Meet the Teacher Night

Meet the Teacher night was tonight so we got to go up to the school to find Chloe Jo's classroom, meet her teacher and to drop off her school supplies.

Here she is looking all cute in some of her school clothes.

The school did a huge rearrange of grades and teachers and Chloe Jo ended up being in the exact same classroom as last year! She thought that was pretty great. She was very nervous before going in her classroom and this development helped her to not be so nervous. But, the poor girl had hives (a trait she, unfortunately, got from me).

I had met her teacher a couple of times last year when I was subbing at the school and didn't think she was particularly the nicest person, but I think she was just busy when I met her because she was great tonight. Plus, we went to see Chloe Jo's Pre-K teacher to say "hi" and she said her new teacher is wonderful. All my inhibitions were gone from that point because I very much trust her Pre-K teacher and I know she wouldn't say anything if she didn't actually believe it.

Here she is standing by her cubby.

Unfortunately, neither of Chloe Jo's best friends from last year are in her class this year. She was disappointed about that, but I know she will make new friends and it will be fine. Plus, she can always play with her friends from last year at recess!

Tomorrow is Chloe Jo Day. She gets to decide how we are going to spend the last day of summer. I can't believe she starts Kindergarten on Wednesday!

This and That

Whoa, Nellie! Chloe Jo starts school on Wednesday! WEDNESDAY! How can that be possible?

I started new Bible class material for my 2 year old's on Sunday morning. I am loving it! The kids seem to be enjoying it and learning and I am very excited to be using the material. One of my friends is the creator of the material and you can find it here. It is not completed for the whole Bible yet, but there are 2 quarters done.

Now, I just need to decide what to do with my 4's and 5's when we start Wednesday evening Bible class again. We do a summer series during June, July and August so we all meet in the auditorium. It is a nice rest from teaching. I think I am going to join forces with another teacher, but I am wanting to start the New Testament and she can continue on the Old. We shall see if she likes that idea.

Last week, we took a Zoo trip with the cousins. That was one of the things Chloe Jo said she wanted to do this summer so we had to get it in before school starts back. The morning we went, it was drizzling so there weren't many people out. We practically had the zoo to ourselves for a few hours. The animals were very active and they were giving us a show! One of the monkeys played with the kids for a little bit, kissed the glass and then turned around and kicked it when he was done. It was hilarious!

Chloe Jo, Brenson and Brianna

Lovely children.

 I told Bren and Bri to pick the statues nose. Instead, they picked their own. Bahaha!

 The meerkats were so funny! We watched them for several minutes. One of the nice things about having the zoo to ourselves was that we didn't have to keep a hold of the children's hands the whole time. They were able to walk around and explore on their own since there were no crowds to get lost in.

Also, many of the zookeepers were out and they stopped to talk to us about the animals and answer any questions we had. It really was a fantastic zoo trip for us!

I couldn't just pick one penguin picture. These two little guys played with the kids and kept getting their attention when they weren't looking at them!

No zoo trip would be complete without a ride on the train!

A couple evenings ago, I made tortillas for taco night. I love to try new recipes and I had been wanting to try this for a while.

Yum. They turned out pretty good for a first attempt. I do have to say, though, making tortillas is an art form. The first few of mine weren't that great. I had to adjust the heat several times and I had to take them off the griddle at exactly the right moment when they were done, but not crispy. An art form, I tell ya.

We decided to start giving Chloe Jo and allowance. She likes to ask for things and tell us that we "need to get" so, in order to curb that, we decided to let her earn her own money to get what she would like. At first, I based it on whether she was good that week or not. Being good includes doing chores, not whining about it, and doing what she is asked to do. We gave her just a few new chores to go with her new allowance. We decided to have her make her own bed, take all the little trashes to the big trashcan in the kitchen and sort her own laundry. The first couple of weeks, didn't turn out so go because I was trying to enforce no whining. If she whined, she lost out on that weeks allowance. This didn't work for us for several reasons. One being that she doesn't yet have a good concept of what a week is so it seemed like forever between allowances to her. Second, if she whined on Monday, it could take two weeks for her to get another allowance. So, we changed it up. I found this free printable and decided to give that a try.

I know the word "behavior" makes it sound like we are having behavior problems with her, but that isn't it at all. It just says that because that is what the printable has on it. Anyway, this has worked much better for us. I try to give 1 to 3 punches every day. This way, she can see her progression towards the allowance and it is achievable every week or so. I have loved this and plan to continue doing the allowance this way for the forseeable future.

Next week I am going to do a post on some of the recent items I have added to my shop.

Happy Friday, friends!

Tea for Three

We have been trying to make the most of the last couple of weeks of summer vacation. I'm not looking forward to loosing my little sidekick once school starts.

