Three

Tomorrow my little girls turns three.  Yes.  Three.

And I can't imagine my life without her as she loves life! I love you, Nadezhda Grace.

Big Happenings Around Here - Part II

So, we finished January with sickness, and we had a few days of feeling better at the beginning of February before RSV came to visit.  It was so sad.  I'll spare you the pictures.

Thankfully on his birthday (I can't believe he's 7!) Isaiah felt a little bit better...

trust me, this was an amazing turn around from Monday to Wednesday!

He wasn't quite well enough to have his party, but he was well enough to enjoy his birthday waffle, complete with ice cream, M&M's and chocolate syrup.

In time for Valentine's Day I discovered a food blog that I really enjoy:  Yammie's Noshery.  I knew her blog was a winner when I found this recipe:  Red Velvet Nutella Rolls.  Yeah.  They are even better than they sound and look!

This is Isaiah's content face because breakfast was soooooooo good!

After weeks inside except for the occasional visit to a doctor's office, the kids and I made it out for a walk!  They seemed as if they hadn't seen cars before!  We were all quite excited.

With all the inside time, I had a chance to do some more sewing and actually share with the world my enjoyment by launching Cristy Makes and Bakes.  The kids helped me test out some of the therapeutic bean bags that I make.

Not long after his 7th birthday, Isaiah lost his first tooth!  It had been loose for a while, so Daddy did the honors and got the job done.

Still as handsome as ever...

When Nadia was a baby, we stayed in a hotel, and along with the pack-n-play came a little bag of goodies that included a small rubber duck.  Since the night she got that duck, she had to have it in bed with her.  That duck got a lot of love and attention, and when teething started, he began to slowly lose parts of his body.  One day the duck tragically disappeared before bedtime (not planned by us), and Thomas and I decided it was probably time for him to retire.

So when we did find the duck, we sneakily wrapped him up and hid him in a drawer to be revealed to her at a later date for a keepsake.  And yes, we tried replacing the duck, but she will not be fooled by imitations!

By the end of February we were all feeling well enough to celebrate Isaiah's birthday with some friends.  I wish that I had more pictures with his wonderful friends, but it was really loud at the bowling alley and hard to keep up with everything!

Everyone seemed to have a blast - including the birthday boy, of course!

We are so thankful for God providing friends for our family so quickly, and seeing Isaiah enjoy his day with his friends was a great reminder of how God takes care of us in so many ways!

We were also thankful that February ended with better health than the beginning!

Easter 2013

Here's a little look at our Easter this year, which was actually a beautiful weekend in Oregon!

Isaiah was ready for work!  Let's color some eggs!

Seeing Isaiah enjoy his green egg so much made me glad that I boiled all those eggs. 

We found Russian Easter bread at a local Russian bakery!

Not the best picture of Nadia's dress, but I was very pleased with how it came out.

Nadia was quite pleased as well!  She found the dress hanging in my room on Saturday, and she said, "What's this?!  Pre-e-e-tty!"  Yes, I smiled and let her wear it around for a little while!  Trying to get a picture of her in it was a bit challenging, though!

Thanks to a friend, Thomas and I were able to have an impromptu lunch date and actually got things for baskets for the kiddos, not something we've always planned on.  Isaiah was pretty happy with his new Woody toy, and Nadia with her Jessie.

The many faces of Isaiah...

My favorite part of Nadia's dress...She kept touching each matryoshka and saying, "lady, lady, lady".

A picture of them together just wasn't working this year, but I'm glad that they liked their toys!

And I smile when I look at this picture!  Gotta love these two!

Happy Easter! 

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Going to Wyoming (went, actually)

Last week we had the amazing privilege of attending the wedding of Vanessa Greer and Scott Gilbert.  Most of our friends won't know this great couple, and that's really too bad because they're stinkin' awesome (to quote a long-lost sister of mine).

Scott and Vanessa - rehearsal

Scott and Vanessa are not only our friends, but also our partners in Russia.  These two met because of the work they do in Russia, and we're excited to see what they'll do together now as husband and wife. Thomas and I have both joked on different occasions that we are naming our next child after Scott (even if it's a girl) because he's one of the most amazing people we know.  This guy gets more done than anyone I know.  But Vanessa is pretty much the same.  I'd name a boy after her, she's wonderful.

(oh!  And that is NOT an announcement!!!!)

