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I am not a religious person. Far from it, but heaven help me. She is turning 8 today. I only have couple of years before the crazy sets in for teenage years. I should start stocking up on ammo. Happy borthday Monkey! I love the look of bewilderment as she is coming out of the tank.

The reason for my overall Happyness is this little monkey. From Drop Box Isabelle is turning three today. A lot of kids seem to be sulky or unsure of themselves and their place in the world at this age. Not Bella. I have never seen a friendlier kid in my life. Anybody who sees her gets a happy "Hi!" and a friendly wave. We also have a little diva on our hands, with wants, needs, noes, "I love you Daddy"s, and "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!"s. None of that matters though, she's small, she's super cute, and probably one of the happiest and most outgoing kids I've ever met. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELLA!

Mommy can I dress as you for the "dress as who you want to be day".. - Honey, what do you think mommy does? - She is a Computerologist! I am changing my blog sub-title as Computerologist!

Couple of weeks copy The Baby participated in her first ever recital. She did pretty good, considering she's only two-and-a-half years old, and Thumbelina sized. The video is in Russian, but the cuteness X factor surpasses nations languages and borders. Enjoy, but I warned you. This is too cute for the light-hearted.

My parents came over last week. The weather was really really nice and we've decided to go to the city. It's been a while since we've last been to the Art Institute Museum. We also wanted to try to impress the art onto the 6 Year Old again, since our last trip, when she was about 4, ended we her whining all the way. This time she actually enjoyed a lot of things in the museum, including, for some reason, Chinese and Japanese art. The Museum has opened up a new modern art wing, but we didn't make it over. Instead we took a nice stroll out on the new skywalk that connects the new wing with the Millenium park. We've also visited Russian Tea Time, which is while a bit on the expensive side is a great place to enjoy a bit of old russian culture and good food.

Dumbwaiter : One who asks if the kids would care to order dessert. Feedback: The inevitable result when the baby doesn’t appreciate the strained carrots. Full Name : What you call your child when you’re mad at him. Grandparents : The people who think your children are wonderful even though they’re sure you’re not raising them right. Hearsay : What toddlers do when anyone mutters a dirty word. Independent : How we want our children to be for as long as they do everything we say. Puddle : A small body of water that draws other small bodies wearing dry shoes into it. Show Off : A child who is more talented than yours. Sterilize : What you do to your first baby’s pacifier by boiling it, and to your last baby’s pacifier by blowing on it and wiping it with saliva. Top Bunk : Where you should never put a child wearing Superman jammies. Two-Minute Warning : When the baby’s face turns red and she begins to make those familiar-grunting noises. Whodunit : None of the kids that live in your house.

Weird week. Refrigirator died on Sunday morning, on Monday morning a service person came and told us pretty much that the fridge was un-servicable. it was only 4 years old. Damn you Maytag! On Monday evening we bought a new one and on Tuesday morning it was already installed, and merrily chilling away. Post worthy? probably not, but I like the fast turnaround. ---------------------------------------------------------- About a month ago we participated in a school funraiser, offering anybody in the office a nice box of Fannie May chocolates for a donation. Unfotrunately only one person signed up, but the story is not about that. Yesterday the chocolates were given to the 6 Year Old in school. She wasn't told, or didn't realize that the chocolates weren't for her. After a ten minute struggle with herself, as she said, she gave up, and opened up the box. She ate one of the chocolates. Which resulted in us having to buy a new box. Poor kid was really upset that nobody told her ...

This week is the first time the 6 Yeard Old participated in a science fair. I helped her build a small weather station using some household items. I have never seen her more excited about an assignment before. When she brought it over to her class, she looked so proud and tried to explain everything to her classmates before she even made it to class. I don't know, I just feel proud of her and yes a bit of myself. Special thanks to The Awesome Wife for pushing me a little bit on this, and helping us out.

This is a little ditty the 6 Year Old Brought Home I case you can't read it. "I am like other animals because my dad says that I am a monkey because I act like one" The stick figure on the left (assuming me) "You act like monkey" The 6 Yeard Old (assuming on the right) "Gobble-de-gook" I am a proud parent.

- Honey, who do you want to be when you grow up? - An animal doctor - What are they called? - Vegetarians. Another case of being careful of syaing things around kids... As we are seeing a small puppy. - (Me) Is that a a beagle? - (lady witht he dog) - Yes, a mix, but a beagle mix. - (6 Year old) - Beagles are just small labradors!

I have spent a wonderfull if a bit tiring weekend in New Jersey, visiting family. My little niece who I have not seen yet, at 4 months is absolutely beautiful. My eldest niece, who turned 16 last week has grown so much into a young woman, it's hard for me to abandon the fact, that she is not a little monkey anymore. The middle one is such a sweetheart, taking her time entertaining my own 6 yeard old. Everytime I leave I miss them all terribly and always look forward the next time I can see them all. And of course it's always good to see my brother and my sister in law, and my own mom and dad. We don't see each other too often, and these visits however fun are short always have me battling melancholy for weeks after I come back to my own loving family.

