Last week

We are trying to keep our puppy happy and take him on daily walks. Mischa is mostly house trained but he is not accident proof. He also loves to walk with his friends. Nash is obnoxious on the leash, only Jeremy can handle this silly lab.

My mom took these photos on our recent walk to the cemetery. Dogs love it there... lots of rabbits to chase and big hills to go up and down.

I love gymboree... and Sonia loves dresses. So last week we had to get a couple and on Sunday she was so cute!Now going up ;-) Papa is the best!

I am trying to be thrifty so we stopped at Kid to Kid. However they just didn't have anything except for a nice play area with a really fun kitchen. Then Sonia figured out how to turn on a burner and it made sizzling sounds. She was thrilled.

Sonia grew out of all her shoes. I am struggling to find good pair of stride rites or something comparable around here. Well I carried her in my arms from the tree house to the Macy's across the whole mall with no success. We did find some purses but no kid shoes at Orem Macy's.

When do you start decorating for Easter? I feel like it is about the right time because I am dying for spring to come. Sonia had way too much fun with Hallmark Easter chicks and bunnies. She loves them.

My Valentine

This post is a bit late but here it comes ;-) I love you, honey. Thank you for the love and support and for keeping our family whole and wholesome.

This year my flowers were so special and there also was a hand written note that I want to keep for the rest of my life or until we move and it gets lost ;-) I hope not. Thank you all Young women in our wonderful ward who hand made the card!

Then we enjoyed the show "Go, dog, go!" BYU is amazing at bringing the Spirit and making everyone laugh.

Watching it with Sonia who loves the "Go, dog, go" book by now made it even more so special. We got perfect seats and had such a great time.

Thank you, my love, for wonderful memories. I will always treasure that day.

After the show we ran into Brown family and had a chance to talk to our new friends. We took pictures. Here is a big green dog.

A dog in the hat.

We all liked that party hat.

It is such a blessing to be here in Utah at this time. We love our new ward, our bishop who is a man of great power and all new friends that we are blessed with.

Our lovies

Before we got sick, we went places. This week we just hanging out at home and watching Russian cartoons. Sonia's one of the recent favorite things to do is to gather all the stuffed animals Nana has sent her over the last two years,

put them in the stroller,

cover them with her "bit", blankie and play

A perfect Friday

A perfect Friday starts with... a bag of cookies.
Last Thursday night we made cookies. Sonia didn't get any so here she was catching up the next morning ;-)

Then we headed to our music together class. I enjoy going there and Sonia loves playing with different instruments, singing and dancing. We even played with a huge scarf this last time.

Angie and I were chatting while Kenai and Sonia played together. First Kenai showed Sonia how to climb on the window and jump off onto a chair. Easy for a five year old... hazardous for almost two. Then Sonia finally found a friend who thinks alike... for months I was trying to convince her that little stroller is for stuffed animals and dolls but here it is... they understood each other perfectly ;-)Kenai ran around with her using this stroller as a weapon and bumping into furniture to Sonia's delight. Don't worry, the stroller is still fine.
This week we are staying home because we are all sick. A cold can be quite devastating with running noses, infected eyes and plenty of coughing going around. Last night Jeremy barricaded himself in the bathroom trying to take advantage of humidity, hot shower and a hot tub with jets. I don't have a picture if it ;-) but here is a snuggly one with papa on the couch.

It is good to have everyone home!! Come what may and love it.

Breakfast with a farm

Recently we have more for breakfast, lunch and dinner because Sonia feeds a whole farm of her plate. They all love milk or "nut' " and behave themselves wonderfully ;-)

Best Tuesday ever

Sonia and I tried hard to get ready for Tuesday because it was Jeremy's birthday. A week before we went shopping to get Jeremy something practical and I tried explaining to Sonia what we were about to do... to my surprise she decided to get something for papa too. She grabbed a small can and said "Papa." It was a can of fancy ginger candy. That is how on Tuesday morning Jeremy got a new pair of jeans and ginger candy this year.

Then I made his day a complete disaster because I kept him super busy. Well, he knew there was going to be a surprise but that was all. He helped with tidying our apartment, ran to the store to get a few things and walked the dog. He was such a good sport ;-)

So around 3:30 pm we with my mom, Sonia and Payton got in the car. We followed Angie to our destination and Jeremy was still making guesses and was generally puzzled. Then he saw an ad and asked if we were going to see Jordan Circus perform at UVU. So he guessed right...

