Brothers and Best Friends

Josiah and Nathan fight a lot! But, they are starting to play together better as they get older. The funny thing is that no matter how much they fight they can't stand to be without one another. They are both always looking for one another and it is really cute to hear them in the morning when they wake up. Whoever gets up first usually calls out for the other one. Such a great relationship. I only pray that as they get older they continue to nurture their friendship.

Nathan's Baby

Nathan has learned quickly about my affection for Coca - Cola!!

The Volga River

A few weekends ago we went to the park and then walked down to the Volga. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I was expecting but at least we had a nice family day!

Star Wars Birthday Party

We celebrated Josiah's 6th birthday party with the team and our dear friend Christina. It is really so much work to put together a birthday party. I was so exhausted by the end of the party........I could hardly stand straight. It was definitely worth it though seeing Josiah so happy.

Here are the 10 Jedis (minus baby Myriam) who attended the party. Not easy getting all these kids to sit still for a picture.


My attempt at making a clone trooper cake! I spent a lot of time on it and within seconds it was gone! All that hard work........but once again so worth it.


Josiah getting ready to blow out the candles and hoping that no one else blows out his candles!


Here we are with our friend Christina! She loves our boys and we love her!

Gotta' Love Skype!

A couple of weeks ago we finally got on Skype with Jon's brother Jay in Texas. Unfortunately the cousins don't really get to see each other. Jojo and Kate (his cousin) have only seen each other twice. We also haven't been able to see each other's youngest child. Josiah still loves to talk about them though. As you can imagine it was a real treat for him to chat with his cousins. Jay and Jon really didn't get to talk too much because the kids were being so silly.

Here's Miss Kate dressing up for the occasion. She is all GIRL!!


Woody got in on the action too. Jay told us that Toy Story 3 is coming out next year.......we can't wait!


Jon is showing them Russia's top of the line Volga car model.

First Bell

The very first day of school for all students in Russia is September 1 otherwise known as first bell. I really should have had my camera when we went outside this day. Kids dress up in suits and the girls wear their best and tie their hair in huge white bows. The students all take their teachers flowers, chocolates, or cakes.

When we first moved to Novosibirsk we actually got to got to a first bell. It is a real big deal and the school puts on a big production. We had just arrived the day before and our apartment was totally unfurnished so we stayed with one of the other missionaries for a couple of nights. They had their son in school so we went along and joined the celebration. Everyone in the family comes along.....grandparents, little siblings, etc.

Little did we know that on that morning in 2004 on the other side of Russia an elementary school in Beslan was undergoing a terrorist attack by Chechyen rebels at their own first bell celebration. The reason why the Beslan incident was so tragic and had a high death count was because of the amount of people that were there that day. The terrorists specifically picked that day to get the highest casualties. Very sad. We didn't even know about until a few days later. Once we got hooked up to the internet we had a bunch of concerned family and friends e-mailing us to make sure we were o.k. We also watched the images on the television. One of the girls in my small group told me that now there is heightened security in the schools on this special day.

Once Josiah saw that all the boys were dressed up he wanted to wear his suit to school. It was really cute of him but considering we homeschool, I passed on the opportunity to dress him up!
I took this picture with my cell phone, not a great picture but you get the idea!

School Is Now In Session

Josiah started Kindergarten! I can't believe it. It wasn't an emotional day for me or anything, mainly because we're homeschooling. I guess if I had to drop him off somewhere I would have cried like a big baby. He was so ready to start and had been begging me for a while so we started one week earlier than I wanted to on August 24. He really is doing great and for the most part enjoys everything we're doing. We have some rough patches every once in a while but I guess when mom is the teacher this is expected. I have to confess that I never ever wanted to homeschool but I really don't have too many options. Some days I feel an incredible amount of pressure to be the one responsible to have to teach him how to read, math, writing, etc.!!!! What if I can't teach him the basic things he needs to learn? It is really scary but we get through it each and every day. Oh, and today he read his very first word all by himself! I'm glad that it was me and not a stranger that got to hear! I guess that makes it all worth it at the end.

Another Celebration!

Daddy was not around for Josiah's actual birthday. He went to a retreat with some of the other men that are training the future pastors of Russia. Here they are enjoying some "shashleek". My favorite!

Here are some of the men in front of one of the "cabins" they stayed in.


Since my neighbor Sharon(one of the other missionary wives) and her kids were home alone also, they came down to our place to help celebrate Jojo's birthday.


Last year at Josiah's birthday party one of the twin boys kept trying to blow out his candle so I thought everyone should have the opportunity to blow out their own candles. We sang "Happy Sunday to you" to the other boys.

Let the Celebrations Begin!

Our big boy is 6 years old now!!! We like to extend our birthday celebrations. This is the day before Josiahs birthday, August 29. We went to a church picnic that day and decided to celebrate with just our little family. We have to bring presents for the kids from the States since toys here are so expensive and sometimes so poorly made. Other times we can't find the exact things that the boys like either. We also brought along Grandma Judy's gift. Josiah has been talking about his birthday for a long time now. We will have his birthday on the 12th of September and celebrate with the team...........which will include a total of 11 kids!!

Getting ready to blow out his birthday candle on the cupcake.


Grandma Judy got him a cool Star Wars t-shirt and towel. Josiah plans on wearing the t-shirt for his Star Wars theme birthday party.


We gave him this clone trooper hat and the Clone Wars television series (which we have all seen a bazillion times already).


Daddy with the birthday boy.

Josiah Turns 6

Josiah at 1 month


Our big 6 year old boy on his birthday August 30, 2009

Batman

Josiah as Batman!


Nathan as Batman!

The Courtyard

When I don't feel like taking the kids out too far we just go and hang out in the courtyard of our apartment building. We feed the birds, they run around, they pick up sticks and rocks, we get the sidewalk chalks out, we blow bubbles, etc.



The gardener was working this day. He's cutting the grass. The boys had fun watching him while I had fun trying to keep the boys at a good distance from him.

The Purple Park

Jojo calls this the purple park. It is a little park not too far from our apartment. He calls it the purple park because some of the equipment has purple on it. It's perfect for the boys and older kids don't hang out here so the kids don't get bullied or ran over.