Saturday, January 23, 2010

A cold friend.



Everybody wanted to have a picture taken with our newly created cold friend "Snowy".
Unfortunately, he didn't live for too long. It's been raining.
The snow is all gone and we woke up to a carrot and a hat being on the ground.
We'll miss you! Hopefully it will snow soon again!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Nubian breakfast.

I have been asked why I do such a subject as History with a 8,5 and 2 year olds, learning about all the things that don't interest them, don't make sense to them and their little brains can't even comprehend. Why not to learn things that they can see around, that are easier to understand and used in everyday life.

We do learn about things around us. We go for hikes year round, we spend a lot of hours reading books on various subjects, we have playdates with friends, we do art together, learn musical instruments, and so much more that is right for their age level that they absorb and understand effortlessly.

But I have always been an advocate for giving children a little push and exposing them to things that are way higher for their intellectual level. When we read a book together that everybody is enjoying, adults including, and when there is a great language for them to hear and a wonderful plot of the story to follow, why would one want to wait when the kids are "old enough " to comprehend. I am not talking here about the age inappropriate literature or those books that I even have hard times calling "literature".

But a lot of times kids are not given a lot of credit, thought to be too young or immature. And you would not know what the kids are capable of until you try. And we do not do the drills with them to learn and memorize the dates, or the names, or even the big historical events. Right now I am exposing them to the subject, hoping to spark up an interest for it and hoping to do a good job by not killing the desire to learn more when they do get bigger and would understand more. That's why the major motto is "to have good times"! And any teaching or learning experience should be thought of as a tool to provide the pieces of puzzle for the children to put together later in life!

As we are continuing with our studying history, we have been learning about Egypt and Nubia. We read books, watched a few episodes on Utube, made a craft. Yesterday when we stopped by at a health food store we picked up some organic millet and today the question "what's for breakfast" was answered "a Nubian royal breakfast".
Cooked millet with some butter and and sliced almonds, sweetened with chopped dates, cold raw milk poured over ... What a treat! The breakfast was very yummy, everybody liked it and we thought we'd have it some time soon again.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Still celebrating!



Yes, and we are still celebrating! This time it is the New Year and Russian Orthodox Christmas, the way we do it in Russian, with Ded Moroz and Snegurochka!

Even though this holiday celebration would be completely irrelevant to Americans, for those who grew up overseas, it was a dear and rather nostalgic way of celebrating.
I was the organizer and thanks to the opportunity to use the Europa Cafe we were able to pull everything without charging people a fee. Every parent was asked to bring a wrapped up gift for their child/ren, and a dessert or a dish to share.

With 15 adults and 13 children we had just enough crowd to feel very comfortable, without stepping over each others heads. The Christmas tree was not decorated on purpose, and as the families were arriving I was engaging the kids in helping me to spruce up the "elochka". We did mostly paper chains (oh, dear childhood memories!), snow flakes from the paper napkins and some pipe cleaners kids made decor. The tree turned out to be just lovely!

The grand moment was the appearance of Snegurochka! She ran in , all out of breath, happy to see the kids but sad that she had lost Ded Moroz on the way. Heartily, she was telling the kids the story about how they were going through the deep forest, all snowed in and got very, very tired and almost froze, as suddenly, the hut of Baba Jaga appeared and they were able to get warm and rest a bit.

But that was when Ded Moroz got lost! Luckily, Snegurochka had a walkie talkie (what a hit it was with the kids!) and they were able to get in touch with Ded Moroz to make sure he was all right. And then the loudest shouts you could possibly image brought Ded Moroz in!
Laughter! Smiles! Happiness! Some tears, as well, as one child got scared! Hugs! Presents!

...Presents! Not so fast!
Just imagine, kids are sitting around Ded Moroz, he has his big sack in front of him, everybody is so excited... Ded Moroz is opening the sack... Presents? ...All he dumped on the floor were old shoes, boots, snickers. Ah! What happened? Where did all the presents go?

I came up with the whole scenario one evening while putting Evan to sleep. Nobody new, except for Mirek, so, can you imagine everybody's eyes?
Not to make you wonder, it was a naughty Baba Jaga that played the trick! She switched the bags! But, she was kind enough to leave some kind of message that the kids had to decode if they wanted their presents back!

Dancing around the tree, singing songs together, making kids happy (or at least most of them!), hearing adults laugh and participate... It was all so fabulous!
Mirek's bath robe with a pillow stuck in, and a beard I made in 10 minutes one evening with a hat purchased on sale for $0.99 made a great Ded Moroz!

My wedding dress came in handy for Snegurochka, and I made a matching head dress out of recycled cardboard, cut up CDs, some beads, trims and glitter. And the blond braid was an absolute hit with everybody! And nobody knew that the dress did not zip up in the back! Ded Moroz had helped me to cover it up!

Everybody was expressing their thanks to us for putting up such a great performance!
When we joined everybody without the costumes already, Leona was telling us all about Ded Moroz and Snegurochka and was asking where we had been as we missed the whole celebration! Ivana was teasing us all the way back home begging us to admit that it was us dressed as Ded Moroz and Snegurochka. Milana told Mirek that Ded Moroz was old. And Evan would not come to me as long as I had that piece on my head.

And guess what. People are asking me to organize a celebration for the Women's Day, March 8th. Hmmm... let me think. I guess I'll cook something up next time I put Evan to bed.

Friday, January 01, 2010

Happy New Year 2010!



We started celebrating the coming new year way before 12! First, making all the phone calls to Russia and Czech during the day to wish our families and friends a happy new year. Also, since the two of our younger family members go to bed around 9 pm, we decided to include them into the celebration as well. We went outside to do the mini fireworks. When all the sparklers were gone Milana did not want to come inside and was ready to camp out.

I was ready to join her! The night was so beautiful and truly magical! Dark, quiet, peaceful, with big wet clusters falling down the sky and the fresh snow shining on the light.

Leona did not make it till 12 by only 10 minutes. In the morning she was asking how the "champagne" was. Ivana was a trooper. The three of us picked up the glasses with the non alcoholic champagne and wished each other a Happy New Year 2010!