Hello! I know it has been a while since I have posted, but it has been a little slow around here. The weather, to put it mildly, sucks! It has rained nearly everyday, has been in the 40's and just plain dreary. I haven't been in the best of moods, so i decided to spare you the details, and didn't post :)

Yesterday, it was actually decent, it was probably in the low 60's, cloudy (of course), but decent. Today is another story....the wind is blowing like it does in OKC, and it is -1 degrees celcius. Nice! haha!

The last two pics are of the "Big Moscow Circus" that was here in Nizh. It was quite interesting! The kids really liked it--emma kept laughing overly loud, and people kept turning around to look at us :) It was so different from a circus in the states because there wasn't any protection (like a fence or whatever) from the animals between the audience. The bears were really cool! They almost didn't look real! At first I thought it was a man dressed up in a bear suit! It was a good experience, and we will try to go again next year!

Chris is having a beach party at his apartment on saturday that i am helping him with. He is going all out and is decorating, serving food, drinks and everything. It should be a blast, and I will take and post pics! love to you all! j

May 12, 2007---snow--ALL DAY
You all know how happy that made us :)
And here is our little monkey---paulie. I am in the living room and I hear, "mom, mama, mom..." so I step out of the room into the foyer, and this is what I see.... Our little bug has made his way up into the cabinets. Notice that we already have the phone up high, I guess we will have to move it elsewhere :)

The first pic of of one of the many ladies who clean up the public areas. I find them interesting because they all use homemade brooms--like branches off a tree tied together to a large stick--and they all usually have some type of a carriage to carry their trash off in... only in russia :)

The next pics are of some new toys the kids got! Is that Builder Betty and Builder Bob, or is it Emma and Paul??? I can't tell! :)

Life in Nizh... Thes pics are from a walk we took in the "big park" beside our apartment. The kids, as usual, attracted all sorts of attention :)

May 9, 2007--Victory Day! This is a national holiday that honors all veterens. Nizhnevartovsk had a huge parade that marched all through the town. We watched it from the street beside our house.

Paul and Emma were really cute with their Russian flags and carnations :)

Our little girl is growing up!! Emma started Kindergarten this past week, and it was quite an experience for all involved! We began the week by visiting the doctor, again. It is a whole different ball game here--you don't just take your shot record in, and sign some papers for school. Here you have to have a TON of checks, and they are all done at a clinic--Emma had to have her blood tested, eyes checked, etc., and also had to be tested for tuberculosis. While we were sitting in our main doctors office, another doctor called her and said that if the Americans needed another check up from another doctor they could oblige. Apparently, all of the doctors in Nizh know there is an American child going to kindergarten here!


After our last visit with the doctor, and the final filling out of paperwork, Tatiana took Emma and I to her school (Detsky Sad #18) so she could look around. We met with the nurse, principal and teacher, and then spent about 1 hour in her room. The next morning Inna and I walked her to school at 7am! The teacher wanted her there early before most of the other kids got there so she could get used to her alone. First off, Emma played, explored and ran around. Then, it was time for "gymnastics" where the whole class went to a room for calisthenics. Of course, Emma just sat there and didn't do anything but watch. She kept announcing to me across the room that she was just there "to get used to it." Next was breakfast...normally one of Emma's favorite activities. However, this morning she didn't touch anything! She was a bit intimidated. I thought it was very cute how the kids take turns helping set the table, and they even wear little hats and aprons! At this point I left to go home so Lee could go to work, and Inna stayed with Emma until 1pm, then they came home. This was the way it worked the whole week, and I think she did really well, and really seemed to enjoy it!

This next week, she will still only go for part of the day, and Inna will stay with her for the first part of it. Next week she should start full time and will attend by herself. I will keep you posted on how she does!

Well, here's to snow in May! We have had snow for the past 4 out of 6 days--not continuous, but off and on throughout the days. Definetely something I never thought I would see!

Next up is a picture of the view from our apartment at 10:00pm--notice how it isn't completely dark yet--- it is light from around 4am until about 11pm now. I put 8 trunks in front of Emma and Paul's window and covered them with a blanket to block out the light. It isn't pretty, but at least it works!

Oklahoma Boys!! Here is Chris Novosad, Travis, Lee and Paul--all the oklahoma boys in Nizhnevartovsk! It is sooo good to have them over, eat, and talk about things only oklahomans would know about! All of us graduated from OU, so it is fun to reminicse.

Emma chose this lovely umbrella for herself--she loves all the cats and dogs on it, and to top it off, it has a whistle on it ---super!

Lastly, here is a photo that emma took of herself! The other morning, she came into our room, asked us to get up, then left and shut the door. Naturally, we fell back asleep, and emma occupied herself. She came back in later, and told me she had a secret to tell me---she whispered in my ear that she had been taking pictures... I came into the living room, located the camera, and took a look at her handiwork. She had loaded up the camera with pictures of the living room and herself. I cracked up!

Hey! sorry it has taken me a while to post, but the kiddos are keeping me quite occupied! We are doing well, just getting impatient for it to warm up--however, I think we might be waiting for a looonng time!

Here is a pic of emma at her dance concert--it was pretty cute :) and a picture of the first grass of the season. Note that there isn't much and there are not any leaves yet :(

The next pics are from our visit to the Ob River. The ice is really broken up, and is flowing down the river. The locals say that once the ice is moving, the weather will turn cold and it will snow again--sure enough, they were right, as you will see in the next post.