Home Sweet Home

1 broken water pump on the truck
2 blown tires on the travel trailer, complete with body damage
3 weeks out of town
4 days spent driving home from FL to TX
Finally home in our own beds...PRICELESS!

We had a very eventful trip home from Florida and are happy to finally be here. When we pulled up in front of the house and let Bella out of the truck, she ran laps around the front yard like a steer that had just been branded. I guess 4 days in the back seat with Artem will do that to a dog. None of the RV resorts we stayed at on the way home had Internet and I missed posting my Not-Me Monday which I had planned to vehemently deny receiving candy nipple tassels for Christmas from my always-thinking-of-me husband. As soon as we get settled in I'll get you updated on that story, as I'm sure none of you will want to miss that and my mother will probably appreciate an explanation.

Favorite Things Friday...A Day Late

My friend Tiffany started a Favorite Things Friday on her blog and I've been meaning to get on board and join in the fun. Since I haven't posted Disney pictures yet or Christmas pictures, I thought I would do a picture post and combine them with both events. In a nutshell, I'm lazy.

1. I love Artem's smile. His whole face lights up when he smiles and he always has so much expression on his face. People tell us all the time how animated he is and how much expression he has.


2. I love my thrill seeker. Artem loves to ride rides at amusement parks and is not content with the little rides. He wants to go fast and he wants to go high. He cried when he couldn't get in the wind tunnel and skydive with Randy and now when he watches Randy fly his powered para glider he tells me, "sky?" and points into the sky and nods his head "yes" like he wants me to tell him that he can go in the sky with daddy.

3. I love how friendly Artem is. He waived at all the people watching the carousel as if he were a rock star and they were all there to see him.

4. I love my littlest race car driver. Artem loved "driving" the cars at Disney but could not see over the dashboard but Randy said he looked out the side of the car when he was steering. I would love to return to Disney when Artem is 16 or so and see how tall he is at that time. I have a feeling he'll be towering over mama. I have a picture of me sitting with my father on a bench at Knott's Berry Farm when I was about Artem's age and we went back when I was in high school and recreated the same picture on the same bench. I would love to do that with Artem.

5. I love how my son can sleep through the loudest parades. Artem has no interest in the characters at Disney so we decided it would be a good time for him to take a nap. I thought we might get 10-15 minutes out of him but to our surprise he slept through the ENTIRE parade and beyond, despite having front row seats and being so close to all the noise.

6. I love how Artem always wants to read. We were waiting for Randy to bring our truck around the house to load up to see family for Christmas Eve and Artem took a minute to read a book. Whenever it gets quiet in the house, I can always find Artem and Bella in his room reading books. It's something I hope to foster in him for a long time.

7. I love Artem's sense of style and how he's not afraid to wear his sunglasses at night. Lately he's learned to put his hand in his pocket and he looked like such a big boy in this outfit. All he needed was a pocket full of change and he could jingle it like the old men do at church.

8. I love how excited Artem gets when he opens presents. He opened up a tractor on Christmas day and he squealed, "Oh WOW!!" The whole room started to laugh at his innocence and excitement.

9. I love footed Christmas jammies pulled snug over toddler pot bellies and diapered bottoms. It makes me smile when I watch Artem shimmy down the hallway to bed with his little rump shaking side to side.

10. I love being a mom to this incredible little boy. This was the best Christmas and it would not have been possible without the love of my little guy. Being his mom was my favorite present this Christmas.

Not Me Monday

I've been quietly following McMama's blog for quite some time now and have finally decided to get on board with "Not Me Monday".

*I did NOT spend my whole day with my underwear on inside out. I'm always wondering how I could spend 10+ years in front of a classroom full of children and run it with smooth, steady efficiency. But I become a stay-at-home-mom to take care of ONE child and I can't even get myself together enough to put my underwear on the right way!!

*I did NOT go to the mall for some much needed "mommy needs to get away by herself for awhile b/c she's one phone call away from the nuthouse" time to shop for ME and come home with more stuff for Artem than I bought for myself. But in my defense...have you seen the new tractor line by Gymboree?? I rest my case.

*I did NOT grab my camera first to document the partial beheading of Mrs. Snowman while Artem and I decorated a gingerbread house before attempting to rescue the first lady of cold.


*I did NOT just polish off a medium sized bag of frozen almond M&M's while enjoying the silence of a house with a sleeping two year old and a snoozing Labrador inside. Nope, not me!

Christmas Card Carousel

I love receiving Christmas cards, especially the cards with pictures on them. I save them and put them on my refrigerator so I can look at them all year. I'm always amazed at all the talent people have that design Christmas cards, which is why I turn to my friend Katie for our cards. I know my strengths and weaknesses and designing Christmas cards is NOT one of my strengths.



My friend Tiffany had a link on her blog for a Christmas Card Carousel at Faith's blog and thought it would be fun to share our card. For those of you that aren't regular followers of our blog, Randy works in United Arab Emirates, and Artem and I split our time between our home in Texas and our home in Abu Dhabi with daddy. We attended our first (and last??) camel auction this year and were shopping one day in Dubai when Randy found these camel hats. They screamed "Christmas Card Photo" to me and the rest is photography history.


(click to enlarge)

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's....Daddy!!!

Our family has been in the Tampa area for the past week enjoying the incredible Florida weather while the rest of the nation seems to be gripped by some ugly, cold weather. Randy's latest toy is a powered para glider and after waiting several years to be able to own his own, he finally got his toy this week and has been busy everyday learning how to fly the glider.

Artem and daddy feeding bread to the fish:


Artem and I joined Randy on the bay today to see him fly. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before Artem is wanting to join daddy in the sky.

The engine that powers Randy's para glider:

Randy preps the engine before he attaches the wing:

There he goes! Randy said he saw bottle nose dolphin and lots of huge fish in the ocean.

