Fall

Yes, I am a beach and summer girl at heart, but how can you not love the fall? This is what I love about fall:
The colors on the trees and that mist that lays across the ground as I drop Alek off at school. Somedays we just sit and count how many colors we see.
Maks and fall colors just go perfect together. How can you not love that face, he makes my heart melt.

Brisk mornings of fall ball-gotta keep those hands warm!

Destined for the big leagues!

Maks, wishing it was spring so he would be old enough to play!

Dance parties on the patio.

Cozy cocktails and yummy treats and nothing like an outdoor fire on a cool, crisp night. Just love that smell.

Finding the perfect hiking stick!

Finding a beautiful and big golden leaf.

Exploring with daddy, enjoying the beautiful colors and searching for the best leaves!

Enjoying every moment in life.

Finding a new trail while leaves crunch under your feet.

We love fall.

3 Day Wrap Up

We made it! The 3 Day, 2010 was a huge success. What an absolutely amazing, inspiring, gut wrenching time it was.

This year we were blessed with absolutely gorgeous weather, no nor-easter's,no rain, so no cancellations. It was sunny and brisk. Perfect weather to walk 6o miles and that we did.

Day 1 started at the Willow Grove Mall. We wound our way through the burbs, into Chesnut Hill, through Mount Airy, into Rowborough and Manayunk, to Belmont Hills, to Wynnewood and finally into the park and down to Belmont Plateau. The cheering sections along the way were amazing and really helped to keep you going. Day one was done. We were exhausted but exhilarated. I totally messed up though and paid for it with two nasty blisters on the inside of my feet back towards my heel. It had called for some rain, so instead of my cushy socks I wore some dri fit ones. There must have been alot of rubbing, but it was pretty ugly when I took my sneaks off back at the hotel. But a little minor surgery and bandaids in my room and I was good to go. Friday night a few of us went to a local pub for dinner and then went back to hotel to soak our feet in hot tub. Then it was early to bed.

Day 2 began at Belmont Plateau, we walked up the hill overlooking the city as the sun rose. It was gorgeous. Each morning a man stood at the top of the hill with his two dogs and quietly cheered us on and said thank you each day. He told us we were amazing angels. There were so many people like this throughout the journey, setting up shop at different locations along the way, giving you that extra boost just when you thought you couldnt take it anymore.

Day 2 was spent out on the Main Line. We did Ardmore, Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Havertown. Somewhere in Haverford we came up to this amazing cheering section near a firehouse. It brought chills to my spine as we walked closer, it was so cool to see so many people out cheering and yelling, handing out goodies, and tissues. A woman in front of us spotted her husband and ran over crying and hugging him, I got tears in my eyes. Then I heard a commotion in front of me and looked up to see Kevin, Alek and Maks and Tim and Megs. It was such a surprise, I immediately choked up hugging Kevin and the boys. Alek still had his baseball uniform on from earlier. They were a sight for sore eyes and sore legs. Kevin had gone on line to figure out where the cheering stations were that day and headed down. I love him for doing that, I know it was alot handling the boys all weekend with games and such and to manage to sneak that it, well it was just perfect. Exactly what we needed to keep moving forward on our longest walk day.

Day 2 was rough, but it is easy to keep moving forward as you walk past survivors and family members cheering you on, or walk next to someone who just finished chemo a month ago. Its easy to keep walking when you see signs of remembrance of those who have passed on. The pain in your feet, legs, and back is nothing compared to cancer, so it is easy to keep moving forward. Day 2 ended back at the plateau. We all climbed back in our limo and headed back to camp Four Seasons. We were definitely spoiled during this. I cannot imagine walking all those miles and then sleeping in a tent. God bless all those who did. You amaze me! I was in a plush bed and my body ached each morning.

Saturday night we enjoyed a great dinner as a team at the hotel and then proceeded to watch the Phillies blow another game. What a disappointment for us baseball fans.

We headed to bed to get some good sleep for our final day.

Again we started at the plateau. We walked throughout fairmont park and into the zoo. We got to see the baby giraffe. It was great seeing all the people cheer us on, I think the animals were too!

