We Are Family

We are family...

Thanksgiving 2008.. special Thanks to Andy for taking this picture. Not an easy task as Bruce has often said trying to get our family gathered for a picture is like herding cats.

Ok... so it's Black Friday here in the states. The official kick off to Christmas. Santa made is appearance in the Macy's parade this morning and I noticed The March of the Wooden Soldiers was on this morning. So it's official ... Let the games begin.

While my sister in law heads for Kohl's at 2 am? Yeah... like in 30 minutes... sure... wait up? Yeah... you guessed it I don't do black Friday. After years in retail working in sales and as a buyer.. I've learned you start early and hopefully are finished by Thanksgiving. I have always referred to black Friday as amateur day. I don't blame her for going though. For her it's tradition... she and her sister go every year. They have a system.. they enjoy the crowds, kayos and always manage to entertain us with survival stories. May the force be with you Olga... I'm staying home. lol.

So what does Lee do the weekend after Thanksgiving? I decorate! The trees go up and the lights get turned on. Yes... it's officially here. The holidays are once again upon us. Am I finished shopping this year? What do you think? NOT ! But have no fear I'm in pretty good shape shopping wise. 80% complete .. the remaining 20% I'll do at a slower jollier pace.

This year will be fun for sure.. Tamara's 1st Christmas home. We found Father Frost online and I explained that he and Santa are one and the same so she's excited. I wish I knew what Father Frost had done for her in the past. I'm sure Christmas in Georgia was more religious then commercial as it has become here in the states.

I remember as a small child in Croatia we didn't really get gifts on Christmas. We had St. Nicholas day on December 6th and he came through the key hole. We didn't see him until he showed up on New Years Day on a cruise ship. Yeah.. well that's what happens when you live in a port city. ;o) Anyway... when we arrived to the USA .. I was a little Santa rebel. In 1st grade I started a riot in my class. It was a week before Christmas and my class mates were excited about Santa coming Christmas Eve. "Ah... excuse me... he's not coming" I told them. "What?" .. "He's not coming. You missed him. He was here 2 weeks ago." Well as you can well imagine my classmates were not happy. With that our teacher came over to see what all the noise was about. One little boy.. angry as can be said. "She says Santa isn't coming" So the teacher asked me "why?". I explained. St. Nicholas was here on the 6th. He came through my keyhole and left my gift. The teacher thought for a moment and said. "Class Lee is right. Santa did visit her 2 weeks ago but he's coming back. You see Lee is from Europe. St. Nicholas or Santa starts his deliveries early. In early December he's so small he can fit through keyholes. But as he eats all the milk and cookies he gains so much weight. By the time he makes it the USA he has to use the chimney." "Wow... really? OK.." the children were satisfied with this explanation. And all was well with the world until the nuns scolded me for pulling Santa's beard during a 2nd grade CCD Christmas party. Hey he was a fake. I could see the elastic holding his whiskers.

I had to expose him. Didn't I?

And so I wonder. Will Tamara want to sit in Santa's lap? Will she wake up at some insane hour Christmas morning? Hum? Stay tuned.

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So how was your Turkey Day? Ours was fun and fattening of course. Tamara had a blast playing with all her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.

Below are some pictures of her before we left for my brother & Olga's for lunch.

Above is a picture of Dido and Grandma with the grand kids.

Talk about herding cats? lol.

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Videos.. yes we have videos. No sound but motion. ;o)





Cute no?

OK.. Mommy needs to sleep... Tamara is helping me decorate in the morning.

Should be fun. Ho! Ho! Ho!

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Wishing you and yours a day filled with Love and Laughter.

Bruce, Tamara and I are especially very Thankful this year to have found each other.

Have a wonderful Day!

Are you ready?

Love this picture.. my little DIVA in training. ;o)

OK... catch you soon... don't eat too much!

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Vote for Katie!!! Please!

Vote for Katie...

Please!

Just popping in to ask you all to do me a favor. My niece Katie is in a Cute Kid contest with a local radio station. I'm posting an email I received from Auntie Olga.

Please follow this link and VOTE for Katie. You can vote more then once but you have to log in again for each vote.

