Pumpkin Patch Pics

It has been 4 years without pumpkin patch pics, so I was determined that we would get those done this year! The weekends escaped and we were down to the wire...so we hit a local pumpkin patch with 30 minutes to spare before they closed.

Kids - sit! smile! come back! You can imagine how this went. :) Getting a decent pic of all 4 is going to be impossible for awhile, but we did the best we could!

New Beginnings

If there is anyone still reading this blog, hello!! We are 4 months into our new life in Texas. I have missed the blog, but also was not sure where to begin. And then the Mac died and took a month (seriously) to restore itself, so I will blame that as well.

I will start with kid updates -

This girl...love her so. She has jumped right in to 3rd grade at her new school. It has been a big change for all of us, but she is doing great and received glowing remarks at the first teacher conference and all A's on her first report card. She occasionally comments that she doesn't have as many friends as she did in Budapest, but we talk about the friends she has made thus far and that she has a long time ahead of her to continue making friends. Recently, I asked her how happy she is at her new school on a scale of 1-10 and she said a 9. I am so thankful for that. She loves having grandparents and cousins so close, as well as having one of her best friends from Budapest living just a 10 minute walk from our house. 

Mr. Cade...he has adjusted wonderfully and is thoroughly enjoying Kindergarten, maybe a little too much on some days. He is a little sponge soaking up learning to read and do math and spell and loving all of it. We are so thankful that his sweet friend Claudia from Budapest is in his class this year, too! He is playing soccer and loving it. He is an awesome runner with great stamina so soccer is a good fit for him. He has also made some new friends on the team. 

Oh, this guy...he is a 2 1/2 year old ball of energy and the life of the party. He is definitely 2, and everything is "mine" or "I no like it!" He started Mother's Day Out at a nearby church 2 days per week and seems to be enjoying it, although when we enter the parking lot he says, "I no like school!!" His current obsession is Mr. Potato Head. He also loves the water and is our little fish, already close to swimming at only 2.5 years old. He is not afraid of anything, which is a little scary at times. 

He makes me laugh every single day.  Yesterday, I said, "Let's go find some lunch" and he yelled, "Luunncch, where are you?" 

And then there's this guy!! Our little surprise miracle...so much to say about that, but for now here is Nathan. He is almost 4 months old now and has fit beautifully into our family. Thankfully, he is a laid back dude and pretty happy to go with the flow. 

So, we are good. Life is full. Days are busy. America is (mostly) great. Lots more to come!!

One Week In

We have officially reached one week back in the US...woohoo!

Cade is having the hardest time so far. He is trying to say that this house doesn't feel like home, I think. He told my dad he was going to move in with them, lol. Our air shipment should be delivered very soon, and then we will have more of his things so I think that will help. The first week of setting up house is not that fun when you are 4...numerous trips to look at appliances, buy cleaning supplies, sheets, towels, etc. I did let him choose the sheets for his bed and he picked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  But, he can't sleep on them yet because we only have 2 twin mattresses at this point so mommy is sleeping on the turtles. We will all be happy when our beds arrive, but we probably have about another month to go.

We have accomplished a lot this week  - appliances, phones, basic household stuff, new carpet upstairs as of yesterday. Larry bought our cars when he was here for work in early June, so it has been nice to not add car shopping to the must-do's this week.

I am most missing my laundry fairy....even though I love my new American sized machines, somehow the clothes don't get put away the same way they did in Budapest. Almost 4 years of not doing much cleaning/ laundry makes a girl a little rusty....and spoiled.

Off to mop! :)

Home In Houston

We are finally here! We enjoyed our last days in Budapest, minus a stomach bug for Cade, and arrived in Houston last Wednesday. Since then, we have slowly been getting settled while being wiped out by the lovely stomach bug one by one, including my parents and my nephew. Fun times! Logan is the only one still standing, so hopefully he got a pass on this one.

Our furniture won't arrive for several more weeks, so we are living simply in our new house with the items that were in storage plus the 15(!) suitcases that we brought, items pilfered from my parents house, and stuff from a few trips to stores here. We had cell phones, appliances, internet, and cable within a couple of days...oh the ease of life in America.

Quote of the week from Cade: Here they speak Houston!

We all understand Houston much more than we did Hungarian, so we are off to a good start!

May Madness

Lots going on around here! After Stockholm, we went with Larry on a business trip to Houston. Anticipating a move back this summer, we bought a house in March. This trip in May was my first time to see it in person! Yes, we bought a house without ever walking through it. Add that to the list of things I never thought I would do!  While in Houston, Larry got his official job transfer notification and the countdown began.

Since we had a house, we were able to get the stuff delivered from our storage. Hard to believe it has been almost 4 years! There were lots of surprises in there and many things we forgot about. Pretty sure if we have lived without it for 4 years we don't really need it, but that's another story. 

