LiveLearnLaugh

A new blog.

2010-06-15T00:41:00.001-04:00

Hello!
For some time I will be mostly posting on our new blog.
Check it out and you will know why!

http://www.21centuryodyssey.com/

Looking back.

2010-06-11T23:26:00.000-04:00

Looking back... Today was 14th anniversary of the day we met... This day is more meaningful to us than our wedding day. On this day, 14 years ago, the history of our family had begun. Our eyes met, the sparks flew, and miracle happened. Ever since many more miracles keep on happening, and life every day becomes more full, complete and bright.
This morning I was greeted with a bouquet of hand picked wild flowers. This bouquet not only brought a smile to my sleepy morning face, but also reminded me that there is no greater happiness in life than being loved. I wish everybody to find love in their life. The world will become a better place then...

Memories dear to me.

2010-06-10T23:53:00.002-04:00

I have very few things that are very dear to me. The things I managed to bring from my homeland. The things that remind me of my far away loved ones and the times of my youth.

The golden earrings were given to me on my 5th birthday. My grandma from my Dad's side did make sure that I have something to remember her by, even now, approaching my 35th birthday.
The watch, made in the country that no longer exists (the USSR), was my Mom's present when I graduated from high school and got accepted into the university. And, since it was made more than 20 years ago, it is considered antique.

Today was a special day for me as I have my watch picked up from a repair shop. They had been tucked away for at least 8 years, patiently waiting to be brought to life again. And it finally happened! Now I need to get back into the habit of winding then up every morning.

And last week I was given one more thing that had become very dear to me the moment I opened up a gift box.

It is a charming silver necklace that my music teacher so thoughtfully presented me with. I have been so touched by this beautiful gift, that it instantly gets into the category "memories dear to me", the things I will cherish forever.

I had to stop taking my piano lessons for now, and already miss seeing Mrs. D. on a weekly basis. Learning to play piano with her tender, yet firm, teaching approach has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. I pledge to continue playing the "old pieces" and will try to encourage myself to try new ones. Thank you, Mrs. D. for everything you've taught me and our daughter.
We love you!

It finally paid off!

2010-06-04T22:29:00.000-04:00

When both Ivana and Leona want to go fishing with Tata, it is no surprise. He has been taking them fishing and teaching them the way to cast, find a bait and reel the fish in, basically, since they began to walk. The girls are running to dig for worms on the side of the house as soon as they smell the opportunity to go fishing. Ivana will crack snails and hook them up like there is no sliminess or stickiness, and almost certainly will pull a fish out of the lake.

Leona has just learned to cast on her own, and is very excited about her achievement. Milana's B-Day present was a pink fishing pole that she couldn't wait to finally start using, since it was given to her in the winter.

Once, Mirek helped her to cast the pole, she held it in her hands for a few minutes and then ran off to play with dirt and rocks. She forgot about it and so dd we. The pole was in the water till next day, when we came again and were astonished to see a fish hooked up to it. The fish was dead, unfortunately, but we still announced "first catch" for her.
For the last two weeks or so, Mirek was on a roll. He was determined to get the biggest fish in the Delaware river. He has started writing an article for a European fishing newspaper and was in desperate need of a visual proof of a river monster.

Believe it or not, the girls were the troopers! Waking up at 4:30 am, to be on the river before sunrise IS quite an adventure and a challenge for kids their age. They would spend a few hours on the river way before the sunrise, when the morning fog is simply majestic. When the air is freshly crisp and full of early morning sounds very little words are needed. They would sit next to each other, shivering a bit, and watch the world slowly wake up.

And by the time they are ready to come home, they are full of wonderful stories to tell. "Mom, guess what! We saw a bear with three cubs!", "Mom, guess what! We saw a fox!", "Mom, guess what! We saw thousands of tad poles eating dead fish!", "Mom, guess what! We saw golden eagle!", and so on. And their Mom would have just woken up and fed breakfast to their two younger siblings... Oh, well. Soon enough the other half of the family will join in!
I think Mirek has been creating some fantastic memories for the girls that they will cherish forever!

And... ta-da! It finally paid off! The river monster it is! It's a carp, weighing about 20 lb. Mirek did dot have a scale, unfortunately, but he said his hand was really hurting him when he was holding the fish. That picture will become a great addition to a great fishing article he has been working on.

Now he wants to catch even bigger one. But next time it will be fishing in the Great Lakes, lakes and streams of Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana and the Pacific Ocean. It is a countdown...

Busy weekend=fat wallet.

2010-06-01T01:15:00.000-04:00

When the time is pressing, there is a need to take active actions! Some people were vacationing and resting this past Memorial day weekend. But not us. We were working really hard. All of us!

Trying to raise some extra money for our trip we had spent two days at a local flea market. The girls were selling the toys they no longer play with, Mirek was getting rid of some of the tools he no longer uses, I was trying to sell extra household goods, mostly from a vacation house we used to own.

Sales went well. Mirek was giving great deals to his customers and tools had always been hot items at flea markets. The girls made good money, too. And to boost their sales even more, for the second day I had baked two batches of cookies for them to sell as well.
Ivana was in charge of a "Toy Booth". And both Leona and Milana were hiding from the sun in a "Mom's made on the spot tent out of a blanket", shouting, "Homemade cookies for sale, homemade cookies for sale!".
They were so cute together that people did buy a lot of cookies, one customer came back for seconds and a few people just game them a dollar or some change because they thought the girls were hilarious. They really were! Milana was caught picking her nose while advertising the amazing cookies. Oops... The lady laughed and bought 3 cookies for a $1.oo anyway.

Bake sale yielded $22.00 total. Which, I think , is great! Ivana's toy both earned her around $25 in two days, not bad either.

My stuff was not that popular, but I did sell our two beautiful lamps, rug and 2 pillows set, and a few nick nacks here and there. My favorite moment was when a lady came to look at the dish set. She didn't need any plates, but wanted only cups with sauces. I was selling the whole set (8 dinner plates, 8 dessert plates, a salad bowl, and 4 cups with sauces) for $4.00. I figured that I'll charge her a $1.00 for the cups and sauces, but she handed me $5.00 and said,"Here, take it. I know how much they would cost in the store. I don't want any change." Oh, how kind of her! I was trying to give her a sugar bowl for free, but she didn't need one.

When we came home, the girls were busy stuffing the money into their wallets. It IS ready to burst!

A trip to a farm.

2010-05-24T00:20:00.000-04:00

Is there a better place to be in the spring rather than on a farm? Hardly any. We thought so too and headed out to enjoy a lot of baby animals at a Quite Valley Farm.

The farm itself is a Historical Living Farm that belongs to the town but all the work is being done by volunteers. They have a phenomenal homeschool program where the kids actively participate and learn about gardening and tending to animals. All the volunteers at the event were dressed in the 1800s outfits and the atmosphere of the whole place was simply magical!
We petted a 1 week old baby goat, saw chicks hatching, watches piglets fight over food, said hello to a calf, played with bunnies, fed dandelions to the chickens, stroked horses and a mule.

The whole tour took a little over two hours but we simply did not want to leave. We were hanging out and tasted home baked bread with butter and oatmeal cookies that were being pulled out from the oven in front of our eyes. However, even a not so expensive sampling tuns out to be quite an extra expense to the entrance fee for our whole family(remember, everything times six!). We had to skip on a buggy ride that was again for extra money and a gift shop was a place only for looking, not buying. But our kids are fine with that and they have never thrown a fit if we tell them no. They understand and we still have a great time.
Jumping in the straw did not cost anything, so we took advantage of that! Even Mirek and Evan had a blast.
With the trip we are contemplating in the nearest future there will be many more days like that! Spending time in harmony with nature and animals, revitalizing our souls and reviving our spirits. It was truly a therapy for us and we dearly loved being on the farm and hope to be able to live off the land some time very soon.

Tea party picnic style.

2010-05-22T00:16:00.000-04:00

That party took place before the master inventor (aka Mom) came up with a fabulous idea of setting up a table. The tea set that Leona got for Christmas has been cherished and so far all the pieces are still together.
On the menu there was black tea with milk and brown sugar, plus the homemade cinnamon tea rolls. Oh, I just love the little hand holding up the cup! The big sister was playing a role of a hostess and made sure everything went smoothly. Don't you think growing up with three big sisters is a lot of fun? I think so...

A "new" dining set.

2010-05-22T00:03:00.000-04:00

When creativity goes a long way so do the fun memories!

A little playing with a chain saw and a useless (for some, not us, though!) stump on our property were a part of figuring out process. Mirek had made the chairs and I came up with the table idea. Everybody was cheering for lunch outdoors!
Wait, kids, Mommy has to go grab the camera!

Civil War at a glimpse.

2010-05-15T23:30:00.000-04:00

When history comes alive... This is a surgeon talking passionately about the remedies and procedures of his time, the Civil war era. He had tended to the wounded soldiers, treated them against malaria, constipation, fever, amputated numerous amounts of limbs and lost a lot of soldiers to gangrene.
Soldiers are setting up tents, relaxing between the battles. The ladies are cooking rabbit stew and going around asking the soldiers to sign up a petition to frohibit drinking. The Captain refused to sign it. He said it was one of the very few privileges the soldiers could have in his regiment...
This was all volunteer program presented by local Historical Society. We were able to tour a Van Kirk's historical house, see the Civil war exhibit, touch the muskets, ask questions and simply enjoy a vibrant atmosphere.
The historical oak tree deserved to be on a photo together with history loving children.

Black Pepper and learning geography.

2010-05-13T23:08:00.000-04:00

Question: When can the black pepper be used as a learning tool?
Answer: During lunch or dinner time!
We have a few placing mats that we set the table with for breakfast, lunch and dinner: ABC's, Numbers and Letters for the little ones, Multiplications, Great Composers, etc. While visiting Grandma really protested having a Human Body placing mat in front of her. She said she would not be able to eat. We gave her American Presidents instead, we did not want her to go on a hunger strike.
Lately these two, World Map and the USA Map, have become girls' absolute favorites. And today I simply had a blast watching them talking away and pointing on their maps at the places they are going to visit.
Now, every good cook should use whole black pepper for a chicken broth. And I consider myself to be one. Since we had chicken soup for lunch they were fishing out the whole black pepper balls and using them as pointers. They collected all the balls from all of us, and when it was still not enough, they started splitting them in half.
It was great to watch them reading the names of the countries, make decisions where they would go first, second, last, why they would want to go to a specific place and what they would do there.
Leona was saying, "Mom, I really want to go to Mongolia!".
Ivana was picking out the US states to visit on our cross country trip. Yes, we have been planning it and will embark on our adventure soon.
I just love when the learning happens unexpectedly and naturally with the kids' initiative. But mine and Mirek's love and enjoyment of learning geography definitely have been passed on to the girls.

Spring Concert.

2010-05-11T00:01:00.000-04:00

Today was the annual end of the school year spring concert at our homeschool co-op. The program was started by a choir. The theme was Early America and the students did a wonderful job memorizing all the lyrics. "50 nifty United States" was a true hit! The children were so nicely behaved, orderly, signing their melodic songs...and then, it was time for the last song and everything changed! The kids got their baseball hats, younger kids put on glasses and then they were swaying and moving to the beat of a rap song. Everybody loved it!
Milana reciting "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed" while her peers WERE jumping like monkeys on a sleeping bag=bed. Another true hit with everybody!
Leona performing with her class. Here they are reciting haikus (Japanese word puzzles).
Ivana playing her violin. "Cripple creek" accompanied by a mandolin (Mirek playing) and then another solo "3rd Minuet" accompanied by a piano (her teacher playing). Sounded beautifully!
Ivana's art work exhibit.
Leona's art work exhibit.

Remember those boxes the kids were paint spraying and then assembling in the classroom? For the art display all the individual boxes came together and created a unique work of art.
We ended the concert with an International Dinner. There were a lot of dishes. All of them delicious, sophisticated, simply yummi!

My Watermelon bed.

2010-05-09T22:47:00.000-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to me!
This morning Mirek and the two older girls went fishing. They woke up voluntarily at 5:30 in the morning. It got pretty cold, so they had to dress up very well not to be cold while by the river. The plan was to get fish for Mother's Day dinner. Oops... sorry, no fish.

But... I got a wonderful dessert! A watermelon bed!

The girls had gotten expired by "Henry and Mudge Mother's Day Surprise" book and decided to make me a fruit surprise as well. "Mom, you can't look, you have to stay in your bedroom, read a book or something...", Ivana told me. It was nice to hear! Read a book! And not to be bothered! Wow, that IS a Mother's Day gift already!

I promised I wouldn't look and stayed by the fireplace, warming up. Yep, it is May and we are still making fires. Which I absolutely love, so the cold outside does not upset me as much.
Mirek had helped them with cutting the watermelon and apples in half, and the rest they took into their own hands.
I absolutely LOVED my gift! It made me feel very special, loved, cared for!
Thank you, my dears! I love you too!
Then we all got the biggest spoons and dug into it! Yum!

She is 6 on the 6th!

2010-05-07T02:33:00.000-04:00

Here is the B-Day girl! She turned 6 on the 6th!
Leona's wish had been to have a party on the beach, and so the wish came true. We didn't prepare much. I had made the turkey and cheese sandwiches, pasta salad with veggies, fruit salad, cup cakes and juice.
She also had a surprise of having her friends come over and join us on the beach. First, we picked up her best friend, Madelyn. The two were sitting together in the back seat chatting away, giggling, all excited about the prospect of spending a whole day together on the beach! Madelyn birthday gift was also a great one. "Mom, Madelyn got me some Canadian cents and some candy!", Leona announced in the car. And it was only late in the evening when we returned home and I checked in the pouch, that was quite heavy. And the heaviness didn't come from "the cents", it was because of the DOLLARS! Madelyn goes to Canada for vacation every year and she gave her best friend 20 Canadian coin dollars. How great is that!
Then, we had two other families join us, with 11 children total. It was another surprise for the birthday girl!
We had such a wonderful day! In the morning it was a bit cloudy and drizzling, but by the time we got to the beach the sky had cleared and it was warm. We had some gusts of wind every now and then, mostly when we were having lunch and a dessert making things a bit harder to serve everybody, but still trying to keep it fun.
We brought a kite with us , but due to the wind in was hard to bring it up. It was too much wind, who would've thought it could be the case?
Fishing...was another activity that was enjoyed by all. First, Mirek pulled a strange creature...After examining it closer we found out it was a sting ray, without a barb or a sting. When Mirek was pulling it up the sea creature was curled up and was unrecognizable, but after a while it got relaxed and we could all see that it was a sting ray.