This is the picture you'll be voting for. ;o) Cute no? Taken Christmas Day 2007.

email from her Mom... Auntie Olga

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Hey guys,

Katie is in a cute kid contest. please go to the web site below and vote for her. Scroll down past the prizes
to see the photos. They are in abc order but under the first name so it will be Katharin.
It is one of my favorite pic of Katie. Hat and scarf that Lee made. Vote as often as you would like just after each vote leave the site and come back. She ask that you pass this along to any one you can.
Thanks and lots of Love
from Katharin


http://www.wsus1023.com/pages/CuteKid.html

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Yes... I really did crochet this set for her. I hear she'd like a blue and white set now?
I'll try cookie... in my spare time..lol... ;o)
Another post coming soon... so come back after you vote. ;o)
Oh yeah... everyone can do this no matter what country they reside in.
Thank You!
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Boo!

Boo!

Boo!

Not to be confused with the Boo boo.

If you've spend any time with my daughter you will soon hear Boo!

When she gets the slightest bit bored or thinks you need some waking up she will put her little pointer finger up to her mouth and say Shhh. She then sneaks up on you... giggling the whole way there. When she thinks you're not looking she will jump out and yell Boo!

We of course humor her... trying to contain our own giggles as to not spoil her fun.

But this posting is about BOO!

Boo as in Halloween. You've asked, emailed and even called to say.

"Hey... Mommy where are those Halloween pictures?"

OK... ok... so here's the deal. You've asked what was she?

She was going to be a Fairy Princess.. but the weather was too cold for an organza, spaghetti strap dress. So since Daddy is somewhat of a cheese head being from Wisconsin and all ... Tamara was a Green Bay Packer Cheerleader this year. Before you ask... Yes we just happen to have a 3T uniform hanging in the closet. ;o) complete with pompoms.

Below Tamara in her Pre-school Halloween Parade

Daddy holds her hand while Trick or Treating Halloween night. At first she didn't want to do it and he had to carry her from door to door. After the 4th house she was dragging Daddy across the lawns. Pretty cute stuff ;o) Tamara avoided all the homes that had dogs... Yup still afraid of them.

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OK... next we had our first snow day. Early this year... much too early.

Tamara watches it snow after Mommy picks her up from Preschool.

I don't think she's had much expose to snow in Tbilisi.. if any?

She seemed fascinated by it and is taking it all in .. in stride.

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Snow day.. activity.

Tamara loves to clean. Yeah... I know she will probably out grow this by her 4th Birthday.

Below she moves her little chairs around in her room making room to vacuum with a very light weight rechargeable sweeper.

Fixing little Anna (named after her Georgian Nanny in Tbilisi)

Her technique will need improvement before she becomes a "real" Mommy herself.

"OK... Stay"

" Just a little more Mommy"

It's hard to get her to stop.

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A distraction... "lets take some pictures"

"Smile Lily"

"Gotcha"

"Look this way Lily"

"Did you see that?"

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Time to go out. Tamara was lint rolling Mommy. It adds several minutes to our departure but she really likes doing it?

Tamara wearing her snow flake sweater.. finally. Mommy wouldn't let her until it snowed. ;o)

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A warm and cozy evening at home.

Tamara wearing a pair of Mommy's slippers.

Too cute .. NO?

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Just being cute.

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Too cold to go out and play. :o(

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Helping in the kitchen.

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Being cute again.

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I needed some close ups and we had a photo shoot.

I thought I'd add this one.. to show what we actually have to do sometimes to get "the picture".

Daddy.. good sport that he is.. helps to position Tamara.

I love the look on his face here... sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

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God Bless The USA

God Bless The USA

OK we're back. 11/13/08

It's been an interesting few weeks. And trying to figure out how to catch up isn't easy. So I'll start with what seems to be what's on every one's mind these days. Our presidential election, the US and world economy. I feel it's important to document this little piece of history for Tamara.

First I have to tell you a few weeks ago we were eating dinner in the breakfast room. Tamara asked Daddy to move so she could watch the news. Yes... she watches CNN. They had a split screen of McCain and Obama pictures. Daddy asked Tamara "Who should we vote for Tamara? McCain or Obama?" She thought for a moment... her little pointer finger tapping on the side of her face. "Hum...hum..." she thought hard. "Ama" she said. "Obama?" Daddy asked. "NO ..ma Mama" she said pointing to me. I laughed "well I've got one vote"

It brought back memories of our last election 4 years ago. Frustrated with both candidates I told my friend Debbie "That's it... I want my own country" She laughed and said "When you get one .. can I live there?" Surprised she'd want to I said "sure but why would you want to?" She replied "Are you kidding.. most queens would say let them eat cake... you.. you'd actually feed it to us."

Yeah she's probably right.. I would.

