Первые шажочки!

 

                                     Levi, 14 месяцев                                  Ethan, 14 месяцев

Hу вот, вроде, и мы осилили эту науку... Буквально на прошлой неделе Фаня и Лева только-только пытались сделать 2, максимум три шага, падая в мамины или сестричкины объятия. А уже на этой неделе, в понедельник, 25 октября (им год и 2 месяца), они решили нам устроить настоящее шоу. 3, 4, 5, 6 шажочков - бумс! хлопнулись на попу (подгузник работает в качестве армотизатора). И снова встаем, и снова вперед... Немного сложно держать баланс, когда сам себе хлопаешь в ладоши, звонко смеясь от внимания улюлюкающей публики. Упал, и снова встал.., в глазах горит энтузиазм, новая попытка.., и вот уже перед нами не четвероногий человеческий детеныш, а настоящий маленький homo sapiens. Он так гордится, что у него получилось! 

Но все-же пока карапузы демонстрируют новый трюк исключительно для публики. Чтобы добраться из пункта А в пункт Б у них быстрее получается на четвереньках, с игрушкой в зубах (они ползают быстрее, чем я хожу.) Они развиваются как-то совсем одинаково, или, может, копируют друг друга, поэтому. У них даже одни и те же зубы вылезают в один и тот же день. Но Лёва, кажется, проявляет больше настойчивости в попытках ходить, в то время как Фаня любит эмоционально поддержать братика. Но в общем и целом, можно сказать, что они одновременно разобрались с механизмом ходьбы, и теперь нас ждет практика, практика, практика...

Когда-то вместо этой надписи, здесь будет висеть видео, снятое 25 октября, которое почему-то пока не хочет загружаться. 

Я не раз думала об этом раньше, вот и сейчас еще раз убедилась в том, что мы, люди, рождены для воплощения своего потенциала. За первый год своей жизни дети учатся так многому: хватать ручками, держать головку, сидеть, хлопать в ладоши, ползать, ходить.... Я не устаю восхищаться их энергией и стремлением к прогрессу. Вот если бы я каждые месяц-два постигала что-то новое, я бы уже так давно обогнала нынешнюю себя. Спасибо детям за напоминание, что жизнь - это движение вперед!

This Week's Headlines

Sunday: Primary Program

Sunday, Oct. 17, the 4th Munich Ward was taught and inspired by Primary children. I love Primary, and that is precisely why Heavenly Father consistently places me there. Still raw are the memories from the past when I conducted in singing 100 children of the Spanish Fields Ward. It was exhausting and joyful time of my life. I loved that calling and was eager to push myself a little harder every Sunday. I sometimes felt bad for my pianist, Kim, cause she was doing it with me too. It was not always just "Popcorn Popping", and she managed to be always on top of it.

This time around I get to feel what it's like to be Kim, only to a greater extent, since I am not that well prepared as she was. Primary Pianist was a very unexpected calling for me, but I was willing to accept the challenge. It's pushing me harder than I ever imagined. I mean, I have NEVER in my life accompanied anyone, only, perhaps, my little violin students in a home setting. But not in front of the whole Ward! I really suck at piano, this is an instrument that I understand but have not mastered. Heaven, knowing this, has called me to do this job that I grew.... to enjoy. Working with children is the best way to learn new things without being discouraged. They do not judge, do not require perfection, they just keep on practicing their songs and are happy to have music around them. Our Primary did awesome teaching the congregation the simple truths, bearing their testimonies, and singing the songs. The Spirit was there. I loved to be part of it.

And, by the way, Scott is in Russia now for a month, so we had to pull this off somehow with me being at the piano during the Sacrament Meeting and two babies on the loose. My friend Viktoriya (who is not a Mormon, but loves our folk and conviniently lives in Munich) came to Church to watch my babies. I am so grateful for her!

Monday: TaeBo

After a 3-year break from TaeBo routine, I've summoned up all my willpower and reaquainted myself with Billy Blank's punches and kicks. Man, I haven't done this for too long! This stuff works on completely different muscle groups than jogging and weights do. My torso was so sore the next couple days, but I pressed on and repeated the workout on Wednesday and Friday. I will probably get bored with it pretty soon, but it worked this week, I felt great. Babies, on the other hand, looked a bit perplexed watching me do TaeBo. I hope I didn't scare them with this sort of agressive excercise and they still know that I love them.

