Ho!Ho!Here it is, the week in review... We had several great outings, lots of holiday cheer, and a bit of morning bubbly yesterday to finish the week off.

There's also tonight's murder mystery party...let's start there. Bill and I have hosted a couple of these evenings, and they are nothing short of hysterical when everyone gets into their costumes/character. Somehow I just never have trouble there, I really should have been in showbiz (nevermind that I don't have the body, face, voice, or a single ounce of coordination). If you've never participated in these shindigs before, procedure dictates that you get the 'costume suggestions' beforehand, so here's mine: "Believing that 80's fashion is still making a comeback, your current wardrobe includes tight boob tubes, fishnet tights, and hot pants. Occasionally you'll wear a shirt with the bra on the outside as an homage to your favorite Eighties singer. Don't forget a handbag and the heart-shaped temporary tattoo on your ankle".

For some reason, I always end up being the tarty nightmare, wonder why that is? Anyway, the boys were helping me figure out my costume this morning, so we had to take a photo of me, Roxy Rhinestone, next to the tree. Here's a Glamour Shot (remember those from the 80's, supermodel studios in every shopping mall). I couldn't do the bra on the outside, or the boob tube (must be the British term for the tube top), but I still look pretty awful. Still trying to figure out if I can get a big R on my blouse, something like the 'L' for Laverne. When we finished putting it together, Riley decided that I look like Dee Snyder from Twisted Sister - I don't even see the resemblance, do you? :) Even funnier, the fact that he knows who Dee Snyder is. I asked him how, and he looked at me and sang 'I Wannnnnna Rock'. Egads.

I realize that I sound like a Desperate Housewife half the time, as I ramble on about the goings on of the day, but I do actually meet all the requirements of a certified domestic engineer. Won't lie and tell you that I don't have lots of fun too, but the mom gig is indeed my main role. Moving on...we'll back up to the family outings of the week.

Sunday, Riley and I went to meet some new friends for lunch at their place, and had a great day with them. Their son is Riley's age and goes to the American International School of Budapest, where Riley will go from September (assuming we're still here), and they will be in the same class. so I thought it was a good idea to get them together. After lunch, we all went to see a gospel music concert, which was so uplifting and amazing that I will definitely make that a regular activity (they have concerts twice a year). This group is 100% Hungarian, singing almost entirely in English, which is really difficult when alot of the songs are very fast with lots of words. They sang one diddy that was something like Bluegrass Gospel, which caught me off guard because you don't picture Hungarians even getting into the rhythm of it, but they were awesome. I think it was great for Riley, and he really enjoyed it.

Wednesday, the boys had a half-day as usual, so I picked them up and we went into town to see the big Christmas market on Vörösmarty square. We had lunch first with our good friend Stephen Spinder (fondly referred to as Stephen Bacsi or Uncle Stephen) at a new (ok, new to me, but fairly new) Italian restaurant, Vapiano, near the main walking street, Vaci Utca. It was great, easy to get to, reasonably priced, and great pizza/salads (fyi, for my local readers). Then we headed over to the market. Here are some shots of my little men.

The market is amazing, there are tons of artists selling their handmade goods, plenty of places to stop and get a gluhwhein, and lots of yummy treats. The boys love the kürtös kalacs, which is a big roll of hot, fresh, sweet bread dough, rolled in the sugary substance of your choice (vanilla, coconut, cinnamon). All I can say is YUMMMMMMM!!

We had another cultural outing on Thursday, and a BIG first for me - we went to see the Nutcracker ballet at the Budapest Opera House. It was actually my first time to the Nutcracker, ever, which made the whole experience even more special. My cruise director and good friend Erika scored a load of tickets in the front row, which is impossible to do since they sell out within minutes of going on sale, and eight of us went into town together in Erika's big land yacht (which, I now must tell you, she parallel parks like a pro into the smallest of spots-I'm in awe of that talent). Here are some photos of the opera house, Andrassy ut, and Riley & I.

Riley and I inside the opera house. Even if you don't go to catch a performance, you have to pop in and see it, it's something to see.

The ceiling inside the theater.

The lights on Andrassy ut. It is lit up like this from one end to the other, it's really beautiful.

In unrelated photos, here's a regular stop for me when I'm in the city, the Nespresso store. I keep hanging out there, hoping George (Clooney) will stop in and have a cup-o-joe with me, but it just never happens. Oh well, no such thing as too much coffee in a day...

Ok, kids, will close for now and post again in a bit with more of the VERY, VERY exciting news of the week....and I do mean VERY....

I promised you something even more exciting than holiday cheer, and here it is...

Yes, dear readers, IT IS A HAIRCUT. I am still glowing with glee, the happiest mommy there could ever be.

