Ukrainian Village--Part 4

 

We came to a store.  We called it Ukrainian Superstore.  Notice how some packaging never changes?  (Baking powder and Cocoa)

 

I loved the immaculate packaging.

 

Paul takes his tum to milk the 'cow'.

 

No cow would put up with a bazillion kids pulling on its teats, so they used an imitation cow.

 

And finally, using mud to fill in the cracks of a new house.  The kids made a game of it and hurled it as hard as they could.

Ukrainian Village--Part 3

No visit is complete without a trip to the blacksmith shop!

 

The blacksmith made a tiny horseshoe in front of all of us.  Then we played a quick game of horseshoes just outside and the winner received the newly made mini-horseshoe.  A few boys in Paul's class got one.

 

Next we went to the Morecambe School.

 

The teacher is shocked that the children do not know the song, "God Save the King.'

 

She taught them to sing 'God Save the King' with their right hand on their hearts.

 

This is the Russian school that we visited.  It was very strict.

 

No talking allowed!  Complete attention on the lessons!

 

Grade 2, spell milk!

 

The Russo-Greek Orthodox Church.

 

The inside.

Ukrainian Village--Part 2

Paul decided to try his hand at disking.

 

Apparently he was a natural!

 

The grain elevator.

 

How about a visit to the police station?

Into the jail for you little delinquents!

 

This part may have been fun, but.....

 

washing the constable's long underwear for community service wasn't :-)

 

Lumber and paint store.

The Ukrainian Cultural Village--Part 1

I was incredible privileged to be able to join Paul and his class on a field trip today.  We went to the Ukrainian Cultural Village.  That place is impressive!  Out of the 6 groups, our group was the only one who was able to successfully see the whole village!  With somewhere between 15-20 busloads of children there, it was busy! 

 



 

Walking to the train station.

 

Getting a demonstration on how to use the phone.  We were also cautioned to watch what we said on the phone...lots bored people loved to listen in on conversation!

 

Paul is getting a lesson on threshing.

 

He found out that it's hard work!  He took some of his grain home.

 

A barn.

 

These kids are separating the soft part of a feather from the stem in order to make a new pillow.

 

Making a pillow took about a year.

2 Little Pianists

Last week Lindsay and Paul played in their recital. 

This completes Paul's first year of piano.  He played a song entitled 'The Indians are Coming'

 
 
 
 



 

 

 

 

Lindsay played a song she made up herself entitled 'Rain Showers.'  She also played a special rendition of 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel.'  Lindsay has just completed het third year of piano.

 

 

Assuming Her Natural Position

A Rabied Coyote

"Dad!  Dad!"  There's a rabied coyote outside!  He's laying there by the barns, too weak to get up and howling like crazy."

"Oh, how do you know it has rabies?"

"Oh...we KNOW.  The pack has abandoned this coyote because it's really weak, and it's weak because you shot it in the stomach 30 times last winter."

Dan and I couldn't help it and we burst into laughter.  I assure you, Dan didn't hit the coyote even once.

The heroic boys ran outside to ward off the 'rabid' coyote who, according to them, has been dying for the last 6 months.  Eric armed himself with a tree branch and Paul a goalie stick.  Lindsay stood on high alert as their spotter, Seth thought the whole thing was dumb and Courtney couldn't care less.  Knowing her siblings, she was probably the bait.

 

By the way, I went outside to check out the story and I never did see the rabied coyote.  And they say kids don't have imaginations these days....  hallucinations however.....

Surprise Me!

Me: Seth, what would you like on your sandwich?
Seth: What kind of lunch meat do you have?
Me: Black Forest Ham, Smoked Chicken and bologna.
Seth: Surprise me with 2 meats!
Me: Ok.
Seth: But don't surprise me with the chicken.

Time For Tea

I was invited by Seth and his kindergarten class to enjoy a Mother's Day Tea.  It was one of those heart melting moments with your child that has left some precious memories behind.

 

As I arrived I was ushered to another classroom where I soaked my feet in a lovely footbath.  I was given lotion for my hands and afterwards my tough-boy Seth proceeded to paint my nails for me.

 

 

Starting from left to right these are the colors Seth choose for my nails: Purple pinky, white sparkly ring finger, orange middle finger, orange pointer and white sparkly thumb.  On my right hand I have a purple thumb, red pointer, blue middle finger, green ring finger and purple pinky.

 

After my nails dried Seth and I painted a flower pot together.  Seth came up with the color scheme and I added to dots to show some sort of uniformity in our project.  We put in a paper flower and a butterfly.

Next Seth and I headed to the cupcake station.  We both chose a cupcake and decorated them.

 

Finally we wound up at the tea station.  Seth and I enjoyed our cupcakes along with some juice (for Seth) and a lovely cup of caramel maple tea for me.  Delicious!

 

I read a few books to Seth while the other moms finished up with their children.  Seth turned a little goofy so I took a quick picture as proof.

 Just before we left the class sang a bunch of songs for us.  It was an absolutely lovely afternoon and a very special memory was created that Seth and I now share.

Away Too Long

Okay guys, this blog is too neglected.  I have missed 1000 opportunities of stories that I wanted to remember, keep and share.  As I continue to go through my photos I will upload a bunch of them and add a few stories to go with them.

Kids Got My Camera.....

As I was going through my pictures on my memory card, I noticed that the kids took a few pictures of their own...