A Calm Week…

Hello everyone! Last week, we had a blast with Victoria’s party…next week, we celebrate her actual birthday and her first Halloween! So, this week we tried to keep things relatively calm. We were mostly successful.

This week is known as “Red Ribbon” week in our area. The schools all put on events geared toward being drug and alcohol free. Our district had a really nice event for the kids which included a great magic show, a number of fun kid games and other assorted fun. While we were there, Victoria saw one of her classmates and ran right up to say hello. It was adorable watching the two of them sitting together to watch the magic show and discussing some of their favorite magic tricks.

Victoria had a great visit with her Great-Grandparents this week. She even helped her Great-Grandfather celebrate his 95th birthday! Of course, there was a cake involved and it was very cute watching the two of them enjoy a piece of the cake together. She was so incredibly well behaved, social and proud of herself for finishing her cake first (hahaha…).

As part of the run up to October 31st, one of the local high schools had a Halloween event. The kids got to get dressed up in their Halloween costumes and do some fun activities. Victoria enjoyed a number of the craft activities (making a Halloween bracelet and a ghost lollipop) and she even showed off a great throwing arm with a game that included a velcro ball at a target.

On a separate note, little Miss has been asking for more food and sleep of late. We have been waiting for Victoria to have a growth spurt and suspected that this was the likely cause for the way that she has been feeling. Having grown about 1.25 inches between April and September, we measured her this week and found that she has grown about 0.6 inches in the last 4 weeks!! So, our suspicions have been confirmed and we may need to hit the store soon for more food/clothes (hahaha…). Seriously though, she really is becoming such a big girl right before our eyes!

Here are some pictures from the week…

“Let’s Eat Cake Pop-Pop!

Hanging out with her cousin:
Victoria enjoying some time with her Great-Grandmother:
Trying on her Halloween costume:

Party Time…

Greetings from unseasonably cold and rainy Central Jersey. It’s hard to figure out this weather recently, but there was no way that we were going that rain on our parade this week! With Victoria’s 7th birthday so close to Halloween, we needed to have her birthday party a little early. So, this weekend we surprised her with a large family/friend gathering to celebrate her big day. She was completely surprised and had more fun than we have ever seen her have!! Watching her enjoy it as much as she did, made it more enjoyable than Mommy and Daddy could have ever imagined!

60+ folks were able to join us for the party. The cake was amazing!! Since this was Victoria’s 1st real birthday party, we wanted to make sure that it was something really special. So, we enlisted the help of the great folks over at Pink Cake Box here in New Jersey (http://www.pinkcakebox.com/) to create a birthday cake that would be perfect for Victoria. Mommy and Daddy talked to the owner about the design of the cake a few months ago. We wanted the cake to incorporate things that Victoria loved in Russia and those that she has grown to love here in the US. Of course, until it arrived, we had only seen a drawing. Once the cake arrived and we saw how beautiful it was, we knew that Victoria would just be floored…and we were right!! Also, much to our delight, the cake was every bit as delicious as it was beautiful.

The party also included a fantastic magic show by a magician that Victoria saw when she was in day camp over the summer. Of course, we intended the magic show to be for the kids. However, it ended up entertaining the entire crowd….excellent! At the end of the day, everyone seemed to have had a great time. We are blessed to have such wonderful, supportive family and friends…and we are so happy that so many were able to join in the celebration with us.

Today, we were all a little tired from Saturday’s festivities, so we took to it easy. Victoria has been asking to paint pumpkins (the ones we picked a few weeks back) for a few days now. So, we relaxed at home today and did just that. Excellent end to a great week!

Here are some pictures from the week…

Ready for school pictures:

Here’s the cake!
A back view…the detail was amazing!
Victoria and the Cheburashka:
Pooh and Thomas:
Sparkee (a mascot for a local baseball team) with some other decorations:
When do we eat?
Showing off her balloon prizes for helping the magician:
Waiting for Daddy to light the candles:
All smiles while listening to everyone sing Happy Birthday:
Digging in and enjoying her birthday cake:
mmmmm…this cake is good!
It took 3 people to cut the cake…it was a shame to cut, but a pleasure to eat!
Victoria decided to paint a cat’s face on her pumpkin:

Someone Loves to Draw…

Hi! Little miss keeps having great week after great week at school. Her teacher gives us regular updates and has so many good things to say. This week’s big news was that Victoria has been speaking more in class and she has really starting to make strides with her letter/sound recognition (remember that the Russian alphabet is different than ours). This, of course, is excellent news!

