Yo-yo barrettes with matroshka dolls

Aren't these cute? Come and buy one for $2 at the Russian Fest in Loveland, OH this Saturday...just a few days away! 11am to 5pm...you will want to get something to eat while you listen to the music. Here's the yo-yo tutorial from Heather Bailey.

Love learning....

We learn everyday...there are so many wonderful things in this world. So, we have learned a lot this summer just watching our garden grow and grow...that potatoes, beets, carrots and onions are underground. Lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, peppers are visible on the plant above ground.
Board breaking tonight in karate...it was really fun! That's how it should be. We are using the www.k12.com curriculum again this year...and loving it. Even I enjoy the classical approach to history, wish this is how I was taught when I was in school. Everything would've made more sense as they go in chronological order. The lessons are filled with Biblical stories, known facts, and thought on the unknown, geography, spinning the globe, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, etc.

Russian Fest

I hope you can come to the Russian Fest Saturday Sept. 4, 2010. I have been sewing aprons and pretty things to put in your hair using matroshka fabric. I've been practicing singing folk songs, my favorite is "Очи чёрные" (which means "Dark Eyes"), then "Подмосковные вечера" (or "Moscow Nights").

On the menu you will see borscht with sour cream, piroshki, golupsi, cabbage salad and shashlik. I will make a batch of coconut macaroons drizzled with dark chocolate, however the blini or the baklava are the most popular at the dessert booth.I painted a firebird on my niece's cheek...think we'll do that again! So, if you want to help out, bring your friends and some $...it will be a great time!

Tomorrow

Lighting the candles, originally uploaded by mama_marfa.

A few years ago I took this photo while at church. Tomorrow, we will celebrate the Lord's Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor. It is one of the 12 Great Feasts...and one of my favorites!

Thou wast transfigured on the mountain, O Christ our God,

showing to Thy disciples Thy glory as each one could endure;

shine forth Thou on us, who are sinners all, Thy light never-ending

through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Light-bestower, glory be to Thee.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfiguration_of_Jesus#Eastern_Orthodox_practices

P.S. I added beautiful church bells...hope you like them. I couldn't find anyone singing the tropar for the Transfiguration in English, Greek melody...but have been singing that to myself. I hope no one is offended by the Sufjan song which is 2nd, quite a pretty song about the Lord's Transfiguration.

Dresses and skirts

I love these girls...
And I just love dresses and skirts. Tomorrow, my husband, Rob, and these girls and I will go to the pool....LAST day for the summer. Wish it were open longer.

Pianos & bicycles & ice cream

There are quite a few prettily painted pianos around town: http://www.streetpianos.com/cincinnati2010We've been riding our bicycles a lot lately...it's nice to go early in the morning, when it's cool. And this past week, we rode to several places: Trader Joe's, Old Navy, Graeter's, to play a piano in the park, go to Gordon Food Service...We found out that Olivia won 3rd place in the Graeter's coloring contest!!!For drawing this...the prompt for the first space: what do you think Graeter's was like 140 years ago? She drew a log cabin shop...and the second space: what do you think Graeter's will be like in 140 years? Olivia drew people floating in bubbles to the modern shop!
She got a $10 gift card and bought herself a Graeter's teddy bear with t-shirt and got a strawberry milkshake. Hannah got cookies and cream in a milkshake. Rob got a butter pecan cone. I got a caramel malt. Decadence! Almost too sweet.
We went to the Newport Aquarium...they have a deal going on until September 3rd, 2010...one adult admission $22 and 2 children get in FREE between 4-7pm. I especially liked the giant crabs, the seahorses, jellyfish and petting the sharks...both the girls did, too! It was very cool inside...so good thing to do on a record HOT day...supposed to get to 100'F this week, I wonder what the heat index would say, because it's really humid and feels hotter.

The clothesline....

I took this photo yesterday of Hannah and my dad...she is 9 and he is 59...until next month, when he will be 60! Can you tell they love each other?I've been hanging laundry outside to dry this summer...saving energy. I make sure to check for bugs, shake well before folding and check for bird poops...I am used to wearing crisp clothes. I like the freshness. Did you notice our new 6' privacy fence? And our garden....tomatoes galore!

My birthday wish...

My dear husband Rob holding Natalia, who is 2 months old...chatting with my sister, Mary and Andrey, who came down from Canada.
The house in Huron, OH...where we stayed for the past week. We swam and played in the sand, cooked together, drank wine in the evenings, played UNO, Scrabble, Jotto, Apples to Apples, and Sorry...when the sun was too hot. 16 of us under one roof...but spent lots of time outside...I read the Double Comfort Safari Club and thoroughly enjoyed this passage about the very large, traditionally built, Mma Ramotswa:
"No, I did not find that I could swim. I found though, that I could float."To celebrate my birthday, I had blueberries, peaches, raspberries and blackberries topped with whipped cream...and my brother-in-law went out and bought an apple cake! That's me and Olivia above floating...see my NEW dark tangerine swimsuit from Land's End Canvas...spent $35 (free shipping) on it...good deal, eh? It is much brighter than I anticipated...bright tangerine!!!Juliana and Emma on the deck looking at the water. They recently got pink princess fishing poles. They let my girls try them out, too. Hannah actually caught a perch. We didn't eat that fellow, but did eat quite a bit of local perch from Berardi's.
The loved charming town of Vermilion, where this light house is...and lots of cute shops.
We went to the Trader Joe's in Westlake, OH, after leaving St. Sergius in Parma. It was the biggest one I've been to yet...large wine area, with a sample bar. I've only been to 3 Trader Joe's...the one in Cincinnati, OH and the one in Acton, MA. Did I tell you how much I love this store?