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!

Rolling Over and 3-Year Old Logic

Yesterday Birdie rolled over from front to back for the first time! She looked a bit surprised after she did it. She only did it once so far, but I'm sure there is more to come!

Another historic thing happened yesterday. We had our first snow for the season. It didn't stick around, but it was fun to see it coming down. Lydia was all ready to head outside and go sledding. I had to explain that the snow has to be piled up on the ground before you can sled on it.

Now, for your reading pleasure, some glimpses into the mind of a 3-year old...

Lydia (counting on her fingers): At the office, I told (a guy we know) that I'm three years old. He said he is I think 5 or 6. Hmmm... I don't know, yeah maybe 6.
Me: Well, he's a lot older than that- maybe 35 years old.
Lydia: Whoa!! He needs more fingers!

Lydia, after a conversation about feeding Birdie: When (a friend of ours) comes over, I'll ask her if she has milk in her breasts.
Me: Well, she doesn't.
Lydia: She doesn't?
Me: No, only Mommies have milk in their breasts.
Lydia: She's a Mommy!
Me: No, she never had a baby, so she's not a Mommy.
Lydia, looking perplexed: Well then, is she a man, or what?

Lydia's Got Wheels!

In my last post, I said we had all been sick. Since then I had another round of some kind of virus, but I think we are at last all healthy. Lydia had been mostly over her cold, except for a cough that kept hanging on. So, she missed preschool all last week, and then on Monday we had to take her to the doctor to get a "spravka" proving that she is healthy enought to go back. She was glad to get to go back yesterday.

The weather turned very cold last week, so we had about a week of very chilly temperatures inside our apartment. On Monday, the city turned the heat on in our part of town, so now we don't have to wear our hats inside, as Lydia is doing here:

Yesterday was an exciting day for Lydia, because she finally got to try out her new bike! It took a while for Aaron to find new tubes to fit the tires, and then to get a pump that worked for the tubes. She loved riding it and did great, but she needs to get used to the brakes that kept stopping her when she accidentally pedaled backwards.

Some more recent pictures... Here Lydia shows off her "Indian headdress" that she likes to make when she takes her shirt off to get ready for bed.

Adorable Birdie:

Lydia modeling her fashionable hairstyle, done all by herself. The sock on the hand is nice accessory too!

Lydia and Daddy, ready for church on Sunday: