Emma's First Bike!

  

We went to our irish friend's place tonight and they gave Emma a little bike that survived through all 4 of their kids! She was and still is sooooo excited. We walked to their place 45 min walk so it was nice for Emma to be able to ride home (even though it was getting dark:) It was her first time riding ever except for Ocean's tricycle once or twice last summer. She had a great time riding away. She was very brave. I think she will have a sore bottom tomorrow. That kitty cat hat she wears was given to her by grandma marilyn when she was just a little baby (6months?) and she is still wearing it. I guess it has grown with her head or her head hasn't grown. It is neat to have seen her grow up in her kitty cat hat. 

Which are mine?

 
I just thought that my shoes looked rather funny next to Yulia's. Does this answer your question Sara? 

Good job David!

 
I had to take a picture of david's homework. He writes so cute in russian, still little as usual but to me it looks a little more girly or fancy. (click on it to see it bigger, and then click again in the bottom right corner if a little square thing comes up)
Last night we were invited to have borsh and russian meat pie with Denise and Yulia. Unfortunately they are house sitting for an american guy so we didn't really get the full experience of being in a russian home. I'm sure they will have us over again sometime at their own place though. We had lots of fun. They are learning a little bit of english so it is fun for them to try the phrases they are learning like "the weather today is not cold". Sounds funny to me as we are more likely to say "nice out eh" I got to try out lots of russian of course as Yulia hardly knows any english. We had a great time, it is neat to see how we aren't afraid of being with russians now, we know enough that it isn't a scary thing. as long as they are friendly russians like Denise and Yulia! I suprised them all by knowing the word for temptation when David was trying to explain something. they were all trying to figure out what david was describing and i said oh "искушение". For once I was the smart one!:) What a great moment:)
Denise brought out a little black briefcase of perfume and let me smell them all (he only had 15 kinds- normally he has 45). They were giving me one of my choice. After I smelled a few of them Yulia would put my nose in a coffee bag so that my nose would return to normal and be able to accurately smell again. It was lots of fun. I found my favorite smell. I guessed right that it was citrus- it also has green tea and bergamot in it. It is very nice. He sells them on the street so if I use it up I can get some more from him.
And tonight we have group again. Yay! And it is pretty warm and not muddy anymore! Yay! It is so nice to be able to go out for a walk and not take 1/2 hour getting all the clothes on (though it still takes quite a bit of work). We get out every day now. 

me and my brother

 
I was wondering why the boys were being so quiet. They were enjoying the flowers david got me yesterday. though they aren't normally allowed on the table they sure looked sweet up there looking at them and smelling them together. 

some more of the boys

  

15 months old today!

 
Hudson has learned to climb up on emma's bed very well now. Now we really have to watch him, he hasn't tried to jump over the edge yet but he doesn't have those normal fears that would stop one from doing such a thing. He has been pretty crazy and loud and crying a lot lately when he wants something. He wants to do everything the other two do and gets very angry if we say no. He has a good angry look which I'd love to get a picture of, it is kinda cute but of course not good. 

Fun at the Park

We walked to a different park today for a change of pace. Speaking of pace josiah was sure slow on the way back:) owell. The kids had a great time and Emma made friends with the little russian girl and babushka that were at the park. The little girl sure looked young but could talk so much! We had a great time chatting (a bit) and playing with the kids together. It was pretty cold but the ground was dry! Yay! huddy missed out on the fun as you can see:) 

russians and canadians

 
  

More Eggs!

Emma just made some more easter eggs. i think these are her favorite ones because of the girly colours:) 

Fun Saturday

 

We always have a great day on Saturdays but today was extra fun for me anyway. My friend Kathy and I had a great time in the center walking around Red Square and shopping at Gum (goom not gum). When I got home David had taken the kids outside, given them naps and even made these Easter eggs. Tommorrow is easter after all. Kathy made us a homemade Kulich, I'll put a picture of it on too. Yummy. 

Easter Kulich!

 
Thanks Kathy, it was very yummy. 

Emma and friends

 
For some reason wherever we go we seem to have great german friends. In Durham, in Camdenton and now here in Moscow. (Emma stills says she would like to marry her little german friend Lucas who we went to visit in East Germany. He now lives in the philippines!) And next year when we go to Tuva we will be going with a half german family. Emma loves the 3 german girls. They speak german most of the time, russian some of the time and english a little bit of the time. Emma used some russian tonight and learned to say goodbye in german- Chooce? sounded like juice anyway:) Maybe emma will learn all three languages too:)
I didn't get a very good picture (still waiting for my new camera:) but you can see how all the girls look alike. Emma is the youngest at 4. Their youngest at the moment is 6. They are having another girl in a few months. I was so glad to be able to send them home with huddy's crib, car seat, baby carrier and a few things that weren't too boyish. We had a great time with them. They were the only ones at group tonight, we knew the others couldn't make it.
 

