Merry Christmas from Russia

During Soviet times, Russians had very little contact with the Western World.  But after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia began importing more Western items.  A favorite of the Russian people during the early 90's? Chicken legs!  My Russian teacher said they were one of the most delicious foods she had ever had.  And because President Bush the elder was in office then, the Russian people called them "Bush legs".  There is some Russian trivia they probably do not teach in the history books.
It is bitterly cold here in Moscow, but we are all still in the Christmas spirit.  And we are also looking forward to getting out of Moscow for 12 days and going to the island of Bali.  Sun, sand, and water- here comes the Yeates family!  And when I say bitterly cold, you should believe me.  I did four winters in northeast Iowa (which is truly horrid in the winter) and I have one Russian winter under my belt.  It is much colder this year at an earlier time, and I have to say a 15 hour plane ride with four kids does not look that bad to me.

Amalie created a book last week based on Eric Carles' The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  As in she sat down at the table and created the entire book on her own.  And she did not ask me to spell the days of week for her.  She went to the calendar and figured it out on her own.  Jesy and I were completely blown away by this.  It is very rare for Yeates children to sit down for any length of time, hence the nervousness about the long plane ride to Bali.  I am so proud of this little girl.  Maybe next she will make me a pop-up card.  Are you reading this Suzanne?

Last school year was Kathleen's first year of school.  She was a bit shy and often kept to herself at school.  Not so this year.  According to her teachers, Kathleen has become the class leader, participates all the time, and loves to play with all of her friends.  Big relief for mom and dad.  There was one little girl in the class last year who was the oldest and was always picked to be the leader of the different shows the class performed.  (Who could blame the teachers?  She was the only kid who could focus for longer than 5 minutes.)  Well, after the last performance last school year, Kathleen announced to her teachers and I "next year, I will be the star of the show".  (Sound like anyone you know, Tara Ramsey?)  Guess who opened up the Christmas show this year and was the first one out for all of the show scenes?

I love the self confidence that oozed out of  Kathleen during her Christmas show, and that she displays this confidence every day.  Sometimes I wish she would take it down a notch while at home, but I do love my little Christmas Fairy!This is Colin's second year playing basketball at Anglo American.  Jesy and I have both seen great improvement, and we just love that he is enjoying himself.  At his game on Saturday he scored 6 points, and more importantly was always under the basket getting rebounds.  It does this former center proud.  And says a lot about the great coaching.  From Coach Jesy.
One reason my older son is a better person than me:  I spent some of the time during Saturday's game watching the game next to us and fantasizing about how great it would be to beat this other team.  The coach is a bit annoying and I am super competitive.  When we got home that afternoon I was telling Colin how proud of him I was, and if they wanted to, his team could get a trophy.  Colin's response- "I really don't care if we win or lose, Mom.  I'm just happy to be playing with my friends and being better than I was last year".  Ah, the lessons we learn from children.

By the way, Colin's jersey spells out Moscow Youth Basketball League, and there is a picture of St.Basil's Cathedral on the front.  A pretty cool uniform I think!
I love our Christmas tree this year.  It is short and fat and has lots of personality.  And is it ever strong!  John pulled it down on Saturday night, and we put it right back up, no problem.  When Colin was John's age, my mom and I had that tree completely blocked from Colin.  And I was always in a panic that if somehow Colin did get near that tree, he would pull the tree over on himself and suffocate.  No such concerns anymore.  While Colin, Amalie, and Kathleen fussed at John, I just laughed and helped clean up the mess.

This is John's mad face at me after I put him in his highchair while we cleaned up the needles from the tree.  John does not like to be fussed at, and he does not like to be told no, so you can imagine the fun we have.
Finally,  I hope this Christmas story puts a little smile on your face:
Two weeks ago, while we were at mass, Jesy pointed a fellow out to me and said he thought he knew that man.  Yesterday, we met said man.  They served together in Iraq with the Louisiana National Guard.  And here they were, in Moscow, Russia, meeting up again for the first time since they served.  Our priest and the director of religious education were standing next to me during this meeting, and we all had goosebumps.  And I don't know, it just made me happy.  And grateful.  Happy and grateful that I love this man, and I love these four children. 
Merry Christmas!