One thing Chloe Jo wanted to do was to have a tea party. I got into the attic on Saturday and brought down the box with the tea set we used for her 4th birthday tea party. She didn't remember the set so it was like getting to open something new for her!

Before we could get to the party, though, we decided to make a snack to go along with it. Friday evening, we were watched Julia Child make Irish Soda Bread and we decided we wanted to try it.

Stir, stir, stir.

 This recipe only had 4 ingredients (part of the appeal) and looked super easy to make.

 Another nice thing about this recipe is that we didn't have to knead it or wait for it to rise. We just made a round loaf, plopped it into the dish and popped it into the oven.

It isn't the prettiest bread I've ever made, but it smelled yummy.

I cut a few slices off of the loaf and we set the table for our tea party.

Cheers!

Our soda bread was delicious and it was perfectly paired with the strawberry jam Chloe Jo and I made. We also made lemonade to drink instead of tea. Chloe Jo hates drinking anything warm or hot.

Even Daddy enjoyed himself. No tea party would be complete without funny accents and little fingers sticking up in the air. Chloe Jo thought Mommy and Daddy were hilarious.

A Little White Dress from Mexico

Isn't it amusing when a seemingly insignificant item begins to symbolize something much more significant?

For me, that item comes in the form of a little white dress from Mexico.

This little dress symbolizes a journey. A journey that can almost define a large portion of my married life.

The story of the little dress begins nearly three decades ago.

I have an aunt (my mother's sister) and uncle that have lived in southern New Mexico for as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl my family lived in Kansas City so we didn't get to see my aunt and uncle very often. One summer, we loaded up our big, blue van and drove the fifteen-ish hours to visit them. I don't really remember much about this particular vacation, but I do vaguely remember crossing the border into Mexico. We shopped and Mom bought a large bottle of vanilla. We ate tacos (which I vividly remember were not nice to me and gave birth to my nickname, Stinkpot). I don't remember if each of us kids (there are four of us in my family) got to pick out a souvenir, but I assume that is what transpired. At the time I was less than ten years old and was in the height of my doll playing days. I spied a booth with several small, beautiful dresses hanging around it. I loved looking at the dresses and chose a white one with black and pink embroidery. My innocent little girl mind thought the dress would be perfect for my Cabbage Patch Kids back at home.

The dress ended up being quite a bit bigger than my dolls, but I dressed them up in it anyway. I didn't care. That dress was a treasure to me and I loved it.

Eventually I grew out of playing with dolls. My Dad built my sister and I hope chests and the little white dress went into the hope chest to be saved for a little girl who took her time in coming.

I kept that little white dress in the hope chest for the next decade and a half. When I was twenty-two, I married my husband and the hope chest and little white dress were moved to a small townhouse in the middle of the city we started our married life in. Every time I opened the hope chest, I saw the little white dress and hoped that one day I would have a little girl to put the dress on.

We started hoping for a little one just a few months after we got married. We waited and hoped and, still, the little white dress stayed safely tucked away in my hope chest.

Two years later that hope chest and little white dress were moved four hours away into a little apartment. Finally, five years later, our sweet little girl joined our family and the little white dress emerged from the hope chest.

I had to wait a while before my little girl was big enough for the little white dress, but the moment was magical when it finally happened.

Now days, the little white dress resides in a chest of dress up clothes. My girl loves to put it on and play in it, so much so that I had to repair a duo of busted seams just yesterday. As I was sewing on the dress, all of these memories came crashing down on me. The little white dress has become a lifetime of hopes and dreams finally fulfilled.

Revitilazation

Hello Blogworld!

It's been, like, what....almost a year since my last post? Yikes.

I have been thinking about a blog revitilization for a while and tonight seemed like a good time to do it.

A lot has happened in the last year for our little family. Chloe Jo finished her first year of school. And whoa, nellie, it was so good for her! She has really come out of her little shell and even started speech therapy. She is starting Kindergarten on the 20th of this month.

First Day of Preschool

Last Day of Preschool

 Last fall, we signed Chloe Jo up to play soccer. While this is probably not her thing, we had fun and proceeded to participate in the spring season, also.

Fall Soccer Season Picture

Last fall was our most recent family portrait session. My sister took them for us and we love them.

We celebrated Chloe Jo's 5th birthday in April. I didn't go all out for a party this year. We just had family over and it was perfect.

Birthday Party Favors

We have been enjoying our summer. I love having Chloe Jo home and don't even really want to think about taking her to school again. I so miss my little sidekick when she is in school. But, that being said, I also know that preschool was great for her and public school is the right decision for our family. We have done several fun things this summer including getting a first bike and taking swim lessons.

