Hello people. So, today I'm seriously going to get a life and get off of this computer, for at least a couple hours in the evening. I'm just so fascinated by all the things that I can add to my blog, I think I've reached the point where I might have to actually learn about wrappers and widgets and editing HTML. Maybe I'd be better off taking a webdesign class and just having my own website. Or, maybe I should just head back to the original plan of getting a life. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, maybe I've hit the nail on the head here - I want to be a chiphead :)

Anyway, I've posted some new videos of the kids, which are a far cry from entertaining but provide an intimate but sad glimpse into our lives :) After quite a few attempts at uploading the videos using the Blogger software, I've decided that for larger files, YouTube is the way to go. And how friggin' cool is the video bar in the upper right hand corner, which just uses a 'tag' to link videos in from YouTube. You can still find videos in the body of my blog, the video bar is just a nifty little sidenote.

Not much else to share with you at the moment. Oh....actually, there is the joke of the day, albeit it sexist, inappropriate and in poor taste (obviously I'm really worked up about that, since I'm including it for your enjoyment). Apparently it's been nominated as the best short joke of the year:

A three-year-old boy is examining his testicles while taking a bath. "Mom," he asks, "are these my brains?" "Not yet," replies his mother.


I have also decided that it's fun to share things that I find on other peoples' blogs, while giving them full credit of course. As I mentioned yesterday, I haven't acquired the desire for mindless blog surfing just yet, but every once in awhile I do hit the 'next' button up top just to see where I go. Anyway, I found these two photos at http://daisyville.blogspot.com/. Hope it's ok that I'm using it on my blog too, I don't want to offend anyone. If we can all just pass on a couple extra giggles a day, wouldn't the world be a better place? I guess I find myself being politically incorrect again (so much for not offending anyone). There seems to be a pattern developing here. It's not really a statement about Europeans vs. Americans, more a statement about why thong underwear is not intended for really large women.

Even funnier to me is the next one. And it could be that it's not funny at all, but it struck me as such. I do not think the task of locating and eradicating terrorism in today's crazy world should be taken lightly, but someone has to.

On that note, I'm off to pick Keira up from the kindergarten. Hope you all had a super Monday, and I will check back in a couple days. xo.

Supercilious

Riley, trying to get through his reading homework on Sunday. Poor guy, two chapters in French can take him three hours sometimes.

Random Rainy Day Goofiness

Footage from Sept.5th, a cold and rainy day here in Budapest. We had the first fire of the season, which seems weird. Back to business now though, with a bit of Indian Summer happening this week.

Keira Playing and Calling Me Stupid

Here's one I probably shouldn't post, but the fact of the matter is that there's a naughty side to the little angel.

First Day of School

So, here are my little Einsteins, heading off for the first day of school. The biggest problem is that they only function in Hungarian, with eachother and with their friends. Wonder if it will always be their secret language.

Hi kiddies. Sunday evening here, way past my bedtime, but I'm still sitting here fiddling. I think the hubby has had about enough of my quality 'office time' today. I ended up spending the whole day doing various things on the computer. Got my address book all tidied up, downloaded Adobe Photoshop Elements (which I've been dying to do for a long time - now I just need to find some good tutorials), caught up on emails, converted a bunch of video to .avi files, Skyped with my mom for an hour and a half, figured out how to make a new header on my blog (thought it was good to use shots of our home-sweet-home, since this is unofficially our home page). Wow, it all sounds very productive on paper. Truth is, I never actually got out of my PJ's today, I totally neglected laundry duty, and we had leftovers for dinner. C'est la vie!

Yesterday we had a great family outing. It was DHL day at the Ujpest football field and hockey rink. I hadn't known anything about it, but a very nice woman whom I just met at the September NAWA meeting gave us five VIP passes for the football game, party, and hockey game. The kids had a blast. Here are some photos:

Riley was just so impressed with the fact that he was a VIP (everyone had exactly the same tickets/badges), I think it was more exciting than actually watching the events.

I'm thinking that Keira may very well turn into one of those 'football hooligans' you hear about on the news - she has no idea what's really happening on the field, but she definitely gets into the game.