December 3, 2012

These are the events that transpired during the last hour in our house. (After dinner and during bath time).
John fell three times after dinner because he was chasing our new black kitty, Anastasia, around the living room.  Each time he fell he laughed out loud, and then got up quickly so he could chase her again.
Colin "discovered" a new type of bubble in the bath tub.  He was fascinated by these bubbles and called me in to the bathroom numerous times so I could look at these amazing creations.  He wants to call NASA in the US so we can be recorded as the family that found these bubbles.  We decided that we are going to wait until we talk to Jesy about it, and then we will call NASA.
Amalie was telling me how much she misses Grandma and Grandpa.  (They were here in Moscow a few weeks ago visiting us.)  She also said she misses taking pictures with Grandpa of their butts.  Amalie took my phone down to the basement while my parents were here and her and my dad stood in front of the mirror and stuck out their rears.  Fully dressed, of course, but insane none the less.
Kathleen said she wanted to read me a story before bed- one that she was going to make up.  In a very soft voice she began "Baby Jesus, I love you.  You are so cute.  I love the house that Mommy set up for you (I put up the Nativity last week).  It looks so nice.  I am sorry you had to die".  And then in a very loud voice "Killed by those bad people.  Those bad people.  Why did they do that again?" 
Then, as I was putting her to bed she told me" Give me a kiss, a hug, and a nosey kiss.  And then pull my finger real good because I need to fart". 
I am blessed.  I am truly, truly, blessed.

Summertime in the US- Part Two

Our time in the US was so much fun, and I do not want the kids to forget it.  There were so many funny things that happened and I can never remember all of them.  But I hope Colin, Amalie, Kathleen, and John will read this one day and remember what fun kids they were.

Amalie decided this summer that she does not believe in bears.  Not that she is afraid of them, but she does not believe they exist.  Before we left Russia in June Colin asked me a few times if bears were real. I was so confused by this question.  Colin has been to zoos all over the world and seen bears.  Of course they are real.  I finally understood his question while we were in the US and I was driving in the car with the kids.  I heard Colin and Amalie arguing over the existence of bears.  When I questioned Amalie about this she just shrugged her shoulders and said she does not believe they exist.  Later on in the summer she amended her statement and said that polar bears exist, just not any other kind of bears.  I cannot tell you how often I laughed about this over the summer.

My parents were a huge help to me this summer (babysitting the kids, cooking food, checking our mail and letting me use their printer) and I wanted to take them out for dinner without the kiddos.  So, I hired a babysitter from a nanny service in Hilton Head that I have used before.  The woman was very nice, but this is the situation she walked into:  Kathleen never uses the i-pad.  But for some reason she had it while the babysitter was walking in the door and was blaring "I'm sexy and I know it".  How many times have I asked Jesy to erase that song, and doesn't it just figure that Kathleen would choose that moment to play it.  Colin was on some type of sugar high and was bouncing around the living room talking about mega mansions and dancing to Kathleen's music.  Amalie was asleep on the couch at 5 in the evening with her mouth hanging open.  And John took one look at the babysitter and started screaming at the top of his lungs.  And here is the best part:  I asked the babysitter is she had any trouble getting into the community.  (It's a gated community and you need to call in a pass for any visitors).  She said no, it was very easy, but the guard had stopped her at the gate and told her "good luck with that family tonight.  The mom was crying when she called in the pass".  WHAT???
I promise you, I was not crying.  We had had a very nice day at the pool and playground.  Can you imagine what this woman thought after she heard the comment from the guard and then walked into my circus of a house?  She came back two nights later to watch the kids again, so it must not have been that bad.  I hope.

There are many items you cannot get in Russia (pancake mix, syrup, decent salad dressing, fruit snacks, and the list could go on and on).  We have learned to do without, but sometimes I need items from the US.  For example, I refuse to use Russian saran wrap.  It is one of the worst products I have ever used.  We pack that in our suitcase and bring it to Moscow.  One thing I learned last year is that as the mother of four kids I still have to do some baking here in Moscow.  Birthdays, class parties, etc.  I have tried to go homemade, but the sugar and butter are just different here, and it doesn't taste the same to me.  So, this summer I decided to be proactive.  My mom and I went grocery shopping one night so she could buy ingredients to make her signature desserts for Colin's First Communion/John's Baptism party.  I decided to buy four tubs of Betty Crocker frosting, two cans of yams and some pecans.  No pecans in Moscow.  They don't even know what they are, which is a real shame because pecans are delicious.  No cans of yams either and even though I found some fresh sweet potatoes last year, they went bad after one day.  Anyways, when I got to the checkout the cashier looked at me and said "doing some baking tonight?"  He was really perplexed by my items, which I suppose I would have been too.  Summertime in the US is not just for fun, it's time for stocking up.

Once again I have told a fib.  Not to the Catholic Church this time, but to you, my reader.  I do have a few fabulous pictures of my siblings with their families. 

That's a lot of people.  A lot of fabulous people!