I made the appointment for Liam earlier in the week, hoping that we'd be able to coax him into shedding a few centimeters. I left him with the hair stylist and went for a coffee, thinking that perhaps she'd have more luck and that he wouldn't be so likely to have a meltdown if I wasn't there. My planned actually worked (these results are not typical), and he strolled out of there looking like my long, lost son. I should add here that we really haven't put alot of pressure on him to cut it. We've been trying to endure, and hoping he would outgrow the look, but it was definitely starting to wear on us :) Happily, he made the decision himself, so it worked out for everyone in the end.

So, now that you've seen the 'after', check out the 'before'...

Here are Riley and Liam with their good friend Peti (Peter) afterwards at a nearby cafe, where we toasted Liam's new look with hot chocolate. Yahoo!!!!!

My new ABSOLUTE FAVORITE photo of Keira....

I know, I know. It's very hard to keep my readers coming back to check in when I go for months at a time without posting a single word. Sorry, but unfortunately, what you see is what you get :) As I mentioned in my holiday letter (which you may or may not have received-I'm no better with snail mail), it will be my perpetual New Year's resolution until the end of time to stay on top of the communication efforts.

But let us not dwell on my shortcomings :) Moving on ... happenings since October...

October 7th marked my ten-year anniversary in Budapest. Yes, you read that right... a decade of my life (and more than a quarter of it) has now been spent in Hungary. That, Dear People, is nothing short of kooky. Reflecting back, I wouldn't change a whole lot. I might have spent a few more hours/dollars on Hungarian lessons, but I'm still surviving in my own, deranged version of the language. And, as I've said before, I provide a great service in the way of comedic relief to the Magyar people when I try to express myself.

I went to the US for a week on October 11th, and surprised my mom for her birthday. She was truly surprised, which was fantastic. I had told her I would hopefully come for a week in December, so she had no idea. My stepdad ended up in the hospital for four days, just as I arrived, which was a bummer (mostly for him, poor guy), but I was glad that I could be there just the same. I will stop for a moment and add that I'm not overly impressed with the 'attention to detail' that members of the medical profession seem to possess these days, but that's not just in the US, that's around the world. Don't know if it's too many patients and not enough time, but in this case the whole thing could have been avoided if the doctor had been a bit more on the ball.

I came back just in time for the boys to have their two week Fall break (which is, in my opinon, one week too long). They went to pottery camp in a village nearby for the first week, which they love, and we went to Slovakia to visit friends for the long holiday weekend (Nov.1st is All Saints Day). Got some great photos of them jumping in the leaves (me too), which I have to share.

I had completely forgotten about the simple pleasure of jumping into a big, damp pile of leaves. I'm not sure the boys had ever participated in such sophisticated fun, and they spent hours just raking them back up to jump in again. Love the photo of me, almost horizontal in the air, with little Sophie looking on in amazement, like she is saying 'hey, that's not for the grown-ups'.

We love visiting our friends, Bruno and Katarina, in Slovakia. They live in a little village, where Katerina grew up, and we always have the most relaxing weekend getaways with them. We walked over to the football pitch later that day, and the boys (dads too) had a great time kicking the soccer ball. Keira got a lift from her daddy, of course, her favorite mode of transportation...

What could I possibly add here? How cute are the daddies and their little girls?

Liam taking the shot... Notice how the hair is at least six inches in the air. That's because it's almost a foot long. We're in the middle of negotiations here, I'm hoping to reach some sort of settlement (i.e. cut it) some time next week. It's just out of control.

Love this picture of Riley, although he looks like he is eighteen and that makes me very sad :(

The boys came back from an exhausting twenty minutes on the football field, completely dehydrated, and had to replenish with some Belgian beer (supplied by Dear Bruno, who is coincidentally Belgian and loads the car up when they go back for a holiday).

Oodles of Noodles...

The rest of November was fairly quiet, as it usually is when we start buckling down for the long winter's nap. It starts to get dark here at 4:00 once we hit Daylight Savings, which is a sure sign that the long cold nights are on their way. I'm usually ok through the holidays, but by the end of January I'm already looking for the first sign of Spring/life. We had a great Turkey Day with our friends Curt and Erika, as always.

Curt's favorite part, quality time with the bird...

Here's what a 30 pound turkey looks like in a European oven. Erika is far braver than I will ever be, I have no idea how she gets them to come out like this every year (it hasn't been confirmed yet, but I'm pretty sure she's got some Martha Stewart in her genetic code).

The hostess, with her turkey pumpkin. We all had to write something we were thankful for on painted popsicle sticks and then stick them in the turkey's rear end. The kids thought that was hilarious, but they were really sweet when they read them aloud after dinner.

