Aargh!

Miss S decided on a Pirate Pricess-themed 5th birthday party in September.  Conveniently, GranDora and Aunty Voo sent along an amazing couple of costumes.  The youngest child, of course, only wanted to wear the fairy underdress, and not the lovely pink overdress with sparkles.  Then again, at this point, she was in week 3 of her "defining boundaries" stage - she had refused to wear pants (only dresses), socks or shoes.  Drove me batty.  At daycare they told her she couldn't go outside without shoes - her response?  "Ok."  Future lawyer or politician, that one....

But back to the party - she was delighted to be a pirate, and we eve had a spare eyepatch around.  She kept saying "aaaargh", and squinted her eye just so.  I organized a treasure hunt in the backyard, and we painted ceramic pig piggy banks, and glued/stuck sparkly fake gems on pirate hats.  It was a beautiful, beautiful Spring day, and to give you a sense of how well it went, when I called them all in from playing outside to come have some cake... they didn't want to!  

And jsut to compete with Aunty Lisa, I made a giant cupcake shaped cake, frosted it brown, stuck jewels in halfway around, and it made a great treasure chest. 

Easter Sunday - Looking for treats!

The baskets started out empty, but for some soft, floppy bunnies, and some leftover New Year's candy (shhh, don't tell the girls!)

It doesn't take much to impress them - here Miss S is showing off her ChupaChup lollipop.  The idea that there was candy hidden all over the house was exhilarating to her.

The older got the concept, and you can see an egg hidden behind her on the chair.  She left some for her sister - some of the more obvious ones, but as you can see, Miss G found what she always finds - mischief!  She loves to push the power button on the laptop and see if anyone is Skype-ing her, since obviously that's the only reason people Skype, right?

The Easter bunny was creative, and even hid an egg in our toy teapot.  Mom was only concerned that we find all of the real eggs, and they not disappear to be discovered either during packout or, even worse, after we arrived in New Zealand!  But I needn't have worried - as you can see, the haul was excellent.  And she even got over her initial concern when she picked up an empty egg "Mom!  It doesn't have any lollies!  What's wrong!"  Perhaps the Easter Bunny is trying to teach you that the hunt is just as important as the result?

 

Egg-stravaganza!

Even though we're overseas, we still like to do somewhat traditional things.  Traditional American things, as we also take on activities reflective of where we are.  And this year, we got to dye Easter eggs. We waited until G "The Destructor" was down for a nap, since her current craze is to "decorate" the house, just as we get ready to leave, with crayon and paint, and I thought that egg dye would be too much for me to handle. 

And so below, I include to keep the punters happy...enjoy my proof that my kids do all get along, and the teenager is actively engaged in our lives.  (Good form, son!)

The Partridge Family

Rockin' out to '80s hair bands with the kids.  The photos actually look like we were more successful than the reality, which was that our "lead singer" kept stopping for a while, which makes the game re-set.  But I think we definitely have some Jackson 5 potential... if we had 2 more kids, more dysfunction and better rythym.

Bath time

It's hard to find a tasteful picture of your kids in the bath, but hopefully this won't offend anyone's sensibillities.  We have a great kidney-bean shaped Jacuzzi bath here, with glass doors that when closed provide a completely waterproof environment.  I can already see how this could be a problem when we move to a shower/bath that does not allow copious amounts of splashing without soaking the surrounding environment.  I like the photo below, as our youngest looks a little bit like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining."  She's a Miss Chief, that one is....

Home Amusement Park

Luau Party

M's grandmother sent the girls hula skirts and grass bras for Christmas. We weren't quite sure what to do with them, but then conveniently we were invited to our twin friends' 3rd birthday party, with a Luau theme! The Mai Tais knocked me sideways, but the girls had fun - it was like going to playgroup for them. 15 small kids running riot!

Christmas! Christmas! Christmas! 2

It's just what I've always wanted - a wooden frog from the San Antonio Ranch! That Poobah has a really strange sense of humor - I wonder if it's genetic?

Guess who spoke to Santa Claus and, as a DIRECT RESULT, got a SLeeping Beauty Bath toy doll? Perhaps this ecstatic and thankful young lady in the photo below? Who is clinging to the toy as if her life depended upon it? And Santa Claus loves Aaron, too. He travelled to the State Department to get him a coin for his Challenge Coin collection!

Is it diamonds? A watch? A bomb?

I guess Mommy either didn't get gifts or ended up holding the camera and the kids. Actually, I got lots of nice things this year, but they took about 6 weeks to arrive, so each week was a new surprise. It got so that the kids felt that every day when I came home I'd have something for them. I hope they're not permanently spoiled!

Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!

The book above has a little model airplane that "flies" around a track in the book. It's a perfect gift for kids that spend an inordinate amount of time at the airport. Miss S loves it, and knows all of the parts of the terminal. Only problem is that we've been in Ukraine too long - in one photo the people are waiting to board the plane, and a man has a striped cup of what is obviously soda. She keeps telling me it's beer...

Who loves piggy banks? I'll give you one hint- our princess-dress-wearing 3 year old enjoys saving coins, and has cottoned on to compound interest pretty quickly. That is, if by compound interest you mean Dad compounding his donation each day after work!
Mommy - I love my Target dollar store coloring books from Santa Claus!

Miss G asking why her big sister has a special stocking (from Mommy's godmother Aunty Annie) and she doesn't! I told her that GranDora has her taken care of, but this crafty baby won't believe it until she sees it!

