April 2014

It's April!  The last day of March was a snow day for the boys.  The previous day's snow was still everywhere and making it hard for people to get around.   The boys enjoyed having a day off from school and some unexpected time in the snow.  Justin was also excited that his teacher, who had told them that there would be no more snow days this year, was wrong.


March 31, 2014  Pretty decent snowman

The boys were working on a snowman when Oscar (from Ryan's school), his sister, and his dad came walking by.  They cut into our yard and helped to build the snowman.  I wasn't using my crutches anymore, but wasn't really wanting to get up and play in the snow.  My ankle was still a bit sore and I feared that I might slip and hurt myself before I finished healing.  I was glad that they had help.

April 1, 2014  He isn't looking so great.

April 3, 2014 He is really melllllllllllting!

 

The cold weather didn't last long though. I think it is safe for me to put the winter things away now.  Of course I had thought that in mid March and was proved wrong.  Our poor apricot trees did not fare so well.  Last year they were absolutely full of apricots.  Unfortunately, much of the country's crop appears to be ruined.  Dead, limp blossoms cling weakly to the branches.  I wonder if we will see any apricots at all.  Of course while I enjoyed the fruit, it is not our livelihood. Our cherry and plum trees have not yet blossomed, so perhaps they will provide us with some treats.

 

The boys received a package from Grandma and a scholastic book order on the same day.  It was hard to get them to do anything but read.  I suppose there are far worse problems to have.

 





Since Justin was busy with the Captain Underpants collection, Ryan got a chance
to read the Skylanders book that Grandma sent.  He also enjoyed his Pete the
Cat books.  Love my readers. :)

One of the girls in Ryan's class had a birthday party.  It was not as big as the party Monica from Justin's class had, but certainly a big party for a five year old!  There were over 30 children and about 15 parents/nannies/teachers.  The first hour was a bit crazy.  It seems that things don't often really start on time here. The entertainment was still being set up and children were running around kicking each other, jumping on furniture, opening DVD cases and pulling out DVDs, popping balloons, and doing other things that I find unacceptable.  Evidently behavior like this does not bother other people, but it drives me bonkers.  Note to self: remember to arrive late at events.  Even Ryan wanted to go home.  Then the entertainment started.  There was a magician who had a pigeon, a rabbit, a monkey, and a snake. He did non-animal tricks as well.  I had to go pick up Justin so I missed the bubbles part of the party.  Ryan said that the clowns made bubbles and that the kids got be inside of them.  I arrived in time for the cake.  Now singing happy birthday is not complete unless you have Roman candles and sparklers rather than boring little wax candles.  After the cake, Ryan and I walked home.  Justin had begged to be left home so he could read his book.  Since Skyler was likely home right across the street and Aiden's family was also home, I figured he could get help from them as needed or call me and I could have them help him.  Still, I didn't want to leave him alone long and I was all partied out anyway.

Anybody want a snake?

My sweet little clown

Spring seems to be here for real.  We have seen many caterpillars.  Here is one of the nests of caterpillars we found.  They move in such a strange, jerky, rhythmic pattern.  I should look up why they do that.  I have never seen so many caterpillars in my life!  We haven't seen eggs or tadpoles yet, but there have been a few frogs by the pond. 

Caterpillars galore!

Saturday the boys were outside riding their bikes and scooters.  Aiden and his brothers came out for awhile too.  When the younger boys went back inside, Aiden came over to have a little picnic for lunch. All three boys insisted that it was their first picnic.  It certainly wasn't an exciting picnic, but they seemed to enjoy it.

The boys insisted that this is the first picnic they ever had.  Sigh.  I have a
picture so next picnic when they claim it is the first, I have proof otherwise.

The boys then played with the parachute Easter bunny parachutes that Grandma Pat had sent.  They also played a bit of tee ball and enjoyed Justin's stomp rocket.

Look Grandma, parachute toy!

Setting up the rocket.

Oops.  It got me.

3-2-1 Go!

On Sunday we dyed our Easter eggs.  I was so excited that in Armenia we can get white eggs.  When you dye brown eggs, well, the result just isn't the same.  Having your eggs so dark to begin with can make the process hard.  This year, nice white eggs!  I also decided to dye uncooked eggs rather than boiled eggs.  We don't eat a lot of boiled eggs and I hate to waste them.  Only one cracked and I was able to use that one in some muffins I made. 

