and together they watch

yes, they watch carefully as I set the table for dinner.

Table for 8, again.

Here we hosted Korea, Finland, and Hungary.

This group really enjoyed the steak.

I won I won

The Armed Forces Attache Spouse Association met this month at the French Attache Spouse's Home. The excitement for the morning was when they served this wonderful "cake" (which tasted just like Dutch Almond Banquette to me). It was a light pastry with almond paste. Baked inside were little hidden treasures! So we ate carefully, and if you were one of the lucky ones with a treasure in your dessert... you WON a little prize! I won a small sample of French mustard, a Paris tea light, and some yummy caramels.

Here I am, with my friend from Austria, wearing my crown!

Below is an explanation of this traditional "game" they play in France.

Mommy, do you have a bandaid?

Yes this is Seth's hand.

No he is not really injured.

This was the final day of Theatre Tech class and they got to play with stage makeup.

Pretty fun eh?

That is a nail to the left and the green is not really glass but plastic.

Pretty good!!

Clara serenades

Every time Clara gets her viola out to practice the kitties come and enjoy...

and Buzz always claims the case. All boxes must be filled, and this one is lined!!!!!

Cub Scouts

John's first experience with Cub Scouts.

Here he is with his best friend Ben.

Aren't they sooo cute!

AFOSA Meeting Hosted at US Embassy

The Air Force Officers Spouse Association luncheon was held at the US Embassy this month. This is Sonja's house. We planned a potluck and Bunko and everyone had a great time! Lets see if I can tell you what countries were there...

The Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, India, and Austria.

January Table for 8

Here we hosted India, Lithuania, and Turkey.

The Twiced Baked Potatoes were a hit.

Here is a the Pig's Pickin' Cake my family enjoyed often when I was a young girl.

Snoozin

Poor guy... I find him like this more and more often...

Much Ado...

...About Nothing

These are just a few pictures from the play M, S and R were in here at the Embassy. There is a mother who volunteers to direct plays for the kids. Unfortunately, she is leaving this summer and this was the last one until someone else might step up to the plate.

Brothers can only do this on stage!

Mary, her saintly self!

Seth... he loved this mask!

January Table for 12

This is the first time we hosted formally here in Moscow. It was actually a progressive dinner so we just did the soup and salad. But it was fun and a good beginning for us.

Everything went very smoothly and the evening was a success.

The Dawn Treader

We enjoyed going to the Dome Cinema, the longest running American style theatre in Moscow (they've been open for about 12 years now), to see the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We all enjoyed it although I think I liked it the most. The older kids didn't like the way it strayed a bit from the wonderful original story in the book. Again, I thought it was well done. Once we got home we had the usual dialogue between M and her daddy about who played who etc and in researching they found out that evidently Disney had actually dropped the project as there was much tension over their wanting to secularize the storyline. This left Walden Media who couldn't do it alone and it wasn't until Fox called them and took up the torch that filming would continue. Interesting huh? Way to go Fox! But the uncanny likeness of Clara and Lucy (Georgie Henley) continues! What fun!!

Happy Birthday Hun...

So he turns a year older...

He's still "the man" though and he preferred cherry pie over cake.
We love you and hope you had a great day!
From your Honeybun.

Sledding

Our neighbors, the Zimmer's, asked the boys to go sledding. We decided last minute for all of us to tag along. There are two hills here, next to each other. The small one on the left closer to the front and the larger on the other side of the brush on the right, back. You can kinda see three children sitting at the top of the small hill (about 9 o'clock). This is J, C and the Zimmer's youngest, Victor. Then, near the center of the picture, a group is standing at the top of the larger hill. That is where M, S, and R are with the rest of the Zimmer kids. It does appear the hilltop is even higher, but if you started from that high up, it would be suicide. None of my other pictures turned out very well so you have to use your imagination. But in the end, the younger kids were sledding down the bigger hill. Joey and I stood and watched in fear, laughing and cheering them on while Todd Zimmer (their father) stood at the end of the big hill to keep them from going into an area of trees and brush. It was really fun and not too far or difficult to get to, so we may just do it again! I took the pic below to show the crystal in his eyebrows. It was cold but didn't seem quite that cold!

Once he got over the snow that gets in your face when you sled, he loved the whole experience!

HAPPY NEW YEAR RUSSIA!!