A baby brother was wearing girls' necklace and playing with nice boys toys, like this big truck.

Happy emotions of a happy girl!
Cute findings... a jelly fish.
Rude, rude bird-Red Winged Blackbird. It was all over our food! Not afraid at all, sitting on the table, digging in our bags, circling around, basically flapping its wings into out faces!
And that was a catch of the day! 28-30" striped bass! It gave a great fight and , in addition, Mirek got a lot of audience and admirers. Every fisherman's dream!
We sang "Happy Birthday to you!" and gobbled up the cup cakes iced with homemade butter/cream cheese pink icing. Leona was happy to share a secret with everybody, "Do you know what we used to color the icing?..Beet powder!"
On the way back it was quite in the car. Three out of five kids fell asleep instantly, the other two were too tired even to speak.
It WAS a day to remember! Happy birthday, our dear Leona!

Home work.

2010-04-21T00:03:00.000-04:00

Sometimes the girls get homework at the homeschool coop we have been attending for a few years now.
In Ivana's art class they were learning about Ukrainian Artists. It is Louise Nevelson's work that the students are getting inspired by. Ivana brought home the box to be spray painted gold, she needed to find various objects throughout the house that need to be painted gold as well. In the art class this coming week they will be assembling the pieces together with a hot glue gun, and then create a tower out of individual students' boxes.
To get a sneak preview check out this link http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/7aa/7aa729.htm.

Homework for her creative writing class was to compose a short poem. That was what Tata helped her to create:

"Ode to ice cream that disappears."

Oh, Ice Cream, so sweet and light,
That my parents eat every night.
They may thnk I'm tight asleep,
But I always take a peep.

When I ask for it next day,
"fairy, they say, took it away".

Art on the beach.

2010-04-12T01:57:00.000-04:00

When a morning shows all the signs of a beautiful day, there is no way our family will stay indoors. We have been known for eventually getting tired of the things to do and places to visit that are in the neighborhood. So our exploratory spirit keeps on haunting us.

We woke up, not so early, had breakfast, in no rush, and then around 11am decided that we wanted to go somewhere. A sunny day in the spring...Hmmm, where should be go?..Hmmm...The beach!!!

It is a bit over 2 hours drive from home to the Atlantic shore, but during those few minutes that it took the parents to ponder, the girls were saying in unison that it was SO worth the drive!
So, fifteen minutes later we were on the road!
We stopped by at a supermarket to get a few things for our picnic and before we knew it, we were looking at the blue vastness, smelling the fresh sea breeze, feeling the warm sand and trembling with the excitement of being by the ocean.
I took our mini art supply kit, so we got to paint a few shells. Even the baby was happy to participate. We all had a great time. Whether we played games, collected shells, painted, played with the waves, chased the gulls, tried to surf cast, went for a shore treasure hunt (finding a sea flee in place of a treasure), everybody felt like we had soaked up on happiness.
Happy "artsing" on the beach! Good for your heart, good for your soul, good for your spirituality.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T21:29:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful, warm and sunny day we had today! I loved to see the girls dressed in their cute summer dresses!
Milana was simply delighted to find a surprise chick!

Yarn Eggs.

2010-04-03T00:42:00.000-04:00

Making yarn eggs was a perfect example of creating something that seemed very easy in the beginning but required patience and some expertise.
Scrambled eggs for breakfast for a family of 6 and we had already a dozen blown eggs to wrap in yarn that made a great decoration for our Easter celebration.
The white glue did not work that well. The yarn slipped off the egg in the middle and we had to try a glue with a stronger bonding capacity. We decided to use wood glue and it worked better. Our wood glue was somewhat old, thick and sticky and worked just fine on the egg shell.
The girls wanted to try to make one yarn wrapped egg themselves. But after almost completing one Ivana's yarn came off and she did not want to do it all over again. I had to show her a good example and did it instead of her. And the egg came out great.
We used the whatever scrapes of yarn I happened to have. I think the eggs came out pretty, with some not so typical Easter colors.

Vareniki.

2010-03-28T01:03:00.000-04:00

A few warm days last week were a real treat for us! We went hiking, bicycling, took a day trip and visited a cavern, soaked up some sun and turned off the heat in the house.
This week the winter is back. The heat is back on, and the jackets had to be pulled out again. But the desire to spend more time outside is simply too strong to resist.

We still went into the woods and visited some old as well as new spots. Playing soccer really helped to keep warm and make the best of a colder day. The other really nice way to make the best out of a gloomy day is to find something free and abundant! That is right up our alley with having the gift for foraging. I mean all the days we have spent fishing, mushroom picking, wild pear tree harvesting, picking wild blackberries and raspberries...

This time we got wild chives. They are bountiful all around the hiking trails and really tasty. While the kids were helping us to pick them they were sucking on the stalks and then we had a very nice garlicky aroma in the car.
We had frozen a batch before and had used the prewashed, precut chives in soups, stews, scrambled eggs, and other dishes. And today we made homemade "vareniki" stuffed with mashed potatoes with fresh wild chives. Everybody helped and the task of hand making the vareniki for a large family was not so overwhelming after all.
It was delicious and what is even better is that we have another batch in the freezer for another day of a homemade yummy lunch.

We- the artists...

2010-03-17T17:41:00.000-04:00

Artist: Leona, age 5, "A New Baby", paper, 12'x9', poster paints.

Artist: Ivana, age 8, "Emperor Penguins Family", paper 12'x9', poster paints.
Artist: Julia, we'll skip the age (:0), "Love is in the air", paper, 12x9, poster paints.
Artist: Joan Paley, illustrator to the book "The Emperor Lays an Egg", handpainted paper collage.

The most inspiration any artist would find is, no doubt, in the nature, in the world that surrounds us. But, the other artist's work can also be a very valuable source of another artist's inspiration.
When we were reading this book with the girls, I had a strong feeling I would like to draw some of these beautiful images with them in our art session.

Taking into consedaration that the illustrations in the book were actually not paintings, but paper collages, the lines were easy to work with. And absence of many details made this page an absolutely perfect art project idea for the young aspiring artists.

Because the emperor penguins could be thinner or fatter, we had to use the book image only as a guide and it did not matter that Leona got to use more space on her paper and Ivana made her penguins look a bit distant.

A little chick is an adorable focal point on the picture and simply melts your heart away. Don't you think?

And we have found out that working with poster paints on a water color paper produces great results in color quality and makes it easier to handle the lighter/darker shades of the same color.

The bright bellies of the birds and the outstanding purple/blueish background make me want to look at the picture more. Simply, it makes me happy!..

How we learn what we like to learn about.

2010-03-16T21:47:00.000-04:00

I have to admit that we thrive the most when we do things spontaneously. That includes our "science lessons".
Even though I have developed my own views on what and how to teach our kids, in the beginning of the school year I was tempted to purchase a science curriculum. I had looked into Apologia, but the price had deterred me away from buying it. I decided we would just read books from the library on the topics of nature and natural events, weather, animals, astronomy, etc., and we would look up things on the web whatever the girls want to learn about.

It has been working just fine for us. Doing things in our homeschool this way we were able to cover a plethora of topics already, even including some basic chemistry and physics.
But when this morning the kids were asking what we would be learning for science, honestly, I had no clue. I guess the spring blues are showing up a bit early with wanting to be outside more and enjoy the warm days and not wanting to be planning any lessons.

"Mom, why didn't you plan a lesson for us?" they would question me.
"Oh, I have...(think quick, quick)..." As I was coming out from our office room and saw a sticker book we had bought over a month ago, I knew in an instant what we would be studying not only today day, but for a few weeks, possibly. "We'll be studying the nocturnal animals!" I proudly presented the idea to the girls and it was happily accepted by the learning crew.

To get started with the topic we went on line and looked up a few nocturnal animals that are local to our area. The sticker book was with the animals that we had never heard of (like, cavy, genet, slender loris, etc.), so we left it for another time.

Meanwhile, we read about the red fox, snow leopard, opossum, badger, firefly, hedgehog (an animal of my childhood). The photographs we found on line were phenomenal and the girls kept on ohing and ahing with one cute image after another. We read about the animal, the girls reviewed the info by answering leading questions to help them retain some info and new vocabulary. We learnt about the physical characteristics and then measured the length of the animals with and without tails, added, subtracted and found out the differences between the animals and our body lengths, worked with inches and feet as measuring units. We compiled a new vocabulary list of the terms like nocturnal, hibernate, aestivate, insectivore, carnivore, omnivore, marsupial, mammal, looked up two new animals that were related to the subjects we were studying (marten and marmot). We learnt about the animals' habitats and looked them up on the globe and reviewed our knowledge of geography.

We read some amazing facts about the animals we constantly see in our backyard. Who knew that fireflies (so cute and adorable) actually are cannibals, as they can eat each other! Or, next time when we will be holding a firefly we'll be sure to count the seconds between the flashes. Five seconds-and it's a male, two seconds-and it's a female.

We also were tempted to write up a report on one of the animals of each girl's choice (thus doing the penmanship part) and then create a habitat out of the recyclable things we use for all our activities.
But, the weather was too gorgeous to stay inside for any longer, and we took off. With having such a rounded learning time before, we had no problem to be outside all the way till dinner time. Playing with rocks, water, going for a bike ride, and simply soak up the sun rays was a great way to spend an afternoon.
When you teach the kids and they use what they have learnt that is like the music to any teacher's ears! I got my music today, "Mom, Evanchik has excrement in his diaper!"

Skiing.

2010-03-09T01:52:00.000-05:00

When our oldest was about 3 yo, I remember we bought her mini skis and were so anxious to teach her skiing. It didn't go too well, as she was too little and definitely not ready for that. Mirek had taught we a few years back and before the kids we used to drive for 3 hours for a skiing retreat just because it was so much cheaper.

We both love skiing. But lately we were not able to ski a lot. Mirek went once, I think, last winter with a childhood friend who came for a visit. And me... oh , well, I guess I just have to be a bit more patient. And this winter we have not gone skiing either, except for when the spring has started knocking at the door. The tickets got cheaper because the season is almost over, there is still plenty of snow on the mountain, and Ivana has been begging to go skiing now. It took her only a few years to mature and get excited about learning to ski.
So, that was her first time up on the lift going to have fun at the top of the mountain.
And since I don't like to leave the rest of the crew behind, we kind of hung out by the lift and cheered for Tata and Ivana, waited for them to come down and then headed home to cook dinner and wait for our skiers to come back from their adventure.
They came back a few hours later, exhausted, but very happy and were telling us all about their day (more like "night") of skiing fun.
Apparently, by mistake they ended up on a Black Diamond slope, and managed to get down in one piece. Ivana was doing a great job later in the evening, and was getting more and more confident. And as a addition to all the fun they had had they saw a shooting star. I got double jealous, as I had never seen one.
It was supposed to be my turn to take her again the next week, but it does not look like it. Patience, is a virtue. Till next season...ah

Last snow?

2010-03-07T22:38:00.000-05:00

I guess it IS the last snow this winter season. We were lucky to get so much of it that we had a lot of great times playing outside. With building, the usual, the family of snow people, making an igloo right in front of the porch (we'll be looking at it till, like, what, June?), sledding, skiing, snow ball fights. I also made color sprays for the girls to do the "snow art". With having red, blue and green to spray on the white snow it was fun to color the white world around us away.

Snowman looked bloody with red all over it, so we put more snow to cover it up. And then the girls got book inspired and made those mini domes to put the candles in. During the day time it was great to see then colored, and when it got dark, it was simply adorable to see the candle light outside from the window. It felt like we kind of said farewell to winter...

Love her!

2010-03-07T01:32:00.000-05:00

When a picture is worth a million words!..
Who cares that a few minutes later the color spots ( a butterfly to be) on the plaster plaque turned into one gray blur. I have managed to capture the moment. And got the art project as a gift for our wedding anniversary!..
Just love her :)

The Green Mountain.

2010-03-06T01:05:00.000-05:00

It took me some time to learn to pronounce King Nebuchadnezzar's name when we were reading about the Babylonian Empire and the times of it's prosperity after the defeat of the Assyrians, before the great city of Babylon was captured by an army from Persia in 539 B.C. and became a part of the powerful Persian Empire (modern Iran).

The girls loved the story of the princess Amytis being married the Babylonian King Neduchadnezzar and how she was missing the cliffs, valleys and mountains of homeland Persia. She missed the green gardens people built on the hills at home and was very unhappy in Babylon. So the King, being much in love with her, wanted to make her happy and, thus, ordered to build the gardens in Babylon, a dry and harsh place to grow anything.

There is not too much info and details about the Ametis' garden in Babylon. The historians know only some details, and apparently, there is no image of the gardens saved on any clay tablets, only verbal descriptions of this Second Wonder of the Ancient World.
We were able to find a book in the library with some pictures, looked up some info on line, and were happy to learn that we were free to create our own gardens on the mountain to how we imagined them.

We read that there were terraces, hanging plants, various flowers, trees, shrubs, bushes, from all over the Empire. Water was brought up but the pumps, so we decided to make a water fall in our Babylonian garden. Once again, recycled pasta boxes, some paint, stickers, rocks, wax sticks, markers and hot glue, we had our own kids' made wonder with princess Ametis (made out of clay) sitting in her throne and enjoying the green beauty around her.

The piano top is becoming a place for the older girls to store their hand made projects so that the younger siblings won't be able to get them and try to play with them.

My favorite part in the project making is seeing how the girls are learning to handle the hot glue gun, freeing me a lot, as they can really make things the way they like it, to watch them play with their creations during the day, and, also, to call the grandparents on skype and ask them what that thing we were showing them was.

Falls in the winter.

2010-02-23T00:30:00.000-05:00

Visiting favorite summer spots in the winter is a lot of fun! Even though everything around you seems cold and uninviting, the memories of the warm days do have the power of bringing tremendous joy to the frozen scenes around you.
We just love to go to "our" places and pay them a visit in the times when not so many visitors are around. And we still are able to do a lot of things we usually do there, like rock climbing over the stream. And then there is always a bonus in the nature's wonderful display of art works.

It's a PAAARTY!

