Farm Show

This year it was 97th in a row. Wow! My friend Renee went 4 days this week :) I would have too. They have good natural local food and oh, do not forget milkshake! :)

Here is annual butter sculpture - every year it is different but usually is made by one person, takes about 10 days and uses 1000 lbs of butter. This year it represents what is made in Pennsylvania. I guess it is kind of like playing with playdough but bigger size. It is pretty impressive.

Those alpacas were so stinking cute!  

 This one.. I just wanted to cuddle it and take it home with me :)

 Oh yeah, it cost 10 bucks (really!) and I took a better picture than the guys who Pop paid to.

Brandon, showing this sheep his bull pictuer. Those sheep were something. Especially one, who seemed to know how to open their gates.

We did not spend much time at bunnies cages (surprise), patting them or guinie pig, we walked through the rows of chickens and rooster. Those creatures.. There was one breed of roosters, sooo weird! I took a picture but it is not clear. It looked more like a peacock! Crazy!

Most of the time we spent watching chickens hatch. It was prety cool!

 This little guy had very hard time walking and was still so wet from being in the egg. We did not see the whole process but we saw one egg started being hatched and a little beak peeking through :)

Funny thing, before the show, Brandon said he did not want to be hit by a cow and I laughed at what he said. However.. later, while walking, Brandon literally was about to be hit by one when somebody was taking his cow to be shown. Talk about coincidences! :)

My most favorite "attaction" was butterfly house. First I was reluctant to go, just going because kids wanted to. But I had so much fun inside of it! They give you a qutip dipped in gatorade. Apparently, butterflies enjoy "eating" it. Brandon had a lot butterflies getting on them, Non had a couple, I had one and Kyra couple

Lots of New in Gymnastics

Something monkey. It is NOT easy!

 Practicing stride circle

 whoop-whoop!

 in the flight

What Is Going On?

Not sure what exactly is going on but Brandon is back to my bed twice the last week. One night he went to bed and came down like 10 min later asking to sleep in my bed. We fell asleep holding hands. He crawled in half of the night a few nights later.

I think, he is going through a stage where he is torn between trying to be independent to some extend, not needing anybody's help and at other times being my little boy, needing to snuggle and sleep next to me. I am not complaining in any way. It will pass soon enough not to enjoy it till I can't anymore.

The same thing with Kyra - the next night after Brandon she came to my bed at 4.30 and was quite awake when she asked if she could sleep with me. When I said yes, she got all excited (as you can be so early) and said: "Ok, I will go get my stuff!".

She got her cuddleuppet, her pillow and a stuffed dog. Brandon usually just crashes at whatever pillow I have and crawls under my blanket, but this little stinker got it all figured out :)

We slept holding our hands. I can't say I minded it :)

Old Maid

Do not ask me why and how, living here for 9.5 years I did not know what Old Maid was. I mean I knew the name of the game but I never played or knew how to play it. Kids got it for Christmas and we played it one day. I forgot that in Russia we have the same game called Akulina :)

Why I want to write about it is because I wanted to mention Brandon's reaction to losing a game. He threw a fit about it, immediately blaming me, Kyra and Jimmy for his loss. It has been a struggle for him to accept a lose since he was very, very young. Jimmy, his Dad and Greg are all very competitive but I think, Brandon got it to extreme. I really, really hope it will improve by the time he is late teenager. Life would be very hard if you can't accept to lose.

Kyra's Reading Level

It is more for remembering even though kids do not get tested until the end of the year (starting last year) but she is on Level 3 (although she can read all those chapter books by herself)

My Presents

I totally forgot to mention the presents kids got me for Christmas. Kyra got me a butterfly pin and Brandon got me my first Lego set which I built all by myself :) So proud of them for good choices! :)

Difficult Choice

Kyra:

- If a boy who I like will ask me to marry him, I will tell him: "May be". But if a boy from BTR will ask me - I will say: " Definitely yes".

Me:

- What if all 4 boys from BTR ask you to marry, what will you do?

Kyra:

- Well, then I will just have to do eeny-meeny-miny-moe!

Kyra, at 6 it is cute.. But when you are in your 20th, I hope you will be more serious about your decision to marry :)

Who I Want To Be

Totally random Brandon asking me if I knew who he wanted to be when he would grow up.
- I would like to be either an engineer or a person who would get snakes out of their houses like I watch on TV on my fav program.
Snakes are fun. But, honestly, I like the practical side of the first choice

Still Have Firsts

Yes, we do not have any huge milestones but even small ones counts a lot! :) I explained Kyra how you solve a crossword puzzle. I love them myself but I am good only at Russian ones (and the ones my grade students bring home, ha!) It seems easy, but really, you have to know the difference between down and across, understand how some letters are already written, write each letter in one square, guess the word and being able to spell it. Not it DOES seems like a lot. She did a great job! :)

A Boy Or A Store?

Kyra and Brandon were in a process of putting their clothes away after laundry was done and Kyra was showing her pj to Brandon, saying that they were from Carter's. (store). Brandon is very surprised to hear that, asked:
- Really? Did Carter give them to you?? (the boy who is in Kyra's class :)
It was funny! :)

You Know I Live With A Boy

So, we are laying in my bed and I am reading a book to Brandon. Then... I start smelling something and after laughing it off and saying P.U, I wave the smell back to him. He, laughing, says:
- Well, it is nice and fresh as cow milk! :))
You know he is a boy! :)

Hello 2013

Well, hello, hello! I am starting a brand new blog, what a change from the old one that I had for 4.5 years :)

Unfortunately, when I print it out, you can not see the layout or see the heading or anything. So, just to say it - the title of my new blog is Of Course, I Would Like To Be a Perfect Mother, But I Am To Busy Raising Children. I love how I named it :)

This year started out with me working in the Melting Pot and the kids sleeping over at grandparents house. On NY Eve Kyra lost her 2nd tooth and then in the morning.... she literally lost it until she looked in Non's house. :)

You can't really see the second hole because of the first adult tooth coming out. But here she is..

Tooth Fairy was nice enough to leave a note to Kyra and a dollar.

Brandon started a New Year with new size 3 (!!!!!) shoes. Oh boy, again, if he was an Indian, his name would be Brandon Big Foot :))) I love you, Brandon :)