Tuesday: Play Group

Ok, there's this fun little Play Group for military spouses with young kids at the Chapel every Tuesday. Ever since we got to Germany we've been invited to join and every time I'd say we'd come, and every time we wouldn't show up. I mean, at first the twins were too young, then the babies had a period when their morning nap would coincide with the Play Group's time. Then there were other variables like teething and attributed to it fussiness, bad weather, other appointments, physical state of the babies, and, possibly, my mental state. But, surprisingly, this Tuesday all the circumstances happened to be favorable and we actually made it to the Play Group for the first time. It was so nice to meet other Moms and their kids. Ehtan and Levi were bewildered at first, acting like 2 little puppies, exploring the Catholic Chapel, tasting every toy or shoe that they'd stumbled on. But after a snack and singing time they decided to stay in the nursery room and do a craft with everybody else. Their first real-life craft!

Wednesday: First Snow

All my life I was used to having first snow right around my birthday, no earlier, even in Russia. But, wait a minute, it's only October 20 and we are in Germany! I heard this was coming but I didn't expect it so soon. No doubt, it's mesmerizing to see the white outside the window for the first time in the year, - 

But it also invokes an uncomfortable feeling in me, cause I know there's no way I can curl up on the couch with the book wrapped up in a warm blanket. There's no way I can escape getting not only myself outside, but all the kids too - to take Nadia to her piano lessons, and David to his soccer practice, and babies to the playground... And the core of my fear was that I was not prepared. Babies didn't have anything warmer than fleece jackets, kids grew out of their snowboots, gloves and hats were lost somewhere deep in the closet... And there is no Walmart around the corner!!! This case of bad parenting had to be resolved, like, the same day! After we dropped off Nadia at the Music School, David, babes and I had 30 minutes to get warm clothes (30 minutes is how long Nadia's lesson is.) H&M was already out of choices, I guess, I've waited too long. C&A was right next door and I was determined to pay any amount of euros for snowsuits. I said a quick prayer in my mind, and, look! two navy blue snowsuits, only two left, and they are both the same right size! It was a quick and lucky find. I only hoped there was no other 14-month old twin-boys in town left without snowsuits.

That was not the only blessing that day. Another one rose up in the kitchen in the form of a hand-made-from-scratch dough for cinnamon rolls. Making dough has always frightened me. The aspect of it being alive and able to transform kept me away from this activity. The couple times that I gave it a chance, it never bahaved the way it's supposed to. But today was different. Today, I felt like I've engaged in war against snow and cold. I dared to make home-made cinnamon rolls (beacause there's no Cinnabon here either.) I wanted my snowbootless kids to feel warm and cosy nevertheless. And guess what? It worked! They were delish!!!

Thursday: Flu Shots

On Thursday the Army Community Center (ASC) was doing this wonderful deed - free flu shots for all the inhabitants of Garmisch Army Post. But then the question comes: how long the line will be during those several hours assigned for flu vaccinations? Our post is fairly small, but the ASC was not big either. But we had no choice, kids' school requires flu shots. Period. So at 4:30 pm we embarked on a journey to ASC hoping that the line would be short enough for us to be done in time for David's soccer practice at 5 pm. When it comes to time I usually underestimate natural flow of things and, my being late everywhere does not bother me anymore.

We are there, the lady kindly points at the direction of the flu shot office and notes that they'll start adminestering the shots again at 17:00. "Well, we'll be late for your last game, Dave. But we'll be vaccinated!" ("If the line is too long we might not even make it to the soccer finale with cupckaes and medals", - but I didn't say that aloud.) To tell you the truth, I could not bear the thought of disappointing my boy like that. Prayerfully we proceeded into the office.

To my amazement there were no people in line yet, the door was open. The medics saw us and did not make us wait another 15 minutes til they officially reopen, but invited us in! These are the kinds of miracles I get being a Mom. They matter to me, because they matter to my children in the end. Kids might not pay attention to details, but when these little things fall into place - great things happen.

Nadia, David and I got a nose spray, but my babies had to get SHOTS! Gosh (Hevenly Father, please, help me!), I got Levi's fat thigh out of his sweat pants, hugged him tight and -

His face just frowned a bit but no screaming. Perhaps, he was too busy gulping his milk and screaming would cause his cup to slip out of his mouth. I could not believe my eyes when the second baby acted the same exact way. Weird and relieving to have happy babies right after the shots. Convinient too, since we had a whole hour of soccer practice ahead of us.

