Zoya’s Birthday

December 23, 2010 at 3:03 am (Uncategorized)

We got ourselves a new camera and just in time for Zoya’s birthday festivities.

You’ll notice she has a pink cast.  She fell at preschool and when V came to pick her up Z said that her arm didn’t work.  She was crying and didn’t use that arm very much at all.  So we took Z to the hospital and although there was nothing on the x-rays the doctor still wanted to put a cast on as a precaution.  She’ll get it off tomorrow and hopefully her arm will be feeling better.  In general she is a trooper and the cast hasn’t really affected her (except when her Papa tried to give her a bath and it got wet, but let’s not dwell on that story, mkay?).

Pre-party baking

Pre-party baking

Decorating gingerbread with her friends

Decorating gingerbread with her friends

Candle
Candle
Birthday cake

Birthday cake

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Winter’s a Comin’!

November 4, 2010 at 3:10 am (General)

It’s getting cold out, but that hasn’t stopped Zoya from going out on our balcony:

Cold Zoya on the Balcony

Cold Zoya on the Balcony

Her preschool is having a date night as a fundraiser.  All the kids and teachers will be in their pajamas for a few hours one evening while the parents can have a night for themselves.  We will appreciate the time for the two of us and Zoya is very excited about the “pajama party” she’ll be having.

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Halloween Pictures

November 3, 2010 at 3:18 am (General)
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Zoya had a great time for her first Halloween.  We didn’t do a good job of explaining what she had to do, so she never actually said the “trick or treat” and was always asking where we were going after each house.  Also, not being able to eat all the candy was a sad revelation.  But she had a great time with her cousins and the neighbour kids.

Thanks to Auntie M for taking the great pictures.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

October 12, 2010 at 12:35 am (General)
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Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canuckstanians out there!

We had a great weekend taking in some of the Oktoberfest events, going to a wedding, and enjoying time with just the 3 of us.

Some highlights:

Verena setting of the smoke detector twice (morning and evening)
Zoya convincing me to eat a kale chip (yes, she loves them)
Verena having to tell Zoya she can’t eat any more kale chips
Free breakfast with all the other Oktoberfest participants
Cold and rainy, but fun, Oktoberfest parade

 

Oktoberfest line

Waiting for our free Oktoberfest breakfast, Uptown Waterloo

 

 

Loving her sausage and pancakes

Loving her sausage and pancakes

 

 

Oktoberfest band

Taking in some Oktoberfest music while we eat

 

 

Fred Ewaniuk, parade marshall

Oktoberfest Parade Grand Marshal, Fred Ewanuick of Corner Gas and Dan for Mayor

 

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Vacation Update: BC

August 20, 2010 at 11:56 pm (Trips)
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Shortly after we came back from Mexico we were off to BC for a vacation with Verena’s family.  We drove down to Osoyoos and did some great camping.  It was hot, sometime getting above 40 degrees, but it was dry.

We did some swimming, ate some ‘smores, and enjoyed some good camping food.

Zoya had a great time playing with her cousins and getting attention from her aunts, uncles and oma and opa.

BC Collage

BC Collage 2

*Edit: Adding pic of Kelly:

Pic of Kelly

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Vacation Update: Mexico

July 27, 2010 at 2:46 am (Trips)

We had a great time with Brian’s family in  Mexico.  The family from Indonesia was back in town and Zoya eagerly anticipated playing with the cousins she only knew of from a fridge photo.

We tried to keep as cool as we could and it helped that the buffet had A/C.  No real stomach issues to speak of and no sunburns.  A successful family trip all around!

Here are some highlights:

Mexico Collage

Mexico Collage

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Back from our Extended Vacation

June 10, 2010 at 3:24 am (Trips)
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We went down to Philadelphia for our friend’s wedding and had a great time seeing her after 5 whole years.  We were very happy to get the invitation and we were glad we had the chance to see her, her new husband and visit with her family who hosted us before we left for Ukraine.

We then spent a few days in Manhattan, visiting the Met, Central Park, some stores and doing our usual people watching at coffee shops.

Unfortunately we had car trouble on the way home, about 2 hours outside of Manhattan in Pennsylvania.  We ended up staying in Clarks Summit, PA for 3 days until our car was fixed.  That area is very beautiful, with green rolling hills.  And, thankfully, we hit the perfect trifecta: an auto shop, Starbuck’s, and a Wendy’s.

Here are some pic’s from the trip:

Z getting her first professional haircut before the wedding

Getting something to eat at Reading Market in Philly

Wandering a bit between the ceremony and reception

Z enjoying the park

At the reception; Z saying "cheeeeeeese"

The happy couple, Alison and Josh

Z's musical tastes clash with the reception band

Waiting out the band in a different room

Walking around Central Park

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Another picture for you folks

April 30, 2010 at 11:53 pm (Uncategorized)
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Zoya's "backpack"

She puts this purse around her neck and says it is her backpack and how she is going to school.  Verena is looking for the perfect non-Disney backpack, so rest assured that we will get her a real one soon.

We have signed her up for a pre-school in Fall at a Christian childcare centre that our friends recommended.  It was that or UofW’s ECEC program, which we also heard was really good.  The dealbreaker with ECEC is that they couldn’t extend their hours, which would have made it difficult for Verena to keep her library shifts.  We’ll pay more to extend Zoya’s hours, but it is worth it.

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Decided to Change Our Website

April 24, 2010 at 1:02 am (General)

We don’t update our site as often, so I stopped paying for webhosting and now we’re on WordPress.

Here’s a recent photo, as a kind of apology for not updating our website as often as we should.

Family Photo

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Happy New Year!

January 5, 2010 at 6:17 pm (General)
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Verena and I spent New Years’ Eve watching Up and enjoying some cheese and crackers.
We’re looking forward to the new year, anticipating how Zoya will develop as a young girl. Verena is taking on more responsibilities in her job as a librarian at a local college, and I’m applying for different positions within RIM.

Busy Bee

Busy bee

Tired Bee

Tired bee

Decorating the tree

Decorating the tree

Helping make cookies

Helping make cookies
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From my favourite Ukrainian blogger , the following is an excerpt from her translation of a blog describing  journalists trying to make arrangements to photograph the Ukrainian Navy:

…

A day later, I called the press service again:

- Good afternoon, my name is Serhiy Maksimishin, photographer with the Stern chronicle, Germany. I’d like to ask if there’s been any reaction to our fax letter.
- What fax letter? There haven’t been any fax letters from Germany.
- What do you mean there haven’t been any? Our newsroom said they had sent one yesterday…
- They couldn’t have sent anything, because we couldn’t have received anything.
- How come???
- Because we’ve been out of fax paper for a week already.
- Oh God, when will you get it?
- Actually, we do have it, but the person who knows how to insert it isn’t here.
- And when will this person appear?
- Call us back on Monday, maybe someone will show up…

Ah, Ukraine!

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