Adventures of Andre and Harper

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

I know it has been ages since I posted last here, but I though I would start somewhere instead of abandoning the blog completely. This Monday Andre had a furlough day at school (gotta love budget cuts) and so I was in a way forced to take a day off from work, since Andre had no babysitter for the day. We planned a (now traditional) trip to a real pumpkin patch in Moorepark. The boys as always had a blast, as we had 5 hours of non-stop fun there.

My boys' favorite attraction - combainer converted into a slide. They must have gone on it al least 30 times each.

Harper especially loved the pony ride.

Brotherly love...

Harper and Andre running out the little maze. We did attempt the big maze this year again, and I am happy to tell you all that unlike the failure of last year, where we needed to take a picture of the map and made our way back to the entrance, this year we conquered it! with no help and in almost record time! We did so well, that Andre suggested doing it again - I worried we wouldn't be as lucky the second time around, so we decided against it.

We picked out our pumpkins and will carve them some time this week, hopefully I can keep it up and post the results on the blog.

Butterflies

2011-06-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

One of the gifts the boys received for easter was a Butterfly Garden. What it is is they send out 2 container with 5 caterpillars in each and enough food for them inside so you don't have to deal with the caterpillars (yuck!). The kids get to watch the caterpillars grow and then turn into cocoons. Once all the caterpillars change, you transfer the cocoons into the net and wait for them to become butterflies. You can then keep them in that habitat for about a week and then can release them. The boys absolutely loved watching the changes and their favorite part was to be able to get the butterflies go on their fingers. They enjoyed releasing the butterflies.

This is the habitat the butterflies stayed while in out house.

Harper's Birthday

2011-06-19T14:13:00.000-07:00

Easter

2011-06-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Harper and letter H

2011-02-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

Harper loves to write letter H. This is not his best sample, but he has definitely got quite good at it. He can also write letter O and letter Q. He also knows all of his alphabet and most of the sounds the letters make. He loves learning and always wants to keep up with Andre in everything he does.

Beach in January

2011-01-22T18:43:00.000-08:00

Last few days here have been super warm, and though I am not feeling too well, I decided to take the boys to the beach. Yes, you heard me right - beach in January! It has been a long time since our last trip and they had a blast.

Thanks to his brother, Harper conquered his fear of the ocean

Car Accident

2011-01-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday the boys and I were in a car accident. It was a rather scary experience and I feel lucky that all of us are alive. The short story - we were in the left lane going through an intersection on a green light, when the car from an oncoming traffic turned left right in from of us without yielding. The boys are competely fine, Andre had a seatbelt abbrasion and bruise from a seatbelt on the right side of his neck. Me and my friend Aimee (who also happens to be Andre's preschool teacher) didn't fair as well. Whiplash has been really bad and my whole back hurts, not to mention a constant headache that has not subdued since the accident. I am going to the chiropractor and hopefully that will solve all the problems, I wish it was instant though.

My car is detemined to be a total loss and I should get a check sometime next week to buy a different car. I have been looking online for a car and so far I haven't seen too much of what I am looking for. Here are a few pictures of the damage to my car:

Dog sitting

2011-01-09T17:02:00.001-08:00

Over Christmas we watched my friend's dogs. Needless to say the boys had a blast.

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Homework

2010-11-18T18:48:00.001-08:00

Andre’s preschool gives him a one or two page homework 3 nights a week. It mostly consists of reading stories with a parent, cutting out shapes, gluing and coloring. Last night was Andre’s first homework assignment, and naturally Harper wanted to do the same thing Andre was doing. I have to say I was quite impressed with the way Harper followed all the instructions and especially with his coloring skills. See it for yourself:

Andre’s Harper’s

Pre-K

2010-11-17T16:03:00.001-08:00

Yesterday a friend of mine informed me that there was an opening in preschool her daughter is attending. I immediately jumped on the opportunity and enrolled Andre. The preschool is part of Richland Elementary. The kids attend it Monday through Thursday from 11:30 to 1:50. The staff is super friendly. There are 4 teachers to the class of 21 kids! And the best part of it is that it is FREE! Andre loved it and is looking forward to going back tomorrow. Here are a couple of pictures from Andre’s first day of school.

Better later than never

2010-11-17T15:46:00.000-08:00

I know, I know… Halloween is over, but I somehow didn’t come around to posting the pictures of the boys until now. The boys loved their costumes. Jeff took them trick-or-treating, so there are no pictures of that, but they definitely got way too much candy.

I carved our little pumpkins the boys and I bought at the pumpkin patch. Harper picked a bat, while Andre just wanted a scary face.

Silliness

2010-11-07T15:08:00.001-08:00

I realized that I have been putting pictures just on Facebook lately, but some of my friends and most of my family don't have facebook accounts so here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks. And yes, we went swimming in November! Gotta love Southern California!

Brotherly love

2010-11-03T15:44:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-15T18:25:00.001-07:00

Today I took the boys to the pumpkin patch, the same one we went to last year with Andre’s co-op preschool. Even though it is 50 miles away, it is well worth the drive and the experience of being at a real pumpkin patch and not an asphalted parking lot of some grocery store sparsely sprinkled with hay.

Unlike last year, the weather this time was perfect. Last time it was scorching heat, and today it was overcast, but warm the whole day. The boys loved it there, but got a little tired of me taking pictures of them. Harper was most uncooperative and there are only a few photos of him actually looking at the camera.

Awwww. They love each other.

The boys enjoyed the pony rides. $5 is a little steep, but worth it when you do it once a year and when you get to see the joy and excitement in your kids’ eyes.

One thing we forewent last year was the corn maze, so we decided to do it this time around. After about 10 minutes of letting the kids choose which way we went and my knee starting to bother me, I decided to take a more logical approach by taking only the right-hand turns. Seeing that we were pretty deep in the maze, and that it would take us a while to get out, Andre exclaimed: “Mommy, we are lost! We are DOOMED!”. Lucky for us we came to a dead end that had a map of the maze. Thank goodness for technology - I was able to snap a picture of the map with my phone and used it to navigate us out of there.

After we successfully exited the big maze, the boys decided to play it on the safe side and go through a kids’ maze a few times instead (a concentric circle maze, where if you keep going, you will make it out) and needless to say I did not object.

Andre and Harper got to sit on a real tractor

There also was a cool real harvester converted into a slide. It was a really fast slide, and kids were flying out of there. Boys went on it a few times.

We went to pick out little pumpkins for the boys to carve for Halloween.

Harper loves to line things up, and pumpkins were no different!

There was a silly contraption – a series of tall bridges and connections built for goats to walk around. At the playground there was a conveyor belt feeding system built to send the food up to the goats. Andre and Harper took turns feeding the goats some carrots:

To conclude our adventures we visited a big pumpkin patch. We ran around the field of pumpkins. Harper tried to pick up all the big pumpkins, and every time not being able to do so, with a tone of frustration would exclaim: “It is too heavy!”

Andre already asked me if we could go back there next year and that would be a good indicator that the boys had a blast.

First love?!!!

2010-09-28T15:34:00.001-07:00

As I was pulling up to my friend Kim’s house who was super nice to help me watch the boys while I had to take care of some business, Andre decided to inform me that he was in love. What?!

This is how our conversation went:

Andre: Mommy, I love Amelia.

       Me: You do?

Andre: I love her because she is my friend.

       Me: That’s nice.

Andre: I am going to marry her.

       Me: You are?

Andre: Yes. I told Papa I was going to marry Elana, but I

                 am not. I will marry Amelia. She loves me and I

                 love her.

I thought I wasn’t supposed to be worried about girls and romance until my boys are teens. Boy, was I wrong!

When I returned to pick the boys up, this is how I found them:

Yes, Amelia’s hand is on Andre’s lap. I love how Harper is looking at what’s going on, like a little chaperone about to break up their little “moment”. Too funny.

Disneyland

2010-09-10T18:40:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately our Disneyland passes are running out on the 15th, and most likely we will not be renewing them for a while. So to make up for an upcoming break, we already visited the parks twice in the last 2 weeks. I think we might try to squeeze our in our last full day of Disneyland next week, and try to hit all the rides, and see most of the shows and parades.

Harper loves carousels!

Andre decided to make a grumpy face because according to him “the horse wasn’t shiny”. (there was another horse with a silver saddle that he wanted to get on.)

I love the mischief on Andre’s face. It is so him!

Manhattan Beach

2010-09-01T16:27:00.001-07:00

I was able to go to the gym early in the morning today, so that left a lot of free before-nap time. I decided to take the kids to the beach and rollerblade while pushing them in the stroller. The weather was foggy and overcast, which was perfect for the occasion. We started at the beach at the end of Culver Blvd. and went all the way to Manhattan Beach Pier (which is about 7 mi one way). It was a great workout for me and the kids enjoyed the ride. They chatted up a storm, pointing out everything they saw on the way, be it seagulls, dogs, sand, ships, people, and more seagulls; they sang songs at the top of their lungs (which made Mom a little embarrassed at times); they said (or more so yelled) ‘hi’ to every passing by jogger or bicyclist, and were very disappointed when they didn’t get ‘hi’ back.