P.S. Once There Was A Snowman

Getting ready for school Thursday morning David asked if he could have an extra carrot and raisins in his lunchbox so he can make a snowman during recess. After school he told me how he, Tommy, and Jasiek built a snowman. But when they went to see it after school it was all broken. "But," David said proudly, "I found the carrot and ate it!" 

Friday: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

We love Fridays! It means no homework, it means friends, it means popcorn and a movie... Nadia and her best friend Kira got the whole season of Buffy from the libraby and were watching it all night long, while David played at Tommy's. The girls really get a kick out of the show. And from hanging out together. 

Saturday: Despicable Me

You might have guessed that there is no movie theater on our post. There's one in Garmisch, but our German is not that good yet. No wonder, that we are totally behind the U.S. movie chart. We don't know what's good, what's new, what's coming up. Netflix does not do business with us either since we are so far away. AFN TV has no competitors, so we get stuck with lots of Army infomercials and the last season's Biggest Looser (boy! are my kids hooked on that show or what?!) If not for my Russian friend who has e-mailed me a "Despicable Me" trailer a couple of months ago, I would probably think that Hollywood and Pixar have ceased to exist. After watching the trailer we all agreed that Margo was Nadia's animated twin and we absolutely HAD to purchase that movie whenever it makes it across the ocean and into our PX.

However, this month's ACS newsletter had a movie schedule for American Theater in Munich! Did you know there was one? I had no clue! We were excited that "Despicable Me" was playing this Saturday and I've arranged for Nadia, David and I go and see it. Our wonderful but outrageously expensive German babysitter (a girl my age, that works at the Child Development Center on Post) has come to watch the babies at 9:30 am. Gladys, a.k.a. GPS (Gladys Penelope Smartie-pans), took us to Nymphenburger Strasse, 31 in Munich. It only took us an hour on autobahn to get to the theater. It was a fun, 3D, popcorn and Fanta experience. The best part was that it was just me and the older kids. I seriously don't remember when was the last time I've watched a movie from beginning to end, or doing something just for Nadia and Dave. The movie was cute, Margo and Nadia are definately related - looks, attitude, and all. 

I did not want to try and park again in tight German parking places, I already put a lot of effort into parallel parking by the movie theater. So, we took subway to the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum, a huge Mall in Munich. We've never been there before, neither have we ridden the Munich Subway. We felt like village mice learning the town ways. Our main goal was the Snowboots for Nadia and David. But the entrance to the Mall was through the toy store, and we lost track of time in that fantasy-land. It was a-dream-come-true toy store! Just the fact that they had 5 different Harry Potter Lego sets, something we were looking all over the place for Nadia! We had to do something about it. Here was my proposal: "You each pick 2 Christmas presents for yourselves, I buy them today, we wrap them tonight, I hide them, you forget about them till Christmas!" I didn't have to repeat myself, the kids were on it. Yes, the surprise part of Christmas is going to be spoiled, but I thought "when am I going to go to Munich without any kids, just for shopping???" The answer was: "Probably, never!" Not in the next couple months, that's for sure.

Oh, we also found some cheap snowboots. Like 9.95 euro per pair versus 65 euro in Garmisch. Mission complete! 

P.S. A Mother's Worth

Barbara, our babysitter, does excellent job with the twins, I am confident and comfortable with her watching my precious babies. I also pay a good price for this peace of mind. This is the second time she'd babysat for us, and it is not something we can afford on a regular basis. For 7 hours of babysitting (3 of which babies were napping) I had to pay 84 euro, which is 117.045 USD!!! (I checked the rate online.) And that's babysitting ONLY! No cleaning, cooking, teaching, grocery shopping involved. That makes us, Mothers, very capable, irreplaceable, and selfless creatures. Don't you think?     

    

Воскресенье - день тяжелый

Говорят, понедельник - день тяжелый. В моей жизни похмелья не бывает, поэтому воскресенье - мой самый тяжелый и, странно, самый любимый день недели. Я опишу кратенько наш распорядок дня.

Подъем в 7. Пока близнецы спят, я - в душ, мейкап, волосы... Потом быренько завтракаем чем Бог послал. Во время завтрака я внушаю Давиду необходимость иногда, хотя бы раз в неделю, помыться в ванне. Я иду на любые его условия, делаю ему пену толщиной в полметра, приношу ему стопки книг, коробки с игрушками, ледяную воду в стакане с трубочкой.... Пока он там замачивается, а малыши тщательно опусташают кухонные шкафы, я репетирую музыку для Превоначального Общества. Надя прячется в своей комнате с книгой. Hаконец, я нарушаю ее покой и прошу последить за малышами пока я помою Давида. Обычно это сопровождается визгами и громкими возмущениями насчет мыла в ушах и других подобных неудобств. Когда с Давидом покончено, я отмываю ванну щедрым количеством Комета и приглашаю мою милую барышню Надю в свежую пенную ванну.