Summertime in the USA: Part One

Would you like some advice from me to you?  If you ever have the opportunity to leave the US- do it.  Because when you come back you will appreciate this country so much more than when you left.  Our time in the US went way too quickly, but we loved every minute of it and we are looking forward to our next trip back. 
We spent a total of 7 weeks in the US.  The first week was in Connecticut with the Allen family (my sister Suzanne, brother in law Josh, and my two nephews Brendan and Ryan).  After that we moved down South to Hilton Head, South Carolina.  I have to apologize right at the beginning of this blog.  I do not have any pictures from our visit with the Allen's.  Suzanne has all of those photos, so if you are lucky enough to be friends with her, you have probably seen them.  I also do not have any photos of my brother Sean and his wife Jeanine.  We saw them over the July 4th holiday, and once again I was not taking any photos.  Thank goodness my mom and Suzanne are so good with the camera.  But, what was lovely is that for a few days in July the ENTIRE Collins family was together.  All 19 of us.  A great Grandma, a Grandma and Grandpa, 4 siblings, 4 spouses, and 8 grandchildren under the age of 8.  It was a wild few days.

The best event of the summer was John's baptism and Colin's First Communion.  They happened on the same day, and most of my pictures are from then.  My lovely sister Tara and her husband Daniel took most of the pictures, which is why I do not have any of Tara and Daniel.  Colin is John's godfather and my mom is the godmother.  Shhhhhh- I fibbed and told the church that my dad is the godfather because Colin is too young.  But I love the way that Colin was so involved in the day and was so excited to participate in the sacrament. 
The first three pictures:  It's important to document Kathleen behaving in church.  I love the look on Colin's face in picture number 2.  He was so interested in the baptism.  And in picture 3 John is actually getting bapitzed.

 Once again, I love how interested Colin is.

Amalie and her pretty smile.

 My nephew Lucas running with a smile on his face.

 My parents are doing something important regarding the baptism, but what I found funny was Colin sitting on my grandmother's walker.  It's tiring making a new Christian.

 I had to include a picture of the girls in their super cute matching dresses.

My godson Mack, who was baptized two weeks before John.  Look at that face!

 My parents with the boys.

Jesy's mom at the baptism.

 

 





My grandmother with her 7th great grandchild.

 

 I always have to keep in mind when I look at these photos that John had not had his morning nap and was exhausted during the baptism.  And he behaved so well!
The kids and I spent a lot of time at the beach and pool this summer.  I mean a lot.  And I am proud to say that more often than not I took them by myself.  The kids were usually very well behaved and we had fun.  It amazing what sun, water, and Southern hospitality can do for kids.  Thank goodness Jesy showed up at the end of our summer visit.  That's why I have these pictures.

 Daniel took charge of the older kids and made an awesome castle with a moat.

 Hilton Head in the early evening.  Isn't it lovely?

Who loves the beach?  Kathleen does!

Colin, Amalie, and Kathleen are so good on their boogie boards.  Next summer is John's turn!