We wound our way through downtown Philly and all the usual sights. We were all hurting. It was definitely gut check time. You were afraid to sit down because you might not get back up. I could feel the blister on my one foot filling back up and this bone pain on my right foot was making me nauseous. We decided to forgo a sit down lunch as the finish line was less then 2 miles from there. We trudged forward past the stadiums as we listened to the Eagles score a couple touchdowns! Finally the end was in sight, the Navy Yard. It was so amazing to walk in there, to walk through the finish line with people cheering and crying. What a journey it was. Such an amazing experience, the people we met along the way, the stories told to us, it was so inspirational. I am so proud of the Rack Pack, we did it-we made it and we raised $26,000!

Thanks to all who donated, inspired and cheered us on.

To those who we walked in honor of including my Pink Warriors: Kerry, Deb, Dale, Stacie and Deb: You are strong, beautiful, and amazing women, Your fight, drive and determination is awe inspiring and I hope very soon this walk will no longer be necessary!

Like a woman we met along the way said:

"I hope one day soon, pink will go back to just being a color"

Go to my Flickr page to see the remainder of our pics and video of us crossing the finish line!

The Rack Pack thanks you for your "support"!!

More birthday fun!

I was so not on the ball for Maks' bday in terms of school. Generally we do a pizza party, but I forgot to tell school on Monday so they didn't have time to alert the parents in his class not to pack lunch. Couldnt do it Wednesday as Maks had his well visit. So official Maks pizza party will occur on Thursday. The week of Maks continues.

But, We celebrated Maks and all his Makiness on Tuesday night. The birthday king requested chicken, mac and cheese, broccholi and soft carrots for his dinner. Alek threw in a cauliflower request as well. Dinner was enjoyed by all! For dessert, Maks wanted an ice cream cake, chocolate to be specific. Alek was disappointed, he is no longer a big fan of the ice cream cakes-oh well, tough luck, not your birthday kiddo! :o)

We were teasing Maks, saying he was four, he was cracking up and correcting us.
He then entertained us with a happy birthday song of his own and then by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing My Country Tis of Thee. It is hysterical. He cracks me up!! I just love this kid.

Of course, he was excited to finally open his presents. Alek got him some new Tek Deks, and we got him some DS games, including an ATV race one he loves. He also got a new imaginex rescue helicopter. He loves helicopters and motorcycles. He frequently asks me if he can drive them when he is a "teenager". God help me!

We ended the evening with the measuring. The kids love seeing how much they have grown. We measure at 1/2 year and year marks. Maks has really caught up, he is now as tall as Alek was at 5. He has made up for alot over these 4 years home!! Go Maky!! His well visit went great. He was 44.5 inches tall and 44 pounds (she said 85% for both). He was a champ getting his flu shot and the last part of his MMR which we spread out. He said to me afterwards, I am such a tough guy, I didn't even cry mom. I said yes you were!! He said, but "trufhfully mom it hurt". So cute.
So again, Happy Birthday Makaroo! You are the man-we love you!!

In the Smilebox creation below, you can view Maks amazing rendition of the Pledge and My Country....He is a superstar in the making :o)

Create a free digital ecard

The Big 5!!

October 12, 2010

Happy 5th Birthday Maks!

We are so lucky that we have been able to share every birthday with you. It meant the world to us to be able to meet you on your 1st birthday.

You amaze us at how far you have come. Such a long way from the sad and sick little guy we met in Murmansk.

You are funny, witty, inquisitive, stubborn, willfull, happy, smart little man.

You have brought us such joy these 4 short years you have been home.

We look forward to celebrating all your birthdays, your achievements and milestones.
Though it is hard to admit our baby is now 5, it has been a blast to watch you grow. I love watching your excitement over new adventures and activities. You make us laugh and leave us shaking our heads at some of your antics.

You are truly one of a kind and you march to the beat of your own drum.

You are special and you are loved so much!

Happy birthday Makadoo!

We love you!!

