Booo!

Heidi's Halloween! Her update: I was on a short work trip to Iowa 29-31 OCT but returned in time to meet up with Erik and the kids - our church had a small kids carnival from 4-6pm with games, treats, and hot chocolate... we stayed til after 5pm then we headed to the big street over on East Capitol Street four blocks from the Capitol...and went down 7 blocks on both sides. The older two kids really had fun running the whole way - Erik tried to keep up with them... I held back and assured Tanya that she didn't need to run to keep up and so we had fun. The yards at most of these houses were really tricked out - cob webs, ghosts, spiders, grave stones (one with puns of political folks past and present) Elvis was at one yard, and etc... Lots of lights and fun, some moving parts and smoke, etc. For the adults, I think it was just as much fun as it was for the kids cause we all laughed and talked, running in to a lot of folks we knew and classmates of the kids too... Even got some token candy for us adults now and then.

We got home at about 7:15 in time to still pass some goodies out to kids in our neighborhood. The kids handed out stuff out by the fist fulls so we were out in minutes. Then Sasha volunteered his loot and poured it in the bowl and handed that out for the next forty five minutes or so. It was such an amazing thing to have a kid give up his own stuff, but he had fun doing it! Imagine seeing three kids on the sidewalk/front steps in full costumes (princess, blue angel, and ghoul) handing out candy in the rain - they loved it! We finally called them in and got them changed and feed and off to bed. We laughed when even after the outer lights were off and the door bell still rang... turned out we forgot to unplug the spider lights hanging from the kids 2nd floor windows and they were hollering out at any kids going by - the last kids at 8:45 said to us - we love your kids as we heard giggles coming from upstairs. You would think it was Christmas eve - so needless to say, they and we enjoyed our first Halloween together!

-Heidi

Warpspeed

October, a combination of light speed and stillness. I have been living very full days and watching the kids developing at such a speed its dizzying. (Note to self, insert bon-i-fidee photo of the most dangerous predator on the block, long overdue thanks to the Holtys)

"mi nnme iz iiingo umtoa, hu hilld mi fdr, retr ttta di!" shhe shouted.

what was that Tanya? she repeats with emphases, frustrated that I didn't get the joke. Urged on by her siblings, we repeats again (and again...) and at last it hits me.

Tanya, its "Prepare to die, pre-pair-too-die"

We had watched "the Princess Bride" over the weekend, and that, combined with a trip to the Maryland Renaissance Festival had inspired a few hours of daring doo and sword fights. We had three Inigo Montoyas running around challenging us to duels for over a week.

We made a short day of the Ren Festival but the kids did great and Masha enjoyed it too. Next year we shall try to put some costumes together for a longer adventure. I have found it easier to present them with the new experience like this, I had thought of building it up over days with picture books and the like, but the language is still a bit daunting and there are soo many obscure angles to try to explain it was easier to say, "yep, that's the way the dress 'round here" and give them a turkey leg.

Inigo Montoya, and his taste for revenge have only been out weighed by the impact of three Swedes and a Norwegian. We had a movie night a few weeks ago and watched ABBA's Momma Mia. They can now parrot all 16 tracks on the cast album I dug out of the closet from when Heidi and I saw the show in London on stage.

We also made a couple trips to Rock Creek Park for some creek playtime, rock hopping and boat floating before the ice sets in for the winter. (and for you NCIS fans, we did not see Ziva, DiNozzo, Abby or any scene tape.)

And last, but not least, the newest adoptee in the family, Chi Chi! she is a 9 year old terrier mix who is a hoot to watch bouncing up and down the stairs at the house. She puts up with the kids just fine and Masha took to her at first lick.

Wow, does time fly! School started and away we go! I have been a very bad blogger! Heidi has been getting complaints on Facebook about my slackerness! (Thanks Jana!)

Hardly a weekend goes by without a adventure, last weekend was face painting at the H Street Open House, this weekend it was petting zoo time at the Oktoberfest on Barracks Row (Marine Barracks Washington)

Update from Heidi:

If you haven't checked the blog lately - the kids are doing well. Still going through a lot of changes and developments on a daily basis but they are coming along and so are we as parents!

Sasha is in the 4th grade and participates in an after school dance class on M,W, and Fridays and is on the same soccer team that he played on last spring. The soccer team practices on Tues nights and plays games on Saturday mornings.

Christina is in the third grade and has soccer practices on Wednesday nights and games on Saturday mornings. She will also start to participate in Girl Scouts on every other Friday afternoon after school. Her and I are also starting to work together on Monday nights to serve a dinner meal to a church group of adults for a new beginner group called Alpha. We went to the training night of which was introductions for the leaders of all Alpha groups and the meal prep folks and we stayed the 1.5 hours of the meeting vs what I thought we might only stay for a half hour. She proved to enjoy it and our time walking there and back as it is near our home was very promising in a Mom and daughter outing that went well. This is a ten week class that I hope we will continue to do well at.

Tanya is in the 1st grade and enjoys it. Because she showed little interest in soccer practice last spring we are not gonna push getting to 3 practices and 3 games in different locations on Sat am so Tanya is not participating in Soccer. Unfortunately being the youngest she gets dragged along to the practices and someones game but there is a playground and other kids that often help that out. Tanya will also participate in Girl Scouts every other Friday after school starting soon. And we started her in on a pre-ballet class (it is a 5 year old class) but it is at her speed of learning and so far so good. We are getting ready to place her in a speech therapy class as her words were hard to understand in Russian and it is following over in to English too.

All in all the kids are doing well!

Erik and I are hopeful that they will continue to grow and develop well! Their care towards one another is good - with the occasional (ok daily) fights among one another that really is simply the whole sibling thing. They also tend to be jealous of one another but are sort of learning to get over that (ok, wishful thinking on my part)... We continue to have Masha (an official Au Pair last year with us from Dec 08 - June 09) and now we are sponsoring her as a student at our home. She provides help for us to listen for Russian phrases especially those that need to be watched (bad words and conversations of concern). She also has allowed Erik and I to get out weekly and be a couple and re-group to maintain our relationship strong. This has been very helpful. We lost our last elderly pet (Ajo, our 16 year old Aussie Shepherd) in August. It was a hard one for me as I had her for 15 plus years. The kids saw the loss and what Ajo meant to me and still to this day thank God for Ajo every night at our dinner prayer. We haven't gotten a new pet yet but may at some point (just hard to match the right pet to all of us) - and no hurry yet! Thanks for your time and support to our new family! Blessings to you all and to your families as well!

Regards! -Heidi

Shout out!

A quick shout out to Mikes & Sarah's mom out west! always Glad to have a fan out there!

Well, I think the kids dentist is from New Jersey.... she sent one of Christina's molars "to the tooth fairy" today. What a little trooper she is (with rotten teeth). More to follow...

Ahoy Matey!

So after Sasha and Christina's trips with Pa and Ma, Tanya was not feeling the Love. so Heidi came up with a clever solution. She took Tanya on a special half day escape to Annapolis and a Harbor Cruise to make her feel special too. Of course she dominated the scene.

Sanity Break for three please....

So, big kid sanity has been an objective in August. Masha took advantage of the tennis courts at Turkey Thicket rec center where the kids had their last summer camps to brush up her skills and challenge Heidi to a grudge match.

Well, Heidi and I snuck out this last weekend to go to a scooter rally in Harrisburg PA. So the responsible adult in the household (Masha) took the kids back to Baltimore to adventure at Port Discovery. The kids played with, in around ad in a world of carefully designed educational experiences.

Us grown ups rode 388 miles on our scooters and participated in age appropriate experiences like paint ball jousting and Heidi unsuccessfully defended her Gymkhana title from last year. She was quite a celebrity on the day of the big match. She did a great job and we had a great time. the kids where happy to see us when we puttered into the back yard on Sunday. thanks Masha, for the moments of sanity.

Erik

Bowling and Bolling for Happy Birthday-day

Wow, where did the summer go! The chips are working to an amusing degree. It was all funny funny 'till we counted out the chips at the end of the week and and passed out the awards and Tanya failed to have enough blue chips. What an early life crisis!

The Birthday weekend weekend was a great success, or Happy birthday-day as the kids say. Sasha and Christina had make up birthdays ( their American Birthdays have been adjusted to July). July was a bizzy month so we exercised a parental prerogative and picked a more convenient date for us big kids, in August.