Bill and I had a few of our daily 'points' in the form of Borsodi beer. Somehow it's just not a sporting event for me without beer. I did skip the hotdogs, but am still a bit worried about the weigh-in tomorrow.

The boys spent the two hours in between matches climbing like monkeys and making some new friends.

Here they are with their new buddies at the hockey game. We were at the end of the rink where there's actually a net, I'm just not too excited about the prospect of getting nailed in the head with a puck.

Tomorrow is Monday, back to the business at hand. Bill is hopefully headed to Istanbul on Tuesday or Wednesday to go the next round towards getting this job in Vienna. Cross your fingers, I think we are both trying hard not to get too excited one way or the other. Tuesday is our 10-year anniversary but we don't really have anything special planned anyway. I'm hoping we can organize a getaway weekend in October/November if we have a better idea of where we're going and what we're doing. We have decided to postpone the trip to the US in October, just doesn't make sense to spend the money at the moment.

Riley is having his birthday party next Saturday, a month late. He is having eight friends for a sleepover and we will take them all the movies. Haven't figured out how we're going to swing that yet but that's a project for tomorrow. The boys watched the Simpsons Movie tonight, (I opted out) and they of course loved it. I can't believe that the friggin' Simpsons are still hot, I can remember everyone gathering in my freshman dorm each week to watch it in the lounge when it first aired. That was 1989, and yes we've confirmed once more that I'm getting old.

In extremely sad news, it has been revealed by a credible source that George Clooney is indeed gay. I will absolutely not divulge the source, but I will tell you, ladies and gentlemen, it's a day of mourning for me. Bill will confirm that this devastating news totally put a damper on my day yesterday. I couldn't think about much else, and I keep wondering, 'how could I not have seen the signs'? I mean, how could he, the full package, the epitemy of Hollywood hotties, never have a serious girlfriend. I mean, you can play the eligible bachelor card for only so long. George, I hope you find true happiness with someone in the near future. Don't let the bloodsucking paparazzi force you to live a lie forever. And if you still want to hang out, grab a bite, call me :)

Tomorrow I will post some more 'on the edge of your seat' video footage from home. Note to self - I've discovered that there really is no need to upload to YouTube first, I can upload right into my blog. I'm not terribly concerned about wackos watching the videos and tracking down my children, but it seems safer to just have it here.

After all, how many people randomly browse at blogger.com? Have you ever tried it? Geez, I thought my content was a snoozerama - some people make me look more entertaining than Lucille Ball (what a strange reference, wonder where that came from).

Suppose I should wrap it up and head to bed. Hope everyone is well, and to those of you who have emailed in the last couple weeks and heard nothing back from me, I promise I'm working on it. Ciao!!!

So, we had a great weekend. We joined a group of very good friends Saturday night to celebrate our friend Rav's 40th birthday party (it was a SURPRISE!!!) at the Four Seasons in Budapest. Very swanky, fantastic food, lots of laughs, dancing with the stars, a good band (someone please remind me what the name of the band was). All in all, just a fantastic evening. It's memories like those that make it so hard for us to think about moving back to the US. We miss our families and lots of things all-American, but at the end of the day we would probably never find friends or a life there like we have here.

Here's a great shot of Erika and I (one of my very dear BFF's). This is pre-cocktail, so I'm looking rather composed. I won't post the photos from the end of the evening; they aren't really that bad, but a few hours on the dance floor will reek havoc on anyone's hair.

