Mother's Day

I felt really great this Mother's Day. Thanks to my wonderful family that made me feel this way. Eric and the kids brought breakfast in bed for me with a fruit salad that I craved the night before. There were chocolates, flowers, cards and many "Happy Mother's Day" and "I love you, mommy". Those little cards with scribbles and "mommy and me" portraits made by Valentina are the cutest. Funny, they decorated a cake for mother's day in school, unfortunately it did not survive until the actual day, because Valentina kept asking if she can have a piece. I said let's wait till mother's day, but I guess she thought if she decorated it, I had little to say about when to eat it. So, it was gone long before. Misha kept repeating "Happy Mother's Day, mommy!" (really cute) It was his way of making it special.

These days make me pause and ponder and realize how happy my family makes me feel. It sounds so simple, but it is one of those truths that you only understand when you don't have it.

Make each day a mother's day by choosing to be happy and enjoying every moment.

Boys will be boys, or "marbles in my toes"

Misha came up with the idea of marbles in his toes, little did he know how his feet looked like.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold - the power of flat-iron!

My new hair-do.

I did not do it myself, had a hair-stylist working on me. The whole works - shampoo, conditioner, treatment, cut and straightening took about 2 hours. The stylist was very funny, talking, laughing and making jokes with everyone around. He said when he grows up he wants to be a hair-stylist (well, don't mention he has grown-up kids). The guy calls himself Hair Daddy. Maybe it is ok for hair people to be so funny and at ease with the clients, I don't know. I just never had an experience like this before, very "at home" atmosphere.

Loaded to the brim with compliments and a new do, me and my boys and headed home(Valentina was in school). Of course, the minute she saw my hair, she wanted straight hair too. However, hers will have to wait.

Half-naked guys beating each other to the punch or our TNA Wrestling experience

I was really debating on what to write about in this post. Well, Eric happened to work with a bell-ringer for TNA Wrestling in Universal. So, we got the VIP seating at the match. Never have I thought in my life I would visit such a place. Even watching this on TV just had me rolling my eyes and shaking my head. WHAT DO YOU, WRESTLING FANS, FIND SO EXCITING? So, skipping to the match or series of matches, to be correct. It started out as a bunch of wrestlers came to the ring and pronounced their rehearsed speeches. Raving fans with painted faces and their posters and fingers up (I am not talking middle fingers here) screamed with hope of getting their 5-seconds fame on TV. Every wrestler came out with fanfare, fireworks, show, working mostly for the cameras. Most of them didn't even turn their faces to where we were sitting (since there was no camera there), surprise, surprise... There even was a little incident there. One of the wrestlers apparently muslim (or again, just a show-off muslim) came out dressed like one of the Taliban extremists would and pronounced some Allah akbars. That act got one of the fans upset, so he decided to punch the wrestler. Dumb idea... In an instant he was pushed away and then escorted off the premises.
One of the wrestlers played clown punching cardboard cut-out of Stallone's Rocky Balboa. I still have to ask, people pay money to watch this on "pay per view"? Are you kidding me?
OK, the rest is just boring to me, so Ill spare you my description of the half-naked guys beating each other to the punch (and girls, too - at least they were funny) and just show some pics.

Do you see my face here? I am really "excited"!

One of the (yawn) wrestling moments.

My little wrestling fan with a... (wish I remembered his name)

Ok, I have to say to this guy right here. Stop your career right now, or your cute face will turn into something out of a horror movie!

Friends

This is a little tribute to all the people in my life who matter. Sometimes in an instant you know who your real friend might be the moment you meet. Do we want our friend to be exactly like us, same interests, hobbies, beliefs, thoughts or do we look for a soulmate, for a spirit talking to a spirit? Embrace the differences in each other and enjoy the time together.
How great our knowledge will be when we meet on the other side knowing each other, and realizing that we have already MET! We knew each other before! How great is it?
So, enjoy your time with your friends! Laugh together! Talk seriously! Do something you both like! Share something! Create together! Help and uplift! Ask for help! Dream! Pause to think! Shake it all off! Laugh some more!

