A musical weekend

We had a great weekend hosting 2 boys from The American Boychoir. These boys are 6th-8th graders and go to boarding school in Princeton, NJ. They are hand-selected to be in the school and then they must show exemplary behavior and performance to go on tour. They stay with host families during their tours, and we thought it would be great fun to host them for 2 nights. On Saturday night, while Dave and Kate were at the Daddy-Daughter Sweetheart dance, Nathan and I took the boys to play laser tag and glow-in-the-dark mini golf. Nathan LOVED hanging out with the big boys! And, these boys were extremely polite and mature (and nice to Nathan).

On Sunday, we heard this beautiful choir at church and then our own kids got to sing with them for their afternoon concert. We weren't able to videotape the performance (I was so bummed!). So, check our some samples of The American Boychoir here: http://www.americanboychoir.org/music.html. and imagine our kids singing with them. They did great!

Daddy-Daughter fun

Kate was sooooo excited to go to the Girl Scout Daddy-Daughter Sweeheart Dance last night. She and Dave dressed up for the western theme and had a great evening - going out to eat and then dancing the night away. Kate was seen doing the Macarena and Chicken dance, along with being swirled by her daddy A LOT.

The Rock Lover

We took a day trip to Enchanted Rock State Park on Valentine's Day and hiked up the big rock. Nathan was either being a 9 year old boy, or he just loves rocks, but either way, he was all over the place! He was worrying his mommy. Kate wasn't so sure about the rocks, but a bribe of chocolate at the top was enough for her. It was a great day!

Valentine's Day and the Science Fair

Happy Valentine's Day! The kids were sooooo excited for their school parties today. They handmade their Valentines and were looking forward to exchanging them. We are sending all of you some love today.

The kids did wonderfully in the Science Fair a couple of weeks ago. Nathan's project was "The Force of Water" and he knew his material well. Kate's project was "Electricity from Fruits and Vegetables." Both kids really enjoyed the experience.

My time of unemployment is nearly over! I got offered a contract job this week for a company that does online marketing consulting for non-profits. This company actually wants me part time (with flexible hours) and they are completely fine with our trip this summer - I'll either scale down on my projects or work remotely from Hungary. YEA!
Dave is busy getting his work permit together - there's a lot involved, but everything is on track. We are getting excited. He is also busy getting our school's First Lego League together - I don't know who is excited - Dave or his students!

Our big summer plans

Well, it's official - we are going to Hungary for the summer! As y'all know, Dave travels to Hungary frequently for his job. His boss had asked him is he would consider going over there for the summer. He supervises people over there, and he could really benefit from some face time with them.

At first, we were hesitant, especially since I was working. Well, as of yesterday am not working anymore! Most of you know that my job situation has been very shaky with this economic crisis. My hours have been scaled back while others in the company saw no change in their hours. After another scaling back of my hours and a clear message that us "part-timers" would be the first to go if things got worse, I decided to end my stress and quit. I am so relieved to be out of there! Dave and I had been really toying with this Hungary experience and decided that we couldn't pass it up. We are so lucky that Dave's job is secure right now and that we can do without the extras that my job provided.

So, I am going to be scrapbooking, cleaning out closets, and taking lots of walks this spring. We'll head to Hungary in mid-June. The kids and I will need to return in mid-August to get ready for school again. Dave will need to stay over there until mid-September to complete a full 12 week Ex-Pat assigment. We'll stay in their corporate apartment that is completely furnished and fairly close to town. The kids are kind of wondering how we will get by since we don't speak Hungarian but we've told them that it will be an adventure. (Although Dave is a little peeved that his favorite new toy, his iPhone, doesn't have an English-Hungarian translation application on it.)

We're looking forward to travelling on the weekends and figuring out what to eat for dinner. We'll keep you posted!

PIANO!

We bought Kate a digital piano for Christmas and got her signed up for lessons. She was so excited! Nathan got caught up in the excitement too, so he is taking lessons as well. One appeal of the digital piano is that, while it has a full keyboard and is weighted like an accoustic piano, you can push different buttons to make different sounds. The button the kids like best is the one in the video: "Concert Pianist" which plays the song no matter what keys you press. (So, of course Nathan gets the idea to play the Star Spangled Banner with his nose!)

Christmas Fun

Trampoline jumping, Wii competing, and playing with Santa gifts occupied us for Christmas week with Rob and Hannah.