Our new home sweet Texas home in The Woodlands

We were able to enjoy our pool while we were there - it was too cold for me, but the kids loved it

We came back to Budapest just in time to celebrate Chelsea's 8th bday, and then the massive purging began. As I write, we have about a week left here.We will miss our sweet friends here, but we are excited about the new adventures that lie ahead!

Stockholm Skansen

We spent our last full day in Stockholm at the Skansen, the world's first open air museum. It was a perfect day full of animals, playgrounds, and fun buildings to explore.

The broken arm didn't stop the climbing!

It was easter Sunday, so we went to a small hymn service in this cute little church. So fun.

The Swedish decorate trees with colored feathers for Easter. 

Late that afternoon, we switched gears and went to a LARGE Easter service at Hillsong Stockholm.

The people were so helpful and friendly. We took Chelsea and Cade to the kids program, but kept Logan with us. They gave us headphones to protect his ears from the volume! We didn't make it through the whole service, but it was great to worship with others on Easter Sunday!

We loved Stockholm and would definitely recommend it for all our friends living in Europe.

Spectacular Stockholm

We spent Easter weekend enjoying the beauty of Stockholm, Sweden. We loved the people (so friendly), the water, the boats, everything!! It was one of our most kid-friendly trips, so that  gave it extra bonus points. The Sheraton Stockholm made us feel that our kids were welcome by providing a gift for them in our room when we arrived, and then Easter treats for them the second night. So thoughtful!!

On our first full day, we walked around and then toured the Vasa museum. The Vasa was a warship that sank in the 1600's and was salvaged in the mid 1900's. It is amazing to see and the intricate details of the ship are marvelous. The lighting inside isn't great, so our pics aren't the best.  If you go, ask for the children's tour. It is a do-it-yourself tour, but gives the kids things to look for along the way and was quite informative for us as well. 

Attempts at an all 3 pic...this is how most turn out!

On the bottom floor, there were biographies of the people who died on the Vasa and some of their skeletons were on display. A bit creepy, but the kids thought it was cool to see real skeletons!

We had a lovely waterfront lunch after the museum ...perfect weather and perfect scenery!

Fun kids pizza

Sweet brothers!

After lunch, we visited Junibacken, a children's museum based on Swedish fairy tales including Pippi Longstocking. It was lots of fun for the kids, though quite expensive and I would say it is not worth the price. But all in all, a very successful first day in Stockholm!

Family Pics

We took advantage of the Budapest Cherry Blossom Festival to take some spontaneous family pics. Turns out, there was only one cherry blossom tree, but whatever. Still some nice scenery and good place for pictures!

Classic Logan...what will happen if I step in the stream of water?

We tried to hide Chelsea's cast, but now it looks like she only has one arm in all of the pictures. Lol. 

Love my fam!

Como: The Rest

 After the cooking class, we still had 24 hrs+ of kid free time in Como. Varenna is beautiful and we enjoyed leisurely walks along the lake, taking in all the beauty along the way.

Saturday, we took a ferry ride across the lake to Bellagio. Bellagio is beautiful as well, full of cobblestone, store lined, narrow staircases leading from the shore up into the hills. 

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, we drove back to Milan to catch our flight home, refreshed and recharged. Perfect weekend getaway!

Cooking in Como

A few weeks ago, Larry and I had the great privilege to get away for a weekend. It is hard for me to leave the kids, but oh so worth it for time alone with my man! It took a team to pull it off - my sweet housekeeper came over at 3:45 am Friday morning because we had a 6 am flight. Paul and Erin relieved her on Friday afternoon and kept the troops until Sunday morning. Such a blessing!

I have to stop here and reflect on how we met Paul and Erin in the first place. Several years ago, we were asked to host summer interns for Second Baptist Church in Houston. We had 2 interns over 2 different summers. Our second intern, Michelle, lived with us when we found out that we were moving to Budapest. A year after we arrived, she emailed us saying that a college friend of hers was moving to Budapest. That was sweet Natalie, who poured herself into our kids for the year she was in Hungary. Natalie introduced us to Paul and Erin.  I love looking back and seeing how God paved the road way back before we would've ever dreamed of moving to Hungary!

Back to the trip - so, we left super early on a Friday morning and flew to Milan. There, we rented a car and drove to Varenna, a little town on Lake Como. Our first stop was an Italian cooking class in a tiny village of 81 people in the hills above Varenna. 

Ristorante Il Caminetto

We were the only students in the class -what a treat! Chef Moreno was the kindest, most hospitable man and we had the best time. We learned to make fresh pasta, risotto, sauces, lamb chops and more. Moreno fed us until we thought we would never eat again. 

Larry working on fresh pasta under the watchful eye of Chef Moreno

Thank you, Moreno, for a wonderful start to our weekend!