We rounded up several kids of the their acquaintance and convoyed over to Bolling Air Force Base bowing center. We descended on them like locusts on wheat. Three lanes of ball rolling excitement. Chase and Christina pause between frames and Sasha and Tanya confer over balls with fellow revelers.

Let the chips fall where they may!

Well, when I looked it up, the line is actually referring to chopping wood, but...

We have started a little experiment, the poker chip game. Good job, the old ata boy/girl, you get a blue Chip. You can guess that the red chips serve as the Ahhh Sh*t chip. It amazes me what a 8 year old will do to get a blue chip or avoid the dreaded red chip.

We have already established a Monday change over on chores and seat assignments in the car. So Sunday night is the final tally for the week. Sasha and Tanya ended up with one more blue than red ones. Christina had her own economy going with Heidi, so we did not have a accurate exchange rate to compare. We shall see how this behavior modification/economics lesson will go.

And what a weekend it was. This weekend was Heidi's trip to the Minnesota with Christina for Gam's Birthday (Heidi's grandmother). A group photo shows the get together with Ben, Heidi's Brother Harry's son; Stephine, Heidi's Brother Jerry's Daughter; Dawn, Heidi's Mom; Mellisa, Heidi's late brother Ed's daughter; in the front row Ed (EJ) Mellisa's brother; Christina our Daughter; Gam, and Maxim Jerry and Karen's new son.

Christina and Maxim had a great time exploring the Minnesota at the lake shore with an afternoon of canoes, paddle boats, jet skis and party games. of course there was the cake part, always a plus. Their parting was a good one, their second time together since their arrival in the States. This was a great opportunity to meet more family than they have had in the last three years. maxim returned to his new home with Jerry and Karen. Christina returned with Mama to Minneapolis to her Grandmothers house (Not Babushka as much these days).

Now us here in DC, the rest of us have to keep ourselves busy, so it was off to the new "National Harbor" development. think a mall/hotel with a place to park your 50 foot yacht. Today we packed Masha into the car after church and headed off to Baltimore to explore Pory Discovery on Market street including a three story climbing playground. We wrapped up the day with a Dragon Paddle Cruise of the inner harbor. Pedal, pedal pedal (by the way, 30 min is plenty of time with kids aboard, matey)

In bed by 1000, and Heidi is due Monday night, thank God!

Love to all,

Papa, pedal, Papa!

New and imporved weekend adventures

So. Heidi ran off to Dallas with our friend Jen for her preliminary Bridal Shower
festivities (kinda like preseason games I guess) and Masha and I took the
kids on for the weekend.

Life has its ups and downs, and so does ice skating. And in Tanya's case it had
a whole lot of them. The rink guard told me she never wanted any help every
time he checked on her ( I'm not a good enough skater to risk my neck and
theirs on center ice for this learning experience). Just like riding bikes, a
lot of falls and cussing but they where all happy at the end.

Masha and I worked on our fledgling moves as the kids gained mastery. By the
end, Christina had taken Masha under her now expert (her third time out) wing and
was coaching her to try something for two minutes and she would check on her.

One Sunday We attended church and then went to a community arts organization open house
that featured events like African story telling, flamenco dancing, making hip hop tee shirts and
the ever popular face painting. The high point was a kids theater presentation
of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by two very flexible Thespians.

After
a quick lunch and adult nap and we bundled them off to Potomac park for
scooter riding and play-grounding.

The real treat was on the ride back. The kids in their seats in the back on
the Mazda 5 were discussing something in Russian earnestly. Masha told me they
where talking about religion. Tanya, the seven year old, was holding her
belief that your soul goes to Heaven. Christina the eight year old held that
your Heart goes to heaven.

I have to say we adults were surprised by this. And at this point Papa
completely blew his big chance at discipling with his children by going for
the cheap shot.

Papa told them in English that in Sasha's case it is his "butt" that will go.
The kids started laughing very hard. I must of took them by surprise and it
sounded like my timing was perfect.

The real treat for Momma was when she returned from Dallas to sneak in to say goodnight, although all were racked out, Christina awoke and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek! Wow, that was big and very unexpected! Very Kool.

Love to all, a special shout out to our Dallas fans, best to J.R. ya'all!

Mama and Papa Bear

Sailing, sailing.....

