Back to School...

Hi friends!
I've officially went to all my 3-credit courses. I'm taking a 1-credit course that starts tomorrow night, but they have all been great so far! I feel like this is going to be a great semester. It won't be easy, but it won't be difficult, just time consuming.

I stopped by Barnes and Noble and bought this planner after classes, and after tutoring. I can't wait to get organized. Reminded me of Hilton with the black and red. I also bought a white board for tutoring at Target.

Afterwards, I stopped by my aunt's house and had tea with her, my uncle and their little Lina. She's such a funny girl, and says the cutest thing! My aunt gave me like this white paper they had and as I was leaving Lina was like, "Lesya, you have to say thank you for that!" Too cute. This is Lina and my aunt at family camp :) Love this mommy-daughter picture.

This past week, again, I've had problems falling asleep. Last night it took me more than an hour. The next day you wake up so tired :( and my eyes were red, etc. Does anyone have any falling asleep tips? No, I wasn't nervous about school, or worried. I just can't fall asleep. It might be that I get overly tired?

Blessings,
Lesya

This or That

New game, fellow blog readers! Remember when we were younger, some of us took a store ad and played the this or that game...so I thought it would be fun to do something like that here. Once a week, I will post 2 similar "objects." It could be clothes, furniture, cars, hairstyles, purses, stores, etc...you will then post in the comments This or That. Each picture will be labeled. If you read the blog, but aren't a follower, simply comment under anonymous and write your choice and name right below. So, lets get started!
Today...to honor a friend's request we will do wedding dresses!  Your choices are:

THIS 

or 

THAT

                                                                                                       www.davidsbridal.com

Greece Assembly and Grandma's Birthday

Today a few of us girls decided to visit Greece Assembly. The service was great, and it was nice seeing the few people I knew from their.

Maria: doing the robot Lesya: instructing Lyuba: modeling Yulia: In outer space

I know Lyuba's pretty, but look at her umbrella!

Later, we had a family gathering to celebrate my grandmother's 78th birthday. I love her so much. Afterwards, I had to go to a Sunday school meeting since it starts up in a few weeks. I am excited!

After evening church we watched this movie with my mom and the kids. I really liked it. So inspirational.
 

Blessings,
Lesya

Saturday's Situations

Hi friends!

I hope that everyone had a blessed week!

For me, today was a typical Saturday, well without the intense cleaning, so maybe it wasn't so typical.

This morning I wanted to get a few things done right before school. My mom came with me because she wanted to get something for my grandma, whose birthday is tomorrow.

We stopped by the mall. I got my eye brows done, and y'all know that I am trying not to spend money, but when we stopped by New York and Company there was this really cute dress shirt! A lot of their sizes run big, but this shirt looked like it'd fit, so I got it. Then we went to Marshalls, and I got shoes, which I really needed. No, really, I did. We bought Andrew a dress shirt from H and M. I come home, and ask if he likes it, and he said,  "I like it, but next time can you buy me more? I want you to buy me a lot and a lot of clothes, not just one thing." He said it in this puppy voice, that made we feel bad for him!

I, however, did not buy five articles of clothing that I actually wanted, but didn't need. So, I am keeping myself "in check."

My mother and I stopped by Buckmann's car wash, which reminded me of the time Diana and I went. Do you ever make a memory somewhere with someone and every time you do that thing you are reminded of the person whom you did it with? Does that make sense?  Diana and I went during the week of kids camp, when we made daily trips to buy one thing or another. So now when I think car wash, I think Diana :)

Towards the end of the wash, Diana and I were both like oh we must capture this memory! So I got my camera out quick, trying to get the last of the car being washed in the background.

We look so excited, it makes me chuckle.

After that we came home, and did some house keeping chores. Of course, the day didn't go by with someone not coming over. My cousins did come over for a bit. Later that night my mom wanted to go to Walgreens so we went, and stopped by my aunt's afterwards.

Basically, today was a mother-daughter day. Although at the mall, I did say to my mom "aww, I wish Leah was here." She would've had plenty of silly and smart comments to say.

Blessings,
Lesya

Blah, blah, blah

Hi all!
Let me tell you, the financial aid office is so busy. (I'm cutting right to the point, aren't I). So, when they asked me to work all 5 days this week I agreed. They tell me I'll have so much work outside of teh classroom with teaching, but in this office some of the workers stay until 8 pm, and come in early. IT does slow down later, but not by much. Basically, I couldn't relax on my last week before school. Oh well. Anyway after work I went to the library to print off some material for tutoring.
I've been on the lookout for good educational sites and haven't come across one I really liked until today.


The site is www.havefunteaching.com
I know that once school starts I won't have time to plan as much as I do now, so I wanted to get some material ready beforehand. I'm also going to tutor all three boys. I guess I've past the tutor trial point, with her first two boys.



As I was getting ready to go home, my mother called me, telling me to stop by Rite Aid and buy hand sanitizer for Lena, because she needed it for school. Well, I also picked up this candy bar. These chocolates are my favorite! Just so y'all know ;) Also, after more than a month of working, I got my first check so I dropped it off at the bank. I am done spending. I think if I turned that into an action, it would do me some good.

