There are happy days and there are sad days...

This was a happy day! We have been frequenting Krispy Kreme at least once a week lately. Believe it or not, our kids have a sweet tooth, probably even more than one. Now I know where they got it from - Babushka!

This was a joyous day too! We celebrated Winston's 1st Birthday! Can't believe it's been a whole year since  that day. He is such a cuddly sweet little guy. We love our cousie Winstie-boy! Here is Babushka and Emerson on the way to the party. My Mamochka is so beautiful!

What a beautiful shot of niece+auntie! Love this picture:

Winston invited a lot of guests to his b-day party! That did not stop him from having fun, enjoying his toys, and getting a good taste of the birthday cake. Ophelia was ever so helpful to blow the candle for Winston.

Lots of Birthday kisses were exchanged between cousins:

Smooch!

Loved Auntie Cami's photo props and set up. These turned out super cute!

Here is our sweet little Emer-boy and what we call his "pose of a thinker." Tiny, boxy feet folded one on top of the other, thumb in mouth. We see him in this pose quite often, just sitting, looking at things, absorbing his surroundings.

Here are two sweet cousins...in a bucket. Don't they totally look related? Such beautiful blue eyes!

Me and the kids went to the park one day, while my Mom was making dinner (aahhh! Life was soooo nice and easy with my Mom here). They both fit nicely in the same swing. And, yes, it is January here in Texas and we are not anywhere close to sweater-weather.

The night before my Mom's departure, we took her out to a Tex-Mex dinner. For once, she didn't have to cook! This is a small restaurant down the street from us, called Los Reyes. I hope they never go out of business, because the food is really good!

And this was a very sad day... My Mom left us on the 26th and the house got so empty and depressing. I definitely got spoiled with her cleaning, cooking, and babysitting for us. Also, all those other projects, like the curtains for the whole house! It was so good to have my sweet Mamochka close to me, go shopping together, cooking together, eating meals, and taking care of the kids together. The kids got so much Russian-language exposure, that Emerson only understood Russian. My Mom tried to sneak him out of the country in her suitcase...but he couldn't fit...and made her bags 18 pounds over the weight limit!

It is so nice to have a big home with room for guests. I miss my parents so much... I can't wait for the next time they come!

Как встретишь Новый Год...

So, there's a saying in Russian that goes: "How you celebrate New Year's will dictate the course of the next 12 months." I hope it's not true in our case, because that's when our sick days started!

On New Years Eve night, as we were eating our delicious Russian dinner, we noticed that Ophelia had 103 fever. And thus started our days of sickness... Ophelia, Emerson, PJ, me - all of us went through a rough cold and a course of antibiotics. It was a miracle that my Mom stayed healthy through all of this. That Siberian blood, I tell ya, is resistant to any kind of bug or virus! Ophelia gets all stuffed up in the head, when she is sick, and it slowly moves into her ears. But either she has a high pain level tolerance or it does not hurt her, but by the time we went to the doctor, she had the worst stage of an ear infection that one can have. The only symptom was her waking up at night screaming, but unable to coherently explain why, and the hearing loss. The hearing loss is what prompted us to go to the clinic, because it got so ridiculous, she couldn't even hear a normal dinner table conversation. Here is our sick little girl. Lots of TV time to help the time go by and distract her from being moody and cranky...

Ophelia actually ended up doing another round of antibiotics only 2 weeks days after the first one finished. I guess the first one did not clear up the infection completely...

Emerson being sick is tough too. Lots of crankiness and fussiness. He also woke up at night every 3-4 hours. No fun! In other news... he is one flexible baby:

Ever since Emerson learned to crawl, one of his favorite spots to hang out became this bookshelf, that we stuffed full of kids books, right in our living area/room. I don't ever remember Ophelia being this much into books when she was a baby. In fact, I remember thinking "I hope she loves books when she is older, because it sure does not look like it right now!". She was just always so wiggly and busy body, she could not sit through a simple small book. And, despite my fear, she loves books now! And going to the library for story time, and us reading her books at some point during the day, or every night right before bedtime.

Emerson is such a book lover! The cool thing is that he actually sits and listens to us reading books to him, pays attention, and when one book is done, he'll pick another one up and put it in your lap to be read to him. He loves books! Here's Babushka reading with Emerson:

Ooo! And here is one of the tastiest things EVER! Sushka! My Mom and I made these from scratch. And they turned out delicious! Whenever PJ describes what they are he says it's a cross between an unsalted pretzel and an animal cracker. To me, it's a wonderful piece of Russian tradition/culture and lots of sweet childhood  memories.