"Prazdnik"

Yesterday was the special New Year prazdnik (celebration) at Lydia's preschool. We had fun watching her with the other kids as they danced, sang, said verses, and had a visit from Ded Moroz (Grandfather frost).

Birdie got dressed up for the occasion in her Christmas outfit...

Here's Lydia's class in the hallway, waiting to go into the room for the performance.

Lydia and the other girls are dressed as Christmas trees (actually New Year trees)

Dancing around the Yolka (New Year Tree). The lady in white is dressed as Snyegorachka (Grandfather Frost's granddaughter).

The lady in the black and white dress is Lydia's head teacher.

The arrival of Ded Moroz!

Each child received a little gift.

And now for the video clips! Enjoy!

Sisters

People are telling me more and more often that Birdie looks so much like Lydia. I'm agreeing more too. As I look at recent pictures of Birdie, I keep thinking, "Somewhere we have a picture of Lydia that looks just like that!" Here are a couple of examples. Think they look like sisters?

Lydia at 5 months:

Birdie at 5 months:
Lydia:

Birdie:

Banana Baby

I woke up early this morning (well, Birdie woke me up to feed her), and I couldn't go back to sleep. So, I decided to get up and do another blog! After all, I do have an exciting event to blog about... Birdie's first "real" food! Last night she was introduced to the wonderful world of food, with a smooshed up banana. Lydia loved helping to feed her. After a couple more days of banana, it will be on to rice cereal! Enjoy the show!

Thanksgiving and Other Catching Up

I see I have been neglecting the blog lately! Time to catch up on recent events, so get ready for some pictures!

First, a cute after-bath picture of Birdie:
Lydia, with her adoring little sister:

A few weeks ago, International Academy had their talent show. Lydia got to be a co-host with Daddy! Here she is all dressed up for her role, with her friend, Olivia:

Lydia was not afraid of the microphone. I think she likes the spotlight!

Next, Thanksgiving day. We celebrated with the other American teachers and their families, but first, some American football in the park (in the drenching rain!)

Here's Lydia, ready for the Thanksgiving feast:

Family photo with the traditional Indian hats:

Last weekend, the IA middle and high school students had a retreat at a place outside the city. Aaron went as one of the teachers, and the rest of the family came along just for fun. Lydia loved hanging out with the big kids.

Here the girls are getting ready for bed in our room at the retreat.

A game led by Aaron and one of the other teachers, about the web of life:

In the dining hall at the retreat:

This is the view out the window of our room. A shaft of sunlight popped out for one brief moment (the only time the whole weekend).

After we got back from the retreat, it was time to put up the Christmas tree!

Birdie has recently discovered her feet, and they must be tasty!

The next pictures were taken just last night. There is something so cute about a little baby hat with ears!

Who's Who, and Videos

I went back to some old pictures of Lydia, and I just had to post this one side by side with a similar picture of Birdie. I was amazed at the resemblance! Can you tell which baby is which? It would be harder if Lydia hadn't been such a baldy!

I also wanted to post a couple of videos. The first one is a little clip from Lydia's program at preschool, and the second one is a funny one of Birdie doing some baby aerobics!

Quiet Afternoon

It's a quiet afternoon at our place- Aaron and Birdie are taking a nice long nap, and Lydia just got up from her "nap" and is now munching on an orange. Time to catch up on the blog! Get ready for some pictures...

Yesterday was the annual Harvest Festival at the school. The theme was the Vancouver Winter Olympics, so people dressed up in costumes relating to the Olympics or their home country. Lydia and Aaron went as Olympic torches (the easiest costume I could think of to whip up the night before...) They had international foods available, and games in the classrooms that you could buy tickets to play. A lot of work went into it, and they did a great job! Here Lydia is playing the fishing game. Looks like she caught a big one!

We also participated in a cake walk, and Lydia won a beautiful cake!

Here's Lydia with her friend Olivia:

The closing ceremonies, where they gave out medals for the games and the best costumes:

Obama even made an appearance...

Some recent pictures of Birdie:

I like this one- chomping on the toy fish:

Big blue eyes!

Awwww....

Nobody can get Birdie to smile like Lydia can!

The next few pictures are of a visit to a cemetery where many people who died in the World War II blockade of Leningrad. About half a million people are buried in mass graves here!

Lydia with some other teachers who went with us.

Long rows of mass graves.

On a much, much lighter note, here are some pictures from a special autumn program at Lydia's preschool. It was so fun to see the kids singing and dancing. Unfortunately I didn't get many good pictures.

At the end, the kids all got a carrot. Somehow their teacher made it fun enough to make the whole group of 3-year olds SO excited to eat a carrot!