December 29, 2013

Two weeks to write about this week.  Even with Justin's birthday and Christmas, we have not done a lot.  The weather has been very cold.  The locals all say it is the coldest it has been in a long time.  I have heard that it is the coldest since 2000 and that it hasn't been this cold for over 10 years.  Not sure who is right, but I get the idea that it is cold!  You know it is bad when Moscow is warmer than we are!  We have our heat running 24/7 and it can't get the house above 65.  This morning it was 1 degree outside when I woke up.  And yes, we are talking Fahrenheit and not Celsius!  Needless to say, I have not gotten outside with the boys as much as I had planned to during the course of their break from school.  We go outside only if we are walking to a nearby play date.

Justin had his 7th birthday.  He is growing up!  He got the Skylanders game he wanted from Grandma and Papa and that was all that was important to him. He and Ryan were ready to play!  He requested homemade pizza and snacks for dinner and got to choose the movie we watched.  We ate way too much and then topped it off with cake and ice cream.



Happy Birthday to my big boy!

Justin's friend, Charlie, was supposed to come over the day after J's birthday.  Of course Charlie was sick.  Only fair I guess since Justin was sick on Charlie's birthday last month.  We rescheduled though and the boys had a blast playing with new toys.


Christmas Eve in new Skylanders pjs from Grandma.  This was the best pic I could get of the two of
them by the tree.  In many of the pictures one boy was climbing on the other.  Boys.  Sigh.

Christmas Eve after the boys were in bed I heard Justin running around.  He was pacing the hallway and shouting yay along with some other things I couldn't understand.  I went up and he was sound asleep.  I took him back to bed and ended up staying in there awhile as he kept leaping up and talking.   One time he even smacked me in the face with his stuffed frog.  Let's hope he isn't going to start sleepwalking again on a regular basis.

The boys were allowed to wake us at 7:00.  If I heard them BEFORE 7:00, I would delay that time by 5 minutes for each offense.  If they went downstairs without us, there would be no present opening that day.  Justin went through all of the possible exceptions to the rule with us.  I think he got every possible scenario of WHY those rules might be broken without consequences.  They got us up at 7:00.  Waiting for the day when they enjoy sleeping in too.  7:00 isn't too bad though.


Showing off some of the loot from the stockings.

The boys take so long examining each thing they get.  I suppose that is a good thing.  It's funny how when they zero in on something they are so focused that they don't notice anything else.  If they are looking at a slinky in the stocking they are so into it that they wouldn't notice an elephant walking in.  Eventually we got through the presents though.


Merry Christmas, Daddy!

After checking out what Santa brought, the boys wanted to have Mom and Dad open the presents they had gotten us.  They are enthusiastic givers as well as receivers.


Is it a baguette? 



Yay! A cool umbrella so he doesn't have to share with Mom.



Purple Minion!  The new sleep buddy.

The boys got many of the things on their list including a wii u.  Good thing we decided to get the wii u as our wii died the day before Justin's birthday.  We actually let them have the wii u early since Justin's birthday present from Grandma and Papa was a wii game.  We thought that would just be sad to have a present you couldn't play with.  We have Super Mario wii U and Super Luigi wii U. Now we need to figure out some other cool wii u games to get.  For now the boys are wrapped up in their bday skylanders.  With the cold weather they have been getting LOTS of wii time because I sure don't want to go outside with them!


Cuddling and watching a show after baths.

It is so cold that the boys hate getting bathed.  I don't blame them.  They get to hop out of the tub and wrap a towel around themselves and then a blanket.  From there they get under another blanket or two and watch some Dungeons and Dragons cartoons while they warm up.  Then I lotion up their scaly skin and they put on pjs.


Must organize Skylanders.



Must be like brother and organize Skylanders.
 

 The boys enjoy their Skylanders figures as toys without the wii as well as with the wii.  They have been keeping busy with their various presents.  Justin has enjoyed trying to make paper airplanes using the patterns in the book he got.  The boys both got their own tape dispensers and Justin got some construction paper. You can imagine the creativity (and mess!) that has caused.  They have been having a good time though.  

Christmas post present opening and pre clean up.

The minion escaped once Ryan fell asleep.