I got home, payed some bills online for mother, got ready for church, and picked up my grandparents. We actually had a choir practice today. It was a great success, even with 10ish people. I call it a small group choir. We are preparing for the Buffalo conference. This isn't in Buffalo, but a replica to what our combined NY choir will look like.

Blessings,
Lesya

Camp Post 2

The reason there are two posts is because blogger was not cooperating yesterday with me! I couldn't add any more pictures to that post so here goes some more:

Leah would sit on this couch and say, "take a picture of me." Everybody was telling her she looked like a princess and boy was she prideful!

Yulia and I. My favorite thing about the house was the big window where you can look out onto the water and simply enjoy the view. This picture was taken before the guys poured sea-weed water, and lemonade on me, Ira, Anna, and Natashka. They were angry about their shoes, so when us girls went tanning they came by 10 minutes later to cool us off :) What a treat it was.  Later, one of our very SMART girls came up with the idea to take the toilet paper away from their cabin. Fun times, let me tell you.

Camp fire :) It wasn't the same with Slavic though. There really was no singing around it this year.

 This year all my little cousins, (age 8) took canoes and went by themselves. Wow, they are growing up. We also got yelled at for not wearing out life jackets, at ALL TIMES. Also, we had no problems with Andrew and Leah. They slept fine, and were great. Leah would even say, "I am tired. I think I need to lay down." What a perfect child, I'd say.  I also ate. way. too. much. So, those are the camp highlights that I don't want to forget.

 Blessings,
Lesya

Family Camp Post #1

Thursday we arrived early in the afternoon. I promised my mom I would be with the kids that day since my dad was coming the next day. Also, Thursday night the guys turned to heat on in the girls' room. I couldn't sleep, especially on the top bunk. I kept thinking, why is it so hot?! It is so chilly outside at night. Basically at one point I yelled, I can't take it! Why is it so hot?! Then I heard laughter in the other room.

Friday we did a lot of this. Leah's first time on, she said to my mom, "I want to wash my feet" and it would be so scary because she would try putting her feet into the water. She also had a hard time sitting still! 

This game was quite amusing to watch.

Saturday morning, Natasha hid all the boys' shoes in the woods, to get back at their turning the heat up in our room. She was also in the top bunk so we were both suffering! It was funny because they walked out of their rooms, into the hallway, then down from this "porch" and only then realized, oh where are our shoes. They were all in the hallway before, so you'd think they'd notice right away. They didn't. Later they took our shoes. It was okay. I had plenty extras :)

Will she ever love me?! She will. I know. I know. In the background you can see the water slide we had set up for the kids. At times, I wished I was a kid. They had so much fun! Leah is screaming here, "Let me go. Let me go!" She had such an attitude all weekend, with everyone. Lenka kept asking her, will you be my friend. She would boldly say no, and Lenka was so good to her the entire camp! 

I sat down to do my Family Camp post, but that isn't going to happen. I will be prioritizing my time (Diana, that was for you ;) ).
Basically, I've been so very busy. I feel the atmosphere of school starting in the air already. I got home at 8 tonight because I had to get my textbooks, etc. after work. I still have to plan for my tutoring session tomorrow after work, and I want to read the Bible and do my "searching." You all don't need to know what that's all about. I might share some day. I also want to get some sleep! Every day I wake up so tired. On Monday morning I woke up at the time I usually leave for work. I never snooze my alarm. Monday, I guess I did. So that's all for now.

Here's some cuteness for you! (This was at camp)

Blessings,
Lesya

I'm Off

.....to family camp!
This has become an annual thing and I enjoy it very much. It certainly is a time for family to get closer, and just be together. 
I hope you won't miss me too much, but once I'm back I will have quite a few posts I will be writing. 

Now I'm off to spend some quality tine with this girl...

And others...can't seem to find a picture with Yuls as I am trying to write this very quickly.

Blessings,
Lesya

NYC-Does It Look Like We Had Fun?

First off, Tanya made Diana and I her personal slaves. You can clearly see her waving her hands around, calling out orders. She made me wear her bag. I walked head down.  This looked like a trip of no fun! Diana tried to keep herself together.

It started off with Tanya and Igor getting angry. At each other? At the weather? I don't know. Diana slowly started losing it.

It wasn't easy to handle a friend turning her back to you, without tears.

Or watching cousins storm off, saying she doesn't care about anything anymore.

SHE decided to follow.

I couldn't take it. And yes, it is sad when nobody wants to be in the picture with you.

Then Diana started acting out about her phone.

I had to calm her down, explain to her that she would be left without a phone if she threw it...

We ended everything in silence. Friends not speaking to each other. Always a great way to end a trip.

Blessings,
Lesya

For everything there is a season...

And a time for every matter under heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; 

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; 

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance; 

A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

 A time to seek, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate, 

A time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Blessings,

Lesya

Girls' Mall Trip

Friday morning, us girls decided to take a trip to the mall...well Lena was not invited, but she made her lovely way to the backseat of the car while we were still in the house.

