Cooler weather has arrived!

Hi everyone, It feels so much better not to have the extreme heat that we have been having. The fall really reenergizes me. It's been such a long time since I've updated the blog and alot has happened since then. August was full of trips and swims at the local pool. At the beginning of August we made a 10 hour trip to Paradise, CA for Molly and BJ's wedding. The trip up went surprisingly well. Alexei kept asking when we were going home. We made our first emergency stop alongside the highway to go to the bathroom. Only the cows got an up close and personal view of Alexei's show stopper. It was kind of nice seeing the cows up close and the boys enjoyed it. Cows are adorable. The boys were happy to meet more of the family and go to their first wedding. Molly looked beautiful and the wedding was fun. Vlady unfortunately got his second bee sting while playing outside at the reception. We felt so bad for him. We then left the reception alittle early. Luckily, he is not allergic to bee stings! On our way back down from Paradise (and it really was paradise...very pretty outdoorsy fresh smelling place), we visited Rich's friend Brad and his family for a couple of days. Brad and his boys took us to a crisp, clean BLUE lake in the western foothills of Sierra Nevada below Yosemite. The boys got to steer the boat and we went swimming. It was an adventure for the boys. I lost my Dad's hat while riding on the boat - it flew off. We tried to find it but it sunk really fast. I guess Dad wanted his hat left at this very beautiful place...it made me feel better that it was lost there. On our way back home we decided to drive through Sequoia National Park. It was amazing. We hiked down to the largest tree on earth named General Sherman. As we were driving through the park Rich and I were both yearning for a camping trip and so we decided that we would plan a trip for the next week with the boys - it would be their first! We then finally made it home as Alexei continued to ask "are we home yet?". We were home for a few days and then packed up the CRV again to go to Big Sur on our first family camp. Jotsi also got to go on the first trip to Paradise and also on this camping trip. He was so happy and pacing the floor waiting to hear if he was going with us or staying home. The boys had fun toasting their first marshmallow and then enjoying their first smore. The smores never tasted so good to me. Usually there are lots of marshmallows, candy bars and graham crackers left but not this time. We ate everything up! There happened to be a tree swing at the next camp site that was unoccupied so the boys had fun swinging and most of all playing in the dirt. Oh my goodness, they were so dirty!!! We just had to let them go and clean them up at night. We only stayed two nights and wished we would have planned a longer stay. August also brought the boys first (pre-season) Steeler game!!! Aunt Carol came over and we handed them their Terrible Towels and we were off! The boys seemed interested and got really excited when we did. We got them two long sleeved Steeler t-shirts - they looked adorable. They had fun waving the towels around!!! Our camera broke (or was broken - they love to get their hands on it) so I need to find the laptop hook up to our old camera so for now I won't have some of the pics. We did have some put on a disc so I'll go get the discs later and put them up on the blog later today. Jumping forward to today, both boys are sick. Alexei has a cold and fever and Vlady has fever and chills. So they have been sleeping and laying down for most of the day today. Right now they seem to be feeling better now that the Tylenol has kicked in but we are trying to keep them warm and resting. Vlady kept saying my head is "busy" mama. I kept thinking I wonder what he means by busy as I didn't know he was sick yet. And then Rich figured out he was saying "dizzy"...they do sound pretty similar. Today was supposed to be Alexei's birthday party with family however we had to cancel it because he woke up sick. Rich said there is something going around at their school so it seems they both caught it. We had a small party for Alex on Sept. 11th - his birthday, he turned 4. He enjoyed it so much. It was hard for Vlady to contain himself because he wanted a cake and his own gifts too! We kept saying he will have his special day in February, and reminded him of Christmas too. Alex also had a party in school where they played musical chairs. I brought in cupcakes and the students frosted them themselves and put sprinkles on too. They gave Alex presents and Alex gave them all gifts too. It was all very nice for Alex. We got him a Spongbob cake for the canceled party today and I don't know what we'll do with it. Maybe if their feeling better we'll sing and eat it tonight or save it for tomorrow. Alex already put his fingers in the cake. I saw little finger holes on the side of it. Maybe we'll just let him put his hands in it and smear it all over his face. He needs to experience that - even at 4!!! Both boys are in school which began the day after Labor Day. It is the same school where Rich works at so it's nice they see Papa throughout the day. Vlady goes 5 full days a week and Alexei goes 3 days a week for half days. They are both doing really well in school and their schedules seem to be working for them. They have amazing teachers there and we are very lucky. Alexei likes and needs the two days he has off to re energize. Alex stowed away a shiny red car from his classroom in his lunchbox so we had to talk to him about taking things that aren't his and return the car to the teacher. Alex has a soft spot for cars. Both boys have grown about two inches and gained about two pounds. They burn off everything they eat and they eat alot and all the time. They are beginning to enjoy most foods even broccoli and burritos. They are even starting to like salsa which really surprised me. Their language is growing and they only say a couple phrases and words in Russian now. Alex will sing "GOOOO DIEGO, GOOOOOO...repeat...repeat....repeat." He also sings "Taaava, taaava, taaava" but we don't know what it means...either something in Russian that we don't understand or just a word that he made up. They are both excited to get a costume for Halloween. We can't wait to see what they pick out. Oh most importantly was their Welcome to the Family Party thrown by Aunts Carol and Katy. The boys totally felt welcomed and loved!!! They had a Scooby Doo bounce house which all the kids loved and they loved their cake and toys the most they said. Everyone there really made a special day for them that they will remember for the rest of their lives. Vlady thinks that at every party there will be a bounce house now! We keep telling him it was there only because it was a very special day. They both love ice cream and gum and ask for it daily or every other day. Unfortunately, Rich and I love ice cream too and it makes it hard to say no but we do .... sometimes....hehehe. Okay I better end here. Tonight or tomorrow I'll upload new pics...okay there I said it, so I have to. All is still well and we are happily hunkered down into everyday life and enjoying ourselves in between spills, breaks, crys, and other very ordinary accidents! I seem to try to move to fast now and also get preoccupied with things I need to do and so that jar of pickles just seems to fall out of the refrigerator as I'm only trying to clean out the refrigerator. I need to stay in the moment. Okay now that's all for now. Write more later.