The boys wanted to first go on the pier to watch the fisherman. We got lucky enough to see a school (whatever a group of dolphins is called, I know they are not fish, but it’s the closest I could come up with) of dolphins.

Andre acting goofy

Andre did a great job of taking this picture of Harper and I

Of course Harper wanted to take a picture as well. His turned out great as well. Love Andre’s expression!

My cuties

Andre and Harper have been playing quite well together lately. My favorite is their pretend game. Harper just recently figured it out, and his favorite is to pretend that he is a cat. He crawls around on all fours and meows non-stop. Andre plays along by petting, ‘training’ and feeding him. This game can go on for quite some time.

After the pier we went to a local pizzeria, and then had ice cream for desert.

On the way back both boys tuckered out, and I had a few miles of rollerblading without any chatter. We will definitely do it again.

Idaho and Island Park

2010-08-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

Jeff took the boys for a week to his family reunion in Island Park. This was the first time I was ever away from the boys for an extended period of time, and boy did I miss my kiddos! I have to admit the first couple of days were nice and quiet, but after that I was ready to have them back. The fact that both of them got sick during the trip, didn't help to ease the separation. Andre had fever and was very hoarse, he got a prescription of antibiotic. Harper picked up from Andre and got viral croup and had to stay at the hospital overnight, with IV pumping steroids to help him breathe. Fortunately his recovery was quick and the next day he felt and behaved like nothing ever happened! That was tough for me and I kept calling Jeff almost every hour to check on the status of the little guy. But the good news were that both of them recovered very quickly and were able to enjoy playing with their cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles.

Andre got to see 6 moose during the trip, take a canoe ride with Jeff and uncle Ryan (unfortunately Harper didn't get to go, since Jeff also got sick), the boys got to enjoy playtime with their cousins Coleman and Brooke, swam in the swimming pool and much more. Here are a few pictures from their trip.

Playing with cousin Cole

Picking raspberries

The cabin in Island Park

The boys looking at the trout and the birds

What a silly kid! Love the face!

Ben, Diantha, Cole and Brooke

2 out of 6 moose of the trip

Canoeing

Yellowstone's hot spring, one of many. Once again, love Andre's expression

Faces of Harper

2010-08-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

The other day Harper looked so cute that I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures before heading to the gym. (You can tell I had hard time selecting which ones to post, so I posted them all)

I just love this little guy!

Natural History Museum

2010-08-03T17:56:00.000-07:00

I took the boys to L.A. Natural History Museum on the first Tuesday of the month, since the admission was free. The boys liked it there, but I think they are a little too little to enjoy it to the fullest. I think by far their favorite part was the Pavilion of Wings, which was a live butterfly exhibit. I was rather disappointed with its size and the quantity of the butterflies, but the kids enjoyed it none the less. Andre even got to 'hold' a butterfly, which flew away before I had a chance to take a picture. Boys pretty much ran through all of the taxidermy animal exhibits, only here and there pausing to look closer at the the setting. Andre liked looking at the bones of dinosaurs and other animals. All in all, the trip was a success.

At the entrance

Awwwwww

My cute little guys

Hands on - comparing jaws

Pushing the buttons

Brotherly love

2010-07-15T17:56:00.000-07:00

This picture was too cute not to post. I love it when the boys are being nice to each other. Though those moments are few (got to blame it on the age) they are so precious. I just love my little cuties!

2010-07-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

Andre had his well check up yesterday. Here are his stats:

Weight - 38.9 lbs or 17.6 kg (74th percentile)
Height - 41.5 in or 105.4 cm (75th percentile)

He also got his vision and hearing checked. Andre did great on the vision test. It was really cute to watch him cover his eyes and name the letters the nurse was pointing at. He did great and his vision is perfect 20/20 (which is better than most kids have at this age). He also had a hearing test, and once again he passed with flying colors.

The cutest part of the whole visit was Harper imitating and doing everything Andre was. When the nurse asked Andre to take off his shoes, Harper quickly dropped to the floor and started removing his shoes as well. I had to hold him back while Andre was getting weighed as he was trying to squeeze onto the scale with him. And pretty much the whole visit went the same way, when Andre was taking the vision test, Harper was trying to cover his eye and call out random letters. What a cutie!

Andre's Birthday

2010-07-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

Andre turned 4 on the 29th!!! I can't believe he is 4!!! He is such a cute and smart little boy. He talks non-stop, loves to play pretend, loves his brother, loves to draw and color, he is getting really good at dribbling basketball, there are so many more things that my sweet little boy can do.

Ever since last year's party, Andre decided that his next one was going to be Jack Skellington-themed. For a couple of months right before this birthday he switched to Peter Pan, but ultimately stayed with hi original choice of a year ago. And so as he wanted, I made him a Jack Skellington cake.
I loved seeing Andre's face the first time he saw the cake. He grinned, turned to me and said: "I love you" and gave me a big hug and a kiss. That definitely made it worth the lack of sleep.
The cake had a chocolate ganache frosting, and there was a bit leftover. So first thing in the morning Harper found the bowl and licked it clean. He loves chocolate just like his Mama. :-)

We had quite a few friends show up at the party and I think Andre had a blast.

Pinata (no injuries to report :-)

Kids going crazy with the candy

Blowing out candles

Yum!

Too many presents

Harper’s Birthday Party

2010-04-24T19:51:00.001-07:00

It’s hard to believe that my baby is 2 already! Harper is such a happy little guy. He loves to give hugs and kisses, but he can also fight off anyone who tries to take a toy away from him.

Harper likes playing with cars. And though he is not obsessed with the Disney movie “Cars” (he likes it), I thought it was a good theme for his birthday party. With a power nap short of 2 hours in the late evening, I pulled an all-nighter to make this cake. I often kick myself for taking on crazy projects and stressing out about them, but it is all worth it at the end (not so much in the process though). The cake was chocolate with a whipped chocolate ganache layer and chocolate buttercream frosting. It was a hit. Harper with Alexis – his favorite babysitter at the gym. Everyday when I pick Harper and Andre up at the gym’s kids’ club, Harper won’t leave without giving Alexis a hug and a kiss.We had quite a turnout of friends. There was a mound of presents which I failed to take a picture of. Thank you everyone for making this day special for our little guy!And there goes the cake… The fruit of my labors…Now that’s a happy boy! Denys with her nieceJulie and JackSuzy liked the cake

Harper liked the cake so much, that he came back for seconds and thirds

Topanga Canyon Hike

2010-04-10T22:18:00.000-07:00

This Saturday we decided the boys needed a nature outing. We picked Topanga Canyon. After driving on winding roads and finally finding a trail we set off on our hike.

Before we even started on the trail, Andre located a stick and it immediately became a sword.

Harper is always copying everything Andre does, no matter how dangerous it is. They were really cute marching on the trail together. (Notice – I did not dress Harper, if I did – socks would not have been a part of his outfit :)

Who knew taking a picture of two boys would be this hard. While both Jeff and I yelling out: “Andre – smile!”, “Harper – look at Mommy!”, “Andre – look up!” – this is the best we managed.

Take 3

Take 10

And on about take 15 – this is the best I could come up with.

I am really proud of my boys. The hike was about 2 miles in all, and they walked and half the time ran all on their own! My tough little men.

We enjoyed listening to the frog croaking, birds singing, crickets chirping; observing a caterpillar (which apparently was on Andre’s neck before it landed on the ground. Andre was very excited about it and was also very concerned that no one would step on it, since it was returning home to his Mommy after work); watching the ants; and smelling all the beautiful flowers.

Easter

2010-04-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

We had a fun Easter. The weekend before the Easter kids were able to participate in a fun egg hunt. We also enjoyed a nice brunch at that party as well. Nap-less Andre decided to be a pain in the rear and refused to do the egg hunt with the rest of the kids. When he finally came around to wanting to do it, there were no easy eggs to find. Luckily I was the one who hid the eggs, so I was able to help him find some in the tricky places no one happen to look. The boys checking out the goods I thought this was a funny expression on Andre’s face On Easter day the bunny came and filled the boys’ baskets. Unlike previous years, I decided to skip egg hunt in the house (was too lazy and plus the kids already participated in one the week before)

Happy boys. Needless to say the candy was gone quick!

2010-03-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

A couple of days back, Andre refused to buckle up in the car. Jeff proceded to tell him that if he didn't buckle up, he (Jeff) will be in trouble and the police would come and take Papa (that's what the kids call Jeff) away. Jeff then said: "And then you will not see Papa or have a Papa". To which Andre in a matter-of-fact manner replied: "Heavenly Father will be my Papa."

Instigator

2010-03-11T22:42:00.000-08:00

Recently Andre has been getting his little brother in a lot of trouble (and himself). He tells Harper to do things that are naughty, and without hesitation follows his orders/suggestions. For example, he will 'whisper' to Harper: "Harper, go hit Mommy" and the next second I am being clubbed by Harper's heavy fists. Andre also never hesitates to demonstrate to Harper what exactly he wants him to do. The other day I was cleaning up in the kitchen, they took advantage of that, found crayons, and drew all over the walls. (And I thought that wall coloring stage was done and over with). When I saw the new mural, I asked Andre who did it. Without any hesitation, he was quick to blame it on Harper. When I looked closely at the 'masterpiece', there were 2 distinct styles - Harper's scribbles and a few gigantic A's. Good going Andre, I am sure your not quite 2-year old brother was able to write a letter, that is coincidentally the first letter of your name.
These two are definitely kicking my behind. Maybe one day they will mellow out... At least I can daydream about it.

