Oliver's 4th Birthday

We celebrated Oliver's birthday a little early this year.  On record we did it because Lance was due any day and we didn't want that to ruin his birthday.  But I have a feeling it had something more to do with Oliver's father's impatience. :)  I think we were over a week early in the celebration.  And Lance was such a dutiful younger brother he waited until the day after Oliver's birthday to be born anyway.

Oliver loves Lightning McQueen and Mater.  I wish we could have found a better store bought cake, but we couldn't find any good looking ones and they were expensive, so we just made this one.

 He was super excited with his Mickey Mouse DVD that Leah picked out for him.  I didn't want to let her get it because it was a little more expensive, but she chose it with love for Oliver so I let her.

 Autumn enjoying her cake.

 My kids are sheltered from commercials that advertise toys when we live overseas.  I love it!!  AFN plays little shorts from PBS or something in between shows.  Well, Oliver saw this shark car race track where the cars change colors in the water and he wanted it desperately.  Every time the commercial came on they would call me in the room to check.  I think he wanted other toys, but this was by far the most requested.  About 5 days after his birthday he started asking for different toys for his birthday.  He still does.  We go to the grocery store and I warn him he can only ask for one treat and not to even ask for any others.  He doesn't.  He just says, ooh look at those cookies, maybe for my birthday we can get those.  Can we get those for my birthday??  I always says . . maybe.

 Grandma and Grandpa bought him this little swimming pool.  It had a blow up whale slide, but it popped probably after the first day.  Autumn wouldn't get in.  Maybe because the water was cold!

I can't believe my little boy is 4!  He is so sweet and I love him so much.  One of my favorite things he does is he'll say, "huggie!" and give me a big old hug.  I love that!  And he is terribly worried about growing up because he doesn't want to get married because he doesn't want to love any other girls besides me and Leah.  I love that about him too.  I'm sure he will change his mind soon enough . . . or at least I hope he does eventually.  But for now, I am perfectly happy with him only loving me and Leah.

Med-Evac to Grandma and Grandpa Bagwell's House

I got pregnant a little bit too soon I guess. :)  Our last day in Russia was supposed to be around June 11th . . . Lance's due date.  Our visas seriously expired on the 13th.  Because State Dept. requires me to leave 6 weeks before the due date, the kids and I left the end of April.  Thankfully my husband is awesome and came with me to fly with the kids. 

We needed to buy a new minivan so we actually flew into Utah where they are much cheaper.  We stayed with Aunt Stephanie and she very kindly watched my kids while we went van shopping.  We got one at the first place we went thanks to Levin's great online researching skills we knew what we wanted and where to get it.  It still took a while though.  They were strangely not very pushy.

Then we drove to Grand Junction and spent the evening with Randy and Cherrie's family.  The next day we did a little shopping and then met up with Aunt Dani at noon.  We got to see her recently purchased house and drove caravan style to Manassa with us.  My mom spent one day with us and then left to Utah with Levin and took him back to fly back to Moscow while she went to DJ's baptism.  I don't have pictures of any of this.  

Uncle Jimmy's birthday was near so we had a party before Levin and Grandma left.  I stole the next few pictures from Aunt Dani's facebook page.  Hope she doesn't mind. . . .  

 This picture shows how addicted my kids are to electronics that all 3 will watch a show on a teeny iPod.

 Selfies

 For some reason I just LOVE this picture of Leah.  This is her in her natural habitat these days.  Always making something (often a card) with a crayon and paper.  This time she's coloring in a Strawberry Shortcake book.

 This is the pinata for Uncle Jim's birthday.

 Aunt Dani had the genius idea of putting glow sticks inside.  They were glowing when they fell out.  The kids loved the candy.  Funnily enough, we have no pictures of Jim at his own birthday party.

Not too long later my Mom and I took the kids to the McDonald's Play Place just to get them out of the house.  They weren't used to the lack of social life.  We had music class and a playground and friends in Russia and we mostly left that behind.  Oh, and most of our toys.

 Autumn had become addicted to sippy cups.  This is here taking a nap.  She always had to have one before she'd go to sleep and often more than one.  We have to make sure we have one when we drive in the car or our ears pay the penalty.  Please notice her cute pony tails in the picture above.  Then I thought her hair was too short in front to match the long hair in back.  So I had it trimmed.  I have regretted it so much.  In the picture below you see her boy like hair.  It has grown out now and is super thick so I guess it was worth it, but I still feel a little badly about it.