Chloe Jo's first bike

Ready for swim lessons

As for Russ and I, we are very happy in our little town. Russ' preaching job has been going great. I started substitute teaching at the school in the spring and plan on doing that again this school year. I still have my shop, Lisa's Little Lovelies.

It feels good to be back in the blogging world. I think I would have really missed this blog had I deleted it.

Our most recent family picture - July 4th

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 4-7-1998 and 4-8-1998

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 15! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

This is the last entry for my Ukraine journals!!!

4-7-1998

Chelle and I went to the Sony store before class. She got a Beatles Love Songs cd. I love buying cd's over here. They are really cheap. Then we had class after we got home. Dad went to the S's after class. Chelle and Marmie stayed in the flat and I went to watch a movie at R's. We watched Three Men and A Little Lady. I've seen that movie many times but I still like it. I went home and J came over to "barter" with Dad. He brought this candy to trade. It looked like gravel and tasted like a decayed rat! It was awful. I have never in my life seen Dad spit something out but that candy sure didn't stay in his mouth. J and R are crazy about the stuff but I don't see how they even stand it.

4-8-1998

We met Shawna at the bizaar. We got some eggs to color for the holiday. Then we went to the market and Shawna bought some Winnie the Pooh egg covers. R came over to dye eggs with us. Most of the eggs cracked but we used them anyway. The Winnie the Pooh covers were adorable and the other eggs were neat. I made a Star Trek egg that turned out really good. I took a picture of it so I hope it turns out ok. R made a Looney Toones egg that was really neat. There were four towels all on top of each other to protect the table but the eggs were so hot that the made white spots on it anyway. It was really bad but it was also very hilarious. We went to Garmatna for services tonight. We got out of the metro and R, J, and I stopped at a kiosk. Well when we walked up the stairs there was a bus there. We took off running but didn't make it. So us three had to walk. It was fun though.

I'm kind of sad this is over. It has been so fun reading through these journals and remembering the days we were in Ukraine. I wish I could go back and experience it as an adult. I was so unimpressed with everything back then. Sigh. Teenagers.

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 4-5-1998 and 4-6-1998

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 15! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

4-5-1998

We went to Garmatna today. Before that we went to McDonald's for lunch. Jeremy and Shawna met us and R there. Chelley has tonsilitis. We walked all the way from the metro to Garmatna and I had to take off my coat and walk in my t-shirt because it was so hot. We have had pretty nice weather this past week. After services R and I went to Gedro Park. We rode a spinny ride first and then the cages. We were watching these girls do them and they couldn't even get halfway up. We decided that if their pants weren't so tight they might have been able to move. We got it over about the 6th time. We were on it for about 10 minutes and it just drained my strength. I collapsed on R and I have some nasty bruises from that. :-)

4-6-1998

Marmie, Chelle, D , R, and Shawna and I all went souvenir shopping. We went to a bunch of places but I didn't buy anything until St. Andrews Street. We ate lunch at McDonals and then went to St. Andrews. I bought a ring and earring set for myself and a necklace to go with them. Then I got a bunch of other stuff for friends and teachers. Then D, Shawna, Marmie, and I went to the bizaar while R and Chelle went to Deskemeer. When we got home Jeremy was there. He had gotten sick and just came there instead of going home. Shawna made us pizza for supper.

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 4-3-1998 and 4-4-1998

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 15! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

4-3-1998

We met Shawna today and ate at McDonalds and then went to the bizaar. Chelle and I didn't stay at the bizaar though. We went home and I started on my homework finally. I got one lesson done in science and one in history. So I only have 2 in science and three in history to go. I thought I made a good dent in the homework situation. We are studying World War 2 in history. That is on of my favorite subjects so I was happy that it was interesting. R and D came over to play games later that night. It was really fun. We played grouch and Phase 10.

4-4-1998

We had a Ladies Day for Left Bank/Darnitza at our flat today. Helen brought three girls and 1 other girl was there. We all had class together. There were Helen and Shawna that taught. Then there were girls named Julia, Tonya, Dasha, and Kate. R was also there. We learned some really cute songs and taught some others to the Ukranian girls. They were all about 12-13 years old. After the Ladies Day we all went to the C's for games and snacks...the Ns at least. It was a great night. We played Family Fued: Kids against adults. Then we all sang a bunch of songs together. It's great singing in only one language and not hearing the Russian.

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 4-1-1998 and 4-2-1998

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 15! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

4-1-1998

K1's birthday is today. She is 36 years old. The babies still haven't come. R, J, Chelley, and I all went skiing again. This time we dragged Shawna along instead of D like on Monday. I stopped a lot better today. I fell a lot still but did better than I did on Monday. My skiis were messed up bad. The boots kept coming undone and the skis fell off a lot. It was bad but fun. I fell really bad and hurt both of my knees but that was toward the end of the day so it wasn't like I quit at the beginning. It was so fun anyway. We went home for about two hours and then left for church services. D, R, Marmie, and Chelle all went early to stop at K2's and so I went with J. We walked from the metro to the building.