9 days

Its October and that means Maks has a birthday, a birthday he has been talking about since May. Turning 5 is very important to Maks, he believes he will be closer to his brother's age 9(which of course is true). Something about 5, that bridge between preschool and school age. Its a very special age.

Since October is so hectic for us this year, we held his celebrations a little early. Friday night we met his and Alek's buddies from LL at Merrymead for the Lighting of the Great Pumpkin. This has become an annual adventure for us. The kids love it, and thankfully the rain went away by the night this year. I touted this as part of his birthday party, so we sprung for the hayrides and the cornstalk maze. The boys were so excited to be together since Alek and X had moved on from LL to the big schools. This was the first time they had all been together since the summer. 4 very excited and hyper boys--thank God we were outside. It was a perfect fall night. The kids had a blast dancing to the music of Steve Pullara, eating popcorn and my favorite-cider donuts. They are the best!! They settled down to listen to the Great Pumpkin story and watch and cheer as each sized pumpkin was rolled out with the finally the Giant pumpkin (name Merry) rolled in lighted. The kids had a great time and it was a great way to kick off the weekend for Maks.

Saturday morning started early for me as I got up to go run in my first 5k. My only goals, run the whole thing and not come in last. I achieved both of those. I was 71st out of 74! Not too bad for a girl who only use to run if chased!

After that I headed off to Alek's baseball game and then took Maks shopping for some party supplies. Kevin was working on the finishing lighting touches for our new "pavilion" area on our patio. We had a contractor working to cover part of our patio for the past month. It turned out great, we are so pleased. Seth did a great job and we highly recommend him. It is so nice having that covered space and will make a huge difference next summer to provide some shade. if you go to Seth's website you can see on the home page at the bottom, recently completed projects. Ours is right in the middle. We love it!

Sunday brought family and friends over to celebrate Makaroo! We explained how he wouldn't be five for 9 more days, so he kept telling everyone it was 9 more days til he was 5. It was very cute!

He was pumped, loves a day that is all about him! I made his favorite shrimp appetizer. He bellied up to the table and shoveld quite a few in. Kevin made some yummy ribs and we enjoyed cooking out. Maks had a blast playing with Keke, Ry, Makenzie, Little Man, Jakey, and Aldo. Thankfully the weather held out so they played out back most of the time. We were excited for the Eagles game as it was the retun of McNabb, but the game was a dud and not very exciting.

It was great to hang out with everyone. Maks chose an Incredible Hulk cake this year. He loved all the presents he received, lots of matchbox cars and tracks, legos, a cool Nerf gun (which I have been shot with several times), Transformers (um, I wish T could just stay here and help me get these back together), so many perfect boy type toys and a DS (so now, no fights over Alek's DS). Thanks so everyone for making Maks' day extra special, thanks as well for the generous gifts--he loved having everyone over for his party as did we.

So, Maks it is now 6 more days til you are 5..the countdown continues....

Sweetness

They can be sweet little angels sometimes.

My rough and tumble little men sure can surprise me.

I came out of the shower and heard some quiet talking.

I peeked into my room and saw them snuggling under my covers, face to face.

Maks was telling Alek all about his dream of dinosaurs that were eating bears and then they came and chased it.

Alek told him it was ok, dont be afraid, it was only a dream.

It was so cute and made me a little teary-eyed. They are truly brothers.

I am glad I caught them in that moment.

5 minutes later I heard them wrestling on my bed. Then I heard Alek yell, "Mom, Maks just farted in my face!"

So much for the sweetness.....

Happy, hectic September!

We are full force into the school year. We had one last hurrah visit with friends in NJ. Had a blast in their pool and drove over to the boardwalk for some fun on the rides.

School is on! So far so good. Alek loves his 1st grade teacher. He is excited to go every morning. He loves his group at before school care and all the fun activites they do. He loves having breakfast there (it is provided as part of the care). He loves to fill me in on which cereal he ate, or the new things he has tried. He is back to liking eggs--who knew?! He was definitely bummed that his friends from last year werent in his class but he is happy making new ones. His teacher is perfect for him, she has 2 very active boys herself and is into sports and outdoor activites. We are very happy. His reading has taken off, it is amazing listening to him read us books. I love it!The other big thing he loves this year is eating lunch at the cafeteria. He loves deciding whether to pack lunch or buy. He comes home each day and tells us what he bought, the new foods he tried and he loves getting high fives when he chooses green beans and extra veggies. SO funny!!

