Random Stuff

For my birthday our kids gave me a selfie stick, so I could also be in the pictures. I am the photographer behind most of our pictures and rarely get into them, so they thought they could change it. I took it on our trip to Greece and as a consequence, I appeared in more pictures there than in any of our other trips. However, since that trip I forgot to take the stick with thus less of me for the world to see. Maybe it's not a bad thing after all! Either way, a mental note to myself: find my stick! The picture below was the first family photo taken with my selfie stick on my birthday!

And then some more pictures followed... my birthday dinner that Spencer cooked for me!

At the bus stop waiting for a bus to go to church, also on my birthday.

In October Spencer decided that he will shave off his beared for good. He would usually go beardless for the summer and then will grow one for the winter. I actually loved his winter bearded look and went through a complete grieving process when he announced his decision. I asked him to take a last picture with his beard, so here it is (he might reconsider in the future because shaving is hard on his skin).

And here he is - a new man on his birthday!

For Spencer's birthday, I took him on his lunch break to one of our favorite restaurants in town (and we only had to walk across the street from the university) - the Korean House. I can't remember what we had there, but it was yummy!

Completely unrelated to anything I posted earlier in this post (thus the name "Random stuff"), our dog Yuki is a cutie and I think she knows it!

She is very much loved especially by Sophie who can't pass by her without hugging her!

She is even cute when she is not so happy about the boots she has to wear in the -30C weather. She would walk in the door after being outside in those boots and stop and wait right there at the door until somebody would come to take them off.

She is even cute when she is doing something she is not supposed to (like laying on our bed) and trying to look like she is not even there! A side note: Spencer (who you partially see in this picture) was completely unaware of her presence! Good job, pup!

And this is when you put some pillows on the couch so your dog wouldn't make herself at home in your absence... Yeah, nice try, Mom!

This is one of my favorite pictures when Lina was practicing her song on the guitar. She needed a very grateful audience and she found one!

All five sisters together!

Sophie has took on learning different crafts. Here, she is learning how to crochet from her babushka, and she is very good at it. She also learned how to make some jewelry, and told us that she is going to open up her business!

Nika turned 14 in February, and we all seem to be still alive! In fact, we are doing pretty well, thank you for asking!

The girls had been asking all winter to try hot chocolate at Starbucks, so on one cold day in the early spring I took them on a date (first, Nika and Lina, and later the twins)  to have this glorious drink with our favorite German waffles. I have to admit, it was pretty good though judging by the price you would think you were having a hot chocolate only royals would be allowed to drink...

In March, one of the young volunteers (Haley Critchfield) who lived in Astana for almost a year and who we got to know very well was picked up from her mission by her parents and brother. She was finishing her service in Russia but came down to Astana for a day, so we met at the mall for a half an hour.

Spencer and I got to go to the annual NU Orchestra Concert which is our favorite event on campus (the kids were at the figure skating class). Our family also went to the NU Choir concert. To both events we get VIP tickets because one of the orchestra members is also a basketball player on Spencer's team, and the choir just likes us I think. It's good to know people!

Spencer and I at the Orchestra concert. Brandon (next to Spencer) is his assistent coach, so he and his wife also got VIP tickets!

The twins turned 11 at the end of April, and we had a quiet birthday for them. We tried not to buy big psresents this year because we thought we were moving this summer (we are not!). They asked for cinnamon rolls for breakfast with cream cheese frosting. Done!

In May winter decided it wasn't done with us, so we had a big blizzard. Not cool, Winter, not cool at all!

In May we also got a visit from Andee Waldie (now Soza), her husband and her parents. Andee was a young volunteer in Astana some 4 years ago (I realize we've been living here for a long time!), and now she took her family to revisit the areas she served in Kazakhstan. We had fun time going down the memory lane!

Andee and her husband Eric with our family.

Some random pictures from February

These pictures don't really fit into any particular post but I want to remember the moments they captured, so there you go...

On cold days these two (mostly the one in the fur coat) like to warm up their bones by the radiator.

