school

We started school with Benjamin almost a week ago on the 21st of August. Mommy and Daddy were a little antsy to get started but so was Benjamin. We had intended to have Carol (Andrew's mother) bring curriculum when she comes to visit in September but decided it was to expensive. We can watch for it on ebay and get it for half or less of the full price. Kindergarten is simple enough I think we can probably figure it out anyway.  Benjamin really enjoys sitting down with daddy and doing his words . I am glad because Andrew is much more patient then I am.  Andrew is making up work sheets on the computer with words that have the same letters as in sat or bat, just the first letter changes and  Benjamin has to sound out what the first word is going to be.  Then after letters,  we work on his numbers, Mommy can sometimes take over from this point if Andrew  has somewhere he needs to go. Benjamin is learning to count to 100 before we start any addition or subtraction.  Then we learn about  animals or bugs from the science websites like National Geographic. I am so thankful for the internet, it is so nice to have so much information at your fingertips. So Benjamin is really excited to learn, as you can see Adele' also has to be part of the action. The excitement I am sure will wear off soon but for now we are all having fun. 

Saying verses at bedtime, Adele' likes to take the piece of paper with a verse written on it and "say" them too.

Youth group

We don't usually go to youth group, but we have some neighbors that we invited so we went to accompany them, and really had a good time. I was very surprised at how much it has grown. There were 21 people there that night, 8 christians, including Andrew and I. So it is quite an outreach.   Our neighbors that we invited are pretty excited about it.  (Their parents are too, so we are going to see if they are interested in a bible study) 


I don't have a picture but there were 42 people at the concert that we had on Wednesday, 22 of them guests, and of those that aren't geusts there are a few that regularily come to church but have not yet become christians. So that was pretty exciting. It is so neat to see people excited about the church. A lot of the geusts we had were invited by church members. I just hope we will get some permenant growth from all of it.

Benjamin is growing up

Benjamin would sit down with Adele' and "read" to her while she had to sit on the potty. She actually preferred him. And he was so good and patient with her. It is nice when your kids can actually do things like that for you. And he was so happy to do it, cuz he knew he was making mommy happy.

Andrew went to the grocery store last night and told Benjamin he had to pick up his toys and we would do something together when he got back. Well, that sure was a good motivation for Benjamin, he not only picked up his toys but he organized them! And let me tell you they each have their proper place. I returned a toy to the wrong place last night and he saw it and put it right where it belonged. I should take a picture of Andrew's tools some time the comparison would be very interesting. Andrew is not a neat nick, but when he organizes, he really organizes.

nothing to report

Not much has been going on around here at all. (the reason for my lack of blogging recently)  I just haven't had much to report. The guys have been working on the ceiling of the church building all week. I am going tonight so I will take pictures of the progress. 

         Adele' has really taken well to potty training. A week and a half ago I just couldn't see when she would ever learn. But we started rewarding and since, she has done very well. To me it seems more difficult to potty train in the winter when kids need to be bundled up, and then when they have an accident you have a lot of laundry. So I wanted to try to get her trained in the summer. But I was really afraid I might have been jumping the gun. She hadn't been waking up dry at night or anything, but she is 23 monthes so I decided I had better bite the bullet and go for it. I am glad I did. She started waking up dry after we started potty training. Last night she even went while we were watching a movie! We aren't getting through church without accidents yet  though,  so everybody has been warned.  It has been interesting to learn about Russian culture in this area. They don't have money to buy daipers, and cloth is a lot of work if you don't have a washing machine. So they actually rarely put daipers on their kids. A friend told me that her two girls were trained by the time they were a year old. I know some people in the States have tried to potty train their kids straight from new borns, but they still put daipers on them. I am wondering if maybe we untrain our kids by putting daipers on them, and make a lot more work for ourselves.  Russian people just let their kids go on the floor and wipe it up. I am intrigued but not sure If I am brave enough to try it with our next one. Daipers here are actually much more expensive then they are in the States.  And we don't have all these nifty coupons for CVS and Walgreens, you people make me so jealous.  

              In other news Andrew is now closer to 40 then 30. He had his 36th birthday Teusday night. We had a nice little party. Which he enjoyed. He doesn't like to make a big deal. So we had a good time. I successfully made a black berry pie. Pie crust is not my thing. Someone (I don't remember who) told me butter is the secret. And it sure did the trick. Only I baked the shell before filling it with fruit and then discovered I couldn't pinch the crusts together, as one was baked and one was not. Oh well, he enjoyed it. 

             

           

out for a swim

Baby baths here are much bigger, It is one thing I like better here, then in the States. This baby bath fits both the kids in it. It is a lot smaller then our "other" bathtub, but playing in water in swimming trunks outside is way more fun.

                                                               Big blue eyes!
After I got her out and dried up and dry clothes on, I had to go do something, and so she thought she might go take another swim! I didn't get a picture of her though. 

      We haven't really been doing very much that would be newsworthy. Unless potty training is newsworthy.  I have been trailing my  two year old for two weeks  and haven't had much success. Yesterday, we decided to start rewarding her.  Which she connected very quickly. Yesterday I decided we would try going to church without a daiper. She did fine through the service, which I was happy about as she spends most of it sitting on my lap. We warned everybody so she wouldn't go on anybody. But while she was playing outside she had an accident. I was talking with someone inside, and she came in with a big grin and a little spot on her shorts, so I was optimistic. I rushed her to the bathroom, and her clothes were all wet. She still thought she was supposed to get a peice of candy for going potty. Oh well, someday. 

nothing much