 The kids may have watched a lot of TV.  This is how you often found them.  For some reason they always sat on the floor - always.  It was a little bit difficult when trying to pass into the kitchen, but otherwise I guess it was okay.

 When Levin came back for Lance's birth we took the kids to the Alamosa Round Up carnival.  Did I mention we were really excited to have Levin back???

 This scened happened quite often.  First it started with Uncle Jimmy's birthday present from one of the kids being Popsicles.  We made them eat them outside.  Leah would always tell him or ask him, "I bet you came here for a popsicle!"  Then they discovered Uncle Jimmy liked Bomb Pops.  I think it was Jimmy's favorite part of our visit when Autumn said Bomb Pop to him.  It may have been her first two word phrase.  It took Autumn a little while to warm up to Jim, but once she did, she loved him!

 This was after Lance was born . . . and this is Alamosa Round Up.  So I guess the carnival was something else??  I know I was pregnant at the carnival.  Anyway, Levin took Oliver to the rodeo.  The next day I took Leah to get a snow cone for our "date."  Not as exciting, but she loved snow cones.  I think we may have helped keep the little stand in Manassa open.

 This boy loves to be photographed.

 When Grandma and Grandpa went to work at the temple one weekend we had a family movie night.  These kids were so sweet sharing a bowl of popcorn.

 Uncle Jim gave rides in the tractor.  Oliver has a toy green tractor so he was very excited to get a ride in the big one.

 Lance and I stayed home this Sunday so we didn't get a picture of all of us, but I wanted a picture of the kids and grandma and grandpa.  It is impossible to et all of our kids looking in the same picture, so I had to post two.

 This one with Autumn looking, but Oliver poking his eye.

 I bought the kids and ice cream play doh toy.  Autumn was obsessed to the point of annoyance with the little ice cream cone cups.  CUP was often said in her loud little voice.  She preferred one in each hand at all times.  But that made some things difficult and heaven help us if she dropped it.

 I am a horrible picture taker - why I demanded a phone with a good camera once we got to Maryland.  But Aunt Dani and her friend Billie came and visited, Uncle Randy's family also visited, and so did Aunt Rebecca's family  But this may be the only picture we have to prove it.  I feel so happy that people were so nice to drive to Manassa to see me.  It wouldn't have been easy pregnant or with a new baby for me to visit them so I was very appreciative.

 My Mom and Jim spent a lot of time pushing the kids on the swing set.

 One of Leah's few memories of Maryland was a slide with a swimming pool in our back yard.  We tried to recreate it here.  Unfortunately, the mosquitos were so bad we couldn't play outside as often as I would have liked.  And I forgot how horribly windy it is in Manassa.  I heard both the wind and mosquitos were worse than other years.  I think Oliver came in from this day with 8 mosquito bites on his back.

 Autumn learned how to ride a real swing while we were there.  Unfortunately after going up and back about one time she'd cry to get off and want to switch swings.  I think now I wouldn't mind so much, but pregnant with 10 pound baby in my belly made me extra lazy.

I thought I had a picture of us at the Manassa play ground, but I guess I don't.  It is fun to me that the slides that were there when I was a girl are still there as well as the merry go round.  We had tons of sno cones across the street from the park.  Otherwise we may have been a little boring.  Leah now hates to go to Wal Mart, but the Alamosa one was her favorite store ever.  She didn't get to go shopping often in Russia because I tried to go without kids the stores were so narrow and crazy.

I also thought I had a picture of us at the Cemetery on Memorial Day, but I don't.  Some day I want to be buried in Manassa.  I love going around and seeing people's graves that I know and family graves.  I love being from Manassa.  Sometimes I dream that I get to live there again.  And I don't think I will and maybe I wouldn't like it so much anyway.  But I love going back to "my home ward" as I always call it and seeing people that I know and that care about me and ask about me and keep track of me.  I still think the Manassa church is the best lay out of any I've ever been to and I think I've been to a lot.

I can't say enough what a blessing it was to go to my Mom and Dad's house.  It was good to get to spend a lot of time with them again.  I kind of like getting to be a kid again.  And instead of having a maid, it was like I went and lived with the maid.  My Mom is so fast and such a hard worker and I was pretty lazy so I kind of won out big time!  She made sure I got naps that I know wouldn't have happened any other way.  She took great care of us.  I think it is the only way we survived the first weeks of moving to 4 kids.  The day I flew out of the Alamosa airport to come to Maryland I knew a lot of work was in store for me.  And I was right.  My mom waited with me at the airport even though I got the time wrong and had us there WAAAAY too early.  Did I mention that I flew to Maryland with Autumn and Lance.  The other kids drove with Levin across the country.  I think mine might have been more severe pain, but Levin's was definitely longer.  Actually the kids were great on teh flights.  Autumn loved the bouncing of the little flight to Denver.  It was definitely bumpy!!

