Underground shopping

Most very large streets in Moscow are crossed either by a pedestrian overpass or underpass.  If you are lucky, you have an underpass.  The overpasses have more stairs, and only some of them are enclosed or covered from the elements.  The big street we must cross everyday to and from preschool has an underpass because it also feeds to the subway entrance.  And the best part of an underpass, is not only is it a break from the snow/rain or wind (which can be really severe), but also because any self respecting underpass has a string of tiny shops, called kiosks, of a lot of things people might need on the way somewhere.  Our underpass has kiosks for all kinds of useful things,  from hotdogs and other snacks, water and candy, gift bags, flowers, batteries for watches, chargers for phones, cases for phones or glasses, umbrellas in the rainy season, charging cables for phones, key duplicating, it also has no fewer than three kiosks for womens clothing, and one for nylons, and two for household linens. The clothing is mostly cheap chinese stuff, but the linens are Russian made.  

Underpasses without such shops can get dirty, and used as urinals, or by beggars, but underpasses with kiosks have none of those problems.  Not to mention it is convenient to grab a snack or buy something on the way home.  But the mayor of Moscow wants to shut them down, for some reason. 

But I Cant Wait Until I am 8

For then I'll be baptised, you see--

The Big Day, The Big Event...

14 February 2015 2 pm Moscow Time (GMT +3)

Church built building (only font in city of Moscow) located at Moskvarech'e 21, Moscow, Russia

Yes, E picked Valentine's Day for her baptism. 

And, for those who keep track, as a child of record, she was entitled to be confirmed during the same service, which she chose to do.  This happens so rarely in Russia that some members were confused on Sunday -- why wasnt she confirmed at church like the converts? 

Baptised by Dad

Confirmed by Dad, assisted by two Russian members (who were also formal witnesses for the baptism).

The special girl:

Proud father and daughter

Our family

Four of the sister missionaries who helped teach E the lessons before baptism.  She met with them since August, two of them are now in other cities so they couldnt come. 

Missionaries and us... 

We invited members from our Russian speaking ward in which we reside, and also the English speaking ward which have been visiting lately.  Only one person came from the English ward, because she was giving a talk.  One other excused herself in advance, while the others just didnt bother.

From our Russian ward, this is a photo of most of the people who came.  The man holding the little girl came despite the fact his wife had a baby that morning.  Another family texted in the middle of the meeting to apologize that they were stuck in a huge traffic jam/gridlock, and wouldnt make it, two others called ahead to say they were sick, and two others couldnt come because they were organizing the Young adult conference which was scheduled for Valentines Day.  A few saw us on Sunday and had forgotten, but most of our Russian friends either battled odds or tried really hard to make it.  

The three ladies nearest E have been pinch-hit kid minders for us, ie have been to our house.  The younger one with the long hair is currently the Primary president, while the man in the white shirt was the designee from the bishop to preside and conduct.  In the second photo, the man with the curly hair teaches the 2-yr olds in nursery, and has on occassion been able to give us a lift home.  

We also had a total of 10 or 12 missionaries, but we didnt manage a photo with all of them.  They sang "Nephis Courage" (Primary songbook). It turned out great! (can you just picture 10 enthusaistic 20-year old men and women belting out "I will go, I will Do!" -- yeah, it was cool).

Her presents, some of which E got given during the meeting so we couldnt take a picture of the gifting.  

These treats were supplied by the missionaries (we brought juice and store bought cookies, but only had to open up the juice).  

Presents _and_ treats (which Mommy let them eat as much as they wanted) -- awesome!

"Our turn next" 

the girl in pink is named the same as our middle daughter, and is her special friend from Primary (about 4 months younger than our K).

Each brings a greater joy to me

E's 8 year old birthday party.  At our apartment, beginning 3 pm, was supposed to last until 5.

Planned activities: make cards or other paper crafts (ready supply of pencils, colored papers, stick glue, scissors), pin the tail on the dog (E painted the dog herself), cake (E chose no ice cream), open presents from guests. All the planned activities took half an hour.

Spontaneous activities, dreamed up by the girls (these are three of her friends from school, so they have lots of experience playing together at recess etc): crawling in the Dora tunnel or standing it up and dancing in it, piling baloons in the Dora tent, popping the balloons, playing with the presents they gave E, taking out ALL the kid dressup clothes (we have a suitcaseful) and trying on everything that would fit, bouncing on the exercise ball, playing hide and seek (we had NO idea that our 4 rooms had so many good hiding spots, and not the usual under the bed!), and bouncing on the bunk bed (which they all thought was cool, no one had ever seen one for real).

One girl brought a younger sister (without asking, I might add), who is 3, and she played quietly on her own or with our 2-going-on-five-year old A.  Only K, our four-year-and-half year old, wanted to join in and got left out.

E wanted her friends to stay and watch some movies, but we said, no, its already late.  The girls called their parents (who knew so many 7 year olds had cell phones?) and the last guest left at 6.30.  We were exhausted, but the birthday girl had fun.  Of course, no one got to bed on time that night....

I love my birthdays every one

White Christmas

We woke up this morning to a bit of a light dusting of new snow. As December 25 is not a holiday in Russia, we more or less followed the usual routine of taking kids to school and detskii sad. However, A's class was having a little New Year's show, so we decided to let K come and see it instead of going to her class (her show is tomorrow, Boxing Day, and the final rehearsal was today, but she already knows her lines as well as several of the other kids'). When the little show was over (and we got K and A dressed again, no small task itself), we stepped outside to see this:

   With a stroller in this, it took quite a while to get home: -8°C, feels like -17° (about 18°F and 1°F, for those of you that are metrically challenged…), low visibility, low traction, stiff breeze but inconsistent direction, etc. We were wishing we'd brought our little sled — though you can't use that all the way, either, because they do keep some areas cleared and salted.

    We eventually made it home for some Christmas hot chocolate and naps, but here's the view out our kitchen window down onto the yard:

So if anybody's "dreaming of a White Christmas," drop on by — we've got what you've been missing.

Advent Calendar 2014

Thank you, Grandma B... for the Unicef Advent Calendar.  It was loved by all...

(this is, in order, child 3 and child 2)

Holiday Decorations outside

Moscow does go in for Holiday decorations in a big way, but here they are New Year's decorations.  They arent really out in force until mid December, and then are around until almost the end of January (usually).  I dont have time for sight seeing, but on my way somewhere else, I got a couple of snaps of a few outside decorations.