VJ's 1st Day of Pre-K

VJ could not wait to start school. Despite our best to prepare him, he was very annoyed last week when Katie started but he had to wait.

No problems this morning except for when I tried to adjust his Batman Backpack and the strap broke. Anna was able to fix it up but we may need a replacement...we'll see.

He went right over to his cubby, changed to his indoor shoes and on in to the classroom. I kissed him good-bye and asked if it was OK for me to leave and he said yes. No tears. No clinging (like some of the other kids). What a big boy!

Vienna Zoo

A couple of weeks ago we went to Vienna for the weekend. We spent the better part of Saturday at the Vienna Zoo. A great time was had by all even considering that it rained on and off all day long.

The Vienna Zoo is probably the best Zoo I've ever been to. It's really quite big and we got see some animals that we either hadn't seen before or doing cool stuff.

Katie and VJ got to see Pandas for the first time.

There was a baby Tiger.

And two Polar Bear Cubs.

For the first time we got to see the Hippos OUT of the water...and up close, too!

And of course my favorite, the Rhinos.Again with the Giraffes. At least this time it was very G-rated fare. Check out this crazy young giraffe running all around the place.


Luckily the sun came out for Vito & Katie's favorite part:

One other attraction is worth mentioning: the Bat Cave. I don't know if that's what the Zoo people call it but whatever. They had a room that you could walk through where there were Bats that were flying all around you. As we came up to it, VJ clearly expressed a lack of desire to go through. I believe his exact words were "No! No Daddy! No! No!" Honestly I wasn't that in to it either but Katie was all for it. Since Anna was out getting some more rain gear at the time we had to skip it until just before leaving and Katie and I double backed to check it out. It wasn't that bad but not something I ever need to do again.

A New 2nd Grader

Katie started 2^nd Grade today. She's been very excited to see her old friends. We are very lucky in that her 1^st Grade teacher is now teaching 2^nd Grade and the school gave the class the option of having her again this year and the whole class accepted! The only "new" kid is Valentin who was Katie's classmate in Kindergarten.


Katie was especially excited to she her friend Shiraz. And joy, their cubbies are right next to each other.

Today is only a half day and VJ does not start until Monday so I'm not free yet but it's a good start!

Happy Birthday Anna

Since we've moved to Hungary Anna has enjoyed having her birthday fall on a holiday, St. István Day (St. Stephen's Day) and thus having the whole day off.

She enjoyed the day by sleeping in, reading her book, taking a nap and playing the Wii with me and the kids.

I'm not allowed to say how old she is, but maybe the pictures will give you a clue.

The Official Birthday-Girl-Approved Picture

The more Factual Mom & Kids Picture

Happy Birthday Anna!

P.S.
The cake was terrific! I rule.

Baking a Cake

So, since tomorrow is Anna's birthday and no one should have to make her own cake, I decided to make a cake today. From scratch. I know you are impressed.

Anna went over the recipe with me last night and gave me some pointers. She also made sure I knew that I had to get some stuff at the store this morning before I started (more on this later).

Naturally the kids wanted to "help." The kids helped out by holding the measuring cups and pouring stuff in. I also had Katie re-read the recipe to me so she felt like she helped. What I did not find helpful was her telling me, several times, "That's not how Mommy does it."

VJ's contribution was to get bored half way through and leave the kitchen...which would have been perfect except that a few minutes later, when I was busy adding the ingredients into the mixer, I hear him yelling from the bathroom "Daddy, I went poo poo in the potty!" Which is little kid code for "Daddy, come help me wipe my ass!" Also not very helpful.

All in all I have to say that it didn't go too bad and the cake at least looks good. I'll let you know how it tastes.

Oh, about the store...Anna told me to buy two sticks of butter (not the kind in the tub we usually get...I won't go into how much of a pain in the ass it is to have to convert from Metric to English and weight to volume, etc.). Anyways, after the cake was in the oven and I was cleaning up (no help from the kids at this point) I was wondering why Anna had me buy two sticks of butter when I only had to use part of just one. And then it hit me. She had me get extra in case I fucked up the cake on my first try and had to she had to re-do it tonight. Pretty sneaky honey, but I figured it out.

Update:
Anna helped out by making the frosting. Looks pretty good.

Happy Anniversary

Today is my parents' Wedding Anniversary and what better way to say "Happy Anniversary" than with embarrassing photos from their wedding day.





Happy Anniversary!