Ego boost

I got "picked up" at work today. It was quite the ego boost and I walked away from my desk with my head a little higher, standing just a bit taller, smiling a bit longer and holding the hand of this little miss o' mine.

She was quite put out that she did not get to come up and see me when we headed to the Airport to pick up Uncle Jon. So they came up and saw me...I think they collected more candy than at Halloween. All they had to say was "Privet" (hello in Russian) and people melted and practically threw candy at them. HEHEHE. It was fun. We all went home happy campers.

I LOVE airport scenes...I'm such a girl.

I really DO love the airport scenes and people watching. My favorite is when you see someone waiting for thier "person" to finally get to the waiting area. GONE are the days when you can go directly to the gate...Sigh. HOWEVER. Its almost as fun just watching even if its not at the gate. The anticipation goes up a notch or two!
So I could not pass up the chance to see my oldest brother Jon, come in from his 3rd tour in Iraq/Afghanistan. The girls and I met Artyom and we got to see the most precious reunion of Jon, Heidi and the two boys- Eli and Erik. It was in a word- Awesome. I admire him for his courage to be in the military and fight for our freedom. I envy his metabolism which keeps him fit regardless of how much he can put away. I cherish our many talks we have had and am so grateful for our close relationship. I relate to his worrisome nature which we both inherited from our Mother.
I love his example of what a genuinely GOOD person should look like.

Ciao! That's how you say hello in Italian

Yep. It is as nerdy as it looks. I'm headed to go see Jen in Italy and am trying to do my best to be able to communicate, albeit incomprehensibly...in Italian and learn a few key phrases before I go. It's funny to some, but one of the things I am MOST excited about is going to a country where English is NOT the first language. I LOVE not knowing what people are saying and seeing other cultures in thier element (not transplants- but in thier own country). I think it is one of the most fascinating things in the world.

So I sit at my desk with my ear bud and listen over and over again to the pronounciation of phrases and then try and quiz myself with the above folded flashcards. Ill do my best to at least say SOMETHING the Italians will understand and if I butcher it, making a complete fool of myself? Well that's easy. Ill just bust out the language of the Motherland and tell em' I'm Russian....

 

Grazie Tante!

Fortune cookies...take em or leave em

A few of us got Chinese for lunch today. I figured it was A: cheap. and B: I hope to run at least SOME of the calories off during the race tomorrow...in the snow...and cold...Should be AWESOME!

So I am a bit of a conniseur when it comes to fortune cookies..Some are just incredible tasty and others? Well they leave something to be desired. However. That being said, I ALWAYS at least look at the fortune hiddin inside the oragami shaped cookie. Todays read this:

"To love and win is the best thing To love and lose is the next"

 

It struck a cord in me for whatever reason. I have had both happen in my few short years here on Earth (cough...cough...Im feeling very old lately) and I thought if it were indeed true. And decided that yes. I have just as many fond memories and good feeling about the love that I lost when I think about it. Loss should not always have a negative connotation to it. In fact, there are a few things that I am forever grateful that I did not win, but in fact, lost in my life.

 

Anyway. Moral of the post? Always open your fortune cookie. You never know what sort of ponderings may follow.

 

SO CLOSE!!

Remember our flood downstairs in our basement...yes. I realize it was LAST Summer, but we have had a few (PAH! understatement) things come up and are trying to get this DONE and finished. It is time to move on...with this and so many other things to be honest. We made some HUGE headway and have painting and the floor now almost done. Bad news- below is what we have been living in for MONTHS. Good news-were just SO close!!!
Here are a few of my handsome handyman doing his thing.

Girl's night

One was much needed. What started out as a one on one with Ella, turned into Sofia being able to go as well thanks to Jacki who had free Disney on Ice tickets she wasnt using. The girls loved it and I was glad to get a few hours with just them. They were in desperate need of a little extra attention as the last several weeks have been OUT OF CONTROL busy.
They would not look at me for a pic-dare they miss a MILLI-SECOND of the skating! hehe. It reminded me of trying to get Ella to look at me while her favorite cartoon is on...useless.

This was by FAR the girls' favorite story of the night. Tangled. The pic sucks, but they had the skaters flying through the air on Rapunzel's "hair" and both Sof and Ella thought that was pretty amazing. When Ella saw in the program that Tangled was next she was so over excited she jsut kept on giggling and clapping her hands and then squealing about how Rapunzel was next. It was the BEST!

Ella really is happy- I think I was chiding her for not smiling...hmm. Guess that is what I get. I wish I did not have a sad look behind my eyes though...I really wish it would go away...

 

Bday celebrations

While my Dad was here (again!) we celebrated bdays at Nana's- Papou, Aunt Diane and Jenny all share a bday and Artyom's is only about a week later, so we got together. Josh caught this pic of the three little girls (minus Callie) staring intently at the flames of the candle.. hehe. it made me laugh.
The three of them LOVE to play together and its cute whenever we can get a pic of them.

...and if you happen to notice the SCARY person in the background...SIGH. Jenny was dying my hair and we did my eyebrows while we were at it. The girls said I had BOY eyebrows and Ella especially was VERY happy when the extra dye came off and they were back to "girl eyebrows" again. I went from being a monster to back to being a mom....

Last of the snow?...please?

Ill be honest, I really do not mind the snow...much. It has been nice for the girls to play in, look at and the skiers have flocked in by the carload to ski...But some sun would be nice and I really am needing some Vitamin D.

The other morning when we went to feed the horsed, the girls told me to take a pic of them on thier "iceberg" as they were being penguins on the last bit of snow that the sun had not been able to hit yet. You can see just about everywhere else has melted...finally. So well see how long the ice will be able to last as temperatures start to warm around it and...dare I say, SPRING comes in?

One can only hope...and when I say "one?"...I mean me.

Hay is for Horses...but we give them apples

I consider it a blessing that our neighbors have a HUGE field in thier backyard. It has housed goats, cows (remember #34?) and the latest horses. Not only is is a HUGE plus for the kids who come over, but I really like the girls being exposed to a bit of "country living" and animals. They never know the real names of the animals, so they make up thier own. With the two horses that are being housed there now, its "Brownie" and "Slicker" (don't ask...)
So late Friday night, Grandpa and I were rearranging some things in the garage to make some room and the Grey Horse was snorting at me and making noise, knowing I just might have an apple to give him. I was going back and forth from the garage to the shed, so I guess he thought I was teasing him. On the last trip to the shed, I did bring him an apple, but he had already headed back to his stall. When he saw that my Dad and I were near the shed, he cam BARRELLING toward the gate, I just stood there, since he does it all the time. he races to the fence and screeches to a halt right in front of it throwing his head back. Hehe. It makes me smile everytime.
Then the next morning, I was getting breakfast for the girls and cleaning up a bit and kept hearing noises outside...So i opened the window and these two were neighing and snorting at me...

Well I am a sucker for these two so I told the girls they were out and cut up a few apples for them. The girls raced out in thier pajamas, and I ran after them to get a pic!