New Year's with friends

The adults had a playdate on New Year's Eve as well. Thanks to Kati and Matt for hosting us! They always have either a Christmas party or New Year's Eve party, and this was the first time I was able to attend in many years.


Emma, Kati, and I have been good friends for a long time. Kati and I went to school together from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Emma joined us in high school, but we were already friends through our Hungarian activities. The three of us celebrated many New Year's Eves together about 20 years ago, often in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. I didn't find a photo of the three of us on New Year's, but here are the three of us on two other occasions.

Dressed in diszmagyar
(traditionally worn by Hungarian nobility on special occasions)
1990

Wandering the halls during Hungarian School break
(note the bangs, turtlenecks, baggy sweaters, and purse straps)
1988

Fun with Julianna and Tina

Typed in by Charlotte herself:
I liked watching "Dora Gets a Puppy" and eating pizza and seeing the dog.
Sandor was scared of the dog too.
I love my cup. Sandor loves pizza too.


Here's more on her behalf:
One thing we do every time we visit Cleveland is to get together with our friends Julianna and Tina. This time we had a playdate at their house on New Year's Eve. Sometimes I'm afraid to go to their house because they have a dog Bailey who scares me. But I'm always glad when we do because we have so much fun together.


For Christmas they gave me a Little Mermaid cup and Alexander a Cars cup. We love them so much that we choose them every time they are clean. Thank you, Julianna and Tina!

What Christmas is all about

I am sure that Julian and I are not the only parents who struggle to teach their children that Christmas is not all about the presents, while at the same time showering them with gifts. Actually we didn't do most of the showering. Having a big family helps with that! As a result, the true meaning of Christmas was lost at times and the presents were often the focus.

That's not all bad though. You can see from the photos below that presents certainly brought smiles to their faces. And having new toys to play with means having new toys to play with together, and they have been doing more of that lately.


Here are some of the presents as they found them Christmas morning. Anyone who has seen me decorate a Christmas tree will note that I had "help" this time. Initially all of the ornaments were clustered on the bottom third of the tree. I then helped my helpers by moving some of them higher and spacing them out a bit more evenly. Once they finally got the message that the entire tree was to be decorated, they kept moving the ornaments around. So the bald patches on the bottom third of the tree were left when they moved ornaments to the back of the tree. It must have been after this photo was taken that I took it upon myself to space them out again.

And here are Charlotte and Alexander enjoying some of their presents. Note that Charlotte did not get more presents than Alexander; she is just a more willing model.

New fleece jackets from Grandma and Grandad
(perfect for the usually mild winter weather in San Francisco)

A stuffed baby pig from Keresztpapa, Keresztmama, and Máté
(on her must-have list this year)

An apron set from Dédi
(left behind in Cleveland since she has another set here)

A marble track building set from Dédi
(given to Sándor and demonstrated by his Keresztpapa)

A stuffed blue-footed booby
(Charlotte's gift to Alexander, from his must-have list)
New pajamas from Jézuska

A floor puzzle from Auntie Tracey
(comes with us now anytime we go visiting)
New pajamas from Jézuska

Thank you to all of our family and friends who remembered us with gifts this year. We hope that your Christmas also brought you smiles. May the joy of Christmas last throughout the year!

Another one bites the dust

I knew my tooth would be falling out soon, but I had no idea that a dentist would knock it out for me!


On Wednesday I was at Dr. Rothman's office getting sealants on my back teeth. Apparently I have very deep grooves on these teeth which make them hard to clean and more prone to cavities (although I do not have any yet). I was laying there with a mouth full of cotton and a nose full of nitrous oxide when the dental assistants looked at Mummy and said, "The tooth fairy will be coming tonight." It took us all a moment to figure out what they meant. I hadn't even felt it pop out!

The tooth fairy did come. When I lost my first tooth, she left me a gold dollar. This time I got a silver dollar. But I knocked it off the bed while I was sleeping, and had to wake up Mummy to help me find it at 3:30am. Actually, I was worried that the tooth was lost and the tooth fairy wouldn't come. When Mummy found the coin under my bed, I was so surprised to see it!

A very musical Christmas

Jaja and I both enjoy music very much. We were so excited that Father Christmas brought us both what we had hoped for most: a recorder for her and a set of hand bells for me. He also gave us our new favorite CD, The Johnny Cash Children's Album! The big surprise was that Mummy and Daddy gave us a CD player/cassette player/radio (boombox) for our bedroom. It's still on the kitchen table, but we are so excited to be able to listen to our own music and press the buttons ourselves.

We loved making music with our cousin Máté as well. We could be the next famous family band. Cuter than the Von Trapps. More fun than the Osmonds. Less eccentric than the Jacksons.

In the meantime, here is a taste of what is to come. Unfortunately our best jam sessions did not get recorded, but here is what did:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=118334353083419773&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1839206214500762627&hl=en

Rain, rain, go away

From the dusting of snow in Cleveland to the deluge of rain in San Francisco, it turns out that those heavy jackets and warm boots were a good investment. I never expected that they would be used again so soon after our return!




















The phone rang at 2:00 this afternoon. It was Charlotte's principal. The school district had decided that parents should pick up their children early from school due to the weather. It was hardly even raining by then, but the aftermath of the wind and rain remained: backed-up sewers, fallen trees and power lines, closed bridges and highways.

It was much more fun to wear the boots in the snow than in the rain:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7971570115015380575&hl=en

I'm dreaming of a white New Year's

Before our trip we bought heavy winter jackets and snow boots. We were so excited to see snow for the first time (that we can remember) and had planned to build a snowman. In some ways we were fortunate that the weather was relatively mild during our visit, but we were getting upset that we would not be able to make a snowman this time. Then it snowed today!

We threw snowballs.

We gathered snow.

We built a big snowman.

We made snow angels.

We made more snow angels.

Mummy promised that she would take us to see snow in California if we didn't see any while we were in Cleveland. We had so much fun in the snow that we want her to take us anyway.

Happy New Year!