Bittersweet...

I know we all have those moments when a photo, a phrase, a quote or music affects our emotions, makes us stop and think... that's what happened to me when I saw this picture -

It may not look like anything special to you, but I just kept starring at it and flood of bittersweet emotions filled my heart... I felt blessed for beautiful children God gave us... I felt sad they they grow up way too fast... I felt happy that we could spend a day together with my sister... And I felt lonely, knowing that my older girls are having more fun spending time with people their age and they don't need their mother by their side like my four-year-old does... I felt lucky that all of my siblings live withing 35 min drive... and I could not understand how come we don't see each other often enough... I enjoyed this beautiful weather of summer days... but in the back of my mind the feeling of the summer coming to the end, didn't let me enjoy it as much as I wanted... I was glad that it's always pretty easy to get this group photographed, and it was pretty sweet that they even volunteered for the next few shots with addition of their imagination to them... but it was bitter to see how fast the time has gone since we spent a similar day in the same backyard a few years ago, which REALLY seemed like yesterday -

... Do you ever have those moments? Do ever think that life is flying by too fast? Do you think this summer is missing a month or two? Like never before, for me this summer went by too fast. I never felt this way but I would've loved to start summer all over again. If there was a button I could press to have that happened I would've not thought twice.

And here are a few more pictures from "YESTERDAY"

And "TODAY"...

I think photography is the most amazing thing invented ever. Love it and appreciate it SO much! I think that love of photographs is what keeps me going with Project Life. Yes, I'm up to date with pictures, a little behind on journaling, but that can be fixed any time.

So, that was the reason for my absence. I wanted to spend every moment possible with my kids enjoying summer. I cut back on the internet time, didn't blog for a week and didn't do much cleaning.

During this break though, I have been thinking nonstop about scrapbooking. Does it really matter that much if papers on the page match perfectly? Do I really have to make it innovative every time? Will anybody care if one of the lines on the page is not perfectly straight? All I wanted is to FILL my albums with memories. THAT is the only thing that matters.

Of course, I do get joy just making pages too, but I should let go of some perfectionism. So I was finally scrapping again! For two days in the row. That felt so good! I'll have a new project to share with you soon.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and I'll see you soon!

Olympics

Good morning! Still no LO to share today, but I have started the second one already. I guess I was coming to working with a kit idea with an Olympic spirit! Just can't find a moment to finish a page right now. Hopefully I'll be able to do that soon. Even though I don't have anything to share here just yet, I am constantly taking more pictures, thinking about new pages to do and stories to tell.

We don't usually watch TV here. Most of the time we even forget we have a TV. That old box in the basement just stands there collecting dust. With the Olympic games on, it's a little different. There's something so inspiring about Olympic games that we had to wipe off some dust. Well, that might be  part of the reason that not much is getting done here right now...

Our kids always loved to play volleyball, but after watching some volleyball played by world champions they decided to improve their skills. Now, every time they get a free minute, that ball gets thrown in the air... It reminded me of myself and my sisters when we were little. Every time after watching figure skating we would practice wearing slippers on the carpet, thinking it looked just as awesome... Yeah, there's no limit to childhood imagination.

Don't you think these four have gold medal smiles on? Who knows, maybe someday this team will be recognized by more then just our neighbors. Poor neighbors, they can always tell when our team is in training session...

Sometimes they reward themselves for playing a lot on a hot summer day with a perfect peach smoothie. I love to participate in this part too! It is sooo delicious and very fat free. Seriously. It tastes so rich, but has only 3 to 5 grams of fat per glass!

 

This one is a little pink in color because Alyona added some strawberries, but all you need to make it is ice, peaches, Greek yogurt, honey and milk. We made that smoothie with mango and strawberries too. It is so cold and delicious! 

Do you watch Olympics? If you do, what is your favorite sport?

And the answer is...

Thank you every one who responded to my previous post and took part in guessing what the picture meant. I enjoyed reading all of your guesses! Well, here is the story. I went to work in the garden and left the baby with Alena. Of course, he woke up immediately after I went outside and got my hand dirty. He loves to be outside, so Alena came up with a great invention - she put him in his car seat and placed it on a swing.

He really seemed to enjoy it! I thought it was very clever and wanted to take a picture of them... for the PL album... Yes, that's where the other picture happened. All it means is - I don't want my picture taken, I have a bad hair day.Then Katya went outside. Thankfully she had a good hair day, so we got a picture of her.

 

By the way, please notice that the skirt she is wearing was made by her. It may not be very wearable, but she is getting there! She made four skirts that day... Never, even in the most productive day I made four of anything.

I'm trying to work on that first page in little chunks of time. Hopefully it will be done soon. But I found another reasons I was afraid to do a LO again - my very last page before having a baby was a total miss. Totally not my style and I didn't enjoy working on that one. I don't think it's going to get into my album.

Have a great day everyone!

Was hoping...

Yes, I was hoping to come back with a page today. Nope, that didn't happen. It's quite inconvenient to scrapbook with one hand. At least I can type and look through picture folders on my computer with one hand. I guess I could share a few random things - a tip, favorite photo and a question.

