Having fun...

After a long but pretty uneventful flight we made it to the States. The girls have been having fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa as well as their cousins. Jason and I have done a bit of shopping already. We went to Walmart and Stop & Shop and the selection is amazing. I forgot how many options there were in the stores. It also surprises me every time someone in a shop says something to me in English. It has been fun shopping though! We just bought Ali her booster seat since she is finally big enough to move into it. Her timing was good though since it is much cheaper to buy a booster seat here than it is in Prague. On Sunday my brothers came to visit with their families and my mom made a big turkey dinner. It was fun to have Thanksgiving in February. Yesterday Jason and I took the girls up to NH to visit with our friends. It is just over 2 hours to drive to our friend's house but well worth the trip. The girls had fun playing with Reagan and Gracie and Jason and I had a great time with our friends, Melissa & Mike. We got home late and the kids went right to bed and actually slept until 6am rather than the 4am they have been sleeping to since we arrived.

Packing Packing

I have spent the day packing...running clothes, skiing clothes, regular clothes, appropriate footwear etc. I have also added a few empty duffles to ensure we can fit everything we buy to bring back with us. The upside is that if we forget something we can always buy it! No worries about finding a particular product in the States. I am excited to head home and see everyone. I'm also excited about simple items like bakery pizza and dunkin donuts. It will be a long day tomorrow but it will all be worth once we get to Boston. I will try to blog during our time in the States but I make no gaurentees. I plan on being busy visiting, shopping, skiing and eating!

Ali - Update

I'm happy to report Ali is fine and is only vitamin deficient. She is deficient in Vitamin A & D which is apparently very common here in the Czech Republic. Being from the U.S. we don't think much about those vitamins since there is plenty of sunshine and everything is fortified...bread, milk, cereal, flour etc etc. Here we have seen the sun maybe 5 times since fall came around and nothing is fortified. Another aspect of living in a different country that we are now able to deal with. We now have vitamins to give Ali twice a week. I wasn't sure if she would be able to take them since they are gelcaps but she took the first one just fine. When we arrive in the US we will make sure she has all the fortified products we can get...milk, juice etc and we will also stock up on childrens vitamins. We will also make sure the Sofia starts taking vitamins every day so that we don't face the same problem with her.

Engagements and babies

On Friday night Jason and I went to an engagement party for our friends Ondra and Lauren. It is fun to see people just starting their lives together. I had to laugh at myself when I thought, "aren't they a little young to get married?" since Jason and I were the same age when we got married. We are very happy for them and they are both so kind we wish them the best.

On Saturday morning, I headed out to a baby shower. Our friends, Chris and Laura, are expecting their second baby boy. We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet the new addition to their family. The shower was a great morning with friends. All the gifts were so cute. (Not cute enough for me to have another though!) I bought the baby swim trunks and swim diapers. I figured he needs to be ready to join our pool crew this summer!

Today we are off to visit some friends who live just out of town. Their place is easy to get to though since the train goes right to their village. Our life has been so hectic that we haven't seen each other in a little while so it will be nice to visit. It will probably be our last chance to see each other until April since when we come back to Prague from the States our friends will be going to the States for a month. After our visit there we will head back for Church. Our Church is moving to a new space this week. The space is bigger and nicer as well as being right around the corner from our apartment which is great! No more schlepping across town on Sunday evenings. We can have the kids home after church in minutes.

Doctors, doctors, doctors

This year has seen us visiting a lot of doctors. The trend is continuing. As I mentioned before we have been bringing Sofia to an ENT for her ears. We had the blood and allergy tests completed and I spoke with the immunologist today to get the results. All of Sofia's test came back fine so I will be scheduling another appointment with the ENT after we get back from our trip to the States. Ali has complained on and off again about her knee pain which we first really noticed at the time she had the allergic reaction to Augmentin. We wrote the pain off as part of the allergic reaction but lately the pain has really started to bother Ali. I brought her in to the doctor last week to have it checked. The doctor looked at her knee, took xrays and blood. We went back yesterday for the results. The blood tests all came back fine but the xray showed something on the bone. The doctor said it is not cancer but it needs to be checked b/c apparently where it is is also where her bone is growing. It is a little worrisome but I'm trying not to stress over it. We are going to see an orthopedist on Tuesday so hopefully he will shed more light on the problem.

Chinese New Year

January 26th was Chinese New Year. This is not an event we have celebrated or have particularly thought about in the past but this year Sofia had a chance to learn more about it. It is another benefit of having the girls in an international school. They get to learn about traditions from all over the world. Her friend James is British/Korean and his mom brought a little of her culture into the class room. She brought some of the traditional Korean clothes that children wear in Korea for the New Year celebrations as well as typical Korean food. The clothes are so fun and colorful and the kids really enjoying trying them on.

Help from our landlords

Before Christmas I had asked our landlords if their "guy" could come over and install a curtain rod in the kitchen so that I could hang curtains for the patios doors. Marie, our landlord, came over to show me that we already have a curtain rod in place. I told her I was aware of the curtain rod but the curtains that I bought don't work with that style curtain holder. She told me that I could just sew on something or other and I looked at her blankly and asked where I could have that done. She told me we could do it together! I was surprised and grateful for her help. We finally were able to get together this week when she came by with the furnace guy. She told me she would just take the curtain and do it for me. She had the curtain ready and ironed the next day! She came over with a ladder and Jason hung the curtains. I'm very happy with how the curtains look but I'm doubly happy and grateful that we have such nice landlords.

Pleasant Surprises

Jason took an unexpected day off on Friday. He has been so busy with work and this month has seen a lot of illness in our house that we haven't had a lot of time to just relax together so he decided to take a much needed day off. We brought the kids to school and then headed into town. We relaxed for a little bit at Starbucks, did a bit of shopping, had lunch, and then decided to go to a movie. We went and saw Yes Man. It was a very funny movie. The movie ended at the perfect time and we headed off to get the kids from school. They were surprised to see both of us at pick up time. We played charades on the way home which the kids love since I introduced it to them a couple weeks ago. WE played with the kids for a little bit until Iva arrived and then we headed out for dinner. We finally remembered to make reservations at Cafe de Paris which our friends Kurt and Sara told us about before they left Prague (thanks guys!). The restaurant is very small and the food was delicious. The steak was cooked perfectly and the desert was incredible. I love creme brulee but most places serve it cold and I really like it warm. I was thrilled when I took my first bite and it was warm. Next time we go I'm ordering the larger portion of creme brulee!

Enjoyment in the shoes

I have been struggling with my running lately. My feet have been hurting a lot and I couldn't figure out what was going on. I realized that it was my new sneakers. They must be too narrow for me and are cramping my entire foot which leads me to compensate throwing off my stride and making my thighs really sore. Over the weekend I decided to throw in the towel with my new running shoes (I had been fighting it since they weren't cheap). On Saturday I did a short 5 mile run with my old nikes and it felt so much better. I realized then that the asics (my new shoes) aren't wide enough to let my fore foot and toes really flatten/stretch out. Today was my real test though since I ran 11 miles with my old nikes. My pace was faster, my thighs didn't burn/hurt and the pain in my feet is a lot better. I had no idea a running shoe could make soooo much difference. I will definitely be visiting Marathon Sports when we go back to the States in a couple of weeks to buy a couple pairs of running shoes that fit my feet properly!