The first weeks in the USA

We safely made it to the US three weeks ago.  We flew from Moscow to London, and then London to JFK.  I have to say the kids were wonderful on both the flights, and that's alot of time to be on an airplane.  We had a minor problem on the flight out of Moscow. British Airways did not want John to sit in his infant, rear facing carseat.  They wanted us to hold him in our lap for both flights.  Luckily we had a forward facing car seat in the luggage hold, and Jesy and I begged them to get it for us for the London to JFK flight.  As I told the flight attendant, it is an 8 hour flight and we really did not want to hold John for that long (especially with three other kids to worry about and we had bought him a seat).  The airline retrieved the car seat for us, but only after the attendant told me that if it would make me feel better, it was only a 7 hour and 20 minute flight, not 8 hours.  As we all know, eight month old babies are excellent on flights for the first 7 hours; they only break down after 7 and a half hours.  I did not feel like getting thrown into a Russian holding cell, so I kept my mouth shut, said thank you, and we were on our way.
We spent the first week in the US in Connecticut with my sister Suzanne, her husband Josh, and my two adorable nephews, Brendan and Ryan.  It's a brave family that hosts us first; the first few nights of sleeping with the jet lag were not fun.  On the second night Josh found Kathleen up and playing in the room at 3 in the morning.  But we had a great time with the Allen family going swimming in their pool, playing at their playground and in the backyard, visiting the beach, and seeing the sites in Westport.   I believe my favorite night was when we went to a kids concert in downtown Westport.  The kids did well at first, listening to the music and dancing.  But after about 20 minutes that got old.  Amalie and Kathleen decided to do cartwheels and yoga positions.  My girls are pretty athletic, but may not be completely graceful.  Amalie knocked into a few kids and Kathleen just kept on putting her legs in the air and asking us to watch.  Brendan and Ryan were wrestling on the ground and Colin joined them.  The girls even joined at one point.  And please remember that all 5 kids had just eaten spiderman ice pops, so they were covered in ick and sticky.  I will never forget when Suzanne looked at me as we watched our offspring roll on the ground and said "welcome to the mental institution".  Yes indeed.
We are now in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  What I like to call our summer home.  We have rented a house in a beautiful community and have been enjoying the pool and some wonderful walks and bike rides.  Probably the best part of coming to HH is that I finally got to meet my new nephew and godson, Mack.  (Tara's second son).  He is a doll and it has been so much fun to watch John and Mack play together.  They are only 8 days apart and I love that Mack has a cousin to grow up with.  They will have so much fun together.  The Allen family joined us in South Carolina, so with Tara's sons Lucas and Mack we had eight kids under the age of 8 together.  What a wild ride, but it has been lots of fun.  You should see all of these kids at the beach!
After spending three weeks together, Suzanne and her family had to leave to go back to Connecticut.  The kids and I were really sad yesterday.  There are so many great things about being an ex-pat, but being separated from family you love is the worst part.  I have to say I felt kinda good when my nephew Brendan cried when he was leaving.  I love that he loves being with us.  Colin and Amalie were really upset and kept on asking me why T-T (Suzanne) and Uncle Josh have to work and since Uncle Josh is the owner of his company why can't he get someone else to do his work.  I do not like to see my kids upset, but I do love how much they love their cousins.
Suzanne- this made me feel better:  "Missing someone gets easier every day.  Because, even though it is one day further from the last time you saw eachother, it is one day closer to the next time you will".- author unknow
I hate to end on a sad note, so here's something to make you laugh.  Suzanne and Josh rented a house in our community for the last 5 days they were here.  The owners of the house had a game- Fact or Crap.  Super fun, especially if you are drinking margaritas.  My mom, Suzanne, Josh, and I played a bit on Thursday night.  Fact or crap- The Spanish island of Balearic granted full right to apes.  Fact!  I
have been laughing about that for days.
Where are the pictures in this blog you ask?  Are you crazy?  Did you not just read my blog and see that we have had anywhere from six to eight kids under the age of eight in our care for the last few weeks?  I am lucky that I survived.  But we did take some fabulous pictures of the entire Collins clan, so I hope I will be able to post those when they are done.
We are so happy to be back in the USA!

Dosvidanya School Year One in Moscow

Wow- this past Friday Colin and Amalie finished their first year of school in Moscow.  And I give this year a big 'ol A.  The Yeates family had a baby, traveled to 3 different countries together, played lots of sports, explored some of Moscow, and had a great school year.  On Thursday we will be traveling back to the United States to spend a week in Connecticut and then six weeks in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  I like to end things on a positive note, so I thought I would share some things I really liked about this year and some random occurences in our host country.

1.  Best part of our time here in Moscow- the arrival of John Thomas Yeates in October.  I had an excellent experience at the hospital and John is a delightful baby.  I love to be working in the kitchen or getting ready in the morning and look down at him playing on the floor.  He always sees me looking and gives me a big, big smile.  He is the sweetest baby and I just know everyone is going to love meeting him this summer.

2.  The Anglo American School is one of my favorite things about Moscow.  This school is amazing and perhaps next year I will devote an entire blog to it.  Colin has made so much progress academically and socially and has matured a great deal.  I am really proud of his focus this year and they way he put his best effort in to his work.  So much of this move to Russia was for Colin since he is the oldest.  The experience of living in a foreign country, this amazing school, the travel.  And I have to say that Jesy and I are quite pleased that this seems to have worked out for him.  It's nice when you make a difficult decision and it turns out to be a good one.  My sweet Amalie did great in Pre-K.  She arrived in her class in February and she fit in by the afternoon of the first day.  Amalie is so well liked by every kid she meets and is always making new friends.  She is such a curious girl and loves to learn new things.  I cannot wait to see what she does in kindergarten, though it makes me sad that she is not with me as much during the day.  Like I said, this school is amazing.  The academics, the sports on the weekend, the after school activities (chess club, lego club, and more), and the specials during the day- Russian language class, art class, music class, swimming lessons, PE, and ice skating in the winter.  The children are so blessed that they attend this school.

3.  I cannot forget to mention Kathleen's Montessori preschool here in Pokrovsky Hills.  It is half Russian and half English speakers, which is perfect for a 3/4 year old.  Kathleen has had a great time during her first year of pre-k.  Not only has she done well academically, but she has made lots of friends and participates a lot more than at the beginning of the year.  This was important for Kathleen because she always relied on big sister Amalie to make the friends and do the talking at school.  The last "show" of the year was a hoot- Kathleen was singing and dancing with all the kids and looking super cute while she did it.