2010-02-14T01:18:00.000-05:00

The girls have been invited to a party! It was a Valentine's Tea Party and the guests had been asked to dress in their best and were presented with a etiquette lesson on how to drink tea in a proper manner. Here they are patiently waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. Meanwhile, I was taking the pictures and was absorbing the beauty and elegance of the place. The tea sets were something! No ugly mismatched mugs, but charming tea cups with saucers simply stole my heart!
Everybody was asked to bring a plate to share. I think it is so clever, as everybody gets to contribute and it does not become too much of a burden on a hosting family.
Leona was sitting next to her best friend, Madelyn, waiting for her to take a first sip of tea, as it is polite to do that at an official tea party.
And then our little gentleman got his chance to sit next to the hostess and drink his tea. There were no broken tea cups, just some spilled tea, soggy cookies and napkins dunked into the tea, or some cloudy liquid that used to be tea at some point. Smile!

It's Valentine's!

2010-02-09T23:23:00.000-05:00

In preparation for the Valentine's celebration at the co-op we have worked so hard today!
I was in the store the other day to pick up a few things and also almost bought new supplies for the Valentine cards making and decorations for the house. But then I left everything in the store and decided to pull out the craft boxes and the draws at home and see what we still have left to work with this year.

Since recycle mania is a hit in our family we started right from there. First, the girls needed boxes/containers to collect the Valentines in school. So, this year they were excited to do the mod podge technique. The containers I have saved from honey we buy on the local farm were for Ivana and Leona to work with. And the empty box after the Qtips was a great idea to let Milana try to make her own creation as well. We cut out the hearts from the gift paper I always safe, and then a few red roses from the napkins my Mom in law brought all the way from Europe where you can buy single napkins with various designs especially sold for people to use them for mod podge. Some red ribbon was a great addition to the container.

And then we needed to make the Valentines for their friends. Last year they had their boxes full of cards, handmade and bought, candy and chocolates, cookies and stickers. This year we decided to make bracelets. That would be for the girls, and the boys would get handmade mini cards.
I helped them with crocheting the bracelets, they did all the beaded ones and then we arranged them into mini purses. With now the three of them doing all the things it took time to make sure all their friends would get the Valentines. Even Milana kept on talking and being all excited about how she would give the Valentines to her friends!

We decided to make them kind of with a little secret, because the friend would not know who the Valentine was from unless they open up the heart.
I still have to bake a dessert to share... And it started to snow... The party could be postponed until next week :(

Telethon stars.

2010-02-06T00:53:00.000-05:00

Today our girls have experienced a moment of fame.
We have participated in a local Big Brother Big Sister telethon that was aired on channel 13.
It was through their dance school and our wonderful Ms. Katy, the dance teacher, have been organizing this for a few years, but it was the first one for us.
Mimi and Leonka were in the Munchkins class, cute little ballerinas. And Ivana was performing as a pirate with her dancing group.
I was able to enter the recording studio with the small ones and , thus, snap pictures, but we watched Ivana's dance on TV in the hallway.
They were so proud of themselves. Ms. Katy said she would burn the performances on a DVD for us. Some things to remember and look back into...

Playing with coffins?..

2010-02-04T23:12:00.000-05:00

There is too much to read, learn and discover about the ancient Egypt. Today we read about the two famous pharaohs and learned the reasons why they became famous in the world history. Amenhotep, for his idea of refusing to worship many gods and pronouncing monotheism in the time of his rule, and then Tutankhamen, for his efforts to erase the existence of the previous pharaoh and make sure the polytheism was back, plus the amazing fact of his tomb discovery and the priceless treasures found in his burial chambers.

As a craft activity we made the clay mummies, wrapped them in linen and made sure there was a place to put the mommies in. That are... the coffins!
I had to laugh today...When I was busy doing my chores and the girls had free time I checked up on them and inquired about what they were doing. "Oh, Mimi is playing with her mummy and we are playing with our coffins". Ah? Just take this out of the context and it might sound as a case of child abuse. Smile...

Then we felt like getting a party started. We had to celebrate King Tut's burial and be happy for him to go to afterlife. That was Leonka's suggestion. Playing Peruvian music did not spoil the fun as the beat was great and we all got to dance!
Hopefully we will be able to make it to King Tut's exhibit in NYC that is coming up this April. They are advertising it as the lifetime opportunity to see the magnificent treasures. Also, they are saying that that is the last time the exhibit is visiting the North American continent.
And the youngest scholar got to play with the sphinx and other Egyptian figurines we have at home. Before you know it he'll be joining our learning crew!

Discovery Museum.

2010-02-01T13:52:00.000-05:00

When it is too cold outside, then it is time to look for some fun things to do indoors. And when going up north for a mini trip turns out to be the coldest spell of the season, then to find some local activities to do with kids is a must. Otherwise, what memories would the little ones have of the trip? "How was it up in Maine?" . "Oh, we didn't like it up there. It was too cold!".

After visiting one farm we have had enough of bitter winds blowing into our faces, so we stayed the second half of the day in the motel room. Our activity bag from home came in handy, the laptop and the free internet in the motel were great as well since we were able to call our family oversees!

The next day we decided to visit a Discover Museum. We were kind of not sure what it would be about. Actually, we did have an idea of what we thought a discovery museum should be about. Well, it was not what we thought it would be. And we still made the best out of it. In a way, it was a three floors playground for the kids. Divided into thematic sections for the kids to run around and "discover". The nature learning mini center was downstairs, where the girls were climbing into a raven's nest, a beaver dam, explored the river system of Maine by making their hands wet in the water works display.

Singing in the recording studio was fun. We could see them on TV and Mirek was a recoding professional. The girls would take turns to come out the studio and look at each other on the screen. Our family made a lot of noise in the drumming corner.
My favorite was the play kitchen. The girls were cooking away, taking orders and Milana could not stop admiring her dessert plate, arranged by her older sister.
I was so amazed at the fabric pretend food at the kitchen. It was SO CLEVER! I couldn't stop admiring it and snatching pictures, bedazzled at how come I hadn't come up with this idea myself! I asked at the frond desk about this play food and was told that a lady that worked for the museum had made it and donated it to the play kitchen. How clever! I am so inspired! I can't wait to make our own food! We have tried the salty play dough before. The food turned out great, but then the babies were munching on them for real, a lot got broken and kind of disappeared.
We are in need for new play food, and Mimi's birthday is coming up. I'd better roll up my sleeves and get to work!

A cold friend.

2010-01-23T00:39:00.000-05:00

Everybody wanted to have a picture taken with our newly created cold friend "Snowy".
Unfortunately, he didn't live for too long. It's been raining.
The snow is all gone and we woke up to a carrot and a hat being on the ground.
We'll miss you! Hopefully it will snow soon again!

Nubian breakfast.

2010-01-19T02:27:00.000-05:00

I have been asked why I do such a subject as History with a 8,5 and 2 year olds, learning about all the things that don't interest them, don't make sense to them and their little brains can't even comprehend. Why not to learn things that they can see around, that are easier to understand and used in everyday life.

We do learn about things around us. We go for hikes year round, we spend a lot of hours reading books on various subjects, we have playdates with friends, we do art together, learn musical instruments, and so much more that is right for their age level that they absorb and understand effortlessly.

But I have always been an advocate for giving children a little push and exposing them to things that are way higher for their intellectual level. When we read a book together that everybody is enjoying, adults including, and when there is a great language for them to hear and a wonderful plot of the story to follow, why would one want to wait when the kids are "old enough " to comprehend. I am not talking here about the age inappropriate literature or those books that I even have hard times calling "literature".

But a lot of times kids are not given a lot of credit, thought to be too young or immature. And you would not know what the kids are capable of until you try. And we do not do the drills with them to learn and memorize the dates, or the names, or even the big historical events. Right now I am exposing them to the subject, hoping to spark up an interest for it and hoping to do a good job by not killing the desire to learn more when they do get bigger and would understand more. That's why the major motto is "to have good times"! And any teaching or learning experience should be thought of as a tool to provide the pieces of puzzle for the children to put together later in life!

As we are continuing with our studying history, we have been learning about Egypt and Nubia. We read books, watched a few episodes on Utube, made a craft. Yesterday when we stopped by at a health food store we picked up some organic millet and today the question "what's for breakfast" was answered "a Nubian royal breakfast".
Cooked millet with some butter and and sliced almonds, sweetened with chopped dates, cold raw milk poured over ... What a treat! The breakfast was very yummy, everybody liked it and we thought we'd have it some time soon again.

Still celebrating!

2010-01-11T23:47:00.000-05:00

Yes, and we are still celebrating! This time it is the New Year and Russian Orthodox Christmas, the way we do it in Russian, with Ded Moroz and Snegurochka!

Even though this holiday celebration would be completely irrelevant to Americans, for those who grew up overseas, it was a dear and rather nostalgic way of celebrating.
I was the organizer and thanks to the opportunity to use the Europa Cafe we were able to pull everything without charging people a fee. Every parent was asked to bring a wrapped up gift for their child/ren, and a dessert or a dish to share.

With 15 adults and 13 children we had just enough crowd to feel very comfortable, without stepping over each others heads. The Christmas tree was not decorated on purpose, and as the families were arriving I was engaging the kids in helping me to spruce up the "elochka". We did mostly paper chains (oh, dear childhood memories!), snow flakes from the paper napkins and some pipe cleaners kids made decor. The tree turned out to be just lovely!

The grand moment was the appearance of Snegurochka! She ran in , all out of breath, happy to see the kids but sad that she had lost Ded Moroz on the way. Heartily, she was telling the kids the story about how they were going through the deep forest, all snowed in and got very, very tired and almost froze, as suddenly, the hut of Baba Jaga appeared and they were able to get warm and rest a bit.

But that was when Ded Moroz got lost! Luckily, Snegurochka had a walkie talkie (what a hit it was with the kids!) and they were able to get in touch with Ded Moroz to make sure he was all right. And then the loudest shouts you could possibly image brought Ded Moroz in!
Laughter! Smiles! Happiness! Some tears, as well, as one child got scared! Hugs! Presents!

...Presents! Not so fast!
Just imagine, kids are sitting around Ded Moroz, he has his big sack in front of him, everybody is so excited... Ded Moroz is opening the sack... Presents? ...All he dumped on the floor were old shoes, boots, snickers. Ah! What happened? Where did all the presents go?

I came up with the whole scenario one evening while putting Evan to sleep. Nobody new, except for Mirek, so, can you imagine everybody's eyes?
Not to make you wonder, it was a naughty Baba Jaga that played the trick! She switched the bags! But, she was kind enough to leave some kind of message that the kids had to decode if they wanted their presents back!

Dancing around the tree, singing songs together, making kids happy (or at least most of them!), hearing adults laugh and participate... It was all so fabulous!
Mirek's bath robe with a pillow stuck in, and a beard I made in 10 minutes one evening with a hat purchased on sale for $0.99 made a great Ded Moroz!

My wedding dress came in handy for Snegurochka, and I made a matching head dress out of recycled cardboard, cut up CDs, some beads, trims and glitter. And the blond braid was an absolute hit with everybody! And nobody knew that the dress did not zip up in the back! Ded Moroz had helped me to cover it up!

Everybody was expressing their thanks to us for putting up such a great performance!
When we joined everybody without the costumes already, Leona was telling us all about Ded Moroz and Snegurochka and was asking where we had been as we missed the whole celebration! Ivana was teasing us all the way back home begging us to admit that it was us dressed as Ded Moroz and Snegurochka. Milana told Mirek that Ded Moroz was old. And Evan would not come to me as long as I had that piece on my head.

And guess what. People are asking me to organize a celebration for the Women's Day, March 8th. Hmmm... let me think. I guess I'll cook something up next time I put Evan to bed.

Happy New Year 2010!

2010-01-01T21:21:00.000-05:00

We started celebrating the coming new year way before 12! First, making all the phone calls to Russia and Czech during the day to wish our families and friends a happy new year. Also, since the two of our younger family members go to bed around 9 pm, we decided to include them into the celebration as well. We went outside to do the mini fireworks. When all the sparklers were gone Milana did not want to come inside and was ready to camp out.

I was ready to join her! The night was so beautiful and truly magical! Dark, quiet, peaceful, with big wet clusters falling down the sky and the fresh snow shining on the light.

Leona did not make it till 12 by only 10 minutes. In the morning she was asking how the "champagne" was. Ivana was a trooper. The three of us picked up the glasses with the non alcoholic champagne and wished each other a Happy New Year 2010!

Hand made gifts.

2009-12-26T02:20:00.000-05:00

This year we made a few hand made gifts and I decided to post some pictures. This is the high- light - our family's Nativity Scene. Mirek drew it , cut if from the wood, and I got busy woodburning it. We made four sets altogether, to give to our family and friends, and the last set, for us, Mirek and I stayed up till 3 am the day before Christmas Eve to finish it up.
With the cookies the girls were a great help! Especially the ginger bread cookies. All I had to do for them was to help with the dough part and the rest they were on their own. And with decorating them I did not have to do anything! We made a lemon powdered sugar frosting and the pastry chefs had a blast coming up with their masterpieces.
The photo frame for Leona had been in the works for a long time! I started it a long time ago, and decided it was about time to finish it up for this Christmas. It was a lot of fun to color the woodburned design.
Evan got this animals set. Again, I had fun woodburning it. When the wheels turn they create a cute effect.
And, more woodburning. Each got new personalized ornament this year.
Kids creations. The media this time was the plaster of Paris.
When I was assisting in the art class the kids were painting Van Gough's sunflowers. I got inspired by the young artists' creative projects and decided to make this "Happy Sunflowers" plaster wall decoration. I think it would brighten up an empty spot in any room!
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Concert.

2009-12-23T01:47:00.000-05:00

We had our Christmas concert at the homeschooling co-op. And it was just fabulous! This is Leona's group performing their second song, "The Drummer Boy". The kids made the drums in the art class and used them to do a great job drumming to "taaa'ram'pam'pam" on the stage. There is a little girl in a white dress that does not have the drum but feels that she should be on the stage as well. That is Milana! She wanted to perform and there was no stopping her! Leona behaved so professionally and managed not to get distracted by Milana standing next to her and being "helped" to drum with her little puffy toddler's hands.
The choir sang eight carols and the theme was "Christmas Around the World". Ivana got to sing a mini solo from the song "Go tell it on the Mountain". And this year we were treated to a great live music, as the accompaniment was not only the piano, but the violin and the drums as well!
And this is Ivana performing a violin duet with her teacher Mrs.D., accompanied by the piano. I will try to download the video, for now it is just a photo. Out of eight students Ivana is the most advanced student and performed the last. They played "Pachelbel Canon" and " A Scarborough Fair". We could not be more proud of her!

