Jasper update

Zach's appointment with the orthopedic specialist went well last night, thanks for praying. He is actually the head of orthopedics at Heim Pal Korhaz, where Eli and I lived most of the spring. Basically what he said to Zach was that, many kids legs grow the way Jasper's is growing and it could right itself out by the time he is three. So, he said to have him checked again when he is 3 and see if his leg is still growing incorrectly. He also recommended getting shoes that high in the ankle with good heal/ankle support all the way around and with good arches. I was thinking that I would wait until I get home to find some like these... do you all have any recommendations? Someone suggested Stride Rite... not sure if I am spelling this right... Please give me any feedback you have, thanks!!!

I thought this is such a fun picture. We just returned from our pediatrician's house... which is a mansion here and just beautiful, I could not believe what a piece of art it is... and I was so thankful for some "outside of the office" time with her. She was giving me some 2T clothes for Jasper, because I realized when I was switching out clothes that Eli is so big he went from 18 months to 3T in shirts. Crazy... When I park the car on the street, I always tell Jasper to go stand on the sidewalk and wait for me. And today he ran to this little wall and sat on it and looked to the side all coy waiting for me to see him. Then he kept trying to see me, but for me to not know he was looking to see if I was looking... he is such a character. Right after I got this shot, he looked at me, laughed and got up running to our building. Love this guy!

It is also amazing how much he is talking in BOTH languages. SO MUCH. I am confused by half the things he says because I am trying to figure out what he is saying. He also wants me to react, repeat or comment on what he says and if I don't...he keeps saying my name over and over and louder and louder.

Okay, thanks for any shoe information, I will anxiously be awaiting your thoughts!!!

Students for dinner

We had some students over for dinner last night. Aliz and Nikki were able to make it but Mandi could not come because her whole family has some sort of flu and she didn't want to spread it to us, especially since we are getting on a plane a week from tomorrow to go to America :)

During dinner I got 2 calls and had to take one of them, because it was my brother in the States who NEVER usually calls especially if he is at work... but he wanted to talk through some of my thoughts in visiting him while I am home. So, thankfully Nikki and Aliz were able to chat.

Zach was not able to be there for most of the night, because he was with Jasper at the orthopedic specialist discussing how his leg is growing.

When Zach got home we all chatted for a while and then I put Eli to bed because he was so tired. He was falling asleep on the couch. But Jasper was WIRED for some reason. So, he stayed up with us and the girls until almost 9, then I laid him down. I have no idea what time he finally fell asleep!

Zach introduced Aliz and Nikki to guitar hero and they both liked it but thought it was really hard. Jasper was so cute with both Aliz and Nikki. Jasper loved on Nikki and remembered when she babysat him, she was so happy he kissed and hugged her lots. I also love Jasper's arm around Aliz while she is trying to play ... so precious!
I wanted to invite Aliz over to talk through some spiritual things. She is close to accepting God, she is just afraid of what will happen when she does. She talks to Zach a lot at FEK, and so I wanted to invite her over to talk more. She was so cute, I am not sure she has ever been invited to someone's house before for dinner. She kept asking Zach what she should do. Precious!!! All the staff have a HUGE soft spot for Aliz and pray for her. Unfortunately we did not get to talk about spiritual topics like I would have liked. I prayed a lot before the girls came, and so God knew my heart and my desire for her to really know Him. But last night wasn't the night to talk. Not with my phone calls, then Zach coming in and the boys with their crazy schedules in sleeping. It was an odd night all the way round. I rarely get phone calls, Eli never randomly wants to fall asleep on the couch with people over (mister high energy), it was a bummer that Zach had to go to this appointment with Jasper.... so it didn't turn out how I had pictured in my head. It is okay, God knew/knows and God cares about Aliz. I am going to keep praying for her and hopefully have her back to our flat when we get back!

Gramps has a birthday...

Gramps (Virgil) had a birthday on Friday. We were not able to celebrate it until Sunday evening. Here is Eli making him a birthday card...using paints, crayons and stickers.

Before Zach's parents came over to go out to dinner... Zach showed Eli "Guitar Hero." It was so funny watching Eli up on our ottoman with the guitar in his hands... he did really good too.
such concentration!

My little guy is getting so big!

It was fun celebrating Gramp's life. I just wish that our lives were not so busy so that we could have REALLY celebrated with him... we love you gramps!

Fall Festival

Eli and his friend Zach dressed up as Darth Vader and a Transformer....

Jasper loves the hula hoops... it was amazing, he kept stealing them from the games...
Zach, Eli, Gary and a girl doing the cake walk with Emily, one of the teachers leading the game.
Jasper stood by the cupcake station and kept swiping the cupcakes when we weren't looking. He must of eaten 10 of the mini ones... seriously, they were all wrapped around the big cupcakes and he kept eating them...
my little stinker...
Eli playing the toss the hula hoop over the pumpkin game...
picking out his candy...
Jasper so upset we wouldn't let him eat anymore cupcakes...
Hugging his friend Seth. It was amazing, I said "jasper go hug seth" and he did, and posed for me... it was so adorable, people stopped to comment and look at those two cuties!




As it was getting time to leave, Jasper had a meltdown. Not only could he not eat anymore "cake" he didn't want his costume on for some reason, so he was taking it off but couldn't get it passed his shoes. Notice the Superman shirt he was wearing under the Spiderman outfit...lol But he had no pants...
So we took him home like this... in the cold, thankfully no Hungarians saw us do this!
I think overall the kids had a good time, I know Eli did, he didn't want to leave. Jasper on the other hand....

festive cupcakes...

I needed to make cupcakes for the "cake walk" at the "Fall Festival" we were having for the kiddos. Eli and Jasper were more than happy to help me decorate them...

Jasper did not get what we were doing at all. All he wanted to do was eat the cupcake and didn't understand that we were putting icing on top.

So, I let him go ahead and eat 2. When I told him he couldn't have anymore, he cried and cried, and I said he could have one later... so with his lip quivering and trying to catch his breath, he consented and didn't ask to eat anymore. He was still super sad.
Until I showed him how to decorate them with sprinkles...and so he liked that, because he kept putting the sprinkles in his mouth...lol
Eli happy with his cupcake...
Eli's finished creations with LOTS of icing and LOTS of sprinkles...YUM

Halloween breakfast

We decided to go get bagels (not the best, but they are better than nothing here in BP) in our halloween costumes.... and the streets of Budapest were so happy to see Spiderman and Darth Vader walking the streets.

I selected the best shots, of them being nice to each other. There was lots of frustration and lots of anger with each other for some reason. The boys were not well behaved and we kept looking at each other saying "what has gotten into them today?" It wasn't the most relaxing Saturday morning. The boys were super moody. Naps were a must for today!

Video game time for girls day 2

So many girls wanted to get together at Virag's for video games, she had to break up the girls into two groups. I could only go for 20 minutes, but I got some good shots of the girls playing guitar hero! Here they are trying to help each other out. The crazy thing is, I was able to help them figure things out based on watching Zach play, even though I keep getting booed off stage!

Our woman's leader Kelly took a shot at it and did great. She scored a "You Rock!"

I wish I could have hung out with the girls longer, but I was able to make some yummy pumpkin cake and the girls loved it...you can see them eating it in the background :)