Burns Night

Saturday night was Burns Night. The Scottish contingent at the girls school holds a Burns night supper every year. For those of you not familiar with Robert Burns you can read about him HERE. We went last year and had such a great time. I have been looking forward to this since we walked out the door last year. Last year I had no idea what we were getting into and I wore a strapless dress. A strapless dress is not ideal for the vigorous Scottish dancing so this year I bought a halter dress and low heeled shoes. I also told our babysitter to not expect us until close to 3am since last year we didn't realize how late it would go and had to leave early. I was ready to go! This year the dinner was in a new location which was newly renovated and beautiful. As you arrived the bagpipes started to play which sounded lovely. It was so nice to have a night out with friends in such a fun atmosphere. It is fun to see all our Scottish friends in their kilts and all the ladies dressed up. We won the raffle again this year for a bottle of whiskey which I have put on the shelf behind the one we won last year. It was a lot of fun (even though I did have one klutzy moment) and I'm looking forward to having fun again next year on Burns Night! Here are a few pictures from the night.

No water, No Internet

As you all know my 2009 has started a little, shall we say, bumpy. Things are looking up but we had a minor stutter this past week, hence my lack of blog posts. We lost our internet connection for 4 days. Granted this was my fault since the bill was late but the bill has been a little late before and they never stopped our service. Our neighbors service was also stopped for late payment so I guess the internet company is getting a little touchy if your payment is a tiny bit late. Being without the internet is quite difficult. On top of the annoyance of not being able to just look something up I also had no skype. My skype rings out to my mobile phone if I don't pick it up so normally losing internet service wouldn't be a problem but this time it was b/c I ran out of skype credit (which is needed to send the calls to my mobile) and since I had no internet I couldn't add any credit to my skype account. To continue with my stumbling of 2009, we came home yesterday evening and had no water. Fortunately there were water trucks outside so we filled a couple buckets to get us through the night. We woke up this morning and still had no water. What is a girl to do...thank God for deodorant and perfume. I took the girls to school and went to a coffee morning for the parents in the girls class. Luckily for me my fellow class rep was leading the meeting. All is well now though. We have internet and water. I have learned my lesson and make sure I pay the bill early so the internet company doesn't turn us off again. I will hope that the construction around us doesn't break any more water pipes.

Fainting...

Today Sofia and I got up early, skipped breakfast (per the Doctor instructions) and headed up to the doctors office. We had to go back this morning to have Sofia's blood taken since we couldn't do it on Monday. We arrived early which was great since there weren't many people in the office ahead of us and it is a "take a number" place not a scheduled appointment. We took our number and sat down. We were quickly called in by the nurse. Sofia did pretty well and only cried a little bit while they were taking her blood. We finished about 8am which I thought was great b/c then I could get Sofia to school almost on time. Well, best laid plans..... After finishing with the blood I took Sofia back out to the reception area. I put her jacket, hat and one glove on when she started to wilt. I thought she was just being silly so I just took her other hand to put her glove on and she just continued to wilt. I looked at her and noticed her eyes roll back in her head and she dropped. Luckily for her I had a hold of her so she didn't hurt herself fainting. I quickly yelled, "PROSIM" since we were in a Czech doctor's office and the lady next to me was already up and getting the nurse. They were over to us very quickly and picked up Sofia and brought her to the bed in the doctor's office. She came to very quickly but had to be convinced to eat chocolate and drink water. She was groggy and I don't think she understood what was happening. We stayed there for quite a while. They took her blood pressure a couple times and listened to her heart. After all was well they let us go. Sofia was still a little tired so I carried her to the tram. I knew things still weren't right when she told me she didn't like the donut or chocolate muffin I bought her. I let her sit on my lap on the tram and by the time we reached her school she was all better and ready to play with her friends. I guess she is just like me....we need all of our blood in our bodies and without some of it we just pass out.

Skating

Over the christmas break Jason and I took the girls skating (as we previously posted). The girls loved skating so much that they "skate" all around the apartment. We decided we would try to get to an ice rink so that the girls could skate again. Last week I went on the search for skates for the girls and myself. I found skates for Sofia and me but Ali's feet are just too small and I couldn't find any skates for her. We will just have to rent skates for Ali this year and hopefully buy her skates next year. Fortunately the skates we bought Sofia are adjustable and therefore should fit her for the next couple years. I am hoping we can buy the same skates for Ali next year. I was excited to have new skates as well but with bronchitis etc. I hadn't been able to use them until today. Today I went to an ice rink that was outdoors. I thought it was an indoor rink when I headed there since it was slightly drizzling outside but realized when I go there that it was an outdoor rink. I decided to stay and skate anyway. I was the only one on the ice for the first 20 minutes which was fun. It took me a little bit to get use to my new skates since they are more like hockey skates but they have a toe pick. After skating for a bit I decided to have my skates sharpened. This helped a lot and while I am no where near my high school days of figure skating I'm not too bad either. It was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to skating with the kids as well as skating with some friends.

Allergist

Sofia's hearing is still not very good. We have been back and forth to the ENT many times and have taken allergy medicine, antibiotics, and nose drops all in an attempt to clear her ears. Nothing has worked. Before they will discuss tubes though everything has to be looked at so today was our trip to the allergy/immunology doctor. Sofia had 20 pricks made in her forearm to test for allergies. It was not a pleasant process for her. I felt bad for her because I know it was painful. The upside is that she didn't have any allergic reaction. The downside of our visit was that they did not tell me in advance that Sofia couldn't eat before the immunology blood test so we need to go back again on Wednesday. After they take her blood on Wednesday, we will wait for the results and on Feb 6th I will call the doctor to find out if anything shows up on the blood test. I really can't imagine anything coming up but we shall see. After that it will be back to the ENT to see what the next steps are in helping Sofia to hear better.

What a beautiful day!

Maybe my bronchitis and truck accident was just a wonderful excuse to not run in the freezing temperatures in Prague. I went for a short run on Saturday with a slightly tight chest but all in all it felt pretty good. Today was my first run of distance (8 miles) since December and it was just beautiful! The temperature was about 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) and the sun was shining and the sky was blue. I'm taking the sunny blue sky as a sign that my 2009 is only going up from here!

English - British - Czechglish

The kids are exposed to many different languages here which is great. We try to maintian a certain level of American English but have also accepted some British English into our home. Things like sweetie instead of candy has become standard. Today, however, Sofia said, "This is a great rubber." Before I burst out in adolescent humor I had to correct her and say, "yes, but we call it an eraser." She responded with, "yes, but some people call it a rubber." I had to agree with her that some people do call it a rubber but reiterated that we call it an eraser. (For those of you who don't know, in American English slang a rubber is a condom.) So there are some British English words we can accept and some we prefer not to use.
Another thing we also here is Czechglish, a blend of English and Czech. Sofia loves going to Czech school and learning Czech. When she is at Czech school her teacher calls her Sofinku and her teacher calls Ali, Alinku. This is normal in Czech. Sofia has taken those nicknames and applied them in English. Daddy has become Dadinku and her stuffed animal horse has become horsinku. It is funny and interesting how she is combining the two languages. It is hard to know how much Czech Sofia knows since she won't speak it with me very often but I know she must understand quite a bit since when I pick her up from Czech class I never hear a word of English being spoken. I don't push her to speak Czech and I am just enjoying hearing her Czechglish. I love the mutlicultural language she is developing... rubbers, sweeties, dadinku, horsinku and all.