Soon my hands will be more colorful than the egg.

Having fun with the dye.

The boys had a lot of fun dying the eggs.  They put them in color after color after color.  I was quite disappointed that many of their eggs (note the bottom row in the picture below) looked like plain old brown eggs.  Nice.  All the excitement over being able to dye white eggs only to make them look like undyed brown eggs.

Our finished eggs.  Some look more colorful than others.

March 30, 2014 Catching Up!

I'm back!  The good news is when it takes me a few weeks to write I have more to write about than doing laundry and taking kids to and from school. :)

The Embassy family we are sponsoring arrived and Ryan was SO excited that they have a five year old.  Even though their son is already in kindergarten, Ryan has found plenty of opportunities to play with Aiden already.  He loves being able to have a friend who lives so close.



Playing with sidewalk chalk.

Once again the boys had fun building traps to try to catch a leprechaun on Saint Patrick's Day.  They were not successful, but the leprechaun(s) left them some gold rolos candy and two 1000 dram bills.  It looks like they used the money and the candy to help them get out of the traps.  The leprechaun also turned our milk green.  Ryan claims that the green milk tastes so much better.  The boys have some ideas for next year already.  They really want a leprechaun.  Justin thinks it would be a great show and tell.

This one somehow used magnets.  Not sure how that all works. 



Jake and the Never Land pirates toys helped with this trap.

One day when the boys were playing in the basement, I managed to fall down the stairs.  The Embassy puts these non-slip grips on the stairs.  They really do a number on our socks and we have holes in almost all of our socks.  Sometimes I try to avoid the stupid strips and step on the plain wooden part of the stairs.  Well, as I heard the noise of the stupid strip grabbing on to my socks, I stepped over the rest of the strips.  I ended up missing a step altogether and tumbling down about 6 stairs.  The boys were having so much fun that they didn't even notice.  My ankle hurt so I went up to grab a bag of frozen peas from the freezer.  I went back down and elevated my leg with the peas on the ankle.  Boys didn't notice that either.

Swelling wasn't too bad, but it hurt to put weight on it.  Guess this was just the reason we have been carrying crutches around the world with us.  It is kind of a pain to do things with crutches though, so Friday morning I decided to take Ryan to school before eating breakfast.  Rather than grabbing something quickly I could sit and have a leisurely breakfast while sitting in the recliner and reading my book.

Evidently my blood sugar was a bit too low for that.  I ended up passing out at Ryan's school.  Then I passed out a second time when I sat up.  As people were helping me move to a more comfortable location while Lilit got me some juice and a piece of chocolate, I passed out yet again.  For some reason people seem to think it is a bad thing to pass out, so they called Rob.  Rich and Claudia helped get me home and stayed with me until Rob arrived.

Rob made me breakfast and then I got into bed to sleep for awhile.  He made me lunch and then returned to work.  I was feeling okay with the food in me, just really sore from falling down the stairs and then passing out and not being caught the first time down.  Claudia brought Ryan home.  It was a bad day for Ryan because I fell down AND Richard didn't bring his rabbit for show and tell.  Bummer.  Rachel brought Justin home from school.  Rob came home early and I continued to rest.

Saturday was the charity sale that Ryan's school was hosting.  Since it was so close to our house, I went for a little while.  I then went home and let Rob stay to hang out with the boys.



My crutches weren't as impressive as his stilts.



I thought that the tightrope guy was cool.  Rob pointed out that
it is a slack rope though.  Does that mean it isn't cool? 

 

I realize this guy isn't super high or anything, but I still enjoyed it.
Not something you see everyday at little neighborhood events.



Ryan with the start of the apricot blossoms.

 I was able to get a picture with the start of the apricot blossoms, but unfortunately I didn't get them when they were full.  I thought I had plenty of time to get out and take a picture, but I was wrong. :(

On Wednesday I hosted the book club.  We meet once a month and it is good for me to get out and about with adults and leaving the children behind.  Only a couple more months before most of the group goes away either for summer vacation or to move on to a new place.  I have read some books I wouldn't have otherwise chosen.  It has been fun.  I hope it starts up again in the Fall even with some of the key members gone.


Rachel gave Ryan a much needed haircut.