On Friday we went out to dinner for a work party.  We rode with Erin and Jorge from across the street.  We were in our first accident in Armenia.  It was only a minor one, and good practice for when we are in an accident of our own.  When you are in an accident, you leave your car right where it is.  We were driving down a road that has two lanes each direction and were blocking a lane and a half.  That means that cars are passing on both sides, across the double solid lines into oncoming traffic on the left and as best they can on the space in the right.  You basically hope you don't get rear ended or hit on the other side as you wait.  Mobile patrol (the people who check up on our houses and help out in situations such as accidents) didn't take too long to arrive and parked about 10 feet behind us.  That made me feel more confident that we wouldn't get rear ended.  It isn't like traffic can move very quickly.  It took about an hour for the insurance adjuster (the adjuster is the key person here, not the police), mobile patrol, Jorge, and the guy who crashed into us to work things out.  The guy who hit us claimed it was our fault because he was signaling to get over.  Uh, yeah.  He was in the middle of two lanes.  While that is a common occurrence here, it doesn't make it right.  So now we have been through the procedure and will be able to negotiate it more smoothly when our time for an accident comes.

 

We got to the dinner late and a lot of the food had already been eaten.  Armenian fare isn't necessarily my favorite.  I confess I would have rather McDonald's, but that would require leaving the country.  The chicken and the buckwheat were fine and bread is always (or at least usually) safe.  As much as I enjoy cilantro in my food, I don't eat it plain.  There were many untouched plates of cilantro so I guess the other Americans aren't too into it either.  Didn't notice if any of the Armenians chowed down on it or not.

Roberto is taking my picture.






The sun is watching me in the bathroom.

I SO need a haircut.  There is so much static that my hair often sticks to my face. Not sure what I can do to it though.  I think some of the layers need to grow out before I can do anything decent with it.  I suppose that since I usually have a hat or hood on when I leave the house no one sees me or cares.



Jorge says don't eat olives and lemons together.



Guy playing traditional Armenian instrument.  Later there was singing too.  Armenian restaurants have the music so loud that you have to shout to hear the person next to you.  Great if you hate the people you are with I guess.  Perhaps it is a way to get people to move out of the restaurants so they can seat more customers...

The boys were so happy that we went out because Jorge and Erin's daughter babysat.  They adore Skyler and have even asked if she can be their new mom.  Hmmm....  Luckily she is only 13 and is not interested in being with the boys full time.   They are going to miss her when she moves this summer.  In fact, when they heard that she was moving to the US they wanted to know if we would be able to go visit her when we are in the States.  Uh, no.  I hope that another good babysitter moves in.  I suppose we could always hire a nanny who is available.  Many of them enjoy making extra money in the evenings when they are not working.  I doubt we would find a nanny as good at the wii games as Skyler is though. :)

Better post this now.  It is already January 2nd.  I tried working on this blog a few other times this week, but the blogger site kept freezing up for some reason.  Ugh.  How obnoxious.  At least I can blame it on technical issues this time. I should go do something so I have something to write about next week. :)

The Christmas Story According to Justin

When you have a 3 year old, the birth of Jesus has a rough time competing with Santa and presents. Kind of an abstract concept. I bought the Fisher Price Nativity set thinking that it might help a little in the whole explanation of the Christmas story. Certainly it would bring some excitement into Justin's life. I mean more Little People and animals can't be a bad thing!

Not as interested in it as much as the Santa stuff, but he seems to get some of the basics. He has told the story in his own words a few times. I have learned some things from his accounts.

1. There wasn't enough room in the hotel and if they went in the hotel it would go ka-pow and explode everywhere because it was way full.

2. The wise men liked to sing a lot, mostly "dum de dum de dum" as they walked along.

3. On the way back home, one of the wise men stepped on some icy ice and he said "whoa" and fell down.

4. The presents were heavy so Mary and Joseph had to help lift them.

I wish I could remember all of the interesting things Justin threw in the story. I finally got him to consent to being recorded. Unfortunately the recorded version was not my favorite. He gets a bit camera shy and needed a lot of prompting. Tiny kept getting in the way too. Oh well. I imagine that when he is older he will enjoy watching it.

