Stanley Clan:

Hi there, family!  A few things to keep in mind when viewing the following gems:

• E is sick.  As in even when she is on acetaminofin and ibuprofen at the same time she still runs a fever, her eye is leaking and her nose is dripping like a leaky faucet.
• Hence the lack of clothing.  She's not naked; you're welcome.
• Yes, that is exactly what it is like here on a daily basis.  Quacks and all.
• Keep your eye on the little one in the background...she is an excellent boogie-er.

Of course, upon viewing that fabulousness, E wanted me to remove all of the parts that had issues, like talking and the quacks.  I cannot do that.  Well, maybe I could if I knew anything about the editing of video, but I know nothing, so I cannot indeed.  Instead, we waited for Boomsk to be playing with something relatively quiet and we tried again.  So for your further viewing pleasure, here is the song and dance in its entirety.

All of this is to say we miss you and are very much looking forward to BWWG 2013.

Give Me Something Good To Eat

Charlotte had her first "solid" food today.  I've waited until now because she has mad acid-reflux skillz.  The reflux situation is waaaay better than it used to be, but today after eating this she still refluxed (is that a word?  It is NOW) some of it up...so while the eating went well, I don't know if we'll continue if the refluxing (see above) continues to be an issue.  I might just wait until it is gone so as to make things better for all of us...I mean, who wants to taste their food again ever?

Also, could I have used the term reflux any more in that paragraph?

Anyway, here's the evidence:

Completely unsuspecting.

Still doesn't know what hit her.

Hey, wait a second... 

See-food!!!

Oh, no - more?!?

Dear Lord, give me strength.

Maybe it's not soooo bad.

I mean, if sister likes it...

Hoppy Birthday...A Little Early

Hey, we have to take advantage of the good weather, people.  Since it was not raining today, a rarity lately here in the cold, cold, north, we decided to put together Elena's 4th birthday present.  Really is it a gift for the whole family as we can all join in the fun.


It was a family affair putting things together.  Miss E helped her Daddy (While wearing pajama pants, pajama gown, rain boots, a hill tribe hat from Thailand, and her jacket):

  
This lasted for all of about an hour (pretty impressive I thought) before someone was kinda tired of waiting and kept asking if it was almost ready.  Is it?  How about now?  And now?  HOW ABOUT NOW, DADDY?!?!?

Charlotte helped too, as you can see.  She is wearing the latest in baby cool-weather duds...and yes, the thing swamps her, but that seems to be normal for her.  Regardless she is one happy girl playing outside with the rest of us!


We took a break for some lunch but then worked some more to complete our task.  Finally, it was done:

And I know at least one little girl was very, very hoppy!  She bounced and she danced and she sang and she JUMPED! 

She wants friends to come over and she can't wait to show all of us her abilities.  Every minute she is coming up with new "tricks" for us to approve.

Overall, a very good early birthday gift, I think.   Even I've had a go...and hopefully I won't regret it tomorrow!

Blizzard!!

The conditions are like a hurricane, but with snow.  If I walked outside I would be blown away.  I cannot get out the door, so someone will have to dig us out eventually.  Elena and Matt are stuck in town; Charlotte and I are stuck here.  Since Debbie wanted photos, here's what I've got.

My view out the back door.

Usually that pile isn't there and you can see clearly above it. 

Snow between the screen and panes. 

My non-view out the windows.

Once the crazy is over I'll try to get out...and then maybe I'll have more photos!

Men's Day; Women's Day

Here in Russia we've been having a few holidays.  February 23rd was Men's Day.  It is actually Defender Day, but is commonly referred to as Men's Day and compares to Father's Day in the United States.  Elena made a card at school:

I managed to make a yummy breakfast of eggs with cheese and toast...and Matt managed to work all day long.  It was a great "day off" for him, eh?

March 8th is Women's Day.  Back in the 1940s this was all about women wanting equal rights.  These days it is more of a combination of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day...and really not even the romance part of it factors in.  It is simply about honoring women.  For example, Matt gives gifts to all of the women who work for him.

Since he left for Houston this morning, he will miss Women's Day.  When he explained this to his admin and told her I would come with the girls to give gifts for him, she first said "Oh, no, don't worry.  It is okay; you will not be here; you can do it later."  He then asked her if it is really okay to do that and she smiled and told him nope.