Woodburning display.

2009-12-22T02:25:00.000-05:00

And this exhibition symbolises the end of our woodburning class! The kids have enjoyed learning a new art and I have gotten back to woodburning again, after a pretty long break.

The first project we did was creating a unique design folding the paper , kind of like when you cut a snowflake. Everybody followed the instructions but the results were so different and the kids were amazed. Then we traced the designs onto the wooden boxes and got busy learning to handle a hot tool for the first time! It was a great idea to start kind of with an easy project, but still enjoying the process and the result, of course. On the back of the boxes the students woodburned their favorite quotes.

Second stage of learning included choosing an image, carbon tracing it and applying the techniques learned doing the first art project. I did not push them, they were able to make their own choices of the wooden shape and an image to work with and, thus, the display looks so interesting, I think, as all the art works are very different. We have a Dutch floral desigh that a student made to give to her parents for their wedding anniversary, we have a music mini tray that was intended to be for a Mom pianist, we have a butter churn that would be presented as a Christmas gift for a Mom who dreams of having a farm, we have flowers and birds, horses and a butterfly for nature and animal lovers. And , my assistant, another Mom, got to create a mini shelf that she wanted to put in the corner of her kitchen.

I truly enjoyed teaching this class and will totally miss it! I won't miss dragging to the co-op a heavy box full of woodburning equipment every Wednesday, though! Sniff, sniff...

Ice Skating.

2009-12-21T01:02:00.000-05:00

That is when a frozen lake can provide a ton of fun! And besides being on the fresh winter air, exercise quite a bit, see the kids try new things and enjoy themselves, it is all for free! When everything and anything is requiring a fee these days, whether you want to go ice skating on a closed in rink, or roller blading, or take the kids to run around and go on the slides in those closed in gyms, we embrace the natural and free ways of spending the quality time together.

We had our friends with their four kids join us for the ice skating fun. And even though Mirek and Tomas cleaned the area for ice skating, the girls were still wondering off and trying to skate on the ice covered with snow, which was very successful, I should admit. And then there was a lot of laughter and joyous sreeming when they were sledding down the hill and making snow angels.

After two or so hours, "the rosy cheeks" were more than ready for hot chocolate and a homemade apple pie.

Cookies exchange.

2009-12-17T01:06:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year to add on a couple of extra pounds without feeling too guilty! We had a talent show and cookies exchange at the homeschooling co-op today. Our family performed three pieces. First, Ivana and Leona played a violin/piano duet. Then myself and Mirek played a piano/guitar duet. And, finally, myself, Leona and Milana sang a Czech folk song accompanied by Ivana playing the violin and Mirek the guitar. We were shining like real starts!

The cookies exchange was great, as we got to taste so many yummy creations and even got to bring a bag home. Last year the cookies in the bag did not make it to last till we got home, this year there were more of them and they did last till home. However...Now it's past 10pm and guess who is devouring them while the kids are in the dream land?

My centerpiece on the table was enjoyed by everybody! The ornaments we created with my students during our woodburning class were the center of everybody's attention. With over 40kids at the co-op we had worked hard the make the ornaments on time, even finishing more than half of them today during our last woodburning class, right before our Christmas party. And when every child went home with a personalized woodburned ornament I was very satisfying to see their happy faces.

Monday is a big day! It's the Christmas concert and the art work displays. I will be setting up the table with all the woodburned projects the children made in my class. Can't wait for the pictures?

Babushka.

2009-12-09T23:39:00.000-05:00

Hello from our "babushka"!

Music together.

2009-12-09T01:26:00.000-05:00

Mirek loves to play his guitar but could neither find time to practice nor the drive to play it. I have been discovering the joy of piano playing for a few months now and recently we started playing duets. It has been so wonderful and so relaxing to do that and, apparently, we have set up a good example for our girls.
They decided to play the duets from Leona's piano book all by themselves, without me even suggesting it. And, boy, they are having a great time! I love to see how they work things out together, exercise patience for each other and laugh when they finish the tune without any mistakes. This is my dream coming true right before my eyes! I think music is one of the most important relaxation and bringing togetherness "tools". I hope the tradition will grow over the years and everybody will be able to pitch in for our family's band!

Hand made greeting cards.

2009-12-07T23:11:00.000-05:00

We have started making our hand made Christmas greeting cards. We chose this art project and everybody had great time creating the masterpieces. I had to help the younger ones to use the white oil pastel to draw the snowflakes on white paper. Even I found it to be a bit challenging. But then the rest of the project they were on their own with picking up the water colors and watching the snowflakes appear on the paper.
We cut the shapes out and glued them on a colorful card stock. A bit of glitter glue was a nice touch for the front of the card.
Since we made a lot of snowflakes some of them we turned into a "Merry Christmas" greeting for our living room.

Long live the Unicorn.

2009-12-04T20:35:00.000-05:00

Here is a page from Leona's notebook that she wrote today. I think she did a phenomenal job at 5 years of age. I could not stop praising her, especially when she so deserved it.
Then we made a ceremonial mask and while Ivana was finishing her writing page Leona and Milana took turns scaring their baby brother.
And here is Ivana's page that she wrote today. Instead of choosing to narrate her own passage about the Harappan cities, she picked to copy a page from the book we were reading, The Ancient South Asian World, by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer. Very neat and beautiful writing for a 8 year old, I think. We didn't get to make the unicorn, but they did mind. There is always another time.

When studying history is fun!

2009-12-03T20:58:00.000-05:00

We are on the chapter 10 (out of 42, for the first volume) in our studying of the Ancient World History. The girls and I are having a wonderful time learning together and we have been exploring a lot of ways of learning about the past. I decided to go a bit deeper for each topic and instead of doing one day of history, we will be doing two.

Today we have gone more East. After learning about Egypt and Mesopotamia for a while, it was time for the Harappan cities and the mystery of Mohenjo-Daro. Everybody took upon the idea of building Mohenjo-Daro with a citadel, a well, houses, crop fields, a river, a road, oxen pulling on a cart and a public bath house. It took us a long time to make the bricks and while creating our mini city we were discussing the facts I read out loud to them. A lot of fascinating information kept me going and it seemed that we wanted more and more, we were hungry for knowledge.
We learned that , unfortunately, the Harappan civilization gets very little credit and gets to be overlooked. Since the ancient Egyptians were so preoccupied with leaving noticeable marks in the way of pyramids, the Mesopotamian history is full of stories of fighting, conquering and the empire expanding, apparently, the Harappans were very busy making a nice living for themselves, not worrying about leaving any significant mark in history.

Their writing has not been deciphered yet, and it means that there is still so much to be discovered about this amazing civilization. One thing the girls will remember, for sure. The images of unicorn were among the first to be found in the Harappa cities. It's not that hard to guess what figure we will be making and painting tomorrow.

A dinner with friends.

2009-11-27T01:32:00.000-05:00

What is the most wonderful thing for any family with small kids is the opportunity to start family traditions. And that is what we have been up to. Since the girls are growing now we keep the traditions from the past years and add on to them, as the kids start coming up with ideas and kind of take over the family celebrations.
To save ourselves some time I set up the table in the evening. It was more like 12 in the morning as I was not ready to go to bed just yet. The girls made the individual cards for everybody, even Milana was able to participate and made a card for Evan, who was delighted to hold it in his little hands before dinner.
I also managed to make a "Mayflower" ship as a morning surprise for the kids. As we set down to have the feast, we read out loud the little cards that kids had written on what they were thankful for. It was too cute. Among other things, there were a lot of "thanks" for Mom, Dad, sisters, a brother, house, toys, animals, flowers, holidays, Grandma, Grandpa, friends and we all smiled at an "avrithing" card.
It was decided beforehand that the host family would be "Indians" and the guest family would be "the Pilgrims". The initial meet and greet was truly grand! Our friends pulled over with the three of their older kids sitting on top of the mini van as if they were on a "Mayflower". From our side, we had the girls dress up as Native Americans. But, mostly, our Tata made it the most fun for all. Ready to hear this? I was a little worried about the neighbors, but quickly it stopped to be a concern of mine as were belly laughing. He stripped to his waist, stuck a rabbit skin behind the belt of his pans, put on a head band with a turkey feather, grabbed a stick to simulate a spear and was running like mad pretending to be a warrior.
The dinner was fantabulous, very delicious and the leftovers lasted us for almost four days. The five frozen kernels of corn on each plate was a small reminder for everybody of the times of hardship for the first settlers.
I think we did a great job trying to keep the spirit of one of our most favorite American holidays. With talent show before the dessert time and playing games the day was very eventful and it was great to relax before the fire and enjoy a few quite moments before heading off to bed.

More Turkeys.

2009-11-25T22:05:00.000-05:00

Today was a busy day. We did half of the cooking we had planned for our Thanksgiving feast and I am exhausted. Tomorrow is another part of our holiday marathon. I have been reminding myself to take it easy and have a good time with the girls. As we baked the cup cakes in the morning I thought we'd decorate them first thing in the morning the next day, but to have some fun I decided to let them get messy today, this way the counter top would be devoted to other things tomorrow. Do you think I could be so cruel as to let the girls wait till tomorrow evening to taste those yummy "chocolate turkeys"? I couldn't...

So far we have to put on the table tomorrow our traditional eggplant salad, beet salad, brussel cabbage, pumpkin/butternut squash soup, pumpkin roll and chocolate cup cakes. The plan for tomorrow is, of course, to get on with The Bird, mushroom stuffing, buttermilk biscuits, baked sweet and regular potatoes, and key limes mini pies. Our friends are bringing the spinach pie, potato salad and an apple strudel.
The table has been extended and set ready for 12. Oh, I am so excited and can't wait to see everybody at the table tomorrow.

Peanut butter cookies.

2009-11-21T22:01:00.000-05:00

It's great to get all the help I can from the girls! Soon, they will take over in the kitchen!
Ten minutes in the oven, half an hour later there were 5 cookies left. I guess they were very yummy!

Our turkeys.

2009-11-20T00:31:00.000-05:00

We have started to decorate our house for the Thanksgiving celebration. Everybody is so excited because we are planning on having a lot of good food and a great time! And it will be even more fun because we have our friends coming over and staying for a sleep over. And they, too, have three girls and a boy! So, we will have to extend our table and pull out more chairs!
After going for a walk today we brought a bunch of natural materials to work with. As soon as we got home, the glue gun got pulled out and put to be heated. The girls, including Milana, got in charge of making the turkey tails, while I was trying to figure out what to use from what we had picked up to put it together so it remotely resembles the famous bird.
The recycled cardboard paper, some glue (well, in Milana's case quite a lot of glue!), feathers and the tails came up simply perfect! Almost authentic! We read a book about how the wild gobblers have a beard, and the longer the beard the older the bird. They agreed with me to use the red leaf instead of a piece of red paper even though it would wilt a bit overnight. The acorns turned out perfect for the heads, sticks for necks and legs. But the highlight of the turkey we think are the wings! As we used the pine cones for the body the birds looked a bit too skinny, and the dried up milkweed pods were the detail we needed. Now our turkeys looked quite puffed up!
We have put five of them hanging on our lamp that we have above the table. So, it is kind of a center piece. I shouldn't forget to dust the chandelier before the dinner, it happened to draw a lot of attention now. And Mirek's reaction was quite an interesting one. "Oh, I guess I'll have to learn to like our new lamp decoration now", said he. Gobble, gobble, gobble...

Cousins galore.

2009-11-16T10:56:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend we had a mini family trip to see the cousins, Zeke and Lydia. The kids had a great time running outside as the weather was warm as in early September. A day of Indian summer in mid November! What a treat!

Favorite spot right now.

2009-11-13T22:23:00.000-05:00

When the cold days are lurking in it's time to enjoy the indoor activities. With the fire going every day everybody's favorite spot right now is the comfortable chair we bought almost for nothing on a garage sale a few years ago. It is serving well by the fire place.

Leona is doing such a great job reading all by herself. She picked up a book and was mumbling to herself, reading page after page, before I distracted her with my videotaping and picture taking. Her older sister was right there to encourage her and make sure Leona was reading the words correctly.

And, climbing on that chair has become Evan's baby gym activity. He loves to tap on the fish tank and enjoys seeing the fish go frantically in circles. Pulling on the lamp is a lot of fun for him as well. When a few light bulbs went into the garbage in a course of just a few days after Evan learned to play with the lamp side table by shaking the bits out of it, we had to move the lamp on to the higher ground.

I have been enjoying my piano practices. And today I was lucky to experience a double pleasure. That would be playing some new music and... getting a head massage and a wonderful hairdo by Ivana. She took the picture, too. Maybe soon you'll see more of me on the blog! A shot of my back IS a start!

A recipe to try.

2009-11-13T20:37:00.000-05:00

I wrote an article for "Mother Earth News" and "Countryside" magazines. It's an article about our mushroom picking adventures. We'll see if it gets to be published, but I thought I'd share a very simple soup recipe. This soup has become a staple dish in our family. I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

Traditional Czech Peasant Mushroom Soup
(Serves 4-6)

Mushrooms (the more, the better), cut into pieces
Potatoes (5-6 medium size), cut into cubes
Fresh parsley
Flour
Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper

What to do:

As the water in a pot is getting to a boiling point throw in the mushrooms and potatoes, salt and pepper to your taste. While the soup is cooking, on a skillet heat a few table spoons of olive oil and add two table spoons of flour. Stir so that the flour does not burn, but gets a nice light brown color. Add the mixture to the soup. It will thicken and cloud the soup a bit, giving it an interesting flavor. At the very end add chopped parsley.

Our boys.

2009-11-08T21:49:00.000-05:00

These are the boys in our family!

Playing together.

2009-11-08T00:43:00.000-05:00

The gang has been playing together very adorably these days. It's a "crazy hat" day and Evan had to be a participant as well.

Happy in Maine.

2009-10-28T00:58:00.000-04:00

When revisiting old places or taking a trip to a completely new destination you always want to have the ultimate traveling experience. I don't know what I like more: to go to the places I have been before and feel the joy of reliving the happy moments of the past, or to go to a new place and experience the rush of unexpected happiness after discovering a beautiful new scenery and living in a new moment. In each situation there is unforgettable, irreplaceable momentum that only a true adventurer can not live without.