Когда, я более организованна, то церковная одежда постирана и поглажена накануне и у Давида есть шанс одеться быстро и без стресса. Иначе это превращается в копание в корзине с грязным бельем в поиске любимых штанов, да, тех самых. Вчера он настоял на брюках, из которых он незаметно вырос буквально за ночь. Но спорить бесполезно. Лучше чтобы мой ребенок выглядел, как клоун, чем устраивать скандал, правда ведь?

Дальше, надо не забыть закинуть мясо в крок-пот. Товарищи, кто не знает, что такое крок-пот, я всем советую погуглить. Это чудо-кастрюля, которая в мое отсутствие готовит чудесные блюда, в основном, мясные. Питание происходит через розетку. Положив ингридиенты и накрыв крышкой, я могу спокойно уйти из дома на весь день, а вечером нас ждет горячий ужин.

Почистить картошку - сделано! К счастью, малыши к этому времени уже дремлют в кроватках. Oсталось собрать сумки с подгузниками, игрушками, кракерами, баночками с детским питанием, молоком, соком, и, главное, положить бумажки с деткими выступлениями и ноты!

Помогаю нарядиться Наде и заплетаю ее волосы (что есть истинное удовольствие для меня). Затем обед на скорую руку, вытаскивание из кроваток недоспавших малышей. Чистые подгузники, рубашечки и брючки под их недовольное и пронзительное двуголосье. Опаздываем...

Прыск духов, взгляд в зеркало, пальто, высокие каблуки и вот мы уже спускаемся вниз с третьего этажа, увешанные сумками и бебиками (одного Наде, второго мне), но при полном параде! Такими нас можно увидеть только по воскресеньям! Еще 15 минут, чтобы всех загрузить и пристегнуть и мы мчимся 120-140 км/ч в течение часа по направлению к нашему 4-му Мюнхенскому приходу. (Для сравнения, в Юте наш приход находился в 5-ти минутах езды между соседских домов, т.е. со скоростью где-то 35 км/ч.)

Arbeit macht frei или труд освобождает, это девиз моего воскресного утра. Не все так безысходно, друзья мои. Как только я попадаю в Церковь руки помощи тянутся со всех сторон, и я, на самом деле, освобождаюсь от многих моих мирских забот, в т.ч. детей. Их учат, с ними занимаются,  играют, так что и я могу духовно расти, исполняя призвание в Церкви.

Это воскресенье не исключение. Это было особое воскресенье, к которому дети прихода от 3 до 12 лет готовились с особой тщательностью. Можно сказать, это кульминационный момент в жизни Первоначального общества, когда дети выступали с программой и песнями, которые они учили целый год. Мои старшие дети приносили свидетельства на сцене за подиумом, я - за роялем, наш папа, как всегда, в заграничной командировке, мои малыши под Викиным присмотром. Я волновалась, как же малыши будут себя вести, не видя меня поблизости, но они прекрасно проводили время в соседней комнате с моей любимой Викторией и с игрушками. Я так благодарна Вике, что онa позволила мне полностью сконцентрироваться на детских гимнах. Все прошла хорошо, дети преподали собравшимся простые и ясные истины, очень непосредственно и с ненамеренным юмором, сильно чувствовался Святой Дух.

Возможно, не труд один освобождает, но и верные друзья. Без замечательных людей в нашем приходе было бы совершенно невозможно для меня принимать участие в жизни Церкви и служить нашим маленьким братьям и сестрам в Первоначальном обществе.

Воскресенье, несомненно день тяжелый, но так легко на душе, когда едешь домой после всей выполненной работы. Часов в 6 мы дома, на улице уже темнеет, а мы с просветленным сознанием делимся впечателниями за день и вкушаем наш вкусный ужин из крок-пота.

Grandma Kathy's in Town!

Today (I first wrote this on October 2nd) is the day Grandma Kathy has come for a visit. Kids are delighted! Scott is relieved to see his Mom, who has accomplished a long flight across the ocean, safely on German ground. I am excited for Kathy to meet the twins. I am also enjoying cuddling with just one baby at a time.

