Mid winter break

What a wonderful few days we've had only to end my mini vacation (mid-winter break) sick as a dog. I am just miserable and I have body aches almost like the flu but without the high fever. I've had the flu shot so hope this isn't a new virus. It started with a little sore throat and now the worst part is the muscle sores. I felt the first sign after Zumba. I wonder if I got sick from kind of overworking myself.

So I've been watching Downton Abbey to keep me company in bed. I am catching up so I just saw 1st episode of Season 2 tonight.

I was just contemplating life today (sickness makes one slow down enough to do that, you know) and I was filled with so much love for my kids and husband that I felt I could've burst. I just love them so very much.
Sadly with all the love I lost it today with my son and then felt totally sad that I acted the way I did. I apologized and he was so sweet to me. Nothing like a kid who doesn't hold a grudge. All I could think for scolding him is that what I scolded him for was mostly for something that if I were a better mom wouldn't happen at all. I took the darn Love and Logic class so full of good ideas but keep failing at remembering the good stuff when it's needed. I get their weekly emails with great tips and thankfully even the program teacher says he has days when he messes up and doesn't apply his techniques. I LOVED hearing that. It also reminds us that we have to keep rereading, maybe even writing notes with pre solutions to problems that we know will come up again. I guess this parenting style is not second nature so we need practice and we all know we get plenty practice with kids.
Tomorrow will be a new day though and I hope to feel better and give it a try again.

Possibly I lost it because I am sick but don't worry I lose it even when not sick. Such is life...

Fun things we've done these past few days:

I took the kids to Pump it up and jumped and went down the slides like crazy. It was a work out.

The next day we went to the Aquarium. It was awesome. Lavinia's never been. It's always fun to go downtown Seattle. We had some yummy gyros right after and walked around Pike market trying out great samples of foods. It was a very wet day but that didn't stop us from having fun. I am glad our friend Taylor could come too. He's just the one of the best friend we could ask for.

Also Friday I pulled out pop up house (the think that folds down into a circle) I decorated it with Christmas lights and the kids had a blast moving in there. Toys, pillows, blankets. I let D sleep there at night.

Dacian is such a good brother. He's such a good, kind boy. Not one mean bone in him. It's fun to see him growing and seeing that some of his early traits are sticking. Today he told me that he wants 80 more babies in the house. I asked him why and he said it's because babies are so cute. I have high hopes that he'll bring me lots of grand babies some day.
Also today while I was convalescing in bed he begged for me to come down and see something funny on his Pingu show. I tried to get out of it. He told me that he'll give me 10 kisses. How could I refuse such a sweetie?

Lavinia is a firecracker. She is the boss of the house. So much more drama with a girl. She's cute though and her eyes always sparkle. So boss or not we all adore her. She has so much spunk and can definitely hold her own.

Today the kids both took naps with me. A miracle of sorts. Hooray for a quiet afternoon when mommy isn't feeling so good. Except that they are still up now. Thank goodness we also have tomorrow off.

So that's it for my rambles. I am a sick but happy girl.

Fun Saturday

To celebrate a wonderful first report card for Dacian we went out to Seattle yesterday. It was a splendid day. I forgot my camera and at times I was missing it but mostly I liked not having to miss out on living the moments only to be sure they get captured on camera.

We ate at a Bolivian restaurant. The kids and we like to try new foods all the time. The food was delicious and we had a beautiful view of the Puget Sound, mountains, and the bright sky from where we ate. It was right at Pike Market downtown Seattle. Then we went down to the Pier and walked around, let the kids run, went on the carousel and then finished the day by going to Gameworks and playing all the games and eating once again. We took the bus into the city so we got home pretty late.

Also in the morning (Sat) I had my first exercise class, Zumba. Wow, that was a full hour of interrupted movement/dancing. I loved it and can't wait to go back. I got this pass for 3 months at a community center and they offer every day am and pm classes. I think I definitely overdid it with not having had a good work out in a long time and now I can barely move and I'm sore in my back muscles but the fact that it's like a dance class surely helps. The fact that I will go with a few friends from work and get out of the house as opposed to going to the gym by myself or paying the big fees they ask for surely helps.

I am going to try all their classes and see which ones I like best. No spinning class and I really could care less about that one. I did a similar thing a while back when I went to a spinning class all out of shape and felt so out of place being so slow and just plain awful that I swore I would never return. The people there were big into it and you could tell they probably go on biking tours/contest all the time. Well, not so much with this class. People of all ages and abilities were there. And even though this was hard for a person out of shape like me I was able to keep up the whole time. I hope I can stick with this. I keep trying to find ways to incorporate exercise in my life only to fail again and again. I need something to mask the exercise and dance or swimming are my favorite things, oh and playing a sports in general.