During our trip north we were able to experience the new and revisit the place we had been before in our early pre kids dating years. Oh, my, it sounds like we are so awfully old.
We drove by The Acadia National Park and spend a most wonderful day there. The rocks we had climbed before were not covered with the wild blueberries as a few years back due to a different season, but there was another surprise waiting for us. It seemed that the rocks just wanted to meet and greet us! The sky was bluer than blue, the chill in the air was almost unnoticeable, the view down to the ocean from the top was gorgeous. And right by our feet there was a good bunch of ... mushrooms! We picked them up, of course and felt like being at home right away!
As Samuel Chaplain named the island "Mount Desert Island" in 1604 the panorama of shore and sea emerges surrounded by magnificent rocky formations as far as you could see.
A real amazing thing about the area is the only sandy beach. Ivana was very observant and noticed even before we went back up to the board walk and read that the sand was actually crushed shells! The position of the bay and the strength of the waves created the conditions for this sandy beach to come to exist. It was written on the info plaque that the water there was only for the most hardy ones even in the summer, since it mostly stays around 50F.
We were taking the camera from each others hands with Mirek just simply trying to document all these beauty around us. Leaving Maine we were feelling spiritually uplifted and very happy for being able to live our day with our family in a serenity of God's artistic creation.

The Bay of Fundy.

2009-10-26T02:05:00.000-04:00

The day was so much better today. Better?..No, the day was simply gorgeous! The clouds cleared away by around noon and the sun was treating us with a nice warmth, gentry caressing us on our backs when we were taking a hike in the Fundy Bay.
But before a nice hike we were able to experience a very nice country drive. The views wherever we looked simply took our breath away. The red fields of off season blueberry bushes, the miles of beautiful pastures with animals grazing, the peaceful rolling hills, the vibrant streams, all provided plenty of opportunities to take memorable photos.
The covered bridges are a local specialty. There were a few in each county and some of them are listed as top tourist attraction, here in New Brunswick, Canada.
We took the Bay of Fundy coastal drive today going more north to visit one of the most unique places on Earth. To be precise, the only place on Earth where this tidal phenomenon occurs.

The Hopewell Rocks are the highlight of the whole New Brunswick province. Only here and nowhere else in the world the tide comes and goes twice a day, every day, bringing and taking away water almost four story high. The force of the water is so strong that it was able to create these magnificent structures we are standing next to. They say to fully appreciate and enjoy The Rocks you need to see them at both tides. We were fortunate today to experience them in low tide, hoping to have a high tide experience some other time in the future. Walking around these formations was amazing. We picked up a few rocks that Mirek promised to make necklaces for the girls, got ourselves into a lot of "muddy situations", walked through low and pretty narrow cracks in between the giant rocks, and simply took some time to be in awe of nature's beauty around us.
Being four days on the road, we have covered 1200 miles so far, and even managed to spend a day in a different time zone, Atlantic.
That is quite an impressive achievement taking into consideration the ages of our kids. I was joking today saying that for a single person that kind of vacation would not be a vacation. Too much work, too much hassle, too demanding, too noisy. But Mirek said that he would never switch for the type of vacation that a single person would have. He said that even though we have to do so much more work being on vacation, tending to kids, they make him happy and he would not want to have it any other way.

A day of rain.

2009-10-24T22:28:00.000-04:00

These are the only pictures we took today. And it is such a shame. The Rt. 1 along the coastal Maine is absolutely breathtaking. The pine trees, ocean bays, ocean views, every turn was full of magnificent natural beauty. But the rain kind of spoiled it for us. We were not able to stop and stretch a bit, take a mini walk and enjoy the scenery. The drive was monotonous, but we still tried to make the most of it.

The only time we got out from the car today was a stop at the huge book store. The building used to be a chicken barn that is now a two story book store where there are over 150,000 new, used and rare books. We browsed the shelves a bit and I picked up a book of poems by Robert Louis Stevenson that I wanted to have in our library. Since there were no books by Douglas Reed, Mirek bought the works by Plato. I guess, he really wanted to have this book in our library as well.

And the find of the day was a McGuffy Reader! It might not mean a thing for a lot of people, but for us it does! That was the book that Laura and Mary learned to read from in "The Little House on the Prairie" series. Leona was the happiest! She was sitting in the car and reading, practicing her speller words and recitation, just like in the books we have been reading.

We are hoping the weather will turn around for us tomorrow so we can visit the Fundy National Park and the famous Rocks. For now we are having a great time in the inn in New Brunswick, Canada, playing cards and blind mice.

Our trip North.

2009-10-23T20:26:00.000-04:00

As quick on a "let's go" as we are, we decided to take a mini trip North. We've heard that the foliage is simply spectacular in New Hampshire, Maine and even more north, like Ontario and New Brunswick, Canada. And that is why we are on the road.
We left on Thursday, around noon, after packing as fast as we could and juicing those pears that had fallen off the tree. They would go bad by the time we get home, plus we are now sure when exactly we're coming back.
The drive to New Hampshire was around 5 hours with two short bathroom breaks. We spent a night at our friends' that we haven't seen for over two years, and then headed more north in the morning.
Today we covered one third of the coastal Maine and are staying overnight at a motel. Unfortunately, the ferry to Nova Scotia stopped running for the season, so we'll have to drive a different route. But that's OK. We are known for coming up with spontaneous ideas and changing plans on the spot.
Today's highlight was our lunch. The thing is that we do not eat sea food, except for fish. Mirek called all that kinds of food "sea bugs" and we got used to skipping the appetisers and entrees with any type of sea food in them. But today we not only surprised the girls but even surprised ourselves.We thought that being in Maine it was a must to taste a lobster. So, we had a "sea bug-lobster" lunch at the "Taste of Maine" restaurant.

How did we like? Hmmm... let me see. Leona was saying, "Oh, Mommy, it is good, but not SO good", with an emphasis on the "so". Ivana had fun cracking the claws but was very careful taking mini bites, not sure whether to take it with butter or if squeezing some lemon on it would improve the taste. Milana, with her appetite and great sense of adventure in trying new things simply licked it a bit and refused to even take a tiny bite. I got turned off by the sight of the green liver that is supposedly a cherished part by the true lobster lovers. Mirek simply got reminded that he does NOT eat the "sea bugs" because they smell of the low tide!
And that was how we liked the lobster. But, we were able to agree that if there was nothing else to eat but the lobsters, we would not starve to death, we'd eat them. Off to New Brunswick tomorrow...

It's not us being greedy.

2009-10-21T00:10:00.000-04:00

Ah, the pear tree again!
We have been coming back to get more pears for a few days again. Picking them is fun, but it takes time and energy to pick each pear, one by one by a long stick. When other fruits fall on the ground we pick them as well and make delicious freshly squeezed juice. By now we have about 100 lb of pears. And it is not that we are greedy, it's just a shame to let them go to waste.

It is amazing how many people saw us picking them up and approached surprised to see that the tree was covered with pears. One Recreational Area employee said that he had been working there for 10 years and had never noticed pears on the tree. There was an Asian family that were having a picnic and came to ask us what we were picking. There was a family from Israel, asking the same question next day we were busy harvesting. Then there was a couple that have been taking their dog for a walk in the area for some time already and they, too, had admitted, that they were not attentive enough to notice the pear tree.
So we have been sharing the juicy pears with friends and mostly our Tata has been having a great time since he was able to pretend to be a kid again and climb the trees. Plus the box got filled up so much faster!

In preparation for cold winter days.

2009-10-19T23:45:00.000-04:00

When the snow is gone and the Indian summer has returned it's time to get back to winter preparations. With having electric heating system in the house it costs us a pretty penny every winter to stay warm. As much as we've always been resourceful and kind of on a budget, this year we are going an extra mile. We have decided to close off our "craft room" for the winter. The room we love to spend time in, reading, drawing, playing. We had to move the piano from that room as well. Since this room used to be a covered porch and does not have a foundation, plus with all the windows around it takes up a lot of heat to warm up the room in the winter. And the floor still stays pretty cold. I always see the dollar bills flying out the windows
turning into the snow flakes...

Now since we have a fire place' the idea is to heat the house as much as possible by burning wood. Unfortunately we don't have a wood burning stove and the fire place requires too much wood, but living in the country finding free wood is not a problem at all. The girls have been helping with gathering twigs and bundling them up for our fire starters, and Milana was busy cutting wood with her own ax, just like Tata. According to Mirek's estimate we have wood stocked up for about two weeks. Not for too long after all. Hmmm... maybe we'll go to Florida for a few weeks during the coldest time in winter.

October bizzard.

2009-10-16T01:29:00.000-04:00

That is how autumn turns into winter overnight when you least expect it! The golden light, the smell of wet leaves, the gentle crisp in their, the no need to bundle up too much... all was gone overnight in the middle of October. We have experienced an early October blizzard, just like in "The Long Winter", a book by L.I. Wilder we have read recently.

Everybody was excited to go outside and play with the snow. It took us some time to pull out all the winter jackets, boots and other accessories. All three of the girls moved up in the "jacket hierarchy" which is a good sign of healthy growth.
The landscape was phenomenal. The trees still haven't lost their foliage and were bravely enduring the added weight of the wet snow. Various shades of green, orange, brown and red looked even brighter as the white covering had created a nice contrast.
We came home refreshed, glowing with rosy cheeks and got to warm our hands and wet feet by the fireplace, settling down to read some books.

A trip to the past.

2009-10-11T02:02:00.000-04:00

We have become absolute fans of "The Little House on the Prairie" series, written by Laura Ingdalls Wilder.
We have grown into the books and simple can't help it but love them to pieces! We have been reading the series for about two years now. We didn't start from the very first book, so we haven't been reading them in a chronological order. And I think it adds a little twist, an extra fun to it.
We are down to a few chapters of the "Little Town on the Prairie" and then the last two books, out of the total of 9. We almost feel like to drag reading them a bit, to stretch the pleasure.
We read them together in the evenings. The girls usually draw something while I read out loud. Now that Mirek is at home in the evenings, we got him hooked on the books as well. He calls himself "Pa" and me "Ma" and we have adopted a few things from the book for our family. Like serving Pa's plate first at a dinner table :)

Ivana would read a book quickly to herself and then she would still insist on me reading it out loud and then she would get excited to hear the parts she had really enjoyed when reading them herself.
The girls would play together , pretending to be Mary, Laura and Milana would be Carrie. For a few days Milana insisted that she was not Milana, that she was Carrie.

I can't start praising the books, because it would be so hard to stop. Plus no words would do justice to describe the books. You simply have to read them yourself. And it doesn't matter you are not in school anymore. I believe it is a must read for every adult. I think I was born in a wrong time in history. I wish to have been living in those times! I so wish our lives these days would be simpler and people would be more connected and more for each other.

Discipline, self-reliance, respect for the land, a shared community, the joy of music were the values celebrated in those books. The values that are as valid today as they were in the Dakota territory in the 1880s.

On Sunday the day was trully a perfect fall day. The colors have been in full swing and the sun was still giving out enough of warmth to enjoy the outdoors without bundling up too much. Millbrook Village 1800s festival was last Sunday and it has become our beloved place to visit over the years. It was great to have our friends join us, and the girls each had a buddy to enjoy the craft demonstrations with and participate in the activities. We could not pull them out from the 1800s school house. They were too cute in their sun bonnets, sitting by the desks with their slates and answering teacher's questions.

On Wednesday we went to see a musical based on the Little House series. I was even more excited than the girls. They could not wait, and neither could I. Beautiful, wonderful, spectacular performance! I shed a tear at the theater. That how much the actors had touched me with their brilliant acting, singing and dancing. I was so happy that we had managed to attend the show even though those were the last tickets and we were sitting all the way up in the Mezzanine 2.
"One of the classics of American literature, Mrs. Wilder's nine volume memoir have become part of our American DNA", wrote a director of the musical F. Zambello. Our family would like to thank the producers of the musical for taking upon a challenge to make the books sing.

Making papyrus scrolls.

2009-10-09T22:39:00.000-04:00

Pleased to introduce the three scribes in training.
We have decided to learn history this year and are following the "The Well Trained Mind" approach. So far we like it and the girls are excited every time we have our history lesson.
Now we are learning about the ancient Egypt. We've learned about the Nile delta and the early history around it. Made red and while pharaoh crowns which came up a bit ugly, but, oh well, we still had good times. Then we traced the map of the ancient Egypt, Sumer and Mesopotamia. read about it, talked about it, looked at the pictures on the web, listened to the story about archaeologists, wrote down the new words we were learning, looked up the hieroglyphs and then decided to make our papyrus scrolls.
On the scrolls they decided to write what they like to do and also all the names of the family members. And Milana was writing her "o's".
I wonder if the girls will be able to "read" their scrolls tomorrow? We'll wait and see...

Acorn Math.

2009-10-06T01:50:00.000-04:00

It's fall! The leaves changing their color and it's time to use the nature's beauty for our learning time and art projects.
I like to be prepared for our homeschool learning time, kind of plan the day out, think in advance about the project to do with the girls, prepare supplies so that we don't waste our time looking for them when a quite time is so precious before the baby wakes up and then I end up holding both Evan and Milana and trying to help the girls with their stuff.
But when the momentum arises and the spontaneity gets the reins I like these times even better! Because even though I do put a special emphasis on the girls learning how to follow the instructions and self discipline with our learning time, I do treasure the moments when they themselves come up with ways to learn, discover and experiment.

Today we have experienced another moment like that. While playing outside we started collecting the acorns. This year is the year of crazy acorns. They are huge, and numerous. The ground is simply covered with a carpet of acorns. We even had to get used to the constant loud noises coming from above that almost sound like a shot gun. The acorns fall with such a might from the high branches and produce this amazing "puff" on the roof that resonates in the house.

And then the girls started sorting them out. We pulled out our mini scales and added more fun to our activity. They would take turns putting the acorns on the scales and then placing them in the rows according to their weight. We were able to find the biggest acorn, weighing 9 grams, and the smallest one was crushed and dried up and weighed 2 grams. Then we got excited and wanted to find one acorn that would weigh 10 grams and were hoping to come across the smallest at 1 gram. No luck, though. But the observation and statistics proved that most of them weight at about 7 grams.
And that is just another example that living is always learning. And learning in various ways keeps the fire of curiosity to discover for yourself burning hot. Compulsory "Education in a box" squishes kids' individual ways of learning and discovering, thus poring cold water over the hot fires of curiosity.
So that was our math lesson for the day. Maybe tomorrow we'll bake cookies and call it "math and chemistry lesson".

