Colorado for June

We were blessed to have the energy, time and money to make an off-year trip to Colorado. It was the shortest trip we've done since having kids--exactly four weeks. The hardest thing was not seeing a lot of friends and family who we usually get to see in the States. But we were so grateful for the time we had with those we did get to spend time with! Our time was refreshing, and though we tried not to exhaust ourselves, our time was well-filled.

Our kids and two of their cousins, Adi and Mae, enjoyed a quick meal after we landed. It was the first time they had a table all to themselves.

Mady entertained our three kids for endless hours in the yard.

Mama Coe and Papa Coes' porch swing--the best place for sticky snacks like cotton candy.

Ella, Adi and Mae enjoyed biking and exploring around Dani and Dave's house.

Seeing Nate and Nick twice was a special highlight!

Our church in Boulder had a camping trip that led to a lot of fun adventures, including climbing out of old mine pits.

As a child, my dad vacationed with his family at Glenwood Springs. And most years of my childhood we went there as well. Now, we have so much fun taking our kids there when we are in Colorado. The best times are when my parents come, along with Dani and Dave and their three girls!

It was so fun to watch the kids develop over the two days they were in the pool. And for the first time, all the kids could touch the bottom in the shallow end (except the baby, of course!) A new day of parenting in the pool has dawned, as the boys spend most of there time in the diving well by themselves, and the girls no longer need constant carrying!

Eric had as much fun as the boys playing this game

Ella and Adi

My dad and Mae

My mom and Mae

The boys experienced not one, but two Rockies games--and both happened to be high-scoring, grand-slam games!

Ella showing her throwing form with cousin Mady

Cambridge with the Richardsons- late May

We basked in the glory of Cambridge, biking and walking with our 'tour guides' as we were immersed in the beauty and history.

After a wonderful church service, the kids played in the yard.... did you 

notice on what?

Lunch at a pub--Eric enjoyed his fish and chips... I was disappointed to not find the veggie plate with Stilton that I remember from my year in Devon.

The Richardsons treated us to some very delicious ice cream.

After too short of a time, it was time for us to move on. Inna and Anna bid us goodbye, for now.

До свидания, Школа. До свидания, Детский Сад.

It's been an emotional week.

Tuesday, Ella had her 'Spring Holiday' to finish the year of preschool. Today was her last day.

 Thursday, Tima performed songs and recited his poem for their end of the year celebration. After doing 'firework' confetti, his teacher released them early, and most of the parents and kids went to a nearby cafe for ice cream.

And today, Danya's class received their awards, with parents in attendance.

 It's been especially emotional, because this was the last week of Russian school for our kids. Next fall, we are going to try homeschooling all three. The decision was made with much prayer and thought, ongoing since the difficult autumn that both boys had. Thankfully, many of the hard situations improved. But some remained, and we decided that it was best for both boys to switch to English-based schooling. Ella will be starting kindergarten, and we decided not to try to squeeze it in after Russian preschool. So, we are undergoing a huge transition, with all the emotions of loss and celebration.

For three years, we have taken at least one boy to school. For two years, we've walked to the preschool every day to drop someone off. And though we're not moving away, we feel the loss of community for each of us. Saying goodbye to three sets of teachers and classmates and parents was not easy. Maybe it was the champagne that the mothers enjoyed mid-morning at the cafe, but I almost cried saying goodbye to the parents from Tima's class.

Today, Danya presented his teacher with a gift that he himself had chosen for her--a clock. There is no wall clock in the room. Danya always took a watch so that he could tell her what time it was when she asked.

Thankfully, we're not moving. Though we won't see these kids and parents and teachers every day, it's not really goodbye. Danya's teacher was so sad that he will be leaving the class, that she invited him to come back not only for field trips, but also every day for Russian. We are considering him going a few days a week back to his class, instead of hiring a tutor. After three years with this class, and teacher, he really enjoys the social atmosphere. And while he's disappointed in his consistent 'C's in Russian, he's actually understanding and learning a lot.

Tima finished the year with some decent Russian skills, some friends, and had a great attitude as he persevered through a hard situation. He won't miss going to Russian school, but he hopes to stay connected to friends like Marat.

 And Ella is done with preschool of all sorts. Next fall, she starts American kindergarten. She enjoyed her friends at preschool, and we hope to drop by as they play outside every afternoon, so she can see them occasionally!

