Almost there

So, I am almost a US citizen. I had my naturalization interview in the beginning of January. By the way, what's up with the term "naturalization"? Am I an unnatural creature until I get naturalized? But I guess I have to be naturalized if I am an alien. Anyhow, I received my summoning letter ordering me to show up for an interview and plan for two hours. The interview was in Salt Lake at 8 a.m. So I packed toys, diapers, clothes, snacks and a kitchen sink to keep Danny and Erin happy.

We arrived, went through the metal detector and got seated. Let me tell you, Erin got a kick from sending her purse and jacket through the X-ray machine! Oh and so you know! immigartion services employees do not smile. It must be in their conduct code-smile and get fired! Even cute babies do not affect them.

Anyhow an immigration officer called my name, told Andrew to stay where he was and watch the kids. I was to follow him with my pile of documents. The interview was over in 10-15 minutes. The officer verified some of my info and said he was going to administer writing and reading test as it seems that I can speak. Let me tell you it was hard-NOT! I had to read a sentence "The White House is located in Washington DC " than he had me write that same sentence. The guy by the way was native Russian with the last name Kapriyelov. So after that I was told to wait for a letter telling me when and where to show up for the Pledge of Allegiance ceremony. At that point (keeping in mind that I was told to budget for 2 hours) I asked " Is this IT?" And that was it. No one put me and Andrew in separate rooms and grill on location of the furniture in the house, color of tooth brushes and our laundry detergent choice. See, this is exactly what I hoped for so that I can have a fun blog post, alas. I was asked no ridiculous questions so I can't poke fun at that Mr. Kapriyelov. I guess they figured that 8 years and 2 kids later you are married for real. Anyhow, I am almost citizenised . On February 23 I'll be sworn in and live happily ever after.

By the way, after the interview we went home and as Andrew took half a day off we had enough time for some breakfast. We finally did it! We found Denny's where it does not smell funny and where the waiters actually come by and bring you the correct order. American Fork Denny's rocks (comparing to the two in Orem)!

PS: Should we make Erin and Danny wear tacky matching stars and stripes outfits to the ceremony?

Bob the Builder

We have been working on potty training Erin for a while now. I used to be stressed out about it, because it had to be done and, I was told, should have been done a long time ago. It is actually kinda funny. My parents began talking about leaving the diaper behind around the time Erin turned one. According to them not only was I potty trained by my first birthday, but I could also read, recite the Periodic Table and play banjo! Just kidding, just potty trained!

Hence a potty was purchased and I expected that Erin would inspect it, figure out what it was for and begin using it immediately. Well, that did not happen! Pook decided that her throne was an excellent toy and if she pushed on its bottom music would start playing.
Seeing that nothing was happening on its own I began educating the babe on what the potty is for. At that point Erin pretended to not understand me and held on to her diaper tight. To make the long story short Erin's second and third birthdays came with no underwear in sight. Well, actually underwear was in sight...just not on her bum-bum, she preferred putting it on her head like a hat.

When Danny turned a couple months and I began getting more than one and a half hours of sleep at a time I swooped on Erin in an attempt to start saving on diapers. So it began for real, the dreadful potty training! We put Elmo underwear in her sock drawer and added to her collection a pack of Minie Mouse undies. I discovered that I have a low potty accident tolerance, mostly due to the fact that our house is carpeted. So we wore undies and diaper, diaper and undies. This is where Erin decided that diaper makes her life easier! No need to stop playing in diaper though undies require a trip to the bathroom or shower and who has time for that.

During our Christmas trip to Gemma and papa Niel in Idaho we ran out of diapers! Oh no, whatever shall we do! Gemma came to the rescue and found a pair of underwear with Bob the Builder (formerly property of cousin Tarran) and asked Erin to keep old pal Bob dry. I threatened that if she did not, than Bob would ran away (why do moms always over do it?). No accidents till evening when all of a sudden Erin stopped in the middle of Gemma's kitchen, pull her pants down, looked at the underwear and proclaimed "Bob the Builder ran away!"