Therefore, I, the woman, have made gifts for the women.  Elena calls them "Daddy's Ladies".  Yes, I realize how this sounds.  Her Papa Jim has some wonderful ladies who work in his office and Elena calls them Papa Jim's Ladies, so it is only natural that she would refer to the women who work with her Daddy as Daddy's Ladies.

I have made Zucchini Bread, Snickerdoodles, and Chocolate-Chocolate chip cookies:

Then I have managed to come up with some creative packaging:

Tomorrow we shall deliver them and Elena will tell each of them "Congratulations" in Russian, which is what you say to someone on a holiday here.  Let's hope they like them.

And now, for your viewing enjoyment, Big Sister and Little Sister:

Preview

I've been getting things ready for our Valentine's Day party tomorrow. At last count, there were twenty-two children invited and approximately ten Moms and/or Nannies. We've lost three kids and two Moms due to illness...bronchitis and ear infections. Good times. Here's hoping the rest of us can remain sick-o-less and that we all manage to fit into the house at once!

We will be having snacks (thanks everyone for contributing!) so that we can ruin everyone's dinner (not the goal, but somewhat inevitable methinks), games so as to use up all of the "energies" garnered from sugar, and crafts to calm everyone down again. Not that we'll be doing things in that order, but you get the picture.

Or do you?

Let's see:

Conversation Heart Decor - Cause we're Classy.

70's Throwback Decor - complete with 'Hearts by E'

Mmmmm - Energies

Craft Idea Decor - Because it Takes Too Much Time to Think of Your Own

a.k.a. We Don't Want to Foster Creativity Up in This Place

Welcome to the Post Office (pochta in Russian)

Not shown: games such as the Heart Hop Relay, Valentine Day Bingo, St. Valentine Says, Take This Heart Singing Game (of course I had to...I was a music teacher in my previous life) and more (you know, 'cause it always takes way less time to do things you think will take forever...and it always takes forever to do things you think will only take a few minutes).

I hope this is a success...if so, I already have ideas for April Fool's Day.

If tomorrow wears me out we can all forget that I said that...

Sneg!!!

We came back to a bit of snow this January. Basically, it is about as tall as Elena, and for those of you who have no clue on that one, she is just about forty inches tall. I've taken some photos to attempt to show you how much snow we've got and what we do in order to go out in it.

First up: snow gear. Here is Miss E in her Ooh-La-La purple snowsuit complete with hat from her Christmas stocking (thanks, Santa!).

She and her Daddy went out to sled down the hill. We have these sleds that are basically seats on skis. One adult and a small child can fit on it. It has a steering wheel and brakes. Since the snow is completely packed on the road (at least 6 inches that won't come off until breakup in the spring) these sleds go really fast. E belly-laughs every time and it is good fun indeed.

Here they are walking on our sidewalk to the street. Keep in mind that for this photo I am above them by about 2.5 feet.

Here is another view of that same sidewalk and the path to the street:

Just in case you're having a hard time figuring out how much snow we have, here is another shot.  This one is what I see when I look out the window when I'm at the computer desk.  That's right, the snow is up to the window if not a little above it.  This is just the beginning of the snow, too, I hope (I want lots and lots!).

I am sure you are wondering what we do with the wee one when she goes outside.  We don't have a snow-suit per se, but a warm-and-snuggly-suit.  It is in no way water-proof, but it is somewhat wind-proof and definitely warm!  Also, it is way too big for her right now...but hey, bigger is better than too small!

An up-close shot because helloooooo - it is super cute...

Sometimes I put her in the stroller, but when she's in this get-up I usually put her in the Bjorn and then put my long coat on over both of us.  Mostly this works out just fine.  One result is that she gets so warm and cozy that she can't help falling asleep.  Then we get photographs like this:

More to come, if I can find the time and blogger cooperates, so stay tuned!

International Fest

Saturday, February 19th was International Fest here in Olympia. Our neighborhood consists of people from many places the world over and we celebrate this with an evening of food and information. Each nationality represented here in Olympia has a booth full of things characteristic to their country and everyone contributes national/typical foods to a pot-luck dinner.

