Look who's walking!

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Magdalena received some "Aunt Liz" shoes for Christmas, but they just now are fitting her well enough to wear. Thursday she wore them out during play time...and was quite curious about them, having to touch them every few minutes. Today she wore them again to church. She managed to get one off during the car ride over, but afterward kept them on until I made her take them off. She had such fun utilizing her new "kicks" on her own private horsey. ;)

New record

Petr told me this morning that we've got a record now for the most comments on a post. So, being me, I had to check to see if he was right. I discovered that we've two other winning posts with 6 comments also, but some of the comments are repeats or by the same person...whereas my last post about my beautious ring has 6 different comments by 6 different people! If you're curious about the other much-commented posts, check 'em out here: http://sramkovifamily.blogspot.com/2006/03/missionary-mommy.html
http://sramkovifamily.blogspot.com/2006/05/taste-of-home.html

New ring

What do you get when you blend a tight buget with a strong desire for a vintage diamond ring? A beautiful find on the bargain-lover's haven of ebay!! After spending a week in customs, the other half of my "wedding set" arrived yesterday afternoon. Can you tell I'm happy?

Daddy calling

Magdalena has a play phone that she knows exactly what to do with. When it's ringing, she hands it to Mommy...after I ask who it is (always Daddy) and say, "Daddy wants to talk to Magdalena," she takes the phone back and holds it to her ear while declaring, "Dada!"

For Elizabeth

Well, I didn't say that I'd put a picture on the blog of my hair when it was straight. But since Elizabeth thought I was going to, here it is. :-) This was meant to be of Magdalena with all of her birthday presents from her Great-grandfather Papa Bo!

New flavors

Magdalena finally decided that foods that are not pureed and from a jar are okay to at least touch...and has even eaten a few of them! She became obsessed with Ritz Bitz with Cheese, shrieking with glee at the sight of a bag of 'em. Look closely below her chin and you'll see the cheesey remnants...Gigi, you may have to include some of these treats with the other goodies you're gonna mail soon. ;) The other food she's taken a fancy to is whole apple. She throws down slices in disgust, but as soon as she saw this apple in the collander turned fruit basket she picked it up and began to munch away! Made quite a dent in it too, I might add.
Now, if only I can get her to feed herself instead of me whenever she's got a spoon in her hand...

Birthday Bash!

Magdalena had her first birthday party a week ago today. I know, I'm such a terrible mom for waiting so long to write about it! Thanks, Sunny, for not blowing "my thunder" and letting me post about it first. :) The birthday cake is a little girl mole. Sounds weird to Americans probably, but here there is an adorable cartoon for children about a mole so this theme is common for Czech children. Magdalena wanted nothing to do with her cake past touching the frosting. No matter how much coaxing we did, she refused to taste it!

She did, of course, want to eat her book from Aunt Sunny! Go figure. Our child thinks she's a "kid" in the other sense of the word - a baby goat! This picture is with her cousins Ivosek, Alenka, and Eliska (right to left).

Even though she didn't get into cake eating, Magdalena did enjoy opening presents (and subsequently playing with the gift bags!).

A special thanks to the Stone family who sent a birthday present all the way across the Atlantic ocean and half of the European continent for Magdalena to open at her party! Emily, your newly acquired sewing skills are great! Our little girls are going to be so precious playing/baking together in their matching aprons.

1st Birthday

Magdalena turned a whole year old yesterday! Her greatgrandfather, Papa Bow, sent her some money (which we used to buy lots of clothes and toys!) and a fun card. In the evening, she opened presents.
A new pink coat with flowers, a special outfit for her birthday party, and her own chap-stick were what Mommy and Daddy gave Magdalena on her birthday.

Poppy and Gigi gave her Weebles Cinderella Wobbly Adventure (pictured), a dress, and a cute outfit. Magdalena immediately began enjoying her toys and chap-stick. Soon she'll begin wearing her clothes! :)

We love our dear girl so very much. She has given us so much joy this year and taught us a lot about learning to love, being patient, seeing the world through new eyes (literally), and the greatness of God's creativity! Magdalena, little Bug, we love you!! Happy birthday!

The past two weeks

We've been quite busy the last 14 days catching up with our friends and missed activities in Prague since Magdalena was sick after our return home. So, "what have you been doing?" you ask. I'm glad you asked!!

Project Antioch opened a family center called Palacek (like the Czech Thumbalina - only there's a bunch of stories about many tiny children here!) which is super fun! Magdalena has made new friends every time we've gone. She got to play with kids from 3 different play groups and with a new toy that Clark is lending her. (Thanks for the picture, Sunny!) Now our Munchkaroodle can walk (or rather run) all over the house.
Even when she's not playing with this toy, but she sees it, she begins to smile and laugh! Thanks heaps, Shanna! You've gotta give Clark kisses of gratitude for us. :)

We have also been dealing with snow. Not well, let me tell you! A stroller is very difficult to navigate in foot high snow. So, we've been using the carrying-shawl often. Traveling home yesterday with the shawl, Magdalena caught the attention of one young fellow about 10 years old. She chirrupped "DaDa!" to him. He quickly responded to her: "I'm not Daddy; I'm a friend." Turning me to me, "Is that okay that I'm her friend?" I assured him it was.

He continued to converse with us by asking Magdalena's age, if she understands words, where we were going, and commenting that the shawl was nifty, etc. After a couple of minutes he realised that I'm not a native Czech speaker and asked me where I was from. So I told him and his eyes bulged out almost as far as his jaw dropped down in disbelief. :D What do you think was the first thing he asked about America? Go ahead, guess. Nope, that's wrong. He asked, "Does America have the electric chair?" I admitted that yes we do have it although I thought it was bad. He said that he would be afraid of it and that it was cruel...then he hopped off the metro. But he didn't leave the platform until he'd waved to Magdalena through the window!

So long for now, my dear blog readers. I'm preparing to greet my parents at the airport! They arrive today to celebrate Magdalena's birthday with us.