"A capitol ship for an ocean trip ....Though it of'ten appeared, when the gale had cleared, that He'd been in his bunk below...."

So several things to consider over the last weekend. Mortality, ageing, mentorship, friendship, youth and red eyes.

Sasha and I went on a coast to coast dash over the weekend, last. Leaving Thursday evening we flew to California for my 30 year High School Reunion.

Sasha did so well, I was very proud of him. This is certainly the first time he has been away from his sisters since we met him in December, and possibly in his life. he listened well and overcame his shyness with time.

We saw my big bro Noel and Sheila in Los Angales coming and going in their above the Fog residence above Ladera Heights, pushing up the coast on Highway 1, we got to Santa Barbara in time for Friday lunch at Mobey Dicks on Sterns Wharf with my folks. Fish and chips with pelicans flying by the window. We farted around the harbor and Sasha Hijacked the harbor taxi on one of our trips, Toot toot!

The visit with my folks was nice, Sasha is still very shy around them, but he was able to play around the house pretty well. I don't think he broke anything important, that I found.

The Reunion has amusing but the keepers for the weekend was the time I spent with Newell Raxter, a fellow '79 grad but a fellow guardsman and ROTC classmate and two hours or so I had with my high school mentor Mr. Ken Larson.

Newell rode over from Phoenix on his BMW and we had a little time to catch up for the 19 years we have been shouting out to one another from different timezones. Mr L, or Ken was able to free up for a very nice chat on Sunday.

Sasha was able to visit with his Grand Parents, my folks, and caught his own Blue Belly Lizard (let PETA know no lizards were hard in the preparation of this blog entry).

And just to make it a full experience, we came back on a Red eye into Dulles, I just have to say I'm not feeling as young as I used to be after that sleeping in the seat thing.

The absolute best part of the trip was seeing the Heidi and the girls on Monday. Heidi survived her all girl weekend and Christina preceded to start a sentence that kept going and going. I just about fainted, since two or three words was good a month ago.

Now Heidi is packing out for her "Trip to Dallas" for a bridal shower weekend of one of our DC Buddies. My turn in the barrel for the all kid weekend.

Hay Ho and a way we go!

Erik, Pa pa on the road, have booster seat(s), will travel.

Back by popular demand

Round three of spot the Cossack! Double elimination round!

It's hard not to be proud, but what a show

What a weekend, I had Drill so Heidi had a full court press on her hands.

As we have mentioned in the past, we belong to a very "Young Church", by that I mean the average age is in the high 20's, with a lot of very enthusiastic and energetic people (theaterchurch.com). They host a summer Baptism by the Bay. A couple hundred church folks, 20 boxes of Popeye's Chicken and pot luck fixens and ooooh so yummy desert tables. Over twenty members of our Church took the big step to commit or recommit themselves to their faith in the waters of the Chesapeake bay . It was a grate event and full of fellowship and good times to remember.

So when I saw her e-mail about the big finish I had to share it:

"This sort of got a little longer than I expected.... Just a recap (not necessarily for the blog, so just enjoy!)... So our church had a baptism at the bay at a state park in MD yesterday and at first the kids were just dipping there toes in the water... then we told them go ahead and after realizing that they were not gonna "not get soaked" we took their shirts (we only had a change of bottoms) so within a few minutes they were all having fun in the water. There were approx four little ones in diapers, and about ten or so including ours in the water. Sasha is on the beach just walking. Christina later swam over closer to the baptism action. This one was one where she was getting closer in on the action. She first showed up close and looked on with a hmmmm, as Tanya would say "what's dis?" look, and then swam a lot closer for a "give me look" as Christina has said for let me see! And yes, that is one of my favorites so far of the kids' phrases! In any event when Christina started getting in the photos and video coverage of the baptisms they were on the last two or three people. Thank goodness! (Pastors Heather and Mark get a little help from Christina) And yes, we had a lot of folks, ask, "is that one of yours? " The day was wonderful and the weather even better! The best part was Christina was a sport in the end when I realized I had to break it to her we had used her (spare in the car for accidents undies) for her bloody nose a couple of weeks ago, she said, it's ok, as she put on a pair of jeans. Then I asked if she wanted to wear my jacket I had in the car cause by now her dry shirt was soaked, so she agreed and went home just fine. The other kids were pleased to have dry stuff to put on too ! Got home at 8:30pm with three very tired kids, did very short showers - with me holding the shower head (hand held shower head) for each of the girls, and then Erik helping Sasha, and they were in bed and quiet by ten to nine pm. Wow! Erik and I even made it to a going away gathering at a nearby friend's home - just to prove we can have kids and still get out! Yeah! And of course we had to promise to the going away friend that we will continue to update the blog! We are getting better at all this on a daily basis and do so very much appreciate all your kindness and prayers! Much Love! -Heidi

