Is it really possible? That the baby we held is now 10 years old? Double digits. He's very excited about that, and tells everyone that now he's 'a double digit'.
We celebrated as a family on his birthday--the first time he didn't ask for LEGOs in ? years. He got a basketball hoop. Since Danya watched the Slam Dunk Contest (a yearly tradition already) the boys re-hung the upside-down step-stool on the upper rail of the bunk bed. Eventually, I upgraded it to a cardboard hoop with a net (from a bag of apples) taped on. Needless to say, neither construction was ideal for really playing. Eric searched for some kind of nerf ball and hoop, but couldn't find anything. However, he did find a full size hoop and backboard. I was shocked how big it was! And even more shocked that we actually made a space for it and hung it from a wall. Now, the kids love playing all kinds of H-O-R-S-E and one-on-one basketball. It's been great.
For a party, we invited five kids from Danya's class over Saturday afternoon. Though Russian kids usually don't have birthday parties at home, we decided we could handle five kids with the help of our Wii. And between the basketball hoop and Wii, we did manage to avoid the usual wrestling/shooting/attacking each other games that the boys (just here?) prefer. Ella even enjoyed playing with two of the girls invited!
for a few more photos, check out our facebook album:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150579417231916.371841.593736915&type=3&l=7ca37452b8
