Polar Express Around the World ward party

Our ward had a Christmas party themed Polar Express Around the World. The kids got to travel "around the world" in their train. They visited countries like Japan, Taiwan, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Tonga, Mexico, Brazil and Belarus.

Ready to roll!

Misha

I got to represent Belarus and its holiday traditions. This was the room me and Eric decorated. I had some pictures showing Kolyada celebrations, books about Belarus, music and candy for the kids. They learned a little about ancient traditions of the Slavs.

Eric helped a lot that day. He was playing a role of a father of the family, wearing straw hat and linen clothing.

I told the kids about the hay under the tablecloth representing hay in a manger baby Jesus laid on. The jug filled with water represented hopes for unhappiness and sadness to stay in the old year and new hopes, good health and happiness fill the new year.

When "the journey around the world" was over, kids had a little coloring project and they also got to write a letter to Santa Claus.

Then they all sat and listened to Polar Express story.

Mimi and Valentina

And then... they got to visit with Santa.

Best friends forever ;-)

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

I've become a Trans-Siberian Orchestra fan ever since I saw this. And to my absolute astonishment they came to Orlando with their tour Night Castle. We got tickets to their concert which was at the Amway Arena. The weather that day was kind of drizzly, so it was a perfect day for a hot-hot concert. Even though Eric and the kids dozed off for a while. It was really awesome with multi-colored fire shooting up on stage, moving digital displays, musicians, dancers, singers, even a story-teller. And to top it all off - elevated stage. And then, Paul O'Neil himself came up to us, gave Valentina and Misha those shirts they are wearing and autographed programs.
It was super-cool Christmas present we gave ourselves this year.

Pears!

This was a craft I made recently. I guess I am having sewing withdrawals)) Well, with another project looming, there's no time to waste. I'll post more pics after its done.

Before I get lost reading all your posts...

I better write something we've been up to these past weeks. With Christmas rapidly approaching it seems we have absolutely no time to even set up our tree. I think we're going to do it a day before Christmas at this rate. I am really happy to be busy and to have a lot on my plate. Maybe I just should stop going to bed at 4am, or maybe I should just stop sleeping at all.

Well, until I realize what is that I should do, I'll just take a day at a time.

Valentina's school has been and remains my time-hog. It requires a lot of my time because she needs my help with homework and it is encouraged by curriculum. There were book fair, art fair, field trip as well as daily paper sign and book bag checks. It's nice to see your child's progress. I try to encourage her, as she gets upset at herself if she makes mistakes and gets discouraged easily.

We splurge on art in our family;-)

Church is busy this time of the year with activities. There's been a Nutcracker Relief Society Dinner held recently and prepared mostly by my friend Cammy. I tried to help her as much as I could to prepare for it. It went really well. The sisters were able to come and watch Cammy dance a sugar-plum fairy part from Nutcracker. We had a wonderful relaxing Christmas dinner with lots of yummy food and desserts. 12 tables were decorated by different sisters and they all looked gorgeous.

Cammy

Tables galore

There's also ward Christmas party coming up this Saturday. I will participate. This what I get for being a foreigner;-)) It is themed Polar Express Around the World. Hope my representation of Belarus will be decent. I would have to try to squeeze thousands of years of holiday traditions of Belarus into 3 to 5 minutes. Ha-ha, good luck to me))

Thou shalt not judge...

Our car wouldn't start in the morning. Eric turned the key in the ignition few times, but - no luck. There was barely any time for us to compose our thoughts on what to do next - whether walk to a car parts store to buy a new battery or try jumping it. Well, we just got out of the car and here comes our neighbor with jumping cables and a box in his hands. He overheard our car's desperate plea and was on his way to help. Boy, was he prompt! And not only the boy, even his father came up and helped. This was the first time we spoke to our heighbors since we moved in. Just yesterday I posted about neighbors Christmas decor describing them in not such a nice way. And today I am eating a piece of a humble pie. Here is another thing to be thankful for: neighbors.

Thanksgiving craft

I know that we are well into November and a lot of people setting up their Christmas displays. Even our profanity-screaming-shoving-pushing-loud-neighbors got their nativity scene set up on the front lawn. It seems I can't part with my favorite autumn colors. We went for a family neighborhood walk recently and found some pinecones, which we were able to use in this craft project. All we needed were a vine wreath, hot glue gun and some festive ribbon. Misha and Valentina took turns using glue gun. It seemed to be the most fascinating part to them. Towards the end though, Misha wasn't amused any longer. The ribbon pulled the look together - and there you have it: a Thanksgiving wreath ready to be hung.

Maybe the day after Thanksgiving I'll pull off all that bright orange-yellow-red decor off and hide it away for another year, but right now I'll enjoy it for a bit longer and think about all the things I'm grateful for. Like fall colors. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Daily routine

Putting lego blocks together and building houses has become an almost daily routine for my kids. They often ask me or daddy to help them. For example, today I helped them build furniture for their houses like bunk beds and sofas. Before Halloween Eric played with the kids building some scary-themed scenes like this:

My little munchkins with their LEGO creations

Fancy Nancy

Valentina borrowed a Fancy Nancy book from the library and we read it together. It was really cute. So, as a little tribute to all things fancy, we had a dress-up night. Jewelry, tiara, high heels, sparkly dress and make-up - the more the better. And this is a final result. Ta-da!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

And I say it is not because its holiday season or anything, but because November in Florida IS wonderful - not scorching hot and not freezing cold, yet it is comfortable enough to go to... Water Park! We went to Blizzard Beach on Saturday and had tons of fun. Misha is tall enough now to go on almost all rides which we did without waiting for parent swap. He kept asking me and Eric if we're going on a "wedgie ride" - Slush Gusher or Summit Plummet. I hezitated at first, but then got brave enough to try Slush Gusher. If you never experienced "burning bum" sensation, try it)) Eric tried the crazy one - Summit Plummet. I refrain from commentaries on this one. We all swam in the wave pool, the creek, and rode multiple rides. Yes, I can confess, I am a big kid at heart when it comes to water parks and Toboggan Racers ride is my favorite one.
Family favorite I should say is Teamboat Springs - Misha and Valentina couldn't stop giggling all the way down, and it is the one where you can go as a family and share the oohs and aahs together.

Garden

This was a beginning of my little garden in our backyard. I dug the grass and weeds out of a rectangle-shaped plot and left it as it is. I planned to make a raised bed, but was really anxious to plant something, that's why I couldn't wait and went ahead without building anything. After it was cleared of weeds and sod, I made few little rows and planted seeds that I've been collecting over the years - sunflowers, poppys, zinnias, I even tried planting dill.

Well, as you can see here, nothing grew except for zinnias. I was really surprised they grew either. In fact, I was amazed when I saw flower buds on all the plants.

And here they are - my backyard pride, zinnias grown from seeds!

From buds to flowers...

Stop!.. And smell the roses, I mean zinnias.