I used to spend a lot of time going around the cake trying to cover it evenly. Last time I just sprinkled coconut flakes on top to cover all the uneven parts and it looked nice and fluffy. So, if you ever had a similar problem, try that. I'm definitely doing it again.

 

My sweet little almost four year old feels the need to bring me flowers every day. I don't think there was a day this summer that she didn't find a flower to give me. They may not be the fanciest, but every time she does that, it touches my heart. Isn't that so sweet of her? Here is the smallest one of all, but it's still a flower. I got this one yesterday.

I love teenagers! I think they are so fun. I am a proud parent of one. Yes, we have a variety here - teenager, second child, toddler and a baby! Let's play a little game. I will leave you with a question - what does this picture mean? 

Will be waiting for your guesses. And I'll see you soon! Hopefully tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Working with a kit

Hello! Here we go again. For a very long time I wanted to try to work with a kit. You are probably familiar with kit clubs and what they have to offer. My favorite is a Studio Calico. I love how they put their kits together but I never worked with one. So after NSD, when Shimelle Laine shared a video on this subject, I've been thinking to give it a try, and I've finally decided to do it.  I based my choices on this kit from Studio Calico, called 35mm:

 

I gathered some supplies I had on hand. Of course, I didn't have any of the papers that are in the kit, but it gave me an idea of what to put together. Here is what I will be working with:

My goal is to work exclusively with items in this kit, and see what and how much I can create before running out of supplies or inspiration. Ok, you know me. I might change my mind along the way, or I may decide that this is not working for me, but I'm ready to give it a try. I have my first layout started! That's the first LO after having a baby. I need to overcome the fear of ruining the project and satisfy my soul by finally creating something!

And while my page may take some time to be finished, I still have to be creative in the kitchen every day. And by creative I don't mean do something to impress others, it actually means to cut the steps so that I can prepare a meal in smaller chunks of time. For example, instead of making so wanted "пирожки", I made pancakes with chicken, onion and mushroom filling. It's not the same, but it works. All I had to do is to pour a little batter on skillet, add filling...

 

and try to cover it with some more batter on top. They don't come out very evenly shaped, but they hold together and taste good!

Kids ate them just as is or with sour cream. I had tea with mine.

Hope you are having a great time! My kids did yesterday. They still talk about all the rides they went on at Hershey Park. I'm glad they could go, because weather we like it or not, school time is going to be here pretty soon.

See you tomorrow.

Reason # 52

Hello! Yes, we are still here. Thinking about blogging every day, but not getting much done. Today I just wanted to share reason #52 why this blog is not getting updated as often as I would like it to. Actually, this is probably the first reason out of 52. Hopefully you'll get the idea and will not give up on me completely just yet :)

Our prince charming, who reminds me "принцессу на горошине" refuses to sleep in his crib. Even my bed is not good enough for him anymore. He is convinced that he's supposed to sleep on Mommy's shoulder. Today I decided to document his sleeping process. Here he is just placed in his crib:

About ten seconds later he starts wiggling:

You would think that's a cute smile, but it's a fake one, believe me. And if we wait another few seconds, that "pea" under his mattress really starts bothering him:

The longer you wait, the more it "hurts":

 And if you choose to wait another ten seconds, he will make you go pick him up:

Aaaand we start all over again... So innocent and quite for the first few seconds.

Even Liana's little friend Mufasa doesn't help, which usually works for his big sister. This process get's repeated many, MANY times throughout the day. We try to change the scenery, surroundings, rooms, amount of light, temperature... naah, he would rather sleep here:

Not only he thinks that this shoulder is his crib, but he also is pretty sure it's his playground too. That's why we don't get anything done. You might think how am I getting this post up? Yep, you guessed it, he is on my shoulder right now. So sweet, but so warm and inconvenient to get much done!

Ok, before I go, I might want to share one more photo - that's Liana's new hairdo:

Please tell me you like her braids a little more than I do... She says that her sister taught how to make them. Sounds like Alyona is in trouble. I guess this may be my reason #53 - it takes me too long to brush Liana's hair after such hairdo's... 

Once again, I don't loose my hope that someday soon I will get something creative done. Have a great day and I'll see you soon. Hopefully very soon :)

Sewing project

Hi, there was this sewing project I wanted to share with you last week but never got to it. It's no fun to share it now, because most of you have seen it already in person, but for those who didn't, here is what I made:

I wanted a grey skirt for a while, but couldn't find one that I like.

I didn't have a pattern for it so I had to do it the way I thought was right, adjusting along the way.

These ruffles were cut out of circles (just realized I don't know much sewing terminology) and gathered just a little. Hamming them was a little challenging, but since they are not in a straight line you can't see little flaws on them.

Originally I wanted to make more flair at the bottom part, but was afraid that I will run out of fabric. Glad I didn't, I had just enough to complete the skirt. Loved this fabric. It was soft, easy to work with and it is almost wrinkle free. The best part of it was that the total cost for the skirt was just a little over $15 if you add elastic.