I hope that with time by going to these classes I will gain strength and excitement for something that to be honest is not my favorite thing to do. But health is important and losing some weight along with being healthier would be great.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend. Lots of sun, warmth and a change of routine. It was as though spring was pushing winter out of the way. There were so many people out. I loved seeing people happy, out and about with their families doing about the same thing we did, enjoying life. A part of photography that I love is that I seem to be more attentive to details in general, I tend to see more than I used to and now even on days when I forget the camera I can take in the beautify of life, drink up and store happiness in my mind instead on just paper.

And now I must head to bed. Last week was so full and pretty stressful and I hope this coming one will be somewhat easier. I can't wait for mid-winter break.

First snow of the year

Yes, I LOVE the snow, especially the first snow of the season. Everything is so pretty in white. It snowed a little yesterday but a TON today. Lavinia and I were sick and skipped churchbut it ended up being canceled anyway after Sacrament. Later on though I got us all dressed really well and we headed out. We went sledding, and then came back home to build a fort and then made an enormous snow ball. It was a fun day. Food tasted so good after the work out outside. It's supposed to snow more in the next few days as well. And good thing we have tomorrow off. What a blessing! I love three day weekends.

I want to go skiing so badly but that is just so pricey. I also want my kids to take lessons to ski but maybe I will when they are a little bit older. I learned from my parents. I never took lessons so I am not a pro and my style isn't amazing or anything but I LOVE it nonetheless. I can't imagine life without mountains and snow.

Friday Snow- Little snowman

The next day-Future snowman-Look at the size!

Going sledding

Yum!

Fort Building

The end result

A new year

I am tired at looking at the Merry Christmas post so I guess it's time for another one. I have been in great spirits lately. I guess I love getting caught up with life. I love a new year starting out with hope and possible change and more hope. I am realizing more and more that not procrastinating is key to my happiness. And that's a bad habit of mine that is hard to break. I always blame it on tiredness. So to be less tired I am trying to get to bed at an earlier time. Maybe the simplest of things (simple not necessarily always easy to do) will be the ones to give me success.

I keep thinking I need to post the Christmas pictures but I just feel no desire to do it. We'll see if I get to it.

For now I have been taking it easy in the evenings, I have been playing more with the family and just in general my attitude on life is much better. I have been reading a new blog (a photography blog of all things) of this lady who so positive and genuine and that has been giving me more optimism. Without bragging or lecturing (the things that annoy me the most in some blogs) this lady is so inspiring and kind.  I might even take her photography classes some day. They are all online.  http://blog.brookesnow.com/

And speaking of photography I realize I never showed you the photos that our sweet photographer took. I LOVE them. I am printing them and framing them. They make me happy. Here's Lindsay's blog as well.

So Happy New Year to everyone. I hope it will bring you all lots of joy, health and happiness.

Merry Christmas! 2011

Before time goes away from me I wanted to wish all our friends and family a very, Merry Christmas.

We have done lots these last few weeks. Even though I try to keep things simple it's easier said than done. We have had relatives here since last Saturday, we have gone on a Twin Peaks tour and that was a lot of fun. Good food was eaten and the little cousins were so happy to be together.

Our family made cookies twice so far, made paper snowflakes, sang carols, Karaoke with extended family, watched Christmas movies, and just enjoyed each other, sipping cocoa next to our beautiful tree. This year we went and cut our own at a farm and I just loved it. I hope to do it again next year.

I managed to get all the presents, order and mail our Christmas cards, went to D's school and had a presentation on Romania (that was fun). It sure is nice to get a break from work. Days are flying by and I hope after Christmas we get to relax a little. I actually want to be lazy on New Year's unlike any other years. I am all for partying on that day but I just feel exhausted and I am totally fine watching TV that day. We'll see what happens though.

Well, pictures will be coming later on.

I do hope you are having a magical, Christ centered time with your families.

St. Nick's

On December 6th St. Nick (Mos Nicolae) came by our house and brought the kids and us a few treats with the once much anticipated  bananas and oranges. When I was little oranges were a hot item and bananas even more so. I remember waiting in never ending lines for those things when I was about seven or so. Because we imported them we only got them around Christmas time. Not that waiting in line was a foreign concept at all. That's what we did for any type of food, from bread, milk, not to mention anorexic chicken and any kind of meat. That was back then though, much has thankfully changed.

Anyway, the kids had a blast in the morning. I decided that I am going to replace stockings at Christmas for St. Nicks. It's about the same thing and I have no mantle to hold my stockings. I just don't want to pay twice for things. Growing up we never had stockings so I guess if I start now my kids won't know the difference.

Here are a few blurry pictures. :)

My dad put his stick in his own shoes. Funny but he was most definitely not naughty. 

Birthdays and Thanksgiving 2011

Seems like so much has happened since I've written.

I had a birthday and two days later Lavinia had a birthday. She's now 3 and proud of it!

