New Year's Eve ... Dec. 31, 2009

We celebrated the New Year around 8:00, as usual (except for Ryan, who was already asleep). We did the countdown and utilized the noise-makers. And it was fair, considering SOMEWHERE in the world it was midnight. The one difference this year is that WE actually stayed up (maybe we dozed off a bit) and watched the ball fall and we even woke up Katie just before midnight so that she could celebrate with us for real this year. We are not sure if she remembers it or not!

Newport Aquarium ... Dec 26, 2009

My cousin Adam and his wife Marnie invited us up to Cincinnati to visit the Newport Aquarium with them and their kids. Our kids had a great time with their "cousins" and even got to see Santa Claus in his dive suit. It is really great to have the Nickel's so close to us. And for the record, I totally beat Adam at Frogger.

Christmas Day ... Dec 25, 2009

The kids woke up relatively early, but since Ryan was not yet awake, we made them sit up in our room for a little while. I think around 7:00 we went in and woke up Ryan (who was not too happy!) and got ready to come down to see what Santa Claus had brought the kids.
As is usual, the kids got too many presents (we seem to mis-calculate this every year), but it was a fun morning.
After opening presents we had our traditional Christmas breakfast of Eggs Benedict and Caramel Pecan Rolls. All very good. We just hung out and played games for the rest of the day.

Christmas Eve ... Dec. 24, 2009

Christmas Eve was very traditional. First I picked up Heather's dad from the airport at 3AM (yes, I am a good son-in-law) since his flight was delayed because of weather. We slept in for as long as the kids would let us before going to see Santa Claus and doing some last minute shopping (both presents and groceries).
Heather made the traditional Beef Wellington for Christmas Eve dinner, which was fantastic. We then let the kids open one present, their pajamas. Katie has finally caught on that their one gift they get to open on Christmas Eve are pajamas, but she was OK about it.
We then read Luke 2 and read about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and again utilized the Fisher Price nativity set to act it out.
Ryan subsequently pooped out of his pajamas before we put him to bed, so that messed up our plan for everyone to wake up in their new pajamas. Oh well.

Santa Claus ... Dec 24, 2009

It took us a while, but we finally took the kids to see Santa Claus at Oxmoor Mall on Christmas Eve. We got there early enough that we did not have to wait too long. We realized the downside of going this late in the game when we heard Ashley ask Santa for another American Girl doll. She had not requested this previously, so obviously it was too late for Santa to comply with that request.

We had thought Ryan would have an issue sitting on Santa's lap. But actually it was quite the opposite...he didn't want to leave. He even tried running back after we started walking away.

Random Ashley Picture

If you know Ashley, this is basically her personality. We found this picture from a year ago and just laughed. For those from Budapest, you might notice the chair in the background and the pasta sauce all over her face.

Christmas Pictures ... Dec 20, 2009

This was the easiest set of Sunday morning before church Christmas photos that we have ever taken.

Ashley's Christmas Play ... Dec 17, 2009

Ashley played the Angel Gabriel in the St. John's Pre-school Christmas Pageant. She, of course, did very well.

Mexico City, Mexico ... Dec 4 - 6, 2009

Heather joined me for my latest trip down to Mexico City. I left for meetings on Thursday and she came on Friday. Every year there is a Christmas party for the Latin America team, coinciding with some annual meetings we have there. Although her flight was canceled through Houston because of snow there (seriously, what is up with snow in HOUSTON??), she was able to make it late Friday night, in time for the weekend. She did miss our dinner at the Mexican National Gallery, where we had a special tour of the exhibits and a dinner.

We had already seen most of Mexico City when we lived in Celaya, Guanajuato earlier this decade, so really we didn't have much interest to sight see. After a nice run through the city, we got ready and just wandered to a city market that was pretty crappy. Basically our only desire for the weekend was to relax, find replacement Mexico glasses (our supply has dwindled over the years) and the good Mexican vanilla from San Miguel (we were hoping we could find the same brand we had stocked up on a few years back). We didn't have too much luck on the glasses at first, considering the concierge sent us to a locale that ended up selling EYE glasses! But we found some vanilla that was not the same, but hopefully would suffice and did go down to the Zocolo and walk around for a little while. We even took one of the dangerous taxis back to our hotel since we couldn't find anything else to get us back (we were not smart enough to have our hotel taxi stick around and wait for us). We also stopped at Sanborns, one of the few places we liked to eat/shop at while we lived in Celaya.