It is very interesting to see what each country has to offer, especially those that we know little about. And by we I mean my family only, since many other people here know much more than we do about the world as they've either lived in many more places or visited many more than we.

Here are some photographs of the event:

Miss Thing playing, a.k.a. Running Around Like Crazy People, with her friend K.

Figuring out how the throwing and catching game will go.The rules are only known to 2- and 3-year-olds.

Aaaaaaannnnnnnnd, more of the running.

Pretending we don't know her.

A few of the booths had trinkets, pencils, beach-balls and other goodies for the kids to play with.  Between that and the running and noise-making, they were definitely kept busy.  This gave everyone else some time to chat and visit all of the booths to see what was on display.

United States of America

Australia

France

Finland

Canada

Malaysia

Venezuela

Scotland

Japan

Spoils

I Think You're Confused

Dear Weather,

I imagine it must be difficult for you, being everywhere all at once. Taxing, yes? Generally you do a great job. For example, where I grew up, in southwest Virginia, you were pretty predictable. We'd have a nice spring, hot summer, beautiful fall and average winter, complete with some snow. Then for a few years things were off. There was no snow, really...and this was not quite in character for you.

You've made up for that the last couple of years, though I believe there are some who would say that you've gone a bit overboard in making up for lost winter.

In Spain, where we've spent some time, you did a fantastic job. Excellent weather, all year. You made sure there was enough rain in the late fall and winter to keep everyone from having a drought in the warmer months. The breeze off of the Mediterranean was sufficient for keeping us cooler in the summer and the clear days were plenty. You were completely yourself.

Oh, and Houston? Well, let's just say that there humidity is your one, innate, constant. You always provide an abundance of humidity in that locale...and plenty of heat as well, when necessary.

This brings us to Russia.

Hmmmm, Russia.

Now, I've only been here a very short while. Since May, with a four-month...sabbatical, if you will...but your work here leaves some things to be desired. We began our time with a summer to beat all summers here in Yuzhno. Apparently you thought that the humidity and heat of Houston should follow me somewhat to the north.

I disagree with that decision. Being pregnant in humid and warm Sakhalin was not the best of circumstances, to say the least.

And now? Now we've got a pretend winter. You started off beautifully, with a three to four foot snow as soon as we returned in January. Since then you seem to have lost your way. There is melting going on, and it is February. Might I remind you that this is usually when you get geared up for another month and a half of snow? The workers are plowing the streets into a muddy mess meant for April.

My deduction is that this behavior on your part is, well, completely out of character.

I'm hoping that you've just been busy elsewhere being yourself, though it appears that you're acting a bit out of character all over the world. So if you could, you know, get back to your roots and be more like yourself, it would be greatly appreciated.

I, for one, am a little tired of everything in my life being so unpredictable.

Awaiting more snow,
Me

Flaw

I just spent my entire evening cleaning out my pantry.

Oh, sure, there were a few other things that occurred, like feeding and bathing the child and yes, I just finished putting her down in bed, but aside from that: cleaning the pantry.

An entire evening should not be spent in this manner and yet...mine was.

This must mean that there is a flaw in my character.

A serious one.

The End is in Sight

Origin of Character

• Middle English caracter
• From Latin character mark, distinctive quality
• From Greek charaktēr
• From charassein to scratch, engrave; perhaps akin to Lithuanian žerti to scratch

_________________________________________________

Okey Dokey.

We're down to the last of them. There are two groups today, for a total of seven characters in total. Only five of them actually have sounds. These five are characters that represents what we would call blends in English. We would use two letters to make these sounds and they choose to use one. Here they are:

• Ж - ZH as in pleasure
• Ц - TS as in cats
• Ч - CH as in chair
• Ш - SH as in shadow
• Щ - shsh as in Spanish Sherry*

*Example taken directly from my Russian lessons; not an obsession on my part, I promise!

As for the final two, they are the hard sign and the soft sign. They make no actual sound themselves, but effect pronunciation.

Hard sign - Ъ - makes a tiny pause between syllables; rare.

Soft sign - Ь - softens the preceding consonant, as if adding a soft y to it.