Things go right....almost

Today Jason took the girls to school and I headed off to the foreign police to get my visa renewed. This is a relatively easy process for us since Jason's company takes care of a lot of the leg work. I showed up and met a lady who took me inside where I signed a few forms and then I was done. It was nice and easy.



I left there and decided I was going to get myself a strudel. A few years back I had watched a show that was done in Prague and during the show the woman bought a strudel that was suppose to be delicious. I had asked Jason to go there on his many trips to Prague but he never did. He always said it was too far out of the way. Well, after hounding him, we moved here and I realized he was right and after two years I had never made it over to get a strudel. Today was my day though and I had time so I decided to find the strudel shop. It was just a couple blocks away from the foreign police. It is really just a window that you step up to and buy your fresh strudel. I bought 2 apple strudels but on second thought I should have bought one apple and one cheese but that means I will just have to go back! He handed me the strudel which was about 10" long and it was still warm! I was very excited. I bit into it and there was real apple chunks not just apple mush. It was delicious! It was cheap too at only 42Kc ($2.20USD). I will have to make another trip over there soon to buy a cheese strudel. Now that I know exactly where it is, it isn't that far out of the way.

After purchasing my strudel I headed over to the ambulance company offices (the ambulance that took me to the hospital after the truck accident) to give them my insurance card. They apparently shouldn't haven't given me a bill but should have accepted my insurance card on the spot. But, it was easy enough to head to their offices. The lady at reception walked me down to the right person to speak with and he copied my insurance card, took the bill and I was done.

This is where the "almost" comes in....As I was walking back to the metro to give Jason a strudel I got a call from the kids school. Ali is sick. I had to go pick her up from school. (Jason will have to eat his strudel later.) I brought Ali home and let her watch movies. I was hoping she would fall asleep and so I was rubbing her head. Just as her eyes were closing and she appeared to dose off, the throw up came flying out of her mouth! On her, on me and on the couch. So, like I said, things are going right...almost! Let's hope we can contain Ali's illness to just one child and it doesn't spread throughout our house.

Back to normal...

Life in 2009 has been interesting to say the least but it finally appears to be returning to a normal rhythm. I still have bronchitis and a couple sore spots from getting hit by the truck but I have resumed most of my daily activities. I hope to resume running by Friday....that is my time limit for bronchitis so hopefully my body will cooperate! :)
I finally gave Watson a bath and a haircut which he desperately needed. We had kept putting it off since the groomer that we have used here never listens to what we want so we needed to find a new one. Finding a new groomer is difficult so Watson was looking pretty gray and shaggy. I couldn't take it anymore so I decided to groom him myself. I have to say, I did a pretty good job and I saved us $50. Now that I know I can do it maybe Watson will get bathed more frequently!
Yesterday I went shopping for ice skates. Ice Skates are another one of those things we didn't bring with us from the States that we should have brought. Oh well, I am actually happy that I was forced to buy new skates here b/c the skates I bought are so much nicer that my old skates. I'm looking forward to skating with some friends while the kids are in school. I also bought the same skates for Sofia so hopefully we can get a lot of skating in on the weekends. The nice thing about the skates I bought is that they are adjustable for size so they should fit Sofia for the next couple years. Ali's feet are too small and I can't find any skates that fit her so we will have to continue to rent skates for her.
Today I'm off to the insurance company to get reimbursed for prescriptions but also to find out how I'm suppose to pay the ambulance company since it is the first time we have received a bill for anything medical. The medic told us the insurance will pay it but I don't know if that means we pay it and the insurance reimburses us or if the insurance company will pay it directly. It is always interesting to go to the insurance office.

*Update - I went to insurance company and turns out the ambulance should have just taken my insurance info and not given me an invoice. I will head to the ambulance office next week. Another adventure!

Hit by Truck

Did you ever feel like you have been hit by a truck? Well, I now know what that feels like. Don't worry, I am fine. I just have some minor bumps and bruises. I was in town today and I was meeting Jason in front of a bank on a main shopping street. I was standing on the SIDEWALK looking in the direction from which Jason would come when from behind I was hit and thrown to the ground. I was stunned and looked back to see what the heck had hit me and saw a big delivery truck. I had a moment of panic when I thought the truck was moving but it stopped. I then just was in disbelief. I was doing a mental check of all body parts and a couple guys were surrounding me asking me if i was ok. Of course they were speaking to me in czech but apparently being hit by a truck knocks all ability to speak another language out of my brain. It was all I could do to say "I don't speak Czech" in English. Fortunately one of the men helping me spoke English and stayed with me until Jason arrived. We went in the ambulance to the hospital for exrays of my head and knee. Everything is fine and I'm now home. I'm sure advil will be my friend tomorrow but I am just grateful it wasn't worse than it was. I will now be very vigilant even on sidewalks. After starting 2009 with bronchitis and being hit by a truck I'm thinking the rest of the year should be looking up!

Bronchitis

Not much is going on here. The kids started back to school on Monday and are having a great time. I, on the other hand, am not having a great time. I started with a fever and cough over the weekend and has changed to bronchitis by today. It isn't fun and I haven't had much sleep. The upside is that I don't have to entertain the kids all day while I am sick. Jason pretty much does everything in the mornings and our friends have brought the kids home for me (accept yesterday when I thought I was better so I picked them up myself). The girls have been very good to leave me alone and have just played nicely together. Somehow they have finally reached the age that they understand mommy really doesn't feel well. I am looking forward to getting better with antibiotics so that we can start enjoying winter (and just so I don't feel so bad!).

Movie & Fireworks

Today we met up with some friends to see Madagascar 2. It was the first times the girls have ever been to a movie theater to see a movie. They were excited to go to the movie and to go to the movie with their friends, Vivi & Michelle. I decided to make it a full movie experience for them and bought them popcorn and a soda. They have had popcorn before but have never had there own soda. There have been times when I might have given them a sip of my soda so this was a big deal. I got them Fanta (which is what orange soda is called here) because Sofia has been asking for Fanta for a while since her friend Anna apparently loves Fanta. The girls did great in the movie and we only had to go to the potty once which wasn't surprising given the soda drinking that was happening. They were very sad to leave the theater but perked up when we told them we were going to see fireworks. On January 1st Prague puts on a huge firworks display from Letna Park so you can see the fireworks from all over the city. We hopped on a tram after the movie to get to a good viewing location and we were going to meet up with friends at the determined location. Our plans changed when our tram ended up taking a detour b/c of the fireworks. We were a little disspointed at first but then realized our good fortune. Our tram was empty (except for 2 other people) and heated and stopped in the middle of one of the bridges crossing the vlatva for a PERFECT viewing location. We couldn't have asked for better luck. The kids loved seeing their first fireworks display and we didn't have to worry about them being cold. Once the fireworks were over the tram continued on its way and we hopped off at the metro and came home. It all worked out great.