I'm the one on the left :) And now, I must share the most wonderful news - the dress I'm wearing, that's Erika's dress. And that, my dear friends, is a first - me borrowing a dress from her. She's shrinking like crazy too (we're both on the warpath to obliterate that post-children poundage), so we decided that maybe the next time I'll get to borrow one size smaller. We should now digress a bit and pay homage to my new BFF, http://www.weightwatchers.com/ You may remember that I started on this mission back in January. I've fallen off the wagon about ten times since then, but I keep getting back on. I started at 190 pounds of lovin' back then, and just hit 170.5 this morning. The official weigh-in takes place every Monday morning, first thing, after I go to the bathroom of course, and wearing only my birthday suit. Is this too much information? I'm just picturing my mom's face as she reads, saying "why does she always have to share so much?" Anyway, I saw the funniest comic/drawing when we were in France of a woman standing on the scale, all of her accoutrements (glasses, earrings, etc..) strewn on the floor around her. There she is, praying for a miracle, holding a big chunk of her hair in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other, ready to take any measure necessary to get results. Pretty much sums it up, I think. No complaints, it's much easier to take it off now than to wait another ten or fifteen years. Let me add that I'm not going for the Heidi Klum body here folks, just trying to get back to the Misses department. A size 12 works for me.

Here's a shot of the princess, having her daily Nutella sandwich. She loves the stuff. Doubt there's a drop of anything nutritious in it, but the Magyar kids eat it like crazy and they don't seem to be worse for it. I'm a hazelnut person myself, but it's definitely not on my list of approved foods at the moment.

Keira had her first dance class on Saturday at the Dance Craze Academy. She loved it, although after about an hour she'd had enough. Her teacher decided in the end that they will have an hour and a half each week, with games/coloring thrown in to give them a break. She really dug it, which kind of surprised me. She is definitely 100% girly girl. Here are some shots that my friend Wendy took of her. She's in the class with Wendy's daughter Bailey and one of her two 'best friends', Mia (we are waiting patiently for Sonia to come back to Budapest so she can dance with us too). It amazes me that even at this age girls start to form those really special friendships, very different from boys the same age.

Thanks for those great photos, Wendy. I took my camera but left the memory card at home, very clever indeed. Will definitely have to make a scrapbook page of these, another 'first' to be documented.

Scrapbooking is now officially back in session here at Chez McGann on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Hoping for a few new members, although I like having smaller groups and just having it two days a week. Wish I could get the Hungarians on board, but they don't really seem to have the fever like Americans. I also wish I could get myself organized to get more of my own projects done. Never enough hours in the day. Of course, I end up spreading myself a bit thin with all of my other projects. I'm knee deep in a new cross stitch project (which according to my dear friend Curt makes me an old lady) and just signed up for a six-week beginner's quilting class. Following in my mommy's footsteps here - the motto goes something like: 'he who dies with the most unfinished projects wins' :)

Well, should probably close for now and go prepare for the events of tomorrow. Hope everyone has a great week. xoxo.

What Else - Me Rambling, As Usual

Salut!!! What's the news? Monday evening here - it's been a week, time to drop in. I have some new videos, but am waiting to finish the disc so I can upload and post them. I also have some new photos, will post a few in a minute. Nothing terribly new and interesting to report. My little gang is somewhat back in the swing of things after the summer hoopla. School started last Tuesday and the boys are still trying to get back into that early morning routine. They have to be out the door at 7:40, so I'm trying to get them up at 6:15 - total frigging nightmare that is. And since I've done it since the beginning of time, I continue to deliver their chocolate milk in bed to them every morning. Must be nice, huh? I keep waiting for the good coffee fairy to be standing next to my bed when I wake up, but somehow it hasn't happened yet. Ooooh, know what would be even better? You may or may not know that I am addicted to my Nespresso machine. I was never really a coffee girl until that amazing invention made it's way into my life. Anyway, it just so happens that George Clooney is also a big fan (and a spokesperson) - wouldn't it be nice if George could deliver my first cup of coffee every day? Suppose there's any chance of that happening? Me either. Just found the Nespresso commercial on YouTube - here it is - is he nice to look at, or what? I have another idea - every time I go into the Nespresso shop to by my little pods they keep track of how many I've bought, and based on that number they can tell me when I need to descale my machine. What if they add a bonus feature to the Nespresso coffee club and throw in a visit to George's villa in Lake Como for every 10,000 pods of coffee you buy? Now that would be some clever marketing :)

Keira Doodling

Liam in the Bathroom

More Mindboggling Footage. Testing, 1, 2, 3.

Riley's Big Day

Hoping to make these little blurbs more interesting for the viewers, but today just wasn't the day. I'm just excited that I figured it out :)