Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Days 162 -168

DAY 168
Yep, Nathan has been playing outside and tracking mud.

DAY 167
The boys with their cousin Madison.  Josiah and Madison fight like brother and sister but love each other to pieces.

DAY 166
Was able to get out to the grocery store and bought some blueberries.  Jojo just loves these and they aren't easy to find in Russia.

DAY 165
Taken on the iPhone at Frankfurt airport and waiting to board our long flight to Los Angeles.  The boys did real well on both legs of the flight.

DAY 164
Here we are with the Zubarevs.  This was our last time seeing them.  They moved to the States.  We will really miss them.

DAY 163
Our church's womens conference.  I was really so blessed by this day.


DAY 162
At the staff picnic where I got a zillion mosquito bites.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Out On A Walk

After the train station we headed over to a stadium to see a "locomotive" that is parked at the front.  We walked around for a little bit and I snapped a few shots.  These are just random shots!

The locomotive stationed at the stadium.  The boys loved it.  We have to figure out how we can get inside!
People love their dogs here.  We see all kinds of breeds.
 Sometimes I think we're in L.A.!!!
A tram decorated for Victory Day which we celebrated on May 9.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Train Station

June 5, 2010
We wanted to head to the Samara train station before returning to the States and head to the top where there is a viewing platform but we got there too late and it was already closed.  I love the building though and it is one of my favorite buildings in Samara.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Puck cakes

Monday, June 7
Both Nathan and Josiah have a hard time saying "cup cakes".  It comes out as "puck cakes" when they say it real fast.  I have been wanting to make these fun and colorful cupcakes for a while now.  I got the idea from here....one of my favorite blogs to follow.  The boys enjoyed them and so did the Moorhead kids.   It's always fun to try out new recipes. 

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Days 155 - 161

Dinner and Scrabble with the Tahmisians.  I'd just like to say that I won!!!

McDonalds and the park with the Klassens.  Nathan got spun around real fast on some equipment and while we were waiting for our tram he puked!!!  Note to self: do not spin Nathan around too much after eating!!

Yahoo!  Christina and Zhenya collected enough Coca-Cola bottle tops to get Jojo this soccer ball!!!!

Hanging out at the Moorheads and enjoying a cupcake.

Our church in Samara celebrating 15 years!!!  Praise God for His blessing on Good News Church.

Kicking back and enjoying a good read while my pink toes dry.

Last sentence "I love me".  Yes Josiah, I think we may all love ourselves a little too much.  Thankfully it wasn't his first sentence.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

What have we been up to???

Well it has really been quite a busy time for our family.  The month of May was insane with Jon being gone practically every weekend.  Monday morning we hop on an airplane to California.  Our student visas have expired and it's time to exit the country, apply for a new visa, and God willing when we return at the end of August we will finish the process for the 3 temporary residency visa.

Josiah can't wait to go to California and see his grandma Maria and his cousin Madison.  He has real rough days whenever we are about to leave.  He gets so excited about the "future" that it's hard for him to live in the present.  We are trying to teach him to be thankful in every circumstance and to be content no matter where the Lord has us.

Nathan just wants to go on an airplane.  He is his happy go lucky self.  He is totally potty trained now.....he has been for the last 2 months or so.  It was great because he just kinda did it by himself.  Truthfully I wasn't in any rush to do it so it is real nice that he made the decision.  It will make flying a whole lot easier!

So, if you think of us, please pray for our trip back to the States.  The entire trip takes about 27 hours from the time we leave the front door until we enter my mom's house!!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Days 148 -154

This picture requires a bit of explanation. Today for Math, Josiah had to graph his favorite summer indoor and outdoor activities.  First of all, I realize that Jojo is not going to be the next Rembrandt.  The kid strongly dislikes coloring and drawing, so this is his attempt.  So, for his indoor activities the first drawing is of a clone trooper helmet (he's hoping he gets one this summer), the second drawing is a pink Nintendo DS.........it belongs to his cousin Madison and even though he has his own he said it was too hard to color his black and blue Nintendo DS so that is why he drew and colored Madisons, the third is none other than TARGET....ha ha,  and in fourth we have a television with "Little Bill" which is why there is a black mark on there because he says Little Bill is black.  Then on the right we have the outdoor activities which include playing with his cousin Madison, swimming in his Tia Alex's pool, and playing soccer.

Yep, just what we need outside our apartment building..........a beer and dried fish kiosk.

No, it's not snow its called пух (pronounced like "pooh" but the h is voiced).  This lovely fuzzy stuff falls off Poplar trees and it is all over.  It is terrible for our allergies and I can't wear lip gloss outside otherwise it all flies straight to my lips.

Jojo is waiting for our elevator........he wanted to go run errands with me this day.

Jojo watching Clone Wars on the iPod.  And yes, he wore the same thing two days in a row.  When you live in a foreign country with no drying machine then you will understand.

This is Nathan's favorite book.  Jon has to read it to him every single night.  It's called "A Party For Pooh".  You see the blue present that Pooh is holding?  According to Nathan there is a "Herbie" car inside of it.  Then Nathan has to touch all the balloons and tell us what color each one is.  No kidding........every night. 

Nathan and his Southern "Belle" again.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Elephant Stew

When Jon's grandma "Ladybug" passed away, Judy, my mother-in-law gave me one of grandma's cookbooks.  The cookbook is from 1972 and is a Methodist Cookbook.  There are some real great recipes in there and throughout the cookbook there are some real silly ones.

Recently, I have been scouring my cookbooks for some new recipes.  I don't know if it's because of the warmer temperatures or the fact that we will be going to the States in a couple of weeks but I just haven't felt like cooking or baking lately.

I came across this recipe the other day and I must have been real tired because when I read it, I couldn't stop laughing.


ELEPHANT SOUP

1 elephant (medium size)
2 rabbits (optional)
Salt and pepper

Cut the elephant into small, bite size pieces.  Add enough brown gravy to cover.  Cook over kerosene fire about 4 weeks at 465 degrees.  This will serve 3,800 people.  If more are expected, two rabbits may be added.  But do this only in an emergency; as most people do not like hare in their stew!