There you have it. The Russian alphabet, all thirty-three characters (if I haven't missed one, anyway). The first hurdle in learning this language. Once jumped, things do get easier.

No, really.

Double Take

Origin of Character

• Middle English caracter
• From Latin character mark, distinctive quality
• From Greek charaktēr
• From charassein to scratch, engrave; perhaps akin to Lithuanian žerti to scratch

_________________________________________________

We can now move on to those characters that look nothing like any letters we've ever used but that at second glance represent some very familiar sounds. Thankfully, there are only eight of these and you already know one.

Here they are:

• П - P as in pie
• Л - L as in little
• Б - B as in boy
• Г - G as in green
• И - EE as in meet
• З - Z as in zippy
• Д - D as in duck
• Ф - F as in fish

There are some tricks to help remember a few of them. The P character looks almost exactly like the symbol for pi, and by golly, it begins with the same sound. The B character looks very much like a b. The Z character looks pretty similar to the cursive upper-case Z that I was taught in elementary school. The D character is hand-written as a triangle much like a rudimentary roof on a house might be...and house in Russian is DOM, which of course starts with D, soooooooo......

I have no trick for the F, G or the L...although you should know that the latter is usually hand-written as an upside down V.

Not that THAT helps you at all, but ANYWAY.

We can end all of this insanity tomorrow, I promise.

Unless you enjoy this kinda thing...which from the lack of comments, I am guessing that would be a no...

ONWARD!

I'd Like to Buy a Vowel Please, Pat.

Origin of Character

• Middle English caracter
• From Latin character mark, distinctive quality
• From Greek charaktēr
• From charassein to scratch, engrave; perhaps akin to Lithuanian žerti to scratch

_________________________________________________

Let's talk about those pricey little creatures. The English language has five official vowels: A, E, I, O, U. Then there's that pesky Y...it's no wonder Y is such a misfit, what with all of the identity issues.

Aside: anyone else just start singing the misfit song from Rudolph just then?

I'll begin with the Russian vowels that most closely sound like our very own. You already know two of them: A and O. I bet you can guess which of our vowels they resemble. You are so clever, I tell ya! Here's the full five of them:

• A - AH as in father
• Э - EH as in met
• И - EE as in meet*
• O - OH as in oat; AH as in off
• У - OO as in hoot

*The only one that is not the same sound is the И. Instead of an IH as in pin, Russian uses an EE sound just like the Spanish i. Again with the Spanish comparisons...lo siento (there it is!), but these are the only three languages I've studied, hence my frame of reference.

In addition to these five we're used to these vowel sounds there are six (count 'em!) more. This probably sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that in Russian every sound has its own character. They don't put two letters together to make new sounds like we do in English. So while initially there are more characters to learn, in the end things are far easier.

In my mind (welcome to the crazy), I divide these last six into two categories: those with a Y as in yet sound in front and those without. You've been introduced to one: E - YE as in yet. Or you have if you've been reading and I haven't bored you senseless. Here are those with a Y sound:

• Я - YA as in yard
• E - YE as in yesterday (change it up!)
• Ё - YO as in yonder (without the southern accent, people)
• Ю - YOO as in universe

This leaves us with two characters: Й and Ы

Yes, the first looks just like the EE sound, but with a smile on top of it. That character says Y as in the very end of the word toy. For all of us English speakers, our Russian teacher allows us to think of it as OY, but really the O part of that should be quite short...and I for one am not good at that, so I stick with the OY. The second, which looks like bl, is an interesting character...character. To quote my lessons:

"Ы sounds rather like i in ill (say it by keeping your mouth very slightly open and drawing your tongue back as far as it will go)."

Did you get that? Anyone trying it right now? It is rather difficult, even with (or perhaps in spite of) that description. We all say it a little differently, so no worries. As the last two are most frequently (as far as I've encountered them, anyway) used to indicate plural, it really isn't something to worry about. We all just make an EE/OY/I-Y sound on the end of plural words and it all works out...in the end.

Jeepers.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

Origin of Character

• Middle English caracter
• From Latin character mark, distinctive quality
• From Greek charaktēr
• From charassein to scratch, engrave; perhaps akin to Lithuanian žerti to scratch

_________________________________________________

Yesterday I showed you the five Russian characters that look and sound exactly like their twins in the English language. Today I will move on to the ones that look exactly the same but sound different.