Our cold winter

2010-02-22T18:34:00.000-08:00

I don't mean to brag here or make you all long for summer, but this is what we did last Wednesday. All I have to say is that I love Southern California for its beautiful weather.

Catching up

2010-02-09T06:47:00.000-08:00

I guess all the extra picture taking during the holidays made me take a break from it for a while. These two pictures are literally the only pictures I have taken in over a month. Plus, we haven't done anything exciting worth documenting lately.

За посдедний месяц я практически не фотографировала детей. Эти две фотографии все что у меня есть.

Andre decided that he was finally ready to learn how to write his letters. Of course he started with letter A for Andre (notice the horizontal letter A - Andre told me he drew it that way because it is sleeping). In less than a week he went from only knowing how to write A to writing the other 4 letters in his name. He likes to add a couple of extra lines to E sometimes to be silly, or to turn it into a flag.

He also attempted to draw himself, which was a circle with eyes and 2 legs coming out of it. When I told Andre that he did a good job and that he should show it to Jeff, Andre said: "Look Papa, I draw Andre - octopus Andre."

Андрей наконец-то решил что он хочет научиться писать буквы (я уже его пару месяцев пыталась научить, но он не хотел). Он начал с буквы А (на фотографии одна из буков написана горизонтально - по словам Андрея он ее так написал потому что она спит). Всего за неделю он научился писать остальные 4-е буквы (английские) в его имени. Теперь только надо выучить порядок.

На этой неделе он также попытался нарисовать себя - что в основе был круг с глазами, и две палочки-ножки. Я его похвалила и сказала что бы он показал картинку папе. Он на нее еще раз посмотрел и сказал - "Папа, смотри, я нарисовал Андрея, Андрея-осминога."

Little Harper follows his brother in everything he does. His new very often-used word is "Mine!" He is quite a climber and physically attempts to do everything Andre does, which sometimes can be a little scary.

Харпер как всегда ходит по пятам своего старшего брата. Его новое и очень часто-употребляемое слово - "Моё!".

Family Photos from November

2010-01-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

I just realized I forgot to post pictures from our family photoshoot back in November. Here are a few of my favorites. Our friend Scott took the pictures for us - thanks!!!

Christmas '09

2010-01-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a long post, covering our entire Christmas vacation. So if you have time - stay tuned.

We were supposed to leave mid-afternoon on December 23rd, but due to hold up at Jeff's work we were only able to leave at 6 PM. Which (if you know LA traffic) is perhaps the worst traffic hour - and so it was - it took us 2 hours to go 50 miles!!! Luckily as soon as we reached I-15 we picked up the speed, and did not encounter much traffic. We knew it was going to be a long trip when Andre asked, with downtown LA still in the view asked: "Are we a Grandma's house yet?"

The boys did better than expected thanks to our newly acquired (early Christmas present from Jeff's parents) portable DVD player. It was a lifesaver. The boys must have watched 9 movies each way and for most part stayed relatively happy.

Here they are in the back watching a movie - this picture was taken on the way home. And yes - Harper's nose is red because he fell off the hotel bed at night.

So the first day we drove all the way to Cedar City, UT and spent the night at Days Inn. On Christmas Eve we made it all the way to Idaho Falls, arriving early in the afternoon. We lucked out with the roads, as they were dry and we didn't encounter any snow. However Idaho was freezing!!! It was about 20 degrees! Brrr...

In the evening of our arrival, we tried to stage a little Nativity scene with the kids. It lasted all but a couple of minutes, if that. Harper did not want to keep his towel on, in fact he didn't want it put on. Andre took a little longer to get annoyed with head piece. The patience award definitely goes to Piper, who probably due to all that dress-up experience lasted the longest.

This is the best picture I took of them

We then opened our early Christmas present - which were PJs for everyone. And only minutes after we dressed the kids in their Christmas pajamas - Santa knocked on the door.

Piper and Andre were excited to see him.

Though Harper didn't have any problems with Santa at Disneyland, he decided he was not fond of this Santa. And was only semi-ok with Jeff holding him next to Santa.
Can you tell, Andre is done with the pictures?

Jeff and his brother Rick with Harper and Simon on Christmas morning
Cutie Piper

Andre and Piper were partners in mischief. They managed to get in trouble about every half hour. They also happened to raid a few closets for some Christmas candy.

Grandpa

Jeff's family has a tradition that you have to drink orange juice before heading into the basement to open presents - so this we did:
Andre chugging down his juice

Harper is finishing up

And Santa did indeed come.
Is that enough presents?
Andre asked Santa for Lightning McQueen, and so he found one in his stocking along with a bunch of candy.

Who said candy needs to be unwrapped to be eaten?
Andre got a pirate ship from Mom and Dad.

The boys also got a couple of new Christmas matryoshkas and cars from my parents. Their big gift (from us and Jeff's parents) was a play kitchen, which they play with on daily basis. They also got animal flashlights, and Harper got a pop-out Elmo toy. Andre also got a Handy Manny toy and Harper - a shopping cart from Piper and Simon - and they absolutely love those! (thanks)

I guess I really didn't take too many pictures of present opening, since I was in charge of distributing presents to everyone. You will also notice that there are no pictures of me, that's the fate of a photographer I guess.

Andre was excited to play in the snow. On his to do list were all the things about winter he learned from his TV shows: make a snow angel, throw snow balls (Andre called them throw-balls), build a snowman, go sledding. I am happy to report we were able to check them all off the list.

Harper's first time in the snow

The first time we went out - it was really freezing, around 20 degrees, and so Harper wasn't too sure about it. Toward the end of the week it snowed a lot more and it warmed up to above freezing, and so he liked it a lot more.

Andre: "Piper, go faster!"

Piper: "No Andre, you are too heavy!"

Having fun sledding with Piper Making snowman's head

"Once there was a snowman - tall, tall, tall..."

The end result - notice all the edible facial features - broccoli for the eyes, carrot for the nose, Hershey's kisses for the mouth.

Grandpa was very nice, and built Andre a fort and taught him how to use it in a snowball fight.

My favorite picture of Simon

Uncle Rick with Andre

We got snowed in, this is what it looked like after we plowed

Uncle Ryan and Andre getting ready to leave

Harper shoveling the snow

Andre did a much better job

And, no, that is not how my kids were dressed for outside during the whole stay. These pictures were taken right before us getting into our car to go home.

Gloomy Idaho/Utah weather

Blissful sunny CA weather - we went from 35 degrees to 75!!! Gotta love southern CA, at least I do!

really?

2010-01-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

I knew there was a reason why I intuitively never put down both kids to bed at the same time, today I got the proof that I should continue to stick with my gut feeling. When the boys refused to eat their dinner, and upon a few warnings from Jeff (that if they didn't eat their dinner they were going to be put to bed) and them not listening, they were both put to bed. I was very tired from all the unpacking from the trip and other chores of the day, so I went to lay down while all of the boys were finishing up their dinner. While laying down and resting in the bedroom I ended up falling asleep at around 8 pm! At 8:30 pm a yell from Jeff with the request of needed help woke me up. And this is the picture - Harper completely naked in the crib covered in poop!!! Apparently Andre thought Harper either wanted to be naked or that he needed a diaper change. At any rate, Andre thought that he was the right man for the job, and helped Harper remove his one-piece pajamas and his diaper. Thanks, son! (Note to self: never put the kids to bed at the same time.)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-21T16:30:00.001-08:00

In case you didn't get our Christmas card this year (sorry) - here it is!

2009-12-20T20:16:00.000-08:00

This Sunday Jeff took Andre to our ward's baptism (Jeff is a ward mission leader), upon their return Andre told me - "Mom, I want to take a bath-ties".

2009-12-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

One night Andre heard Harper talking after he was put to bed. Andre told Jeff: "Papa, I think Harper is talking, so I need to pause the TV to hear what he's saying" (that's right, the kid knows how to use the DVR). When it was all quiet Andre heard Harper saying "Ee-ore" repeatedly. A then told Jeff - "Papa, I need to go give Harper his Eeyore". So he went into the room, gave Harper his stuffed toy and then said "Okay Harper, blow me kisses" which they did for a while and then said "Harper, lay down and close your eyes." To which Harper did not listen, so Andre repeatedly told him "Ok, Harper, it's time to go to sleep" and after a few of those left the room. What a sweet big brother!

Little family reunion

2009-12-10T19:00:00.001-08:00

The boys had a blast with their uncle Ryan. He was nice to play and occupy them when I had chores to do.

Малые очень хорошо провели время с дядей Раяном. Ryan and Harper built this block tower. It's pretty obvious Harper is impressed with Ryan's building skills.

Раян и Харпер построили эту пирамиду. Как видно, Харперу очень нравится.

Rick and Misty also happened to be in town. Andre and Harper loved playing with their cousin Piper. We also got to meet their new cousin Simon, who is such a cute and well-natured baby. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of him besides in the baby bjorn, but trust my words - he is cute!

