It's The Weekend Baby!!!

Friday night with the crew, very mellow evening, Idreis and Ish had practice, I did not cook any dinner.. made them all fend for themselves. Bagels were delivered earlier today and we had a block of cheese. One of those evenings when, whatever you can find, you can eat. I made Ibrahim and Inayah eat some cream of mushroom soup.. Inayah raved on how delicious it was... until I noticed she had the whole bowl left, Ibrahim complained his stomach hurted.. maybe because he put raisins in his soup.. Isa would not eat the soup at all, "that's not soup". I had to laugh. Must have been nasty because when does Isa ever turn down food.

Took the smaller crew on a walk before the school crew got home, just up and around, the blocks are long here, I saw some red boots the other day so we stopped back at that store, they were in the window, they looked good there, because as I took a closer look, the gold brass strap was not cute at all, went to the Walgreens to get some fabric softner and shaving cream, was also able to get followed as usual by the security guard. I passed by this new sushi spot that is around the corner, but resisted, since I have had sushi for the past three days. The place is www.campai.net Weather was a bit warmer today, still winter of course, I carried Inara in the sling, she is still fitting in there and we enjoy remembering our walks around Calhoun together.

Inara teething again and gave me her cold, so I am a bit under the weather. She is pulling up on all the couches and flashes a smile when you notice her standing, she hasnt figured out how to get down so the usual plop ends with a cry. A very sensitive girl, and gets rolled around enough by Isa that a simple flop down should't hurt too much. Eating baby food and chewing on bagels, exploring the electrical sockets... She let Idreis rock and sing her to sleep tonight, very sweet.

It is 1:10am now, just finishing Ishmael's hair, he has twists, looks cute, he has a game on Sunday and needd a new hairdo... Idreis clowned at practice tonight so that will be his last one, maybe I will look into that skiing class for him. Like he told Ish, "ther's more to life than basketball". Speaking of basketball, K is on the road til the 2nd of Feb...
such a different place when he is gone.. feel like we are in witness protection program around here :). Luckily Sunday we will get out of the house, Inayah has a b-day party from school and Ishmael's game as well.

So glad not to have Saturday school tomorrow.

Two Little Fish

Ibrahim and Isa started what will be weekly swim lessons at a hotel that is about a 15-20 minute walk each way from the apartment. It was a very cold day today, but we bundled up and managed, cheeks rosey red and little dripping noses. The pool and the two trainers, were very nice, and spoke English well. The boys has a wonderful time and I had no idea how good of a swimmer Ibrahim is. The class was 30 mins long and the boys lasted without tiring. We also had cocoa from the vending machine at the park on the way home, they enjoyed that too, Isa seemed to spill a lot of his down his jacket on the walk. I thought we would get home and they would take a nice nap... that did not happen, they played the wii until the school crew arrived.

We had a nice surprise when we returned from the hotel, Khalid was home from the road, two days early. The team that they were supposed to play is no longer in the league.

So of course all the children were happy. We made pizzas for dinner with our turkey pepperoni, also had salad. Ishmael and Idreis are off to basketball, the second time for Ish, they started basketball at school today too, and he was appointed the captian of the team, so he is very excited about that.

Very happy to have K back, it is enough to handle with all of them in a foreign country and even more when he is gone. As well as having to hear Isa cry, " I want my daddy.. I want my daddy".

They are all layed on him, all of them on the floor, watching Animal Planet.

Had conferences yesterday at the school, all of the children are doing well, wasn't able to meet with Idreis' teacher, but he seems to be doing well and enjoying school. I am just happy that he is staying out of the lockers now. Ishmael needs to work on his spelling and also writing structures, not using paragraphs... So he now has a new best-friend, the dicitonary, which he is to look at afterschool for 10-15 minutes and just study words. We have Scrabble, but he seems to rather play on his laptop, and when we do play, he only seems to come up with 2 and 3 letter words... Not to blast my baby, just some things to address with him.

We made M&M cookies last night, that was fun.. Isa of course was just interested in eating the candy.

No big plans for the weekend, they actually have Saturday school this weekend, no games, so I am sure we will just be chilling here at home. I hope to make it to the hotel where I have recently become a member to their gym. Should be a good time, it is just cold cold cold here.