It was such a special treat to take the Kids to the beaches I knew as a kid, and share with them the wonders of the Pacific Ocean. This was my playground as a kid.

Wow, that was a quick month, so sorry for the lapse in updates. Just recovering enough to fill in the story:

Four kids on the beach, and I'm proud to say to my knowledge, only one crab gave its all for the sake of scientific exploration. Well, I have just recovered enough from the trip myself to put my thoughts together enough for an addition to this blog.

The task that was ahead of us was: get our three kids to CA to meet up with Papa's Papa and Mama. We took it over the top by having Heidi's mother, her brother Jerry and wife Karen bring Maxim out too.

This is the first time all four have been together since February, time flies doesn't it. We all were very interested in how the kids acted together and how they acted with us. As you may have heard, Jerry and Karen would like to make Maxim a permanent part of their family, and we all agree this is the best fit all around for all the children's needs and temperaments.

We had many great moments to try to get caught up with all the friends and relatives, it was really a whirlwind of activity.

So many wonderful moments and adventures. Masha, our right hand came along for the trip, but we wanted her to get out from the old fogies for a wile. Loren and Amy Vogelsang came back into town to meet the kids and give Masha the twenty somethings tour of San luis Obispo (they got the cake but they chickened out on the waterfall at Madonna Inn ;).

The Wands and Rockwells put together a welcome bash at the Rockwells Casa, great food, wine and BBQ! Many of the supporters of our journey and central coast life.

I am getting ready to take Sasha out to California again this coming Weekend for my 30 year High school Reunion, and Heidi is taking Christina to her grandmothers 90th Birthday in Minnesota in August.

Things age changing at a Tidal Rate, at a glace you dont see it but come back in a bit and wow, the boats stuck on the beach, or out to sea!

We just got back from a Red Eye from "the Coast", after seven days of adventures, to be detailed when I am awake, the adventurers discuss their exploits with their fans.

Erik

Tanya at the park, lets see how we are doing,..

Skate board, Check!

knee pads, check!

Wrist Guard, check!

Cast, Check! .....what?

We went to a picnic at a park and one kid had brought his board and safety rigs. Tanya supplied the cast all herself! life is good, just another 30 days is all.

The week saw the end of classes at school and Tanya's promotion from Kindergarten and Sasha being recognized for his citizenship, math skills by his teacher and Christina was given the Most Improved award from hers.

Now for the important things, after the Rolando deal with Real Madrid. Our budding athletes are now playing a greater role in our retirement planning! Sasha's team, the Silver Bullets finished their season with all wins and one tie. he received a special award for Most Hustle on the team and he got his copy of the Team Trophy presented by the coach.

Christina really developed as a player and a team mate over the course of the season. in all it has been a very good school year.

Papa Bear, out here!

At the four moth mark, wow what a difference. it was a crazy busy weekend.

International night at the elementary school and the kids could not understand why they had to share their Perogees with the other kids.

Saturday finished the soccer league with Christinas Bluejays and with Sasha's Silver Bullets 11-0-1 undefeated record, he was recognised for his "Hustle" on the field.

Papa and Mama slipped away to play on our Scooters to "Scootergate". Our third year going to this Rally on H Street NE.

Sunday Cristina had a Birthday party to attend and met up with Tanya and Sasha at Garfield Park for the Mothers On The Hill (MOTH) picnic.

Of course these MOTHs have six tables of complimentary goodies from local restaurants, live bands, bounce house, face painting and free chair massages. Gotta love them MOTHs!