So, goodbye, Litsei 150, goodbye Sadik 103.

Happy 10th Birthday Danya!

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

Happy 5th Birthday, Ella!

Pink and Marshmallows were the only requests for her cake.

 

 

 

A small gathering this year, with Joyelle and Silas. Memory was the quietest game we played...

I'm having trouble believing that our youngest is five years old today. When she was born, Danya was almost five, and I couldn't believe we were starting over again. It seemed like it would be forever until she was at that magical age. And truthfully, her first two years did not fly by. She wanted us to count every minute, I think. But since then, instead of clingy she became affectionate, and instead of demanding, ... well, I guess that hasn't changed.

But we love her sweetness, her unrestrained excitement for everything, and her affection. Ella loves to have 'tickle massages' which means I just trace my fingers as lightly as possible over her tummy, and back, and arms, and armpits, and legs, and feet, and toes. She loves to be held--even when I decide to not be the first to let go, I can't out hug her!  She loves to kiss us over and over again. And her favorite game with Eric is, "I love you more than..." in which her usual line goes like this: "I love you all the way to the moon and back and to the sun and all around the universe and to pluto and to detskiy sad and to school and back." Hard to beat that.

She is quite ready for kindergarten. We are planning to do homeschool American kindergarten, and she has loved to get her own books. She loves to write her name, ELLA RAE COE everywhere, or make up words with the letters she knows, or to fill countless pieces of paper with lines of loops. She loves to sing the alphabet song, and find letters that she knows. She can recognize the names of her family, and in Russian, also can read the names of her classmates. And the other day, she insisted on reading me a book--one of the Fancy Nancy books that is her favorite. She has memorized most of it, and we all were amazed.

Four has been a delightful age, and I am truly sad that it's already time for her to move on. For the first time, I understand what my own mom has said, that every year she didn't want us to grow older, because it had been the perfect age. And I'm trusting in her experience that each next year really was even better.

So this is Ella, age five.

Christmas Presentations

Our children have enjoyed preparing songs and a dramatic recitation for Christmas. When our teammates Lena and Natasha were over for our team Christmas gathering, they showed off their talents!





They all love the book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"  (mostly because of Eric's dramatic reading style). So it wasn't too difficult to turn it into a skit. Lena and Natasha were patient to watch the whole thing.




And of course, one more song. I'll only give you the last verse. Email me if you'd like to see the whole thing!



Merry Christmas!

Danya- the Age of Responsibility

Danya has become the champion of diligence in the Coe household. Every morning, he sets his alarm to wake up first. He feeds the guinea pig her three types of food. Then he unloads the dishwasher. He has to stand on the counter to put away stacks of fragile plates and glasses. [Editors note:  Danya: "No, I don't anymore. I put them away from the ground. That's why I do it so fast now!...excuse me, all of these are supposed to be capital letters!"] He heats the electric teapot, pours the boiling water over the oatmeal, and microwaves it. He sets the table with everyone's favorite colors of IKEA bowls and cups. Then he brings his phone into my room to wake me up with my favorite ringtone.

Some mornings, when he is bored, he vaccuums the kitchen and hallway. In fact, I often have to remind him that it's NOT okay to vaccuum at 7am, when everyone else is still asleep. Though he carefully closes the doors, the sound easily reaches to every corner of our 600sq ft! [Editor's note: Danya, "Isn't that a lot?"] ["Argh!!" he says, whenever I type his comments.] ["Arrrgh!"]

So, why all of this hard work? In his own words:
"One, I'm trying to save up for an $120 LEGO ship, that has three Jedi that comes with it. If I do 33 chores in a week, I get about 200 rubles put into my allowance jar. The ship is two-feet long.

"Two, Momma's getting pretty lazy in the mornings, and isn't waking up till about 8:30 some days. And sometimes I get pretty hungry. And so do my brother and sister. [Editor's note: Nobody ever eats before I get up, and I usually have to pressure them to stop playing and get to breakfast. As to the laziness, I do not protest.]

Danya's diligence is also seen in his schoolwork. from the beginning, he has been responsible to keep track of his homework. In fact, I hardly ever look at his books or his homework. He packs his bag, remembers his gym clothes and shoes three days a week, and the different books for different subjects everyday. He has started to take his homeschool books to do during the class' English lessons, and he'll often do a whole weeks work in the forty minute lesson. He has complained much less this year about doing spelling every evening. In fact he commented, "I like doing spelling every day instead of every other day. This way, I just expect it and we do it quickly."