Seems like my feet are still cold from earlier this afternoon. Most sidewalks are not shoveled, it is very icy and slippery on the sidewalks, not sure why people dont shovel here... Some of the stores do, but majority of the walkways that we are on, are not. Isa fell a few times on the way home today.

The internet has been tripping for the last 4 days, to say the least... it seems like we cant even get on during the day, and even now as I thought I had a signal while typing this, the internet has gone in and out. Seems like the signal only stays strong like 11pm and on.. which means I have been staying up too late. Usually we have problems when it is snowing, but that hasn't happenend for at least a week. I'm nore sure of the problem, but it is very frustrating.

Game Day

The team won, the game was not too exciting and as Idreis said, " This game is boring". None the less, the children had fun, Isa was asleep by half-time, this is usual. Lots of snacks and running around before the game since we arrive so early. It was cold here today, really felt like home, the gym was also cold, and they had the nerve to have 2 heaters on, but one was only on air because if they turned the heat on, the electiricty would blow in the gym... REALLY...
we all kept out coats on for most of the game, my feet were freezing inside of my boots.

Went to Tequila House again, for Mexican food after the game, the children had ice-cream for dessert, so that was a treat, very well behaved, I was plesantly suprised.
After dinner came home and played the Wii. It is nice because they can all do it together, even Isa is learning how to bowl and he makes sure that we include him.

Inara still teething but seems to be sleeping it off for the most part, her poor gums are so swollen and red, you can actually see the tooth bulging on one side, so any day and they may pop through.

It's the Weekend Baby!!!

So the first week of school went well, I think I may be the happiest that I dont have to be up at 7am Saturday morning to get them ready and out the door.
Cooking dinner now, frying some type of fish, salad, mac/cheese, corn, and yams, and made some apple crisp for dessert.. Well that is whay they will be eating.

Ibrahim worked very well today on writing all of this numbers 1-10 and we also worked on the letter T. We also looked online at some photos of Haiti. Tryed to explain to him what is going on in the world, he looked sad and then looked at me and said, " can I get on the Wii now"... That boy. The power went of once today and the internet has been off and on all day, So I figure while its on, I will post something.

Inayah and Isa and Ibo are playing bowling on the Wii and Isa actually is getting the hang of it and beat Ibrahim earlier today, his Mii is light skinned with big cheeks, it is funny. Of course I have the bowling high of 201.

Game tomorrow, and we got our bagels for the week today, the 1/2 of one that I ate was so good, egg and cheese. Inara still teething, and just waking up now at 9pm, but she has not been asleep that long so hoping she will not try and stay up too late.

As Cube Says, " Today Was a Good Day"

The morning was hilarious, I woke up at 7:45am, Mr. M comes at 7:50am to pick them up for school... you do the math. Thank the lord for those bagels... wrapped them in paper towels, cut up an apple for the three and made sure the door didn't hit them on the way out, bad breathe all around, but faces were washed, hair not combed, no lotion, clean clothes and school bags.. They had a greatday at school too.

I had forgotten how much 2 year olds like to work.. so pretty much as soon as the three left, Isa woke up.. Of course his first words were, " I want cereal mom". Even when he does say that first I still make him say good morning. So he ate while I cleaned up the school area, which was a mess. After he ate, he wiped down the cupboards, painted and counted some Ukrainian coins up to 5. Then we took down the dry clothes and folded them, he was in charge of the socks, we washed a load and then made the bed in his room. He was very attentive.

Inara woke up during the laundry, but she sat on the floor as we folded and hung. That lasted long enough for her and she was ready to eat. Her teeth have been bothering her a lot lately, I think the top two are just about ready to bust through her gums, they look really swollen. So glad that I have the baby ambesol, thanks to Rasheedah. She just chilled all day for the most part. She is learning to play by herself in the playpen, but is sure to let us know when she is ready to get out.