So the only thing he is struggling with now is tying his shoes. He gets frustrated easily. I just ordered a fun book with laces for him, so hopefully that will kickstart him. I know I have totally slacked on this front, but all those slip on sneaks, crocs and velcro truly make life easy, but that has come back to bite me!

Maks is totally into his kindergarten, year 1. We are getting great reports from his classroom. His teacher has said he is very focused and really seems to love each new activity. He does get frustrated with writing but he keeps trying. The thing they are working on is not having him be such a perfectionist (which is very similar to Alek). Maks will throw out a piece of paper even if he makes one tiny mistake.

He really is into coloring now which is great and is getting alot better at keeping it in the lines. he loves music class and is now asking for piano lessons at the day care. I am thinking about it. When I did it with Alek, him and Maks proceeded to pull off all the keys from the keyboard I bought, so not sure if I am ready to invest in another keyboard!

His favorite special remains fit kids day, he is stoked every friday to put on his running shorts and sneakers.

It has been really good for the boys to be seperate now, they truly enjoy seeing each other after school and the fighting has decreased alot!

Sports for the fall, well Alek is full into fall baseball. he loves it! This season is coach pitch and it is 6-8 yr olds. Some of the kids seem huge compared to Alek. He feels so tiny to me at these games. he is doing great though. He got to catch last game, he was so psyched! He looked so darn cute in all the gear.

We took a little break from hockey lessons while we got rolling with school, so we will get back into it next session. In the meantime, he loves his baseball, he is more into watching the Phillies on TV, he asks a ton of questions during the game and really is getting it now. Which we know daddy loves!! Not to mention our Phils are on a roll!!

Maks is totally into his tennis class--he loves it! I wish I had some pics of it, but we have to watch from upstairs through glass and his court is like 4 down. First class was a trip. I reminded him before class to listen to the teacher, not be a know it all (he loves to interrupt you and tell you how he is going to do something, or that he knows or he can do it himself). I told him no goofiness. Ok mom, were his last words.

10 minutes later he has the ball bucket over his head walking around. This was followed up by an orange cone on his head. Pretty soon several other kids were doing the same. God bless that instructor. Kevin and I were cracking up. This kid is a trip, totally marches to the beat of his own drum.

This week he did so much better. Really stayed focused. No buckets on the head. Hit the ball alot. The teacher said he did great. he loves tennis!!

In other big Maky news, his hair is cut, chopped--serious hair cut. Daddy has been wanting it short, threatens a buzz cut. Maks wanted to be able to spike his hair like Alek. Me, well I just love his curls and his irish/russian fro!

Wow, can you believe the difference? he is quite the little man now. It is amazing how much one hair cut can change their faces.

Next up, Maks' birthday, he changes his request for "theme" each week. Currently it is spiderman, last week it was GI Joe (which is the front runner for Halloween costume). Just doing party at home. Next Friday is the Lighting of the Great Pumpkin at Merrymead, so we are going with some buddies and will count that as his "friends" party.

I got to escape for one night/one day with Rachel. We ran up to NYC thanks to some great deals and Amex points! We saw two shows: The Adams Family with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth and then In the Heights with Jordin Sparks.

Both shows were amazing in their own ways. I highly recommend them both. We had a great dinner, fun shopping and people watching. It was a great escape. Kevin and the boys had a great time as well.

The Breast Cancer 3 Day is creeping up, only a few weeks left. The Rack Pack is over 22k right now! Looking forward to this amazing journey.

We are looking forward alot more fun fall activies, corn stalk maze, hayrides, running my first 5k, mountains and Penn State game for Kevin and then headed down to NC to visit Krissy and see a football game--October is jammed packed--can't wait!

Raffle--Support The Rack Pack!

