Christmas time in Texas!

What a great month of December we had! Having my Mom here is a huge blessing and makes my life so much easier! We had some sickness along the way, but despite that we still spent lots of time with our family.

To kick off the Christmas season, we went to the lighting of the oak tree, at a park right north of our house. I don't know how many times I've mentioned this, but I LOVE our location. We are so close to whatever you may ever need. There is a website called "walkscore" and it rates cities based on how walkable everything is. Downtown Austin got a good score, but our particular neighborhood, also was rated with a great score, big green dot on the map right on top of us. So cool!

Anyway, here we are by the lighted tree. They worked on it for days, but every single branch had lights on it. Amazing! It was kind of crowded and kind of late for our kids, but being so close, my Mom took Emerson home and put him down, while me, PJ, Ophelia and the Haydens enjoyed a carriage ride. Ophelia climbed on a sidewalk wall, just like the other kids were doing, but was not as coordinated and fell off and scraped her arm pretty bad. There were lots of tears! But she'll survive!

Ooo, it's getting colder! Shall we call this winter? Here is my Mom "walking" Emerson in the backyard. All bundled up, because it was only 45 degrees or so. Burrr!

Getting all the Christmas shopping done! Here is Emerson with a mistletoe hairband. Who can resist giving kisses to this little man?

Ophelia sure can't resist! Those sweet open-mouth kisses are the best! Baby breath and all!

We waited till the last moment to buy a Christmas tree. I was just not sure where to put it and what kind I wanted. So one day, randomly, me and my Mom found this tree, which was the last tree in the store, the display one. We all love it there, on our wide window sill. Christmas cards on the background and room for all the presents underneath.

Family time is always crazy, but fun, with three little munchkins running/crawling around. They get so energized and excited to see each other. And it's so fun to see them interact, hug and kiss each other, and play together. Love Winston's Christmas outfit!

Emerson is able to pull himself up to anything now. It is exciting and scary at the same time. Walking days are not far off! He also can say "Hi!". Whenever my Mom sits down to Skype with my Dad, he quickly crawls over, sits in her lap, listens to them talk, and says "Hi!" to Dedushka over and over!

Having my Mom here for New Years was so awesome! I have not felt the true spirit of New Years ever since I left Latvia. New Years is such a big deal there, probably the biggest holiday of the year, with lots of family time, traditional movies, new years TV programs and special performances, traditional salads and black bread, fireworks, and champagne. We drank non-alcoholic Martinelli's, of course, but the tradition continued with watching "The Irony of Fate" while making all these delicious salads. I made black bread in the bread maker and my Mom made a cake. Ignore Emerson's sock on the table...it's not part of a tradition...

Mmm! Makes my mouth water, looking at this picture!

Here is a video of the kids enjoying our New Years festivities. Russian New Years TV programming in the background.

Texas December vs. Siberian December

This world is amazing! Texas and Siberia are located in the same hemisphere, yet here we are outside, in T-shirts, 75 F in December ...

....while in Siberia it is -22 F! My Aunt sent us some pictures of my birthplace, Krasnoyarsk. This is what you wear to stay warm. Check it out, there is even a stroller behind that Mom in a blue suit! Here in Texas we wouldn't even think about going outside in that sort of temperature, forget about taking your child outside! A normal winter Siberian day, people enjoying wondrous ice sculptures!

This is on a "warm" Siberian day, as my aunt put it. "It was just 5 F!" Perfect weather for some cross-country skiing.

I think I have been way too Texanized. I wear a sweater when it's below 65 F and turn on the heater at home and in the car. I can't think how people live in -22 F or -40 F weather. My Mom always tells me stories how when I was a little girl, growing up in Siberia, I did not want to walk in the snow, so hat, thick coat, snowboots and my Mom had to carry me.

We were all super excited to see Ophelia at her first ever performance this month! She goes to a little singing/dancing group called The Singers Company and enjoys it a lot. Ms Janell, their teacher, is super sweet to all of the girls, and Ophelia just can't wait to talk to her each week we go to their practice. This December they first performed at a retirement facility, then at a Christmas celebration downtown Round Rock, and, finally, at an elementary school. Ophelia is the smallest one in class. She goes out there and just has fun. No shyness, but if the music is too loud, she makes sure to let Ms. Janell know, even if they are in the middle of a song.

At the Round Rock concert, she kept coming off stage, mainly because she had to pee. But PJ was able to get a good recording.

We made sure to take her to FroYoz after her performance, because despite all, she did a great job!

Things I learned from a performing 3-year old:

1. Make sure they go potty before the performance.
2. Instruct them beforehand, that it's probably not a good idea to raise your dress on stage.
3. If the music loudness is not tested prior to the performance and it ends up too loud, you will probably hear about it during the performance.
4. Tape a BIG cross on the floor where the child is supposed to stand, otherwise it is way too hard to keep both feet together on a small piece of tape and it is easy to fall off of that spot or even lose it altogether!
5. Have them blow their nose and clean their nostrils before going on stage...