The wedding was a small event as far as numbers go, but that makes it even more special to have been a part.  Vanessa and Scott picked a beautiful spot for their wedding!  We enjoyed the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and of course the wedding itself with the backdrop of the beautiful Wyoming mountains.  Vanessa planned a lovely outdoor wedding in the perfect setting.

After the rehearsal dinner both the dads prayed for the new family about to start.

They chose the most handsome videographer to video the wedding.

Three little blonde girls enjoying the pretty wedding

Scott's niece was a very enthusiastic flower girl as she spread the rose petals on the aisle between the chairs.

Shea became one of Nadia's favorite people!

Vanessa was absolutely gorgeous!  I mean, she's beautiful anyway, and she was stunning on her wedding day.

Scott and Vanessa wrote their own vows.  They incorporated all the traditional elements with pieces of Scripture woven in.  They were lovely and well-thought out.

Vanessa reading her vows

Giving Scott his ring

Praying for our friends

And they're married!


Dale Smith (our boss) performed the ceremony.  We had the joy of spending some extra time with Dale and his wife Carol several days before the wedding.  This couple has become like another set of grandparents for Isaiah and Nadia.



A friend of Scott and Vanessa's in Russia painted these nesting dolls for their cake topper.  Perfect!

Isaiah and Nadia both loved having some other kids to play with during the rehearsal and reception.






Isaiah was a big help to Carol cleaning up after the reception.  He loves to help, and I'm learning to find creative ways to encourage that desire!

I enjoyed getting to meet the families of Scott and Vanessa.  I could finally put faces with names.  The day of the wedding, Scott's sister-in-law and I discovered that we both have excellent taste in dresses.

You know you picked the right dress for an occasion when someone else agrees that it's perfect, too.

I managed to talk Thomas into another quick family picture!

And, may I present, Mr. and Mrs. Scott Gilbert,

The Slawsons love y'all very much.

Ninety

Today is my grandpa's ninetieth birthday.

He's a man of few words, but I thought I'd write a few words about him in celebration.

I have tons of wonderful memories with my grandpa.  I remember:

~fishing with him until my stomach hurt or the pigs came to eat our fish, whichever happened first depending on our fishing hole

~riding on the fender of the tractor while he cut or baled hay

~him pulling over his truck on the way home from town and telling me to drive (I was WELL under 16)

~riding with him (just the 2 of us!) up to VA to get some furniture (or something, the reason doesn't really matter, but we did split a Snickers bar)

~eating popcorn and watching baseball

~MASH and almost knocking Grandma out of bed

~strawberries and mashed potatoes!  (yes, it's all his fault)

~"picking" potatoes

~sitting with him in church

~going to his house on my lunch break to eat grilled hotdogs

~building a metal shed and trying to hide the ribs from Mom

~spending time with him when I had chicken pox

There are lots more, and it doesn't matter if anyone else understands the references.  I know what I'm talking about.  I'm talking about some of my favorite times of life with one of my very favorite people.

Grandpa has his code word for love, but I'm just going to come out and say it:  I love you, Grandpa.

Eat a piece of something sweet for me; I hear that there will be no shortage of such things today!

Happy Birthday!

Coming Soon...

Or not really, but you can use your imagination....

This was Thomas' birthday present to me.  Pretty fun, huh?

A Special Day For A Special Daddy

Last Sunday was Father's Day.  In anticipation of celebrating the wonderful father my children, I asked Isaiah what he wanted to do for Daddy for Father's Day. 

M:  Do you want to make Daddy something for Father's Day?

I:  Yes.

M:  What would you like to make him?

I:  Cake!

And so we did:

Thank you, Thomas for being such a wonderful father to the amazing children God has given us.  We all love you!

The Spirit Of Nadezhda

So, I wanted to get some good pictures of Nadia as close to her birthday as possible, and I wanted them to be special.  You know, not just have the regular furniture in the background with toys strewn all around, maybe with some cute props, all her wonderful smiles...

Here's what I ended up achieving (and as for editing, well, that's something I only dream about these days):

We started out pretty well...

...then more distractions were necessary...

...what's down there?

What's over there?

And over there?

Ah, the real phone!

And a metro map!

It was getting difficult to take pictures with one hand and hold her in the chair with the other.

I finally let her get on the floor, and she pretty much only had eyes for brother!

And a month later, I love my very spirited one-year-old even more!