The party started in the late afternoon, so we got dressed up and headed over there. There was a nice "early" dinner and then just dancing and socializing, which we were not too fond of. We stayed as long as we felt like we had to, but ended up still leaving very early. It was around 11PM, but considering the party went until the morning (they served breakfast...actually, they served the first dinner, a second dinner, and then breakfast), it was early. But we were glad to head back and go to sleep.

Sunday morning we just hung out all day except for a quick trip to the main craft market, where we were able to find our glasses. Once that was accomplished we didn't feel like we had to do anything else. It was the most relaxing weekend we have had in a long time.

Dawn was kind enough to come out and watch all three kids while we were away, so we didn't have to worry about them at all.

While it was unfortunate that the party was not at the beach, we still have good time.

Ashley's Birthday Party ... Dec 1, 2009

Ashley's birthday party this year was a Luau, like Katie had for her fifth birthday (and we were able to recycle the decorations). She invited friends from her class and from the neighborhood. The kids played games, ate pizza, and had cupcakes. It was not nearly as chaotic as I thought it would be having 20 five year olds running around and we got some GREAT help from some of our friends. More pictures to come.

Ashley's Birthday ... Dec 1, 2009

Ashley turned FIVE! It is hard to believe 5 years have gone by so quickly, but they have been five really special years. Ashley adds A LOT of personality to our home. She is very spirited, which I always say doesn't serve ME well now, but is going to serve HER well her whole life. Ashley sticks up for what she knows is right, and doesn't let anyone persuade her to do something she doesn't want to do (again, good for her, but when I need her to clean her room... not good for me). Ashley LOVES to dance and is always dancing around the house. She especially loves to dance on the very tips of her toes and feels like she is ready for point shoes. Ashley essentially taught herself to read this fall, and loves to read books to me every night. It's a whole new world for her because she loves to read all of the signs on buildings and everywhere we go! Ashley ADORES her brother and can not still, even after 18 months, leave him alone. She loves her big sister Katie, and is always trying to keep up with everything Katie is doing. We love, love, love Ashley and we are so grateful for the energy and love she brings into our home.

Christmas Decorating ... Nov 28, 2009

As is tradition in our family, the weekend after Thanksgiving all of the Christmas decorations go up. And as usual, Heather did a great job.

Thanksgiving ... Nov 26, 2009

We had a couple of families over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great meal with some great friends. Plus Heather brined the turkey for the first time, which made it especially delicious.

Turkey Trot ... Nov 26, 2009

Our whole family ran in different races at the annual YMCA Turkey Trot. Heather ran the 10K, I ran the 2 Miler, and Katie, Ashley, and Ryan ran in their respective age group short runs.
Ryan won for being the youngest participant. We were lucky that the "cheater" from 6 years ago was not there to strip him of his title, like they did for Katie when she ran this in 2003. At that time, some cheater brought their kid that couldn't even walk and not only won for being the "youngest", but also was CARRIED the whole way for the victory in the race. I am sure that this kid (now probably six years old, since she was like a month old for the race!) looks every night at that trophy with the turkey on top sitting on her shelf and feels shame and embarrasment for the way she won that. Unless her parents were too cowardly to tell her the REAL story around her "victory"!
Anyway, Heather ran one of her best races and came in 6th for her age group (now that she just moved into the "over 35" group!). I pushed Ryan in the jog stroller for my race and did better than I thought I would. Of course my signature head band helped propel me to a top 10 finish! At some point in my career I will sell this on ebay, so watch out for this.
The kids did great in their respective races and although it was a cold morning, we had a great time as a family prior to our Thanksgiving feast!

Katie's Haircut ... Nov 22, 2009

After seven years of just letting it grow, with just a few trims here and there, Katie got a haircut. And she looks Beautiful!

Ryan LOVES Guacamole ... Nov 22, 2009

Ashley's Thanksgiving Pow Wow ... Nov 19, 2009

Ashley had a pow wow at her school where they performed different Thanksgiving songs, dressed up, and had some food. Ashley's Acorn song is our favorite, especially the way Ashley performs it. "I'm NUUUUUTTTTTY!"

Family Home Evening (Thanksgiving lesson) ... Nov. 16, 2009

For Family Home Evening we went through the history of the first Thanksgiving.

Ryan's Lipstick ... Nov. 2, 2009

Ryan got a hold of Heather's lipstick and enjoyed it a little too much.

Halloween ... Oct. 31, 2009

Ryan was Yoda, Katie was Cleopatra, and Ashley was Cinderella for Halloween. The girls had the most fun in years since they could go to actual houses to trick or treat and not just "trunk or treat" like we have done the past few years. Katie was especially excited and Ryan quickly caught on, pushing himself up to the front to get the candy.