I should mention that we were down a member this year, since M was in Hong Kong. But since we're at such a good age, a small, low-quantity-gift holiday was still fun. And Miss G enjoyed the paper best, as they do at one. And since the gifts included vitamins and other equally inspiring things.

Presents are the best part - or just unwrapping them?

This has been a funny year for gifts. With the airport closures in Paris, many of our gifts didn't arrive in time, and trickled in to Post over the next 4 weeks. So the holiday season was extended for us. Personally, I think it's something I would advocate, since kids this small get overwhelmed by all of the stuff they receive. This way the girls would get one or two gifts, play with them, and then move on to another gift in a couple of days. Here we are getting some nice holiday gifts from Lyuda. I'm thinking now... did we get her a gift? Or just a holiday bonus? Oops! In my family we are allowed to open one gift the night before Christmas, so here is S (with no help from her sister, who is trapped in her high chair) opening a present from some colleagues in the Embassy. It's a talking tea pot set, and both of them love it. G loves that it sings, and S is in a "act like a mommy" phase so she is always setting out tea and food for us -usually accompanied with some nagging, which makes me feel guilty that I'm always harping on my kids. M bears the brunt of the nagging, so that's who she directs it to - "Go take a shower! Go to school!"

We have a whole photo series of the opening, it was quite a process. The anticipation is as much fun as the gift sometimes.

New House!

So in early November, I returned to the States to sign the paperwork to buy a very expensive house that my husband and I had never seen. We also found out about a week before the purchase that I was being offered a position in Wellington, New Zealand, and we weren't going to be living in this house. Despite that small wrinkle in our otherwise flawless plan, the home purchase process was nowhere near as difficult as I thought it would be. Of course, I wasn't able to actually collect all of the money for the downpayment until around 24 hours before the house was signed for, which caused both me and the sellers a little bit of heartburn. The stress was in the fact that I signed around 11 AM on Armistice Day (aka Veterans' Day 11/11) and the banks were closed, so we had to make sure the funds were transferred a day early.

Our broker was wonderful, and worked with us for about 5 months on the whole process. Buying this house was serendipitous, since on the day we found out the sellers had dropped the price to our price range, we were literally about to sign an offer on a fixer-upper that was nowhere near as nice. Two minutes difference, literally! This house is in our desired high school "pyramid" area, and as a bonus actually attends a really great elementary school that is smaller than the one (with 600+ students) that most houses would have been in.

It's a 4-level house, but more like a two-level where half the house fell. So 3 bedrooms and a bath upstairs, kitchen/dining/living on the 3rd level, down to a bed, bath and family room on the second level, and then a basement that is unfinished (and sufficiently big that my brother would find it acceptable for projects...) The photos here are a little unusual, but since we hadn't seen the house, but there was an on-line show, and our agent sent us pictures, these are photos of things that I didn't think were clear from the other sources.

Below - standing in the living room looking out the back door to the yard, and the little kitchen is the piece on the left.
Entryway on the left, I'm in the living room, kitchen through the door on the right, stairs up and down. Small closet.Above you are standing by all of the bedroom doors, looking down to the living room. Bathroom is off to the left by my coat and purse.

Don't Make Me Angry

You Won't Like Me When I'm Angry!

Mashed Potatoes

If there is one thing this baby loves, it is mashed potatoes. Preferrably as a facemask.

Marine Corps Ball

This year the Marine Corps Ball was held on October 30 at the Ukrainian House. It's a big Soviet-style building, very large and open. I didn't find it the nicest venue, but we always have fun at these things. The only reason I mention the venue is that the lighting and seating conspired to ensure that none of our photos at the actual event really came out - sorry! So instead I give you pre-Ball photos of Team Mayhew. This year we brought along Michael, since he is interested in the Marines, and there is a great ceremony that they do every year. Michael's modelling one of my dear husband's old suits that he outgrew. Look pretty good, don't they? Even 007 here...

Our artist

Just a photo of our budding artist using her birthday gift, a nice easel and paints. Personally, I think the nanny enjoys using it more than our daughter, since when we come home the paintings we find are often more adult than I would expect from a 3 year old.

My favorite Superhero

I don't know when she started doing this, but we've had these foldable laundry hampers for quite a long time. She puts it on her head and runs around yelling "I'm Laundry Head!" I think it's a superhero, with the magical power of spinning and rinsing evil. If only it could fold evil as well, life would be perfect!

Siblings are good for something...

Even if it's only a pillow!

Life in Kyiv - What we do at home

Here are some shots of sisterly love, taken in early summer, so G is about 7 months. The sisters do get on well, with big showering little with love, and little, now that she's mobile, following big around with fascination and adoration in her eyes. Of course, since June things have altered slightly, now that the little one can start to poke and follow and take toys. We sometimes see less than sisterly reactions from the big sister, but hey - she's only 3, right?

And below is a typical dinner at the Mayhew household. Dad is a great cook, and we try to eat together whenever we can (M is at camp here, but you can see his chair.) And a shot of the high chair crowd, as well. It's never dull, I'll tell you that. Just getting 5 people to the same table at the same time is a feat worthy of award.

Lyuda

For those who miss our tireless nanny after her great shopping sojourn to the States, in which she single-handedly erased the budget deficit of the state of Pennslyvania, here she is, hard at work. She turns 60 in the middle of July. I suppose I had better get cracking on finding her a gift. But what hasn't she bought herself?