Happy New Year!

Usually Jason and I ring in the New Year at home enjoying Chinese food and going to bed before midnight but this year we decided to go to a friend's house. The girls don't have any concept of New Year's Eve but they were happy to have their babysitter here. We headed to the edge of Prague to our friend's house to celebrate. Luckily we were able to borrow a friend's car for the night otherwise we would have needed to take a taxi. We arrived at our friends house and had fun talking to our friends and meeting new people. There was even some major fireworks going off in their neighborhood so we stood outside for a little bit to watch. It is another difference between the States and Czech. In the States it is illegal in most states to buy fireworks but even in states that you can buy them you can't buy the huge colorful fireworks that you see on the 4th of July. Here you can buy those fireworks easily and legally. So, we enjoyed seeing the fireworks and then, being freezing cold, we went back inside. We watched the Czech tv station to see the happenings on Wenceslas Square and to watch the countdown to 2009. After watching that and ringing in the New Year we changed the channel and watch New Year's in London. It is strange to see the countdown twice. It was a fun night and I'm looking forward to 2009. Happy New Year everyone!!

Ice Skating

This afternoon Jason and I took the girls into town for ice skating. I was excited to get on skates again since I haven't skated in a while and I love it. I was also excited to introduce the girls to skating. They did really well. I was surprised that they were able to stand on the skates by themselves. They seemed to enjoy skating and learning to do it by themselves. After skating by themselves for a little bit I would take each of them around the rink at a higher speed. I would skate backwards and just hold them up so they could just let their skates sit on the ice. Since we just saw Disney Princess on ice I would also do little spins with them. It was nice to see them so happy. That ice rink is only there until Wednesday so I will have to look for another rink that I can bring them to so we can keep skating. If we do, I will have to buy some skates for all of us so that we can have skates that fit properly since that makes it easier to skate. Here are a couple videos of the girls skating.

Merry Christmas!

We have been enjoying our Christmas vacation. On Christmas Eve we went into Old Town Square to see the lights and look at the Christmas Market. We forgot that this was prague and everything closes Christmas Eve, including the Christmas Market. Czech's celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve so Old Town Square was very empty when we arrived but that was fine. It made it easier to enjoy all the lights and the beauty around us. On Christmas morning the girls woke up and we had a little breakfast and then started opening presents. Ali made me laugh because after every present she would ask if there were anymore. It was like she couldn't believe there were all these presents for her. After ripping through all the presents we had a very lazy day of playing with toys, eating and watching movies. This is the second year in a row that we have made a beef tenderloin with a blue cheese sauce for our Christmas meal and it was delicious. The day after Christmas (Boxing Day) we went to our friends house out of town. They had recently moved out of town and we hadn't seen them as much so it was great to visit them. Their new house was beautiful. We had fun hanging out and we went for a walk down to the river as well. It was very cold out so it was quite a refreshing walk. We ended up carrying Ali most of the way back but I didn't mind. I wasn't surprised she was cold since my hands and feet were frozen too. I think today we will head into town for some ice skating. I will post later about that.

The Spirit of Christmas

I love Christmas in Prague. Everything is so festive and it really feels like Christmas (although we could use snow to really make it perfect). Last year I gave a package of homemade cookies to our downstairs neighbor at Christmas since they, while they speak no English, have been so kind to us. This year, before I could get downstairs with their package of Christmas cookies, they came upstairs with a package of Czech Christmas cookies for us. It was so nice of them. I never expected them to give us cookies or to make the climb up to our apartment since they are older and it takes them a while to climb the stairs. Once again I find myself wondering how people can think the Czechs are cold people since they have been nothing but welcoming to us. This morning I took Watson out for his walk and I brought a bag of homemade cookies to our local lahudky (kind of like a delicatessen). The ladies in the lahudky have always been nice to me and I just wanted to give them a little something for Christmas. They were surprised when I came in and put the package on the counter and said "vesele vanoce" (Merry Christmas). I had to tell them that it was just American cookies. They were very happy and very thankful for my gift. I left the shop to head home and when I was partway down the road one of the ladies came running after me with two big chocolate Mikulases for me to give to the girls. Again, so nice and unexpected. The spirit of Christmas is alive and well in Prague and I'm happy to be apart of it.

Disney on Ice

This morning Jason and I took the girls to see Disney Princesses on Ice. It was a great show and the girls were mesmerized for the entire two hours. They didn't seem to care that the entire show was in Czech. They know the stories and characters so well and they are use to hearing Czech that I don't even think it occurred to them that they were listening to Czech. We of course bought the obligatory items..popcorn, rainbow ice in a princess cup, magic wand and tiara. It was all worth it to see the girls enjoy themselves so much. After we got home the girls went to there room and "skated" for quite a while. Here is the video that Jason took of the girls skating like the princesses.

Christmas Party

Last night Jason and I hosted our first party in Prague. This last week has been a mad dash to get everything ready for the party. Unfortunately the list was pretty long since we had put off a lot of things on our "to do" list. The party was a catalyst for the completion of many "to do" items. We had to buy new dishware and glassware since we had not replaced all of our broken things from when the kitchen cabinets fell off the wall last year. We had to clean the windows which we hadn't done since we moved here! We also finally hung pictures in the kitchen.

My friends were all great helps to me. One friend brought me to a wholesale dish/glassware store which was great. Since it is a wholesaler you have to have a business license to shop there which I don't possess so having a friend with one who is willing to go shopping with me was great. The prices were so much lower I saved a ton of money and now have new dishes. They were out of stock on many of the glasses I wanted but that was ok since other friends let me borrow their Makro card. Makro is a big box store similar to Costco but you have to have a business to be a member. I went to Makro and bought the rest of the glassware that I wanted as well as wine and other food/drink for the party. Again, because it is basically a wholesaler the prices are a lot cheaper so I was able to save money here as well. After acquiring all these wonderful new dishes and glasses I had to, of course, wash them all. It also required reoganizing the kitchen to have appropriate storage for everything. In the reorganizing we realized we needed another storage container so off to Ikea I went. Jason and I laughed about storage b/c whenever it seems like we can't fit more things in the apartment we somehow manage to get more organized and we can fit more things.

Anyway, I made a lot of cookies and then bagged them all and put them in gift bags with pretty ribbon to give to our guests as a little christmas present. I also made spring rolls, spinach puff pastry, BBQ pulled pork, chocolate cream pie, chocolate chip bread pudding with caramel sauce , and brownies. Store bought items filled in the rest of the food...shrimp cocktail, nuts, olives, chips, and cheese & crackers. We also served, wine, beer, soda, water but in addition we created 4 speciality drink cards with instruction on making a drink for those who wanted a christmas cocktail..holly-tini, christmas cosmopolitan, peppermint stick or for the non drinkers the Merry red dragon mocktail. There was plenty of food and drink for everyone and it was a great group of people. One of the things that is great about living here is the diverse group of people that we have in our lives. Last night we had friends from Scotland, England, Australia, Czech, Russia, Slovakia, Canada, United States, Poland and Serbia here celebrating with us. It was a great night.

I am looking forward to entertaining more often now and welcoming more of our friends into our home. I will post pics soon. I, unfortunately, didn't take many pictures last night so once my friend e-mails the pics she took I will post them.

Vienna

On Friday we collected our rental car and hit the road for Vienna. It should be about a 4 hour drive but it took us about 6 hours between the traffic leaving Prague, potty breaks and food breaks. It was a fairly easy drive though which was nice. As we left the Czech Republic you drive through a weird "in between" space between Austria and Czech where there are outlets and casinos and some sketchy looking flea markets. We had to laugh though since the outlets were called Freeport but we were definitely not in Maine! We continued our drive into Austria and made it to our hotel with little difficulty. We waited a little while in the car while Jason finished up a conference call and then headed into the hotel. The girls were excited to be staying in a hotel. Upon arrival our room was not ready but that was fine since they offered us free coffee and cakes while we waited. The girls enjoyed their hot chocolates and had fun drawing with the paper and pen the hotel staff gave them. We eventually headed up to our room and got ourselves sorted out while the girls jumped on their bed. We headed downstairs to the restaurant and ordered dinner. The girls were so tired that they didn't eat much. I finished my meal and left Jason to pay while I took the girls upstairs to get ready for bed. They were very tired but the excitement of a huge bed and sleeping in it together was a little too much for them and they didn't fall asleep right away. Such is life...I was excited about the big beds with down pillows, comforters etc that I couldn't really blame them for their excitement! Ali had a fitful night sleep which meant we all did but we got up in the morning and headed out of the hotel to do some sightseeing.

Our first order of business was to find breakfast. To our surprise there were not many places open in the morning at 8:30. We had to wait until about 9 for a few cafes to open. Needless to say we were all a bit grumpy until we had some food. After finding breakfast we headed out to St Stephens church which is a big church in the middle of the city. We looked at the church and let the girls run around in the pedestrian area and then continued on to the Christmas Market. The Vienna Christmas Market has a lot of fun things for kids. The market is essentially broken up into three parts. The middle part has all the stalls selling food, drinks, ornaments, hats, nativity scenes, etc. On the left and on the right were areas for kids. The right side had houses to go in and watch little puppet shows as well as pony rides. The kids loved the house with the hand puppets. They pressed the button to make the show start again many times. After leaving that house we moved on to the pony rides. Here is a video of the kids in the house with the hand puppets.

After all that excitement we headed back to the hotel for a nap. The girls were definitely tired. Sofia slept for 2 hours and Ali slept for 3 hours. It is unheard of for Sofia to sleep during the day so we decided to just let the girls sleep as long as they wanted. After a good nap we went to the pool. After going from hot tub to pool many times we decided it was time to head outside again and finish seeing the market. We were all excited to see all the Christmas lights as well. We walked along the inner ring until we reached the market. We started with the left side to see what else they had for kids. Unfortunately we couldn't go in any of he houses since they all closed up at 7pm but the girls did get to go on the carousel and a little train ride which they loved. It was hard to pry them away from the rides but we all needed food. We headed back into the crowded middle section and had hot drinks and sausages and then headed back to the hotel. By the time we got back and were ready for bed it was 10pm. Even with the long naps the girls were still tired. We all fell asleep very quickly. Before going to sleep however, we didn't want to wait for the cafes to open in the morning for breakfast so we splurged and ordered room service.

In the morning we woke and had a leisurely breakfast in our room and then packed and headed out to Schonbrunn Palace. We didn't have much time before we needed to be on the road back to Prague but I really wanted to see this palace. The pictures of it are so beautiful. We didn't have time to go inside but we went out back to the gardens and walked around for a little bit but it was very cold so our time was brief. We agreed though that we will need to go back to Schonbrunn in the summer so we can see all the flowers in bloom and enjoy walking around the grounds.

It was a whirlwind weekend but we did get to see a fair amount of the city and we are looking forward to going back again.

Decorating the tree

Our schedules have been so busy with Jason's work, the many school activities, and my girl's weekend away that we hadn't had any time to decorate the Christmas tree. It took a week for us to even move it off the patio and into a stand in the apartment. Last Thursday night was finally the night we had designated as the tree decorating night since we wanted to get it decorated before we went to Vienna. The girls were so excited to decorate the tree and wanted to immediately put the star on top. We had to explain that the star goes on last and that they would put it on together. After explaining that both girls were eager to get all the ornaments on the tree. Ali helped Jason put the lights on the tree and then the kids quickly whipped all the ornaments out of the box. We had to give them a little direction so that all the ornaments didn't end up in the same location but all in all they did a great job.

Nursery Nativity Play

Party & Plays

Today was a busy day. Jason and I brought the girls to school and dropped Sofia off at her class and then went to Ali's class for the nursery nativity play. Ali played an Angel in the play and had to say "Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to look for a place to stay." I wasn't sure how she would do during the play but she did great. She loved practicing her line at home and would yell it out. Since she can be a little shy sometimes I thought maybe she would just put her head down and mumble it but she didn't. She said her line loud and clear. I guess that is all part of Ali coming out of her shell. (I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but in the last few weeks Ali has really come out of her shell. She is very talkative at school now.) After the play the nursery class joined the reception class for games in the jidelna (cafeteria).

While the kids played games in the jidelna some of the moms and I prepared the Reception classroom for the Christmas party. The parents provided everything from plates, cups, and decorations to quiches, sausage rolls, cookies, cakes, vegetables and even a chocolate fountain. The kids were all very excited when they came into the class and saw all the food and decorations.

Visit to Santa

While I was in Nuremberg with my girlfriends, Jason had the kids all to himself. He had to pick up the girls a little early on Friday since Santa came to the kids' school. The school lets the nursery and reception classes out thirty minutes early so that they can get to Santa before the rest of the school. This is great because once the rest of the school is released the line for Santa is very long. I forgot to mention to Jason that Sofia also has ballet on Friday afternoons so he arrived to pick up the girls and Sofia was in her ballet class. Luckily the ballet teacher ended class early so that the kids could go see Santa. Once the girls got to Santa, Sofia forgot what she wanted to ask for and Ali froze up. I guess that is an improvement from last year! Maybe by next year they won't be so intimidated by Santa. After seeing Santa they headed to the bake sale in the high school for a couple treats and then home.

