Zarina, Alexander, & Nicolas

Zarina & Alexander enjoyed decorating our Christmas tree.

It is on a table to keep it out of the reach of Nicolas because most of the decorations are glass ones that were given to us. He wanted to help and lately has taken to shaking the table trying to get to it.
Nicolas playing with Darina, Nadezhda's 6 month old daughter.
Zarina & Alexander playing dress up.
Trying to get the three of them to cooperate for a picture can be difficult. Clapping can be fun!

Or...wrap them together to keep them all seated. :-)
Nicolas enjoying playing with a piece of ice.
Sitting on their Christmas package from their grandma in America.

Nicolas' First Birthday

Just one year ago on December 21st, God blessed our family with a 9 pound 4 ounce baby. It's hard to believe how much Nicolas has grown in just one year! He showers us with his cute dimpled smile and brings sunshine to our home.

Mmm, this is good!

Family Times

Some of you have expressed interest in seeing how are children are growing. Yes, they seem to be growing up very quickly! Below is a picture of them playing together in a "tent" they made under the table.

One day Zarina was giving everyone rides in her horse and carriage.

Nicolas is really getting into things.... He loves to play with the potty chair (minus the potty part). One day I heard him crying only to discover he had gotten stuck in the hole part.
Here you can see how he likes to climb on things...
Zarina made some snowmen. We had to leave to go somewhere as soon as she finished and when we came back, they were gone. Someone must have moved them or knocked them over or something. It's a good thing we took this picture...
This is how Nicolas looks when he is dressed to go for a walk...He doesn't like to be bundled up so much because he can't move.
Zarina wanted the whole family to go ice skating with her for her birthday. Nicolas is too little and stayed with Babushka (Valera's mom), but Alexander wanted to try it for the first time.
It was a bit hard for him, but Zarina really enjoys it and enjoyed having the whole family there.

Zarina's birthday

Zarina turned 6 on November 21st. She wanted to have an outer space birthday party and invite some of her friends. She loves outer space and would like to go there someday. :-) She especially likes "Rings of Saturn". Below she is posing with her cake with a rocket, Saturn, the Milky Way, and shooting stars on it. Thank you, Laura Hausman, for the recipe for icing. I finally found something that works with regular sugar and not icing sugar...even if I did have to mix it for half an hour or so.

Alexander is playing with some milk cartons Zarina decorated to use in a game of "bowling".
Zarina has always loved having and making party hats for her birthday. For her space party she made space helmets. In the picture below, her friend, Aloshya, who is exactly 2 years older than her, modeled them. The rest of the children weren't into space helmets.
Especially Nicolas....He wouldn't leave his on.
They really enjoyed playing a game of musical chairs and pretending that they were on different planets.
Zarina posing with her birthday cake. She blew all her candles out in one try.
After her party, she went to Aloshya's apartment for his birthday party. Zarina has been "writing" books lately and at the end of each page, she wants to write, "What a nice day!" I think it fits here. :-)