Cookies sale.

We have tried to participate in a community yard sale today for the first time ever. We had bought so much junk from other people before, that it was about time for us to get rid of some of ours. Mostly there were Mirek's tools that he wasn't using anymore, and I decided to let the girls have some fun as well.

Their friend, little girl named Molly, was going to have a lemonade stand, and we decide to have a cookie stand right next to her. Yesterday we were busy baking. We made vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting, vanilla chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cookies with white chips and pecans, decorated with M&Ms.

Today they were quite a success! Ivana made the sign "Ivana's cookies and cupcakes", she took care of the price signs, and Leonka helped her to make little American flags and "Have a nice day" signs that we put on top of the cupcakes. They were priced 0.50 each.

I thought Ivana would be a bit more loud and enthusiastic while selling, but somehow it happened to be Leona that surprised me with her ability to sell. She was so cute announcing, "Cookies, cupcakes everyone. Delicious, freshly baked...". And when people stopped by she would just take the cookie out of the container and hand it to them. They were so amazed and just felt obliged to buy them. They didn't seem to even mind her "dirty" hands and sometimes let her keep he change. They didn't have the heart to put the cookie back and walk away, disappointing my blond, green eyed beauty. Good strategy, Leonka!

Ivana took the responsibility of being a "treasurer" and proudly collected the profits. When she had to give the change she kind of thought she was losing money. Here was a perfect opportunity to show her how important math is, that we need it everyday, and we got to practise additions and subtractions.

In case you are curious, the girls sold cookies and cupcakes for $15.50, and I made $105 selling Mirek's tools. Not too shabby... Two men buyers were wondering, laughing, "Where is your husband? What did you do with him?" I surely looked funny, by myself with three girls, having half a table fool of tools I am clueless about, and the other half cookies and cupcakes.

Don't throw empty boxes...

I just feel like describing you in detail how our day went today...

We woke up, at about 8:30, cuddled in bed for a while, Ivana and Leona played with their baby sister. They have such a great time interacting with her now since at 3 months Milana is responding to them by oohing, smiling and belly laughing.

We had breakfast and then got comfortable on the sofa to read books. They were new and exciting to them, brought from the library a day before. There was this one book that was hilarious. It's a Cinderella story, but the pictures in the book are the photos of a real dog , dressed up in different clothing and accessories. They were cracking up while I was reading it to them. The hit was not the story, but the illustrations.

Then we moved to a summer room, that we have started using again in the warm weather. I love it! It has so much light. We opened all the windows and were able to hear and see the deer come by and shuffle the leaves looking for food.

I've been putting aside the empty boxes, cartons and paper rolls, yogurt containers and milk box caps hoping to use the stuff for future art projects. I did not have any particular idea in mind, but I know myself, it will strike me one day. So, the whole big box of a lot of things. And guess what... they have discovered it! Wow! It was like finding a hidden treasure! No kidding! The girls were so excited! They didn't get that excited when it was Christmas, but the empty boxes! Yej... These are MY kids!

Ivana and Leona found some unbelievable ways to use my recyclables for their imaginary games! The list is pretty long! Grocery store was the first one, of course. Then they played house and pretended they were cooking meals. Then they were feeding their stuffed animals the food they had cooked. Then it was a picnic.

I was sitting on the sofa and nursing the baby and just had so much fun watching them play! The funniest I thought was that when they came up with an idea to make a Robot costume out of a paper bag. And then when it was time to clean up (can you imagine the mess there was in the room! Not peaceful, like I like our house to be, at all!). And they were "garbage men" and dumping the "garbage" into the "dump".

After lunch we went for a walk to the lake. The weather was so beautiful! Sun made me happy, and I got some quite time while my girls played away in the sand with their newly made friends, another 5 yo girl and 4 yo boy.

At home we did a craft activity. We made tambourines out of paper plates and played some games using rhythm of our hand made musical instrument. Then they were drawing and coloring, doing little things with their stickers while I was cooking the dinner.

If I look back at our day, it was very productive. It was very balanced, relaxing and a lot of fun. For me, though... At night when I was tucking Ivana up in bed, she sad that she had a boring day... Go figure!

