You gotta start somewhere...

Digging the Footings

  

Rafting on the White River

PB&J

When we first moved to Krasnodar from Moscow, we thought we had arrived in another country.  It was balmy and bright and we saw flowers and fruit trees and even a palm tree here and there.  

And the grapevines... at the entrance to every home.  

Such a stark difference to the concrete and dark days of the north.  

We thought we would never tire of free fruit at every turn...

Well, I can say after living in 4 different homes in this city and "harvesting" plums, cherries, apples, pears, peaches, apricots, gooseberries, and now grapes... 

It is a blessing and a curse. 

The excitement of making jam, sugar-free and oh! so sugary, for the first time ever...   The guilt of doing nothing and seeing it rot on the ground or overeaten by my dogs...   

I think the season is finally coming to an end and I just may have to stay inside to avoid the "tsk, tsk"of the neighbors.  

I have done all I can.

My process got pretty messy when I realized that I did things a little out of order... 

I needed the skins back after straining the juice since I didn't have any pectin for the jam.  

Those pesky seeds really stick to everything!

It was fun to tell the girls how when I was young, grape jam was all you ever ate with your peanut butter.  I honestly don't think they had ever tasted it before which helped when they awarded it the title of Best Grape Jam EVER! 

Check out this Peanut Butter Bread to go along with it...  a bubble-busting world-shattering thick creamy recipe so jammy it'll rock your socks off. A Purple Mayhem that will leave you hungover without sending you to the ER. Sounds like paradise, eh?

(Description compliments of newly returned camper, Madi Hayes)

Couldn't have said it better myself -

To blog, or not to blog, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler to say whatever pops into my head, 
The slings and arrows of mindless thought,
Or to take arms against a sea of mommy issues,
And by opposing encapsulate them in pictures. 

To watch the internet die — to sleep while waiting for them to upload,
To sleep, perchance to dream — ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come... 

Nothing as exciting as what is actually happening here, so... here I go... blogging again... 

Shoot!

Two years have gone by... birthdays, camps, vacations, themed events, holidays, 

more tooth fairy visits than I could ever count (though I can verify that she has 

a real problem with punctuality)...

There is no way I could catch you all up and you've seen us around on Facebook 

and even in person from time to time, so let's just begin again today, shall we?

Steve is on Elbrus and Madi is at camp. Both are enjoying themselves immensely and taking on challenges they never could have imagined when we first came to Southern Russia. Steve will climb to the peak after spending some time getting used to the thin air up there and Madi has been immersed in the Russian language for 20 days now. She has made great friends and been a huge help with her photography and videography (What?! No one was more surprised than she.) skills.

And we were able to spend 5 days on our beloved White River.  It was a crazy busy time of running the games, sports and rafting for our church camp.  

So much fun and just about as much rain.  

We can't wait to do it again next month for Sam's birthday, but at a much slower pace.

Now I am going to go and for the second night in a row, show my kids how it is done... 

I've never been one of those mothers who can let the kids win just because they are kids.  

Okay, I may have manipulated a "Queen Frostine" or "Mr. Plumpy" a time or two, 

but that was out of sheer exhaustion.  

Good thing they are such good sports! ; ^)  

Truth be told... this may be a close game... wish me luck!

Lovely Days

We all need friends like Terri Fisher who throw school out the window on a beautiful day and encourage others to follow!

Okay, in reality, Terri is one of those mothers who can motivate her children to get it all done before lunch in order to get out in the sunshine.

I admire women like her...

I am of the "throwing out the window" variety...

I am so glad we did. Though the park security wouldn't let us have our picnic on the lawn, we rallied and still enjoyed ourselves.

Bikes, scooters, rollerblades and even a card game (what?!)

It felt like a bonus summer day... and we are hoping for a few more before the cold winds blow!

Fun on Ice

Aubrie chose ice-skating as her birthday activity and our friend at the Mega Mall let us in before they opened, so we had the ice to ourselves!  Thanks, Christian!

