The Beauty of Ordinary Days

Nice title huh? 

Well its the title of a new blog. 

So now....

I would like to welcome www.onajourneytoeverlasting.blogspot.com to the blogging world.

Go on over, check it out and follow...as I've told the blogger I will formally introduce her on my blog.

Blessings,

Lesya

All Kinds of Things

Hi (again) Friends!

This morning I went to Yulia's wedding...it was beautiful. The only shot I got was this:

Our beautiful servers. Boy, did they do a phenomenal job! I mean they were just perfect. I wonder if they ever wonder whether they would want to do this job on a regular basis. Wink wink.They sure look happy and full of life here :)

I left the wedding around 4, because of course I had homework, etc. Angela called later, telling me she was going to stop by and yes she did. Here is family helping her with the strings on her leggings. Thought it was too cute. Since I was busy, she helped Lena with her homework and boy was she a silly goose tutor. Maybe I'll upload the video later sometime.

Such a sad picture, of course. Leah said a naughty word (butt) even though no one says that around our house! We don't know where she got it from! Of course, he sister Lesya wouldn't let that get by with out a "Leah you have to say sorry." "No," she said. Well then, corner it is. Poor thing was crying. Hopefully she learns her lesson and never forgets that we love her :)

Blessings,

Lesya

Favorite Recipe Sites!

Hi all!

Busy day today, but I thought I'd post some of my go-to websites for recipes! Oh how I wish I has time to cook and bake these days...

Tammysrecipes.com

I love the consistency of new recipes being put up and the variety. Her pictures are great, and best of all most of the food I've made from her site tastes good!! 

Natashaskitchen.com

Truthfully, I haven't made anything from her site, although I've meant to...but she really does put out good recipes an such.

Also you may have seen on the side bar, I follow blueskiescooking.blogspot.com

I don't know what attracted me to the recipes...but I liked quite a few and hope to actually make a few of her recipes soon!

Thepioneerwoman.com

Great recipes on her site too!

So go on over and check the sites out.

There are many more great places online for awesome recipes but the few I look at most often already make me feel sad since I can't make anything from them due to lack of time so I don't go on much other sites these days.

Blessings,

Lesya

Anna's Birthday

Hi Friends!

Sunday was Anna's birthday. So us girls went out to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate

This is Anna. (Well, obviously). Doesn't she just look so cute?! I have to say she is one of the most SELFLESS, KIND, and GENEROUS individuals I've ever met. She definitely carries the characteristics of being a nurse! I look at her, and then look at my self and think boy oh boy do I have things to work on....sometimes its good to compare ourselves to others :)

Inside...

Outside...

Once again Anna HAPPY BIRTHDAY. We love you and keep being the person that you are!

Now I must plan my "About Ukraine Lesson Plan"

Hmm...maybe I'll take pictures and blog about the class...

Blessings,

Lesya

Building Memories that Last a Lifetime

Hi friends!

No words necessary for this post...just look back and remember the memories we should cherish as we grow up.

Woodcliff- November 2011

Memorial Day-May 2011

Diana's birthday-Nov, 2010

Breakfast

One night last summer at my house (when we intruded on the little boys' Bible study)

The love of cooking/baking some of us share

Have a great week everyone! 

God bless you all where ever you are and lets remember to keep each other in our prayers.

Blessings,

Lesya

Not Much to Write About

Hi friends!
First of all, I don't know why blogger is giving some of you a hard time commenting...a few of you have said it wouldn't let you comment...i don't know what the matter is, but it isn't a big deal if you don't comment. Quite frankly, I'm running out of ideas for this or that anyway.

Second, I haven't been blogging much, because I have been so busy, and secondly, well there isn't much to blog about. I wish I could write about fun-filled days, new recipes I've tried, books I've read, time spent with family and so forth; however, there is basically none of that right now. It makes me sad :(
Last week I told a friend that now I know what it's like being busy but having the time to do everything, and being busy and not having the time to accomplish everything.

I thought it would be silly of me to share the "alarm clocks" that are set on my phone. I know I will want to remember this: (Don't waste your time reading through these. Lol)


7:25 AM-I turn this one on on (some) Wednesdays and mostly Fridays

11:24 AM-No, no, I don't sleep in the middle of the day. I just take a quick 15 min nap in my car (yay for tinted windows) between classes, on days I get very little sleep

5:13 AM-Tuesday or Thursday morning. Get up early to do school work before leaving at 7:30

5:16 PM-Sleep in car. Again. Usually Wednesday nights I get the least amount of sleep, so I sleep while Lena and Mark are at piano, right before my lesson

6:31 AM-Mondays, for the city school observations

11:30 PM- This alarm is "newish." I had a bunch to read and it was getting late and I was falling asleep so I took at 15 min nap

7:00 AM Most Tuesday and Thursdays

Blessings,
Lesya

Pen or Pencil

...which do you prefer? 