the view out back

 
I was trying to get a picture of how sunny it is outside but the picture doesn't really show it. After I took the pic I noticed that there was two girls between the garages drinking and conversing. I knew the pic wasn't that great so I thought I'd try another one but then they noticed me sticking out the balcony taking a picture of them and I backed away. funny. awkward. I wasn't taking one of them of course but I'm sure they thought I was. and because I backed away it probably made it look more like I was spying on them. oops.
But yes it is very beautiful outside, so warm and sunny and just makes you feel good. On the way home from class I was in no hurry and was so happy that I just felt like saying hello to people who passed me. i didn't of course as that would be weird. But then these two college girls stopped and asked me directions. I had no idea what they said so I said "sorry I don't understand russian very well." Then as they were going to leave I said "well I understand a little and I would like to help, what did you want to know, Which street? maybe I know, If you walk down there it will be ... street but if you go that way it is ...street and that way is ....street. what street did you want?" they looked at me funny. I guess I babbled on a bit too much for someone who doesn't understand russian. I know I made thousands of mistakes but I need the practice:) And then they said the street again. no idea where it is so I said "sorry I don't know that street. I'm sorry I couldn't help. Good bye.. Das Vidanya etc." Funny. They probably laughed about it. A common response from russians is "I don't know" (even if they do know). I guess I just gave a long winded "I don't know"! 

Josiah says OK...

 
Lately his favorite word is ok. if you ask him to do something he says "O-Kay" he also says "NO-TAY" which is no thanks it seems. he says that when you ask him to do something too. his scar is looking better though I hope it looks much better later. 

Emma Joy

 
Emma says privyet! She is pretty excited about going to visit canada. We aren't 100% sure that it will all work out as technically it is impossible as far as the required time to get all of our documents ready as there has been some unexpected complications. But we know Who can do the impossible so we still think we are coming but we will have to wait and see.
Ocean- Emma wants to know what it is like to be 5. We missed being there at your party Ocean. You look very beautiful and happy in the hot tub. (pic on Laura's site)
It was Charlotte's Birthday too! We have missed a lot of cakes lately... good and bad:) 

Extrude Sticks!

 
Josiah thinking he is sneeking a treat. He soon discovered he wasn't.

Couldn't not tell about this one. Many grocery items are different than at home but that is to be expected. David comes home with some funny things sometimes. We aren't huge bran lovers but David likes to mix 2 or 3 cereals in his bowl. So he bought 100% bran for the first time here. These things are huge big sticks of brown cardboard. Very chewy and tasteless and they just look so funny. I like that they call them extrude sticks!
Normally russian products don't have english on them but this one does. I think it is english anyway. examples:

This wheat extrude bran is a diet product for tradement and prophylactic.

Recomended for removal of constipation, hearburn, and prevents of schemic discase.

The products is ready to use absolutely.

and perpose instead of purpose
and persent instead of percent
and on and on.

Very funny reading the english on things. probably just as funny as listening to me speak in russian:) I don't know why they don't run it through some free online translator/spellchecker or something before printing. Maybe I should be a volunteer checker for 100% bran. Well maybe not me. How many mistakes did I make in this post? but some of mine are on perpose. 

orthodox easter

I now know why anya and I were both confused about when easter is this year. I kept saying April 16th. She kept saying April 23rd. I didn't know that Orthodox Easter (russian easter) is next week. So looks like we will get to celebrate twice (sort of). That happens a lot here. We get so many holidays:)

HERE is some info about Orthodox Easter, i haven't found a really good site about it yet but this one is better than nothing.

a rare moment

 
Emma and Josiah are great at sitting and watching a movie from start to finish. Huddy usually sits for the opening song/credits and then gets up and roams again. It will be nice when he too will sit for the whole movie so that i can focus on studying once in a while during the day. But maybe he never will. Anyway, he watched lion king (in russian) for almost 30 minutes the other day and I took this picture of him watching. He is soooo active. non stop getting into things and wants to be a part of everything (except movie watching:). I've had to get him out of things 3 times already while writing this little paragraph. He has a gift of some sort:) He is easy in a way, not wimpy (doesn't cry much even after great falls) or demanding for attention (he doesn't want attention) or anything like that but you need to watch him non-stop. Sometimes you think he is playing really good but then you realize he is not just playing with blocks but also eating garlic cloves. After much discipline he does learn most of the time but he sure takes a lot more work than the other two in that area. Sure has a cute belly button though:) and he loves to be silly, especially when we have our couples group, he comes in and talks funny or does silly faces distracting everyone from the lesson:) I think he gets that from me... 

Happy Easter!

 
We haven't really figured out what russians do at Easter but we did have some Kulich which is a russian easter bread (made with saffron, rum and fruit- very yummy like the finnish coffee bread that we used to have at gram inga's) and David brought me home this easter bouquet. Tomorrow we are having a big easter dinner here. You can't find hams easily here so we are doing a huge pork roast. Our friends (all foreigners this time) are bringing other traditional american easter menu dishes like green been casserole and scalloped potatoes. And the australians are bringing an auzzie dessert:) We will have a full apartment as there will be 9 adults, 2 teens and 6 kids.
In the morning we will probably go to the easter service, at least emma and david will. It has been raining soooo much. like england:) so it is a little messy out and tricky waiting for the bus. What are all of you doing for Easter? Any sunrise services? breakfasts? 