Bob went home with us as Erin wanted to try harder to keep Bob dry. I checked, no one makes girl underwear with Bob the Builder. Though will she care if she has boy underwear on? Maybe like her mama in childhood, she will think that boy underwear is cooler than girls, because it has a pocket for a hanckie.
Anyhow we are still working on it; Bob, Elmo and Minnie run away occasionally, but we are being patient. Erin does not always want to take a break to take care of them. She even came up with a way to "make pee-pee go away" and postpone her trip to the bathroom. I noticed one day that she was running in circles around the room yelling "Scramble!". She explained that this way she does not need to go potty anymore. Please, do not test that method! It does not work!

Ta ta for now!

Sunday picnic!

Theoretically this post should have been about our Christmas vacation, but I want to do it justice, which ain't happening this late at night. So here is the recap of today.

Erin began attending Primary! My baby is growing so fast. She was excited to become a Sunbeam (the youngest class in Primary, which is LDS church's organization for children) and bravely marched into the Primary room and sat herself in the front row. I could not believe my eyes, but she actually remained seated for the entire time she was supposed to be there (as a devout mother I stood guard by the door peeking through a crack ready to bust in if necessary). At the end of the day's meetings she told me that there were no snacks and no toys, hence could she grow down and return to nursery. Unfortunately it does not work that way! Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could actually grow up or down as desired.... (Actually, I am staying 29 for the rest of my birthdays, so you CAN artificially do that, he he).

After church I did nothing, and let me tell you, I enjoyed it! Danny went to the home office to hang out with papa in his new exercise cubicle.


Erin went to turn her room upside down. I, on the other hand, locked myself in the bedroom, climbed in bed, turned on the TV and watched PBS documentaries (I love them! perhaps this is why some people might find me boring). Ahh! What a lovely break it was! Later I napped and cuddled with Danny. It was a perfect afternoon!

So, Sveta, why did you put "Sunday picnic" as the title? Hold your horses, I am getting there.
For the desert tonight we had chocolate fondue accompanied by a movie ("My Neighbor Totoro"-Miyazakis anime film. Andrew was not too impressed, however Erin and I gave it thumbs up, but than again, I love PBS documentaries, he he), hence we picniced and it went well. We did not spill the chocolate and no one got poked with a fondue fork! It was scrumptious! You can tell by Erin's face smeared in chocolate!


We had Granny Smith apples, bananas, pretzels and marshmallows. Apples were the hit, at least with me. Danny hung out with us in his Bumbo chair and observed. He could not fondue with us so he chewed on his toy tray.

So there you go! This was our Sunday picnic-a perfect ending to a perfect day!

Ta ta for now!

Santa!

Last year I took Erin to see Santa at the mall. She was so excited about it on the way there, but chickened out when it came to climbing into his lap.

She did it this year! Pook was very shy and would not answer any of his questions about her name or age, but she had a ready answer for " what would you like for Christmas". She wanted a pink scooter. Fortunately enough this is exactly what mama stashed under the bed, hehe.
Danny got to sit on Santa's lap too. He made no requests. In fact he was zonking out at the time plus he is a 5-months-old person who is not into presents.


This Santa, by the way came to our ward's Christmas party. If I would say that it was a super-duper fun party than I would lie, but Santa made it all worth it. Seeing smiles on kids faces makes any party enjoyable to me. It was a sweet little gathering, plus I didn't need to make dinner. I personally dined on deserts and Erin tried to swindle my chocolate cake!

Anyhow, Danny is hinting that he would like to get ready for bed, so I am outta here!

Ta ta for now!

A very gregarious child

This is what our pediatrician called Danny (aka Little Monkey)-gregarious. Had to google the word to find out its exact meaning ( paper dictionary-shmikcionary is a thing of the past).

gre·gar·i·ous/griˈge(ə)rēəs/ meaning: Fond of company; sociable.