Creative reading.

It's amazing how a book, a good book, can be such a powerful and fun tool for a learning experience.

Usually, when we go to the library, the girls look through the books and put aside those ones that they would like to take home. And I would go through the shelves to see what's out there interesting for ME to read to them. I love books. I am a bookworm. But with such an abundance of trashy books nowadays, it's been taking me sometime in the library to pick something worth reading. And when I happen to stumble upon a "published jewel" my heart sings.

As I've been picking the books at random and now know quite a few that we really liked with my girls, I decided to start making a book list. It will be a great way to let Ivana practice writing "with a purpose". It will help us find that particular book that we've enjoyed should we want to use it for a reference or simply re-read it once again. Also, it will help me to look back at what we were reading with my two oldest when our youngest will be ready for a quality literature.

Among the most recent treasures is the book by Peter Sis, "Starry Messenger". In this amazing book Peter Sis uses his artistic talent to give us an extraordinary view of the life of Galileo Galilei. The illustrations are very detailed and just breathtaking. Sis tells the story in the language as simple as a fairy tale, adding Galileo's own words, written more than 350 years ago but still resonant with truth.

We have read the book a couple of times during this week. Then we used it for an imaginary play. We drew, color, cut out and hung the stars, the Moon and the Sun all over our summer room. We pretended the paper rolls were our telescopes and we were Galileos. We were "observing the sky" and "making notes".

In the beginning of June there will be an annual book sale at a local library. I'll be there before the sunrise, hoping to get good books for a bargain price...

Making sure our kids speak Russian.

I used to wonder before we had the kids why other parents choose not to teach their children to speak parents' first language (whatever it is), how it is possible that when the kids are small they speak a foreign language and in most cases refuse later on, and when does this transition happen from speaking the language to just understanding it and replying back in English.

As it is very important for me and Mirek to teach our girls to speak both Russian and Czech, we thought that it was going to be easy. As long as we speak to them, read to them, take them to Europe to practice the languages and help them understand the need to know other foreign languages.

Well, we've been pretty successful, so far. Since the day Ivana was born I spoke only Russian to her, read only Russian books until she was like 3 years old. I also encouraged Mirek to talk to her in Czech. And I remember that in the beginning he had difficulties to find a topic, make sense and not sound silly. But I told him just to tell her how his day was, what was on his mind, what the weather was like, etc. Simply to "talk" to her so that she's exposed to various sounds and gets accustomed to him speaking that "other language".

Two summers in the Czech Republic were extremely beneficial. The girls made friends, were able to communicate and create a bond with the grandparents.

But lately I've been thinking and have realized a lot of things. It is becoming more and more difficult to stick to my original plan. It takes an extra effort to make sure our daughters do not lose the ability to speak Russian and Czech. I've realized that I can't make them speak only Russian when they play with each other, even though they keep on switching back and forth. I can't expect them to remember a word or a phrase only after me telling it to them once or twice. Sometimes ten times is not enough, they will still not remember the word or use it wrongly.

Since we speak English with Mirek (of course using other two languages when in need), all our friends speak English, we read a lot of new, interesting and exciting books in English, everything around them is in English, Ivana and Leona started using English A LOT, even when addressing to me.

English will always be their first language as long as we live in the USA or other English speaking country. But I will continue to read to them in Russian and try to get new books every now and then. I will play with them certain games only in Russian. When they talk to me in English and I want them to say it in Russian, I will make sure that they repeat the sentence to hear themselves. I will make sure that I find time to teach them to write and read in Russian ( as Ivana does already, Leona's turn). I will make sure we have a collection of original Russian Classical Literature and hopefully be able to travel to Russia a couple of times before they become independent young adults and move out from the house.

I was never the one choosing to go the easy path and me teaching my kids to know my roots and culture is not an exception. I intend on continuing and inventing other ways of teaching them to make sure that "yes" and "no", and "my name is..." are not their only vocabulary in Russian. I guess I am off to "a lot of extra miles"! And what an exercise it is for their brains is a whole other topic. I'll be getting my "thank you"s later, I am sure...