Halloween Morning ... Oct. 31, 2009

For Halloween morning we enjoyed Count Chocula, BooBerry, and Frankenberry Cereal. Ryan, of course, enjoyed it the most, since cereal with marshmallows is his food of choice. Fortunately we are not still in Budapest where Lucky Charms cost $15 a box!

Pumpkin Carving ... Oct. 30, 2009

We took the deformed pumpkins we found in the dregs of the patch and carved them. We are not that creative and I prefer to just get it over with as quickly as possible without the kids knowing that is my intent. I prefer to spend time together playing games or doing less messy activities. But the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Ashley's Acolyte ... Oct. 29, 2009

Once a week at Ashley's pre-school the school has a small religious ceremony of some sort. As part of this, the kids have the opportunity to bring the candles up to the front of the chapel. I am not sure I really get it, but Ashley enjoyed it. And she looked very cute with her candle and in her robe.

Wisconsin Dells Family Reunion (Part 2) ... Oct. 28, 2009

For the second part of the reunion we spent a few days at the Kalihari Resort at the Wisconsin Dells. We had the same rooms and hospitality suite that we had a couple of years ago, which allowed us to have a big common room to eat and hang out together. We had a great time and enjoyed the water park.

St. Louis Family Reunion (Part 1) ... Oct. 25, 2009

For the annual Stucki Family Reunion, we first all met in St. Louis to attend the sealing of my sister and her family to their 2 newly adopted boys, Reagan and Chase. It was a very nice experience for us. We spent the night in St. Louis, went to church the next morning, and then all caravanned to Wisconsin Dells for part 2 of the reunion.

Paul's Birthday/Halloween Party ... Oct. 24, 2009

We went to Paul Blackwell's birthday party at the Blackwell barn. Lisa had the barn all made up for both a birthday party and Halloween. The kids all wore their Halloween costumes. This year Katie was Cleopatra, Ashley was Cinderella, and Ryan went as a cute Yoda. Ryan had a blast playing with the "bobbing for apples" tub. It was a fun evening with great food and great friends.

Pumpkin Patch ... Oct. 17, 2009

For three years the kids have had to forego any visit to a pumpkin patch since we were lucky to have a pumpkin at all in Budapest. And admittedly, this visit was not much better than no visit at all. We arrived too late in the season to find a decent pumpkin and we arrived too late in the morning to truly enjoy the experience (we only had a few minutes before we had to be at the girls' soccer games). But they had fun climbing the hay stacks and roaming the patch for a few minutes. (Is it me, or is Ryan seriously looking like an old man in a little body?)

Race For the Cure 5K ... Oct. 10, 2009

After this move and realizing that I have gained 20 pounds in the last six months, I figured it was time to start exercising and taking care of myself a little more. I started running just a few weeks before the Susan G. Koman "Race for the Cure" 5K in downtown Louisville. I figured that would be a good place to start. Heather and I ran it together, with Heather pushing Ryan in the jog stroller (who just sat there and enjoyed the ride). It was a lot harder than I thought, but it was fun to run it with Heather (at least for five or six minutes until I had to slow down a little and she took off).

Ryan's Cereal ... Oct. 8, 2009

Ryan LOVES to go to the cereal cupboard and help himself. He has even learned to pick out just the marshmallows from the Lucky Charms. Tired of always finding him traipsing around the house with a bag of cereal in his arms, we finally decided to put the child latch on. Now he has moved to the cupboard next door with the pots and pans. But at least that is not as messy, just louder.

Katie's Soccer ... Oct. 3, 2009

Katie played a year of soccer in Budapest but did not enjoy it too much (sort of like Ashley this year). So we hesitated to let her play once she expressed interest after seeing Ashley start her season. But fortunately there was a team made up of a number of neighborhood kids that needed an additional player, so Katie joined that team. And we are very glad because this year Katie loved it. She had a great time and played pretty well, especially being one of only two girls on the team. She played aggressive and looked forward to each practice and game, unlike a couple of years ago. Lets hope Ashley feels the same way when she is a little older.

Ashley's First Day of Pre-K (yet Again!) ... Sep 21, 2009

After a couple of weeks in her Pre-K class at St. John's, they decided that she needed to be moved up to the five year old class. So this is yet another picture of Ashley's "first day of Pre-K". She will do better in this class and will be challenged more, which is good.