Рик (старший брат Джеффа) с его женой и детьми тоже приехали в Калифорнию ко дню благодарения (родители Мисти живут не далеко от Лос Анжелеса). У нас получилось пару раз с нтми встретиться. Андрею и Харперу очень понравилось играть с двоюродной сестричкой Пайпер. Мы также наконей познакомились с новым членом их семьи - Саймоном, которому 3 месяца.

Misty, Simon and Piper dancing to the live band music on the Santa Monica Promenade

Мисти, Самон и Пайпер танцуют под живую музыку на Променаде в Санта Монике.

Andre and Piper - still dancing
Андрей и Пайпер все еще танцуют.

And where do I fit?

2009-12-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

А мне куда притулиться?

Thanksgiving

2009-12-07T19:51:00.001-08:00

Since Ryan, kids and I spent the whole day before Thanksgiving at Disneyland, I did not have time to prepare some of the food for the feast a.k.a. pieы. I did happen to wake up around 5 am and got to working on everything. I don't think I ever left the kitchen until the actual time we sat down to eat.

Ryan came to devour our Thanksgiving feast with us. My friends from Ukraine who were going to come unfortunately got sick and couldn't make it, so the last minute we invited our friend from church, Sam.

Поскольку за день благодарения мы провели в Диснейленде, у меня абсолютно не было не времени ни энергии заранне приготовит пироги. Весь пир пришлось готовить с раннего утра, точнее 5 часов. Я провела весь день на кухне, и только присела за стол в районе 5-и вечера.
Джефа брат Раян прияхал из Юты к нам на пиршество. Мои друзья из Украины, которые собирались приехать, к сожалению заболели и не смогли приехать. В последнюю минуту мы пригласили друга из церкви - Сэма.

Unfortunately, or luckily Andre zonked out right before the food was ready.

К сожалению, или к счастью, Андрей заснул перед тем как мы сели за стол.

We had the traditional stuff: turkey, homemade stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans. It all turned out really good.

Еда была традиционная: индюшка, хлебная заправка, булочки, картофельное пюре, подливка, и зеленая фасоль. Все удалось и было очень вкусно. I made 3 pies - pecan (which somehow didn't set, but still tasted good), banana cream and my favorite was key lime.

Я приготовила 3 пирога - ореховый, банановый с заварным кремом и самым вкусным получился ки лайм (как лимонный).

Two super eventfull days took their toll on me and I think I was out around 7:30.

Так как времени у муня оттохнуть не было в предыдущий день ни в день благодарения, я отключилась в районе 7:30 вечера.

Pledge of Allegiance

2009-12-06T22:35:00.000-08:00

In preschool Andre gets to say the Pledge of Allegiance and he has it memorized. (pardon the underwear).

В школе Андрея они говорят клятву верности флагу - он ее знает наизусть. Вот что он говорит по-английски: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." А вот перевод - "Я даю клятву верности флагу Соединенных Штатов Америки и Республике, которую он символизирует: одной нации под Богом, неделимой, со свободой и справедливостью для всех".

My birthday and Disneyland

2009-11-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

I had a really fun birthday. My friend Ashleigh threw me a fun birthday part on the 14th, I wish I had pictures from it (maybe I can get some from her). I had a blast hanging out with all of our friends! Thanks Ash!!!

On my actual birthday the boys are I (and uncle Ryan who was visiting us) went to Disneyland. We spent 15 hours there!!! We all had a blast.Needless to say that I was absolutely exhausted the next day. Here are a few pictures of the boys from that day.

Я провела свой день рождения очень весело. Моя подружка Эшли устроила мне вечеринку со всеми нашими друзьями (к сожалению с собой фотоаппарат я не взяла, но если найду фото того дня, обязательно выставлю).

В день моего рождения я с малыми и дядей Раяном (Джеффа братом) поехали в Диснейлэнд. Мы там провели 15 часов!!! На следующее утро у нас было ноль энергии, но зато было очень весело. Вот несколько фото с нашей поездки:

Andre with Pluto (nowadays Andre loves to meet the characters, give them hugs and especially high fives)

Андрей обажает всех диснеевских персонажей, и очень любит их обнимать, а особенно давать пять. На этлй фотографии он с Плуто.

We got to see Santa and take a picture with him, unlike last year, Andre was not at all scared, and Harper followed his brother, and sat calmly on Santa's lap.

Нам удалось увидить Санту. В этом году Андрюша повзрослел и совсем его не боялся, а Харпер вел себя по примеру брата, спокойно сидя на коленке Санты.

Halloween

2009-11-03T18:25:00.000-08:00

So here it is - Harper's Captain Hook costume! It was quite a bit more elaborate than Andre's so it took me a little longer to sew it. To our surprise Harper kept his wig and hat on!!! Who would have thought!

I am being attacked by Peter Pan armored with Captain Hook's sword and hook! Oh no!

My cute guys. I really wanted to have our whole family dressed as 'Peter Pan' characters, but I got burned out making the kids costumes - maybe next year (I will have to start early :)
We got to go to two Halloween parties. On Friday the boys and I drove out to Claremont to visit our old friends. Unfortunatelly Jeff had to work and couldn't go with us.

Andre and his friend Crson. Those two were pretty inseparable the whole night. They kept trading their hat and helmet, their swords, and were really cute playing with each other.

Happy captain Hook
(this picture makes me wish I had a better camera)

Andre playing one of the games (notice he got one of the rings onto a pumkin, not too easy of a task if you ask me)

Trunk-or-treating
Checking out the goodies

The joy of candy

Since it was hard to find time during the week to carve our pumpkins, we did it on the morning of Halloween. Here are the boys hard at work.

Jeff and Andre made a little Jack Skellington pumpkin (Andre is totally obsessed with Jack Skellington, and already picked him to be a theme for his birthday party in 8 months!!!)

I carved a dragon, but wasn't able to take a good picture of it lit.

Walking to our ward's Halloween Party

Andre rolling the pumpkin
Bean bag throwing

Real trick-or-treating. Andre love it (as was anticipated) and as soon as he got the candy he would say "Okay, let's go to the next house!". Harper caught on to the whole thing rather quickly and would say "tick-o-tee"

Too bad Jeff's head got in the way, but still a cute picture

The loot

real Peter Pan

2009-11-02T08:19:00.000-08:00

Andre requested to wear his Peter Pan costume to Disneyland. He was so proud of it, especially when we were in line for the Peter Pan ride, he made sure everyone we passed would know that he was Peter Pan. He would point to himself and tell them "Look, I am Peter Pan". I am glad we got more than one wear out of the costume.

One costume - DONE!

2009-10-28T17:31:00.001-07:00

Actually I am alomost done with both of the costumes, I only have to make shoe covers for Harper's costume. I bought a pattern for the costumes, and hated it, so I had to re-design all of the pieces. , of course some of the seams could have been straighter and neater, but given the time crunch and all I am very happy with the outcome. Here's my Peter Pan:
Я абсолютно дошила и закончила костюм Андрея. В этом году Андрей попросил быть Питером Пэном, и я будучи такой хорошей мамой :) согласилась. Первоначально, я купила выкройку по интернету, но когда она пришла по почте, мне она вообще не понравилась, поэтому мне пришлось, в основном, самой делать дизайн. По-моему получилось очень даже ничего:
Andre loves his costume and asks me to help him put it on multiple times during the day. He is very excited to go trick-or-treating.
Андрею очень нравится его костюм и он по несколько раз в день просит меня помочь ему одеться. Андрей ждет не дождется пойти на добычу конфет.

And here's a little video of Andre singing "You can fly" and demonstrating how he can fight with Captain Hook.

Это видео Андрея поющего песенку из мультфильма "Питер Пэн" и демонстрирующего бой на мечах с капитаном Крюком.

peter pan

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-25T13:55:00.001-07:00

We got to go to a REAL farm pumpkin patch with Andre's preschool. I know, shocking for L.A., where most pumpkin patches are made by simply throwing some hay over the asphalted parking lot of some grocery store. We did however have to drive about 40 miles north to get to the place (Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark, CA). We all loved it there, and though it was a bit too hot, the kids didn't mind it. We got to see farm animals and go on a tractor hay ride (we opted out of the big corn maze), the boys rode ponies, played on fun wooden vehicles, climbed hay bale pyramid, picked out their little pumpkins, and I guess the highlight of it all was that we got to pick our own raspberries and strawberries.

В четверг мы с малыми и Андрея классом поехали на экскурсию на настоящую ферму. Ферма находится в 45 милях к северу от нас. Нам всем там очень понравилось. Мы посмотрели на животных, прокатились в повозке трактора, дети покатались на лошадках, поиграли на детской площадке, лазили на сенную пирамиду, выбрали маленькие тыквы (к Хэллоуину), и гвоздем програмы был сбор малины и клубники.

Andre conquering the pyramid, his choice descent was jumping down

Андрей забирается на пирамиду, а спускались мы прыжками

Harper also enjoyed climbing the pyramid
Харперу тоже очень понравилось забираться на птрамиду

Both boys enjoyed the pony ride
Любители лошадок

Andre is a natural

Прирожденный ездок

Decisions, decisions...

Аж глаза разбежались...

Andre with his pumpkin

Ура, выбрал!

Strong...

Силач

Harper picking out his pumpkin

Харпер выбрал его тыковку

In a wagon with their prized posessions

Cute playground where they had a bunch of John Deer ride-on tractors

Andre was so helpful picking raspberries, and was proud of himself : "Mom, look at these big raspberries. Andre found them HIMSELF!"

Андрей был замечательным помощником. Он очень гордился своим достижением, и часто говорил: "Мама, смотри какую большую малину я САМ нашел!"

Harper reaching for a raspberry, all that he picked went straight into his mouth or onto his shirt (thank goodness for Oxi clean)

Харпер все что рвал, моментально клал к себе в рот :)

Hard at work

Трудятся

Strawberry field with Andre picking some yummy strawberries

Поле клубники с добытчиком Андрюшкой

"Check these out!"

"Смотри что я нашел!"

Harper ready to go home

Устал

Picking out a big pumpkin

Выбираем большую тыкву

"Ok, let's go"

Лошадка махноногая - "Поехали домой!"

Buzz

2009-10-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

Harper's hair was getting too long and didn't look too good, so I decided to give him a haircut. Instead of the usual way I cut my boys' hair (with comb and scissors) I decided to use the clippers. As most of you mom's out there know our memory and attention to detail is not what it used to be. As I glided the clippers across the middle of Harper's head, with what I thought was #6 attachment happened to be a #3. Oops, Harper almost got a true buzz. Good thing it's hair and it will grow out in no time.

Я решила подстричь Харпера, так как его волосы отросли и часто путались. Вместо стандартного метода - расческа и ножницы - я решила воспользоваться машинкой. К сожалению, только после первого проведения машинкой по середине головы Харпера я осознала, что вместо №6 насадки я случайно надела №3. Хорошо что это всего лишь навсего волосы, и быстро отростут.

Harper with his locks

Харпер и его локоны

Nothing like a Sunday walk

2009-10-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

Ничего нет лучше воскресной прогулки

Andre the photographer

2009-10-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

Andre titled all these pictures himself, and was especially proud of the 'items' he photographed.

"Mom"

"the door"

Self-portrait

"Outside"

"Papa"

"The sword" (a part of it)
"Yogurt"

"Sand toys"

My favorite boys

2009-10-02T20:07:00.000-07:00

They looked so cute and matching in the morning, that I couldn't help but take a picture (I don't look so cute in the mornings, since I am geared up in my basketball attire :)

Они так все хорошо утром выглядели, что я не смогла удержаться и сфотографировала

Jeff is half-blinking on this picture, but I love the kids' faces on this one
Джеф полу-моргает на этой фотографии, но зато выражения лиц детей неповторимы

Catching up

2009-09-29T15:59:00.000-07:00

Since I have been super busy, I have not had much time to devote to the blog here is your Johnson family update.

В последнее время я все никак не могу найти время для блога, так вот итоги нашего сенября.

ANDRE

Started preschool on the 14th. It's 2 hours, 2 days a week. He absolutely loves it and is always excited to go there. There are six kids in his class - 4 boys and 2 girls. He seems to listen to the directions well (we'll se how it goes on Monday when I will be in the classroom) and is making new friends - there's only 1 girl from our ward. It is a co-op, and I will have to teach twice a month, not to stressful due to plethora of resources on the internet. But what makes it even better is that it's only $20 a semester!!!
He learned to buckle and unbuckle himself in his car seat, which is nice. We haven't had any problems with him unbuckling while we are driving, hopefully that's not going to happen.
Начал ходив в пре-школу - 2 часа в день, 2 раза в неделю. У него в классе всего 6 детей его возраста. Они учат алфавит, рисуют, расскрашивают, клеят, читают книжки, гуляют на площадке. Андрею очень нравится и онвсегда рад когда он идет в школу. Там нет профессиональных учителей, и все мамы поочередно готовят урок и учат. Мне нужно будет учить 2 раза в месяц, что будет не плохо, т.к. Харперу там очень нравится.
Научился застегивать и расстегивать ремни в его кресле в машине. Мне легче, и пока никаких инциндентов с преждевременным расстегивание не было.

HARPER

Copies absolutely everything Andre does - if Andre fall for fun, he is quick to follow
On playground structures goes up the stairs and down the slide on his own.
He is still very much a climber, and often I come into the room just to find him on top of the dining table, computer desk, end table jumping onto the couch - there's not way of stopping him, he is our 'force that cannot be reckoned with'
Swims on his own with swimming cuffs on. It's funny to watch him, as he kicks with all four limbs at the same time, and looks like an inchworm motion in a way. That method causes him to swallow water every now and then, so he is learning fast to do only 2 limbs at a time. His favorite thing to do is to jump (fearlessly) into the pool and swim for the stair, repeated too many times.
Says prayers - folds his arms, babbles in a very soft voice and says amen at the end.
Has a couple of Russian words in his vocab - 'svet' (light), 'poka' (bye) and 'derevo' (tree)
Has been binky-free for almost a month!
как всегда копирует абсолютно все что делает Андрей
сам залазит и скатывается с горок на площадках
карабкается на все что может - столы, стулья, кровати, игрушки - и его не остановить
сам плавает в нарукавниках. Толкается всеми конечностями синхронно и поэтому со стороны очень смешно смотрится - рывками. Он также любит бесстрашно прыгать в бассейн, плыть к ступенькам, вылазить и повторяет процедуру миллион раз.
молится - складывает руки, тихонько "говорит" и завершает с "аминь"
Говорит пару русских слов - "сет" - свет, "кака"-пока, "деле-о" - дерево
Уже почти месяц как обходится без соски

MASHA

works out 5 times a week. I got a gym membership 3 weeks ago which includes $15/month 2-hour a day babysitting of the boys. I absolutely love it and have been going there each morning on weekdays. There's a bunch of guys that regularly play ball, and so I have been playing about an hour each day. There's an added bonus of no kids for 2 hours and ability to take shower without worrying that something is being destroyed meanwhile - priceless. I hope to see results in a form of weightloss too.
working on the kids' Halloween costumes and am already starting to stress out about it.
we also got D-land passes (thanks to my family's generous contributions) - the boys and I are loving it. We already visited it twice this month.
хожу в зал 5 раз в неделю, играю в баскетбол как минимум час каждый день, остальное время остается на тренажеры. Дети в это время играют в детской комнате. И ничего не может быть лучше душа без волнений что что-то в это время 'разбирается'. Надеюсь что также появятся результаты в виде похудения
шью костюмы малым на Хэлоуин
мы также приобрели абонементы в Диснейлэнд (спасибочки мама, папа, Ванечка, Жанна, Витя, Юля, Леша :) и наслаждаемся поездками.

The boys waiting for the Pixar Parade to start

JEFF
(I have no new pictures of Jeff, sorry hon)

still works hard and supports the rest of us
plays basketball Tuesday and Thursday nights
Lets the boys beat him up and take out their 'boy agression' - when Jeff gets home from work he lays down on the floor, and the kids jump on him, run over him, sword fight with him - can any boy ask for a better dad?
усердно трудится
играет в баскетбол по вторникам и четвергам

Mommy's little helper

2009-09-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

Мамин помощник

Beach

2009-09-05T17:17:00.000-07:00

I finally found some time to post some pictures of what we have been doing since we got back. Andre had a list of things he wanted to do when we returned, and one of them was going to the beach, which we did the first weekend back. The boys as always had a blast, and so did Jeff boogie boarding. I, in the midst of all things, forgot to apply any sunscreen to myself, and considering how long we stayed and how hot it was, my shoulders had no chance.

Я наконец-то нашла немного времени добавить новые фотографии. Так как у Андрея был список того чем он хотел бы заняться по возвращению, мы сразу же приступили к его выполнению. В первые же выходные мы поехали на океан. Мы все очень насладились солнечной погодой и удивительно теплым (для Калифорнии) океаном.

Harper got brave and went into the water

Харпер набрался смелости и зашел в океан

And here he is running away from it - he doesn't really like cold water (actually that day the water was the warmest I have ever felt)
И сразу же быстро выбежал

Andre was much braver, in fact it was hard to get him away from the water, he just kept going back for more

Андрея, как всегда, было тяжело оттащить от воды

My little man

Future surfer
Будущий серфер

No more binkies

2009-09-04T15:56:00.000-07:00

We pulled the binky from Harper a couple of days after we got back from Ukraine, and he has done great without it.The transition couldn't have been smoother.

Our trip back home

2009-09-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

For those of you who wonder how our travel back to Califonia went - it wasn't peachy, nowhere near that. Here goes my complaining and whining...
Для тех кому интересно как мы долетели домой - вот вся история в деталях...