• B - V as in very
• E - YE as in yet
• H - N as in noon
• P - R as in real*
• C - S as in sailing**
• Y - OO as in oops
• X - J as in jota*

Impressions of these characters vary greatly. Some believe that they are easy to learn because they are easily recognizable letters and therefore all you need to learn are their new sounds. Others find them to be some of the most difficult because they do indeed look just like our alphabet, and re-learning their sounds can prove to be difficult.

I tend to fall into the latter category. When you're first learning to read and have mastered the thirty-three characters/sounds, you start to read just a little bit faster - more like you read English. That is when these letters sneak up on you and trick you. Our native languages are very ingrained in our minds and using them is very natural to us; therefore, we are inclined to use the sound known best/longest instead of the one recently learned.

A few explanations, for the characters above that are starred:

* both of these sound like Spanish letters. The character P make the sound of a rolling R in español. Real is the Spanish word for Royal. The character X makes a guttural English H sound, like the end of the word loch and like the Spainsh letter J, called jota.

And just for information's sake, a jota is also a Spanish dance.

**The character C makes one, and only one, of our English sounds for the same letter. In Russian it makes the S sound, never the K. For the hard sound, they have a K...much like we do.

Why we insist on having TWO letters that say K is beyond me and yet one tiny example of how English is a confusing and difficult language to learn.

Words that you can now read/say/know in Russian:

1. MAMA, TOPOHTO, COYC, PECTOPAH
2. MAPC, METPO, POM, TPAKTOP
3. KOT, TEATP, KAKAO, KOCMOHABT
4. BENA, MOCKBA, CAXAP, KACCETA

1. Mama, Toronto, sauce, restaurant
2. Mars, metro, rum, tractor
3. cat, theater, cocoa, cosmonaut
4. Vienna, Moscow, sugar, cassette

Look at you go!

The Easy Ones

Origin of Character

• Middle English caracter, from Latin character mark, distinctive quality
• From Greek charaktēr
• From charassein to scratch, engrave; perhaps akin to Lithuanian žerti to scratch

_____________________________________

Learning a new language is challenging. I love to learn new ones and I think that I do an okay job of it. Studying music has certainly helped with hearing the nuances of speaking different languages. Not that this means that I pronounce things properly, just that I am very aware when I do not.

Which, when speaking Russian, occurs frequently.

Learning Spanish was very natural for me; I learned quickly and spoke fairly fluently...or at least I did when I was living in Spain. While traveling around Europe I found that I could read and/or understand other languages fairly easily as well. Mostly this was because they are similar. My success should also be attributed to the fact that I just hear them and can repeat them well. Again, this is due to the whole listening/music thing.

Or at least that is what I think.

Russian is very different. It sounds completely...well, foreign...and it feels drastically different in your mouth. I rather like all of the consonants smashed up against one another. There are very few similarities between the words in Russian and English; I found many more between Spanish and English.

One of the most...Oh, no, I couldn't possibly learn that...facets of the Russian language is the fact that it does not use our alphabet. In addition to sounding completely different, the letters look like nothing we've ever used.

Or they look just like ours but they sound nothing like any of our letters.

Or they look like one of our letters but sound like yet another of our letters.

Or, and here's the nice part, they look and sound exactly like our letters.

I thought I would take a few days to share with you the Russian alphabet. It is a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet (derived from Greek) and contains thirty three characters.

To keep your introduction to Russian simple, I thought I would start with those letters that look and sound just like ours:

• A - AH as in saw
• K - K as in keep
• M - M as in Mom
• O - OH as in oat; AH as in Off
• T - T as in tie

There you have it; five letters that look and sound exactly as they would in English. Tomorrow I'll show you some more. You'll be "reading" Russian in no time...though you may have no clue what it says...

Join the club; we all start out that way!

What a Character

Character

• 7a. a person marked by notable or conspicuous traits: quite a character

Conspicuous

• 1. obvious to the eye or mind: conspicuous changes
• 2. attracting attention: striking a conspicuous success

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Lately Miss Thing has been demonstrating some...character. Most notable is that demonstrated with all things musical. She does indeed love to sing, dance and play instruments. I would not go so far as to say that she is adept at any of the activities, but boy does she love it.