So who did I vote for? McCain. Although I was totally frustrated with his campaign. I thought he was better suited for the position. I had reservations about Obama experience. But as we all know Obama won and I'm ok with that. I actually do like him.. but I'm just not sure I can trust him. That being said I feel it's important for ALL Americans to give him a chance. And I also think it's important for us to inspect what we expect from Washington. With the recent turn of events regarding our economy and world affairs it's become very clear that we can not allow the politicians to carry on as they have. At least now most of them admit there's a problem.

Dah... don't they watch the news?

The most touching part of this years election was seeing all the people that gathered for Obama's acceptance speech. People of all walks, races, colors saying enough is enough. Americans taking their country back. Although my candidate didn't win that night. Seeing that rally with thousands of like minded Americans made me proud.

Proud to be an American.

It amazes me how many Americans take what we have for granted. As you all know I have lived in several countries in my life time. Started out in Croatia then it was part of the former Yugoslavia. Then in Italy where I attended Kindergarten, Then the USA. That's 3 countries. 4 if you were to count the Republic of Georgia.. my whopping 18 day residence there. ;o) Ok.. stop rolling your eyes... I didn't count all those Caribbean islands I tried to live on. :o) It's so hard to leave them isn't it?

Anyway... through my travels even as a young child I learned that every country is unique in it's own way. Everyone of them offers it's own beauty and charm. Most of the people are wonderful but there is NO place like home. No place like the U.S. of A.

I hope we all remember that as our country will face many challenges in the days ahead.

I hope everyone realizes what's at stake and the commitment and unity we saw in Chicago last week continues. It will take ALL of us doing our part to preserve and improve our great nation.

God's Speed Obama.... don't screw this up... we'll be watching you. ;o)

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OK... now for the fun stuff... where have I been?

Well .. I'm still a bit under the weather. Can't seem to shake whatever this is. I'm thinking it might be some sort of allergy? It actually occurred to be tonight that I might be allergic to Lilly? Our youngest kitty... yeah the one that sleeps on a pillow on my desk. Yup... she's here now. Her fur is very fine, long hair and she's a shedder. It occurred to me that I've had some sort of allergy on and off for about a year. We've had Lilly for about a year? Hum... and I realized tonight that during our 18 days in Georgia I was in perfect health. Not so much as a sneeze.

Is it possible to be allergic to a specific breed? The other 2 kitty cats don't seem to be an issue.

OK... before you all say ..."Oh.. I'll take her" she's staying put. Lily is now Tamara's kitty and they have bonded. Mommy will take Lilly to the Cat day spa at Petco. Once they do their thing I should get a pretty good indication if it's Lilly. If it is we'll have to have her groomed more often and perhaps relocate her sleeping pillow. Hopefully that will nip it in the bud. So glad Tamara doesn't have any allergies that we know of so far.

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Tamara is doing very well. She has grown almost 4 inches and gained 7lbs since June. She now wears a 3T. She is also able to walk up and down a full flight of steps on her own. We of course walk in front and behind her just in case. But she's very proud of her accomplishments as are Mommy and Daddy.

She's still stubborn about talking but progressing slowly. And she actually tries to argue with us when we say no. Too cute.

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Below are some pictures at my parents house. Tamara adores her grandparents. And they have fallen for her as well.

Tamara, Grandma and her Dolly.
She loves matching her doll's clothing to hers... cute no?
A kiss from Dido
High Five Dido
Giving Dolly a hug

Playing at home
Playing catch with Daddy
Oh this picture gets me... every time I see it I want to reach out and catch her.

Moving her high chair.
Tamara always puts her chair back when she's finished with it.

Road trip.. Tamara takes another doll with her.

A chilly day.. Can't go out to play :o( Playing dress up with her dolls. Daddy holds Dolly while she puts the shoes on.

They're so cute together. ;o)
Lilly comes to play
Tamara and her doll enjoying the view.

Mommy and Tamara share a rice cake

Tamara playing in her play house
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A trip to Space Farms
A little bit bigger then the zoo in Tbilisi.

Buffalo .. they actually serve buffalo burgers there.

remember "The Birds" ?

Kangaroo Mom actually has a baby in her pouch.
Tamara loved it. Too cute.


Tamara checking out the deer


Look Daddy


Bambi

I thought this was a pretty cool picture.

Big Teddy Bear
Stopped by my parents house.
You've all heard that my Mom has a green thumb.. well these are her pumpkins. Mind you the lady never planted pumpkins.. they just popped out this year?

Tamara helps Grandma in the garden.

OK.. time to play ball.

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Tamara wants to go out to play.

Finally got her to stop trying to pick up all the Fall leaves. One at a time.

Going for a walk with Daddy.

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