Artem spent his time collecting shells and stuffing them in his pockets:

Our time in Tampa comes to an end tomorrow and we are returning to Randy's parent's house for Christmas. But before Santa makes his arrival, we'll make a stop at Disney World on Friday and have a day at the Magic Kingdom. I know Artem won't have anything to do with the characters so I've given up on seeing him with Mickey, but Artem LIVES for thrill rides and I can't wait to see him on the rides.

Kreative Blogger Award

So my buddy Tiffany awarded me with the Kreative Blogger Award back on November 30th and I'm just now getting around to posting it. I'd like her to believe that I'm holding out until she adds my name to her "Frequently Visited Websites" on the right hand side of her blog (HINT HINT HINT) but the real reason I haven't posted about it yet is more along the lines of returning to the states, parents visiting, packing for trip to Florida, Christmas shopping, chasing after a two year old, etc.

So without further delay, here are the rules for the Kreative Blogger Award:

List six things that make you happy. Pass the award along to six more bloggers. Do not give the typical answers and go for the less obvious, as you all know that family, friends, God, etc would be on the list.

1. Flannel makes me happy. Anything flannel. Flannel jammies, flannel sheets, flannel shirts (okay so that one is a bit redneck), flannel lounge pants. Love it all.

2. It makes me happy when Artem dances. The boy has a terrible case of "white boy" syndrome, just like his mother, but what he lacks in rhythm and style, he more than makes up for in enthusiasm.

3. Travelling makes me happy. I'm not content to look at pictures in a magazine, I want to see the real thing. I'm lucky to have a husband that loves to travel and a son that doesn't mind being on the go.

4. Sunroofs and 75 degree days make me happy. I put in my favorite "Best of the 80's" cd and sing my little heart out.

5. It makes me happy when Randy calls me "Sugar...Baby Cakes". He's done it since we started dating and it always makes me smile.

6. Green lights when I'm in a hurry make me very, very happy!!

Now I must award 6 creative bloggers:

1. Katie

2. Melissa

3. Karyn

4. Ondrea

5. Alexis

6. Rachel

Good Clean Fun

We ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel today and I was looking through their classic toy section and found a whoopi cushion. I have never had a whoopi cushion before and couldn't pass up the opportunity to have some fun with Artem and fake farts. I'm sure the stern Russian judges would just LOVE seeing this video and what we've done with one of their children!! ha ha

Planes, Trains, and Grandparents

There's no place like home! It is so good to be back on US soil. Artem and I flew home just in time for Thanksgiving. Artem did a good job on the flight home except he only slept 5 hours of the 16 hour flight so I had to keep him entertained for the remaining 11 hours. I'm not ashamed to say that I put the head phones on Artem and played "Dora the Explorer" on the airplane TV as many times as I could get him to watch it. I think I may have over done it though, as it looks like Artem is now in love with a little Mexican girl with a bowl cut hairdo. After a 16 hour flight, 5 hour layover in Atlanta, and another 2 hour flight to our town, Artem announced to the plane full of people as we waited to deboard, "All done, no more, airplane, no more!!" I hear ya little buddy.

As soon as we got home my parents arrived the next day to spend two weeks with us. Randy wasn't home for Thanksgiving this year which meant that I had to deep fry the turkey on my own, not my specialty, but it turned out pretty good. My father helped, but he had never deep fried a turkey before and I think I scared him when I was getting everything ready and brought out the fire extinguisher. Purely a preventative measure. Artem enjoyed his first Thanksgiving and ate all the traditional Thanksgiving dishes but I think he had the most fun with the black olives.

My father is a HUGE train fanatic so I surprised him with a 3 hour train ride through the Texas Hill Country. Artem is a big fan of "choo choos" as well and both of them had a great time on the train ride. Three hours was just the right amount of time to take Artem on his first train ride and something we would definitely do again.

Randy arrived home on December 2nd and is on vacation until January 8th. We have a few days here in Texas and we'll be on the road again, this time to Tampa, FL. Randy bought a powered para glider (PPG) and is picking it up and getting flying lessons in Tampa. We are taking our travel trailer to Tampa and I booked a nice spot in a RV park on the beach, so while daddy is flying, Artem and mommy will be hanging out on the beach, (crossing fingers for good weather) and spending time in the heated pool. They are forecasted to have sun and mid 70's while we are overcast and 48 degrees right now. We are SUPER excited to go to Tampa because we are going to see Ariana and her family. Ariana and Artem were both at the Fryazino orphanage together so it will be fun getting both of them together again. After a week in Tampa, we'll head to Randy's parent's house north of Orlando to spend Christmas with them. And what would a trip to Orlando be without a visit to Disney World?? We are planning on visiting the magic kingdom on the 19th and are looking forward to Artem's first experience with Disney. The boy LOVES thrill rides, so we are sure he will have a good time there.

Christmas will be so different this year for us now that Artem is part of our family and we can't wait to see his face on Christmas morning. Before we left Abu Dhabi we were at the mall and found a 5 foot tall dancing Santa. Artem was very leery at first but after a few minutes warmed up to Santa and started dancing and clapping to his pre-recorded Christmas carols. It was such a cute scene until a little Emirate girl walked up to Santa and knocked Santa's head off. Artem looked a little traumatized after witnessing Santa's decapitation so hopefully enough time has passed since the beheading and Artem will be ready to see Santa again.

Lastly, I have had a few people leave comments about how I get the background paper on the blog. I have not forgotten about you, I've just been busy getting back to the US and having company but I wanted to leave a link for people that would like to try to customize their blogs. I have found Suzzane's directions EXTREMELY helpful and easy to understand when customizing my blog and hopefully she'll be able to help you with your blogs too.