Goodbyes

Working on my blog takes time, but it always makes me want to be even better at taking pictures.  After Amber, Jared and Joel's visit we had some extra circus tickets.  Levin had accidentally bought them for the wrong dates so only he went with Jared, Joel and Amber.  The rest of us went the next week and invited the Petersons to pick two kids and join us for the circus.  Leah and Bruce are friends and he claims he will marry her so he seemed like a good choice and Kate came with Shari as well.  It worked out perfectly because we hadn't been able to work out a way to get together before we left.  We had so many obligations our last month and they had just moved into a new apartment and were busy too.  We had a fantastic time and it was great to see the circus for the last time too.

This is one of our favorite church friends, Vincent.  It is possible I have his picture posted somewhere else, but he was a big part of our Sundays.  He was there early to help set up chairs so often he was the only one there with the bishop's family.  Oliver especially loved Vincent.  It might be that Vincent would carry him sometimes. :)  Vincent often helped me carry a baby in a carseat out to the car or other things I needed help carrying while Levin talked to "just one more person" after church.

We would play in the nursery after church while we waited on Levin.  SOmetimes the kids snacks (not just our family, but the other families that ended up staying too) would make crumbs.  Vincent would help me get the vacuum to clean it up.  He was a fantastic help and I was very grateful to him.

He was from Nigeria which really is no surprise. :)  Once you let a Nigerian in your life you are destined to find more wherever you live is what I believe.  Although I don't know any right now so I guess I am wrong.  Because we were more acquainted with the ward and its needs with Levin being the bishop we had more opportunities to help people than we otherwise would have.  Vincent's mother in Nigeria was having problems with her eyes.  It was hard on Vincent because he couldn't return home for some reasons I won't write about.  His family was relying on him to come up with the money since they probably thought he was rich living in Europe.  He wasn't rich at all and was worried terribly about his mother.  We had more opportunities than this, but because I have his picture here he is the one I'm writing about.  We were able to help his mother.  We made sure it wasn't a scam because we are African street smart. :)  It wasn't and she was able to get a surgery to help fix her eyes.  We feel so blessed that the Lord has given us opportunities to help others and blessed us with the means to do so.

This is Jho, or Jocelyn.  She wasn't our housekeeper the bulk of the time we were there, but our last few months.  She had worked several years earlier for another LDS family.  She was a great babysitter and also came once or twice a week to help clean the house.  Needless to say I loved having a clean house that I didn't have to clean!  I definitely miss that.  She never made you feel in her way and she was great.
Sadly, I never got a picture of Janet who was with us much longer.  Janet was a little older and maybe a little slower in cleaning and there was more drama surrounding her.  But she loved the kids, especially Autumn since she greeted Autumn when we returned back from Autumn's birth.  Unfortunately, Janet always seemed to be gone when we needed her most.  But she also had to return to the Philippines before Christmas.  I think she left in November.  She said she'd be gone two weeks, but we never heard anything from her.  So finally the last week of January I hired Janet.  In the mean time we'd gone through Autumn's finger incident, morning sickness with Lance's pregnancy, etc.  I finally hired Jho and guess what . . . Janet finally texted me.  But it was too late.  Badges were also due to be renewed while Janet was gone and we couldn't renew hers without her documentation.  So sadly, we couldn't rehire Janet.  It wouldn't be fair to Jho.  So while in a way I had a better relationship with Jho, because she had a lot less drama,  I did care a lot about Janet.  She was a lot more talkative so I actually knew Janet better and she was with us for longer.  We got an okay relationship back because she babysat my kids on Fridays (not Autumn) while Donna Dunson and I went shopping.  So I think we left on okay terms.  Seeing this picture Leah just asked me if this picture was of Janet, so you know Janet was a bigger part of our lives.  They said, we loved when she'd babysit because she'd tickle us.  Can she babysit us again?  I want to live in Russia. :(

And for our hardest goodbye, the Dunsons.  We loved the Dunsons!  Jacob is Oliver's best friend still (he may not have had many social opportunities since we left so he still talks about Jacob) and Leah practically worshipped Alexis and Olivia.  And David was a good friend too.  Mike was Levin's counselor in the bishopric and Donna was my best friend.  She taught our kids Mommy School, she came to the Kiev temple with us, and was the person I talked to the most, on the playground, waiting for the girls in ballet, etc.  They are the only people (almost) that ever invited us over for dinner and we spent almost all our holidays with them.  I feel guilty because they invited us over way more than we invited them over, but in our defense I was feeding other people from the ward at least once, sometimes multiple times a week.  I was tired of cooking for others.

