Very random... and very long

1. Next week on this very day my kids start school. This is very sad. I'm not saying that going to school is sad. They like school (I was always super excited to go on the first day, when I was a kid), the sad part is that summer is coming to an end. Here is one of my favorite pictures of the summer:

2. Last week my lovely sister-in-law shared a recipe of a salad with me. The ingredients didn't sound very promising, but I decided to make it because it was healthy and because Katya said it tasted good. We made it with my children and I should say we really liked it. Will definitely make it again.

For the salad: Mix corn, canned black beans, cut up tomatoes, canned red peppers (I cut one pepper and cooked it in tomato juice with oil, vinegar, sugar and salt) and onions. In a separate dish mix crushed garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to your desire. Thank you Katusha!

3. Speaking of Katya, I have a layout to share with you that Katya made before. It's a very sweet page of her adorable son. (Страничка сделана Катей )

4. My lovely kids are very much into cooking right now. Into shopping too, but that's not what I was going to talk about, even though there was a little story on that subject also. Okay, I have to tell it now. So, Alena was trying some clothes on at the Kohl's. She came out of her dressing room and decided to grab a smaller size of the same top she tried on. When she came back, the door of her dressing room was locked. There was this one lady that decided to use her room, even though the other four were empty. We waited... and waited... and waited a little longer... It seemed like she had to try on every item from that department. Two of each! Well, she finally came out and Alena went back in, but Alena's stuff disappeared. That lady found empty hangers and hung Alena's clothes that she came to the store in, back on the rack. Now, I have to attach a picture to the story.


... or three.

4. Back to cooking. So, my girls have been cooking or baking something every single day for the last two weeks. Kids wanting to cook - that's mothers dream come true! This week they made some delicious cookies, biscuits, salad and pizza (with a dough from the scratch. Actually they made pizza twice. The first time I "helped" them by telling them to cook the pizza crust first and then add toppings. Yeah,... All that effort Suzanna made by making pizza dough... It tasted more like pretzel with pizza toppings. Sorry, Suzanna.) I am very proud of them. Thank you girls!

5. Today Alenka surprised me with pancakes in the morning. Oh, she also made a bed for me the night before. It was so sweet of her. Am I missing something? Was it a mother's day in August that I didn't know of? There is Christmas in July, you know. Or was it "mom-I-really-want-a-cell-phone" kind of act? Either way, thank you sweetie. Here is my coffee break:


6. Another proud moment for me this week was when I watched our girls sing at the youth conference in VA. You can listen to it by clicking HERE. Click on the video, and they start singing on minute 27. And another one HERE they start singing on minute 49. Don't judge Suzanna by picking up a microphone half-way through the song.

I don't have a picture from that day, since I didn't go and finding a good photo of these four is a little hard now. (That I-can't-act-serious age)

7. I would like to end this by saying Happy Anniversary to very close to me people. These two people met in the late sixties, got married in 1974, got seven kids, moved to US in 1993, got four more sons and one more daugter, nine grandchildren and still as happy as on the picture, just not as young:
We love you Mom and Dad! God bless you and give you many more happy and healthy years!