The Spirit of Giving Through Regifting

This year we have taken a new approach (at least for us) on the idea of regifting. We have been here in Namibia for less than a month. There are all sorts of expenses associated with moving into a new home. We have been stocking up on food basics (flour, sugar, salt, spices, pretty much EVERYTHING!), cleaning supplies, pool toys :), outlet adapters (I HATE the stupid plugs here), bath mats, door mats, and a million more little things that add up. Everyone thinks of Africa as a cheap place to live, but let me tell you Namibia is NOT a cheap place at all. So anyway, our focus is on getting the things we need to try to get settled in.
BEFORE we came out here, we also spent a lot of money on things like a wii and some games, a bike for Rob, some food from Costco, toys for the boys, clothes, upgrades to Windows 7 and some other software, and heaven only knows what else. It isn't like we haven't bought anything. Some of the things could have been Christmas presents if we had waited.
So now Christmas is going to be here in a couple of days. The boys are taken care of, but Rob and I did not buy anything for each other. My mom and dad got us some things from our Amazon wish list (Thanks, Mom!), but other than those three gifts we have nothing under the tree. No big deal for us, but I suddenly worried about what Justin will think. Big three year old that he now is, he might actually be upset about that. He doesn't let a thing get by him. This is where the regifting comes in. I found some earrings and a bracelet in my jewelry box that Rob will help Justin wrap up for me. I grabbed a book, swim goggles, and a new comb from one of Rob's unpacked boxes and Justin helped me wrap those up yesterday. My sister sent me a book that she just finished reading and I will have Rob give that to me. (You don't mind, do ya Mer?) I need to grab something small that I can wrap for Rob from me. Justin and Tiny each have a present to give to each other too, but theirs are actually new things.
Silly, it might seem, to wrap things that we already own. Rob and I really don't care. I mean do you think he will be excited to get the goggles he bought before Justin was already born? Well, he might be if he forgot he had them, but that isn't the point. Justin was so excited to wrap something up for his dad. He will be thrilled to see Rob open the present and oooh and aaah over it. I guess in our regifting the real present we will receive is seeing the smile on Justin's face and enjoying the excitement of our kids. Cheesy, perhaps, but true.

Christmas

We got the tree decorated. Justin was able to help put things on the lower branches. Ryan was able to take things off of the lower branches. It became a race to see who was faster. My busy little boys! Justin wanted to climb on a chair to reach higher, but we nixed that and forced him to stay within his reach. Parents can be so mean. The first ornament on the tree was one that Justin made at the Embassy Christmas party. He was so proud of the ornament. It is, well, let's just say that it is a treasure because my 2 year old made it. I don't think we have to insure it or anything. He had so much fun with his "project" too. My mom got him started on the idea of doing projects. Projects can be a variety of things involving glue, paint, markers, crayons, etc. I need to be better about getting projects for him to do. It isn't like I don't have anything. A lot of my teaching stuff is here and I have several things that Justin can do. It just gets to be a pain with Tiny helping all the time and Justin needing help but not wanting to have help.

Okay, back to Christmas. Yep, in that picture Tiny has something small in his mouth. Justin makes it nearly impossible to keep things even close to baby proof. Actually, since Tiny is over a year now I guess it is 'toddler' proof. My baby is so big! Ryan loves to stick anything and everything in his mouth except when I want him too. He will eat ants, paper, rubberbands, and the like, but will turn up his nose at new foods. Why is it that kids do that? Don't say that those things taste better than my cooking. At the Embassy party, Justin was a bit shy of Santa. When the gifts started coming out of the bag, Daddy was able to persuade him that maybe approaching Santa was not such a bad idea. It took awhile, but Justin did warm up enough to get his present and talk Santa's ear off. Probably better when he was shy. Ryan, on the other hand, was very different. He cried even getting near Santa. The picture of me with Tiny and Santa was the happiest Tiny was during the whole Santa time. Isn't it strange? I know it is common for small children to be afraid or shy of Santa, but my kids are generally so outgoing and love everyone. Justin was already blabbing about Santa non-stop, yet seeing him in the flesh was another story. Probably even stranger than kids being afraid around Santa is the need we parents feel to push our kids onto the lap of this stranger (don't we usually say DON'T go to strangers?) and try to get a picture. What are we thinking? Beats me.