Countdown, days 10 to 6

10 Days til Christmas and the sounds of coughing and sniffles are ringing through our house. Alek tells me his nose is tired of all the running it is doing, not to mention the issue of his "eyes leaking". Cracks me up when he says that! On another note, he did so great in the church play, he was angel and a donkey--we were very proud of him. Of course it wouldn't be our kid without something funny happening, as I was zooming in on his angelic face singing a beautiful song, I watch as his finger begins a journey into his nose, until he finds a winner! Such a beautiful moment, caught on tape forever!

9 Days til Christmas and my little loves are racing trucks around the house buck naked and laughing their little hineys off. Despite my head pounding from the noise, I can’t help but laugh.
Gotta love boys!

8 days til Christmas and my little love (Maks) gave to me a great laugh in his sweatshirt, tighty whitey underwear and flip flop ensemble. He is ready for the beach and has taken to sleeping with his flip flops on!

7 days til Christmas my little love (Alek) gave to me, the priviledge and pride of watching him skate well enough during test day to advance two levels! I love seeing him full of pride and excitement!

6 days til Christmas and I have the joy of watching my little loves perform together in their school show. Alek looking handsome in his shirt and tie and singing his heart out, Maks looking as cute as can be in his Santa hat with his rhythm sticks. The highlight was as all the kids are singing, “A few of my favorite things”, Maks is attempting to scale the large pole on the stage and pretty soon has 2 other little boys following him. I love it! These are the times that mean a lot. It wasn’t that long ago that these activites seemed like ones we may never get to experience.

Enjoy the video clip from the holiday show, you will notice the monkey scaling the pole on the left is Maks.

Walking in a winter wonderland

Tree time! One of my favorites things of the season. I love the tree, the smell and decorating. We usually get two trees, one for living room and one for basement for the trains and the kids to decorate. Since we are going away we decided to only come home to one dead tree.

We headed north to a tree farm to find the perfect tree. It is a great farm, the provided the White House tree in 2006 and told us they did our state capitol tree this year.

It was our Griswald, I mean Harkins fun family christmas activity. We were happily surprised to see snow still on the ground up there. Made the adventure extra special. we hiked around looking for the perfect tree. There were so many beautiful fraziers, it was very hard to decide. The boys had a blast running around in the snow, they even met some other kids to play way.

We finally found the perfect tree for us and Kevin cut it down. I was supposed to make sure it didn't fall over but I was busy filming, it almost landed on Alek--we all got a good laugh out of it.

The day went pretty well aside from some issue securing the tree to our roof for the longer drive. But it all worked out.

It was a beautiful day and a fun adventure. Double checked the tree for squirrels before moving it inside. I decorated most of it while the kids were sleeping to protect my fragile ornaments and then left all their for the bottom.

Now that the tree is up and decorated it truly feels like Christmas for me. I love sitting in the living room in the quiet with just the lights on the tree. So peaceful.

Next on the holiday list, Alek is in the church Christmas pageant. He is in the angel choir and also will be the donkey during one song.

Both boys have their holiday show this week at LL.

13 days til christmas, 14 days til beach!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Visit with the Big Guy

This week brought about the much anticipated visit with the Big Guy, the man himself, Santa.

The boys were very excited and kept changing their minds and arguing over what they were asking Santa for.

We headed over to Santa's temp office space, aka the mall and waited for his arrival. Excitment built as the clock chimed 6 pm. Then all the kids in line saw the big Guy headed our way.

I always enjoy watching kids visit with Santa, especially the ones that cry. There is just something great and classic about those pictures where a child is screaming and crying, I still enjoy looking at those of myself as a toddler like that.

Well, we are past those days. Santa is a rock star to the boys now, no fear of him. I have never seen them be more polite and well behaved as they strolled up to Santa, shook his hand and sat down.

They cooperated for great pictures and took turns telling Santa what they wished for. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

And then it was over.

I wish Santa could come to my house each day. I love the power he has over them!

After our Santa visit we headed into our Picture People appointment. So much for the power of Santa. let the silliness begin. It was the usual scene. Kids, parents, crying, pets, giggles, annoyed photographers. The joys of the season!

Our photo session was ok. I was not thrilled with our girl. She didn't have much patience. Never offered us the other backdrops or props which annoyed me. The boys got silly. So I cut it short.

The photos were not too bad, but not as good as we have had in the past.

The crazy thing in all of this: with my coupon it was cheaper to get a photo session and two poses at Picture People then one with Santa?!? Didnt pictures with Santa used to be free?

Oh well, it was a fun night none the less and as Kevin says,

"Its the most wonderful time of the year".

Two weeks til Santa's arrival, two weeks and one day until we are all playing in the sand and soaking up the sun in Bimini!

First snow

Much excitment this weekend in our house, the first snow. Alek and I were at a birthdy party when the flakes came down. By the time the party was over the ground was covered and all the kids were excited to go home and start playing.

We got home and woke up Maks from his nap, he couldn't get his boots on fast enough. It was the perfect snow for snowballs and snowmen. We had a great snowball fight, make snow angels and played on the swing set. They love swinging with snow on the ground-haven't quite figure out why?

We went in for awhile to warm up and then headed off to a local church that was supposedly having sleigh rides and other Christmas activities. Unfortunately due to the weather the sleigh didn't make it, but the kids enjoyed the live nativity and petting zoo along with some cookies and juice.

We headed home a little early and played outside in the dark. They begged me to help build a snowman. I realized after 10 minutes I was the only one building and they were engaged ina snow ball fight. I finally finished my creation and was getting the carrot for the nose when I came back out and watched my snowman being decapitated. BOYS!!! That was enough snow fun for me!

The only downer was not having time to sled. The beautiful snow on the trees really got me into the holiday spirit. The cold made me dream of our upcoming vacation. 3 weeks til the beach. Cannot wait, now back to shopping and Christmas preparations!

Your Help is Needed!

Bring Anya Home!

"Anya Turovinina applied for a visa to come to study English in the U.S. She was to be seeing her sister for the first time in 3 years. Four days before she was to fly to Boston, the United States Embassy in Moscow denied her a visa because she is an orphan and “likely to try to remain in the U.S.”

If you think of all the foreign nationals here studying legally and in many cases illegally, it is absurd to see why Anya was denied. She is not a threat to this country, she would not be a burden. She is a young girl who wants to be with her sister and have a chance at a better life. Those of us who have been to Russia and have been involved in Russian adoption know what the future can be for those who age out of orphanages and have no place to go.
It is unfathomable to me to think that someone sitting behind a desk in the Embassy gets to decide this girls fate.
You will see after reading the pages that the best hope right now is intervention from the State Department and Hilary Clinton.

Please visit the blog and Facebook pages below. Please lend your voice and help reunite these two sisters and make this family complete!
This is the season for miracles, lets hope and pray Anya will receive her Christmas miracle soon!

Thank you!!!
http://bringanyahome.org/
Facebook Group
Facebook Letters to State Department

News Coverage:
Salem News
Boston Globe
NECN TV