Princess Breakfast

This morning was the Princess breakfast a church. The girls learned about being a true Godly princess.




Chocolate fountain!!! I think I enjoyed it more than the girls did.

Mom x3

Spring Play

Kristina's spring play was Daniel in the Lion's Den and she was a lion. She was so excited practicing for it. She spent hours listening to the CD to get all the words to the songs correct. She also had to practice the dance she had to do around Daniel.

the dance around Daniel

taking a bow

with friends Madison and Asia, (she has wiskers)

Mom x3

Valentine's Day weekend

Saturday John and I celebrated Valentine's Day by going to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner with Allie and Brian. I have to admit the steaks are awesome, talk about melting in your mouth. Afterwards we went to see the movie Valentine's Day. It was a typical 'chick flick', but I liked it.

Sunday the kids each got some candy and a DVD. It seems there is always a new movie coming out.

Today the kids were out of school so I took them to see 'The Princess and the Frog". I can't recommend it. Too much voodoo magic, that I'm sure went right over the kids heads. They did a good protrayal of the Louisiana bayou and New Orleans though.

Mom x3

Roller Skating

Today Luba's and Michael's classes went roller skating. I hadn't been skating since high school, but I really wanted to go. Work was slow so I was able to leave at noon. As I walked in the rink, Michael was standing near the door. He looked at me, said, "Hi mom!" and promptly fell down. He was falling about every 50 feet, but he did great for his first time on skates. This was Luba's second time and she was much improved. I think I did fairly well for not having been on skates in over 20 yrs. I was a little unsteady at first, but it came right back to me. I never fell and even managed to video the kids.

Michael had such big bruises on his elbows and knees, I'm really surprised he didn't break something.

They were so tired by the end. I was too after 2 hrs of skating.

Mom x3

SNOW!!!

This morning we woke up to snow!!! All total we got 6-7 inches. The kids were so excited. I actually had boots for all of them. They quickly ate breakfast and cleaned up their rooms and got dressed to go outside. They just loved running around in the snow. Of course they had snow in Ukraine, but it has been three years since they would have seen it and Luba and Michael don't really remember Ukraine.

Kristina making a snow angel.

Michael and Luba just playing around.

Had to get the pictures of them in the snow!!

Our shed was just finished last week, yes we plan to paint it, trying to decide on a color.

backyard view

Our little snowman, the eye were dum-dum lollipops, the nose an orange cone from Michael's car set and the mouth a leave which blew by, sticks for arms.

All total we were outside for about an hour and a half. The knit gloves became so wet their fingers were frozen and the now went right through their jeans. They had a great time while it lasted. I tried to shovel the driveway for about an hour, but by the evening you couldn't even tell I had done any thing. All that work for nothing.

Mom x3

Michael loosing teeth!!

This past week Michael lost his two front teeth. The first one on the 20th and the second on the 28th. Too bad Christmas is already gone or he could have asked for them!

Williamsburg

The kids were off of school today and it was a beautiful day, so I took them to Williamsburg. John kept saying you can't stay home can you. I think he was using reverse psychology trying to get me to stay home, but why stay home and watch TV when you can make memories.

We made a brief stop at the Outlets, but didn't find anything. Then onto Yankee Candle, just to see the snow fall. The kids were catching it in their mouths until they realized it was soap bubbles. :-)

Look close and you can see the 'snowflakes' in their hair.

After lunch at Taco Bell we drove to Colonial Williamsburg. I had stopped at the Dollar Store to buy two loaves of bread on the way up to hopefully feed the fish in the Palace Gardens. Of course it is a little awkward walking down Duke of Gloucster Street carrying two loaves of bread! As was the case twenty years ago the gate to the left of the Palace wasn't locked and you could push it right open and walk in.

We went right down to the pond to feed the fish. The fish were much smaller than they had been in the past, not sure why, maybe because it is winter? They thought it was great to feed the fish!

View from the bridge down the pond, no ducks at this time.

The dark streaks are all the fish, occasionally there would be a huge one, but most were about 3-4 inches long. They were hungry too.

After walking around the pond we walked/ran through the maze made of bushes.

Tree intertwine above your head. This would be a great picture in the spring with leaves on the trees.

The Palace Gardens, I have done a cross-stitch which looks almost the same.

The kitchen was open and we were able to watch them cook a little. The kids weren't so sure they would want to eat any of the food.

The picture on the right is a slab of bacon salted, it is curing in the smokehouse. They killed 10 hogs this year and they check on the meat every 6 weeks and we happened to be there when they did.

The cellar under the Palace.

Servents quarters in the stable.

Micheal by a flag.


We stopped at the Candy Shoppe and all got Rice Krispie treats.

A wonderful day of memories.

Mom x3

New Year's Day

We had a very uneventful New Year's Eve. Some friends and family came over for snacks and watching TV. The kids got to play with Madaline and Thomas. They alway like it when other kids come over. Our company was gone before the ball even dropped so it was just John, Kristina and myself watching.

This morning we were able to sleep in. The kids got up and watched the Rose Parade. One day we will take them there, I've been there twice and it is quite awesome.

We had a early dinner at Allison and Brian's house. Pork roast, saurkraut, and mashed potatoes. We only have this meal on New Year's. It was so good.

Mom x3