We got to the airport in Kiev with plenty of time to spare, or so I thought. When we got to the check-in stand (it wouldn't allow me to check-in online. argh!), what should have taken us 10 minutes tops to get the seats assigned and check-in the luggage took us an HOUR! The reason for this being that they couldn't locate Harper's ticket, apparently they would find a record of it, and then it would disappear on the next screen. The girl that was checking us in was fairly new to the job, and when she called the manager for help, the manager refused to come down saying she was too busy! Luckily, Kiev aiport was in such disarray that morning that my parents were able to get into 'ticketed pasangers only' area and take care of the kids while I was dealing with the problem, and if they didn't I think I would have come away with a head full of gray hair. So finally, an hour into the girl trying to tweak with the system and asking about anyone for help, the very 'gracious' manager decided to show up and see what was up. They were able to fix whatever was wrong, but by this time I had to race through the passport check, secuity check and literally sprint to the boarding gate. So yes, the day couldn't have started better.

Мы приехали в аэропорт с достаточным запасом времени - за два часа. Обычно регистрация и сдача багажа занимает не более 10 минут, у нас этот процес занял целый час! Оказалось что они не могли найти информацию о Харпере в их системе. Девочка мне попалась молодая и не опытная, она просила помощи всех окружающих и даже позвонила начальнице, которая ей ответила что она "сильно занята и у нее нет времени на чужие проблемы". Наконец-то после целого часа статус-кво начальница соблаговолила появится и помочь. К счастью в Борисполе творился такой бордак этим утром, что мои родители смогли просочиться в зону предназначенную только для обилеченных пасажиров. И пока я разбиралась с билетами они заботились о малых. Я себе даже и не представляю что бы я делала если бы их не пустили! Я бы точно вырвала половину волос у себя на голове! Большое спасибо мамик и папик!
Конечно-же к тому времени как мы смогли зарегестрироваться мне буквально пришлось бежать через паспортный контроль, проверку сумок, и прямо к посадочным воротам, где мы были последними пассажирами севшими в автобус, подвозящий нач к самолету.

Our whole travel was during the day (Ukrainian time) and so I knew I wouldn't get much of a break with naps. The first flight to Paris was 3 hours and was pretty torturous. The kids were roudy and wouldn't calm down. There were 3 ladies in the row in front of us, that took turns glancing back with the expression of "can't you shut your kids up and have them sit still?" Yep, that was annoying. I was glad to finally land in France.

Во время полета в Париж дети (в основном Харпер) были очень возбуждены и не могли никак угомониться, так что этот 3-х часовой полет казался вечностью!

At the check-in in Ukraine I was assured that my double stroller would be given to me at the gate. Well, when we got off the plane, I didn't happen to find it. When I talked to personnel, they rudely said that I wasn't going to get it. They weren't trying to be the least bit helpful! My pleas to get the stroller and telling them that I had a tag that matched the tag on the stroller led to nothing and the expression on their face said they couldn't care less. That's where the sobbing and tears came... I was looking for any way out, and asked them if I could have a wheelchair, since I had a 5 hour layover, 2 little kids, and 3 heavy bags. To that I was coldly replied that I should have pre-ordered the wheelchair! At that point all kinds of bad words started flooding head. Seeing that there was nothing that could be done, I angrily kicked the door, demonstratively threw a very stinky diaper I just changed Harper out of onto the floor, and left...sobbing...

Во время регистрации в Киеве меня уверили, что я получу свою коляску в Париже, т.к. у меня был 5-и часовой пробел между полетами. Конечно-же, когда я вышла из самолета с малыми и 3-мя с тяжелыми сумками ручной клади, коляски близко и не было! Я срочно обратилась к персоналу, и они без всякого понимания и сочувствия сказали что коляску мне не дадут. Когда я попросила хотя бы инвалидное кресло они нахально и жестко ответили что мне нужно было его зараннее заказывать. После этого, всякие не хорошие слова пришли мне в голову, и я поняв что ничего не добъюсь, сильно пнула дверь, демонстративно бросила закаканый памперс на пол, взяла детей и сумки и в слезах - ушла...

Luckily the day from then on went a little better. The terminal we were flying out of had carts for the carry-ons that had a big picture with a child sitting in a cart crossed over with a big fat red line - I didn't care. I took two of those carts, sat Andre in one and Harper in the other and thats how we spent our 'lovely' layover.

К радости, это оказалось самым пиком плохих происшествий. В терминале из которого мы вылетали оказались тележки для ручной клади, на которых был знак о том что на них детей возить нельзя, но мне к этому моменту было абсолютно все равно. Я посадила Харпера с вещами в одну тележку, Андре - в другую, и так мы и дождались следующего полета.

(the kids' faces tell it all)

(как видно по лицам детей- нам было весело)

I think because my Dad called AirFrance to complain about the awful check-in experience in Kiev, they assigned Harper a seat, which in the end was a life saver. (Thanks Dad!)

Я думаю что из-за того что папа сразу же позвонил AirFrance и пожаловался об ужасной регистрации, нам оставили кресло рядом с нами свободным, т.ч. у Харпера было свое место, что на много облегчило мне жизнь. (Спасибо папик!)

The boys fell asleep at the very beginning, right as we boarded, so ther were probably asleep for about 30 min to an hour of our 11-hour flight to L.A. The nice thing about Airfrance over Atlantic flights is that every passanger has a video screen and can choose anything they want to watch, This was great for Andre and he was super easy during the whole flight. Harper was not easy, but we managed and survived. I was completely pooped when we arrived in Los Angeles.
Going through customs with 4 pieces of luggage, 3 carry-on bags, 2 kids, and 1 stroller added the last drop to my tiredness to the point that I forgot it was my Dad's birthday that day. My brain and body came to a point when they stopped functioning.

Малые заснули в самом начале полетаб не на долго, но заснули. С Андреем было очень легко во время полета, т.к. в самолете у каждого были инивидуальные экраны и он провел большинство времени смотря мультики. Харпер, как и предпологалось, был намного сложнее, но я как-то справилась. Устав они опять поспали последние 2 часа нашего 11-и часового полета. Корнечно-же я не минутки не поспала, и когда мы приехали домой мои мозги и тело абсолютно отключились.

All I have to say that we are glad we made it home safe and sound. We were happy to be reunited with Jeff and the kids were very excited to see their Papa.

Не смотря на все невзгоды полета, наша поездка этого стоила. Мы провели замечательный отпуск - я расслабилась, малые наигрались с дедушкой, бабушкой и дядей. СПАСИБО ОГРОМНОЕ ЗА ВСЕ! Провели замечательное время на даче Жанны и Вити с Лешой, Юлей и Кириллом. Андрей все время спрашивает когда придет Кирилл.
Вобщем всем большое спасибо за отделенное нам время, подарки и любовь. Мы действительно чувствовали себя как дома. Особое спасибо маме и папе за поездку, отых и расслабление, и финансовую поддержку. Мы вас всех очень любим, целуем и скучаем!!!

Kiev Temple

2009-08-23T06:10:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, Jeff didn't have enough time in Ukraine to go visit the temple in Kiev that is being built. It was definitely a must for me - it is such a blessing for the people in Ukraine. The temple construction is scheduled to be completed around April 2010, and they anticipate it to begin functioning some time at the end of the year.

Max helping Andre look at the temple

The meeting house. It is the only stand alone building, most wards meet in the rented spaces in commercial buildings.

Andre and my friends' son Mark

Bowling

2009-08-21T00:46:00.001-07:00

For the first time in my life I bowled over a hundred! I am so proud of my accomplishment!

My score is the middle one - whooping 125! (don't mind the warm up game of 65 :)

Yulia and I
My bowling buddies - Yulia and Ira

Dacha

2009-08-17T06:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of times we got a chance to go to my Aunt's and Uncle's dacha - a house about an hour outside of Kiev. They have a little garden there with a few fruit trees and berry bushes. They also have a little pool for the kids to play in. The kids loved it there and here are a few pictures to prove it:Grandma with Harper-boy
Kirill - my cousin's son. He was very excited to meet Andre and Harper and loves playing with them, he calls them both 'brothers'

The boys having fun in the pool

Kirill - he is 8 months older than Andre

A very focused boy - he spent most of the time in the pool, and didn't want to get out

The boys' favorite 'toy' was my brother Vanya. I think he went to bed around 6 pm that day because those 2 (and sometimes 3) monsters wore him out

Kisses

My cousin's wife -Julia

My cousin Alex cooking up some shishkabobs (sp?)

Beautiful lilies in my Aunt Zhanna's garden

Andre loved picking his own strawberries, carrots and apples (and about everything else - green or ripe)

Poor dog Grada tried to escape the kids - ain't such easy task

Plums - yum!

When my Aunt offered Andre a plum, he took it and came up to me. I said -"Andre, try it, it's yummy". To which Andre replied: "Stop it, Mom! We first have to pay for it!"

That's what you get from living in LA - no gardens there, in our concreted common 'backyard' of our apartment.

We miss home

2009-08-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

Though we are having so much fun in Ukraine - we also miss Jeff very much and are getting ready to come home.

Andre is definitely homesick (though he is having a lot of fun here, but there are a few thing he lacks here) and talks about home in California every day. Here is his tonight's prayer: "Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for home, that we can see Papa, go to the beach, and to Disneyland. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

He also mentions during the day that he wants to go in the tent camping with Jeff.

