Monday, January 28, 2013

Week 42- Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake


This past Friday I had some women over again and I made this delicious cake. It sure looked so pretty at the end but I was afraid it wouldn't taste as pretty as it looked. Thankfully it was super delicious. I only got one small slice though because that was all there was left! I will definitely be making this recipe again. It's over on my cakes/cupcakes board on Pinterest .

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Hoarfrost

We woke up this morning to a beautiful sight. All the trees were white! It's actually been so cold the last few days but sometimes no matter how cold it is things can sure look so pretty. It's too cold to use the camera outside so I snapped a few pictures on the way to church from inside the car.



Thursday, January 24, 2013

Thankful Thursday

I guess I have forgotten about blogging about how thankful I am. Nonetheless, I truly am thankful regardless!

1. I'm thankful for a lesson I've been preparing on the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit. I have been studying joy and peace. I'm thankful that joy and peace aren't dependent upon our external circumstances. They are both seeded deeply in our hearts and available to draw from especially in time of trials.

2. I'm also grateful that two families from our team have returned. The boys are especially thankful since one of the families lives upstairs from us. They can't wait to play again with their friends.

3. This may be a bit trivial but I'm thankful for the PBS app on my iPad. It's been fun watching the new season of Downton Abbey, albeit a day late.

4. And last but not least I am so thankful for my husband who celebrated his birthday yesterday! He has been so busy lately and so tired. I'm so grateful for how hard he works and desires to glorify God. He is such a blessing to me and the boys. We're in for some big changes this year and Jon has remained so calm. He really trusts the Lord and I'm thankful for his example to me.


Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Our Little Dental Adventure

This past weekend I noticed that Nathan had quite a large cavity in one of his teeth. I felt like a horrible mom for not noticing sooner. He just saw a dentist 5 months ago and his teeth were just fine. Anyway, we have a real nice dentist here who works within a 15 minute walk so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal since she usually can get me in the same day. I should never assume that things here will go easy for me!

So, I called her first thing Monday morning. She said sure I can see him but I've moved. It's hard enough for me to understand directions in English so trying to understand in Russian was quite impossible for me. I asked her to text me her new address and I would see if it was too far for us. According to the map it definitely wasn't walking distance but doable by car or public transport. Only problem of course was that Jon wasn't home and even though I could figure out what bus to take there I just wasn't familiar enough with the stop or the exact location of the building. So, I figured a taxi could get me there. Thankfully my sweet friend Masha arranged the taxi for Nathan and I while she watched Jojo. After 30 minutes in traffic we arrived to our destination for our 4:00 appointment but the driver had no idea which exact building it was. There were like 5-6 buildings with the same exact address - 70 Revolution Street. The only exception was that the address my dentist texted me had additional info - Litera 2........I had no idea what this meant nor did my friend Masha but after seeing all the buildings I realized that it is basically the number of the building in that maze of buildings. I asked someone for help and was guided to the correct building...........PHEW!

Poor Nathan did great. He had to get his gums numb for the filling but he opened his mouth big and didn't even complain.  By this time it was only 4:30 and I figured it wouldn't be too bad getting home.

As we were leaving I took a picture of the building just in case Jon ever had to go there. As we were walking through the parking lot, Nathan says, "Mom, why do I still have my regular shoes on?" DUH...I totally forgot to put his snow boots on so we had to head back to the dental office and get the snow boots. As we finally get out of the labyrinth we turn on the street to walk towards the bus stop. After about 5 minutes, I realize we are heading in the wrong direction.....DUH again. So we turn around and head towards the correct way. We were finally at the stop and after 10 minutes I realize that none of the trolley buses are stopping at this stop. I asked a lady why the trolley buses aren't pulling over and she says you have to go to the next stop and points me in the right direction..........DUH again. Thankfully after our many detours we finally walked in the door a few minutes after 6:00. We get to go back this Saturday but thankfully I know exactly where we need to go and this time I think I'll just keep his boots on.

We saw these icicles on our little adventure and Nathan
thought they were pretty cool. He wanted me to try
and get one off for him!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Winter Bird Art

Last week we had some friends come over. The boys were off doing their own thing so I grabbed the three girls into the kitchen to work on an art project. I've been wanting to try this one for a long time now. I got the tutorial from Deep Space Sparkle .  This site is one of my favorites when it comes to art for the kids. Lots of amazing art lessons and they're geared for elementary age.

Supplies needed were:
construction paper
watercolor paper
watercolor paints
chalk pastels
scissors


I made my own watercolor paints using 2 cups boiled water, 2 tablespoons vinegar and food coloring. I then divided them into four containers and used different colors of food coloring. The great thing was that there was a lot of paint left over so we have a lot left for future use.