THIS

or THAT

A Conversation About God

"Do you love God?"

"Yes"

"Then you are not going to want to come back home"

"What?"

"God has better, healthy food. He doesn't buy candy. You like healthy food"

"What do you mean Andrew? I am not going anywhere."

"Lesya, you are not gonna wanna come back home. Are you gonna come back if you go to God?"

"Andrew why are you asking me this?"

"Because I wanna go to God. God used to drive a tank." 

"No he didn't."

"He did Lesya, He did."

(What was I gonna say now???...Leah enters the room)

"Leah do you want to talk about God?"

"No. I want to watch Caillou."

Well this conversation happened between Andrew and I a few weeks ago, and as he started talking I was actually writing everything down. Can you tell I want to remember all this?? Ha! He definitely had a bunch of thoughts and topics about heaven but all were addressed in a short conversation.

Other conversations: 

A few days ago Leah was talking to mother and my dad walks in and says "Leah, what's wrong?"

She turns and says, "I am talking to mom" in her attitude sort of way.

Also, the other day Andrew said, "Mom I love Jesus because He is a Christian."

The other night Andrew said, "can we pray so that I don't have bad dreams?" My mom said, "yes so that you only have good dreams." "No mom, I don't want any dreams."

Recently Leah has been saying, "Don't eat that. It's not good for you." (As in it's not healthy for you)

You're Gonna Miss This

Hi all! 

I do not post songs often, so when I do, I expect you to listen to them ;) 

No, but really listen to this song. It tells a story.

Sometimes I feel like I just wish "this stage in life" was over with. 

My dad was telling me today that I better slow down with everything because its not healthy for me to be so busy that I can't even get enough sleep, but this song says, "you're gonna miss this..." and I completely agree :) (My dad was like, Lesya I'll give you my credit card, just stop working your little jobs, etc. That was too kind, but I declined. We all make choices...)

So lets embrace this time, all of us busy college folks, and not so busy college folks. 

Let me know if you enjoyed the song and believe it to be true (in the comments)!

Blessings,

Lesya

Vacation Spots

THIS

Italy? Sight seeing...

or

THAT

Bahamas? Lay back and relax...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

In Lena's science class they have been talking about this very topic: reduce, reuse, recycle.
So now, not only do I have some always telling me "recycle that paper" "don't forget to recycle" "when we get home you can put it in the recycling bin"
But we also have a "what-to recycle" sheet on our refrigerator and the police walking around to make sure its done.

This is the reduce, reuse, recycle police, or shall I say advocate.

I also can't play the piano with the lights on because "you don't need the lights." 

Finally, these are almost under very light switch at our house.

Just don't tell her you know about this, because, oh this girl is going to get me! 

Now I'm off to accomplish my goals for the day being:

Prayer

Bible reading

Piano practicing

Paper for Jazz Age Lit

Ch 1-10 of The Pioneer (only about 80 pages)

Little Book of Languages (ch 14-20)

Study linguistics (maybe)
Plan Sunday School lesson

There is a lot more I would like to add but I guess I want to keep things realistic. I hope I get most of this done! The consequence of only reading 4 chapters of homework yesterday. 

Blessings,

Lesya

A Once in a While Kind of Day

Hi friends!
My post is titled as it is, because well lets just say a day of hanging out doesn't happen much during school.

 After posting my schedule on the blog, I mentioned I usually have lunch Friday's with someone. So Natalya suggested we have lunch together today. Now that school is underway, we don't see each other much. So, we went to Panera. Sometimes I feel like friendships become all about business. For example, "we are going here, and here," "we need to do this and that" "how are you" "good, well that's good" It's like an obligated friendship. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone...but anyway we had a good talk long talk.  

Later, we went to the Shane and Shane concert:

Diana and I agreed to half-smile in this one. We pulled it off well didn't we.

The girls matched...wearing purple the day that I did not. Sigh. 

 The rest of us girls...we matched in our own kind of way. 

I had to put this picture on here to give us all a laugh. I look especially scary but this just a cool picture, and I'm sure y'all would agree.