Sisters :) I got her her Starbucks. She ALWAYS begs me to take her to Tim Hortons, Starbucks, etc. I try to be a good big sister once in a while! Also got her the Raspberry scone which was really good and their little doughnut, which wasn't good at all. (Don't get it is all I'm saying) Of course, we bought her a bunch of things she doesn't need if I do say so myself, but they just looked so cute on her! Justice is the way to go for little girls' clothes!

I'm so glad I was able to capture this moment. Leah was such a bad girl at the mall. She kept saying, "I'm trying to be a good girl" after every time she would do something naughty like run around the store, with us trying to catch her. When she was eating Lena's doughnut and said to my mom, "you want to try this," my mom was like "no" she said, "Why? Did you try it when you were little?" She's so cute and said the funniest things at the stores, but we are not going to be taking for for a LONG while.

She screamed for everything that she wanted, and wouldn't sit in her stroller at all! On our long drive home (we went to Eastview) I kept asking her, "so Leah, what are we going to tell Dad, that you were a good or bad girl?" She turned away and completely ignored what I was saying. After repeating myself a couple times, I realized I wouldn't get an answer. She's been doing that a lot lately!

I thought this was a cute mommy-daughter picture. Leah doesn't look like our baby here, she looks like a little girl!

Blessings,
Lesya

Thursday Things

Hi all,
Today was a good day. A very good day. Some mornings I wake up with a song on my heart. I love when that happens because it seems so right to have Jesus on your mind! I continue to just sing and pray all day. For me, on some days, sadly God isn't the very first thing on my mind, and I am working to change that.
In the morning I headed off to work, which is the financial aid office at Brockport. I had to be there at 8. I'm basically working on a project for them for the summer. They gave me an office, and its just so cute :)

Some of my desk area...I basically have to look up students that took Brockport courses by entering their 800 number and figuring out some financial aid data, basically a study. They want to see whether they want to continue letting Brockport students take classes elsewhere and let the credits transfer since the college loses money that way! 

Later I stopped by CVS, after work which ended at 4, and got hairspray that was 75% off so it came to $1.12 :)
I also got a big bag of chips for 0.49! LOL, my love for savings.

Then I headed home, and decided it was time to tackle another summer goal of organizing some of the files in my room.

I have to buy tabs so I don't have to use sticky notes! But it works for now. I'm glad I got rid of a bunch of papers I didn't need.

Finally, I went to youth prayer tonight. Like always, it was a blessing.
Other than work, and as I've mentioned an increased level of energy I haven't been up to much.
Last week however, (or was it two weeks ago) Natalya asked me whether I'd like to do something one evening. So we did...just the two of us.

Beautiful Natalya. We did take a picture on our phones, but I can't get it on here from my e-mail so here she is at VBS.

We had a great evening. I love spending one on one time with a friend. We walked the canal, then went to Subway because Natalya wanted cookies and then went to my aunt's house because I was on the opposite side of the spectrum and wanted a diet from my aunt (lol). We ended our evening at 1 am at my house. The next day being tired at work was all worth it :)

Blessings,
Lesya

Tuesday night instead of going to a girls get-together because I was already quite late, I went home and did what??
Cleaned the refrigerator. Well that's not something you do everyday after work and tutoring! I think my "diet plan" has definitely contributed to my energy levels, which is a good thing.
The refrigerator brings me to the fact that I saw we had the Philadelphia cooking creme we needed to use!
Wednesday morning, since I wasn't working, I set out to find a recipe. It's not too often I find recipes online that I fall in love with. However, this one is definitely a keeper. I thought I'd share it with the rest of you. I tweaked somethings so I'm sharing the recipe with those changes such as seasoning the chicken before cooking it!

Teriyaki Chicken Casserole

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced

1/2 cup chopped yellow onions

1/2 cup chopped red peppers

1/4 cup teriyaki sauce, divided

1 tub (10 oz.)PHILADELPHIA Original Cooking Creme***

2 cups hot cooked long-grain white rice

1 can (8 oz.)pineapple tidbits, well drained

1/2 cup chow mein noodles (optional)

3 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)

1. Heat oven to 375º F. 
2. Season the chicken with whatever you'd like. 
3. Cook and stir chicken, celery, yellow onions, peppers and 2 Tbsp. teriyaki sauce in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 5 to 6 min. or until chicken is evenly browned and vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in cooking creme, remaining teriyaki sauce, rice and pineapple.
4. Spoon into 2-qt. casserole sprayed with cooking spray.
5. Bake 20 to 25 min. or until heated through; top with noodles and green onions.  

***I'm sure you can substitute the cooking creme with cream cheese and a bit of heavy cream. I'll try it next time myself. 
You can also use stir fry frozen vegetables. Next time I will also add more pineapple.
I didn't use hot rice, and it didn't affect the recipe, so use leftover rice from the day before if you wish.

I was basically in the kitchen all day today. Made breakfast, and lunch. Gave my mother a break because the kitchen is literally the busiest place in our house. I did enjoy it though. I wish I had more time for my hobby of cooking...oh well, I guess I'm in a season of life where I can't right now.

Blessings,
Lesya