My Husband Rocks

We use public transportation everywhere we go that's beyond a nice walk. Supposedly younger people get up so that older people, people with disabilities or children can sit down. I say supposedly because unfortunately this is not often the case.

But not with my husband! Sure, he loves to be able to sit for the typically hour-long ride that we have on the metro whenever we go somewhere, but just watch him when the wagon stops and the doors open. He doesn't wait and see if someone who needs to sit comes and stands near him. Nope, not my husband! He actually watches for people coming onto the wagon who might need a seat. Then without any ceremony or any questions he gets up and tells the person to sit down.

I think that's pretty awesome. And it's just a small way that he puts other people before himself.

To the Polls!

Update: Voting actually ends August 13 at noon. The winner will be announced on August 13 as well. Sorry, I had the dates mixed up--you still have time! ;)

Well, sort of. Remember this post where I told you about the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Giveaway at 5 Minutes for Special Needs (5M4SN)? I'm not usually a real go-getter when it comes to this sort of thing, contests online that is, but I can't tell you how much I would LOVE to win this contest. And multiply how much I want to win by, oh 1000, and you will begin to understand how much Isaiah LOVES ice cream. One day Thomas treated us to some ice cream bars, and before I could even open the package, Isaiah was pulling on my leg from his stroller to get me to come down to his level and share with him! And he now recognizes the ice cream carts scattered about the city and even asks for ice cream when we walk by them. I'm tellin' ya, this boy loves ice cream!

Thank you to those of you who left comments so that we could become finalists! Now there's one more way that you can help...

Head back to 5M4SN and VOTE for our picture! We are #6 Random Thoughts, just in case you forget when you're looking at all the other cute kids with their ice cream. :)

And here's our picture again, just in case!

And although I know that you will want to vote for us lots and lots and lots because you're such dear friends who want us to have ice cream, please only vote one time per ip address. And if you don't know what that means, then just don't vote more than once from your computer, that should cover it. But you can tell all your friends to go and vote for us, too!

Thanks so much, and may you all have summers filled with all the ice cream that you want!

We Asked, and They Came!

Some time in the early fall of last year (2008) my husband called his brother and invited our niece who was studying Russian in school to come for a visit during the summer. And his brother said, Well, can we all come?

I remember the night fairly well. I was ironing something at the time, and I'm pretty sure that I fell into a nearby chair and started to cry! Thomas' brother, wife and their 4 children might all come to see us?! Now, before you think that those tears were from feeling overwhelmed at having so many people come to see us and stay with us in our apartment, stop right there! I was overwhelmed, but with joy!

So Thomas helped them fill out all the documents that they needed. And so that I won't scare anyone else who would like to come and visit, I won't tell you how much paperwork there really was.

July 13 the 3 of us headed off to the airport to pick up the 6 of them, and yes, I cried (again, tears of joy!).

We got there early, so naturally I took a picture of us waiting...

...and they made it!

Unfortunately their first full day with us, Isaiah was sick with some random stomach bug, so he and I were not able to join the fun, but thankfully he got better very quickly!

Here they got to meet Peter the Great and Katherine by a statue of Peter on a horse.  They went LOTS of places that first day, but I'll not show you all the pictures, you can trust me.

One night we got to do something that Thomas and I have wanted to do for a long time!  We went to a big park not far from our apartment and grilled!  Yummy!

Isaiah dived (literally) right for the chips.

We introduced the cousins to Russian playgrounds; this is the one directly behind our building.

And this is one in the big park where we grilled.  Isaiah had sooooo much fun playing with his cousins!

We went back to the center of town again one day and walked by the Neva River on our way to Peter Paul Fortress.

And we got ice cream!  (well, just about every day we got ice cream, actually, we love Russian ice cream!)  The only bad thing about ice cream is that it doesn't last forever.

At Peter Paul Fortress we saw the tombs of the Tsars, and then Thomas rested in memorial of them.  Ok not really, but I thought it looked pretty funny how he was trying to catch a few zzzz's while we waited for the rest of the crew.

And this was probably our favorite part of their trip, just hanging out in the evenings and talking and talking and talking.  Poor Isaiah got so upset every night when it was time for bed because he had to say night night to all his playmates.

We went out to a town just outside St. Petersburg named Pushkin.  We first had a picnic lunch (we got to do that a lot!) and the kids played on this huge playground before we visited Katherine's palace.

On the walk from the playground to the palace, we saw Lenin, so of course they had to get a shot with him!

And here is our Katherine (Kayti) with her palace. :)

And this is also where we learned the difference between a family with 1 child...

...and a family with 4 children....

...and we decided that we could use some more organized chaos in our lives. :)

Enjoying the grounds around the palace.

Sunday we enjoyed a long walk after a yummy dinner after church.  We also took advantage of a good photo opportunity.

Their last day with us, we walked back down along the Neva to hear the canon fire at noon, and then we had one last picnic before going to the Souvenir Market for some last minute purchases.

After shopping we found yet another great playground for the kids.  This one had the first kid's swing I've ever seen in this country!  Of course, it was broken, but it was in good enough shape for Isaiah to have some higher swinging than normal, and he was thrilled!

And the see-saw is always better with cousins, too!

Thomas and I are still talking about how amazing and wonderful it was to have our family here with us.  Now someone from home can understand even better what life is like for us in St. Petersburg (without the language lessons, that is).  After they left, our apartment was so quiet and felt so big, and I think I actually felt a little depressed.  Isaiah kept saying his cousins' names at random times during the day, because after all this was the best part of their visit...