Girls Weekend

On Friday I headed to Nuremberg, Germany with my girlfriends for the weekend. This was my first weekend away from my children since they were born so I was VERY excited. The drive to Nuremberg was easy and uneventful. We found our apartment rental easily which was nice. I forgot to call the apartment owner when we were thirty minutes outside the city so we had to wait a little bit to get into our apartment but that was no big deal. I was happy to stand there with friends and not have children whining about having to wait. When we got into the apartment it was nice. It wasn't fancy or decorated in my style but it was clean and comfortable. We dropped our stuff off and headed into town. The train station was a 2 minute walk from our rental. We figured out the ticketing system (or at least we bought a ticket) which I was surprised did not have instructions in English. You are probably wondering why I would be surprised to not see English when I'm in a German speaking country. I was surprised because first, even the Czech train system has instruction in Czech and English and second, it is Germany and I have never had a problem speaking English while in Germany. It seems most people in Germany speak English very well. In any event, we bought a ticket and rode the 4 stops into town. Nuremberg is such a cute town! I really didn't know what to expect of Nuremberg since when I hear Nuremberg I think the Nuremberg trials and Nazis. The town was so cute though and there was tons of shopping. We spent the rest of Friday shopping and eating to our hearts content.

More friends showed up on Saturday morning and we headed back into town for more shopping and to go to the Christmas Market. The Christmas Market was our main reason for going to Nuremberg since it Germany's most famous Christmas market and over 2 million people a year go to it. The market was a lot of fun and was packed with people, even in the rain. I bought Nuremberg Prune men to put in the girls' stockings for Christmas. These are, apparently, one of the things that the Nuremberg market is known for. The prune men are made out of prunes, figs, and walnuts! After checking out all the stalls at the market and hitting a few more stores we had dinner and hot chocolate then headed back to our rental and hung out and chatted. We stayed up late and slept late this morning.

After getting all of our stuff together and loading everything in the car this morning we headed into town for brunch and to pick up a few last minute items. It was a great weekend and hopefully the first of many! Also, since it was raining and my hands were loaded down with shopping bags I didn't get too many pictures of the city itself. I guess I'll just have to go back again sometime soon.

I wish we had...

Tonight at dinner Sofia turned to me and said, "Mommy, I wish we had a microwave." A microwave is just something we have never had here. It isn't that they aren't available because they are available. When we moved here we figured we didn't need one since we weren't going to be here long. By the time we realized we were going to be here longer than two years we realized that we didn't actually need a microwave. There are occasions when it would be nice to have one but those times are so few it just doesn't seem worth it. Anyway, when Sofia said she wished for a microwave I asked her why she wanted one. She told me because she wanted popcorn! Well, that was an easy fix. I excitedly told Sofia that you didn't need a microwave for popcorn and that it is fun to make on the stove. Luckily I had popcorn kernels and quickly got them out and showed the girls how to make popcorn the old fashion way. They were very excited to have popcorn and to hear it popping in the the pan. I was happy to share one of my childhood memories with them (although I don't own a big yellow pan like my mom had) and to see their joy at having popcorn at home.

Happy Anniversary

Today marks our two year anniversary of moving to Prague! Time flies when you are having fun that is for sure. I can't believe that we have been here for two years. When we moved here we had originally thought it would only be for two years and now I couldn't imagine having to leave here today. We have made great friends here and are having a blast. The kids are happy. They love their school and all their friends. They love learning to speak other languages (Sofia can count to ten in Czech, Spanish, & English). They love to travel and see different places and to try different foods. They love seeing their Daddy for two hours more a day instead of him spending that time commuting to work. We all love our family time. Jason and I love our friends who have become our family. We love our Friday night date night every week. We love the feeling of success when we can communicate to someone in Czech. We love traveling and we love seeing our children grow up with the knowledge of many cultures. Never would I have thought we would be living in the Czech Republic but it has been a HUGE blessing!

Gingerbread House

Now that Thanksgiving is over I can look ahead to Christmas. I have taken out the Christmas decorations and put them up around the apartment. I now need to go out and buy more decorations but that is what the Christmas markets are for in Prague, Nuremberg, and Vienna. Today I decided to have some Christmas fun with the girls and we made a gingerbread house. It was the first time we had done it so I started out simple. I bought the sides and roof of the house pre-made. It was a challenge enough to melt sugar and stick everything together. The girls really had fun sticking the candy all over the house. Sofia originally want to make it like the picture on the box but I convinced her that our own creativity was better. Now that it is made I'm not sure where to put it. What does one do with it? Do you leave it out all month and then throw it away? It seems like a waste of good candy.

Bake Sale

The kids school has started all the Christmas activities. This morning the girls had hot chocolate, a cookie an hung their ornaments that they made in class on the tree in the cafeteria. I wasn't there for the tree decorating but luckily the school took some nice pictures.

After school today was the Christmas bake sale. Bake sales at school are always more than just bake sales but today it was way more than a bake sale. There were tables selling christmas cards, gifts, hot chocolate, pointsettias, marshmallows, drinks, fruit and vegetables, sushi, korean sauces, tickets to see Santa, face painting and I'm sure I have missed some. It always seems like pure mayhem but the kids enjoy it.

The Reeboks are back

Tonight Jason and I went out to dinner but before heading to the restaurant we stopped at a shoe store for Jason. While we were there I was browsing the shoes as well and ended up getting a great deal on a pair of boots. The highlight of the shopping trip though was seeing the old style white reeboks on sale that we wore in elementary school! They even had them in multiple colors including fluorescent green!! Now, my question is are you seeing Reeboks making a come back in the States? How about leg warmers since I've seen those lately as well?

Nine

That is the number of different animals I saw on my run today. I have started a new running loop since I find running the same paths over and over again very boring. My goal is to not duplicate a path (or at least minimize) on any run over 8 miles. I had been running on the bike path between the zoo and the river for a while but it doesn't go far enough so I would have to run back and forth on it to get the distance I want. Instead of doing that I decided to go around the zoo. So now I get to see some fun animals. Today I saw a dog, cat, horses, sheep, goats, geese, zebra, reindeer (or some kind of elk/caribou animal) and some kind of gazelle. I never thought I would be running past zebras!

Thanksgiving Celebration

We went to our friend's house for Thanksgiving again this year. It was a LOT of fun. Phil & Shanna so graciously open their home up to all their friends for Thanksgiving. There were so many people there it felt like home. The kids even had a lot of their friends to play with as well. Our friends have really become like family to us so it was nice to celebrate with them. It is also nice to see the kids playing with other kids just like they would play with their cousins. After a nice prayer and directions on location and serving of food we all made heaping plates of food. The kids were excited to have a table all to themselves..."the girls table" as they called it. They were well behaved at a table all alone. When one of them needed me one of their friends would not hesitate to yell out my name to get my attention. It was very cute how they all helped each other and asked nicely when they needed something. After eating (or picking at) their food the kids were excused to continue their playing. Jason and I had the chance to sit and talk with friends while the kids all played together. By 8pm we started the process of leaving. It always seems to take longer to leave somewhere than you think and we didn't actually get home until 8:45pm even though we live in walking distance (although we took the bus anyway). The kids went right to sleep after having so much fun for hours.