*Looking back through these, it seems that J and I did quite a few things together. Hm.

4-2-1998

This morning we went to the bazarr. Marmie bought a bunch of bus tickets and some other stuff. Chelle and Dad went somewhere to get his picture taken for the Bible School. I went with Jeremy to their flat to get some hamburger and he bought me some Kinder Surprise Eggs. I love those eggs. They are so good. We then sang Farmer Joe all the way back to our flat. We sang at our flat to and annoyed Chelle to death. It was quite fun. Jeremy and Shawna stayed there while Chelle and I went to R's to watch "That Thing You Do". I love that movie. It is really good.

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-30-1998 and 3-31-1998

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 15! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-30-1998

Chelley and I went snow skiing today. I had so much fun and I have the bruises to prove it. We had to wait about 15 minutes there until it opened. So R and I were sledding for that 15. I have never been snow skiing so this was an adventure. I stopped while standing twice only. All the other times I fell. We had bought McDonalds before we went and ate it at noon. The C's went also. I never went to the very top of the hill because of how steep it was. I didn't use the pull rope either. It was faster to walk for me and I didn't like how much the rope jerked. Skiing is so fun! I hope to go again before we leave.

3-31-1998

We had class today. Before class we worked on our Job papers. We all went to the S's for dinner. We took stuff to make up. We had chicken spagehtti and fruit salad. Marmie also made cinnamon rolls for dessert. K1 ate them all. Ha Ha. K2 is huge! I hope she has the twins before we leave. I want pictures of them in the bibs I made. I hope the bibs look cute. They still don't know what the twins are. At first they though they were both girls but now are not sure. Oh well. I played with the kids all night. We went and saved the Princess. We all dressed up and had a good ol' time. S was a doctor. A was Superman. C was a cowgirl and I was a Hollywood Movie Star. LOL.

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-28-1998 and 3-29-1998

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 15! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-28-1998

We threw K2 a baby shower today. It was quite rude of K1 to bring her in 2 hours late. I was very not happy. Then he tried to blame it all on her. The nerve! I finished the 2nd baby bid yesterday night. I was relieved to get that out of the way. They both turned out so cute. K2 really liked them. K2 was very pleased about the whole thing. It didn't seem to bother any of the Ukranians at the shower that K1 was so late getting K2 there. They don't value time like we do though.

*It is true that the Ukrainian culture is not so concerned with punctuality (or it was true at that time). I think I could have worded that nicer. Also, I do not remember the circumstances behind the Ss being late so who knows what really happened.

3-29-1998

Chelley and I went to Darnitza alone. Mom and Dad went to Garmatna. K1 wanted us to "encourage" the girls at Darnitza/Left Bank. We also met Pasha today. He's really nice. Alex is really cute for being a Ukrainian. A little scrawny but ok besides. Anyway, we were waiting for Julia to come back from the bathroom and all of the sudden K1 starts calling us "Lousy Girls"! We didn't talk to Julia fast enough for him. He is such a PIG! When we got back to our apartment we had the C's over for dinner. Mom cooked a huge meal that was so good! We had Chicken Spagetti. Then for dessert there were fresh-baked cinnamon rolls. After eating we all played fictionary. It was a riot. Then we all wrote C.

*C was in the state at college during this trip.

Kiev, Ukraine Journal - 3-26-1998 and 3-27-1998

*Disclaimer: Please remember that I wrote these when I was 15! I could be a snarky brat! I also am typing these journals exactly as I wrote them, bad spelling and all, except I have abbreviated names to protect the innocent or not-so-innocent.

3-26-1998

We had to get up early today to get ready for another class. 4 hours is just a little to long of a class in my book. Jeremy and Shawna were here for lunch. One thing I am sure of is that Jeremy hasn't lost his appetite. :) Chelle went with them to spend the night there. YEAH! So I invited R to spend the night here. We gave each other quizzes out of our zines and then we stayed up and talked. We also were being silly. We went down to the kiosk at the end of our street and bought a bunch of junk to snack on all night. Then we gave each other makeovers and took pictures of ourselves. It was a riot! We stayed up till about 1:30.

3-27-1998

We went to the Eunice bizzarre today. It's the biggest one in the city. We got a whole bunch of diapers for K2 and the twins. K2 sent a list for us and it was quite long. We had to get two cars coming back and it was hard to get two at the same time. Shawna stayed and ate lunch with us. Then Shawna, Marmie (my mother), and I all went to Deskemeer to buy Shane some PEZ dispensers. Then we went to the Ss to eat there. Marmie took food and we cooked it and everything. It was really good.