Hi there :)

I think it may be the high time to introduce myself.
Hi, my name is Katya.

Funny/weird/unusual name, you say? Yep. That's my name all right. I'm originally from Belarus, a former part of the USSR. "Punky" is a nickname my hubby gave me when we met :)
I'm a Russian girl who fell in love with an American boy and found her happiness and home here, in the United States. Who would have thought??? I definitely never imagined my life to take such a turn, but it did, and I am forever thankful that God had brought the two of us together and allowed us to have a beautiful family with two little loves.

God, you say? Yep. HE is a big part of who I am today, and without HIM, I am nothing. HIS love and grace are bigger than anything I can imagine, and finding HIM was the biggest and BEST event in my life.


Two little loves, you say? Yep and yep :) I am a happy Mama of two crazy but wonderful kids, a son and a daughter. I work full-time from home...and no, I'm not telecommuting :) My job is to be a full-time Mom and a Wife, and I'm loving every minute of my house-wife-mommy-hood, no matter how hard, demanding, and exhausting it can be!!!

I enjoy (and that's an understatement, ha) taking pictures, cooking, traveling, and crafting with the kids, for the kids, and in spite of the kids! :)


What's the purpose of this blog? The name of it kinda speaks for itself :) I have about a million thoughts and emotions brewing in my head and heart at any given moment, but I hope that out of this clutter somehow I will be able to pick out now and then something interesting to share with the ever-so amazing population of the blogland.


Thanks for stopping by!
K.

Advent Calendar Activities

The list, of course, was meant to have 24 numbers. But, as it turned out, we are very busy people!!! Pre-school, play-dates, going out, church activities...I felt that if I were to try to do every single one of our planned activities, I would have made the kiddos miserable and wouldn't enjoy this holiday season myself either. So we took it easy, slow, and only did things when we actually had free time AND were in the mood. I think that's the best approach to anything! The kiddos loved every single thing we did, and there was actually some degree of anticipation: "Is today the day for the jars and projects??" "Yeah!!!" :)

Besides the activities, we also read to our oldest son from the book "The Jesus Bible" every night, starting with Jesus' birth story and explaining along the way the story and the meaning of our Salvation.

So here it is, a very condensed report of what we did for Advent this year:

1. Planting Paperwhites. 

The hope was that they would bloom on or around Christmas, and...they did!!!

Paperwhite update: December 28th, 2011

Full bloom!

2. Deck the halls!!!

I let the kids decorate our tree this year. It actually didn't turn out too bad :)

 3. Put the lights on our roof. 

Of course, we chose the coldest day of December (or so it seemed)

 4. Cutting out paper snowflakes! 

5. Decorating a Gingerbread House! 

As you can see from the picture, it was a total FAIL. That thing fell about 4 times, before we called it quits. Still loads of fun, which is what counts the most, right? :)

 6. Watching Charlie Brown Christmas for the first time

We gathered all the pilows and blankets (sleeping bags included) around the house and had the best slumber party!

 7. Making handmade clay ornaments for the family members.

 8. Going on a Flashlight Walk in the neighborhood to see all the Christmas lights.

9. Making a Cranberry Garland.

10. Opening the first Christmas present--Nativity Scene.

And celebrating Jesus' Birthday with some cupcakes!!!!! :)

And that's how we counted days till Christmas this year...

Advent Calendar

I searched, and I searched...and then I searched some more...
I just wasn't happy with any of the ideas out there on the Internet. They were all either too simple (I know, I'm crazy that way), or too cheesy, or too big and bulky for my house. None fit my criteria: original, recyclable, and visual (my son particularly needs to SEE and count how many days are left till Christmas).


So I started brainstorming and looking around my house to find things I could repurpose for this task. I kept coming back to the empty baby food jars we had laying around, and all of a sudden it hit me: these would be perfect!! They are small enough to fit them anywhere in our house, but big enough to put stuff in them!!! A little treat or a little note...or maybe both!! :) Plus, they are definitely recyclable, so no wasting! Win!


The next task was to figure out how to organize them or arrange them that it wouldn't take too much space in our small house. I could have put them all in one long line on the storage shelve, and it would definitely be very visual. But the kids have direct access to that area because it's not very tall. Glass jars + kids' little busy hands--not a very safe idea. Maybe try arranging them on a table? And make a holiday centerpiece out of it...Hmmm...And here is when my brain started spinning extra fast: "...moving all the jars back and forth every time we sit down to eat is just too much...but what if they were all together, on some sort of a tray, or pedestal....or...."DING!"... A cupcake stand!!!"


It was such a simple but perfect concept!! Now all I had to do was to "dress up" my jars and come up with ideas for our Advent Calendar. Scrapbook paper, Mod Podge, some ribbon, and a sharpie--Lucy's baby food jars never looked so fancy! :)

Of course, I hit a tiny little rock on the way...the were only 23 holders on my cupcake stand...and 25 days. But the solution was pretty easy. We would do 24 days till Christmas, and for the #24 it will be not a jar but my kids' first Christmas present--Nativity Scene by Little People. We were planning to give it to them for Christmas, but doing so before Christmas made so much more sense!!! They would get to play with it and reenact the story of Christ's Birth on actual Christmas Eve--perfect!


So here it is, our simple but sophisticated DIY baby food jar Advent Calendar!

New Beginnings!!!

It's a brand new year and a brand new attitude!!!
This past year has been full of great events, trips, meeting new people, discovering new things and places...it has also brought some sorrow and sadness, which was very-very hard to take in and process, but it only magnified for me the the value of "today". I won't go into details of my resolutions for 2012 (there are so many, that it scares me that I have THAT much to work on :) ), but I do have an intention to change this year. I will take little steps toward my goals with tiny accomplishments and victories, all the while having fun with my two precious children and a beloved hubby!!


One of the things that kept me going during this hard time recovering from the death of my Dad were, believe it or not, holiday crafts...I admit, there were days I felt guilty that I enjoyed something as much as I did, where as I maybe should have been more somber and reserved. But...the two crazy kiddos that I'm given to raise and care for needed my attention, my guidance, and my presence. They don't have that emotional pain from the loss of their Dedushka (grandpa), and they don't quite understand the depth of my grief...They live in the moment...they only focus on emotions of today...and that's OK. That's kids :)


They saved me from having a self-centered miserable time at Christmas and helped me to look forward to something fun and exciting and to actually enjoy this time with my family and enjoy teaching my children about God's saving Grace and His everlasting Love.


I wanted the memory of my Dad to be present during this holiday season though...and one way to keep it  a constant reminder of him in the midst of "cheer and joy" was my choice of the Christmas decorations and our wrapping paper this year. The black represents the mourning for my Dad, the white is for hope that he's in heaven, and the red is for Christ. Every time I looked around our house, I saw my Dad being there with us...It was kinda sad to see so much black around us, but that's what made it special and meaningful.

We did quite a few projects kind of in the concept of an Advent Calendar. I say "kind of" because we never followed it to the dot, so I think to say that would be an overstatement. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun and something that I hope the kids and I will remember through pictures for a long time.
I'll share what we did and how we spent the holidays in the crazy "R" household in the next few posts:)
As for now, Happy New Year!!!