Sunshine and Ice

With all the rain we have had during this Christmas season, I was worried that we would not be able to go ice skating this year. Monday was supposed to be a nice day, so I decided to take the children ice skating. It turned out to be a beautiful day. We bundled up out of habit, but some people were skating in just t-shirts.


We have not been skating since the first time we went two years ago. This time we only had one adult for the two children who needed help. I worried that it wouldn't work. Fortunately they were willing to take turns with me. One would skate along the wall while the other would skate in the center with me. Then we would switch. At times I was holding both of them up. All those lessons at Winterhurst skating rink must have taught me something.


And every time the children were tired, I took advantage of the break to skate around on my own. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it! I hope it's not another two years before we skate again.

Gingerbread Cookies!

We didn't have much success with baking before Christmas, so we made some gingerbread cookies today. We didn't have any cookie cutters in the right shape to make gingerbread men, but we made hearts, stars, flowers, and even some hippos!

Daddy shares his technique with Alexander

Charlotte rolls the dough

Finished product looks good

And tastes good too!

Letters from Alexander

If you have received a card or letter from Alexander in the past, chances are that he did not make it without a bit of resistance. In some cases, Charlotte may have even done some writing or drawing for him before he signed it himself. He really would much rather be outside running around or throwing a ball than inside writing.

We have had quite a bit of rain recently, mostly concentrated on the weekends. At least four of our Saturday tennis classes were canceled due to the rain. I was quite surprised when Alexander showed up with a letter he had written Charlotte and a card he had made for me, completely on his own, without having been prompted. I guess he ran out of rainy day activities!


To: Sári
from: Sándor

I love you when you be nice. Do you like Cody Ross?

love,
Sándor


Dear Mummy,

I hope you have a grat Cristmas. Can we help you make the Cristmas tree so nice? Cristmas will be so fun. We will get lots of so so fun gifts.

Love,
Alexander


Maybe the next time you receive something from Alexander, it will really be from him!

P.S. Cody Ross is one of Alexander's favorite baseball players.

I can see!

Yay! I love my new glasses.

At first I was so nervous because I thought my classmates would laugh at me. But if they do, I don't really care because my glasses help me see properly and clearly. Next time I see you, I'll see you better too. :-)

I never knew how blurry things were until I got my glasses. It made a big difference. I'm really glad I went for it.



I'm still nervous about my classmates laughing at me, but I'm just glad that I can see better.

A Note from the Editor

I'd like to apologize for not posting in the last two months. We have many photos to share, and just need to find the time to post them. We will try to catch up in the next few weeks. Please don't give up on us.

As the children can now speak for themselves, and write for themselves, I will now have them post in their own names. Any future posts attributed to Charlotte or Alexander will have been composed by them.

More fun with Pák

When Pák was visiting, we went for a hike in the Presidio. Unfortunately the trail we chose was still under construction, and so our route led us along the sidewalks instead of through the woods. We still enjoyed the beautiful view, and plan to go try some of the other trails.


Pák stayed until Tuesday evening, so he and I spent the day together while the children were in school. We went to the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and enjoyed the exhibit called Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, and Beyond: Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the Musée d’Orsay. We saw some lovely paintings, although we both agreed that we expected more masterpieces and less filler.


The children loved having their uncle here, and missed him for many days after he left. In the meantime, we have signed up both children for the tennis lessons as Pák's introduction was so successful!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a tennis ball

We are very happy to have my brother Paul visiting us this weekend. As we did the previous time he came to visit, we went to the park to watch the Blue Angels. Once again, it was a beautiful day. Somehow we appreciated it so much more this year as our weather has been colder and foggier than usual.



While we waited for the air show to begin, Paul gave the children their first informal tennis lesson. Charlotte starts taking formal lessons next week, and is even more excited about it now that she has had some practice.