Super Rachel Zana's Spot

The weather was remarkably warm on Sunday, which turned the snow into the perfect sculpting medium.  In the early afternoon our neighbors halfway down the street popped over and snow construction commenced.  Many hands make for light work, and they had the assembly line down pat.   Mr. SP elected…

I learned the Russian words for please, thank you, car, store, yes, no, sister, brother, hello, tea, penguin, bus, airplane, shower, and some others too. I learned how DIFFICULT it is to pronounce things in Russian. It turns out I like borscht, even though I hate most of the ingredients that…

He asked me, “Mama, are there a lot of cranes in Ukraine?”

He was trying to avoid my camera while chopping ice in the driveway, but hiding behind the pickup truck didn’t work because I got him anyway.  Bwah ha ha ha!  

Mmmmmmmmm.  Yum.  That is all.

The firstborn has been surpassed in height by the second kidlet.  Of course, I always knew that was going to happen, but for some reason I didn’t realize it was happening NOW!  It’s a bit of a weird feeling.  Strangers will no longer be able to intuitively gauge their birth order…

I haven’t been able to read nearly as much as I would like over the past few months, but here are some recent favorites: Grown Up Books Where Did you Go Bernadette by Maria Semple.  I absolutely loved this book.  It would be included on my list of most favorite and…

It’s been quiet here, because we’ve had a doozy of a time these last few weeks.  For example, last week while I was at choir rehearsal, my van was vandalized in the parking lot.  The Bad Guy broke the driver’s side door window, and of course the weather was headed…

OK, so I might be two full weeks behind, but here are some pictures from our Christmas Day sledding extravaganza.  

Big Cousin is helping Little Cousin make a bracelet.  The little cousin is wearing hand-me-down pajamas that, a decade ago, were the big cousin’s prize for successful potty training.  She and I both have vivid memories of making a special trip to Wausau, Wisconsin, to pick those pajamas out at…