Trip to the Atlantic shore.

2009-09-26T02:53:00.000-04:00

What do we do if we have not been to the ocean in a while? We hop into the car and off we go. Even though it is quite a trip for us, driving over 2 hours each way, it is so worth it! The fresh ocean breeze, the sound of the crushing waves, the feel of the warm sun on our faces, the freedom to run bare feet, seeing the kids being excited and exploring ...it is all worth it! I miss living closer to the ocean. I think we need to move...

Wild pear tree.

2009-09-16T00:30:00.000-04:00

We are taking small steps towards our dream to be able to homestead. This time we have discovered a wild pear tree that we are claiming as ours and want to make preserves for the winter. It is covered with pears! The branches are hanging down with all the pear weight on them almost like begging to be rid of the burden. Take them! Take them! Pick those pears! Help me!
Tata, a creative mind as he is, has come up with a special device to pick the pears. The tree is too high to climb, we didn't want to shake it, and wanted to take as much as we needed without wasting the fruits. Mirek made a net and we were ready to harvest the wild organic pears. He would snip each pear from the tree, collect a few into the net and bring the net down so that we put the pears into the bag. It did happen occasionally that when he snipped and shook the branch other pears fell down and got damaged. So, we ended up with two bags. One was for the nice pears we'd keep in the basement over winter and eat as they ripen, and the other was for the damaged ones that we had to process at home right away so that they didn't rot.

The girls were helpful at the beginning and then were running around, chasing each other on a green field. We were happy picking and excited about making the pear butter. The pear butter came out great and we baked a few cakes with it. We also have a few jars with pear kompot for the winter and a pretty big box of nice pears to eat. It was all for free and nice time spent together.

Boating and mushrooms.

2009-09-09T02:29:00.000-04:00

It was the day we decided to try to go boating on a new lake. It's a lake about 45 minutes drive from our house and it's a bigger lake than the ones we usually go boating on. So we were excited and Mirek wanted to try to catch some fish for dinner. The trip plans had to be changed almost on the spot as the lake was full of weeds and the electric motor was getting stuck and simply refused to work. We had to pack and go back to our favorite lake. The lake where we had let our snapping turtle free and where we had spent countless hours fishing, and where I had had great opportunities to snap a few shots. It's our Sunny Hill Lake.

And this time it did not disappoint us. The dinner was being taken care of, I did get to take a few cute shots, we had a great time and as an extra bonus picked a ton of mushrooms.
We spotted a bunch of mushrooms on the shore and just kind of docked to pick them up. It was one of our favorite types, the Red Slippery Caps, which are in abundance this season.
And very quickly that bunch turned into a huge pile that was growing bigger and bigger right before our eyes. The mushrooms were everywhere! We had no bags or anything suitable to put them into, so a quick idea of transporting them in the boat was the only way. We separated the front of the boat with the foam seat and piled them up right there.

In the evening we processed the harvest and now have a few jars for winter. We'll be going mushroom pcking again soon! The thrill is in the air!

Two winners.

2009-08-29T01:32:00.000-04:00

The challenge started in the beginning of the summer, in July, to be specific, whether you call it the beginning of the summer or not.

Ivana's and mine music teacher together with her Mom, who is a piano teacher as well, announced the competition for "The most hours practiced student", followed by the ice cream party.

Ivana is pretty competitive at heart, I should say, and she took up on the challenge with a lot of vigor! She had practiced her violin almost daily, sometimes even twice a day. I was trying to stay on track with my praticing, taking advantage of quiet time in the evenings when everybody went to sleep.

During the day time I used to enjoy playing the piano, but now that the baby is all over the place, crawling, getting up and reaching to the piano keys, he does not let me practice. I end up picking him up, holding him in fron of the piano, so that he "plays", and even then when I put him down on the floor hoping he'd have enough, well, he had not! He wants more. So, as lond as I am by the piano, he is there, too. I've learned to kind of pull my left leg forward and let him use the base keys, meanwhile trying to play the tune on the rest of the piano. Well, the melodies that we are producing together are far from being enjoyable! So, now I practice in the evenings. I'd put the piano on the soft pedal, close the door to the craft room, sit by the piano and gaze into the black hole that is in front of me (the dark window) and enjoy the tunes.

We had to put the minutes we'd practiced together for the big finale! The ice cream party!
In the morning Ivana found out that I had a bit more minutes than her, so she was not going to let me be first and picked up her violin and added another 30 minutes to her practice sheet, almost sure she had got me then!

There were about 20 students altogether at the mini summer ice cream recital and everybody was supposed to memorize a piece, perform it in front of the goup and then we had to announce the minutes practiced.

I went on to be the first at performing. This way I would have it behind me and didn't have to wait for my hands to start sweating (smile!). Ivana wanted to be the last to perform!

It was so wonderful to participate in an event like that! I was on the cloud nine! I felt alive and was so happy to be a part of a "musical community"! Let it be very small, young musical community, but my dream is coming true! I am learning to play the piano and enjoying every minute of it!

Ivana turned out to be the second in minuts, anyway. She got total of 1,528 minutes! I was very proud of her! But I was proud of myself as well. I got total of 1,535 minutes. We got both collection of classical CDs and"Symphony" chocolate as prizes. The third runner up had around 1,000 minutes. We set a very high standard for the rest of the students, and sure learned a great deal in just two months of very intense practicing.

Happy B-Day!

2009-08-21T22:43:00.000-04:00

Ivana and Tata are sharing their B-day today!
Happy birthday to both of you!

Summer fun.

2009-08-21T01:29:00.000-04:00

There are no words needed. Simple summer fun!

Wild blueberries.

2009-08-16T00:15:00.000-04:00

Until this year we never have suspected that we've been living in a Wild Blueberries Paradise Land! Oh, my! This year they were so abundant all over the place! No need to drive anyway, no need to pay even a penny! Right by the lake there is one bush and almost everyday we were able to pick a few handfulls and ooops ... straight into our mouths!

The other day we went on a family wild blueberry picking adventure! In a little while we had all our containers filled, our tummies filled and the bushes somewhat empty.
The berries are not as sweet as the cultured ones, but it didn't bother us at all! The sourness was so refreshing and the aroma was so strong that we wanted more! And there was plenty!

We decided we wanted to freeze a part of the harvest, but with all those peaches and backing and more eating, there was nothing left to freeze. Oh, well! They are more valuable fresh, anyway. So, the kids got their"brain food" as Mirek called the blueberries. I am expecting them to be extremely smart this coming home school year!

It's the Peaches season!

2009-08-06T02:29:00.000-04:00

I remember being a child and approaching the peek season for certain fruits and veggies when your body is craving the vitamins and your mouth is trying to remember the taste. We didn't have the luxury of having the produce available all year around. Most of the fruits and veggies were seasonal. And when they were in season, boy!!! did they taste great! I still can't stand the plastic taste or no taste at all of those items reminding the fruits and veggies from the supermarket. Shiny, all sized up without any flavor or real taste. Brrrr ... Give me the real thing! Let it be once a year. I'll be fine! I'll eat them non stop until I want to look at them no more... till next year.
And that is what we 've been doing lately. Eating peaches till we can't look at them no more! It is the season and they are unbelievable! We are fortunate to have a local farmer's stand not that far from us and that's where we've been getting our fresh produce. Getting the peaches graded "second" did not spoil our appetite. The better ones we gobble, well, the kids gobble them up almost like a swarm of locusts, and with the more damaged fruits we experiment by baking and cooking with them. We have called it "the art of turning the second grade peaches into the first grade pies and tarts". We have baked a lot of pies already and I think we are about the have it for the season.
When Mirek brought a box full of peaches yesterday the girls were complaining, "Peaches, again? Why didn't you buy some apples instead?"
But when I suggested baking there eyes lit up again. They really enjoy spending time in the kitchen.

A gift of freedom.

2009-07-22T23:05:00.000-04:00

After out trip to the zoo we really wanted to give our Yurtle, The Turtle the best gift ever. As much as he (yes, we think of him as "he", not "it") was surely enjoying worry free meals of juicy earth worms, flies, spiders, and occasionally dry pellets, we had a feeling he would rather take care if himself.
When we picked up this tiny hatchling last fall, barely moving across the road, then spent close to $80.00 to set up him temporary winter headquarters, we knew we would set him free next summer.
We have been really enjoying Yurtle's company as much of a company as the snapping turtle can provide. There was someone waiting for us when we came home. His snout was clanging against the glass of the fish tank almost talking to us, something like turtle's Morse Code...tap, tap-tap-tap, tap... I had someone to complain to when I had a pile of dishes to wash and he was there to listen.
Yurtle doubled in weight, his shell hardened, his claws grew longer and sharper, he became more alert. These are all the signs that we've been taking good care of him.But the truth was much too obvious. He would rather be free.
He needed ultraviolet light so that his shell grows strong and hard. He needed to learn how to hunt. He needed to enjoy his freedom in the summer before the days get shorter and colder and winter would be around the corner.
We took pictures together with Yurtle to remember him by, put him in a bucket and took off to a Sunny Hill Lake. Even the name of the lake vibrates with happiness, opportunities and life full of adventure. We call that lake "our lake", since we've been spending a lot of Sunday afternoons fishing, boating and relaxing.
The water was very warm. We put Yurtle on the big rock sticking out from the water and waited. Anxious to see what the turtle would do. We didn't have to wait for too long.
He stretched his very long, quite disproportional rubbery neck, sniffed the air, went along the rock and disappeared under the water.
The water was pretty clear and it was easy to watch him. All the girls were excited to see him, but in a while the mud disturbed from the bottom of the lake by those little feet hid our pet from us. Everybody had to step back and wait for the water to become clear again.
And there he was, happy and content, browzing around, getting stuck in the weeds and easily releasing himself.
We spent a few minutes in the water, were very glad our Yurtle liked the Sunny Hill home and decided it was time to leave. EEEUUU!What an upleasant surprise! EEEUUUU!EEEUUUU!
We had to pay a dear price for Yurtle's freedom! With our own blood! EEEUUU! We had leaches already attached to us and busy sucking. Mirek got 4, and I, luckily, only 1. The girls were spared!

We were going home and were very happy for Yurtle. And we knew that if he could talk, he would thank us.

A trip to the zoo.

2009-07-18T00:04:00.000-04:00

A dinosaur is giving us a ride.
Milana is busy bringing the food to the sheep.
Ivana is feeding an apple to the Lori parrots.
Leona is giving a giraffe a carrot treat.

Trully enjoying the summer.

2009-07-14T02:43:00.000-04:00

We have been enjoying the summer to the fullest!
Right after breakfast we have been heading out to the lake, packed up with our swim gear and towels, snacks and drinks, camera and something to read.
We like the lake in the mornings the most. The mountain air is fresh and crisp, the beach is just for us and we can't stand to spend even a minute inside the house when the sun is out and the weather is beautiful.
Ivana is enjoying the swimming and the jumping part, the other two are pretending to be the scuba divers, and their "bratik" keeps me busy with his exploring of the beach and the water.
Only when he goes for a nap I can read a bit or scribble something in my notebook, or play with the girls "cooking", or my favorite "the let's take a nap on the beach" game.

Water baby.

2009-07-13T01:33:00.000-04:00

He made it into the water this time!
Oh.. a little secret to share. The hat he is wearing has flowers on the front, so I turned it around. Now you can't tell it's a girl's hat! Wink...

Playing "house".

2009-07-07T22:39:00.000-04:00

Good night, sleep tight... She seems to be pretty comfortable sleeping on that bed.

Beach baby.

2009-07-06T00:31:00.000-04:00

I just can't keep him on the towel anymore. All he wants to do is play with the sand. Thank goodness he is not shoving it into his mouth yet, but he has discovered that there is more fun going on in the water when he sees the girls splishing and splashing.
He started crawling towards the water today so fast I could barely catch him!

A day with curly hair.

2009-07-02T02:33:00.000-04:00

What do you do when it rains outside? You could do a lot of things, like bake cookies, draw, do arts and crafts, play with the toys, watch a good movie, sew, play a board game, write a letter, and, of course, read. What do you do if it has been poring for days already and you have done all those things mentioned before over and over again?
Then you need to come with new ideas! And that is always an exciting thing in our house! As we've been reading L. I. Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie" series, we came across the cloth strips being mentioned to make the hair curly. And then I remembered that's exactly what we used to do when I was little and the girls begged to make their hair curly. So, the fun began!
We ripped some old shirts and rapped newspaper strips around the cloth to make it sturdier. The trick for the curls to last longer is to dampen the hair locks with beer, that's if you want to go "all natural", without adding any modern conveniences of hair sprays and foams. The girls couldn't wait for the next morning to finally take the cloth strips off and see their curls. Leona felt uncomfortable on the pillow, feeling all those bumps, but still did not want to take them off.
And the next morning it stopped raining, and it was a gorgeous sunny day, full of opportunities to take the pictures of our girls with their new look. I was like a mad woman running with the camera after them, snapping a shot here and there. They were so cute that I couldn't stop. And now we have a whole folder of pictures named "our curly summer day".

Friday finale.

2009-06-27T00:09:00.000-04:00

Today we had the most amazing day of the camp. It was the last day of the dig, a "museum opening" and a Greek pot luck lunch.

Three long tables covered with real artifacts that kids had dug out in the course of four days. They sorted the artifacts according to the periods in history and were able to conclude that it was a battle site that they had discovered.

Every family brought a Greek dish to share for the lunch and, oh, boy, was a true feast!

Now we have jump started a new period in history to study for our next year. We'll be reading a lot of Greek myths and legends that I even had already purchased at the local library book sale a few weeks ago.

We'll also get some clay and do pottery, mosaics and drawing in Greek style. Well, and the Greek food is always the most favorite in our house. Leona insists on preparing a dandelion salad one day. I guess we'll have to use a lot of feta cheese, just to flavor it up! Stop by for lunch!

Day 2. More digging.

2009-06-25T00:46:00.000-04:00

On a second day of digging things were coming up. The story the kids were creating started to make more sense.
And while everybody is busy down on their knees, Mimi is having a trampoline all for herself!
What could be better than a lunch of a fresh air. They all had voracious appetites!
Later she decided that the kids really need her help with the dig.
Leonka on a very high swing. She just loved it!
A closer look at the artifacts. After they are mapped, they will need to be washed and let dry on a sun to look nice for the Friday Museum Exhibit.

The Archaelogical Summer Day Camp.

