December Festivities

This month has just flown by it seems. Lots of Christmas parties - school, PJ's work, church. We got to go PJ's work party just the two of us, while Mark and Camille kept the kids for us for a couple of hours. It is just so refreshing and nice to go out as a couple and be able to interact with people and not having cater to the kids' needs and constantly watching over them. We had such a good time!

At church, the Christmas party had a Latino flare to it. With a pinata and everything. Just a few weeks ago, our ward got split and the ward boundaries changed, so there are lots of new to us families at church. It was good to meet a few of them at the party. We ate lots of yummy enchiladas and for dessert we had cupcakes. Om the way home from the party Ophelia noted: "I ate my cupcake like Cookie monster....too fast!" :) Made me and PJ crack up!

Texas winters are kind of dry, lots of static here:

Both the kids are struggling with dry skin throughout the winter months. We use lots of hydrocortisone, which Ophelia calls "hydro-quarters".
My friend Natalie shared some Krispy Kreme joy with us. The kids were in heaven:

Ophelia's school put on a big Christmas concert this month. PJ stayed home with Emerson, since it was kind of later in the evening, but me and Grandma and Grandpa got to enjoy it. Ophelia did so amazingly great. She sang loud, she did the actions, and she truly had fun doing it. They sang 3 songs and on the last one (which I didn't get a good video of) Ophelia pretty much dominated the voices. We had friends whose kids were in the concert too comment to us later about how well and loud Ophelia sang!

Lovely Christmas jingle:

Pretty much the first week that PJ was off work, he got the flu. Not just some little flu, he got THE FLU! He was miserable. The first two days he spent in bed with chills, fever, achiness. He slept awfully. It was rough! I did my best to quarantine him from the kids, but I myself got something too. It wasn't the flu according to the flu test at the doctor's office, but I felt sick for a few days, but not nearly as bad as PJ. We were blessed that the kids did not get any of it!

My friend Candace makes the best gingerbread ever! She gave us a house making kit for Christmas, so decorated one as a family. The kids loved the project. Emerson was more interested in tasting all of the candy though, but Ophelia got into sticking colorful candies all over the house.

We had a quiet family Christmas Eve with just us four. It was neat to do our new tradition as of this year of the 25 days of Christmas with a Christ-centered message and a symbolic ornament to go with it each day. Emerson looked forward especially to videos about Jesus and Ophelia loved opening the gift box with a different ornament each night. On Christmas Eve we drove around as a family and delivered goodies to neighbors and friends in the area.

Just in time for Christmas, everyone was finally well enough to spend time with family in Oatmeal. Whatever germs we had, we shared like this:

Cousy love is powerful and there's no way around it! Here's the beautiful tree. I love that Mom always has a live tree for Christmas! I love its smell, because it reminds me of my childhood and our end-of-year festivities. I also love eating mandarins all December long because that's what I did as a kid. One time I ate so many mandarins that I got a rash all over my body!

Grandma playing with Emerson. This Sesame street house is one of the kids' favorite toys at Grandma's house:

Mark and PJ played some lovely Christmas songs for us:

And then Ophelia played some too :)

She's got the guitar hold down. Now we just need to teach her how to make the right notes on it:

The table is set! Looking good:

Grandma got Ophelia and Emerson a little play kitchen for Christmas, which they love! But they also loved playing in the huge box that the kitchen came in. As a bonus, check out Em's huge mouth :)

A few Ophelia-isms that we've heard lately:
* She told PJ one morning: "Papa, you make the best breakfastes!" I giggle at the grammar that she uses, but then I turn around and speak just like her, because we hang out so much together, I talk like her too :)
* As a proper dietitian Mom, I have been talking to Ophelia about candy and junk food, so she is starting to figure out what's good for our bodies to take in and what isn't. One day she told me: "Candy infects moods and makes us act like a baby and a spoiled rat." Petty much...nailed it :)

We had our annual dumpling night in Oatmeal. Auntie Jane was there too and Emerson developed a special love for her:

We made a few attempts to take a good picture of all three cousins. Here are the best two tries:

Someday we won't have that problem any more, of trying to have all three look at the camera and smile and sit still for just 5 seconds!!!! Here they are playing ring around the rosie:

Emerson has a special place in his heart for Grandpa. It is so sweet! Whenever I tell the kids that we're going to Grandma's house, Emerson always adds "Grandpa's house". Also when Grandma stops by on occasion, on her own, while running errands in town, Emerson asks her "Grampa go?", meaning "Where did Grandpa go?" Emerson is always so excited to see Grandpa, to give him a hug and a kiss, or to have Granpda hold him. Here Emerson is singing with Grandpa:

The kids had fun hanging on Aunt Judy:

On one of our visits to Oatmeal, Auntie Cami did some beautiful shots of the kids. Sure makes me want to get a nicer camera!

I just LOVE this one:

This boy is just so incredibly sweet and polite! He even gets excited for his sister. Like when Ophelia shows her artwork to Emerson, he says :"Awesome, Awa!" Too cute! He is starting to pronounce her name correctly most of the time nowadays. He says "Opheya" or "Opheyaya".

Emerson is getting really good with speaking in sentences too! Here are some dinner time Emerson-isms:
* "I like it strawberries." He's learned from Signing Time to says "I like it" and "Don't like it", so he plugs the "it" in his sentences when he talks about his likes and dislikes.
* When calling Ophelia for dinner to the table one evening: "Awa, eat sushi papa make it!" Blew my mind how he put all those words together. Love that boy!

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!"  :) :)