Landon is 6 years old!

Yesterday we celebrated Landon's 6th birthday. Mrs. Jackson and I went to the school to make birthday waffles for his class. It was so fun and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. His teacher had the class sing Happy Birthday to him with some of the kids pretending to be candles. After the song he was able to blow them out by pushing them down (lightly). It was neat! After the party I went to a couple of places looking for me a skirt to wear while substituting. I found one. It is a cute brown one with a little bit of a flair. After I picked the boys up from school we went to get some shoes for Landon's birthday present from Meme and Papa and Ma and Papa!! He founds some and loves them. After that I sent Landon home with Mr. Jackson and took Bryce to soccer practice. He enjoyed it. But he did notice that the level of players are not quite the same as when he played at RYSA (soccer group). Hopefully, he will just do his best and not worry about it. Next season, he can play up (if he wants). When we returned home we had a dinner celebration for Landon. We ate fajitas that Ryan prepared so I don't need to mention how delicious they were!! He made Landon a brownie pie for dessert and we sang Happy Birthday!! He opened a few presents which he really enjoyed. I will post the present pictures later because they are on another camera!

Chilling down for chili!

Fall is in the air around here. I can't say that it has dropped much in temperature but it is definately cooler which is great. The other day Parker Reid asked his grandad if he could make chili. So he did!! It tasted wonderful and is one of my favorite foods for fall and winter. It is a comfort food. We ate a large amount of it on Saturday and had the rest on Sunday. Yummy!!

We start soccer practice this week. We have a Tuesday and a Thursday one. Parker Reid and Bryce are playing. I will keep you updated. Tomorrow we have a special birthday boy who is turning 6. Can't believe it!! Stay tuned for more details.

The weekend and beyond

Friday I went to mom and daddy's to spend the night with them. It was nice to see them. We had dinner and some catfish place. My chicken livers were good. Later mom and I spent time measuring and placing furniture for our upcoming move. I was up early the next morning to have breakfast with my brother at Buckhead Bread Company. It was nice and I had fried green tomatoes on sourdough with scrambled eggs and hollandaise sauce. After that it was off to the airport to meet my friend, Igor. He arrived right on time and by the time I parked and came into the airport, he was ready to go!! We drove over to Stone Mountain and hiked the mountain. It was a lot of fun to have time to talk and get some fresh air too. After this it was back to Valdosta. We had a brief stop at Chick-Fil-A because he had never eaten there. We arrived in Valdosta and Ryan had prepared a delicious meal and two key lime pies (my favorite). After dinner we all went on a bike ride. Sunday we went to church and after this had a luncheon for Igor. Many of the people who have gone to Ukraine before were at the luncheon hosted by Mr. Alred. We enjoyed talking and laughing! We went home later that afternoon and went swimming. Ryan made Mexican food for dinner. YUMMY!! Monday morning Igor and I headed to Bryce and Landon's school and talked to their classes about Ukraine. It was fun and he wrote all the children's names in Russian. The kids were able to ask some questions. After that we went to get ice cream and pizza. We talked that afternoon and then it was time to pick the kids up from school and head to Gainesville. We had dinner with Bill, Lyuba, Misha and Ira!! After dinner we did some singing and the boys played guitar with Misha. It was great to see everyone again. {Igor translates for Bill when he travels to Ukraine and Russia.} After dinner Lyuba and Bill watched the kids for a little while and Igor, Misha, Ira and I went over to Misha's new apartment for tea and met another of the translators Anya (who happened to be in Gainesville). It was so nice to visit with friends. We arrived home about 12:15 am (yes, way too late for a school night). The next morning I dropped Igor off at Mr. Alred's for a fishing trip and then came back to take the kids to school. I had to sub half a day on Tuesday afternoon. Well, that brings you up to date. Oh and by the way, I learned many new Russian words while I had a tutor.

Visitor from Ukraine

On Tuesday, I received a call from my friend who has been working in Chicago. He said he was going to be able to come visit me. He will fly into Atlanta tomorrow morning so I am going up to get him today. Igor was one of our interpreters in our camp in Dzherzhinsk, Ukraine. He didn't get to help this year because he spent the summer working in the US. I will post pictures of his visit. We have a busy few days planned.

This picture was taken in 2005 on my first trip to Ukraine:)