- Daddy, we drew Mona today... (taking a second before realizing who Mona is, and deciding to play along) - Mona who? - The girl in the picture, she is old - You mean Mona Lisa? - Yes, do you know why they painted people? - No, why? - Because they didn't have cameras! - Daddy, do yo know that she was stolen two times, and one time somebody threw a coin in her, and it damaged her on the eye? (has that happened, I need to look up). But they fixed her, and put her behind a big glass. And you can't take pictures or it will ruin her. (after telling her about Louvre and the paiting itself, I've tried to tell her what I've seen with my own eyes) - Daddy, can we go to a museum, and to Paris France.

I don't know if he does this often. Last night, as I watched the season finale of Leverage , I notivced that the episode was directed by none other than Numb er One, Mr. Riker himselft - Jonathan Frakes. Cool beans. As our 6 Year Old delves deeper into reader on her own we are facing a problem. We want her to read Russian books. She loves Junie B Jones, Arthur, and Magic School Bus series of chapter books. But there is nothing like that in Russian. Never was to my memory. We are struggling to find her russian books that would be fun and easy to read at the same time. Most of the old kids literature she knows by heart, and does not read as much recites from memory now. I don't remember the books I used to read when I was six, but they were always written for somebody who was RUssian native speaker.

Hey, Monkey. Today you've turned 6. In monkey years that's 6! Me and Mom love you very much even though we are, what may seem, hard on you sometimes. We don't really want you to change, we just wish you slow down a bit, so we can catch up :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The Soon To Be 6 Years Old - Is Minnesota somewhere where they drink a lot of soda? Now this was picked up by me on accident on the youtube. It's a cover of System of a Down's BYOB by a group of celloists called Break Of Reality. Pretty cool

I haven't posted anything in a while, due to my blah blah blah..... Let's just say I've gotten a bit lazy. I have a whole bunch of updates, and most of them have to do with kids. There were bithrdays, ballet recitals, and a good dose of cuteness to make you go "Awww!" until the rest of the summer. The Almost ^ Years Old is now in summer camp and enjoying it greatly. They are spending half of their days in the pool, and the other half doing fun things, with field trips every week. So, on to the main title. The 5 Year Old couple of weeks ago went to the wave pool. We gave her five bucks to rent a boogie board for the waves. The smart child has asked another girls, who wasn't using hers anymore, and got herself a free board. When asked about the five dollars, she happily replied that she spend it on candy and ice cream. Now what do the adults do? Adults have finally decided to get smart phones. The Wife gets great discounts at Verizon, Sprint and AT&T. We...

It quite possibly can. I've been super busy. The last class is on Tuesday and my team is lagging a bit. There's been a lot of milestones lately, and I don't like milestones. The take away the wonder of surprise and what's next. Here's the 5-Year-Old graduating And here's the Almost-1-Year-Old crawling.

We went bowling on Saturday. It's a strike, I know I was too happy and jumped up before recording the last pin falling down.

What has happened over the weekend. I love the stores that own-up. I also love the stores where customer satisfaction seems to be the primary concern. Over the weekned I have purchased myself a new shiny toy. I've been feeling that I need a super portable computer. So, after much research I settled on a netbook, I need a something that I can do light computing on, and light enough not to regret lugging it around. The netbooks are pretty good right now, about as powerfull as a Pentium M. I have bought a HP Mini 210 initally on Saturday. ABT matches any price of authorized retailer, and they often enough drop some percentages to boot. They had the base price based ont he fact that they promised a 9h battery life for the computer. However, and this is always happening to me, I've noticed that battery draining rather fast, and when paying closer attention to the box I saw that it indeed possessed a 3-cell lithium ion battery. The standard life for 3-cell is 4 hours max. I called A...

I think I have a need to explain myself. Not sure where it will lead to, but organizing my jumbled feelings into something resembling a cohesive thought may actually help me understand myself. (After writing this sentence I understand why I will never become a writer, no patience for word organization) Trying to pressure me into something with preaching is possibly the worst way to get me to do anything. Let me give you an example. A teacher at our 5 Year Old's Russian school has asked me recently why I didn't enroll said child into her Jewish History class. The teacher also has her for a Russian speaking class, which the kid enjoys, and they have a good relationship. I guess the reason for the question was when asked last week about the Holiday last week (Passover) The 5 Year Old happily said that it was Easter. This answer truly shocked the teacher. Since then (or maybe even before that), said teacher has been pestering me to no end (last Sunday I was at a loss for words and ...