Skip to main content

Where has the time gone? Our update ...

Here we are in the middle of December and the time is flowing by so what is going on in our life?  Ok, it's the first of January by now!!!

I have been really busy with studying German, working on getting certification of being able to teach English as foreign language, learning how to work with certain needs that we have in our family, and generally keeping afloat that sometimes seems like a complicated task on its own.  Getting ready for Christmas was crazy busy time as well.  Starting now (January) I joined an online reading club which I am super excited about - one book a month, sometimes there is a theme and I get to pick the book, sometimes there are specific books.  For January, I choose Chronicles of Narnia which I never read before. I've also been trying to sell/give away/throw away things we don't need or use.  The chance of us moving within next 3 years is not a crazy possibility and I don't want to drag things along that we don't actually want.

Chris travels A LOT.  And when he is not traveling, he keeps busy at home with miscellaneous projects.  Those projects are usually nothing like we had in Pittsburgh because we have no house to take care of, but there is always something else that needs done.  Lately, he's been busy with all things electronics related (backing our stuff, changing passwords,clearing out accounts that we no longer need, etc.).

The boys are growing and changing fast.  Anton is a busy little guy who is extremely loud!  In fact, more people say that he is not loudest person they ever met and it's most likely true - he has a high-pitch voice to begin with but also he screams! He's had a week off from kindergarten between Christmas and New Year but goes back on January 2.  He really enjoys going there which makes me happy.

Ilya, while still loves crafts, is also in love with his Kindle and spent a good portion of his vacation watching videos.  I tell myself that he is learning German that way :)  We also working on improving his subtraction skills, and I am trying to get him to read to himself.  Success rate - 50%.  I am trying to have him sit next to me while I read my book and he reads his so he can talk to me if needs to.  Ilya is a perfectionist so some things are more difficult for him because he hates making mistakes and when he does he get incredibly frustrated.


Andrei is growing up so fast.  We are learning that in third grade, we need to put a little more work into studying than 1st and 2nd grades.  He has been working on his math and his social studies work for a little bit each day because he managed to miss some homework assignments earlier and now we are playing catch up.  Amazingly, most of the time he does not argue.  Andrei also spent a decent amount of time playing computer games with his big cousin who lives in a time zone that's 9 hours before us so it's not always easy to schedule things like that during school time.






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

School update

It's been almost exactly 2 months since the last time I wrote here.  Our summer has come and gone as well as 3 weeks of school have passed.  The life has been busy but I knew that since all the kids are in new schools and our schedules are completely different from last year.  We are still trying to figure stuff out but anyway ... Our house looked like that most of the summer  Night before school Anton has started 1st grade.  He goes to school for kids with hearing issues and from what I understood the kids in his class are all over the spectrum regarding their issues.  Anton does not have a problem with hearing but his brain does not process what he hears at normal rate and Anton's teacher knows how to work with him which has been good so far.  The school is a little bit further away but he gets picked up and dropped off right in front of our house and it's going good.  He leaves the house at 7:15 and comes home at 15:40 3 times a we...

Random notes

Wrote this last week but never published :( My plan was to write about Anton and his school a bit. Or about how German language acquisition is (after being in Germany for 4 years).  However ... life!   Last week Andrei was home Tuesday and Wednesday because the teachers held parent-teacher conferences for those 2 days and kids had no school.  First time it's happening this way because in other schools meetings were always held either before or after classes.  After having him home for 2 days and meeting his classroom teacher, I learned pretty much nothing new - his grades are good but he needs to talk more in class.  That's what I got out of a 30 minute meeting.   Friday Anton was home because his school starts Carnival celebrations early.  Monday and Tuesday all the kids were home because again Carnival - Rose Monday and for no reason for Tuesday.  Anton's extended celebrations continued into Wednesday.  I am not a fan...

Grocery shopping

After living in Germany for 4 years and having German fridge and freezer for 3 of those years, I feel like my grocery shopping habits have changed and sometimes I have to wonder what would happen if we were to move back to the States.  Because German fridges and freezers are pretty small it was pretty necessary to go to the store at least once a week and often times more than once because one week worth of food for 5 people wouldn't fit.  Moreover, the freezer would not fit more than a box of pizza, fish sticks and 1 container of ice cream - freezing meats/chickens/... was not an option.    About a year ago we upgraded our kitchen and bought a new fridge and it comes with water and ice! Did I mention that nobody in Germany uses ice except my husband but he was and is super happy?!?   Anyway, there are 4 stores in our town - they are all pretty much next to each other.  One is a bio Whole Foods type of market (Tegut), we have two discount stor...