So there you go! Besides being irresistible cute our babe is also very gregarious. He loves to giggle, talk and grace everyone with his smiles. Danny's overall development is where it is supposed to be and is even ahead in some areas. Little dude can turn from tummy to back, that skill he developed due to his dislike of tummy time. Though comparing to Erin's hate of tummy time he loves it. Erin used to burst into tears and screamed her head off the moment she was plopped on her tummy.

Other than that our monkey likes to grab things (like the hair of the head within his reach), go for walks, stare at a certain blanket, chew on his hands and just be around people, oh, and watch TV.

Though he reached about 12 lb in weigh he is still lagging behind on charts comparing to an average bouncy baby boy. Danny made it into 1.39%. He is 24.5 inches which puts him into 19.19% and his head circumference of 15.5 inches puts him into whooping 1.02 %. But as our pediatrician stated "We worry about the big heads, not the little ones".

Overall his progress is steady and pleasing. More likely than not he will be a tall lad as he doubled his height percentile since the last visit.

At the moment Little Monkey is not too happy as two of his bottom teeth are coming in. Despite that he remains mostly smiley and giggly. Erin kept holding his hand today while he was having a good cry about his sore mouth and kept telling him that it was okay and that his teeth will grow and it will be just fine. To me she kept calling her brother "poor Danny".

I am very pleased to see those two developing a relationship. Erin talks to Danny and he beams back at her and grabs her finger (or hair) or she grabs his hand. They chatter together and lay on his exercise mat kicking at the toys hanging above. Of course they already get into fights, at least Miss Erin does, Danny-boy has no idea what is going on. Overall Erin is a wonderful big sister.

Well, my tired brain is starting to shut off. Sleep was not a very widely available to me commodity last night. Danny kept waking up every two hours and Erin paid me two or three visits last night (not sure if one was in my dream), oh and the beeping fire alarm wanting a new battery did not help. So ta ta for now!

Christmas photos

This morning we did a little Christmas photo shoot and here are the results. Danny did not stay in a good mood for too long so I did not get any good shots of him alone. We'll have to make an attempt number two later. Erin on the other hand, is quite a little model.





Oh, and we finally got a large Christmas tree, no more of that 3 foot tall nonsense for us. Of course we had to add to our selection of tree decorations including a star tree topper. There were too many to choose from in the store so we just told Erin to decide which one she liked the best. Yeap, she chose the tackiest one, he he. By the way, a 10 minute long debate between two adults over which star to choose can be ended by a 3-year-old in a matter of seconds. It went perfectly with the rest of our Christmas ornaments and lights!

I should probably mention that I got to make my first Thanksgiving dinner this year. We have always gone to aunt Theresa's but this year they went out of town for a wedding. I have to say that I appreciate her cooking and all the thought and work she puts into every feast. All you women out there who pull together a huge fancy dinner in a sparkling clean perfectly decorated for the occasion house, you are my heroes!

I made sweet potato casserole (Sweet potatoes are actually white and chalky, yams are orange and sweet. They are not the same thing, so people! quit calling yams -sweet potatoes and confusing us foreigners, who are not sure which ones you mean in the recipe), stuffing, fruit salad with orange cream dressing, lemon pepper green beans (yumm) and dill carrots (also yumm). We had ham instead of turkey (have never been a fan of this fowl. I just don't like the flavor). It was juicy, mouthwatering and just tasty (m-m-m-m-m!) We also had rolls, mashed 'tatos and some scrumptious pies made by Emily. My favorite was a pumpkin cream. I could probably eat one all by myself, it was soooooooo delicious.

We had the dinner at aunt Theresa's house so I had no clean up before or after the get together. Now that's the way to go! It was us, Burke, Emily, Evelyn, Mary, Chet, Natalie and Nathan. It was a delightful day! I would say more about it, but my brain is not cooperating, so I will leave at that.

Ta ta for now!

Halloween

Both Andrew and Erin dressed up this year. This is how Andrew went to work the Friday before the Halloween. It is too bad he did not win the costume contest at work , cause the annoyance of that black makeup all over his face ought to have been rewarded in my opinion, he he. By the way, according to the costume package my husband dressed as an Emperor of Evil.