Here is something to make you smile:

A mother and a baby camel were talking one day when the baby camel asked, "Mom, why do we have these huge three-toed feet?"
The mother replied, "Well son, when we trek across the desert, our toes will help us stay on top of the soft sand."
Two minutes later the young camel asked, "Mom, why do we have these long eyelashes?"
"They are there to keep the sand out of our eyes on the trips through the desert," the mother said.
"Mom, why have we got these great big humps on our back?"
"They are there to help us store water for our long treks across the desert, so we can go without drinking for long periods of time."
"So we have huge feet to stop us from sinking, long eyelashes to keep the sand out of our eyes, and these humps to store water."
"Yes dear," said the mother.
"So why are we in the San Diego Zoo?"

Back to the Beginning, I mean birds and butterflies, well, mostly birds

I'll dedicate this post to our little feathered friends. Oh, please, don't think I fell in love with the birds all of a sudden, because I still have a panic fear of their crooked, scaly claws. And besides, some of them birds aren't attractive no matter how much you look at them or try to like them (take black vultures, for example, eew!)
Despite all said, there were some interesting bird encounters lately, so I'll talk about them. I never really was a bird fan in decorating or anywhere and would much rather prefer butterflies, flowers and things cute. However, I found this yard decor bird and instantly fell in love with it. It is big and plump :-) and it has pieces of glass embedded in its side, which sparkle when sun shines on them. What funny is that one night Eric was coming home from work and didn't know I put the bird in the front yard. Unfortunately, I didn't see the original reaction on his face, but have to say the night before we had a mysterious creature dig a half-foot hole in our yard. So, this being said, what would you look like seing this huge bird sitting there not moving in the dark?
But, in the light of the day it looks like this

Maybe I should get up early every day just to listen to birds sing? They save the prettiest songs for the morning. We had a beautiful red cardinal sitting outside on top of the street light singing songs two mornings in a row. So beautiful! I dedicated this little applique craft to it.

Maybe I'm weird, but I really think if the places attract living creatures, it has a positive energy and it is good to be there (it can be an outside place or inside). Thus proving my theory, when Valentina was little, some birds built a nest on the tree opposite our balcony in Minnesota, laid their eggs and had their birdlings. They were so nice to watch when I took my own first little one to the balcony for some fresh air.
When Misha was baby, the same happened here in Florida: birds, nest, eggs.
When we were looking at this house one day this huge gray crane bird came to our door. It was not frightened at all. When we went inside, the bird wandered off, but the minute Misha came out, the bird came running to him hoping for some food.
Call me cuckoo, but it was my sign its a good place to be.

The long awaited post

I should probably be posting like crazy right now because of so many things happening lately, however, I'm just looking through other people's posts, commenting and... just forgetting my own blog. But, some wise woman said "set time each day for yourself", so I might as well do it right now.
Anyway, to the subject of being busy lately.

April was an extremely busy and happy month for me and our family. We bought our first home (yay!) and were moving, painting, cleaning, fixing, gardening, watering, unpacking, and a whole bunch of other -ing. It is by far not close to being done, but right now I can tell I'm happy with what our kitchen and my teeny garden up front look like.

There is still ton of work with the lawn, bedrooms, living-room, but, as another wise woman told me "work on one area at a time".

Besides, my mother-in-law came to visit us for 2 weeks during spring break. It was really nice to have her over. Dianne really is a great grandma to my kids, she would get down to play games with them, like slip-n-slide, build sand castles on the beach, teach them how to play Farkle and how to play out "Three Little Pigs" with the voices and personalization. When she was here, we also went places.

The trip to the Kennedy Space Center was great - we almost got to touch the shuttle (well, not really, but we saw it on the pad ready for the next mission).

By the way, the little side note, shuttle program is coming to an end soon, and they will be retired by 2010 I believe. Put it on your list of places to visit and come witness history-in-making. Being russian, I feel a certain pride for Soviet Union putting first man in space and everything. However, I bow my head for United States' ability to make an amusement park out of government's space science and research technologies.