I think they turned out real pretty!





This project is perfect for the kind of snow we've been getting lately!!

Friday, January 18, 2013

Fresh Snow

We've finally gotten some real winter snow. It's been snowing now for more than 2 days non-stop! It really looks beautiful outside when it's like this. So, today we headed out to the park to meet our friends. The kids had a lot of fun playing in all that snow!

                                                         Jojo chilling out in a fort the kids found.










 
Jojo still wants me to push him on our sled! He and Nathan took turns while we walked to and from the park. I'm not complaining though because I get a bit of a workout in!


Thursday, January 17, 2013

Week 41 - Cream Cheese Danish




I have been M.I.A for a while. Things just haven't been too exciting around here!!! Last week though I did make this amazing danish. It was delicious to say the least and not very hard at all to make.
We had a few guests over for dinner and I served this (along with Texas sheet cake cupcakes) for dessert. By the end of the night it was all gone. This is a pin that I have had on one of my boards for a long time but needed to make sure I had the right kind of cream cheese. You can't get Philadelphia cream cheese here anymore like we used to but there is something very close to it that I can only find at a grocery store that we seldom go to. Thankfully, my hubby took me to this certain grocery not too long ago and I was able to buy my cream cheese. You can find the recipe here on my Pinterest account!


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Winter Fun

While Moscow has been receiving record breaking snowfall, we've barely gotten any snow here in Samara. There's enough snow though to have some fun outdoors. Last week the boys and I headed over to Kuibashev Square to check out the ice sculptures, big Christmas tree, and enjoy a sleigh ride.





We also had a couple of friends come over so we headed outside so the kiddos could do some sledding on the dirty little hill by our home.............






Then yesterday we headed out again to do more sledding. This time we met our friends near their home at the Slava square.




Friday, January 4, 2013

Getting Crafty

For Christmas I wanted to give some homemade gifts to some of my friends and mixed a couple of ideas I have seen floating around on Pinterest. In my scrapbooking, I am always making some sort of paper flowers and thought it would be fun to try to some fabric flowers. I also like the idea of a small "white board" where you can write down some lists, a note to your husband, or a Bible verse for encouragement. The results were these darling frames:



I got the frames at Ikea for $2 each and also bought white board markers.
I then packaged them in cellophane tied off with a ribbon. I really like
how they turned out! 



Thursday, January 3, 2013

Week 40 - Cranberry Orange Bread

Earlier this year my husband had a bout with kidney stones. The doctors here told him to drink homemade cranberry juice so we stocked up on frozen cranberries. I still have a few bags left so I was excited to find this recipe on Pinterest. The recipe calls for fresh cranberries but I used my frozen ones. I realize my picture doesn't look anything like the one on Pinterest but it tasted amazing, especially straight out of the oven with a pat of butter. It got a thumbs up from the boys so I will try it again to use up my frozen cranberries.


Wednesday, January 2, 2013

New Year's Day

On New Year's Day we basically just relaxed at home. I was so tired from the lack of sleep considering that fireworks were going off all night long. Thankfully the boys and Jon were able to sleep through the noise.

 We never did stockings in my family but Jon's family did. I know that stockings are to be handed out on Christmas morning but I've changed that up a bit so instead we get our stockings on New Year's Day.


                                               The boys are checking out their treasures.



This year I decided to get a stocking too! Since no one ever fills mine I filled it myself with some of my favorite goodies.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year

On New Year's Eve we pretty much stay inside. I thought this year it would be fun to have our own little family party. We started the evening off with a big dinner of Thai chicken wraps.  My friend Heather made them a while ago and I have been planning to make them on New Year's Eve ever since. The recipe is here at Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog


My friend Lori made the adorable tablecloth and napkins. We also had a couple of appetizers including Jon's favorite artichoke dip.


We then moved on to a family Wii bowling tournament where yours truly kicked major butt!





We then played some "Minute To Win It" games. We laughed quite a bit, especially when we played "Junk In The Trunk" (see picture of Jojo above). I will spare you the pictures of Jon and I playing that one. We played a marshmallow toss and eating the cookie......all within a minute of course.


We also did a year in review with the boys. The form basically asked some questions regarding the year and some personal info. I glued the forms in the journal of prayers and funny sayings I have for each of the boys.



We closed the evening by watching Hercules. We let the boys stay up until 11:00 which is super late for them. I don't think they would have made it to midnight!

It was a fun night and a great way to end the last day of the year. 2012 has been a year full of many blessings and lots of trials. 2013 will be a year of a lot of changes for us but I know that this year is in the Lord's hands.