Here's what it looks like when you're trying to get eight kids to pose for a lovely Thanksgiving Day photo. I've decided that in the absence of grandparents in the background shouting for the kids to sit up properly and smile, this effort will be eternally fruitless. I took at least ten shots, pretty sure Erika took as many, and neither of us came up with even one good one.

So, there's the Fall season in a nutshell. See, there wasn't much to catch up on anyway. Will pop back soon with some Ho!Ho!Ho!

xoxo. K.

Hi gang! Long time, no chat. It’s already October 4th, which means that Christmas is just around the corner. The boys have already started making a mental wish list, looks like it will be a Guitar Hero kind of holiday, with perhaps a scooter thrown in for good measure. Not sure where the scooter idea came from, I was certain we had moved up the transportation (food) chain a bit to ‘skate or die’ mode. They have also gotten back on their bikes of late; it seems to go in phases these days.

Sorry I’ve been neglectful. Same old story, just not enough hours in the day. I think I’m averaging six hours of sleep a night, but I could probably get three and not accomplish what’s on my list. Anyway, when I last left you (Sept.17th), I was filling the page with political incorrectness, so I will try to be good today.

I just uploaded a bunch of new videos from Riley’s birthday party, so I will share a few (see YouTube videos posted separately below). His birthday is August 22nd, but the party was on September 21st. And they say I’m not at the top of my game – only a month behind schedule. He invited eight friends for a pizza-movie-sleepover, which I thought went very well, all things considered. Specifically, I’m referring to the noise level and general state of anarchy in my house for 20hours, 13 minutes, and 28 seconds (but who was counting?). Actually, they are a really great group of kids, no complaints from me. We went to see Rush Hour 3. I hadn’t seen either of the first two, but it turned out to be a pretty good action movie. And we got to see it in English, which was great for Bill and I. Riley’s friend Laci (lah-t-see) brought his Guitar Hero game and controller and they played well into the night.

Here are some bday party photos.

What else in the news? The boys have had lots of fun stuff going on at school this week. You have to understand that they've been back for almost a month now (Use sarcastic tone here), so it's about time they got to let their hair down, poor things. You will notice in these photos that 'let your hair down' is not just a figure of speech for Liam these days.

Last week was the ‘semaine de gout’, when they go on a field trip to restaurants around the city and have a day of cooking and eating. Here are a few photos of Riley – too cute in his chef’s hat.

Somehow I don't remember ever getting to eat like that in elementary school, on a field trip or otherwise.

Yesterday was the annual ‘enduro’ race at school. All the students, from ages 2-18, participate in the event, divided up into groups by age. Riley moved up into the bigger group this year, so he had to run for twenty minutes, which in my opinion is quite impressive. I couldn’t run to the end of my driveway and back at the moment, so I guess it would impress me. Here's a little video of Riley’s run that my friend Erika shot, and a picture of him, face bright red, burning up the track. Erika made the comment that he's got a very rhythmic and controlled style - he's in it for the long haul. I remember way back when he was five, my friend Joy also told me that, to quote the Boss, 'baby he was born to run'.



Here's a shot of Liam, post-run, and another of him from the 2007 Olympic games back in June. He's intense, but in small doses. It's funny, their approach to running says alot about their personalities. Or maybe it's just 12:30am and I'm so tired that I have just started making random off-the-wall analogies.

And now you ask, what about the princess update? She is fantastic. I finally got to have a mommy-Keira day on Monday, which I must tell you was the best day I've had in weeks. We didn't do a whole lot, just hung out, but that was the point. We made lasagna (bizanya) for Riley, painted, re-organized her craft drawer (which meant finding loads of long-lost treasures) and watched the boob-tube. She is so much fun right now I can't stand it. Every thing out of her mouth just makes me smile. And, I realize I'm a bit biased here, but she is incredibly clever.

Will post a video clip from two weeks ago (again, see below). She had a Hungarian friend over for a playdate after nursery, and they set up the My Little Pony and Dora houses in the living room. She plays really well with her buddies, but is also very happy to play on her own for hours on end. I went upstairs this morning so we could start getting dressed and she had these eight ceramic fairies all lined up in a very organized seating arrangement and they were watching a show. No idea what the show was about, as it was pretend and she was far too busy to elaborate, but she was i her own little world. She was talking to them for at least ten minutes before she even realized I was there - listening to her is a total riot.

It's going on 1am now and I'm trying to keep my eyes open, which is probably a good sign that I need to call it quits for the night. Will return sooner or later, I always do. Have a great weekend!

My Little Pony

Keira and her friend Lara hanging out in Ponyland.

Pizza I

Pizza II

Birthday Cake

Riley is eleven! This is the traditional Magyar firework birthday cake deal. Riley's buds are singing to him (very badly I might add) in English, followed by Hungarian and French. The cake, German chocolate from our favorite local bakery. Amazing!