Ibrahim woke up around 10:30, he slept in.. No Wii for him today because he did not go to bed last night.. He is learning to write his name so well, I am proud of him. Today we worked on the letter Y and also counting to 10 with M&Ms, that was a big hit, his favorite part was eating them at the end. We went on a walk, the weather today was cold, they went out with no snowpants which was fine, they weren't too cold. We walked up to the park and around the corner to a paper store to buy some dry eraser markers, when I was paying, one of the attendants made sure to come and tap me to get Isa, he had snuck away and was down some isle messing with something.. I told her thank you, she was not rude about it. When we got home from the walk, and started to take our coats and boots off, Ibrahim commented, " What is that smell?". It is chicken.. as I then remembered I had left the oven on... let's just say we had Jerked wings tonight, I mean they were so dry, the mean was gone for the most part. Funny thing is that Inayah has been protesting meat lately. She happened to see the wings once thawing out and saw the red and asked what it was, when I told her it was blood... She made a face and hasnt eaten chicken since, fish she will eat. Well the jerked wings must have been right up her alley because she got the hot sauce out the fridge and ate them to the bone... which she also never does.. It was funny.

Children came home afterschool in good spirits, had their baths, Ish took out the garbage.. Did some homework, ate dinner and then we watched Ice Age 3, while I braided Inayah's hair.
All in bed by 8:30pm and asleep.

All except Inara... She did not have a late nap at all, maybe 6pm she woke up, but that was after a 1hr nap at max.. Her teeth are still bothering her, I have over nursed her but seems to soothe her... Then as I was in bed online, and tired of pushing her away from the laptop for the 100th time, I remembered an old trick... a warmer than warm bath. So today she had two baths.
She loves to play and splash in the water, it was funny to watch her face and reactions when I put her on her hands and knees in the water, she did not move to crawl forward.. she took her left hand, splashed a little bit and then reached up for me.. I had to laugh at that.
So now, she is back in the bed and out of the count.. Can you believe she is 9months...

Then when all six are asleep, I hear someone calling for me, it never ends... Ibrahim awake.. Hope he didn't think he had a nap.. I brought him a glass of water and also a slice of apple which he asked for when he went to bed and I said, "No". Just a bribe to get him back to sleep, not sure if it worked as he has called me twice since then, but at least he is not getting out of the bed.

Bagels in Kyiv

I did not believe it either, but sure enough around 1pm today, the door bell chimed and our bagels were delivered. We met a man and his children after the game, they were eager to get their shoes signed by Khalid. Come to find out this family has been here for 11 years and has a bagel business on the side. We have had some cream cheese in the fridge, so we were excited!

They are acutally good too, deliveries only on Monday. The children were happy afterschool to have this for a treat and Ishmael commented, " It has been forever since I tasted a bagel".

Such a simple thing to remind us of home.



We have been relaxing and laying low this past week of winter break. The three did start back at school today, and I went to pick them up with Mr. M and the smaller children too. Idreis received 100% on his math test, he was in good spirits. Inayah and Ish also had a good day at well. The new 7am wake up was welcomed this morning, but we will see how the second day goes. Inayah and Dreis are asleep now, Ishmael has not made it home from basketball practice yet.. we are pushing 9:30pm so... hopefully he will get here soon.



We went to Tequila House after the game, it was Mexican-American but pretty good, over priced a bit, but I think that is any restaurant here that attracts foreigners.

The children behaved very well, we went with the Henderson's and Derrick too, so the children were happy to be in their company as well.



I will be doing the solo act til Wednesday since K left today to go on the road. Should be fine, just hoping to keep Ibrahim and Isa involved in something besides the Wii and Nickolodeon... I am going to look online tonight, see if I find anything happenning in Kyiv for two small rascals... otherwise it may be the indoor playland or just a walk up to the park, if the weather permits, today was slushy snow and drizzling rain outside, Isa's snow pants were disgustingly wet.

Inayah is Seven

W e had a long celebration of Inayah birthday and it is not over as we still need to go ice skating. We are hoping to do that on the 9th.

Her actual birthday we hung out at home, painted nails, danced and dressed up.

Also went on a really nice evening walk in the snow. The big boys and dad were out of town so no cake that night.



Balloons and honkers sounded as we lit the candles of a delicious cake, the frosting was so good!

Cream cheese and sugar and butter, no three things do it better. Nice cake and presents from the grandparents, spent the evening drawing.