March 2014- Spring?

Hi all,

First up this month was the Pinewood Derby awards presentation.  The look on our boy’s face when he was up there when he won for best design was just priceless.  It was a little bit shyness, a little bit proudness, and a little bit excited all rolled into one.  But Peter and mine- all pride for our sweet boy who had worked so hard.  There are already big plans for next year’s competition and I hope it meets expectations.   

Rinat is on a lacrosse kick now. Not sure where it came from but he is actually pretty good at it. He was good at tennis too so maybe he is a kid who is good with his hands rather than his feet. I dunno.  So I signed him up for classes. He tells me he wants to play for UVA. And Clemson. And a million other teams all at the same time. He cracks me up. He is just gung ho about everything all the time. I love that he is passionate. He is very much like his dad in that way and that is one of the things that drew me to Peter when we met.  I'm glad he 'inherited' it from his dad.   

Our big (little to us) 4 year old moved out of the car seat and into a booster.  Our back seat is now carseat-less for the first time in 7 years.  It’s weird.  The time has gone by so quickly which makes me sort of sad.  But it sure will make traveling a whole lot easier.  I mean, look at all that open space back there!  

Bek was playing upstairs after school one day and I realized it had gotten quiet all of a sudden so I went to check on him.  He’s such a sleepy boy that he fell asleep on the floor of his room with his pants half on and half off.  I guess the effort was just too much for him to handle.  So we are looking into getting his tonsils and adenoids out.  The thought of it just freaks me out after what happened to Rinat but really this was sort of the last straw.  No one should be THAT tired.  He falls asleep in the car, while eating dinner, he snores so loud I can hear him in our room (poor future college roommate), he has trouble concentrating sometimes, and I am afraid he might have apnea.  And also we are hoping it might help with his speech.  Those tonsils are getting in the way and I am worried the adenoids are interfering with his hearing.  Sigh.  Poor sweet baby I just want to give him big hugs.      

So…. more snow around here.  Not just a sprinkling but loads of it mounded on bushes and on top of our cars.  I mean really.  It’s enough already.  Where is this so-called spring?    

 Speaking of spring, we went to a Nauryz celebration out in VA.  A group of kids had come from Kazakhstan to perform around the US and this is one of the places they stopped.  They played traditional Kazakh music (love that dombra), they danced, they sang, they did puppets, and my kids were enthralled with it all.  There was plov and boursakis and Kazakh chocolate (which I have hoarded in a special hiding place at home) and most of all there were lots and lots of kids like them.  I love that we live in a place where we can keep in touch with our boys’ roots and our adopted country and celebrate those important events with them.  We might have brought them to the US but they brought us to Kazakhstan and I do feel like it’s our home too because it’s where our family was born.  Nauryz is a celebration of the end of the long dark winter and the coming of Spring.  A reason to celebrate indeed.  So I made plov.

Love to all and a happy Nauryz, -m