8 months!

David lead our group tonight and did an amazing job. when he was done one lady asked how many years he has been studying russian because he speaks it sooo well... my reply "no years... 8 months!" Another russian lady commented on his perfect russian accent. so... good job david. I am very proud of him. He is a great language learner. emma is coming along pretty good too. tonight a lady asked her in english "how are you?" and she answered "четыре" which means 4. She is so used to being asked things in russian, the english threw her off:) Then I asked her "как дела" and she replied "Хорошо". ("how are you" "good") Funny that the russian question was easier for her to answer. Some phrases she always says in russian now like "no, thankyou" and "I don't know" i wonder if she will switch those back to english when we are in canada. we will probably try to speak in russian to eachother when we are home so that we don't forget it.
and we had one new couple come too. he is an american (who is into rock climbing:) but his wife is russian. It is so nice getting to know some people here. our group is such a friendly bunch, what a blessing.

the view today

 
It is a little bit cooler today but really sunny. well for moscow:) never looks sunny in the pictures but you'll just have to believe me that today is sunny. We have a few extra workers out there today using their straw brooms. They sweep the dirt to clean up all the bits of leaves, sticks and garbage. When they are done the dirt looks really soft and kinda nice for dirt. Maybe we'll get a camera soon and I can try to get a good picture of the pattern that the brooms leave on the dirt, kinda looks like paisley when they are done or something like that. Of course we would rather grass but at least our apartment has well kept dirt:) Hardly any snow left out there, yay! And the mud is turning into dirt.
Usual school day today where we both go to class and david has a language session after but later tonight we are having our australian friends over which will be a nice little break. Their daughter Fiona is here for a visit so she wants to come see the kids. Emma really liked visiting with her last time. she is gathering books and things that she wants to show fiona already this morning.
The view outside would be pretty gray and brown if it wasn't for all the little red cars eh. Almost every car outside our place is little and some shade of red though they are often white with snow or brown with mud. The police are giving fines for dirty cars this week (at least for dirty license plates) but i read that dirty cars were banned from the city center or something like that. 

good morning

 
jo enjoying cornflakes and raspberry/rosehip tea. his cut is healing up pretty good it seems. the glue doesn't seem to just go away by itself, david has been taking it off as it peels a bit. about half of it is covered in glue now. so much nicer than stitches. Jo is talking more these days. here you go, here you are, and lots of ya. ya. juice. more. down. ball. car.. those kinds of little words. but it is funny remembering how emma could sing the alphabet song and things like that at his age. but she couldn't make as good lion roars as he can.
looks dark out for 8am. it is a darker foggier day today. we have had some decent sun though lately. 

14 degrees C!!!

Woo Hoo!!! We had a good walk just now. Just our little fleece jackets, nice. Jo is an excellent walker now, but he does veer off for the nice deep puddles. When we call back to him to come he says "ya walk" He was so thrilled. I guess huddy could have walked to but it is just so muddy and I know he'd be in it:) All the fences and railings were being painted today. tacky colours but looks nice anyway. the strangest green I have ever seen. maybe cause they don't have any green grass they like green fences:)

spring cleanup

 
you can't really tell in the picture how muddy it is out there. it is the kind of mud you sink in:) so we are inside today again, slightly raining out there too. you can see two of our buildings workers out there. they work extremely hard all day long. In the winter they shoveled every day even if it didn't snow, they would tidy up the snowbanks and paths. Every morning they collect all the beer bottles and wrappers of all kinds. Lately they have been shovelling the snow back onto the road each day so it will melt faster. They empty the garbage shoots and even go through the garbage taking plastic off styrofoam packages so that people can take the trays. nothing gets wasted. we put out a bag of clothes in the big garbage bin. we know that people will get them. every time we go for a walk there are people looking through the garbage bins for clothes and food. quite sad really.
the tools? they use are pretty different too. see her broom? look like a witch broom doesn't it?! they may make them by themselves. even their shovels were just sticks with a metal piece tied on the end. no fancy shovels like shrooms here. and they shovel all day every day. they shovel our whole little driveway thing there just the two of them with litte shovels. we would use riding snowblowers for that size of job for sure. We think it must be so bad for their backs and bones, they think how good it is for their backs I bet. 

huddy buddy

 
hudson ezekiel james @14months 

rainy day

 
no snow yet but lots of rain so the boys and me are staying home while daddy takes emma to sunday school. josiah loves being the oldest in the household while emma is gone. he put on her favorite play skirt and gave huddy a basket of little kid toys to play with on jo's bed and asked me to put the basket of dolls and little things up on her bed for him to play with. Jo is usually up on emma's bed sleeping when we bring her to bed. and yesterday morning when she woke up he was sleeping up there with her. maybe we should get another bunk bed or a loft bed cause they both want to sleep on the top.