As many people know, I am participating in the Breast Cancer 3 Day again this year.

Last year was an amazing experience despite the rainy Nor'easter that condensed the walk to one day. Our team The Rack Pack still managed to walk over 40 miles last year and raised over $25,000!

With one month to go we are at the $20,000 mark.

This is my final fundraiser for the walk.

I am raffling off the following Silpada pieces (thanks Andrea!)

There are 2 raffles. One for the bracelet and one for the necklace/earring combo.

The necklace and earrings are sterling silver with Pink Pearl and Rose Quartz Necklace. 16” long with a Lobster Clasp.

Retails for a total of $56.00

The bracelet is sterling silver featuring the words, Hope, Joy, and Dream. It fits up to a 7 1/4 wrist and has a lobster clasp.

It retails for $89.00

Raffles are $1 or 6 for $5.

Drawing will be held September 30th.

Cash, check or paypal.

Feel free to email me for details!

Please also check out www.the3day.org to learn more about this amazing event!

Thanks for all your support!

Bye beach and back to school

Well, summer for the most part has come to a close. We said farewell to summer at the beach. Alek and Maks were very excited their cousins, Joe and Reilly were coming down.
We knew it had the potential for chaos but it would be fun. Saturday, post Earl, was beautiful. Would never know a hurricane skirted past the coast. The sun was shining all day. We enjoyed sitting in the sand and watching the kids play. Of course there was alot of reprimanding, 3 boys will do that. But the kids got along well, it was just a matter of keeping them out of trouble.
We closed out the day with another campfire on the beach. It was a chilly night, so it was nice to sit there with a sweatshirt on and cozy up to the fire.

Sunday brought some outlet shopping for me and then more sun and sand. It was gorgeous and the kids were enjoying the water. Sadly our fun was cut short when Reilly was hit with a flying shell or stone, not sure which. A small cut above the eye warranted an ER trip and some glue to close it up. She was a serious trooper and was rewarded with some yummy gelato from Grotto and a balloon. The boys all learned a serious lesson of what can happen when you mess around and dont listen! Thankfully Reilly was no worse for the wear and I am sure there wont be much of a scar!
The cousins headed home sunday night and we stayed for one more night. It was hard on Monday to take that last walk on the beach knowing summer was quickly leaving us. I am sure I will be back down this month, but its still not the same. Just love a summer day at the beach!
We headed back home and got organized and ready for the first day of school! The boys were excited for their new adventures and new backpacks!

The next morning, they posed for their obligatory front yard photos and we were off. We took Maks to LL for his first day in Miss B's kindergarten class (his 1st of 2 yrs). His only concern was making sure he didn't have to nap in her class! Alek and I wished Maks good luck and headed to his school. He was going to before school care as his bus comes too late for me to get to work by 9. We walked into the cafeteria and the teachers were all making a big fuss and a big welcome. I could tell he was a little nervous and then his friend K came running over and gave him a big hug. I knew he was relieved to see her and ran off right away. The woman who coordinates the morning session happened to be the woman we bought our house from, so that was nice. She was so sweet. Alek settled right in.
I drove off, tears in my eyes, my baby is in 1st grade, where did the time go?
The boys both reported great days. They love their teachers and enjoyed their days. Maks was very happy to go to recess instead of nap time and Alek loved the big playground at school.
It was great to know they are happy during the day. They love school and get excited over each new adventure.
I was cracking up Friday morning as I dropped Alek off. We walked by his classroom and were looking at the picture they all drew over what they did this summer. I was looking for Alek expecting to see a beach picture or amusement park or zoo. Instead it was a treehouse/swingset picture which stated I love playing in my cousin Jakeys treehouse. He was there twice this summer. I cracked up. Like I said before Jakey is a rockstar in Alek's eyes.

So we are now in full force fall mode. Alek is playing baseball and will start spanish club one morning a week before school. He will restart hockey lessons as well.
Maks starts tennis lessons next week and is very stoked for this experience.
I have already begun to hear what birthday theme Maks wants (changes daily) and what Halloween costumes they would like. I am sure I will blink and it will be October.