Even though Andrew was tempted to dress my sweet child as a side kick to the Emperor of Evil, Erin chose a pirate costume. This is where you say: " But, Sveta, this clearly does not look like a pirate! Unless that pirate is wearing a tiger camouflage for some bizarre reason." After Erin chose to be a pirate, she changed her mind in favor of a Cat in the Hat getup. After which she grabbed of the shelf a tiger suit costume and would not let go of it. So, hence a tiger. However, Erin is tall and I mean TALL. Her average age group size costumes just don't fit. Which is by no means a tragedy, taking in the account that the store made Halloween costume manufacturers find the cheapest, flimsiest fabric existing, slap it together, shove it in a bag , print a label with a better looking version of the costume and ask for my arm as a form of payment. What you see down bellow is a deluxe homemade tiger suit with the price tag of 10 buckos and 2 days of my time in lovely tiger print thick fabric ( also can pass a s a zebra) suitable to be worn in any kind of weather. The tail attaches with velcro for car riding convenience.

As you might have noticed Halloween was on Sunday this year. Which means we went trick-or-treating on Saturday. The entire day it looked like it might rain and it began to pour at 4 p.m- the prime candy begging time. Bah! So we went to the mall , which turned out to be a nightmare. It would be an understatement to say that the place was crowded. The sardines in a can have more wiggle room than poor little tigers, butterflies, princesses, skeletons etc. had that day sandwiched between the big people. The crowd circulated in an orderly line through the hallways stopping by very FEW stores handing candy out (Now that was a shocker! The mall advertises trick-or-treating every year, but there were so few stores participating and Build a Bear even had an audacity to give out fliers instead of candy, he he.) Andrew grabbed Erin and raced around to collect what could be collected ( I love this dude!). Danny and I followed in a stroller trying not to run people over in this mad dash. We are not doing the mall ever again. EVER!

We were done in about 45 minutes and it stopped raining so we decided to go knocking on doors. The problem was that mama in a hurry did not grab a jacket for the tiger and the Emperor of Evil. Going back home was too far as we planned to hit aunt Theresa's neighbourhoods. So I phoned and arranged for a loaner jacket ( Thanks Christine!) for the Tiger. The Emperor of Evil had to man up and pretend it was warm.

Erin was adorable and super excited. Andrew coached her a little, but at some doors she would tell him to stand on the sidewalk, he he. She was also polite wishing Happy Halloween at every door. Danny and I followed in the stroller. He napped! We all had so much fun. I don't know why, but I love Halloween. It is just a fun day!

Off course we made our annual pilgrimage to the Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point. It was a neat afternoon, though it was too bad we got there late and it started getting dark pretty soon. We stayed for a couple of hours. We did not go into the maze this year, but I don't believe anyone was too disappointed on that account.

Erin raced a pig. She was selected as one of three volunteers because Andrew held her up high while madly waving her arms. The dude in the overalls promptly noticed their enthusiasm. Too bad that our pig did not win. The prize for that would have been a pig's snout that I do not doubt Erin would put it to a good use. Our loot was a spider ring.

Some photos in a princessy pumpkin carriage and on a horse puling it.

What a cutie!

I love Danny's expression in this one.

Danny and I decided against climbing into the giant chair this year as he was strapped into the front carrier on me.

We did a hay ride, a wagon ride, went through a blow up dragon (That freaked Erin out a little bit, or at least she tried to take every emergency exit we passed to get out of there), Erin jumped in the bouncy house and played in play houses (that was her favorite), we watched a chicken show, and roamed through a kiddie maze.

No photos of this year's pumpkins as they shriveled and began looking like toothless mouths before I got around to taking their photo. I'll be more prompt next time around. Erin ended up with a flower and polka dot design, Danny had a boat, waves, the sun, clouds and seagulls on his and I had a traditional face. Andrew did not get to his pumpkin on time. I hollowed it for him, but it went bad before he had time or a desire to carve it.

Note to self: do not let hollowed out pumpkins sit around the house, especially on the dinning table. Cleaning goo and yuckies is no fun.

Danny is waking up so ta ta for now!