Another drawback here, is that Church lacks Nursery, I guess supposedly they do have it, but it is in no way structured. The only time I tried to bring Andre in, there was a 5- and a 4-year-old (definitely not a Nursery age) and there was no lesson,no singing,no snacks, nothing. Just unstructured play, so it wasn't a big surprise to me when they brought Andre to me only after 5-20 minutes into it. From then on I have been taking him with me to the Sacrament meeting and then my Dad picks him up and takes him home, while I stay for the other 2 hours. This whole Nursery problem aslo lead to another thing on Andre's 'miss' list. He says: "Mom, there's no Nursery. The Nursery and friends are in California."

Swimming in Dnipro

2009-08-04T01:12:00.000-07:00

We took the boys swimming in the river this Tuesday. Andre as always was ready to run into the water before he changed his clothes, and I had to hold him back, until I did so, put the sunscreen on as well as floaties. Harper was hesitant at first, but he got braver, and at the ent he wasn't all too happy to leave the water.

Grandpa is teaching Andre the proper swimming technique
Harper made up a game for himself, where he would throw the shovel into the water and then would go and get it. Gradually he got braver, and was throwing it further in. My parents' apartment building in the background and a close up:

Silly Andre

2009-07-28T00:58:00.000-07:00

Spending time with Andre

2009-07-25T00:37:00.000-07:00

Having my parents around helping with my boys (THANKS!!!) has given me a great opportunity for a one-on-one time with Andre, which he rarely gets back home. Almost every day here we have a Mommy-Andre time, whether it is watching something together, painting, coloring, playing with Play-Doh, reading. But our most favorite is going somewhere, we usually do it when Harper takes his morning nap, as to not overload my parents. Sometimes we just go to the store, and buy a new book or a movie. We also buy Kinder Surprises (egg-shaped chocolate shells with a little toy inside) - those are Andre's favorite. A few time we went downtown sightseeing and had a lot of fun - here are a few pictures from one of those outings. Andre loved this fountain, that is just ankle deep and runs down a few sets of stairs. He had a blast playing in it and didn't want to leave.

Yet another fountain

This is a face Andre pulled when I asked him to smile for Papa

On the weekends the main street downtown gets blocked off and makes it really covenient not to have to use underground crosswalks, it can definitely be a pain with a kid (We only have a double stroller here, so on our little outings Andre has to walk)

Khreschatik - main street
I treated Andre to an ice cream cone at McDonalds

Puppet theater. Unfortunately they are in hiatus until September, I bet Andre would have loved one of their plays

We did go to a kid-friendly restaurant - a rarity in Ukraine. They had a 'babysitter' there to occupy your kids, and Andre didn't want to leave afterwards.

Climbing. On a side note, my cousin has the same ladder thing at his house, and when we were over there visiting, my little monster Harper managed to climb it all the way to the ceiling on his own with no help whatsoever - crazy!

Statues outside the puppet theater

Kiev

2009-07-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

Last day in Crimea

2009-07-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

The day of our departure we took a beautiful nature hike. Despite many ticks we came in contact with (none of them bit us or anything, but still a bit freaky) we enjoyed it very much.

Crimea - Day 3

2009-07-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

The third day we took a gondola ride to the peak "Ai-Petri" which is 1234 km above sea level.

As always stunning scenery

That's how they cook tatari food

We also took a short hike to the very top

Crimea - Day 2

2009-07-07T05:05:00.000-07:00

The second day of the trip we walked down to the shore of Yalta (about a 15 minute walk from the apartment we stayed in), had breakfast and took a one-hour boat ride to the city of Alupka.On the way down to the harbor, Jeff enjoyed taking pictures of older buildings.

The scenery was just stunning

Vorontsov Palace in Alupka

The palace also has massive grounds
I had to put this picture in - aparently there has been a revival of mullets and MC Hammer pants (I am yet to take picture of those - too hard to be discreet about it while poinint the camera at someone's butt).

A boat identical to the one we took

"Swallow's Nest" a small castle built on the edge of the cliff

Sophia - so adorable and super flexible

Crimea - Day 1

2009-07-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I got to take a 3-day trip without the kids to Crimea, southern peninsula situated on the Black sea. My parents' have good friends who live in Yalta, who provided us with an apartment. They also own a little restaurant, so we were well-fed, in fact overfed.

The day we arrived, coinsided with Vera's birthday and they took us out to this great restaurant 'Elena', which had great food and an awesome view.

Vera, her husband Vitya and JeffMe and our gracious hosts
The view Also joined us for dinner Vera's daughter, her husband and the cutest 4-year-old Sophia.

Andre's Birthday Celebration

2009-07-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

Since we were travelling on the day of Andre's actual birthday, my parents threw a family party for him. Here's Andre opening his presence with the assistance of his second cousin Kirill, who is 6 months older.
Doesn't Vanya (my brother) look a little too excited about his accomplishment?
Harper had to mimic the older boys, and attempted to ride the new scooter (ulya, my cousins wife was there to assist him)
Yummy cake

Pirogovo

2009-07-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

What can be more American for the 4th of July than visiting an outdoor museum of Ukrainian architecture of the 19th century? At least I dressed up the kids in the flag shirts. Patriotic enough, right? When Jeff and I visited here in 2005 we also came to this museum and Jeff loved itt, so we this was one of tthe must places to visit. Andre and Jeff in the wheat field
My Dad and Harper
We decided to dress the boys in their Ukrainian outfits (minus the shoes, we figured crocs would do). They looked very cute and anyone passing would ooh and aah, and take pictures of them. I am pretty sure some of the people thought they were part of the exhibit.
Andre wasn't very cooperattive and most of the time wanted and did run away, leaving me in the dust. Luckily, I snapped enough times that we got a couple of decent shots.
With uncle Vanya

This guy playing the 'gusli' (I have no idea what this instrument is called in English) was absolutely amazing
Young cossak

I was selected to 'show off' my pottery skills. Well, actually the guy asked my Mom and she didn't want to participate, so I came to her rescue. The guy pretty much guided my hands through the whole process.
Here is the result - old Ukrainian style candle-holder
I think this is the only picture of Andre smiling

My Mom helping Harper with his costume

Snack time - medoviye pryaniki
No, itt's not beer, it's kvas - a ukrainian non-alcoholic drink

Vanya in the tree

Harper thought it was hilarious to climb on top of me and attack me - gentle little creature

Water mill

The zoo

2009-07-03T13:42:00.000-07:00

Since Harper has never been to the zoo, we decided to take our boys to Kiev zoo. Both of them had a blast. The best part was probably seeing the brown bear.You could tell Harper was going to have fun from the minute we walked in
Looking at the birds

Watching the bear take a swim

The boys in front of the ostriches

Chocolate chip cookie?

Pointing at the tarantula

From the second we walked in to the zoo, Andre demanded to see the lion. And even after 10 minutes of watching a very active bear, he still persisted on seeing a lion.

Harper pointing at the cayman

We got to go into a petting zoo. The price including the food for the animals was less than a dollar, and the kids were free! A great deal! Harper had a blastfeeding the animals, Andre on the other hand was hesitant, after being pushed out of the was by a few goats and pigs.

Chasing chickens

Harper feeding the bunny. He was quick to figure out how to do it and was very proud of his accomplishment.

Rhino in the background

Adnre was treated to a choo-choo train ride at the end of it all.

Ballet

2009-07-02T22:44:00.000-07:00

Though I thought I wouldn't need any time to adjust to the new time zone - I was wrong. And we did take our first day in Kiev easy, including all of us taking extended naps. Our first outing was on the 2nd. Jeff and I left the house and our kids in the early afternoon and went on a date. We first walked the beautiful bordwalk by the river Dnieper in my parents' neighborhood to one of Jeff's favorite pizzerias - Celentano's. After that we embarked on our journey of exploring downtown Kiev and later in the evening we had a ballet performance to attend at the National Opera House.

Jeff and the walkway along Dnieper

I love my parents' neighborhood

Andriivs'ka church

Us in front of it

Altar and other stuff inside the Andriivs'ka church

Statue of a cossack leader - Bogdan Khmel'nytski

Just one of the buildings downtown

Sofia - one of the oldest churches

Jeff in front of the "Golden Gates" - the main entry way to Kiev- back in the days of Kievan Rus (ca. 900 ad)

Yaroslav the Wise, one of the rulers

Jeff and I were able to go and see "Forest song", which is a Ukrainian ballet in 3 acts. On this picture you can see colorful Ukrainian costumes.

The theater's architecture is not only beautiful outside, but is matching in beauty on the inside.

Pictures from our flight

2009-06-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

Our flight

2009-06-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

I am happy to tell you that we made it to Ukraine in one piece. The kids love spending their time with their grandma and grandpa and their uncle Vanya, and it is nice to have extra help with the kids. Although I am way behind on my sleep, I already feel refreshed and rested.