Turkey Complete

I, of course, forgot to take a picture of the turkey when I took it out of the oven but it looked nice. After patiently waiting the 20 minutes before cutting into it I carved up the turkey. For those that know me from Thanksgiving in the States, I am very impatient. I want to swipe a piece of that crispy skin as soon as it comes out of the oven. I know it keeps the juices in etc but it is just sooo good! As an adult I don't sneak any skin off the bird until I'm given the go ahead but after 30+ years of me hovering around the turkey as soon as my dad starts carving the turkey he puts the skin aside and calls me over. Well, I'm proud to say that even though I am all alone cooking the turkey this year I held off on eating the skin until after I carved the turkey. Even more than that, I didn't eat it all and put most of it on the platter for the guests. Man, I must be getting really OLD!

The Turkey's in the Oven

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! It is a little strange to be away from The United States on Thanksgiving since it isn't celebrated here. The girls still have school and Jason still has work so I'm home alone making the turkey. It is ok though since we will be going to our friends house for her annual Thanksgiving celebration. There will be about 75 people going to the party so we pitch in and cook one of the turkeys. This year we are also making mashed potatoes. I have put the turkey in the oven to cook and I'm waiting for the yummy smell to fill the apartment. The turkey this year was slightly smaller than last year but still barely fits in my oven. It isn't that the turkey is so big, (only 16.5lbs) it is that my oven is so small. It just adds a little excitement to cooking the turkey every year...will it fit or not?

Richard..errr...I mean Jason

Since we have moved to Prague we have found that "Jason" is a difficult name. The Czech people just aren't familiar with it and to say it in Czech would sound like "Yason". Richard, Jason's middle name, is much easier to understand. Our landlords always call Jason, "Richard". They see his name on the lease documents and have changed our mailbox to say "Jason Richard" but for whatever reason they just can't seem to remember "Jason". I can understand this since I sometimes find it difficult to remember a name that I'm not familiar with. We started making dinner reservations using either "Richard" or "Maria" and it has worked fine. The issue came up again this morning when our neighbor so nicely left us a bottle of wine with a note to say Happy Thanksgiving. The note was addressed to "Richard & Mary". We had to smile and laugh...who would have ever thought "Jason" would be a name so given to mistakes?

Relaxing Sunday

We started the morning off with german oven pancakes. Since I've been more into cooking I like trying new things. I found a recipe for german oven pancakes and decided to give it a try. It bakes in the oven for twenty minutes and it is completely different than a normal pancake. It makes just one 9" pancake. It reminded me more of a giant popover. I sprinkled it with powdered sugar and the kids loved it. It is easy to make and I will definitely make it again although I am curious to see what would happen if I put it in a muffin tin rather than a 9" skillet. Anyway, after breakfast and a movie the girls and I played Uno for the first time. They caught in quickly to the rules and really enjoyed playing. By mid-morning, we bundled the kids up to go outside. It had snowed more overnight so Jason took the girls and Watson out to play in the snow while I went to the grocery store. They were back inside by the time I got home from the store and they were enjoying hot chocolate and playing Uno. We played many games of Uno yesterday. The girls enjoy the game so much I'm sure we will be playing regularly now. We had nap time, which I think Sofia was the only one to not actually sleep, and then off to church. Since my dozing off at naptime meant I hadn't prepped anything to make for dinner after church we ended up going to Guisseppe's restaurant. This restaurant is a new restaurant on our street that has good food. They had been working on the restaurant for a year and finally opened a few weeks ago. It is nice to have a cheap restaurant with decent food so close to us. It was a nice Sunday to get us ready for the busy week ahead.

First Snow of the Season

This morning we were greeted by the first snow of the season. There was just light snow falling but we were all excited. The snow stopped by mid-morning and didn't leave that much behind but there was just enough to play with. The girls and I headed out before lunch. (Jason couldn't join us since he is working today.) All the snow was melted off the sidewalks but the benches, cars and grass still had snow. We made a miniature snowman and threw snowballs to Watson. After playing outside we came back inside with rosy cheeks but thanks to snow pants everyone was nice and warm. It was a lot of fun and got us ready for the winter ahead.

Aqua Palace & Dinner with friends

Yesterday we had a really fun day. We went with friends of ours to Aqua Palace. I have blogged about Aqua palace before since this was our third time going to this water park. Our friends picked us up and we headed there. The girls enjoyed riding in cars with their friends. Sofia rode in the car with her friend Annalee. (We took 2 cars.) This is a good thing since both Annalee and Sofia talk nonstop. When they are together the adults get a break becuase then they just talk to each other. We all had a good time. We went down a lot of slides and spent some time in the Lazy River. The air temperature felt warm when we first walked in but once I was wet it felt a little chilly to me but the kids didn't seem to mind at all. We did end our time though with everyone in the hot tub to warm up. Sofia was very cute in the hot tub. She put her head back and let her legs float up and closed her eyes. She was really relaxing just like an adult. Once the hot tub got more crowded she stopped relaxing and started playing but it was very cute to see her just enjoying the comfort of the hot tub. After Aqua Palace our friends dropped us at home and we began prepping dinner. Our friends came back over at 5:30 for dinner and the fun continued. I made spring rolls for the appetizer and Jason made orange chicken. I had gone to the Japanese shop near us yesterday to pick up some supplies to make the spring rolls and some sushi rice. It was my first time to this Japanese shop and I'm glad I went. Now I know where to go when I want good rice or wrappers for spring rolls. Anyway, we had a lot of fun having dinner with our friends and the girls had a blast playing with their friends. It was a very full day and lots of fun for everyone!

Running shoes

Lately I had been noticing that my running shoes were not as comfortable. It seemed odd since I didn't have that many miles on them (about 250) so I just figured it was me but the shoes were fine. Last week after my run my foot was sore and it hurt to walk on. I decided to see if it was the distance I was running or the shoe so for my next run I used my old running shoes. While the run still wasn't pleasant with old running shoes it was a lot better and my foot didn't hurt. It was clear at this point that I needed to pay the money and get new shoes. Running is not a huge sport here like it is in the States so I wasn't sure where I was going to go to buy new shoes. In the States you can go to running shops where they will watch you run to see if you are a over/under pronate or if you are neutral and if you are a heel striker etc. to tell you what they think could be a good shoe for you. I wanted that same thing here since I am now running 8-11 miles at a time and I want a shoe that will feel good on longer runs. I didn't think it would be possible to find that here but fortunately there is one shop that does it. I was excited to find this shop online but I still didn't have high hopes....was the shop still in business?, will they speak English?, Can I convey what I want in Czech?, will they really know what they are talking about?...my internal questions went on and on. I went to the shop on Friday which is across town. The shop was great. The guy there spoke English and was very helpful. I tried on a few pairs of shoes and ended up with a new pair of Asics. It will be my first pair of Asics and I'm hoping that they will last longer than my most recent pair of Nike. Anyway, it was a surprisingly pleasant expereince at the shoe store. The guy also told me that there is a group of people that run together once a week and that I was welcome to join them. While I probably won't join them it is nice to know there is a running group here if I want to get involved.