Over the weekend, we had a surprise for Victoria. We made plans to visit the Crayola Factory with her grandparents and her little cousin. Victoria loves to color and draw, so this was sure to be a hit. The factory is one of the actual place where they make Crayola crayons and markers (there is a demonstration where they show you how each is made), but they have a building set up with an incredible number of craft stations for kids to enjoy. Victoria had a blast and was even able to color a T-shirt for herself. Since this is Fire Prevention Week, the local fire company had one of their fire trucks on display…Victoria and her cousin even got to see what it was like to sit behind the wheel!

On Sunday, we settled in and spent some time at home. Victoria worked with Mommy on a birthday card. A little background…Victoria watches very little TV. When she does, she watches a channel called Sprout and enjoys shows such as Cailou, Barney, Sesame Street, Thomas, etc. These are very nice little shows that help support good manners, how to play with friends, and even help with her assimilation to English. Throughout the day, they send out birthday wishes to some children…they even show birthday cards sent in for a few lucky children (minimally, each card sent in makes it onto the Sprout website). So, the card that we were making was for Victoria to send in. We’ll have to see if it makes it on TV. If it does, she would certainly get a huge kick out of it. If not, then we’ll still enjoy looking at it on their website. Time will tell…

Here are some pictures from the week…

Sporting a Junior Firefighter helmet that she received during fire prevention week at school

All smiles with her cousin at the Crayola Factory:
Playing with modeling clay:
Coloring her T-shirt with her cousin:
Enjoying some glow in the dark ink:
Behind the wheel of the fire truck:
Striking a pose with her cousin:
Posing with Mommy at a Fall display:
Making a card with Mommy:

October Arrives…

Well, October is here and has brought the cool fall weather with it. As we drove around this week, Victoria has been noticing the number of leaves that are changing colors and falling. In addition to thinking that they look pretty, she knows that this means her birthday is coming soon. Of course, she is correct, but it cannot come soon enough for her!

This was another stellar week for Victoria is school. She makes strides by the day and has been getting some wonderful reports from the teachers (she really makes us proud). The school has a system which rewards children for exceptional behavior; they call the rewards “Star-bucks” (the school mascot is a star). The children are able to use the “bucks” to pick out items from the principal’s “store” (including paper, pencils, etc.). This week, Victoria was awarded 4 star-bucks! One was for being a good listener, two were for trying hard in class and the last one was for always being friendly and saying hello to the principal. Like we said…very proud!

Victoria had a visit to her pediatrician this week…a checkup and a few shots (flu, etc.). Since she had cried for previous shots, before the visit, we spoke to Victoria about what was going to happen. By the end of our conversation, she said that she was not scared of the shots and was not going to cry (knowing, of course, she was going to get a lollipop afterwards). We thought this was great, but time would tell. When the doctor walked into the room, Victoria said hello and told the doctor that she was not afraid to get shots. We, of course, could not help but laugh. Mommy, Daddy, and the doctor were very impressed with how big of a girl Victoria was…she rolled up her sleeves and did not even flinch during the shots! The doctor was also very pleased with Victoria’s recent growth (height and weight)!

Over the weekend, Victoria attended another birthday party (she’s pretty much a pro at these now…hahaha). This was for the daughter of one of Daddy’s best friends. Victoria was so nice to the birthday girl. When she arrived, Victoria said “Happy Birthday”, then she even pushed the birthday girl on the swing and in a little car….very cute stuff! After the party, Victoria had a blast when she went out for dinner with Mommy, Daddy and her grandparents…even finishing things off with some nice ice cream!

Finishing off the week, we got things started on Victoria’s birthday. Since her birthday is at the end of the month, when it will likely be much colder, we decided to give Victoria one of her birthday presents early….her very first bike! She was ecstatic and could not wait to get out and ride, so we headed out to the park and she took off.

Here are some pictures from the week…

Giving the birthday girl a helpful push:

Enjoying the falling leaves:
Tossing around a football with Daddy and his friend:
Off to the races in the birthday girl’s car:
Enjoying her first ride on her new bike!

Can you believe that it’s been a year?

It’s really hard to believe that this was the last full week of September….where is the time going? It snuck right up on us, but this week marked the one year anniversary of our first trip to Russia, the first time that we set our eyes on our beautiful little girl. There was so much reflection this week and we have really come so far in the last year. Take a look back at the first blog post and see for yourself…it’s really amazing!

Victoria is still enjoying school and gets more comfortable by the day. This week, we had our first “Back to School Night” where Mommy and Daddy went to Victoria’s school to meet with her teacher and get a feel for what her daily schedule is like. Later in the week, we were able to have a meeting with her principal and teachers to discuss their specific plan for Victoria. We walked into the meeting very confident and left even more so. Our school system here is excellent and it is obvious that Victoria is in good hands.