Alright, back to grandma.

We went to the beach twice. The first time she wanted to drive on Hwy 1 in hopes of finding the pretty beach scenery. Little did we know, Hwy 1 is not great for that, however A1A is better. Sorry for Florida road technicatities. I discovered that I actually love maps and can read them pretty decently accompanied by mapquest. While driving on one of those roads, we found this really nice beach - Jensen Beach. They had all the amenities, little food place and the parking was free. So, if you're a fan of ocean side beaches, it is a great place. However, us being a family with little kids, we prefer calmer gulf side beaches. We found a really nice one in Anna Maria island.

The water was greenish-blue and clear, the sand was pleasant, the waves - almost non-existent, and you can walk a mile untill it gets actually deep. While exploring the deeper side Eric and I stepped on some flat rocks. But only close observation let us conclude they weren't rocks at all, but sand dollars (they are actual living creatures). Well, I have to confess, we brought some home with us, and now they almost look like this. I love this little legend/story about sand dollar:

THERE'S A PRETTY LITTLE LEGEND
THAT I WOULD LIKE TO TELL
OF THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF JESUS
FOUND IN THIS LOWLY SHELL

IF YOU EXAMINE CLOSELY
YOU'LL SEE THAT YOU FIND HERE
FOUR NAIL HOLES AND A FIFTH ONE
MADE BY A ROMAN'S SPEAR

ON ONE SIDE THE EASTER LILY
ITS CENTER IS THE STAR
THAT APPEARED UNTO THE SHEPHERDS
AND LED THEM FROM AFAR

THE CHRISTMAS POINSETTIA
ETCHED ON THE OTHER SIDE
REMINDS US OF HIS BIRTHDAY
OUR HAPPY CHRISTMASTIDE

NOW BREAK THE CENTER OPEN
AND HERE YOU WILL RELEASE
THE FIVE WHITE DOVES AWAITING
TO SPREAD GOOD WILL AND PEACE

THIS SIMPLE LITTLE SYMBOL
CHRIST LEFT FOR YOU AND ME
TO HELP US SPREAD HIS GOSPEL
THROUGH ALL ETERNITY

On this note, I shall conclude this post and write back hopefully soon.

Homeowners at last!!!

This is our new humble home. My dream came true! Although there were
sweat and tears involved, because we had to actually move out of our apartment in 2 days, we did it with some help. So now, we have a place to call our own. Of course there is and will be a lot of work to do, a lot of things to fix, walls to paint, the list is endless.. Anyway, we are happy!!!

I made these shorts

What you need to do to satisfy everyone in the family

1. Pick a place nearby (an orange grove, for example)

2. Get a job for a hubby (pulling a cart loaded with oranges and kids)

3. Get kids playing in the playground

4. Relax in the sun (or shade)

Too simple? Not for us, I tell you. Everyone was happy. Well, Misha managed to fall two times and bump his head. But, at the end everyone returned home happy and rested. What is it about nature and simplicity of life that relaxes us? Is it the eternal circle of life, the constant buzz around us from a little bee to a pouncing kitten? Is it a rooster's cock-a-doodle-doo or an intoxicating aroma of blooming orange groves? One day I'll learn the answers to all these questions. But right now, I'll just relax and enjoy the calm and order of it all.

Beautiful

Check out this sand art. It is amazing!

Valentina and Misha + racecars @ LEGO

This is what the kids do while waiting for their dad to finish his work. Tough, huh?

Before and after (my upholstering experience)

These are before and after pics of the chair I re-upholstered. The fabric used - IKEA's Hedvig.

Love is in the air (or on the door)

This heart image appeared on my bathroom door a while ago in the morning. I had nothing to do with it. It is an all natural, sun-made heart. I guess, the message is: sun loves me ;-)

Scary yeast

Do you have any special feelings about yeast dough? I had a panic fear. See, growing up in Belarus, the only yeast I knew was natural kind. But I don't think you can find this kind here, only the dry one. So, I thought, if I just let the packages of yeast sit in my cupboard for years and years, it will magically knead itself into dough. Eric tried to make bread few times. One time it was hard like a rock, next time it was a little better, but it still didn't ease my anxiety about messing with the scary yeast.

So, my dear friend told me an easy enough recipe, and I decided to give it a try. IT WORKED!!! It was a surprise for me! Here is what the end product looked like

Спасибо, Танюш!

Whimsical Houses

My dream home hasn't come yet, so what's left to build? Paper town! Maybe, fairies will move in here? Or Rapunzel will let her hair down from the tower balcony?

Bye-bye, Birdie. Fear is real - episode 2.

Jodi and Eric - sister and brother

Family with the leading role actress of 'Bye-bye, Birdie' (Rose) Regina

Me and Eric

Misha, Valentina with auntie Jodi

The Broadway show 'Bye-bye, Birdie' was playing at the Flagler Auditorium (Palm Coast, FL). Eric happened to have a sister working with them. Thank you, Jodi, for the free tickets. The show was wonderful! Happy and funny and entertaining.

And again, Misha had his panic attack. Don't know where the little guy got so scared, but to be scared of a theatre was outrageous. He wouldn't have it. Eric had to hold him again in his arms while tears, shakes and screams calmed. Hey, but when the show started, all the fear was gone. The music played and the actors danced and sang. I guess, understanding that nobody was trying to get him, calmed him down. What's wrong with these fears?

Homemade Surprise

You may have seen this on other blogs; you sign up to receive something homemade and crafty, and then you pay it forward by doing the same thing for 3 people who sign up to do it on your blog.
So here’s how it works:

1.Be one of the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post and I will send you a handmade gift sometime in the next 3 months.

2.You get to pay it forward as well by doing the same thing for 3 people on your blog, plus one back to me. Once you leave a comment telling me that you want to participate, you need to make a pay-it-forward post on your blog within one day.

3.Get crafting!

Go right ahead and be the first three. You never know what you might get!

Birthday Bash

Valentina turned 6! On her birthday we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios. Misha was tall enough to go on the Hollywood Tower Hotel ride. We went through the TV room, through the tunnels, towards the elevator. And that's when poor boy got a panic attack. He clenched to Eric's arms, body and anything else he could grab on screaming "I AM SCARED OF TWILIGHT!!!" He did not want to listen a single word of us trying to convince him the ride is fun, he wanted OUT!!! So we decided to wait until he's older.

We ate at Hollywood and Vine there at the park. I proved myself yet another time that Disney food is the greatest. Valentina got her princess tiara

Same week Saturday we had her birthday party (the first one ever). Valentina picked Hannah Montana theme. The kids danced and sang, played games and had superstar makeovers done. I think it turned out allright. Thank you to all who came!

I guess my description of our family as "celebrationless" is officially outdated. Yay! I understand that an apartment is a pretty small place for parties (this was and still is the main reason why I don't invite many people to our place), but the lack of a house shouldn't mean lack of fun activities for children, after all, you get to be small only for a short period of time.

Hope everyone had a good time at the party. We love you all. Thank you for the presents!

Sickness - the greater good?

Eric usually doesn't take sick time-off even when he is sick. But this time, after being sent home 2 days in a row, he decided its time to visit a doctor. The doc told him to stay home for three days (yay!). The downside is that all his lovely germs transferred to us all.
I guess he got bored of sitting at home-doing nothing, so our apartment suffered the consequences. He cleaned and repositioned the furniture. I liked the idea of the love seat in the kids' room, though. Now they won't have to sit on the floor or their beds. He got little carried away by stacking two bookshelves on top of each other. Maybe I should't put all the blame on him, I had an input on that one too. Half-way done, the disaster zone in the living-room is surely left for me...
So, my summary to all this is that maybe the sick-time was supposedly made for resting and healing. Or maybe, it is time for a much-needed remodeling of your abode? You choose.