The Movers!!! ... Sep. 17, 2009

After almost SIXTEEN weeks of waiting, the movers FINALLY arrived with our stuff. We have moved now five times in 9 years so we have gotten pretty good at it, but this move was by far the worst and overall, an absolute disaster. The company supporting the move was the most inept and incompetent supplier I have ever had to deal with and then the actual unpackers were almost as bad. Not only did we have to WAIT forever for our goods to arrive, the unpackers seemed to damage more pieces of furniture than I could have thought possible. One would think that crossing a continent, an ocean, and then half of another continent, that damage COULD occur in the process. In this case, however, it SEEMS that the actual transit of the goods was relatively fine (minus the time it TOOK). But the unpackers provided many cuts and slices in our furniture just while unpacking. To top it all off, this was just the one truck. It turned out that the OTHER truck was STILL in transit. We did not receive that one for another two weeks (18 weeks overall...3 1/2 month...almost 25% of the year without our belongings!). I think if any of the other four moves had been this bad we would not have been inclined to make them. But we are glad that we are finally getting settle in our new home.

Ashley's Soccer ... Sep. 9, 2009

Ashley decided she wanted to play soccer this year when our neighbor, who is coaching the team, invited her to play. The good news is that she looked really cute in her uniform and shin guards. The bad news is that she didn't seem to enjoy it at all. Most of the games she would prefer to sit on the sidelines and play with Ryan. Once, even when she was SUPPOSED to be on the field playing, we found her off the field playing with Ryan (not sure how long it took us to notice that!). But her team was fantastic and it was good exercise and fun to go out to the field as a family (most of the time!).

Miscellaneous ... Sep. 7, 2009

Bailey's Visit ... Sep. 6 - 7, 2009

Erika and Chris Bailey visited us for a day from Memphis, Tennessee over the labor day weekend. Heather knew Erika from Brentwood, TN and then they lived together at BYU. Too bad we didn't have any of our stuff so we had to manage with the little rental furniture that we had in order to accomodate them. But I don't think they minded too much! It was fun to have them and we look forward to visiting them in Memphis soon!

Ashley's First Day of Pre-K (again!) ... Aug 31, 2009

Even thought Ashley was in Pre-Kindergarten in Budapest, she missed the cut off for Kindergarten, so she had to repeat the "grade". So, this is the 2nd year in a row that she has a first day of Pre-K. It's unfortunate, but Heather is glad to have her home more often. She attends St. John's Pre-school and goes 1/2 day for four days a week. She is doing very well and is basically reading already.

American Idol Concert ... August 30, 2009

For us, this last season of American Idol was by far the best ever. So we figured since we were back in the US, we would take advantage of that (and the fact that we actually liked 9 of the top ten) and go and see the American Idol's in concert. We got tickets for the St. Louis show, so we left the kids with my parents and Heather and I had a great time watching these guys perform. They were fantastic.

St. Louis, Missouri ... Aug. 29 - 31, 2009

We spent the weekend in St. Louis to visit my parents and to see the American Idol concert. It is about a 4 1/2 hour drive. We arrived late Friday night and then went to the Magic House the next morning with my parents. This is an incredible place, with room after room of different hands on experiences. The girls spent a little while in fairy tale land then proceeded to pretend to be President Obama (according to Katie) and President Monson (according to Ashley) in the Oval Office and Congress replicas. After that they had a mock trial in the Supreme Court room and then climbed the beanstalk. From there they proceeded to put on their detective gear and solve a mystery after which all of us took a turn electrocuting ourselves, or at least our hair. We ended the visit with a stop for a 19th century tea party and to construct a building. And I don't think we saw everything! It was a great visit with my parents and we are glad that we are so much closer than we have been for the past five years.

Canning ... August 28, 2009

Heather canned peaches for the first time. Actually, this is the first time I think she has canned anything. The reality is that canning, in my opinion, costs more than it is worth. Considering I don't like canned peaches and the nutrients only last a year in a canned bottle of peaches, it seems like a lot of effort and cost to go through. But she did have a good time with some members of the ward, so I think that compensates for this.

Katie's First Day of 2nd Grade ... Aug 12, 2009

Katie's first day of 2nd grade went great. Her teacher at Goshen Elementary School is Mrs. Turnage and it is a combined 1st grade/2nd grade class. Personally, I think this combined class structure is idiotic, especially since Katie didn't get to take advantage of being in the 1st grade class, but a lot about U.S. public schools is lame (WAY too many rules). But Heather says that the actual classroom education piece is better than Budapest AISB, so I guess it makes it worth it. It is crazy that school has already started.