Prayers Needed

We have benefited greatly from the prayers of family, friends and strangers. Now I would like to ask you to pray for another family who has been going through some heartbreaking times with their little son Stellan, who is less than a year old and already had a major heart surgery.

Please visit MckMama to know the latest updates on her baby boy Stellan!

SEW: Swimming Lesson

Isaiah's special friend Julia gave him his first swimming lesson yesterday. After a few moments of panic and reaching for mama, he decided that he really liked the water and was quite sad to get out!

5M4SN: Blue Bunny Giveaway

The JOY of Sharing...



Hopefully, I'm getting this post in just in time to win a year's supply of Blue Bunny Ice Cream! The great parents over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs are hosting just such a giveaway with the help of Blue Bunny Ice Cream. And who doesn't love ice cream?

And guess what, there's a way for you to help, too! I'm going to link this post to a post over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs (5M4SN). Today is the last day for submissions, but I think that you still have a chance to make a comment on the same 5M4SN post to tell them that you like our picture best! According to their rules, the judges will chose pictures taking into consideration the comments left about the pictures submitted. So go vote for Isaiah! He would have so much JOY in sharing some ice cream with anyone who comes to see us while we're in the States!

Tot School--N Week

Isaiah is 40 months old

Bible Verse: Psalm 67:4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth.

N is for...

Notes

So we made this, that I barely remembered to get a picture of, and yes, I realize some of the notes are backwards. We'll do better next time.

Not much else

Yeah, it was a busy week....

But there are other Tot Schools that you can check out at 1+1+1=1.

This week we're living it up outside. I think O is definitely going to be Isaiah's favorite letter.

MIA

Well, we have done Tot School, we're still actively enjoying life around here, but there's not much time for blogging! Right now we're thrilled to have Thomas' brother's family here with us...all 6 of them! Actually, thrilled is probably not a strong enough word to describe Isaiah's delight, but that's the best that I can come up with in the small amount of time I have to try to catch up a little.

But don't expect to see anything else on here until sometime next week. They're on vacation with us, so I thought I would do the same. :) Hope y'all are enjoying your summer at home or "on the road".

See ya later, alligator!

My Husband Rocks

This time I was actually late for this post on purpose! My husband rocks because he gave us a new kitchen floor! He did all this work himself with his own very capable and talented hands. He's quite a man!

Here are some before pics, though they really don't convey the true disgustingness of our kitchen floor!

Isaiah enjoyed watching his daddy work, we just had to keep him at a safe distance, not an easy task.

And here's my wonderful husband feeling awkward in this picture displaying his handiwork.

I LOVE our new floor. But I love my husband more, and not just because of the new floor.

SEW: Back to Normal

After 2 weeks, the boys are back together! And all is right in our little corner of the world.

Tot School--M Week

Isaiah is 40 months old

We had a monster of a week! But I mean that in a magnificent way. :)

Bible Verse: We continued with Mark 12:30

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

I decided to keep this verse because after all this is the greatest commandment. I think it's worthy of 2 weeks.

Bible Story: Moses

Family worship has been in Leviticus (we just read through the Bible, and that's where we are right now), so we've been reading tons and tons about Moses. I didn't do any specific activities with Isaiah about Moses, but we talked about him every day!

And here are some of the other things we did, in no particular order:

Monster

I made cookies with Isaiah's help, and he was the Cookie Monster!

Machines

I was able to get this little outfit made for Isaiah with the machines that he's growing to love more and more.

Moon and Muppets

For our letter craft, I found a printout of the moon and of Kermit the frog from the Muppets. This covered 2 of Isaiah's current favorites, Moonpowder and The Muppets. Just to tell you how much Isaiah loves his muppets...usually his first word in the morning when I come to get him out of bed is outside. Several times lately he has said uppets before saying outside. Now that should tell you something!

Meet

We finally got to meet Birdie Vera Miner! We've been waiting for quite some time now. The day before we were going to get to meet her, I told Isaiah at bedtime, Tomorrow we get to go see Birdie! I mentioned this several times. The next morning, first thing, Isaiah said Outside? Birdie? (which sounds like Buddy, it's so cute!)

Miss

Not like the adorable little miss pictured above with her mommy. This is for missing Daddy! Every day Daddy would call and talk to Isaiah, and this is how Isaiah looked while talking to him, except when he was covering the phone with kisses!

Material

I took scraps of material from old sewing projects and put them in 2 of Isaiah's bowels, thinking, of course, he'll love to move them back and forth. The 2nd picture shows you how interesting he found this activity.

Magazine

Isaiah loves his 'azines as he calls them. My mama graciously sends us some magazines on a fairly regular basis. They're all about North Carolina, where I'm originally from, so I really enjoy them, too!

We also ate at McDonald's (how could we skip that during M week?!). I also made us some meatballs, which were not enthusiastically received for some reason.

We sang My God is so Big, I May Never March..., Majesty, All Must be Well, My Hat Has 3 Corners, The Ants go Marching. Music is always a big part of every day for us! We listen to it, sing it, play it, the works.

We read Moonpowder (over and over and over again!), I Love You, Mommy and of course lots from the Bible.

And finally, M is for...

Mohawk

During bathtime I just couldn't resist giving Isaiah this cute 'do.

(Please ignore the mildew on the wall behind the tub. I have scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, and it just will not come off. But hey, it's another M for us, right?)

Be sure to enjoy the other Tot Schools linked at 1+1+1=1. And we're getting a notable start for N Week!