We took the kids to Disney on Ice, Toy Story 3 on her b-day weekend and both kids just loved the show. I did too. I'd never been and now I might go every year I liked it so much.


I was spoiled like always, friends and family called, FB wishes galore and my sweet husband took me out to dinner to a nice fish grill place that was amazing. It was good to go out together for a little bit. On top of my family pics gift Shane got an external flash. I was excited to use it inside the house where I seem to have such problems with our dark house, dark Seattle days, etc. Wow, there is a lot to learn on it and even though I prefer natural light this gift surely comes in handy. Unfortunately the flash stopped working so now I need to return it. It wasn't very expensive thankfully. Ugh!

We had a little party (or what I thought would be little) for Lavinia. I always feel like I run around like crazy and stress.  I invited mostly invite family and the only kids that did come were Lavi's cousins and one good friend of Dacian. We wanted to mostly have fun decorating a cake and so we did. Mom made the cake. I made the frosting and decorated it.

It was a little funny how big it turned out but mom kept making layers because Barbies are so tall. It was delicious like always though. (it looks more like Marie Antoinette or Barbie just has a lot of junk in her trunk for once)

Thanksgiving was the next big thing. We ended up with a pretty quiet but wonderful day. The in laws were supposed to come and other family members but things didn't work out for them. (I convinced my mother in law who came in town the next day to go out shopping with me. She lives close to the outlet malls and I wanted to buy some Christmas gifts. We has such a fun time. She loves to shop and that makes it more fun for me. The outlet malls had great sales but they mostly had clothes, shoes, perfume, etc. Not one toy store. So we headed to Walmart, Target and Toys R us after making our trip always 12 hours. Crazy, I tell ya and I'm not done yet. I am very thankful for Shane for giving me the day off. Shopping kids free is such a treat! )

We ate delicious food and Shane told the kids about the first Thanksgiving and then we each took a turn talking about what we are thankful for. Finally the turkey was the way a turkey should be and I made my new favorite recipe for green beans. I found the recipe online for Bucca di Beppo lemon green beans.

I love my family so very much and am grateful for so much. I just hope I learn to show it more.

We made a fun Thankful tree and decorated Tom the Turkey for crafts. Dacian is an avid crafter and always wants to make more crafts. I can't keep up with all the stuff he does around the house. Cutting, taping, gluing, coloring, writing, making anything and everything. I love it because we stopped buying so many toys and so he gets creative and makes his own paper stuff. I need to take pictures of the stuff he makes. It's so cute! Shields, swords, cars, rockets, all the boy stuff.

Lavinia likes it too but she tends to just draw on whatever, furniture included. Not so cool with us.
She also likes to cook with me and mix stuff for me.

I know I don't do as much stuff as I want to do but I hope however little it is that I do do will be fun and worthwhile for them.

I have been doing great with limiting internet lately and so much can get accomplished that way. I am not near where I want to be still but getting better. I feel more positive too. Good things!

What else? We've been sick and things aren't super bad but not improving or getting better all the way and a new sickness begins. Dacian had to go to Urgent Care right before Thanksgiving with an ear infection. Now he feels much better.

We also are super grateful to cousin Kim for getting us free tickets to the dress rehearsal show for Cinderella this past Friday. It was fantastic. Just Dacian and mom and I went (4 and up) It was super duper amazing, and D liked the fireworks they had the best. If you can, do go and see this show.


On another note of course now we're thinking about our next holiday.

Dacian already made his list for Santa. He's so funny. He told me that because he's turning 6 next year Santa will bring him six things. Then he says: "6+6=12" Okay, good adding boy, is what I'm thinking. Then he told me that he gets 12 presents, 6 from Santa and 6 from us. Ha! Ha! This boy knows how to get what he wants.
We warned him that these are suggestions for Santa and not a guarantee and that also he needs to keep up his room and of course that Santa is always watching.

I'll take a pic of his list. It's so funny!

I think these are my latest news. Hope all my friends are doing great!

Helping me wash the green beans. 

My little "butterfly" Pil Pal Ah Wich Ya-her Indian name

Peek A Boo. The box ended up being a "refrigerator" 

Playing in the rain 

Birthday princess with cousins

The girls didn't want to have anything to do with boys. I think Dacian was a little sad. 

Here comes the cake

I can't wait to decorate our next cake. I had a blast doing something new. 

Look at our adorable niece. Her expression is so cute!

She hasn't stopped wearing this outfit from cousins, Lily and Zeke. Thank you so much guys!

Full of hugs and thanks.

Her BFF, Taylor brought her a beloved Dora. Thank you so much!

We played a little game of Minute to Win it. 

Tom the Turkey-We put lots of fabric on it. :)

My best friend from Romania sent my kids these adorable folk costumes for the kids plus many other things. So adorable!

I have a thing for hats and I couldn't not buy this one when I saw it! 

I made these shirts last year. I forget the internet link, sorry. Easy and so cute.