 Ryan has been in desperate need of a haircut for awhile.  I asked Rachel if she cut her kids' hair.  I mean three young boys, she might, right?  She does!  She got Ryan taken care of and did a better job than taking him in for a "real" cut here.  He was so excited when he saw himself in the mirror.  He thinks that he looks just like Aiden.  He couldn't be happier with his new look and I am thrilled that he doesn't look like an abandoned waif anymore.


Doing some building with the Lego Education WeDo set.

 Ryan and I spent some time working with Justin's Legos.  Justin is impatient when he and I go through the activities.  Ryan and I spend much more time.  He is patient and doesn't get frustrated if he doesn't already know everything.  We spent some time working with gears and then moved on to pulleys.  Once we get through figuring out how everything works we can move on to the projects.

 On Saturday, Rob and I went to have khorovats with some people from work.  We were going to a place outside of Yerevan.  This was the day our beautiful weather turned ugly.  We hadn't gotten very far when it started hailing hard.  The wipers could barely keep up with what was falling.  Always lovely to have it hard to see when you aren't exactly sure where you are going to begin with.  We couldn't find our way there, so we backtracked to a landmark where someone met us and took us where we needed to go.  I doubt we would have found it in good weather.  Some of the roads we were on did not look like roads for anything but local traffic.

The food was good and I ate too much.  There was some really good bread (you can see it in the picture) in addition to the traditional lavash bread.  I was surprised that I liked the aveluk.  Aveluk is a kind of local sorrel, which as far as I am concerned seems to be a weed.  Prepared well though and I had more than one helping.  Also lots of greens, olives, some cheeses, pickled vegetables, and of course the khorovats, which are the local shish kabob thing.

On Sunday we awoke to SNOW!  Our biggest snow of the year.  Thought we had been in spring for awhile, but evidently winter realized we had missed out on snowfall I guess.  We went to church, which ended up being a bit of a crazy thing to do as we encountered less than ideal driving conditions.  When we got home the boys "helped" Rob shovel off half the driveway.

 

December 15, 2013

This week Justin continued his love of creating things out of construction paper and tape.  Keeps him busy, but hard to find places for all of his creations.

 

The boys had a great time in the snow.  We were all feeling well so they had the opportunity to enjoy playing outside.  It looks pretty enough, but it gets old fast.  I hate having to put on the layers and pulling off wet boots and having my entry floor dirty and wet. :(

Sun!  Unfortunately, clear skies mean it is colder. :(

The community has someone do off our driveway.  They don't do it all the way, but they do it enough that we can get in and out.  Sure glad I don't have to shovel the snow.  Brrr!

Ryan at school.  When I went to pick him up, he couldn't figure why I was there.  He couldn't believe that it was already time to go home.  He had a lot of fun playing in the snow with the other kids.

J and R had fun playing out in the back yard.

 My book club meeting this month took me to my first Soviet era apartment building.  It was an experience!  Once buzzed in, you enter into a lobby(?) indoor courtyard (?) that reminded me of the kind of parking garage where you would be afraid to park.  It was dark until we got over near the elevator and the stairs and finally got the automatic lights to sense us and turn on.  Here is the elevator, which evidently smells really badly in the summer since it is next to the trash chute.

 This is an apartment on the ground floor.  I loved the exposed wiring, etc.  Nice, huh?  Anyway, the apartment I went to was nice.  It was a smallish size two bedroom for US standards, but cute and a fine place to live.  Definitely larger and nicer than some of the places my sister has had in New York.  No offense, Meredith.

Evidently, the apartments are redone and some are small studios while other people have taken over all of the apartments on a floor and made them into a large place.  Heating and water conditions vary according to apartment as well.  The building, as others I have seen, is really ugly on the outside.  It amazes me to think of what the apartments used to be like and what a depressing place it must have been to live.  I guess some of the places still are.

 

Ryan got to have his preschool winter performance.  He has been SO excited for it.  It was a nice little show.  The teachers are very kind and hard working.  They love and care for and about the children and it shows.  The parents are great about helping to make the preschool a good place to be.  They are generous with time and resources.  It will be sad to have Ryan leave in the Fall when he is ready for kindergarten.

 

     

100%

        

 

 

On Friday, Justin took cupcakes in to school.  His birthday is over the break so he can't take in cupcakes on his actual birthday.  It just so happens that his teacher has the same birthday as he does.  Justin took in cupcakes and a present to celebrate HER birthday and will take in cupcakes for HIS birthday after the break.  He has a great teacher and he really likes school because of her.

