The Hungary Games

Thanks to David for coining the name of this post :). Here are some of the fun things we fill our day with here...as we wait out the 30 day period. 
 
This morning right after breakfast of hot chocolate and chocolate filled crescent rolls, as the sun was starting to come up over the row of trees beyond the pool, Monkey's eyes got wide and he yelled "look!" and pointed out to the pool area. I turned around and it looked like a scene from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory in the bubble room. Hundreds of bubbles literally filled the air around the pool, and it looked a little magical. Still in pj's, the kiddos had to go run around and pop all they could, laughing and dancing around happily. There were a couple of kids with bubble guns on the second floor balcony creating this magical world for us. I have to admit, I ran around and popped a few too :)

This evening we got another sunny rainstorm just before dusk, which created a calm, cool, refreshing world outside again. We ran around barefoot in the wet grass and played hide and seek, chased a little shaved yorkie dog around, and discovered that right in our own complex there is an ice cream bar freezer with MAGNUM bars in it...now we know where we'll be tomorrow!

School games: Princess has been working on "s", "sh", "z", and "r" sounds, and now she can consistently say "sh" and "z"! Now she can say "Show-hah!" when daddy tickles her, which means "never!", which is her and Monkey's joke, because they always come back for more. She likes to point out "sheep" when we see one on a package in the store too. Every time we see a fly or bee, she says "buzzzzz". She's earning a lot of stickers on her sound charts, every time she says a sound right.

I try to make the daily work fun, so I make little checklists that they can put stickers on...and even do treasure hunts afterward when they complete it as a reward. I'm still amazed at how motivating a little tiny sticker can be.

She can sing the ABC's almost completely along with us, can count to 10 by herself (I think yesterday I heard her count to 10 no less than literally 32 times), and recognizes 6 shapes and 6 colors. We work on her card packs each day, and she loves to make us proud and seems to be trying really hard. She gets a lot of high fives, clapping, hugging, and praise.

 Our sugar whiteboard is slowly disappearing each day, due to sticky little fingers that get licked every few letters...but it's still a fun way to practice. Here's lefty making a "J".

New time waster: Our little 100 piece puzzles have been put together about five dozen times now, so we got a new 1000 piece challenge to pass the time. We've spent about 6 hours on it now...but it's giving us mad cravings for cupcakes for some reason. Princess keeps saying "big!"

Wise Monkey quote of the day: "I believe that you and daddy are two puzzle pieces in God's puzzle. You are two that fit together perfectly, and are part of his whole plan." I'm calling Hallmark when we get back to get him a job. 

We also discovered a badminton set hiding in our apartment and tried it out. This is not one of our sports that we have a talent for. 

Nature fun: We found leaves that look like they are from Jurassic Park. I'm really getting good at getting pictures without her face now, lol!

 Hopscotch: I had to google the rules for this, it's been a couple of years since I've played hopscotch. Apparently you take turns going in order and skipping over the number if you get the token to land on it. This was a fantastic coordination lesson, and we got to teach Princess how to hop on one foot. She picked it up pretty quick and is now an old pro! The funniest part was watching daddy hop along the numbers, being that the squares were smaller than his feet. Ha.

Family Dishes: This is actually a fun game for us, and the kids almost fight over who gets the next dish to dry. Mommy is the washer, Princess and Monkey dry, Monkey sorts, and Daddy puts away. I am also the commentator, narrating the whole thing and making it a little competitive. Princess is all about doing chores, and she does a really good job!

Seretlek: Princess is a little hesitant to tell us "Seretlek" (I love you) still, although she will repeat it with a little shy smile on her face when we say it to her. But Monkey is another story - they say it to eachother freely quite a bit. And just now as they are doing the puzzle together, they are sitting on the same chair taking turns giving each other little kisses on their cheeks. It's pretty darn adorable. (I snuck a video!!) He's always looking out for her, seeing if she is hungry or thirsty, and asking her to play. As long as he gets some alone time during the day to play with his toys alone or read a book, the rest of the time he's the best big brother ever. 

Mommy's game: I've always been enthralled with little wooden stacking dolls (Matryoshkas) ever since my mom gave me two small ones when I was a little girl. I remember going to one of her friends house one time and she let me play with her big Matryoshka with about 10 stacking dolls inside....and I was entranced for life. Imagine my giddyness when I saw some at the kiosks in the market! I tried to barter with the older women running the kiosk, but she wouldn't go down far enough. I finally found one pretty cheap at another kiosk and I snatched it up. I'm in love...now if only I can get it home without breaking it...

Daddy's game: What do you know, there happens to be a foosball table in the bar/cafe right on the other side of our building. Guess where he gravitates every couple days?