Sisters.

I took a picture of them when they were fooling around, giggling, making faces and laughing. It was so cute to watch them! Aren't they beautiful?

Spring concert.

The school year is almost over for our "Lafayette School" as Ivana calls it. And we have celebrated the end of the year at our homeschooling co-op with a spring concert.
It was the first year that we have joined a "Fine Arts Co-op", and it was a great experience for both me and the girls. I was able to meet very nice Moms, and Ivana and Leona made friends with a couple of kids.

Today we took home Ivana's folder from her Art class with all the projects they worked on during the course of the year. And since I spent most of the time in the nursery and could not participate and observe the classes, I was kind of in a dark about what they were doing. Her folder looks pretty impressive!

Music class was just great! Ms. DeJulia was the only professional paid music teacher at the co-op.It's too bad that she is not coming back next year. She was able to teach the kids a lot, and Ivana personally loved the class. For the Spring concert her class learned two songs, as she actually memorised the lyrics!

Gym was favourite for all the kids in the co-op. As a teacher we had a Mom, former Olympic athlete, and a beautiful facility where the kids could do their warm ups, stretchings, and play group games and sports.

There are huge changes coming up for the next year at the co-op. It seems like it's going to be a totally different program. Since the co-op is based on parents' initiative and participation, this year I was more a "receiver" than a "giver". Being new to the group, moving to another state, expecting a baby and then having a newborn, etc. I was doing a lot of cleaning there not to feel that I contributed nothing. At first I was hesitant whether to come back for the next year, since the music class is very important for me. But then I reconsidered and decided on participating more next year. I have tons of ideas, and having a "different" program does not necessarily mean "worse" program. "Different" can be also "better". So, I offered to teach an Art Class for younger kids, and also be an organiser of a Creative Dramatics Class with the performance for Christmas and spring. It seemed that there was a lot of interest from other parents on me doing that... So I got "green light" to sleep on the ideas and come up with a plan for a year. I guess my brain will be pretty busy this coming summer.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

I did not have time to blog about our birthday celebration for Leona yesterday, so I'll try to catch up now...

We have never had any big birthday celebration for either of our girls. It was always a cake and ice cream with fruit salad. Two of Ivana's birthdays we celebrated in the Czech Republic and she had a few of her Czech friends over for games and dessert. And this year I just felt somehow ambitious and wanted to have a big party for Leona, and then Ivana in August. I've been reading online getting different ideas and getting inspired. My plans included:

-picking up a theme for the party, making and sending birthday invitations a few weeks in advance;
-making a pinata with Leona and Ivana;
-have two tables full of food, one for kids and the other for the parents;
-organize various games with winning prizes for the kids;
-have two craft activities for kids to do when they get tired;
-surprise Leona with the gift and the cake in the morning right after she wakes up;
-decorate the house and backyard for the party;
-prepare goodies bags for the kids to take home.

And as the day was approaching rapidly and me not having enough time, my plans simply started to shrink...rapidly. And that's how the birthday party happened:

-I picked up a theme (it was going to be "Bugs"), but never sent the invitations, simply called on Monday and invited three families with kids for a Sunday celebration;
-Started making a pinata with the girls on Thursday. We did a first layer, took the balloon outside to let the glue dry faster, then brought it inside in the evening as it got very windy. Guess what...the law of physics, of course, the change in temperature and the balloon inside popped and the first layer of our future pinata was instantly destroyed. So, no time to start making another one, did not want to spend extra money buying one, so... no pinata.
-Decided to serve vegetarian lasagna, salad, turkey and Swiss cheese sandwiches, with some snacks beforehand, soft drinks and juice for kids, followed by chocolate and carrot cakes, and fruit salad with vanilla and chocolate ice cream.
-Did not organize any games for the kids, just pulled out bubbles, chalk, scooters, hula loops, balls. Took them for a walk to the lake and let the kids run around on the beach. Free play, ey!
-Did prepare two craft activities, but they only did one and took the other one home instead of a goody bag.
-Used the girls to help me out with the cakes (so, no surprise there, Leona had seen the cake). And did not buy the gift for her, but promised to let Tata take her to the store so that she picks a toy she would like.
-For decorations just blew a couple of balloons and hung them in the girls' room and the playroom.

