"What I Want for Christmas Is..."

Well, December is upon us and before we know it Christmas will be here! (21 days to be precise) Mike and I started discussing what we wanted to get or the girls, my mom and others have asked for gift ideas. Mike and I realized we have no idea what the girls want for Christmas! Cora, well she is easy and since Dimitri is the 1st boy he is as well, but the older 3 are starting to get a little more difficult (esp Helen and Emma) So we decided to ask them I found that most of what they asked for was either way too expensive or not going to happen! Here is some of what they asked for:

Helen: Polly pockets, princess and dancing dress up clothes, American Girl doll, Her own little nativity set,
Book Ideas: Rainbow Fairy Chapter book series, Amelia Bedelia books: (all the ones we don't have) AB and the baby, Teach Us AB, thank You AB, AB and the Surprise Shower, AB Goes Camping, AB’s family Album, Good Driving AB, and AB 4 Major

Emma: A real puppy, American Girl doll, Polly Pocket, baby doll, real hamster,
stuffed Crocodile(?!)

Susie: Train set(one that goes around the Christmas tree), toy doggie, real pet (hamster or dog), Polly Pocket, Dinosaur books, Easy reading books, Sled, Notebook (Her own), Toy Candle, Baby doll and bottle, toy Christmas wreath, calendar, toy rose, toy dinosaur, flash cards, Dr set

It appeared to me like Susie wanted to have a big list so she started asking for toys of things she saw around her like the toy candle, rose, calendar and Christmas wreath! We are not going to get a dog or a hamster and if anyone buys one for us I will not be happy!
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A Dose of Reality!

Today Cora said, "I wish I was poor." I am not sure why she wants to be poor, I asked her and she said, "I don't know." I said, "Well, we kind of are poor," Cora said, "No. Poor people don't have houses."

Well, she is right. I have been worrying so much lately. You know all this economic mess going on, we all worry about it, especially here in MI. We live week to week, day to day, never knowing when Mike is going to get paid for all the hard work he puts in for his customers, Trusting that God will provide for our needs and he has. I am a pessimist. I don't like that about myself, and I am working on myself to not be. I ask myself, how am I going to feed my family protein this week with only 2 lbs of ground beef and a pork loin? Then I search the deep freezer and find meat in it that I don't remember seeing yesterday! I know God is going to continue providing for us if we ask him and trust in him. He has so much in the past when Mike was laid off. He is going to provide for us always. I think we forget how much we have here in USA. We have so many blessings that we take for granted. Like Cora pointed out to me in an innocent way. We have a house, a car, a family (& community) that helps us when we are not able to take care of ourselves. God is going to give us what we need.

Adventures of a 1 year old Boy!

Having Dimitri is such a joy and such a new experience. I don't know if it is having a boy or if I
have forgotten what having a 12 month old is like because it was so long ago that Cora and the other girls were this age. He is getting into everything! He loves the toilet (splash pool). We had to buy a new trash can that locks since he kept on getting into our old one. One day he got into a bag of apples that I had left in the hall till i could make them into applesauce! He tried to eat a few of them! Later I found pieces of apple skin all over the floor that he had spit out! He loved the apples though and kept on going for them no matter where I moved them!

So, Dimitri had his first birthday a few weeks ago! November 3rd was his actual birthday, but we celebrated on the 1st with Grandmother and Bepa,, and the Fifelski family. (godparents) For some reason I only took pictures of him and they were not easy to take. He was tired and ready for bed when everyone arrived! He survived the evening though. He Loved the Cake, whined through the singing, and went to bed right after eating the cake. I hope next year will be more enjoyable for him!




Mike helped me decorate the cake. He grilled, and that was great! It is so nice not to have to do it all and to have a husband who is willing to help me out so much.




You can see that Dimitri is not to sure of the singing! I think he would have happily just eaten the cake. I think next year he will love it. He might even want to sing along!







I can not seem to figure out how to get the pictures on here. They didn't end up on here in the order I wanted. I apologize for them being all over the place. These birthday ones seem to be in reverse order!




Dimitri cried though opening gifts and seemed afraid of Curious George.

The cake decorating assistant!

Mike gave Dimitri a bath and Dimitri had lots of fun playing in the water!

Apparently, Mike had fun playing with Dimitri's hair. Dimitri didn't seem to mind though!




Dimitri got his first hair cut later that week. Aunt L cut it for us and did a splendid job! He looks

like a little man now! Dimitri's favorite toy these days is his ball. This was a gift and he loves chasing it. mike "played catch" with him and the girls like to make him run after the ball and get it himself. As soon as he gets near it they pick it up and through it away from him. i feel bad for the little guy. I guess one day he will torture them back! Although he laughs the whole time and thinks it is a great game! Go figure!