Chicago, IL ... August 5 -7, 2009

We took a quick trip to Chicago to visit Peter and Mary Clarke (and Liam and Aiden) who moved from Budapest about the same time as us (they are in mid-transition to Shanghai now). It was great to see them again for a couple of days, especially since it won't be until next year that we will run into them again. We visited the Morton Arboretum and a couple restaurants before heading down to Champaign to visit my parents and my sister Trisha and her family (who were visiting from Minneapolis). The kids had a great time playing together and the parents probably had more fun playing games after the kids went to bed (another Phase 10 win for me since the "practice round" didn't count.)

Hotel living ... July 9 - Aug 10, 2009

We lived in a hotel for a month before giving up hope that our furniture was going to arrive any time soon. It was not very fun (and not very comfortable for the girls). And we are glad that we decided to move out when we did because our furniture did not arrive for another month and a half!

Katie's 7th Birthday ... July 25, 2009

Even though we had not moved in yet, we celebrated Katie's birthday at our house with the Delle Foglie's. We went to Chuck E Cheese earlier in the day. I think Katie enjoyed her special day (which had already been celebrated twice before!).

Dellefoglie's visit ... July 22 - 26, 2009

Heather's sister, Dawn, and her family, visited us for a few days. We were supposed to have our stuff by then, but even after 6 weeks, we were still living in a hotel. We had closed on our house, at least, so they just brought a couple of air mattresses and camped out at our house. They actually spent the night there before we did.

They were great to have, and not JUST because they painted the girls' rooms! We played Phase 10, which I think I won, but I can't remember. Maybe Dawn can remind me if I won or not.

New York ... June 9 - 12, 2009

Don met us at the airport in New York. We had so much luggage, we didn't think we would be able to fit it all in our rental van. We had a great weekend with Grandpa Larsen and are looking forward to being closer to him for a little while.

We were able to somehow get all of our stuff packed in on Sunday afternoon so Don didn't have to make another trip to the most torturous airport in the world. We flew out late Sunday evening, arriving in Cincinnati close to midnight. Then we had a shuttle drive us to Louisville.

Champaign visit ... August 7 - 8, 2009

We're back! Did you miss us??

After we spent a couple of days in Chicago, we drove down to Champaign, Illinois, where I grew up and visited for the rest of the weekend with my parents. My sister Trisha and her family were also visiting, so it was good to see everyone and good for the kids to play with their cousins.

We made a trip up to my dad's office and lab and he showed all of the kids how to freeze things with liquid nitrogen. We also visited the Curtis Apple Orchard where the kids got to play for a little while. We drove back Sunday afternoon to Louisville.

Flight back to the U.S. ... July 9, 2009

The plane ride back to the US. This will be the first time Ryan and Ashley have lived in the US. I still remember a couple of years ago when I showed Ashley (she was probably just 3 years old and we had been studying the planets) a picture of the United States. I asked her what it was. She looked at me for a second and then said, "Mercury?". I think it is time that the girls learned what a state is and started to learn a few of them. Today they do pretty good playing the ABC game with countries (A=Austria, B=Belgium, C=Croatia, D=Denmark, E=England, etc.), now we need to teach them US geography a little bit.
The flight was actually quite nice and uneventful (and the kids enjoyed the red socks!). It was a direct flight from Budapest to New York, so no layovers required since we were going to spend a few days with Heather's dad there. The hardest part was we were traveling with 14 suitcases, so trying to deal with the logistics of that was a little difficult, but we actually managed well.
So, this is the last of the Budapest posts...at least for a little while.

Checking Out of the House ... July 9, 2009

We went to the house the morning of our flight home to hand over the keys (we had returned the rental furniture a couple of days before). I've included a picture of Andras, our handyman/gardener for the last 3 years. He originally was a little scary, but was a very nice man and Heather said he even shed a tear as we were locking up the gate for the last time.
We loved our house and the yard and really this is all the kids know and really remember (for now). Ryan was born here and Ashley was only 18 months when we moved here. Katie remembers a little about our time in Toronto, but hopefully will remember a lot more of Budapest. I've said it before, but we will really miss this place.

Last night in Budapest ... July 8, 2009

It's our last night in Budapest. It is crazy how fast the time has gone by. It is fitting that our last night is in our hotel overlooking one of the most beautiful cities in the world (and the girls' pajamas that a few years ago went down a lot closer to their feet!).

Zoo Playhouse ... July 8, 2009

Heather and the girls went with their friends one more time to the Zoo Playhouse (and apparently had a superhero dress up party). And it is too bad we are leaving because Ryan and Dylan would have become great friends.