The boys did not seem to have any problem accepting her as their own. As Levi explored Grandma's room, he plopped on our hardwood floors and bonked his head which made him cry, naturally. With nobody but Grandma witnessing the drama, he submitted to her comfort, which helped them bond quite quickly.

As soon as Grandma was available, Nadia has kidnapped her so they could play together. Nadia told Grandma stories about her school and friends, books and animals... She has a lot to share with Grandma, so Kathy better be patient to catch up on Nadia's stuff. She won't let Grandma be bored.

David did not feel like taking out the garbage this morning, or eating, or going out with us. But still he came along in hopes to earn a chance to get some ice-cream (since he officially blew it off by not partaking the perfectly delicious home-made lunch.) He ceased the moment at the first bakery in town, where he made us a proposal of eating the whole pretzel in return for ice-cream. I know exactly where he gets his negotiating skills from. So, Dad gives him a euro, I drill him what to say and after "Eine Bretze, bitte!" he gets his "lunch".

Scott is happy to finally be able to take us all out on a walk on such a beautiful day. This is also a long day for him. He woke up at 4 am. He went running (or biking), then took our friends to the airport in Austria, then drove all the way back to Munich to pick up his Mom. And it's not that he wakes up this early just occasionally. He does his PT (Physical Training) at 4:30 in the morning EVERY SINGLE DAY (except Sundays)! No wonder he is now feeling sick with cold, laying in bed, tired and exhausted, as I'm typing this. Anyway, he was happy at some point today.

Our impromptu tour of Garmisch started at the Kurpark. Germans are flower gurus. I bet they have a mandatory gardening class at schools here. This is not a botanical garden type of park. It's a regular park where people walk dogs and kids play ball, but to our unsophisticated eyes it's beautiful and glorious! My new camera took lots and lots of shots. Here are a few to take a peek.

Check out the flower clock behind Nadia

As we were walking at the park we heard an oompa-band playing somewhere behind the greens. We followed the sounds of cheerful music and found ourselves at the mini-version of October Fest set up at the Marienplatz. The real October Fest has been going on in Munich since mid-September. The first week of October is the final week for German beer-lovers. To think that the only fall we live so close to such a grand event and do not even try to go there, is almost scandalous! But we have serious excuses. First of all, the weather has been bad, in fact this is the first nice, warm, and rainless day in the past three weeks. Second, what we learned from those who went there, is that it's all happening in the midst of a tremendous crowd. We were sure that, at least, one of our kids might get lost. Kids loosing tempers we were not afraid of, but it would not have contributed to the overall pleasant experience either. And since it's HARD to travel with kids either way, we try to make it as easy and pleasant as possible. So, no October Fest this year.

Or, maybe, yes! Men in lederhosen and women in dirndls drinking beer at the long picnic tables, German live musicians, bratwurst stands, a couple tents with games for the kids... It looked a lot like October Fest to me, only no big crowds. Here are the glimpses of October Fest Garmisch style.

While his twin brother is napping Ethan is having his first bratwurst

They say you can call a place home if you have lived there all four seasons. Living in Garmisch through this fall makes us eligible to call it our home town. We love it here! The nature here reminds us of Utah, but the buildings are so authentic, I don't think I've ever seen anything like this anywhere else.

 

Isn't it a sacrilege to interrupt such fine architecture with McDonald's?!  

The top of all Germany - Zugspitze - is in our little town of Garmisch

The crowning experience of our promenade became grocery shopping, as usual. We love eating German foods. Among our grocery list items there are gouda cheese (or any new and good-looking cheese), sandwich meat (it actually tastes like meat and costs less), milk (organic, Alpine, cheaper), bread (most definetely and wholeheartedly we are in love with it!), yogurt (just the variety beats the only yoplait we knew before), sweets, chocolates, lebkuchen cookies, ice-cream (which are not encouraged but still purchased and devoured on a regular basis), produce (naturally fresher and cheaper than any artichoke from California), juices (especially black currant stuff that's nowhere to be found in the States but brings up my childhood memories). We are lucky that with all the German abundance we can still shop at the American Commissary on Post to buy steaks, meats for roasts, whole turkeys, peanut butter, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese (which is an expensive delicacy in Europe), salsa, corn chips, and chocolae chips, all just vaguely known to our German neighbors. This was a lengthy introduction into our life gastronomique.

Obviously, Grandma Kathy has not yet learned all we know about German groceries, but she was considering buying this bottle of beer as a souvenir. Scott talked her out of it.

Our precious grocery cart on the way to the car.