I need to try and get some of these pictures from Mike, but my last day in Russia Donna called and asked if we needed any help finalizing getting ready.  Mike took the kids, even Autumn who by then loved him, over to their house and Donna came and helped me clean up and prepare the house for only Levin to live in for the next month.  It was one of the greatest services anyone has ever offered to me.  Mike took pictures of the kids loving their final moments with their best friends and people who truly were our Russian experience.  So I need to get them, but writing the experience helps me remember and love them again as I do.  We couldn't have asked for better people to move into the Embassy compound.  They arrived after we'd been there about 6 months so we had a long time to love them and be with them.  We spent many hours in the nursery at church while Levin and Mike did bishopric work and itmade those hours bearable, almost to where I miss those hours.  We love you guys!!

Amber, Jared & Joel Visit

 I think these catch up posts might be out of order, but it is helping me realize what a busy April we had!  Levin's brother Oliver's family moved to Switzerland a few months before we left Russia.  Kind of sad because we were moving back to Maryland and they would no longer be there.  But great for them, as they love Switzerland.  One nice thing is that they were now closer to Russia where Joel and Jared were born.  Amber is a photographer so I guess when she is around I don't think to take pictures.  She was kind enough to let me poach a few from her blog.  I didn't steal any of the ones she posted from when Joel and Jared were adopted in Russia because I felt like those were their personal photos.  But I did get a little carried away because I really liked her pictures.  So there are a few here.

Since technically I took this one, with Amber's camera, it is the same as mine right? :)  It was a lot of fun for me to see the Moscow sights one more time before we left.  Since I knew it would be my last time I think I soaked them in a little more and appreciated them more than I might have considering I've seen Red Square many many times at this point.

Because of the way things worked out with when the market was open and their visit we had to go shopping their 2nd day here I think.  But it meant that they got to wear these fun Russia jackets the rest of their visit and they had these lovely fur hats to feel quite Russian in.  Joel's was giving him some allergy problems so later he bought a slightly less real one.

 One of my favorite places was/is the Tretrakov gallery.  You never see Russian art in museums and some of it was really darn good.  This museum is dedicated to Russian paintings and although the one behind the boys is not my favorite it is the one there is a picture of. :)  I'm not sure Jared and Joel were so thrilled with their experience at this point.

 But a few hours later we were at the Stake Center (church) watching the Piano Guys give a fireside.  They were in town doing a concert and a member of the Area Presidency knew them and convinced them to come give a fireside.  There was more talking than music, but they were amazing.  I loved it!  And Jared and Joel just walked rightin and sat on the front row - to the side at least.  I never would have been brave enough to do that, but it gave us great seats.  Maybe not my short legs, but Amber's long legs could have probably reached out and touched them.

 This church was closed when I was with them, which was sad.  It is a working church even though it is a great tourist destination they operate on their schedule, not a tourist schedule so it wasn't too surprising.  I wish I could have gone inside one more time, but you can't take pictures inside anyway so . . . . Amber went back one time alone and managed to get inside so I was glad for that.

 I always thought this statue of Pushkin and his wife, the one he died trying to defend his honor over, looked a lot like the statue of Joseph and Emma Smith that I believe is in Nauvoo . . . or is it Salt Lake?  I don't know, but I've seen it somewhere.  I always tell our visitors it is Joseph and Emma.

 A very Soviet statue.  When Stephanie and Aaron came to visit we sent them to look at it while we got our kids a snack so it was the first time I got to go over close to it when I was with Amber and the boys.

 I wish they had let a description of what this building was, but they didn't. But it appeared people were working in offices inside.

Last night (this is in September so 4 full months after I left Russia) Levin commented on how happy we were there and how we should have extended to stay a 4th year.  I laughed.  I love Russia and looking at these pictures and thinking of many other beautiful and fun things in Moscow makes me miss it a little, but I am happy to be home.  To everything there is a season . . .