November: Full and Fun House!

What a great month of November it was! My parents came to hang out with us, see our new home, babysit, cook, clean, do house maintenance, and enjoy the warm Texas sunshine:

We worked them hard, that's for sure! It was more of a WORKation, than a vacation :) They loved being with us, but I know they were glad to be back to they own environment - with no screaming kids day or night, no mess of toys, no dirty diapers, no cleaning and cooking chores, no need to be quiet when kids are asleep (which is 15-16 hours out of every 24), and people actually cleaning after themselves...

Can't say that the kids didn't like all of the extra attention they got! Ophelia picked up lots of Russian words, but I know she got frustrated a couple of times, not being able to understand what was being said. She had an easier time with Dedushka, but with Babushka she communicated via signs :) Emerson was all about Babushka from the start. He is just a ladies' man, what can I say.

Here's how Babushka and Dedushka worked out their abs:

And here is Dedushka doing his weekly 10K:

Ophelia was in heaven from all the presents she got. Here she is sorting her Irish lollipops:

Coupled with Thanksgiving, we sure did not lack food or sweets in this house. My Mom spoiled us with desserts at least every other day. Could you resist these beauties? Orange muffins with chocolate frosting:

Ophelia has been getting into dressing up lately. Here she is a ballerina. She loves to dress up as princesses. But once in a while she puts on a red rectangular toy box on her head and pretends to be a fireman (or a fire-woman I guess).

It is next to impossible to have a successful, fun outing with small kids. With nap schedules, meals, snacks, breasfeeding baby... So, while my Dad was here this was one of the only outings we actually did as a family, and it was actually fun! We went to the Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown. It was a small group with our tour guide  only one other family, so the kids, meaning Ophelia, got a lot of attention from him. Ophelia learned and remembered his name for months after that. The whole time during the tour, she raised her little hand, yelled out "Matt! Matt!" and asked him questions, like where the bats were. That girl is not shy!

It was super humid and 70 F in the caves. We saw lots of cool rock formations, experienced complete darkness, saw some sleeping bats and their poop. Emerson was pretty much happy for the whole time, while being strapped up to Dedushka.

The first weekend in November we notice little sharp white teeth in this little cute mouth. He cut 4 teeth at once at 9 months of age! Thank goodness for Tylenol!

At nine months Emerson also started crawling! All it took was training and encouragement from Babushka and Dedushka, I guess. So, we arrived at the mobile stage of his development, which I am sad to say. It was nice to just be able to put his by the couch on the rug with toys and walk away to do something in the kitchen, then come back five minutes later and he is still sitting in the same spot. Here is our handsome boy giving "bus'ka" (a kiss) to whomever wants one. I love open-mouth-baby kisses!

My favorite pictures of Emerson and my parents:

It was so cool for my parents to come here in November, because they got to experience their first American Thanksgiving, with all of the delicious traditional food, pies, lots of family and friends:

Here is who also enjoyed their first Thanksgiving:

After dinner walk around Oatmeal:

Loves for Mama:

Thanksgiving family picture: I love it!

Talking about the next picture: Isn't this always the case? 50% of the people in the picture look great, and the other 50%...not so much? At what age do kids start taking good pictures? Even in this digital day and age, it is still hard to catch a good smile, no nose picking, a look at the actual camera, or, in this case, no fingers in mouth. 

For the sake of another American experience, I took my parents shopping on Black Friday, actually Thursday night. We went to Walmart, which was insane! I have never seen that parking lot so full! Then we went to the outlets in Round Rock and scored some deals, then we ended up at Kohl's, where we stood in line for 1.5 hours!!!! Why would anyone do that, in their right minds? I don't think we were in our right minds, actually, since it was close to 4 am when we left there. My Dad and I mastered the Bop-It game, while waiting in line, to the annoyance of all the other people around us. Someone else in line had their birthday and we all joined in a "Happy Birthday" chorus in their honor. It was fun, but I don't think I would do it ever again!

Now this is what I would do any time of the day and night! Trip to Krispy Kreme! Did you know they actually have an app to let you know when the "hot and fresh" sign is on? We sure took advantage of that a couple of times. Emerson's first doughnut experience! Mmmm

I guess now that our family is big, it's hard to go for three weeks and not get sick at least once... Well, I'm exaggerating, but we did all manage to get a stomach bug. Everyone, except for my Mom. She has some crazy disease-resistant Siberian genes that are not fazed by any bug or virus. Me, PJ, Ophelia, Emerson, and my Dad all rotated through the bug. Ophelia and Emerson had it worse with all the throwing up they did. Thank goodness for rug cleaner! The day after Ophelia got better and the stomach bug passed through her, she told her Grandma: "Grandma, I pooped out a bug!".

Some pictures from the boat trip down lake Austin to the Hula Hut restaurant. Me and Emerson missed this outing because it happened to be the day he got the bug.

Here is my Dad showing off his juggling skills. Emerson thought it was hilarious every time he dropped a ball! "Circus left town, but the clowns remained" - my Mom.

