Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Pharoah Menes

I don't know where I was in school whenever Egyptian history was taught! Actually my husband often wonders what I learned in school.............he can't believe I actually graduated with honors.  It seems I've retained very little from my public school education!!!  Now that Jojo is in second grade we are studying Old Testament and Ancient Egypt.  I'm really enjoying going through the Veritas Press History course and so is Jojo.  It's amazing how much he remembers all the details we are learning.  The last two weeks we've been learning about the unification of upper and lower Egypt and I've we've been learning lots of exciting history tidbits here and there.  I recently taught about Sarah in my small group and having some of the information I learned about Egypt really helped me to understand Abraham and Sarah's journey into Egypt.............you know the time that Abraham gave his wife to the Pharoah!!!!!
Here's Jojo wearing Pharoah Menes' crown.
The red crown represents lower Egypt and
the white crown represents upper Egypt...he
wore both crowns to demonstrate his rule 
over the unified Egypt. 



Here I am being a dork wearing the crown.
I tried to wear it every time we did our 
History lessons but Jojo didn't think
that was very cool.



Here's our clay map of upper and lower Egypt.






Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Magnet Play

In my continuing efforts to keep Nathan busy while I do school with Jojo here is our latest activity!

I completely forgot about our little bin with all our magnets that
I stored away months ago.  Nathan had a blast just going through
all the different magnets and putting them up on the fridge.  This 
activity kept him busy for 25 minutes!!  Not too shabby!


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Bauman Street

I'm still blogging about my trip to Kazan!  On Saturday we walked around Bauman Street.  This is a closed off street only open to pedestrians with lots of souvenir shops, restaurants, and shops.  Once again I was so struck how clean everything was. 
Muslim fashions.
 




  I think someone borrowed the letter "M" from another establishment!





This is a Russian Orthodox bell tower.

My dear friend Christina!

Jojo and baby Martin.  He loves his little buddy!!!



Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Week #4 - Banana Cupcakes or Muffins?

So, I had mushy bananas to get rid of and so I searched Pinterest to see what I could make with them.  The thing I loved about this recipe is that you just throw everything in the bowl and mix!!!  Totally makes my life easier.  The recipe also calls for cake flour but you can't find that here in Russia so I just used plain old flour.
You can find the recipe here.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Weddings!

Friday and Saturdays are the two days that grooms and brides wed.  They usually go to the courthouse and then drive around the city taking pictures by their favorite spots..............usually by statues, fountains, popular buildings, etc.  I actually love this idea and think it would have been so neat to have wedding pictures taken at some memorable and sentimental sites in Los Angeles.  Since we were in Kazan on a Friday and Saturday we got to see several bridal parties.
A Muslim bridal party in front of the big mosque.


A Muslim bride.




 The Kremlin was swarming with brides!!



The cars get decorated as well.  It is very seldom that we see a 
limousine.  Every time Nathan saw the decorated cars he thought
that the cars were also getting married!!!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Faces and Flowers

One thing that really struck me about Kazan was how clean and beautiful it was.  The inside of the Kremlin actually reminded me of Disneyland with all the pretty flowers and how well manicured the lawns were.  Thankfully people really respect the grounds and do not litter which is unheard of in Samara!!  It almost didn't even seem like we were in Russia during our time in Kazan.







Thursday, September 15, 2011

Week #3 - Samoa Bark

I have to confess that I wasn't as impressed with this recipe at all even though my husband and 4 year old loved it!  It may just be the caramels that are sold here that didn't quite make this taste as I imagined it would.  Or it could be how annoying it was unwrapping all those caramels!
Another problem could have been these
cookies.  The recipe calls for shortbread
cookies but I can't find those here so 
instead I used plain cookies.



Maybe you'll have better results.........you can find it here.





Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Kazan

At the beginning of September we headed out on our first Russian road trip.  Our destination was Kazan in the republic of Tatarstan.  The majority of people in the republic of Tatarstan are Muslims but there are also a lot of Slavic Russians.  Tatarstan has it's own government but also answers to Moscow.  People who live in the Republic of Tatarstan have 2 passports............a Russian one and a Tatarstan one.   A few years ago, Jon's language teacher told us that we would definitely want to visit Kazan one day.  Kazan is over 1000 years old with a rich history.  Kazan also has an IKEA but we didn't end up going to it.  I'm so thankful we took a little slot of our time to get there, now I only wish we would have spent an extra day visiting all the sites.  One of the first things that struck me about this beautiful city was how clean it was.  Then I was so impressed with all the beautiful flowers.
This was a view from the rooftop of our hotel.  This is looking into
the Kremlin.  Jon found a great deal on a room at the Marriott.  It 
was so nice, just like the States, and great customer service.


This is a mosque inside the Kremlin.  We 
actually went inside and saw some men
praying.  The inside is beautiful also.


One of the several Russian Orthodox churches inside the Kremlin.



This is a bell tower I believe and it sits on
the edge of the government buildings. It
is also leaning a little bit to the right.


This is the entrance to the government buildings.  I suppose 
their "duma"(similar to congress) is here. 



Thursday, September 8, 2011

Week #2 - Orange Pull Apart Bread

Over the last 2 months I've seen several of the blogs I follow bake this cinammon sugar pull apart bread.  Recently on Pinterest I saw a pin with an orange pull apart bread so I thought I would try it out.  Twice a month I have small group in my home and I usually "try" to wow the ladies with something special I bake and I think I may have accomplished my goal because there was very little bread leftover!
I love working with dough!! 


Doesn't it look lovely?  I need a new bread pan though.  



The end results.  It was real tasty and not too hard to bake.
You can find the recipe here.



Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Faith Like A Child

Yesterday Nathan said he was going to pray so he closed his eyes, folded his hands and prayed the following: "God please send me a pet!".  He then opened his eyes, looked at the table, and in a pitiful little voice asked me: "Where's my pet?"  I wish I had such faith when I offer up my prayers!!!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Celebrating Jojo's Birthday

Josiah's birthday was last Tuesday and we all took the day off to celebrate.  One of the things to do on my list this summer was to go on a little cruise on the Volga River and Jon thought it would be fun to do this on his birthday so off we went to the port and hopped on a boat.


There are some huge homes on the banks of the Volga.  


After the boat ride we ate lunch at KFC.  In the same mall where 
the KFC is, there is also a little Baskin Robbins.  I am always
checking the Baskin Robbins here to see if they have Jojo's
favorite ice cream - Rocky Road.............they never have it but
on this very special day they actually had a fresh tub of Rocky
Road ice cream.  I almost started crying.  Often times I feel
so bad because there are "things" the kids want but we just 
can't find here, even something as simple as Rocky Road is
totally impossible to find but not this day!  




After Baskin Robbins we went and picked up Jojo's favorite 
cake to celebrate back home but as we were headed back
to our apartment we saw the Moorhead kids playing 
outside so the boys played for a while with their buds.
 Then we came inside, had cake, and Jojo got to open his
present.  We'll celebrate soon with our team this weekend.