Being there, for the next one

At the four month mark and we have our first chance to help the next one down the rabbit hole. Heidi received an e-mail from a recently returned parent with a 9 year old girl from Russia. (To get the flavor of how far we have come you need to look at the good old days back on the 9th of February)

Stress, frustration, need for support came across loud and clear, and that was just the e-mail. We where forced to review in our minds our first week. Wow, what a flashback! The kiddie Olympics complete with the hand to hand child wrestling, Mattress toss, Door kick and down the street kinder sprint. Those where the days!


We headed to the store for some barbecue supplies and the newly minted family came over for a chance to meet, greet and speak our respective languages.

The kids paired up and had a chance to compare pasts and stories as did the the parents. Masha was indispensable at shedding light on some minor mysteries and the elders compared experiences.

Masha is helping with a little respite time for Mom and the little girl gets a chance to relax a little and ask some questions. As time goes on we see the kids unwinding, acting and trying to make sense of this crazy world they have found theirs selves dropped into.

This little girl is doing great, and our kids have set the bar mighty high on histrionics. Its nice to serve as an example, one way or the other.

Erik

Well another week under the keel.

The kids, as an average continue to improve. More English words slip into their usage. We have not been pushing them to speak English in our times together, leaving their classmates and teachers to do the heavy lifting. Friday was a day off for me and Heidi took a pass to run around town a little. Oil change for the car and we swung by school for the Asian Cultural awareness presentation. We watched two of the kids participate in class presentations in the cafeteria. We continued our parents play date by getting pedicures and meeting Masha and the kids at the Smithsonian Sculpture garden for the. Jazz in the park series.

The kids discovered the fountain in the center of the park. And about15 seconds to discover the copious quantity of tossed change on the bottom. My solution to the possible problem of them completly destroying the parrent child economic ballence was to tell them it was okay to scoop up the coins, as long as they toss them back out in the center of the huge fountain.

So at 1100am on Saturday, two hours into inflatable pool operations in the back yard. One mild touch of hypothermia (poor Sasha, he has about a half cup of fat in his whole body), one damp cast and three kids watching cartoons to warm up for a few. Now, hot dogs in the backyard with a afternoon trip to the "world" corn hole (bean bag toss) competition by our church on the national mall. Then we plan on going off to COSTCO to pick up Sasha's new glasses. Its been so cute, he has been asking for them every day since we learned he was blind as a bat past 5 feet (like Papa). Good times in the District. Love to all, the three Cossacks et al. Erik

Sent: Thu May 21 14:14:43 2009Subject: Fw: Tanya at doctor's office - check out her new friend!

So Tanya had a friend hang with her at the doctor's office today while we were determining if she has asthma. She is a real trooper at doctor's office and this is her fourth facility (including the civilian ER visit a week ago with her broken arm from the zoo).

- she gets to go get the arm looked at and casted finally at Andrews AFB next Tues (gotta love the hurry up and wait mentality of these places) - referrals, wait for referral to get reviewed,then wait for call or them to answer the call to get the appt, then get on the list for the next appt...

We are still figuring out what she has (with her congestion in her lungs) - but the initial x ray from a couple of months ago was looked at by the pulmonary doc at Walter Reed this AM and showed some concern, enough to go from the nebulizer to a steroid inhaler treatment for the next month.

Tanya definitely prefers the waiting rooms with the cartoons playing and truly enjoyed the last doc she saw this am as he had all kinds of fun light up and noisy toys to play with. He had a very positive and fun attitude just like the tech that ran her through the breathing through the tube machine which, thanks to Masha, she did better each time to get the reading and info for the doc to look at and evaluate. So back to work all and regards to you for a great rest of the week!

:) -Heidi

Tanya get down from there!

For those of you who may have been following this blog for a while you will remember the fears and panics of December, the Triumphs and near Tragedy of January (1 February Post), and the Chaos and Confusion of February (Operation Squirrel). You will be able to see just how far we have come since we first met these little Cossacks (a term of endearment, I assure you)..

As I sat in the E.R. Last night, I was going over it in my mind all the progress. Friday we had our first ever parent teacher meetings, three of them. All the teachers where very happy with the kids behavior in class and their progress academically:

Ms Kane, Tanya's Kindergarten teacher. Is very happy with her socialization and determination to complete assignments. She let us know that her school assigned speech therapist is practicing with a translator so they can give Tanya a detailed assessment of her speech issues.