Danya has enjoyed having the freedom to take some photos and even correct the red eye. His favorite thing is to correct all the red in the photo. After discovering this, he started taking pictures of all the red things he could find, to see what happened. Here are some examples.

One last note. As I was talking briefly with the kids about the possibilities of their friends starting to show off 'pictures of naked people,' Danya said that the worst place for that was at the Hermitage. "It's impossible to not look at the statues of naked people. They are just everywhere!"
Tima said, "How about if you close your eyes?"
Danya, "Then you just run into them!"

I found myself cracking up, and was a little helpless to explain the difference between ancient art and modern porn... When he first went there with a class field trip, he returned saying that there were a lot of "inappropriate statues".

Trick or Treat (Daddy!)

Harry Potter (yes, those are his 1-day-old glasses!) and Harry the Pumpkin.

 This is Violet (of the Incredibles) the Princess Cat. (I just do the painting, don't hold me responsible for the design!) She wanted a very happy pumpkin, not scary at all.

 

Angry Wolverine cut  his gourd himself, and wanted another one to look scarier.

No trick-or-treating, no fall festival, but at the last minute I decided to carve the cooking pumpkins and let the kids dress up. When Eric was in the elevator, the kids snuck out and came back to ring the doorbell. They were somehow very excited with this option. Too much fun for all--they didn't go to sleep until almost 11:00--and I can't blame the one piece of candy!

Shame on you!

"These children are rascals."

"I feel bad for all of their other teachers--the gym or music teachers."

"I am being honest with you, your children are very difficult to teach."

"Now I see why your kids are the way they are! You don't listen either."

"I had help from the parents of my previous class... no one here volunteered."

"I see, it's going to be just like it was with remodeling the classroom--no one is going to help."

"Well, I see I'll have to ask the previous class' parents, since no one here will offer to help."

This is a sampling of what Tima's teacher said  to the group of parents at the first parents' meeting this fall.  We have always heard that Russia's system of education is 'shame-based'. And we've had glimpses of it from preschool teachers and even Danya's teacher. But it was very interesting to see how it works with an old-school teacher. By the end of the meeting, she had a few grandmothers scolding her ("Now, that's not necessary!") but most of the young mothers were jumping to raise their hands to volunteer to write names on books and do projects for the teacher. And we had no idea how we could teach our children to sit still, listen to directions, and ask to leave the room to blow their noses. (One of her pet peeves is how many children have not been taught that it's rude to blow your nose in the room.) She had trained us well, and I'm sure will continue!

On the positive side, Tima is enjoying school. He has a few friends that he loves to see everyday. And his favorite times of the day are at the cafeteria (sweet porridge!) and gym (three times a week!) So far, we haven't heard that the teacher has criticized him at all. And he is surprising us with how open and talkative he is about everything that happens. So, we are continuing to intentionally build him up at home, as well as evaluating what is happening in the classroom.

September Highlights

A series of rainy days with fast-moving weather has given us spectacular rainbows. And made us grateful for every glimpse of blue sky (let alone sunshine!) that we are given. While I try to remember to enjoy the sun in Colorado, there's nothing like living without to make me grateful for every small gap in the clouds.

Because Eric and Lena were both sick this weekend, our planned team overnight at the Goz' dacha was canceled. The kids were very disappointed. They had dreamed of cooking over a campfire, sleeping in a tent, and ... well, a lot more. (Their proposal was that we hunt for all of our food.) We even found real American marshmallows at a grocery store. So, instead of a campfire, we roasted them over candles in our kitchen. Although it took patience and low expectations, the process was pleasing to all.

Instead of spending the day with our team at the dacha, the kids and I drove out to a family's house out of the city. It's the first time we've visited friends who live in a house in St Pete. (Well, not really, 'in' the city!) Though we met the Rivers last spring, we've never gone to their home. Their two boys are both older than ours, but are very good playmates. We had a great day of grilling hot dogs (on a grill, not a campfire) playing in a big house, picking apples and berries off the trees. I enjoyed digging bulbs out of Christine's garden--I love playing in the dirt. She has an amazing spread of berry bushes, flowers, and an incredible vegetable garden, with two greenhouses. One of them shelters grapevines! It was the perfect time to visit--the hardest part was leaving!