Our skating crew. Lina is the only one who is not taking figure skating lessons this year.

Changing for the class. Sophie forgot her skating jacket, so I gave her my fancy sweater.

She wasn't too happy about it! Her coach got a kick out of it!

Lexa hanging out with Papa on the couch. She is our snuggle bug!

I found these two giggling. They were eating ...

... flour!!!

I promise, we do feed them a variety of nutritious food 

In February, Nika had her birthday. We have teenager in the house!!! So far we are surviving!

Young volunteers from our church gave her this fun mug - it is black but when you add hot water to it, it will reveal the identities of the gift givers!

Fun fact: "Happy Birthday" has 13 letters in it. I didn't know it until Nika thanked me for putting 13 candles in her pie (she wanted a pumpkin pie for her birthday)!

We celebrated her birthday by taking them to "Kango" for climbing adventure.

From the looks of it, they fad a lot of fun.

Love them!

A few days later Babushka had her birthday, so the kids prepared a musical program for her. Here is Lina being a host of the evening.

The twins playing their flutes.

Happy Birthday, Babushka! 

Random pictures of our regular lives

In the attempt to catch up I am going to throw in here several pictures that highlight our life in the three months of fall. We had a couple of birthdays, that is mine and Spencer's. On the morning of my birthday which happened to fall on a Saturday the girls made us stay in bed while they cooked a delicious breakfast of coffee cake served with ice cream and homemade pecan candy. Any mom that gets a breakfast cooked by kids is a lucky one! I was twice as lucky because I got a cake, ice cream, and candy to begin my day!!! Then to top it off Spencer took me out for lunch! 

Spencer's birthday fell on a Thursday which is a busiest day for him. But the kids came to the rescue here as well: while I took Spencer out for dinner after his very tiring day, Lina cooked a delicious meal for her sisters all by herself. And when we came back, we had German Chocolate cake to finish our celebrations!

In October we had our annual fall breakfast with Spencer's basketball team. This year four more girls joined the team.  There are a total of 13 girls on the roster.

On Halloween, the girls totally made up their own costumes.  Lina was a robber, Nika was Baba Yaga (Russian fairy tale witch), Lexa was a devil, and Sophie was a special forces soldier.  They had a good time trick or treating in our apartment complex.

At the end of October and beginning of November the girls (Lexa, Lina, and Nika) had a few guitar concerts.  The first one was with their classmates at the Children's Palace.  Nika and Lina also had an additional concert at the Russian Culture Festival.  In November, the Children's Palace sponsored its first International Youth Talent Festival with teams from Russia, Ukraine, and other post-Soviet states.  Our girls played a guitar piece with their group.

Lexa is the only lefty in her group of first-year students.

The kids and their teacher posed for a group photo.

Also during November, Nika and Lina had their first track meet of the season.  Nika ran the 150 meter race, and Lina ran the 60 meter race.  They both did well, and Nika placed 4th in her age group for the entire city.

On their way to the track meet.

Nika warming up.

Lina after her run.

The kids that Nika's and Lina's coach coaches (the coach is in the middle in light blue sweater.

In November we almost got a cat.  When we returned to the university from the mall one evening, this kitten was at the entrance of the university meowing.  Our three youngest managed to get it to follow them (and carried it, too) all the way to our apartment.  After we fed it, we took it downstairs and put it outside while sending a message to everyone about the possibility to adopt the cat.  The girls almost talked us into keeping it, but not quite (both Spencer and Nika are allergic to cats).

Lexa using her "Pleeeeease, mom!" look.

Babushka came over from Russia a few days before Thanksgiving, and Spencer made it back from his conference in America soon after, so we had our whole family for Thanksgiving. We didn't have school that day, and so the girls were extra happy! I managed to find a big turkey (those are hard to find in Kazakhstan, and they are very expensive), so we had a nice traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

 One Sunday evening in November the girls had an impromptu concert. They dressed up, made a program, and performed all on their own!

This was our fall. December brought us new adventures but more about that later.