Christina's Ms Gu, her second grade teacher, has done wonders giving her confidence at trying assignments and has turned her into a little art factory. We are fast running out of flat surfaces to take her output. She has made great improvements at becoming more of a child and less of a prisoner sworn to escape.

Ms Ratchford, Sasha's third grade teacher, told us about his buddy/competitor from class, who is also in an ESL track. They are always trying to out do each other and both have taken to the classroom computers very well. Of course its hard to get them off of them.

So the week of school, dance class and soccer practice culminated in the Friday, school holiday/parent teach conferences. We, of course can do nothing simply:Heidi and I jump on our trusty Vespas and go to work and appointments in the morning.

Masha keeps the kids engaged around the house.

Noon the parents disengage, slip into telephone booths and head to school for our first ever Parent/Teacher meetings with our capes flapping behind us.

Masha jumps in the trusty Mazda 5 to take the three little Cossacks in tow to the National Zoo for the afternoon.

The simple plan was to meet at the world famous Ben's Chili Bowl for dinner.Heidi and Masha would take the kids to the Movie on the grass our church was sponsoring at Lincoln Park. I would just scoot over to Georgetown University to attend Sagar's graduation reception (a grad student friend from India).

Well, best laid plans of mice and men... So Tanya manages to fall playing at the Zoo. Masha, the calm adult in the family, stabilizes the situation and calls me about the ouch'ie. We decide to keep to the script and meet for dinner.

Over french fries and chocolate shakes, we determine the little hard head did do a number on her arm and even after a half hour of icing it, is still swollen. The reset plan sent Masha and Tanya in the Van and myself, scooting, to the E.R. At George Washington University hospital (a familiar place thanks to the pioneering work done by Masha, on her adventures).

Our Friends, the now engaged Clinton B. and Jennifer (look at that ring!) B. Swooped down to rescue the marooned Heidi, Sasha and Christina on the corner of 12th and U street NE, we had left them at. Mama provided a motorcade feel on the trip back to the house before showtime.

All was well, the break was a clean one of the radius, just below the wrist.The movie was Madagascar II, enjoyed by all. The Hospital adventure ended early enough to make the Volcano scene and closing credits.

Flexible Papa, at your service

Pasta Party

here are some of tonight's photos, we went to an Italian restaurant and we had several big breakthroughs!

Tanya asked for Pizza, a first!

Christina, and Sasha had spaghetti with sauce (first time they did not put a few drops onto it, we had asked for it on the side by but it came smothered) and tried the pizza, and Christina gave Tanya some of her spaghetti with out a fight. Then they all used Parmesan cheese too! I just about fainted.

All this happened after Heidi left Masha and I at the table to run off to an author reading and book signing event.

I just put them to bed after wrapping Heidi's mothers day present.

Tomorrow, soccer for S and C, Train Day events at Union Station and a Bounce house Birth-day party for a classmate of Tanya's. all before 6pm. wow! did I mention panic flower buying and the dog groomer too!

Love this family life!

Papa in Charge

Find the Cossack, round two!

If its Picnics, it must be summer!

The kids are doing very well this weekend. Two BBQ's in two days, they seem to be able to take what dish out to them, including Ice-cream.

The first Picnic of the weekend was the year end one at Georgetown for the American Friends Program. Both Heidi and I had been paired with international students, Leslie from Paris for Heidi and Sagar from Hyderabad for Erik. Since the beginning of the adoption Odyssey we have been very neglectful friends but it was very good to see Leslie at the event.

On the way to the car the kids found a bunch of college students playing bean bags on the grass (the place had more sunning co-ed on the lawn than leaves in the fall). They started watching, then caddying stray bags and in 10 minutes they had control of the game.

Its a good thing Tanya is so shy and demure (that's a joke by the way), this is her own photo shoot style. Sasha and Christina both try out the football for the first time.

Many firsts this weekend, like most; bean-bag toss (Corn hole as the NCC's call it), Frisbee and the afore mentioned "football of the American variety".

Summer time, and the living is easy...of course its not "Summer" summer time yet, but its 98 degrees at Haines point Park for a Church BBQ, so close enough!

The first of many school photos. this will give you an idea about our school. Its a very diverse and progressive school. I haven't heard what the kids think of their Chinese lessons so far.

See if your can play Wheres the Cossack!

Papa Daddy