4.  We do not eat a lot of Russian food here- I have basically kept us on a Western/American diet.  But I have found a few Russian dishes here that I adore.  Pelmini- I call it Russian ravioli.  I buy the kind filled with meat (you can buy ones filled with cheese and ones filled with cherries and they are delicious, but the kids do not like them), mix them with a tiny amount of butter, and sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top.  Russians like to eat pelmini with sour cream (smetana) mixed in, which is also qutie tasty.  Potato pancakes.  I had some this morning and it is also a dish I love here in Moscow.  Again, Russians use sour cream on top and I have to say it is a nice combination.  Kasha- a Russian version of hot oatmeal cereal.  I buy the instant and eat it for breakfast, but if you can get someone to make you the real stuff (like I had in the hospital), then watch out.  It is really good.

5.  We have lived in Moscow for ten months, and Wednesday was the first day I went into a gas station convenience store.  It was exactly like the US (a BP store) except for all of the Russian writing and I got quite nostalgic for the United States.

6.  Grocery stores in Moscow sell wine, beer, and liquor (the selection is breathtaking), but they only open the aisles after 11am.  I happened to be in the store at that time last week and I needed to buy vodka.  I felt like I was in the midst of a Russian fraternity party.  All of these young men swarming to buy alcohol.  It just felt like a very Russian moment to me.  Russians love their vodka and I have to say they do it quite well.  Jesy and I try to buy only Russian brands while we are here.

7.  Our neighborhood here in Moscow is one of the saving grace's of this experience. Pokrovsky Hills is a gated ex-pat community on the outskirts of Moscow.  A gate connects us to the Anglo American School, which is quite convenient.  Because it is a gated community and the security has a really strong presence, it is extremely safe for the children.  Colin has enjoyed quite a lot of freedom while living here.  He is always riding his bike with friends in the warm months or going sledding in the winter months.  The girls and John are of course with me when they are outside, but they enjoy the freedom of riding their bikes up and down the street.  We walk to the park/playground all of the time and there are always plenty of kids to play with.  Every child that lives in our neighborhood either attends the pre-k or the Anglo American school, so my kids have so many playmates.  And I love the sense of community in the neighborhood.  Everyone is in the same boat.  Almost all of us are foreigners living away from family and friends.  Our husbands (and some wives too) work long hours and many travel alot.  If I ever need help or someone to talk to, I just have to step outside my house and ask.

8. I have been a stay-at-home mom for over eight years and this is the first time I have had outside help.  Having a nanny is a true blessing.  Everything is Moscow takes twice as long as in the US, and having Olesea's help is invaluable.  I think what I love the most is that because she does so much of the housework, I really get to spend fun time with my kids.  I just get to enjoy them more, instead of always doing laundry and cleaning up.  And having a babysitter for a night on the town whenever we want if fabulous.  Jesy works so hard, and I love that we are able to go out, relax, and enjoy each others company whenever we can.

9. Before we left for Russia my very wonderful brother-in-law Josh (married to Suzanne) predicted that Jesy was going to "kill" it in Russia.  You know what Josh- I believe you are correct.  Jesy is amazing at his job and I am so proud of what he has accomplished during the short time here.  Jesy works harder than anyone I know and he is such a wonderful example to our children.  It is not easy to work here- the traffic, the hours, dealing with an entirely different culture- but Jesy does it so well.  Good thing he has an amazing wife that supports him in all that he does and keeps the family life going smoothly.

10.  What a difference a year makes.  The first time Jesy and I came to Moscow I was so overwhelmed.  The language, the alphabet, the culture.  And I was in my first trimester with John.  What a mess.  Last night Jesy and I went for dinner near the Kremlin and then walked around a bit.  I am not intimidated anymore.  I know the Russian alphabet and can make my needs known in a store or restaurant.  I have a long way to go, but I am proud of us.  Last night we went into a store and I was able to ask for a plastic bag.  In Russian.  Baby steps Eileen, baby steps.  I have also been so proud of how the kids have adjusted.  It's not easy to leave your home, your country, and everything you know.  Colin, Amalie, and Kathleen are real troopers.  They have embraced life in Russia and I think this is such an amazing experience for them.  No matter what they do in life they will always carry this experience with them, and not many American children have such a full passport.  And we have many more countries to visit!

What does being an ex-pat do?  It makes you really appreciate your home country.  I have loved this year so far, but I miss, miss, miss the USA.  Get ready America- we are coming home!