While at school this week, Victoria lost her third tooth! As usual, she was very excited about what the Tooth Fairy would bring her. The Tooth Fairy was right on mark…she gave Victoria a Thomas book (we just saw him last week) and a few items from her elementary school, including a shirt and a cup (the school’s mascot is a star). Needless to say, Victoria loved it!

At week’s end, Victoria went to a classmate’s birthday party. When we went to Toys-R-Us to pick up a present, we ran into Geoffry (the giraffe)…turns out it was his birthday! Victoria was very sweet and said “Happy Birthday” to him and even colored a picture for him (they had a table set up for the kids). While at the store, we actually used the opportunity to pick up Victoria her first birthday present…her first bicycle (we wanted to pick it up now so she could use it before the weather gets too cold). When she realized it was for her birthday, she got extremely excited. We said “Happy Birthday, Victoria” and she smiled, said “Thank You” and gave both Mommy and Daddy a kiss. We cannot describe how excited this little girl is about her upcoming birthday!! Oh yeah, the classmate’s birthday party was a hit. They had a clown who did face painting and made balloon animals. Victoria had her face painted like a tiger. It was a lot of fun watching her run around and enjoy herself.

Over the weekend, we stayed home to have some relaxing family time. Of course, we did have one surprise in store for Victoria. With Halloween coming up, we took Victoria to visit a local farm where they have a large pumpkin patch for us to pick some pumpkins. There was also a hay ride tour of the farm, a number of animals to see (and pet), a hay maze and a pony ride. They grow corn on the farm and Victoria was floored by the height of the corn stalks. There was even a sandbox filled with corn for the kids to play in. We even ran into our neighbors, who have a boy (3) and a girl (5). The kids had a great time playing on the farm.

Here are some pictures from the week…

Victoria’s school desk…with a note from Mommy and Daddy (and pictures drawn by Mommy):

A very nice school outfit:
Our little tiger enjoying her classmate’s birthday party:
She still can’t see over top of the corn!
Neighhh…our tiger became a horse:
Those were some big pumpkins!
With Mommy on the hay ride:
Have you ever seen a “Zonkey”…seriously, it’s a donkey bred with a zebra?
Victoria thought the Zonkey was funny:
Petting a friendly calf with Mommy:
She never passes up a pony ride:
Poking her head up to find her way out of the hay maze:
Who knew it was so much fun to play in corn?

The Second Week of School and Meeting a Good Friend…

Hello everyone. Hope you are enjoying your September. Week #2 of school was as big of a hit as the first and Victoria had a great week. Her teacher said she is a hard worker and doing well. At dinner one night, Mommy mentioned that Mommy and Daddy had to go to work the next day and that Victoria would be going to school. Victoria’s response was very funny when she said that school is work sometimes. We acknowledged that fact and had a good laugh together. On Friday, she had Show and Tell, where she brought in one of her favorite books, Silly Sally (which a funny book about a silly girl that travels into town walking on her hands upside down). The teacher read to book to the class and everyone really enjoyed it.

Victoria has always been a very curious little girl, but recently she has taken it to a whole new level. It’s probably a mixture of her growing language comfort and school, but lately she has wanted to know the name of pretty much everything. It’s really fun seeing her absorb so much information and grow her understanding of the world.

Each night, Victoria sleeps with her Winnie the Pooh. Before she goes to sleep, we read her a bed time story. In order to help her to sleep, we (at times) mention that Pooh has just fallen asleep (to help her get settled in). So, Victoria plays a little game with us where we need to tip-toe out of the room to make as little noise as possible, so we don’t wake up Pooh. We overplay it and she thinks it’s a blast. The other night, she started pointing out which parts of the floor make less noise. It was pretty funny that she pays attention to even that level of detail.

Over the weekend, Victoria enjoyed a trip to Strasburg with Mommy, Daddy and her Grandparents. There, she was treated to a Day out with Thomas (the tank engine that is). We wanted to surprise Victoria, so we had not told her where we were going. It was a fun sight to see her excitement, when Thomas came rolling down the tracks and she heard him toot his whistle. We all went for a nice ride on Thomas and then enjoyed some of the fun activities that they had for the kids there.

Here are some pictures from the week…

Ready for school on Monday:

Sitting down to do her homework:
Looking good for school on Friday:
Enjoying the breeze and taking in the sights while riding Thomas:
Rolling along on a hand powered train:
Our little train engineer: