Ha-ha! You have to have a sense of humor to be a Mom. Yesterday morning I woke up and reached for my glass of water and almost had a heart attack. A swarm of earthworms in there! And a flower on the night table next to it. Thanks boys! You really do know what makes me happy. That's just an intro to my new day.

Like earthworms were not enough to wake me up, I got a phone call from my dear Russian friend asking me to babysit her little girl for 6 hours starting, like, in 20 minutes. And I haven't gotten out of bed yet. If only I hadn't gone to bed at 2 am last night helping Nadia with her school project carving the Supreme Court Building out of foam board.. If only my sister was still in town.. If I had not been so depressed about her departure.. I guess, I had no choice, sooner or later I would need to start living a life full of preschool-age kids and a baby. Of course, I can babysit!

It's one thing when you're dealing with them one at a time, or two at a time. But when you have them all at once - it's nuts. So be it! The house is officially invaded by an army of little people. I let them jump around, bring in bugs and piles of dirt, heck, I even let them do the dishes!

The water has been running for a little too long, for as long as Tavish has been feeding, to be precise. Do I dare to walk into the kitchen and witness the cruelty of my life? I take a peek. The pile of dishes in the sink is as monumental as it was this morning. Dish soap has changed its form from orange liquid in the bottle to thick lather on every counter top up to the ceiling and covering hard wood floors in the 5 ft radius around the kitchen sink counter. Mamma mia!

The most obnoxious thing was that the boys were having a little too much fun, sliding on the slippery floor. I was insulted that they did not even feel bad for the mess they made. Anger boiled inside my head, I rushed towards them, grabbed them by their arms and dragged them up the stairs with the intention to lock'em up in their room for the longest time-out EVAR!

But what do you know? These two were laughing the whole way, loudly and uncontrollably. They were not even a little bit upset at the prospect of sitting in their bedroom for the rest of the day! (duh, the party will just go on upstairs, haven't I learned that?) This obviously was not working. I stopped halfway, and sat on the stairs across from them. They continued laughing out loud into my huffing and puffing face. I could not hold it any more and... bursted out laughing back at them. They've won. My two little captives have totally won this battle. When there is nothing to lose and a time-out is how this awesome fun is going to be ruined then LAUGH. Laugh hard, laugh uncontrollably, laugh your lungs out, kill the party-killer with your positive attitude! They were my teachers that day, no doubt. But my supermom ability to seize the moment and teach my posterity a lesson jumped right into action.

"Ok, guys, that was fun, wasn't it? Did you have a good time? Do you wanna do something even more fun? (They nod enthusiastically.) Then come with me!" (They follow.) I get three kitchen towels out of the drawer and give one to each boy. "This is what we'll do." And I start wiping the soapy floors supporting my action by excited comments like "Oh, this is great fun! Join me! Let's do it together!" They do. Soon, our guest girl is excited about this too and asks for a towel. I hand her my towel and let the kids finish "cleaning" the kitchen. This was a much better ending to the story, I think. I'll save "time-outs" for more serious crimes.

My sister went back to Utah. I don't like it when people leave. It means relearning my life's routine all over again. It means no more Давай Поженимся с Ларисой Гузеевой (Russian TV show), no more teatime with chocolates from the Russian store. No more staying up late waiting for Ksusha to return from her date, and then later still, talking about it. No more "Let me go for a run", or "Look, I found Tavish's tickle spot!" No more dishes being washed while I put the kids to bed. Or laundry done while I drive the kids to and from their activities. My best friend is gone to live her new exciting life. All I want for her is to be happy. All I want for me is... to live in the same town. Ok, state, at least.

I don't think visiting us was the perfect vacation spot. It's more like a labor camp here. :) But she is loved here. Tavish and I will miss her the most. All the best in Utah and come again soon!

Baby's "scary" eyes say it all - Tavish with his new baby-sitter. It's going to take some time to get used to life without aunt Ksusha.