More Birthday Parties

This weekend we headed out to more birthday parties. W had two parties this weekend but unlike last weekend these two were ont eh same day on opposite sides of town. Since we all couldn't go to both we divided up. Jason and Ali went to Owen's birthday party. Owen is Ali's age and will be in her class next year at school. This was a good opportunity for her to attend a party without her sister. Jason had fun too since the party was filled with a lot of our friends. He was nice and even brought me home a bagel from the party! I forgot to give him the camera before he left so we don't have any pictures from Owen's party this year. I was able to steal one today from Laura's (Owen's mom) blog. (Thanks Laura!)

I headed off with Sofia to her friend Anna's party (a different Anna from last weekend - There are 3 girls named Anna in her class). Our friend picked us up and we headed out of town since Anna lives just outside Prague. It was a lot of fun at the party. Her Mom and Dad, Suzanne and Christoph, did a great job with the party. They kept the kids well entertained and entertained and fed the adults as well. Sofia loved playing the games and hitting the pinata. She always loves being in peoples houses too. It is interesting to see what she comes up with for things she wants. At Anna's house Sofia decided she wanted a house with stairs so her bedroom could be upstairs and she wanted a loft bed like Anna's. Apparently Sofia was enthralled by climbing! I guess the three floors of stairs she climbs to get into our apartment aren't enough. I also enjoy seeing other people's houses so that I can see how they decorate. Their house was beautiful. Once we were there and I was talking to Suzanne and Christoph it made sense to me why Sofia always said that Anna is from "chinese". They had a lot of Asian decorations in their house which were beautiful and it turns out that the reason Anna is "from Chinese" is that for the last three years they lived in Shanghai. At least now I can explain to Sofia that Anna is from Austria but lived in China before she moved to Prague.

Girls after my own heart

As a true child of my mother I sing all the time. As a child I would just make up songs and now as an adult with kids I make up songs to sing to them. I knew this had rubbed off on Sofia since she makes up songs all the time. It wasn't until today that I realized it had rubbed off on Ali too. Last night I took a video of Ali singing a song that I thought she had learned in class. I assumed she had messed up the words since I didn't think they would talk about "monsters in your bedroom" at school. She even had a name for the song! I showed Ali's teacher today to see if I could figure out what the words are and I learned that they don't sing anything like that in class. It was then it occurred to me that Ali had completely made up the song herself. Here is my little singer for your listening pleasure....



If anyone has trouble understanding her, here are the words to her "song".

Creature In The Wood

Creature in the wood still child
Sleeping in the wood child
Sleeping in the wood baby child
Sleeping in the wood baby child
Don't you worry there is a monster in your bedroom
There is a monster in your bedroom sometimes
but bear can't live in there anytime
and come back anytime, anytime I come back.

Another reason I love it here...

As I went into the pet shop today I was once again reminded why I love it here. While Prague is a big city it often feels like a small village. I walk around our neighborhood and I say hi to random people...the security guard at the bank, the lady from the butcher, the lady from the hat store etc. Would I ever recognize someone from the supermarket in the U.S.? Probably not. Here it is different. You see these people on a regular basis and you get to know them in a way. They speak Czech with me and suffer through my responses graciously. They include me in their neighborhood by saying "Dobry Den" (Good day/Hello) when they see me on the street. It gives me the sense of being part of a community even when we are separated by language. Anyway, I stopped into the pet store today to order Watson's food. The pet store does not normally stock Watson's food but offered to always order it for us when we need it. It is nice since the pet shop is just down our road. When I stopped in today the owner asked me if I could please check our bank statement to see if the payment for the pet food we bought in August was on there since they cannot find it on there records. This would never happen in the US b/c 1. you wouldn't remember what the person looked like a month and a half later and 2. a company wouldn't ask you to go back and check your own bank statements. They would just eat the cost of the food. I think it is great that the owner of this small shop asked me to help him out. I expect to pay for the food we buy so if we didn't pay him last month I will gladly pay him and if we did may him and the bank didn't send it on to his account I want him to get the money. He is nice enough to order special food for Watson whenever I stop in and he tolerates the girls coming into his shop all the time just to look at the animals. So once again I find myself loving Prague and the people who live here.

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding

Since I got my first time cooking with Ali's class out of the way I no longer find the task daunting. I signed up to cook with Sofia's class for yesterday. I wanted to find something that would be easy for the kids to make and that they could be involved with. I quickly thought of bread pudding. It was a great success. The kids loved ripping up the bread into chunks, mixing everything together and putting in the chocolate chips. They were very excited to make it. We made two pans of the bread pudding. Since there are 19 kids in Sofia's class I worked with them in two groups so making two dishes worked out well. It was a mad dash to get them in the oven and luckily the ovens here cook much faster so it only took 35 minutes to cook rather than 45 minutes. The kids ate up their bread pudding just before the end of the day.

I wasn't sure how much to bring for ingredients since I'm never sure how many cups of bread a loaf makes. Once I was done baking with Sofia's class I had a lot left over. Rather than bring it home and make it alone I decided to leave it in Ali's class to bake with them. Today I made the bread pudding with Ali's class and it was also a big hit. It is a lot of fun to cook with the kids. They enjoy it and the kids love having a parent in the room. "HEY, IT'S ALI'S MOMMY!!!" It is nice to be greeted with such happiness!

Birthday Parties

This last weekend was filled with parties. After having a great time trick or treating on Friday night we got up on Saturday and continued the fun. We hopped on the bus out to Hostivice, a town just outside Prague, to go to Natalie's birthday party. The girls don't get to see Natalie much anymore since they are in school full time so it was a nice opportunity for them to play. They really enjoyed the food too. You would think that we hadn't fed them a big breakfast by the way they were eating. They ate a lot of fruit and bagels as well as cake and candy. It was funny to see their progress with pinatas. They use to come away with a couple pieces of candy from a pinata but now they come away with large amounts. They have really learned how to maximize their candy take! After the party we decided to ride the train back into town. It was a very quick ride and the train station is very close to our apartment. (Usually the bus would be close as well but they are doing construction on the main road so the buses are a little further away now.) We relaxed for the rest of the day on Saturday.



On Sunday we picked back up with the partying. We headed out to another birthday party. This one was for Anna, a girl in Sofia's class. Sofia and Anna are very good friends and really enjoy playing together. The party was at a hotel in Nebusice. We could have taken a bus there but my friend Kelly offered to give us a ride which was nice. The kids had a great time. All the kids from Sofia's class were there so it was quite crazy (in a good way). Two of the older girls from school, whom Sofia's class know very well, were in charge of the games. I couldn't believe how many games they had for the kids to play. It was great since it kept the kids occupied. One of the games had the kids go barefoot. They had to put their bare feet in jello and try to pick out marbles with their feet. It was very funny to watch. Ali just couldn't bring herself to do it though. Her foot barely touched the jello and she pulled it back and refused to put her foot in. I guess she is just not a kid for messy things. After many games as well as , chips, cheese sticks, popcorn, hotdogs and cake the party came to an end and we headed home. Our friend Kelly gave us a ride home and Sofia was so tired she was almost asleep by the time we got home and it was only a 10 minute drive! She was exhausted. It was a fun filled, tiring weekend. We have two more birthday parties next weekend as well and we are looking forward to the fun. Here is a video of the girls dancing at the party.