2009-06-24T02:29:00.000-04:00

It is the second summer that the kids are participating in a summer day camp program. It is a very special kind of summer camp where parents have to pay for the kids to dig in the dirt!!!

The Archaeological Prospective Summer program was created by a wonderful man, whose passion and living is digging in the dirt! His nick name is "Big Dog", as he is over 6 feet tall, and he is a Professor of Archaeology from Albany State University.

This year the kids were studying Classical Greece, 7th-5th centuries BC, in the region of Attica, as only archaeologists could study, by making their hands dirty. A true "hands on approach" to education!

The program was designed to excite and teach the children about the amazing culture of Classical Greece, explore this forgotten world from the archeological prospective, and to learn the connections between how and what we know about the people and their world from so long ago.

In the morning Big Dog would talk to the kids, give them a lot of wonderful information, show the places he was mentioning on the map, and finish the "talking part" of the camp with a slide show from real digging sites.

Then would come the more exciting part of the camp, the digging. The kids were such wonderful listeners and participants! By the end of the second day they knew exactly what was expected of them and what was the whole digging ritual. The site was divided into squares and the kids were paired up. Each team was responsible for their own squire and for the keeping the track of all discoveries. They were supposed to keep a map and try to record the position of the artifacts in the dirt before taking them out of the "ground context".

Then they would have lunch and a break for free play. Since the camp was held at one of the participating family's house, the backyard was very kids friendly. They had a blast jumping on a trampoline, having lunch together in a tree house, swinging on a rope swing that was all the way up on a tree brunch, playing with two dogs, feeding the chickens, playing with the parrot or a cat, catching the tadpoles and watching the pond life, playing board games and simply enjoying each others company.

Funny Mimi...

2009-06-17T02:09:00.000-04:00

Today she was amazed with this tiny pill worm going up her chubby little hand. The older sisters have been playing with those creatures and Ivana even had attempted to adopt one as a pet. Well, it didn't work out too well. She kept on coming back to that glass jar, checking up on it, thinking it was still sleeping, and then finally realizing it was not...sign...
Milana was not afraid of a pill worm whatsoever. It kept on going up her arm and she was watching it very patiently. Today she also picked up a dried up worm to feed our pet, Yurtle, the snapping turtle. We all had to persuade her that our Yurtle would choke on it, that it needed a soft, fresh one. On the way home the girls spotted a worm and Milana bravely brought it home for the turtle.
What do you do if a kiddo gets a booboo on the mouth? That's what Milana demanded! Yep, a bandage! She even managed to say "cheese" for the photo shoot, but was a bit bewildered about what to do then...she was pretty hungry, it was lunch time. She decided to take it off as there was NO way she was skipping on having lunch!
A day spent in glasses! That is how she fell asleep, still in her glasses. Just hilariuos!

Yellow Iris.

2009-06-06T23:35:00.000-04:00

We have spent an afternoon fishing today. The girls went with Tata and Elvin (our friend from Honduras) on a boat all excited in anticipation for a big catch.
And the boy kept Mama a company ashore. He had his dinner and then was kind enough to snooze away a bit. Really, just a bit, but it was all I needed to play with my camera and write a few lines into my" new" (Mirek got it for me from a garage sale this morning) beautiful, hand made leather bound note book.
As I was sitting feeding Evan, I was looking at this Yellow Iris and trying to think as if I was it, the flower. What would flower's thoughts be? I drew a small sketch of this iris into my notebook...
Then I decided to take a few pictures. Here my focus was on the iris against the sky. But the flower itself was not a focal point, I kind of wanted to embrace the whole natural setting and point out the harmony in nature.
Then I decided to change the layout of the photograph , still keeping the iris and the surroundings in the picture. But this time the "wet cloud" was my point of interest. I just loved that fluffy reflection in the water.
I threw my head up and the sky became the thing I wanted to enjoy for some time.
Just walking a few steps along the lake shore I discovered another family of Yellow Irises. This time it feels that they are stronger together, kind of like a big happy family.
And micro feature is my favorite! Unfortunately my camera does not do a good job in this department and I really miss taking the photos of the micro world of insects, tiny flowers, morning dew, etc... The Sun just seems to go through the petals of the flower.
And this is not against the blue sky... It is my Iris (by then it did become mine, with all the time I was spending around it) against the water in the lake. Kind of, sort of blue, but not that sky blue. I found the background color interesting.
Then rocks came into focus on my next picture. This time it is unmistakably lake water. Just how close the iris is growing to the lake.
Oooops... Something else caught my attention. And a second later after I took this photo, a gostly beaver was gone. Thanks for the visit! And that was the end of my time when I could use both hands to hold my camera. Yes... that's rignt. Evan decided it was enough of napping, the day was too gorgeous to waste, and the scenery was captivating. So, we started taking pictures together. I put him in a sling and we ventured out a bit away from the "My Yellow Iris spot".
We took a mini hike and right behind the curve that was what we saw. I asked him if he thought it was worth taking a picture of and he happily agreed with me by enthuziastically jerking his little chubby arms and legs.
Here we decided to change to position and the photo looks even better than the previous one.
Looved the reflection of the trees in the water and the front row of yellow blubs is adding another color and changing the simplicity of the picture a bit.
Next Evan tried to grab the leaves of the tree we were passing by and it gave me an idea to try to incorporate the foilage into the photo. Ta-da. A new image.
Someting just made me look back and my jaw dropped. I am a super model with the legs up to my neck! Mirek said we should name this picture "Shadow Madonna". I had to put the camera on timer, but I am still holding it with my left hand, while supporting the baby in the sling with my right one.
And the two hours were gone so quickly, my fishermen and fishergirls were coming back with some dinner, it was time to pack up.
My Yellow Iris had kept me a good company and I couldn't wait to see my pictures on a PC screen. I will be using these lovely photos for my next family photo book. Can you ever be bored in nature? Don't think so....

Russian Club "Teremok".

2009-06-04T23:04:00.000-04:00

I have submitted this letter to a local newspaper...

Some times all you need to do is ask. If you want your dream to come true you need to do something about it. Things just don't happen overnight, or at least that's the rule of thumb, with a few exceptions. Sometimes it's somebody's kitchen before it becomes a popular bakery or a restaurant. Sometimes it's somebody's basement before the business grows and you can afford to have an office or a show room. Sometimes an idea comes up, but never grows into anything and stays to be a dream...

In our case it was an idea, a living room, and a determination of two excited families. And that's how we started the first in the Poconos Russian Speaking Club. Getting together every other Sunday and switching between the houses for a meeting place, our mission was to encourage our children to learn Russian, the language of their heritage, to establish a circle of Russian speaking friends and to build an ethnic Russian community in the Poconos.

And that's when a Holy Trinity Orthodox Church has become such a blessing. We approached Fr. Nicholas in November 2008 and introduced our idea and simply asked for help. And even though Fr. Nicholas didn't know us that well at the time he still agreed to provide a meeting place for our growing group, and the fellowship hall of the church has become a new home for our Russian Club "Teremok".

Since December we've been getting together every Sunday for a few hours. And during those few months we were able to not only establish friendships, but to teach our children about the beauty and uniqueness of the Russian language, literature and culture and to appreciate a life long gift of being able to speak, read and write in another language.

Children (ages 4-9_ had a Russian class where they would learn the Cyrillic alphabet, hear poetry, prose, fables and tales from classical Russian writers, play Russian games, sing songs and participate in a children's theater.

The adults, meanwhile, would have an opportunity to socialize and have a cup of tea or coffee with some home baked goodies.

Last Sunday we had our first annual spring concert where children were able to show to their families and friends all the wonderful poems they'd memorized, tongue twisters they'd practiced, and songs they'd learned. Everybody's favorite was singing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes", "Mary had a little lamb", and "The wheels on the car" in Russian. And the culmination of the program was the play we put up with the kids. Our young actors were so excited about their hand made costumes, acted very naturally and did a fantastic job saying their lines in Russian.

Our vision for the Russian speaking club is to grow and attract more interested families and create a Russian Sunday school with a few levels of learning. We are planning to provide translation services and help families with adopted children from Russia and other Russian speaking republics of the former Soviet Union to overcome the language barrier and be able to connect with their children faster.

Celebrating cultural holidays, having an annual picnic, organizing a choir with Russian folk music as a repertoire are other things we have in mind for the Russian Club.

Therefore, we would like to thank Fr. Nicholas and the Holy Trinity Orthodox Church for supporting us in our endeavor of establishing a strong Russian ethnic community in the Pocono region.

Julia V.

Head Teacher

Founder of the Russian Club "Teremok"

Baby zebra.

2009-06-03T23:16:00.000-04:00

That's what happens when your have older sisters!
The girls are so wonderful with their baby brother and he just loves them! They are already including him into their games and today he was made to be a zebra.
Can't you tell he thinks it was a great idea?

Bicycling.

2009-05-24T01:58:00.000-04:00

We don't have a place for bicycling around the house. The driveway is slanted, and there is no nice leveled backyard. And even though our house is on the dead end street with very little traffic, the road is still pretty steep for the little ones to go bicycling. So it is quite an effort to go bicycling with the three of them.
Forget about the times when we were able to hop on bicycles with Mirek and go for hours either to the Liberty State Park with a beautiful view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty when we lived in Newark, or go on numerous mountain trails and enjoy the tranquility of the woods.

Then came Ivana, and she was in the bike seat at around 8 months old. So we were still able to enjoy the biking, not so much through mountains, though, but the openness of the water park was still an exciting place to be on the bicycle.
Then came Leonka, and by the time she was ready to be behind Mirek in a bike seat, Ivana was learning to be on her own with my help most of the time. So we were then taking turns going bicycling. We were not together anymore, but I enjoyed the riding by myself, I recall. The sun, the wind in my ears, and the quietness and the not being needed was very rejuvenating.

Then came Mimi, and the family bicycling trips pretty much have subsided since then. Mirek would go by himself on very rare occasions and after we let the friends' friends borrow our bicycles, the seats were broken and the bikes lives ended.

And now we have a fourth little one, and he is still in the stroller or wants to be carried most of the time (that's when the sling comes in handy). Ivana learned to go on a two wheeler last summer and needs some practice to remember and get comfortable (and they say one never forgets how to ride a bicycle...). Leona needs a push every now and then as the bike is kind of old and a bit rusty and when she goes a bit up the hill or over a bump it gets stuck. And now Mimi wants "me bisicl tuuu, me bisicl, too!!!", so that Mirek has to push her on her tricycle.
So the joyous event of family bicycling has become an activity that more resembles a chore rather than a time to relax.
But even though now we need to pack the kids and their bikes into the car, drive for a while to a more or less straight road, push them on their bicycles, chant "come on, you can do it!", or "come on, paddle harder, you can do it!", or "Mimi, keep it straight" all the time, we are still enjoying the blessing of being together and spending time with each other. I always take my camera and take pictures of flowers, trees, kids and things they do, and Mirek takes his knife and carves a boat or something else for the girls. And overall the chore part is being overlooked as we have a blast together and will be looking forward to our next mini family adventure.

And the bicycling part will come later, I guess. I have a vision, of all of us on the bikes and going on a family biking trip. That 's if my back is not completely destroyed and I keep up with our grown girls and boys...

An ocean of white.

2009-05-21T01:50:00.000-04:00

"Look, Mom has a monkey on her head!"
This trick still works to get those smiles!.. Milana's laugh just tickles!

One week it was a sea of yellow, and the following week it was an ocean of white!

It is green everywhere. The trees are boasting with brand new leaves. To see that ocean of green against the blue morning sky as far as my eyes reach is enough to lift my spirits up if I am feeling gray.
But I miss daffodils. It just dawned on me yesterday and I realized that the happy yellow blobs of color on a brown floor, covered with lifelessness of last year's leaves are gone... I miss daffodils, as they were the first sign of spring, the first sign of warmth, the first sign of hopes for the summer.
And now the dandelions are gone, the tulips are gone, the lilacs are gone. But the bulbs of rhododendron plants are getting fuller day by day and will be blooming before you know it. So there is something to be looking forward to. And that is great, because I always need to be looking forward to a new something in my life.

"The Big Race"

2009-05-19T23:38:00.000-04:00

I am saying my goodbyes to the drama class I have been teaching for two years at the homeschooling co-op. Even though I had a lot of fun with the kids through out the year, and this class was the favorite among the kids as well, I think I am ready to kind of move on.
This is our final production. We put up a play , "The big race", a nice story about a turtle and a rabbit betting each other on who was going to win the race. I had a nice group of kids to work with and had an absolute blast making those costumes! That is always so satisfying for my creative mind! I usually have a rough idea in my head, and once I start creating the costumes I get carried away! We had two birds, a deer, a turtle, a black squirrel, a fox, a monkey and a rabbit.
None of our girls were in my class, but they helped me with the costumes at home.
Next year I'll be teaching woodburning for the 5th graders and up, and world geography for 3-4th graders. Kind of excited about that!..

Violin performance.

2009-05-19T02:09:00.000-04:00

Here's Ivana's first violin performance on the stage, with her teacher, Mrs. D. accompanying her on the piano. Ivana has practiced so much and memorized the piece ("German Folk Song") by heart. Unfortunately, we had no more memory space on the camera and weren't able to videotape Ivana's second song where she played a violin duet with her teacher, accompanied by the piano.

Musical notes.

2009-05-13T22:19:00.000-04:00

We've been listening to "Lives of the Musicians" in the car driving to the co-op, library, dance, my chiropractor's appointments three times a week. That's a lot of driving and why not to use the time wisely. This listening has sparked an interest in exploring new classical music and the library collection is great!
Driving to the co-op this morning I asked the girls what they would like to listen to, Mozart, Chopin or Gershwin. They both voted for Gershwin, since it is something new and they were excited.
"Rapsody in Blue" was a very dynamic piece, to say the least. Since now I've been taking piano lessons I really got to pay close attention to the piano part and appreciate the fluency and the lightness of the hands of the pianist that performed the music. When the most vibrant parts of the rapsody were playing the girls were laughing and said, "Oh, it sounds like some kids are playing (read hear=banning) on the piano kyes".
It was a delightful composition and we will be listening to more classical music from now on.

I took my weekly piano lesson today and played my three assigned song with flying colors. The teacher was so impressed that she even said that maybe, who knows, one day I'll have a performance of my own. Wow... that was great to hear. Actually, I WILL have the performance sooner than I think. At the end of June I will participate in the end of the year recital for all the students that have been taking lessons from my teacher during the year. I have two new songs to work on and they are getting tougher page after page! But I like the challenge and am trully excited to fullfill this childhood dream of mine to be able to play piano.