And another family picture:

It was great having my parents here and I miss them a lot. I wish we lived closer and could visit whenever we felt like it. We had lots of fun, and were very productive around the house: hung curtain rods, made curtains for every room and window, took out a dead tree in the backyard, cleaned all lamps and ceiling fixtures, hung up lots of wall decor, did yard work. Ophelia busted out the funniest thing one morning while my parents were here. She said to me: "Mama, I like your Mama!"  :) :)

Enjoying!

Among the seemingly endless to-do lists, I had to stop for a moment and realize how much I'm enjoying this stage of my life right now. Both of the kids are so much fun to play with: Emerson with his adorable always-smiley face and calm nature and Ophelia with her endless supply of energy and hilarious stuff that comes out of her mouth. I love being able to sleep in till 7 or 7:30 (if I'm lucky) and being woken up with Ophelia's soft steps up to my bedside. I love not needing to rush anywhere in the mornings and just snuggle in bed, play on the rug and, enjoy breakfast together. I love to be at home with the kids and not needing to work and I love the kids not needing to go to school yet. I love watching them explore the world, make connections, and little discoveries, like that a raisin is a dried-up grape. I love the excitement in the house when PJ comes home from work. I love making delicious meals that my whole family enjoys. I love looking into my babies' faces and examining every little beautiful feature, trying to store it in my memory forever. I love my sweet little girl telling me lately: "Mama, you know what?.... I love you!" I love the quiet evenings with PJ after the kids go to sleep and I have been loving a couple of dates we've been able to go on in the past couple of weeks.

Of course this is a blog about the good times (mostly), but our little family is far from perfect. We have our moments... We struggle with parenthood on a daily basis - discovering more things we need to work on. I've been exhausted this whole week because everyone but me has had a cold. I forget whose dirty tissue I'm holding in my hand when there's another runny nose to wipe again... But everyone is starting to get better, and Emerson is sleeping through the night again, so I am happy :)

A couple of weeks ago, I gave Emerson a haircut...and the next day we decided to shave his head :) It's a good thing I went to school to be a dietitian, and not a barber. Here are the boys with their shaven heads:

The good news is that now his hair will grow even and lush :)

We love it when our cousin visits. Winston is crawling everywhere and has energy to match Ophelia's, so they love playing together. Emerson mostly just sits and observes his cousin and sister. He'll make a good supervisor in a couple of years :)

My attempts at getting a picture of matching shirt cousins:

PJ and I had so much fun painting the kids rooms. Well, I painted and then we did the borders together. We love how it turned out! Ophelia loves it too! We're still a long ways away from decorating our home, but this is huge progress and makes us feel more "at home".

It was nice of Grandma and Grandpa to have Ophelia over at their house for several days, so that we could actually accomplish this.

PJ drew and cut out the stencil for Emerson's room. I think it turned out awesome!

Here are my little детки в клетке (kids in a cage).

Ophelia feeding Emerson (and herself), while I cook dinner:

PJ and I went to a 50's style mystery dinner with some friends from the church. We had fun dressing up:

Big thanks to Mom and Judy for the clothes and ideas!

I am a minimalist as far as the decorations for holidays are concerned and if I do decorate, I like it to be a family project, so Ophelia and I painted some pumpkins for our entryway.

Our church "trunk or treat" kicked off the dressing up part of the holidays. Ophelia loved being a Rapunzel with that looong braid, until it got stepped on a couple of times at the party, then she did not want to wear the braid any more. Emerson was our little missionary. This past conference the age minimum requirement for the elders was lowered to 18 years, so we decided it was about time to get Emerson all excited to go on a mission :)

Ophelia had just as much fun handing out the candy as she had receiving it:

Texas with its fall weather is all over the place as usual. We had days with highs in the 80s and days with highs in the 50s. That night the temperatures were dropping quickly, thus Emerson has a little red button nose:

Me and the kids went to a fall festival in Round Rock on the 31st with some friends from church. We went on a hay ride (a first one for Emerson) and played lots of games, got lots of candy and even ate some cookies with juice.

The cat in the hat made an appearance at the festival:

More pictures of brother and sister playing. Here Ophelia was reading the "Five little monkeys" book for Emerson:

Good times:

And Emerson hit two milestones in the past two weeks: he learned how to sit up by himself and then a week later, he learned how to pull himself up to a standing position and stand by himself! So exciting and at the same time sad, because I have been enjoying the stage of development when you put him in one spot and he stays there until you come and get him... But he is a healthy growing boy and you can see the pride in his eyes to be able to stand up all on his own:

No new pictures of my garden, but as an update it has been a struggle and a learning experience... My tomato cages are upside down and I have been overwatering everything, so half of my garden is nothing but dirt... The ants are loving my garden though! Battling with them over my tomatoes. It does look like we'll have a good tomato crop this fall! We ate ONE strawberry two weeks ago. I paid $2.50 for that strawberry plant, so it was an expensive strawberry...but all organic though :) More pictures soon!