh so many personalities. Lutza is surely one special little girl among all those boys ... and she loves it to the fullest. I hope they will all know and love each other for the rest of their lives.