Ivana has been rehearsing today, getting ready for her spring concert at the co-op that is coming up this Friday. She is playing a violin solo "German Folk Song", and playing a violi/piano trio "Polly, Wolly Doodle". Just to see what she has learned in a couple of months gives us the reassuarance that we should continue with the vilion lessons for her. Besides the foreigh languages, being able to play a musical instrument is another gift a parent should give to a child if the child is showing interest for it. It can always be a great hobby, a way to make a couple of bucks, and sometimes a way to have a music carrier, who knows.

It struck me when I read recently that jews coming off the trains to the concetration camps during the World war II with any music intrument in hands, were noticed right away by German officers and were asked to perform during the parties and other celebrations. In many cases the skill of being able to play an instrument saved their lives.

A wish list.

2009-05-08T00:11:00.000-04:00

With the Mother's Day quickly approaching I have a long list of wishes! I want a bouquet of wild flowers, I want a box of chocolates, I want a good nap, I want a massage, I want a poem dedicated to me, I want a new book, I want a violin, I want a writer's notebook, I want a sunny day, I want a trip to the ocean beach, I want a lot of hugs and kisses and my family telling me how much they love me... The list can go on and on. But I'd rather stop here, because I have skipped my "the most wanted" on my wish list.

The thing is that we all have our own places at the table , so we all kind of have our chairs. They are all from the same set, some are more stained and scratched than the others, but that is not the point. The point is that MY chair has been slightly handicapped for a while already. The screws had gotten lose and the padding comes off easily and if you are not careful your butt goes right in when you are trying to sit down, unsuspectingly. For a while I mean here for over a month! Yep... every time I am trying to grab a seat, always the last one at the table (I don't think I need to explain here why), I need to fix the cushion before plunging on it. That kind of trained me to sit slowly and graciously, just like a lady! See, you can find a positive aspect in just about anything in your life. It's all in your attitude!

And so my wish is to have my chair repaired! No golden jewelry or diamonds. A very humble wish...

Sleeping beauties.

2009-05-01T23:04:00.000-04:00

Once again... it is one of those moments when you just want to stay and look. These are the pictures that require no words...

Russian Class Graduation Party.

2009-04-30T22:30:00.000-04:00

The kids are proudly displaying their "Certificates of Achievement" for successful completion of "Russian Language, Level 1".

When you want to be polite you ask the hostess for a recipe of the dish you've tried at the party, regardless whether you liked it or not. Just to be polite. I don't do it, but I know that some people do that.

Well, today I was asked for a recipe a few times after our graduation pot luck lunch. And it was obvious that it was not due to the politeness factor! My borcsh was an instant hit! I am giving these kids and Moms a lot of credit for having the courage to try this very authentic soup that we cook almost weekly in Russia. As there was no one interested in seconds (besides my girls!), I still consider it a success! The sour cream part was not too much approved, though. Many of my "brave hearts" didn't want it in the soup.
I also made our traditional drink, kompot. It was gone before I could tell what the ingredients were and how I had cooked it. Someone suggested a great idea. Instead of a lemonade stand, we should sell this drink on a hot summer day. Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for when we are homesteading and selling our freshly grown produce, homemade jams, and other yammies in the city! Back to the party...
For dessert I made blyny with strawberry jam and whipped cream on top. I wanted to cut some fresh strawberries for garnish, but didn't remember about it in time. As everybody was getting their desserts they were asked a question that they needed to know the answer for after completing the Russian course.

The first half of the class we reviewed a bit what we had learned with the kids, sang "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" and "Wheels on the car", in Russian. The culmination of the program was to create a pen pal program with the kids in Siberia. So my students were asked to write a letter about themselves in English at home, and together in the class each of my students wrote a brief letter in Russian. I was so pleased with how the kids responded to my ideas and my ways of teaching. They have learned so much! I have ten envelopes ready to be mailed overseas. I just have to print our group picture and write up an introduction letter to the teacher in Russia.

After lunch we had part two of our finale. The students had to neat up their folders that we had been working on throughout the course and pass the test! The deal was if they would not manage to complete the test, they would not be able to graduate and would have to come to our house to do chores and learn more Russian. Guess what... I do not have anybody coming for chores next week, so that's a good thing for me as a teacher, not so good for me as a Mom :0)

The ceremony of handing in the certificates and goody bags with Russian candy and chocolates was bitter sweet as it meant that we would not be meeting on a weekly basis anymore and I am going to miss it.

That's my MAMA.

2009-04-25T00:02:00.000-04:00

My girls thought I was a good candidate for a portrait!
These days we are finding time to sit down to read together with the girls mostly in the evenings when the "younger generation" (here I mean the 2 yo and the baby) is snoozing away. And it has been such a great way to enjoy each others company and a good read towards the end of the day, to unwind before going to bed, and for the girls to draw.
We have been reading two books simultaneously. "The truth about bats", from the Magic School Bus series, and everybody's favorite, "On the Banks of the Plum Creek", by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It had been such a wonderful read-aloud!
We are looking forward to starting another book from the Little House Books collection.
And those two portrait of me are going to be framed!

Russian classes.

2009-04-23T15:03:00.000-04:00

It's been going so well with me teaching a small group (10 in total) of local homeschooled kids (and their parents) some Russian language.
I have created a level 1 program, with 6 lessons once a week. With a few weeks being canceled due to the sicknesses and the program getting too streched out, we are finally approaching the finish line. We have the last class scheduled for next Thursday, with the graduation ceremony following the class and a potluck lunch with all Russian dishes!

The kids have been so awesome! I am enjoying teaching them a lot! The curiosity, the wonder and the excitement in their eyes, the willingness to figure out how to read those weird letters and not to make the tongue swell! I really think that some things will for sure get stuck in their little bright heads and hopefully I have sparked some interest and these kids' desire to explore more and learn more about our Russian culture and language will grow.

It was just so rewarding to hear one girl say, "Oh, we were watching a movie at home and then they mentioned Valentina Tereshkova! And I knew who she was!" Oh, another girl got so curious she had asked me to lend her a book in Russian so that she can try to copy some pages into her notebook.

And when I am reading them a poem about a birch tree or a fragment from Pushkin, they do not understand what it is about, but they are so quite, they concentrate, paying such attention and simply absorbing the sounds, I am in awe.

It is a pretty intense program, but we are having too much fun! Last time when we had revised the things we had learned from the previous class, learned numbers, sang a song "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" (in Russian, of course), I asked them if they'd like to take a mini break or if we should continue. What do you think the vote was? I was the ONLY one ready for a break! Now, isn't it awesome! There could be no better reward for a teacher!
We have made mini books about the body parts and animals, we have created a calendar and learned days of the week, we have played Russian games and sang Russian songs.

The last class was the most interesting for the kids and the parents as well. We were learning about the birch trees as the icon of our culture and what the bark is being used for. I had a few items crafted form the bark, talked about the "lapti", and explained the process of collecting the sap from the birch trees, which is very similar to maple tapping. But the culmination was sampling of the birch tree juice! With the vote 10:4 ("like it-don't like it") it was an instant hit with most of the kids! They wanted seconds! The best discription I can come up with for the taste of the juice is that it might remind a fresh spring rain water, mixed with melting snow, sweetened with some sugar. Mirek said it was disgusting. Not to the kids!

My students went home again with a homework. This time they have to not only practice what we had learned during the class, but to also write up a short letter about themselves (in English), telling a bit about their hobbies, families and life in the US. And during the class next week we are going to write short letters in Russian, as the idea is to send them to Siberia and establish a pen pal program.

Our girls are having a great time during those lessons as well. Even though most of the things I am teaching they know, but they told me it didn't matter as they had been having a lot of fun and are glad their friends were learning Russian!

One of the Moms told me that she's enjoying the classes so much and had never learned so much in such a short time. Another Mom had asked me if I was planning to continue with the classes, and I am happy to say that that was great news! I guess I should roll up my sleeves and get to work on "Level 2, Submurging into Russian language, for adventurous kids and adults".

Pictures, not words...

2009-04-18T22:22:00.000-04:00

Grandpa was saying I write too much. It's difficult for him to keep up with my posts. Here you go, a story in pictures...

Ottawa.

2009-04-15T22:57:00.000-04:00

It was 10 pm on Saturday and we were debating if to go to Boston or try to drive to Ottawa. And now that old telephone book came in handy. What a thrill it was to try to contact long lost friends! The moment I heard my friend's voice on the phone, I knew I could care less about Boston, I needed to see my friend and visiting Ottawa was million times more exciting for us anyway.
It was settled and the morning didn't come soon enough. I could not wait, the anticipation was a bit too much to handle for a mother whose hormones were still going up and down. The drive was beautiful and we really enjoyed the scenery. However, the lunch outside as a picnic was out of the question! We were going even more north and it was quite noticeable.

We loooved Ottawa a lot and would like to go back yet again, since we got only a glimpse of it. Probably, when it is a bit warmer, though! It is a beautiful and seemed like a pretty laid back and calm city. Calm...ha. How about that demonstration we have witnessed! Nevertheless, no hard feelings, I hope the situation in Sri Lanka would stabilize soon enough.

But what draws us back to Ottawa stronger than a force of gravity is the wonderful friends we have there! It seemed that there were no 10 years that we haven't seen each other. The happiness of the meeting was in the air and I've been thinking about that moment ever since. It still feels almost surreal. Has we really met again, or was it just a very happy dream? The pictures are the proof that it was not a dream, and that miracles in life do happen, and friends like that do exist. This trip made me more rich. I am more rich because I know I have people I can call my second family!
Thank you so much for your hospitality, love, laughter, smiles, positive energy, delicious meals! My mouth is still watering at the thought of that homemade red caviar, and Mirek is getting ready to go fishing with the Master Fisherman! So, I guess we'll see you soon!

Our mini vacation. Going north...

2009-04-14T21:55:00.000-04:00

We were DREAMING about repeating our last spring's family trip to the Florida Keys. Setting this kind of goal in the beginning of winter seemed to help to bare the long, freezing days and fight the winter blues.
But what so typical of our family is that we are very impulsive. Someone might look at it as a bad habit, but we are actually enjoying being out of whack, so to speak, because this kind attitude always brings more adventure.
Since we have Mirek's high school friend visiting us from Europe, we wanted to show him some of the nicest places on the East coast we had previously visited with Mirek. We planned on going to the Niagara Falls, heading towards Boston and coming back along the Atlantic shore and stopping by in Cape Cod. Then we checked out the map and saw that Toronto was very close from the border. I contacted a dear old friend of mine and we had a place to stay. So, instant change of plans.
We really liked Toronto. We went to the CN Tower, which is the tallest building in the world, and cruised for a couple of hours in Royal Ontario Museum , which is the largest museum in Canada. Two major attractions in one day! Not too bad, taking into consideration the " four little tales" we had with us.
Next stop... Boston. Apparently, not so much! After studying the map and calculating the distance it would make no sense to drive there at all. We needed a different plan. Thank goodness for my old address book I happened to throw into my bag the last moment!..

Painting on the deck.

2009-04-02T23:30:00.000-04:00

We are so delighted to see our the tulips and daffodils we have planted back in the fall coming up! We have cleaned the area from the dry leaves and put a bit of mulch to please the eye even more. In preparation for Easter and in order to bring some color before the flowers will bloom, we decorated a tree with rainbow plastic eggs. Looks vibrant! But the major highlight of today was spending our day on the deck. Since the weather is finally improving and it is getting warmer why to stay indoors if we can have it all, the arts and crafts, plus the fresh breeze?
Milana was working on mixing the colors, plus learning how to say them in English. The two older sisters were busy painting the bird houses. We have one hanging in the front porch, but they decided it is not enough. We have been learning a lot about the birds lately and watching the spring activity while having breakfast. They are the most active in the mornings, and Tufted Titmouse is a frequet visitor to our feeder. It is facsinating to observe the birds taking the sunflower seed from the feeder, fly away to the nearest tree and crack it open against he tree truck, and enjoy the treet.

We'll put the feeders up tomorrow, and hopefully more birds will be attracted by the bright colors and we can identify more species.
While I was taking a few pictures of Ivana and Leona working on their projects, Milana managed to give the baby her paintbrush. He is very good with grabing things already, so he definetely seemed to be enjoyjng it before I realized and took it away. Oh, yes, there was still plenty of paint on it. Thank goodness, he was munching on the other end!

Playing outside.

2009-03-20T22:18:00.001-04:00

It has been a wonderful couple of days in our neck of the woods! The birds are eating away at our feeder, the sun rays are peeping through the clouds, the spring breeze is in the air and we are finally able to spend more time outside! Enough with being hermits! Yei!..

We missed the sun so much that when we got to feel its warm caress on our backs, I literally asked the girls to roll up their sleeves and stretch their arm to get some vitamin D!

We haven't gone all outdoorsy yet, as to bring out the bikes, scooters, sand toys for the lake beach...But one thing was definitely ready to be used, the sidewalk chalk!!! And lots of it!

The girls started with drawing their houses to live in, as they had done last fall. Then I drew a hop scotch and we played a round all the way to ten! Milana was placing her requests as to what she wanted me to draw for her, and then would get carried away coloring in. This cute chubby little hands holding a big chalk, too cute, I was ready to eat her up!

Then I came up with a genius idea to play an imagination developing game. I would draw a abstract zig zag and they would have to finish it up and draw something out of that curve or a line. We got so carried away, had so much fun, that we didn't notice how far up the street we had moved on the road, away from the front yard of the house. Thank goodness, the street is a cul de sac! They kept on asking me to draw more curves for them, and then started doing it for each other.

Since the baby was sound asleep in the stroller, I just used the moment to spend some fun time with the girls and came up with a "math game", where they'd each throw 10 stones at a grid with numbers, adding them, and whoever came to the highest number was the winner. It was an instant hit! What's more, both Ivana and Leona took off to create their own math mazes , so that we can all play together.

I just love how they invent games so easily! We were outside for a little over two hours, and the time seemed just to pass as few minutes. The box with chalk was almost empty. And when Mirek was coming home after the morning shift, he could see that we had spent quite some time on the fresh air today and used the pavement as a canvass.

The baby was waking up... it was time to head back home to feed him...We are really looking forward to those real spring days! Come on phoebes! Show up! At least that what we had read in our nature book!