Yesterday we had a mega-busy day. Sunday, Sabbath, the day of rest.... Where art thou? Morning - whipping up zapekanka. I am at the zapekanka stage of my life and the local Russian store knows it. This is the third week in a row that I am buying 3-4 pounds of tvorog (russian style farmer's cheese) from them to experiment with yet another zapekanka recipe.

While my zapekanka's in the oven, the ribs are getting ready to dive into the crock pot for the next 10 hours. It's going to be a long day. First, Church, then drop off Dave at the Birthday party, then Nadia's Harp Recital, then home sweet home with yummy dinner, Tres Leches torte included.

Oh no, the twins are already outside with their pajama pants down, peeing on the front lawn. This is impossible. Do I pull my 3 month-old baby from the breast and run out to yell at them, or do I pretend they are not my children? Moral dilemmas... They could cause hours of heated conversation in internet forums dedicated to raising children. Thank goodness, I am not alone in this. Tavish, full of milk and warm like a brand-new cookie out of the oven, is eventually handed over to my sister who loves him to pieces. Nadia rounds up the twins. And I escape to the shower. Scott is at school for the rest of this month. I say, GWU ranks last at being a family-friendly school. Even if you are a non-Christian or atheist professor, why not leave Sunday alone?! Are there not enough days in a week? I don't get it.

Surprisingly, we make it to Church on time and even get a soft seat. Towards the end of the Sacrament meeting, the only members of our family still in the chapel are David and Nadia. Ksusha took Tavish out, and my job was to hunt Ethan and Levi down and bring them back on the straight and narrow. Remind me again, why are we at Church? Definitely, not for my spiritual nourishment. Good thing, I know it's not about me, I am not too selfish. I hope one day I will receive a confirmation to my efforts watching my boys bless and pass the Sacrament.

In the meantime I LOVE the second and third hour of Church when Ethan and Levi are placed in loving care of their Primary teachers, bless their hearts. I have to mention that instead of walking reverently with arms folded (as opposed to running) my boys like to imagine they are kitties or puppies, or, even better, caterpillars. This technique enables them to crawl out of the Chapel, through the Church hallway, and into the Primary room sort of reverently. It's a site to see. We exchange our good-bye waves - they show me their "clawed paws" like they're bears. I exhale blissfully watching my boys sitting on their chairs ready for class and suddenly I miss them so much and don't want to leave them. I make an effort to turn around and hurry into the Mother's Lounge to feed Tavish and even possibly take a short nap. That beats Sunday school, if you ask me.

We had to leave half hour early. David's very best friend had a birthday and he pleaded with David to please come. Not only him, but his sweet Mom called and asked if David could come. She knew that we don't do this kind of stuff on Sundays (last year David declined their invitation) but this is the only day they can do it, so, please, please, let David attend their party. We love this family, they've been so kind to David, so, I let David make a choice. And, despite our family tradition to devote Sundays to Church and family, David decided to go to Gianni's party. The first fruit of free agency dropped unexpectedly on my head with a 'thud'. Did he set the precedent? Are we getting swayed by the world? Today, on the way back from Dave's violin recital I asked him what did it feel like breaking the Sabbath and would he do it again? You know what he told me? Said he: "Maybe... no! (yesss, I thought to myself!) Unless.... (uh-oh!) it's Jesus's Birthday." (Phew!) I have it written down, o child of mine! And I am so proud of you for choosing the right in the end.

And that's not even it for one Sunday. Nadia's harp Recital was also yesterday. As we were getting out of the car at the Recital place, my sister said something to the effect of how cool it is that we have such a big family and so many of us are coming to support Nadia, making her feel all loved and all such things. He-he. When our gangsta filed into the dead silent room of NAfME, filled with proper people ceremoniously seated, it's like we hit the electrical wall, not sure if we were invited. It is how it is. We are loud, and laid back, and not competitive, and we are here for Nadia and hope that she can have fun doing what she is doing. I don't care if she makes mistakes, or if she gets her trophy. I just want her to be happy. Every time Tavish smiled (he smiles kinda loud), we were sure to catch three or four stern looks looking back at us. The twins could not sit still for 5 minutes and they spent a lot of time out in the hallway with Scott and me taking turns watching them. But they felt right at ease when it was all over and were the first in line to load up their paper plates with refreshments. No inhibitions whatsoever.

There were some amazing harpists and pieces played were mind-blowing. I loved it! But to us, Nadia was the best of all, of course. And she did get a trophy for practicing over 1100 minutes in the month of May. Here she is at home playing her Mother's Day gift to me a month ago. She is pretty good for a beginner. Good job, Nadia!

I come to realize time and time again that I am hopeless at keeping up with my life. It keeps me busy up to my eyeballs. I have no chance at writing a memoir. Things zoom by too fast, and I forget about them even faster. So, here's a few highlights I came up with while I made an effort to pause, look back, and reflect - which I perceive as such a luxury these days.

1. This is the 4th day in a row that I've faithfully attended gym. How's this possible, you ask? My dear husband made some calculations recently and announced that if I go through the gym door every day 5 days a week it costs us $4.50. If I only go once a month, that one-hour class of mine costs me a whooping $80. He said that from now on I must regard gym as my daily chore and make an effort to put on my tennis shoes every morning and treat myself to a nice workout. I suddenly felt many antagonistic feelings towards the said gym, but I kept my composure and let the guilt brew inside me to make me a better person. (This guilt thingy is not for everyone, but it works for me.) No matter how uninterested I've suddenly become towards exercise in general, I was determined to prove my husband that I CAN keep my commitments and I CAN get rid of my blubber abs. Such is the life of a woman married to a man with a type A personality - you just keep up and you just do it!

If it were just me this new job of mine would just mean enduring some degree of physical pain on a daily basis. But I have an army of little people that have to be in my close proximity at all times. And this, my friends, requires a completely different kind of stamina. I don't even want to get into details of getting these munchkins ready each morning, it might discourage you from ever wanting to have kids. I have to make myself believe that I can do it and just go with the flow. If the shoes are missing - that's ok. If they are mismatched - that's better. If nobody is hungry - it's good. If everyone is happy and agreeable - my day is a big success! I truly don't know if putting myself through a cycle class is much harder than getting three little boys under the age of four into the gym kids' room on time. But I know this, if I pull through this extra work on top of my gym duty - I can do ANYTHING! Very empowering! Gym transforms my day from torture to bliss. I love to feel this contrast. I LOVE leaving the gym! It's totally worth the trouble going in.

2. Ever since the arrival of The Parenting Breakthrough book this week,

I am trying to train myself to be a different Mom. I suspected there is a better way to raise the children, something that involves milking a cow and pulling the weeds. I knew I was doing something wrong by being a hovering type of Mom, rescuing my kids' school projects and depriving my darlings of dishwashing and toilet-scrubbing opportunities but pushing them into a number of after-school activities instead. This book is quickly convincing me that my 8 year-old's ability to do his own laundry can bring him just as much self-esteem as advancing to his next tae kwon do belt. The purpose of parenting is to raise independent human beings that would be "righteous, productive, skilled, smart, helpful, wise, intelligent, and hardworking." The book is a find for anyone who has young (and not so young) children. It's a perfect game plan for doing our job of helping our kids "out of our lives and into successful lives of their own." In other words, it teaches me, a Russian Mom, to do it American way. I've noticed though that Americans themselves are starting to deviate from this tactic. It's definitely not easy. Instead of quickly fixing lunches for everyone, I now spend more time and energy teaching my 3 year-old twins how to make their own peanut butter jelly sandwiches, or how to pour milk in their cereal. Can't wait to see the fruits of my hard labor in about what... 15 more years? Meanwhile, so much to do...