So here is the story of our trip. First of all, I lost my keys (maybe I packed them?) and we spent much of the Sunday searching for them to no avail. I hope we come back to our apartment with all of our stuff still in it. As usual, packing came down to the wire. Ashleigh was able to come and help us out with the kids while we finished and also drove us to the airport (THANKS!!!). At check-in, we were informed that our seating assignment had changed, even though we had called to make sure we were sitting together. There was some conflict with the row that has a bassinet holder, so in the process of fixing that, they decided that we could all sit separate from one another. They put a random person between me and Andre, and Jeff was sitting several rows away. Lucky for us, the only way to solve the problem was an upgrade to business class, which I have to say was awesome and really helped us manage the kids. On that note, I am glad I prepared for the worst, since the flight wasn't all that easy. Harper was napless when we got on our plane at 3 pm, so he was exhausted as it was and I really thought he was going to be zonked soon after take off...not so...all the new gadgets and sound made him as wide awake as he could be. After a few hours of him being crazy and trying to climb, touch and walk everywhere, I decided it was time to Benadryl him. I tried it a week ago at home and it worked. However the plane case was quite the opposite, and Harper only fell asleep some 6 hours into the flight, only to wake up 2 hours later! (the little bassinet was a sardine can for our bulging boy, and he just could'nt turn around in it). Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep, and it has been difficult to adjust for all of us.

Here's a juicy sidenote--skip this paragraph if you don't like soap opera type gossip. There was a couple in their early 40s across the isle from me - rich and good looking. He was a bit annoyed with having two kids in business class sitting across the isle from me (which annoyed me). Anyway - fast forward, the guy falls asleep about 3 hours into the flight, and she is up. Since I was up with Harper, we struck up a conversation for some time, and she told me the she felt for me since she has 3 kids of her own and also mentioned that her husband/boyfriend (not sure which) also had 3 kids (all of them under 8). As I was standing with Harper in the bathroom/flight attendant area for a while, I kept noticing she was coming back for more and more wine. After downing probably a whole bottle, she started to talk with some guy in his 20s and eventually they started making out. Then she sat down and pretended to be asleep, while the guy kept waiting for her by the wine and kept walking back and forth past her. It was funny, but more sad--made me think about how living a life that is of the world can cause pain regret, and that the word of wisdom is tied to being faithful in other things.

The second flight was rather uneventful, and all of us fell asleep at some point. We arrived to Kiev to find that our stroller was lost, so that took a good hour of standing in line to file the claim, etc. but we got it back today, which will make our walks much easier.

We are still jetlagged and slept most afternoon yesterday, today we have fun plans of going downtown (Just Jeff and I - radical!) and the watching ballet at night. We have eventful days to come and not enough of Jeff's time to do everything we want.

Doctor's appointments

2009-06-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

Andre had his 3-year and Harper his 14-month check-ups. Here's where they measure.

Andre
Height - 38.5 inches (77%)
Weight - 32 lbs 3 oz (57%)

Harper
Height - 31.5 inches (75%)
Weight - 24 lbz 2 oz (51%)

Andre's dream

2009-06-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Andre came to our bedroom in the morning and this is what he told us: "Monkeys spilled. Monkey spilled water, green water, on me".

Andre's 3rd Birthday Party

2009-06-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

Since we are leaving to o to Ukraine on the day of Andre's actual birthday we moved Andre's birthday up a week. Andre was very excited about his birthday party and about 3 weeks in advance he reminded us: "My birthday is in week" , he would continue "I see friend, get presents, Pluto cake". About a week before his birthday he was announcing it to everyone (aka strangers anywhere we went - store, park, etc.) The day of the party he woke up and first thing he said was "It's my birthday". It was very cute to see that for the first time he really cared about his birthday. We let Andre open one of his presents in the morning - it was "Junglebook" DVD

Andre requested a Pluto cake, and as many times I tried to convince him that Mickey Mouse cake would be just as fun, he insisted on Pluto. Therefore, I had no choice, but to make a Pluto cake. The ears are made out of rice krispy treats and covered in fondant, so the whole cake was edible.

Can you tell he is excited?

Jeff made the straucture of the pinata, and I painted the face of Mickey on it. My friend Ashleigh came over the night before and helped me pain the ears while I was working on the poster (I free handed Pluto and baloons, and then painted over).

And here's the video of Andre singing "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" theme song:

While we were setting up for the party, Andre made his own kind of cake. He even found a leaf to represent a candle.

Andre opening his presents
The coolest present Andre got was from his friend who lives down the street. His name is Julian and he is a few months older than Andre. He had an idea that Andre would like to get some rolly-pollies, so his mom Natalie got him a little jar, he went out in their front yard, caught about 5 bugs and even created an enviroment for them by putting in a rock, a few leaves, and a flower. Kids are too funny.
Violet is watching Andre playing with his new present
Setting up Andre's new goal posts - Andre present from Jeff's co-worker Flo (thanks)
Mike is very focused on figuring out the transformer. I have to admit Jeff has enjoyed the present just as much.
Goal

One of the drawbacks of having a party at the park is that it is almost impossible to light the candles due to the wind. We had a second of calm and Andre was able to blow out his candles, needless to say I had no time to take the picture, so he was nice enough to stage it for me.

Despite Andre really wanting a Pluto cake he didn't take a bite of it and preferred ice-cream, and then candy.

Phoebe working the pinata
Andre was the one to break the pinata, our little strong man

Candy frenzy
Andre definitely came out a winner

More pictures from our photo shoot

2009-06-21T12:58:00.001-07:00

Here are a few (quite a few) pictures from the photo shoot we did on June 1st. I tried to put up only the best pictures, but as you can tell I had a very hard time selecting. It must be the combination of my cute kids (not at all bias) and an amazing photographer Amber. If you live in the L.A. area, I would highly recommend her - she is an amazing artist and is great with kids. Check out her website at www.AmberBella.com.

Andre's sayings

2009-06-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

I realized that I don't write down too many things Andre says since he talks so dang much, but he is so cute (most of the time :).

As Andre accompanied Jeff yesterday to the trash can they walked by a few potted plants we have on our porch:
"Papa, look at the plants! They are growing! Andre is growing too." - he said straightening up to look taller, and then with slightly disappointed tone continued - "No, papa, Andre can't grow and be big like papa...Andre can't go on rides in Disneyland..." Sigh.

New creation - Key Wristlet

2009-06-19T10:19:00.001-07:00

Hip and stylish keychain that fits around your wrist.

Made with 100% cotton designer fabrics.Wristlet has a 3" diameter opening for your hand/wrist, which is perfect to easily slip it on your wrist, yet it won't easily fall off. The fob comes with key ring attached. This wristlet is perfect when you are on the go. How many times have you unlocked your car and went to put your kids in their car seats and had no idea where to put your keys in that moment? Another great benefit of this key fob is that the keys are are easy to find! Beautiful and funky fabrics stand out anywhere.

The price is $6 + shipping. If you would like to buy one, contact me or visit my website (http://aandhcreations.blogspot.com/) or Etsy store (http://aandhcreations.etsy.com/)

Softball Season

2009-06-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

Jeff is playing on our ward's softball team. Due to the lack of shoes with any kind of traction this was the result of one of his games:

Violet's Birthday

2009-06-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, Ashleigh, asked me to help her with her daughter's first birthday cake. Violet loves her rubber ducky toy, so the birthday was themed just that. We definitely had a cake saga, let's just say 2 times the batter failed to rise (as it said it would in the instructions) to fill in the 3-D pan. Ashleigh and I ended up staying up through the night - I came home at 6:30 am! I then took a 3-hour power nap and then had to make the lettering. I then hurried over to Ashleigh's house to finish the cake before the party. As you can tell, the lack of sleep shows - 'Happy BirHTday" - we were able to catch the error and fix it. All in all - the cake turned out pretty cute.

Here's the fixed version:

Birthday girl with her parents

The Duck was Violet's smash cake

Harper decided to be all proper, and use a fork to eat his piece of cake - I had no idea he could do that!
Cake-eating duo
Andre enjoyed playing with his friend Felipe

Claremont Trips

2009-06-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

About a month ago my back went out while doing none else, but picking up toys. I must have twisted in some weird way trying to reach a toy, and instantly I experienced excruciating pain, I could not bend down. As I though it was some kind of nerve that I pinched, I decided to go play ball a couple of days later, hoping it would un-tweak it. Though I felt alright playing 4 games straight, at the beginning of the fifth game my back just stopped functioning and the pain worsened. After unsuccessful visits to my physician, and non-working pain-killers and muscle relaxants, I turned for help to our friend Scott Vance. He is an amazing chiropractor, and even after the first appointment I could feel an improvement. Since Scott and Lisa still live in Claremont, it gave me a great excuse to go and visit our old friends once a week. I also got to take the kids to the pool, which Andre loves, but has no opportunity of doing here in LA (lack of friend with pools). I figured I should document this as Harper's first time in the pool. The water was a bit chilly and I wouldn't say he loved it, but he definitely endured. (Thanks Marquette for letting us use your pool)

Harper at the piano

2009-06-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

My two cuties and I

2009-06-01T12:35:00.000-07:00

At the end of the road

2009-05-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

I am glad to say that we are almost done with potty training. Andre is doing very well and finally filled his 'poop' potty chart last week. The next thing is to transition him to a toilet, as he is using his little potty right now.One proud boy - everytime he poops there's a list of demands that come after. First he asks for an ice cream cone, when he is done with that he immediately demands a lollipop, and then a sticker. No where to put stickers now...

For his reward he wanted a guitar- so here he is 'rocking out'