First lesson in history

Sammy is 4.  She was learning about pilgrims before Thanksgiving at pre-school.

Sammy: "They didn't have beds or toys on the boat.  When they landed they were so happy.  Oh, and they didn't have any food."
Mommy: "So who brought them food?"
Sammy: "Natick Americans."

Who got me out of Mommy's tummy?

Samantha (almost 4 yrs old) "Mommy, when I was a baby and lived in your tummy, who got me out?  Was it a dentist?"

an insightful observation on a recent trip to the dentist

Babulya Shura's 80th birthday

This October we went to Maryland to visit Grandmom and Pop Pop and to celebrate Babulya Shura's 80th birthday.

Here are the pictures

Apple picking and other stuff

This september we went apple picking at Shelburn Farm with many families from ITA.  Sammy was in apple heaven.  She picked a huge bag of apples, quality assured them by biting into every 5th one, ate cider doughnuts, and introduced Sasha to everyone.

All september pictures (including Sammy with Sasha, Red Riding Hood costume, and Sammy with Sophia)

I also wanted to add a few of Sammy's cute phrases. Before you know it, she'll learn to say them correctly and it won't be any fun.
after morning = yesterday
I not knows = I don't know
box = Bach (referring to music in Daddy's car)
kak tebya popit' = shto ti hochesh pit' = what do you want to drink
every day = always

Happy 3rd Birthday to our little Princess

Our little Sammy is not so little anymore.  Last week, she turned 3 and we had a fabulous party. Babulya, Dedulya, Babulya Shura, Grandpa, and Nana all came to visit.  And Sophia, Sophie, Miles, and Mia came to help us celebrate, splash in the pool, blow bubbles, decorate party hats, and eat cake.

We have lots of pictures and videos of the event.

There is so much we wish you, our dear little girl (oops, sorry -- you are a "big goyle" now).  Be happy, and healthy, have many good friends, be loved and loving.

Leaves, Leaves, Everywhere

The fall is here. We've never seen so many leaves in our life. Ok, maybe we've seen them, but definitely haven't cleaned them. This might be a lot of work, but jumping into huge piles of leaves is a lot of fun.

We went trick or treating for the first time.

This was one Teletubby on a mission!

More Fall 2009 pictures

We finally moved!

The big news is that we moved and got Sammy back. She was with Babulya i Dedulya in Baltimore for a month an a half and we missed her terribly. It's hard to describe everything that happened this summer, but here are the highlights:

Zia Gaia and Zio Jerome had a baby girl, Naima on June 29, 2009. Here she is with Sammy in September.

We moved to our new home in Natick. Sammy's first word when she saw the new house was "bolshoi / big"

Pra-babushka Shura came to visit us for a couple of weeks while her apartment was being remodeled. We had such a great time playing together and reading books.

We celebrated Daddy's and Mommy's birthdays and Sammy sang us "Habadaba to you!"

Sammy started new daycare at Miss Diane's and is peeing on the potty exceptionally well. Her favorite underwear are with Elmo, Abby, and Dora.

She came back from Baltimore knowing most of English letters and numbers up to 10 in English and Russian. She also started talking in Russian, which is very exciting for Mommy. Until now, most words were too hard for her to pronounce. One more summer with Babulya i Dedulya and we'll be ready for college.

Here are the rest of the pictures from August/September 2009.