Dimitri did not like this Curious George when he opened it. a few days later he started playing

with it. He tackled it and was laughing so much! I told him, "Monkey!" and made monkey noises. A little while later he was playing with another toy and I asked him where his monkey was. I made the monkey noise. Dimitri went and got the monkey! He did the same thing a few other times and went and got his Ball when I asked him where it was. it is so nice to see him advancing!

Dimitri went for his one year check up he is 21lbs 15ozs. his head is in the 90th percentile and his weight and height are in the 20th and 30th percentile! I think he is looking and acting so much more like his dad! We thought when he got his hair cut he seemed to look so much like his Uncle John's baby pictures!

Lets eat some yummy leaves!

OK! Funny story. When the girls came home from school a few days ago, Cora started asking for a snack. We usually have a snack when they get home to hold us till dinnertime. I started joking with Cora. "How about some grass for a snack?"

"Eww!" Cora said.

"Some leaves?" I asked her.

Cora started to say, "Yuck!" but Susan was sitting next to her on the couch. She got a gleam in her eye. "I had leaves for a snack at school today," she told Cora. "They were delicious! You should have some."

Cora looked at her warily, "your joking!"

"No, it is true." Susan replied.

Cora then got a determined look on her face and went to go eat some leaves. "wait, Cora!" I said, "You should not eat leaves. they are yucky!"

Cora did not believe her mother. She believed her sister. She went out and started to eat a leaf. Susan was watching her from just inside the door. Cora spit out the leaf. "She is spitting it out." she said to me and rushed out the door to talk to Cora.

I have no idea what Susan said to her sister. I was laid up on the couch with a sore foot, but i do know that when they came in a little while later, Cora had eaten a leaf and swallowed it! Susan looked very proud of herself!

I don't know how that idea that it would be funny to manipulate her sister came from. She doesn't even know what it means, really. I didn't know whether to laugh or gag at the thought of Cora eating leaves.

Susan did get talked to about what she did, and she was sorry that she had done something so mean to her sister. Cora looks up to her so much. It really is sweet. It got me thinking. Could Susan get talked into doing something she didn't want to do? I do not think so. She is too strong willed to. I have fought her tons of times to get dressed, do a chore, or something else that she didn't want to do at that moment. It was like coming against a brick wall. I do win those battles. It will be a win for her in the future to say no to sex or drugs or peer pressure. I pray that I will prepare her to do what is right, so she can use that strong will of hers for good and not for ill.

Some October Highlights

When the girls had a picture day at school, Cora wanted to have one too! Here are a few of the pictures from then.

We had WOL playgroup at out house and made some delious pretzels. That is Cora with her "best cousin" Alena. These 2 girls loved it! They are going to be great cooks when they get a little older!


Cora is trying to hug Dimitri. It looks a bit more like she is taking him down!



During her picture day: She insited on holding her hand up in that pose with Barbie in her other hand!

Dimitri thinks (as most babies do) that the dishwasher is the best toy ever. Notice the sharp objects he has thrown on the floor! And he is holding a vase!... I guess I need to be better at keeping the dishwasher closed, so Dima will stay out of trouble!

So Dimitri was totally walking by the end of October. He was also waving bye-bye, and doing a few of the motions to "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star"! He can do "so big". He started saying a few words as well. He can say "Hi!", something like "Hello, there!" (usually he looks like he is trying to talk on the phone when he says that one.) He says "Mama" only when very upset, but says "papa"! (Sigh, I was hoping for Mama first!)
This video shows a few of these skills:

Enjoy!

Here we go.

OK, I will take advantage of my wonderful neighbor letting me borrow her computer while I am "laid up" from having twisted my ankle last night. I am hoping to use this blog to mostly put up pictures and videos so all of you, especially those far away from me can see updates of my wonderful family. Since I am not on my own computer, I cannot upload any of our pictures or videos right now, but i plan on doing it soon... I hope.

My life consists of what tends to seem like mundane tasks: Keeping my husband and family in line, Trying to keep my house clean and in order with 5 kids who keep the house a whirlwind of activity, helping with homework (I thought my days of homework were over!), making healthy meals, all while trying to be the best woman I can be and while trying to keep myself centered on my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is definitely hard and monotonous at times, but I find most days to be joys to me. As I watch my children grow and learn new skills, I am amazed at God's work in them. I am so thankful to The Lord that he gave me such a wonderful and an amazing task... to guide these little ones to Him. What a awesome responsibility! I know I can do what the Lord wants me to do if I lean on him and depend only on him.

No my life is not mundane.