 

Now the boys are on winter break until January 7th.  It might be long.  They alternate between playing really nicely together and fighting like cats and dogs.

 

On Saturday, Rob and I went to a Christmas bazaar and then out to lunch.  I bought several wooden ornaments. There wasn't much else that interested me.  Lunch was fine, not great, but it was good to be out of the house without the boys.  They were at home with Skyler.  They lover he babysitting so much that they wanted to know if she could be their new mommy.  I'm glad that they are happy when we leave them.  I wish Skyler could be their mommy when they are sick or up in the middle of the night.  I doubt she wants the job though, especially since the mommy job doesn't pay.

 





There wasn't really anything to take a picture of at the Christmas bazaar, so I took a picture of a statue we walked by so I had a picture of something. :)

 

Tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner.  It was fun to have them here and they seemed to enjoy having some American food and conversation for a change.  We had Christmas cookies to give to them.  It was amazing that I hadn't eaten them all myself.

December 8, 2013

This week was not as busy as I had anticipated.  Monday as I walked Justin to school, he pointed out the rare sunset.  I told him that it was actually a sunrise and asked him why he thought it was rare.  He said that we don't see one very often so it must be rare.  Yep, we are getting to that time of year when the sun doesn't rise quite as early.  I look forward to the days growing longer again so we don't see the sunrise.  Guess that will be some time away still. 

We decorated the Christmas tree.  The boys were very excited to see it up and to rediscover ornaments from past years.  We really don't have a lot of Christmas decorations other than the tree.  That is probably a good thing as the boys continuously play with the Little People nativity and the musical snow globe we do have out.  It is fun that they are so excited for Christmas.

 



Tuesday was Ryan's 5th birthday.  How did my baby get so big?  Well, I guess he has always been big, so how did he get so old?  Justin made many birthday decorations for Ryan and was excited for him.  We have had problems getting our mail, but fortunately Grandma mailed Ryan's presents very early.  He got presents from Grandma and Papa and a book from Justin.  We are crossing our fingers that his birthday presents, Justin's presents, and the Christmas presents arrive.  Many arrived in Dulles around Veteran's Day, just haven't gotten here yet. :(  Anyway, Ryan was VERY excited about getting his Skylanders, so once he opened that I think he would have been done with presents even if he had had more.

Ready to open his presents

 Do you think he is excited?

Getting in some Skylanders time before J has to go to school

Ryan wanted a butt cake, but I refused.  I made him a 5 cake instead

 On Wednesday we had some friends over for dinner.  They moved on Saturday so it was good to have a little bit of time with them.  Ryan will miss Cyrus at school and over at the house.   It was fun for him to have a friend right across the street.  Ryan is about 1 1/2 years older, but he enjoyed being the older kid for a change.

By Thursday my headache and just not feeling quite right turned to feverish.  Yuck.  Lucky for me, even though it wasn't a regular school day for Ryan, the teacher asked if he could be there so he could do a special activity.  I spent the morning in bed.

On Friday Ryan wasn't feeling well either.  I started to take him to school and then brought him back.  He was really whiny and it wasn't just the four hours of sleep he had for the night.  By the afternoon he also had a fever.  We had some good cuddle time at least.  Cyrus came over with his mom and brother to return a few things.  We took some pictures before saying goodbye.

Doesn't Justin look freakishly tall in this pic?

Saturday was the day of Justin's winter concert at school.  He had been talking and talking about it.  We were all well enough to go.  He was a cutie and did well in both of the things he was in.  Unfortunately it was hard to see him very well.  I will upload the two video clips to youtube for Grandma to watch.

I saw Justin and Ani's Mesopotamian city on display at the school.

Justin and Ani before the concert.

Justin and Ani waiting for the dance part to start

He is on the stage near the bottom middle

The hour at the school wore me out and made Ryan cranky. 

On Sunday we woke up to our first snow and Ryan was so excited.  I had to take a picture because it was funny how excited he was over nothing.  It did start to snow again later and we got a measureable amount.  Ryan and I stayed home from church and rested up.  We both no longer have fevers and seem to feel much better.  I hope we are ready for the last week of school before Christmas break.  I also hope we get mail!