We did. We saw a rare white tiger jump through a ring of fire, cool pink and blue poodles, two amazing elephants doing all sorts of tricks and much more.

On the way home I tried to act as if we are just going home to enjoy a small family dinner. When Jeremy walked down the stairs and saw a huge crowd shouting "Happy Birthday", he said "there are people there." Needless to say he was surprised once again ;-)

Thank you everyone for coming on such a short notice, for braving a huge yellow lab (I didn't realize he would be outside at that time of a day) and for making this Tuesday special to us.

We had some bagels with smoked salmon and blew the candles on already traditional Raspberry torte.

Sonia was a great host. She let everyone play with her toys and Mischa did also very well. He is a real socialite in our family.

Can you hear what I hear? A hotel for Dogs

A day with dogs... this morning Sonia was thrilled to draw with Mischa under the table. Then the whole gang showed up. There are three dogs on these picture: Nash, Mischa and Chewy.

Nash is a two-year-old 100 lb pound lab and Chewy is a three-month-old 3 lb pomshi. The two live upstairs and come to visit and to chase each other around.

Dogs love to play together. First Nash on top.

Then Mischa takes over.

Then they all run around the yard chasing each other. Our little, only four month old Mischa got super tired. After watching the dogs wrestle, Sonia found a new way to wear her crown.

Well, the day was not quite finished yet. We all went to BYU. While I was at my organ class, Jeremy and Sonia were socializing Mischa and training him to walk on the leash. He was a quick learner. People would stop and ask what kind of dog he was. Only one person could identify him. A music professor fell in love with our shar pei ;-) and now wants one for his kids.

Then we headed to PetsMart to get a bone and some shampoo. It is like going to a club... dogs say "Hello" to each other while their owners are shopping around. We met some really cool people and Mischa met some fun furry friends. He had a blast!!

On the way home we all took a nap.

At home Mischa ate some food, drunk a bowl of water and.... can you hear that?

Mischa is actually more loud than.... well, there is no need to compare anyone in our family.

Angie says that Mischa's snoring is an act of justice ;-) Poor Jeremy but it doesn't bother Sonia or me. Angie who is the mom of this house now calls her home a Hotel for the dogs. Who can blame her?

Superbowl party

Jeremy's aunt invited us to a Superbowl party and we loved seeing everyone. It was so good to meet and hold little Anna. And Sonia did knuckles and then gave big hugs to her second cousin Kaylyn (I am so sorry but I don't know if I am spelling it right).Then they had a tea party downstairs.

Sonia also loved playing with Christine. Thank you for having us!

New addition in our life

My early birthday gift to Jeremy ;-)

We woke up one day and felt like it was a right time for us to become a family of four. I would say it was so much easier this time... around.

Please meet Mischa.

He is a very rare color shar pei (fawn on the roots and blue on the ends) of four months and he is a sweetie ;-) We drove almost two hours to pick him up after Sonia went to sleep last Saturday. We got there around 11 pm and... we fell in love with this mount of wrinkes and stoic personallity. We named him Mischa Hanjian. Hanjian means "rare" in Chinese. He was a pick of a litter but they couldn't keep him. He is really good with Sonia but she is still adjusting to him...

Sonia called Mischa "baby" today and tried covering him with her blanket. She was a bit more clingy in nursery but was fine on the way home. A young womens leader shared a crown with us ;-) She is my dearest little one!

Build a Bear shop

We are regulars. We come and play because it is fun!

I know I am a bad mother and let my kid run wild... I guess it is European roots in me.

We get looks sometime but most of the time people just laugh. We have not made a purchase there so far...

Cleanings and runnings around

We love to clean our home. I think Mondays usually work best because I get a clean house for the whole rest of a week. Sonia and I really got into it this week. "Okay mom, let's get right to it!"

There is lots of work...

and play ;-)

We are done!!

We also went to see horses twice. Once with papa and then with mama. Well, we were feeding them and one of the horses kind of bit Sonia's hand. She didn't make too much fuss about it. What a tough little munchkin! She decided to feed another horse right away.

Now we know who bites and will be much more careful next time.

We also are renting a piano and I already have two excellent students. Kenai is five and Paiten is nine and she loves practicing. Sorry I don't have a picture of her yet.

Sonia joins them on every lesson and she can play with all her fingers by now ;-) She is a quick learner.