Good-natured learners!

Along with our whole family, we had Tasha Wilson, trying to brighten the day of a stubborn little boy, (we missed you, Ashley and Analea!)

Haillie & Noah Broberg (we missed Jonah & Silas, but 8am on a Saturday morning when you live on the other side of town is a little unreasonable!),

Hannah, Jonathan & Timothy Fisher,

And Ted.

This was Sam's first time on ice. Last year he was stroller-bound the whole time.

Though not crazy about the falling, he thought it was something he would do again.

It was a fun family activity
and, despite the bruises, we will definitely do it again!

She started with skates and ended with tennis shoes.
Anybody want to come over and teach my kids how to skate?

Happy Birthday, Aubrie... just a few weeks late!

The anticipation was palpable... 

we started the countdown sometime in July... 

the lists... the discussions... 

FINALLY it came to pass!  

Aubrie completed her first decade!!!  

The choice for commemoration was

a cookie dough mountain (sans eggs). 

We tried to make it look like an island inhabited by pirates... what do you think?

Our team came over to help us celebrate, as well as some friends from town and further afield (glad you could be there, Ilya, next time bring the family:-)).

I thought you may want to see our living room from both angles. Wish you could come and put your feet up and chat a while...

Thank you to all those who sent gifts from America and to those who delivered them in person. She got everything she wanted... except the surprise visit from cousin Cassidy that she was SURE would happen. We will have to start saving now to make that one come about before she moves away. 

 But, Cass, she LOVED the owl!

Sam is TWO!!!

The cake was going to be a huge car... Cars (or "Bbrruumm"s (imagine the sound of an engine, for those of you who, like me, are new to the ways of boys)) are EVERYTHING to this little boy right now, but time ran short and it became a backdrop for cars. (The burned marshmallows are supposed to be rocks :-))

He loves being the center of attention.

Singing along...

5 tries... but no spit!

Wonderful friends brought wonderful BOY gifts!  I continue to be amazed at the lack of them amidst all the other toys at our house, but now he has a gun and cars and dinosaurs... when he gets the box of bugs later today, he should be set!  THANK YOU, FRIENDS!!!

Funny Silas!
The boy closest to his age at his party...  Maybe someday he will introduce Sam to the world of Legos...

Only thing that competes with cars in Sam's life... Rah Rahs! (That would be dogs... His attempt at "Roxy", our dog.) 

Sam loves Jack!

Biding our time at the Zoo

So, we are sitting in Kiev AGAIN waiting for our visas to be ready.  We decided a day at the Zoo was in order, but unfortunately, we were only 6 that day, since Cady wasn't feeling too well.

Enjoy the pictures and try to spot the differences... Zoos on our side of the world provide other opportunities for entertainment than you find in the States, at least for these Americans :-)

Madi's attempt at a Llama smile.

Mom shows her how it is done.
Ignore the burgundy hair... that is another story for another day...

Not exactly a Burger King, but they do have pancakes and ice cream!

But, they DO NOT want you giving your ice cream to the bison!

They also say NO TEASING the deer!

They suggest it is not a good idea to put your hand in the cheetah's mouth.

Finally, don't climb up the cage, though the wolf looks like he could use a little excitement.

We couldn't figure out what this rhino was sporting on his nose...

I had to include this picture... he is just so handsome...

Handsome or not... he can argue with anybody!

We found most of the animals were cat-napping.

So we raced to see the monkeys... they NEVER sleep!

Though they were awake,this was the saddest part of the day... those monkeys really need a better habitat. But, they are Brookie's favorite and supreme highlight. She feels a kinship, and for those of you who know her well, it is not a surprise!

I really don't know why a face cream would sponsor a Zoo.

Having a little fun on the way to the car.

And then Dad says,"Let's run for it before they try to charge us more for parking!!!" And we were all in the car and driving away in 2 minutes flat! A new record and delighted dad!