This & That...June 18th

Night Night's....Chris takes one floor and I take another and we switch off day in and day out. Katya and the boys are upstairs, and Jaclyn, Sophia & Natasha are downstairs.

Sophia did this artwork at Jaclyn's Girly Raspberry Party.

Katya & Sophia like to help the babies ice skating. Andri is in the back. We still enjoy braiding hair as well, as you can see from the picture.

Jaclyn had a birthday party with her girlfriends. Eleven of them all in all. It started out with a quiet dinner, with very little talking, and ending up with lots of laughter and giddiness, crafts, popcorn, and fingernail polish.

The pool has been a little bit of fun, but now there are a few bugs in it and some are afraid to swim. It looks pretty good to me.



Alesia had a girls weekend holiday with her Mom, Aunt, Sis 'n law, and cousin. It was a much needed holiday and Chris did great with the kids. They "Did great" without Mama!

Sophia swimming. Sophia got an owie at track and fitness class. She was running to jump onto the high jump platform just to learn how it feels and run on it, and somehow tripped and fell onto the pavement on her face. I was walking the dog so I missed it, but Katya brought her to me. It's quite the "Raspberry" so to speak. James is above. He is upset with Mama for something at iceskating. I think at one time I had at least 4 children upset with me. Say no does bring some problems, but we need to keep doing it.

Chris and I are ok, better than before, but a lot like 2 ships passing in the night. I'm pretty exhausted at night, but we are all still sleeping good.

Tomorrow Jonathan has a chess tournament that I will be bringing him to in Minneapolis. It is a nice vacation for me with a book and computer.

We hear that some of our children's friends are coming from Ukraine, and we look forward to seeing them. We went to a contact spot and saw a lot of photos from their home in Ukraine and it was a lot of fun.

I need to work on more boundaries with the computer. I asked yesterday that everyone practice their instruments before skype or computer. I'm making a little headway.

We are taking turns sharing stories from our past which is good and hard at the same time. I look forward to just moving forward into a normal family life.

Some of us have more tears than others. Some of us have more patience than others. Some of us have more humor than others. Some of us have more love than others. Some of us have more boundaries than others. I guess we are a family! We still pray at dinner, and at night nights. We have read some Bible, and Katya has read out loud Narnia one night. We keep a little too busy for now, but we do read to the kids each day wholesome and funny books, and keep moving in the right direction.

THANKS for all your prayers. We have not had any big accidents this week, except Pasha's ouie on her face.

More next week! Love from Chris & Alesia