Thanks for stopping buy and I'll see you soon!

HELP WANTED

Seems like I'm the person "с обострённым чувством пунктуальности". Not. On the very second day of my promise to post every day this week, I screwed up. Seriously, my head and thoughts were here, but the opportunity wasn't. Sorry girls.

There was a page I made months ago but never shared it here because it was one of those "silent" pages. I was caught up in the design and playing with pretty papers that when the time came to add the journaling, I was lost at where to put it. That was before I started taking Ali Edward's "Storyology" class. Now I really try to think about my stories ahead of time. I can't add a page to my album without a story, it just doesn't feel right. I need your help with where to put it. Here's the page:

I cut out the letter L with my silhouette and used the negative piece. I saw this idea on Jennifer Gallacher's layout and always wanted to try it:

There's not a whole lot of journaling, but this page needs a story about their love. Should I add a pocket? Add journaling right on top of the page? Place it on the back of the layouts? Or redo the whole page? What would you do? I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thank you and I'll see you soon!

Very "Pinteresting"...

Hi! I seem to find myself browsing through pictures every Sunday morning, when I get to stay home alone with my little ones. Looking through last few folders, I realized that some of the photos were affected by Pinterest. Mostly in a good way, like this one:

 

We were having so much fun on the fourth of July, that I didn't even take a single photo that day... Doesn't sound like me, I know. But seeing a few patriotic photos on Pinterest, I decided to photograph our kids on July fifth. No one should know it wasn't the fourth, right? And if I didn't write about it here, you would've not known either. 

I asked all of the kids to wear red, white and blue for a photoshoot. Well,... they did, but in their own interpretation. You should have seen their outfits... They reminded me of a Lady Gaga style. Pretty scary. At least they seemed to have so much fun dressing up. No, I'm not going to post that photo here. I told them, I don't want to scare my precious visitors away.

So, last week Suzanna made a pull apart bread (recipe found on Pinterest) which smelled so good that we started pulling it apart before even taking a photo of it:

 

We are definitely making it again! It was SO good - with garlic, Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. Alena found this tasty salad, that was a perfect addition to our dinner:

 

Loved dried cranberries in it! And for me - anything with avocado sounds good, so that was a very pleasing combination. I guess we are making that for the next time someone comes over. But if you want to bring something like this -

 - you are always invited! That was my sister's work of art. It. Was. So. Good. Crunchy edges, chewy center, caramel drizzle on top and fresh raspberries...

So, going back to other pictures I found... These looked very Pinteresting:

 

I let my kids join the Pinterest site and they have a lot of hairstyle ideas pinned there. It seems like it comes useful sometimes. Aaand, looking at the following combination of photos, you can guess what else they have been pinning a lot. A lot, a lot. 

 

They thought it was fun to try on all if those (there were more) shoes and take pictures of each other at the store... I guess Pinterest can have both positive and not so positive affects on people. At least, there are some big plans for more cooking. They love to try new recipes, and I love when someone else takes turn creating in the kitchen.

Oh, and before I go, I need to share one more picture... It's also features a hair style. It is a very unique one though - even Pinterest doesn't have one like this...

It was specially designed with the help of trampoline and photographed by older sister. Don't you think that the facial expression of this little model goes well with her hair style? I think it does. 

I'm up for the challenge - a post every day this week! Let's see if we can do that...

I hope you are having a wonderful day and I'll see you tomorrow!

Feeling thankful...

Every day of this week I was noticing blessings and was feeling thankful for them. You don't have to wait til November to celebrate Thanksgiving. You can celebrate it in your heart anytime, any day or rather EVERY DAY.

Thankful for having a blueberry field right around the corner...

 

Thankful that kids love berry picking (even though some pick them from the bucket)...

Thankful, that the person who was selling the house, we wanted to buy originally, didn't except our offer, otherwise we would've never found this place we love SO very much...

Thankful for quite mornings like this one, when older kids enjoy reading Bible with their cousins... 

 Thankful for those happy and sweet smiles...

Thankful for lazy days of summer and that we can spend them together...

Thankful that my bed is softer than Suzanna's at the moment...

 Thankful for seven hundred sixty fourth time that we live next door to my sister's family...

 Thankful for precious moments like this one...

 Thankful for a wonderful husband and a loving father...

Thankful for our sweet little baby...

 

Thankful for the flowers - one of the amazing creations of our Heavenly Father...

 Thankful for Pinterest and all the great ideas you can find there, including this recipe... Thankful that my children are old enough to bake all kind's of delicious stuff... (not so thankful for eating to much of it)...

Thankful for this day. Thankful that there's something to be thankful for every single day!

p.s. Haven't created anything yet, except Thank You cards. Partially because I was sleep deprived most of the time and also because I was afraid. (just like driving for the first time after having a baby... it's just the way my body responds, I guess) Afraid to screw up or do something wrong and I don't want that to affect the way I feel about this hobby. Have been making page after page in my head... does anyone know how to export those files onto paper now?

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to be back soon!