Exactly 4 days after we arrived in Ukraine, Casey and Sophie started back to school. Sophie was very excited to get to label her school supplies in English this year! Proof that it isn’t always Sophie who starts it! The van that picks them up and drops them off every day, along with 6 other students who live in our area. Chili is sad that her favorite playmates are gone.
We’ve been listening to church bells from our local Orthodox church all morning while Sophie and I decorate eggs. She had a fever last night, so no church for us this morning, but still a happy Easter!
Happy 10th birthday to our full-of-life Sophie! Gonna eat sushi to celebrate…her request!
Casey and Sophie having fun with dead tree parts…
Our couch was taken today (for repairs), so we’re having fun hanging out on an air mattress!
We celebrated Casey’s birthday multiple times. I guess becoming a teenager is worthy of all the attention.
Aug 24–Jason starts back today, before either of the girls, and on Ukrainian Independence Day! Aug 26—KC’s first day of 7th grade! Big changes this year…three new teachers and 2 new kids in her little class. Sophie got up early to say goodbye to her sister, but couldn’t manage to stay awake…good thing she still has another week before her school starts! Sept 1—Sophie’s first day of 4th grade!
Happy Father’s Day from our family to yours!
Every year the kids have a chance to get creative and come up with new costumes for the Fall Festival at KCA – the MK school. This year, Sophie went as “Fast Food” and Casey went as “Casey-A” (KCA).
We traveled with my folks by train to L’viv, a city in Western Ukraine that is one of our favorite destinations. The city is known for good coffee and handmade chocolate, and while we were visiting they hosted a historic Grand Prix. We all enjoyed a weekend of strolling along the cobblestone avenues lined with antique cars, leading up to the grand finale “race” with a top speed of 25 mph.
This summer my parents made their fourth trek to Ukraine to visit us. (So far they have come each summer that we haven’t returned to the States.) They have seen most of Kiev’s sights by now, so we know they aren’t coming back for the tourist attractions. This time they brought quilts for our girls that my mom and two aunts worked together to make. Casey and Sophie chose the patterns and fabrics when we were with them last summer, and the finished quilts were fantastic! […]
For Sophie’s 7th birthday, Jason and I pretended to be Jack and Annie—characters from her favorite book series, The Magic Tree House. We took Sophie and her friends on adventures based on several of the stories: We went to a prehistoric dinosaur-land and popped balloon dinosaur eggs. We went to ancient Egypt and made mummies out of the mommies. We went to the Far East and played Ninja. We went to Africa for a safari snack. We went to ancient Greece and participated in the Olympics. You […]