Blessings,

Lesya

P.S. I was especially drawn to the fact today of constantly keeping friends in my prayers and I thought I'd mention it here. Pray for your friends. You don't know what they may be going through. They may really need it. The best way to make sure you pray for them when they need it is to continuously keep your (our) friends/youth in your prayers!

Real Quick...

...before I begin doing some homework there are some things I have been loving since school started.

 Olga and I stop by sometimes after the city school observations as it is right on the way and the service is quick. We tried their French Onion Soup and it is so good! That is the only place I want to go out to eat these days. 

Blazers! Oh how I love them...I do restrain from buying much because a few will do. Right? I just love that you can dress up with them, or dress down. Works both ways. Now that's a frugal clothing idea ;)

Friday night after evening service I went with my mom to Khols and then Tops, so I got these. They are a great snack :)

Blessings,

Lesya :)

It's the Little Things

Hi friends!
Today as my day begun at 6:15, and ended 10:30 with everything school, career, work related, two things made me smile...

Today I went to the city for my field experience hours. One of the boys drew this for me. It is a picture of me...in case you had trouble figuring it out. In the front of the "card" he wrote "You are grat Mis L." He sure did put a smile on my face. It's the little things. I didn't even bother to correct his spelling ;) and I'm keeping this forever. I'm sure it is going to be one of many (LOL).

2nd thing: I slept over my cousin Ira's house so we went to sleep late as it was, but the following morning she got up early made us breakfast, and said she'd make me a sandwich. I initially thought she had in mind for breakfast, but she actually handed me a brown bag and said that it was for lunch. That was sweet enough but she made a complete lunch: an apple and this candy (the only proof I have) as I was eating my sandwich while driving, which was very good by the way. When I saw the candy I shook my head and chuckled. It was just so sweet of her, and totally hit spot on with "family first." It may seem like "who cares, its just a lunch," but I don't know, I guess it meant more to me. The only thing that she missed was putting a note saying, "we love you" but that's okay, she tells me frequently enough.

I guess this poem would sum it up for me: It's the Little Things in Life

It really is the little things
That mean the most of all...
The "let me help you with that" things
That may seem very small
The "I'll be glad to do it" things
That make your cares much lighter,
The "laugh with me, it's funny" things
That make your outlook brighter...

The "never mind the trouble" things,
The "yes, I understand,"
The interest and encouragement
In everything you've planned
It really is the little things,
The friendly word or smile,
That add such happiness to life
And make it more worth while.

-Mary Dawson Hughes

An Hour in the Park

Hi all!

Friday I took the kids to the park (Andrew and Leah) after I ran all my errands which included stopping by the mall to return things for my mother....well I left quite a bit of my time and money there. Ughh, I'm actually not suppose to be buying anything these days but am failing to do so. 
Earlier that morning I told Andrew I'd take him to the park. Well, he didn't forget and their "nice" big sister had to take them.

She kept saying "take a picture or me." "Leah I already did. I took a lot." "Then take another one."

Andrew wanted to help his sister off. You can kind of tell, in this picture, she started pushing him and saying, "I can do it myself."  What an independent young woman!  

 They requested to go on these skateboarder slides, or whatever they are called. They are so fearless! Especially little sister.

After about an hour there, it started to rain a bit, so I said we had to go home. We were the only people left at the park at this point. Well Leah decided to throw a little fit. She stood there and said, "I am not going" with her little arms folded. Also, when I said we had to go home, they said, lets go in the sandbox for aliitle. Ok so I let. Then, lets go one more time on the slide. Ok ok. Then, lets go on the big playground. They sure can control their "elders."

Also, I wanted to take a pic of Leah going down the slide, because of the static her hair was "standing up." This grandmother that was there asked her to go down the slide, and she said "no." I was surprised because I mean if a stranger is asking you that, I'd be afraid to say no. Then she said to her grandson, "her mom wants to take a picture of her." I didn't start explaining that I wasn't her mom. I just followed her around the playground more attentively so that I wouldn't be mistaken for a "bad" mom. 

Do I look like I could pass for being her mother??
Props to big brother Andrew for taking this picture.

Also regarding my schedule. I think this is the busiest I've ever been. I don't even think it seems that busy but I literally get so warned out. I never get enough sleep, which I was able to do the past semesters. Also, I've been "on the go" so much that I'm literally loosing weight naturally (lol). But like my cousin Irina says: we all make choices and these are the choices I chose to make so better deal with them.

Blessings,
Lesya

Pardon my annoying family posts but these are definitely things I'd like to remember when the kids get older :)