Her favorite instrument is the kazoo. We Santa gave her some rhythm instruments for Christmas. She was very excited. She somehow managed to break the drum on the tambourine on Christmas Day. Who knew it wasn't strong enough for a two-year-old to stand on it, eh?

What is obvious to most is rocket science for some.

It took her a while, but now she is most capable of kazoo-ing (new verb, alert the dictionary people!). Granted, her kazoo sounds most like a goose and least like music, but hey, she's got the whole blow air + hum = sound thing down.

Small steps, people. All towards an eventual band member, indeed.

Let's just hope she will one day realize that the humming is to be dropped.

---------------------------------------

Dancing, more aptly called moving-to-music has always been a favorite activity. This is most likely because I like to sing songs to her and move to them as well. I mean, if you're going to be singing children's songs, then you should be moving around like an idiot. The movement goes right along with how you feel about what you're singing in the first place...right?

She's had a variety of favorites along the way, but right now Wheels on the Bus is the Number One Hit at our place. You can ask her what anyone/anything does on that bus and she will tell you:

The Guga on the Bus says "Chicka-boom, Chicka-boom."
Uncle Brent on the Bus says "Rub noses, Rub noses."
Pop-Pop on the bus says "You're a Stinker-Pot!"
Geat Ganny on the bus says "Wheeeeee, Doggies!"
Uncle Mike on the bus says "Trouble, trouble, trouble!"
Zorro on the bus says "Catch the ball, catch the ball."

Some of my favorite verses include:

The airplane on the bus says "Go higher, go higher."
The books on the bus go "Read, read, read."
The trains on the bus go "choo-choo, choo-choo."
The Kassie on the bus goes "Don't you peek!"

You can ask her for anything and she will come up with an answer for their bus-ride.

Recently she's been attending a dance class. I have no idea what they do in there because parents aren't allowed. The teacher is Russian, so I can't really ask what they do either. I have found out that Miss Thing pays attention very well and works very hard for fifteen minutes, which the teacher tells me is twice as long as most students her age.

Then she plays.

While the other kids are still having class.

Yeah....

So I'll be picking her up after fifteen minutes from now on.

Yesterday she went to class dressed like so:

"So pretty, Mama!"

I asked her to show me what she learned in class and she took a long, oh so long, time staring at her feet. She then demanded "Mama, help me!" and we ended up with this:

First position-ish.

I asked her what she did with her arms at class, since she was very sure of her feet/legs, and she began to move them up and down like so:

Then she ran around in circles, in a so-not-ballet fashion.

I'm pretty sure that was the play portion of the lesson.

---------------------------------------

Singing is her most favorite activity. I blame attribute this to The Wonder Pets. For the uninitiated, A.K.A Those Without Children, The Wonder Pets are three little animals who save other animals using teamwork. In addition, they sing their entire day/story/event. An entire show, sung by Linny the guinea-pig, Tuck the turtle and Ming-Ming the duckling. Every show is entitled The Wonder Pets save the insert animal name here.

What they really need is a The Wonder Pets Save the Parents show where we are made immune to the melodies and therefore do not dream in Wonder-Pet-Song all night long.

You know, just to provide us with a slightly larger chance of sanity.

Miss Thing adores these characters and spends much of her day singing things to me because of them. The most amazing thing to me is that she can truly improvise (on a two-year-old level) with her words. As for the melodies, well...let's just say that she either wouldn't make the cut on American Idol or she'd be one of those "human-interest"/"get ready to laugh" segments.

A perfect example of her new-found ability to sing about anything/change words at will is the blessing.

Yes, the blessing.

She knows one, learned from her cousins, that goes to the tune of Frère Jacques. The words are as follows:

God our Father, God our Father
We thank you, we thank you
For our many blessings, for our many blessings
A-men, A-men.

One night we were all sitting at the table, hands clasped as directed (she likes film-work too, apparently), eyes closed and waiting. She sang her usual blessing with one small change...

Amen, sister!

Amen, indeed!