And even though I did not do it "the right way" as I had planned, we still had a great time. Everybody was fed and happy. Kids had a great time and were exhausted by the end of the day. Leona enjoyed all the attention. And I did not feel overwhelmed.

So what's wrong with "my way"? I guess nothing. I need to remember about simplifying things and unloading myself a bit. Once again, less IS more...

Busy Saturday.

Part 1.

I had a plan. And the plan was big for today. And I did it all. And I am very proud of myself. And I am very tired.

Mirek was working today since early morning so I could not expect any help from him to do everything that I had planned to do. But I was determined to do those things no matter what since they were very important. Like sending the photos of Milana to my family so that they can finally see her after almost two months of me promising them to send the pictures. It's such a shame that my Mom, Dad, my sister and my brother do not have internet, so we do it an old fashioned way, sending each other letters by mail.

We hardly made it to the Post Office since they close early on Saturdays. Then we went to the Family Expo that took place at the Shawnee Inn. There were supposed to be 68 tables with a lot of info on different activities for kids to do in the Poconos. And as I am in a process of discovering the area and planning for the next year what to do with the girls, I was thrilled to be able to see all of what they had to show.

Unfortunately, it was such a disappointment. The expo was held indoors, there was a lot of people, a lot of strollers and no way to get through the crowd. We were given a paper and was supposed to stop by at each table and have our paper stamped in order to enter the drawing for a free parenting magazine. Ivana and Leona wanted to have their faces painted so much, but the line was so long, that there was NO way I was going to wait. We went to paint wooden shapes at the other table, painted 6 of them, left them there to let them dry and were supposed to pick them up on our way back.

Went to check out the other area with the exhibits, but by then I could not take it anymore. I was afraid to loose the girls, did not care to win a free subscription to a parenting magazine (I can write one myself!), did not want to spend even one extra minute inside as it was a glorious spring day with everything blooming around us, still had a lot to do on our list...simple I've had it! We left very early and I promised my girls to get a face paint at a craft store and have fun painting their faces at home one day. They were a bit upset, but quickly got over it. And we forgot to pick up our art project, another big disappointment for them as they wanted to show Tata their creations.

We headed to the library and returned our overdue books, had to pay a fine of $4.80 and the librarian would not wave or at least try to reduce the fine a bit. Stayed in the library for a short while, the girls read books while I picked the ones we were going to take home and then nursed Milana.

The next stop was a supermarket. Tomorrow is Leona's birthday and we needed to do grocery shopping to get ready for our mini party. Having a prepared list helped a lot, and we were getting very hungry and tired of jumping in and out of the car. Buckling and unbuckling all three of them times how many stops we had made, nursing in public, changing a diaper on the floor in the library, still saving some energy for driving...

Came home, took all the bags home (Ivanka counted them , thre were 13), put the groceries in the refrigirator and pantry, fed Ivana and Leona soup, then they wanted to go for a walk to the lake. I wanted to go outside myself, so off we went out again...Got the picture?

Part 2.

Well... initially I wanted to surprise Leonka with her birthday cake, but by the time we got home it was close to 6pm and I needed all the help I could get from my "little helpers". My big plans for the party shrank to very modest ones. I set my girls to work. Gave them plastic bags and told them to sort the Froot Loops cereal by color into those bags. They had fun gobbling them meanwhile and chatting away while busy. Then it was even more fun thing to do as each of them got a big spoon and were supposed to smack those bags with all their might to crush the loops and make "colored sand" for our cake decorating. They were busy doing that that I was working on cutting and arranging the parts of the cake. It was going to be a butterfly, per Leona's request. I did not let them frost the cake. And the decorating of the butterfly I left for myself. A slight grumbling from there side was quieted with letting them lick the spatulas and the container after the frosting.

Ivana kept on praising my work and was making plans on what kind of cake she will have for her birthday. She could not decide, there is still plenty of time till August.

That is how good I am at multitasking! Well done to Mom!