WONDERFUL NEWS!!!  

Just received an email saying that the adoption of Viktor and Vladimir is FINAL and they will hopefully be arriving home on the 17th! 

So please pray the bonds between the brothers remain strong, even though they are separated by distance.

This afternoon Don, Dmitry, Jonathan, Mom and Dad, and Jessica and Brianna drove to the park a couple of blocks from Kirstin's house, which is where Hannah's first birthday party was held.  Here's Kirstin greeting Hannah, with Jessica off to the right, and Hannah's other grandmother, Ann, visible in the lower left:



Doesn't Hannah have beautiful eyes?



Bethie and Brianna were found indulging in the delights to be found on a set of swings:



It took Bethie, being petite, a bit longer to work up enough of a head of steam to get a good swing action going.  Uncle Alex jumped in, however, and dispensed with the swing entirely. 



After the swings the kids decided to play in Kirstin and Matt's bounce house, with Uncle Alex lifting each child out in turn and zooming them around:



Finally it was time for cake and presents!



Naturally, where gifts are, the kids are, too.



Next on the agenda was the flower pinata, and the kids attacked it with sufficient vigor to knock it down, necessitating a demonstration of Alex's tree climbing skills, to a chorus of admiring "OH!"s from his nieces and nephews:



That was one tough, stubborn flower (Dmitry could be heard muttering, "This is gonna take forever!"), but eventually Brianna managed to hack off one of the petals after Bethie had weakened it:



Bryson never quite got the hang of the whole pinata thing, but quickly grasped the principle of candy for the taking.  Brianna showed resourcefulness by taking one of the hacked-off petals and using it as a container for the candy, instead of trying to just hold it in her hands.  Good thinking, Brianna.



After the party Alex and his family went to Kirstin's house, as did Don, Dmitry and me.  Kirstin was gracious enough to provide a lovely pot roast for supper (heard on the way home:  "Mom, why can't you make meat like that?  It was delicious!").  We had a wonderful evening visiting and playing; this is one of my favorite moments, which was the two Bethanys doing girl stuff, in this case, Bethie The Younger spending at least ten or fifteen minutes brushing Aunt Beth's hair:



It was a good day.  

Margaret tagged me!

Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump
everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so:

1)   Montana Maiden
2)   Irish Hills
3)   DominionFamily
4)   Mostly Harmless
5)   TheClingingVine2

Select five people to tag:

Elaine
Beth
CheriM
Justagirl
Presby2

My apologies if any of y'all have already been tagged.  Play if you feel inclined, skip it if you don't. 

What were you doing ten years ago?

What were you doing one year ago?

Five snacks you enjoy:

1.  Cookies.  I love cookies.  Perfect snack food.
2.  Tortilla chips and onion dip, though I don't indulge in it often. 
3.  Wheat Thins.  Especially those with the really dark edges.
4.  Popcorn.
5.  Seedless grapes with small chunks of smoked cheese.

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:

1.   Amazing Grace.
2.   Happy Birthday to You.
3.   America the Beautiful.
4.   Star Spangled Banner.
5.   Jingle Bells.

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1.   Pay off debt.
2.   Pay off kids' debts.
3.   Remodel house.
4.   Take family on a cool trip, like we did in 1999.
5.   Either adopt another Russian teen ourselves, or underwrite the cost for someone else.

Five Bad Habits:

1.   Interrupting others.  Hideously, horribly bad habit of mine, not waiting for other people to finish speaking before I jump in.
2.   Biting nails.
3.   Procrastination.  Why do today what I can shove off till tomorrow, or maybe even the day after that?
4.   Not finishing what I start.
5.   Snacking on the stuff listed above, even when I'm not actually hungry.  

Five things you like doing:

1.   Snacking on the stuff listed above, even when I'm not actually hungry. 
2.   Reading.
3.   Traveling....we're enthusiastic seers-of-sights.
4.   Playing games with Dmitry, and listening to him reminisce about his life in Russia.
5.   Playing with my grandchildren.

Five things you’ll (hopefully) not wear again:

1.   High heels.  And for me, "high" isn't terribly high.  My feet like flats.
2.   T-shirts, unless I'm painting the house or something.
3.   Pantyhose, though I'll bet someday I'll have to, darn the luck.
4.   A girdle.  We were still wearing 'em when I went to Gulf Park for my freshman year at college.
5.   Pastels.  They wash me out something awful.  Love 'em but can't wear 'em.

Five Favorite Toys:

1.   Our computers.
2.   DVD player.
3.   Dmitry's Nintendo DS with the Zookeeper game he bought for me, confident I'd like it.  He was right.  It's addictive!
4.   My Palm Zire 31.
5.   Deck of cards.

SHE DID IT!!!  

Just got the phone call from my daughter, Jessica, who had interviewed last Monday to become an MIT (manager-in-training) at Chili's, where she's been a server.  On that afternoon she'd called, quite despondent, convinced she had "bombed" the interview.  She was really down in the dumps, though I assured her the chances are she didn't do nearly as bad as she thought, and I'd been offered jobs after what I considered to be crummy interviews.

And as usual, Mama was right. 

For they called her this morning and told her she starts as MIT at the Watauga store on March 20th. 

The salary wasn't nearly as high as she'd hoped, but at least there's excellent insurance, which is a Good Thing Indeed. 

So congrats to Jessica Marie!  Well done, sweetie! 

Hat tip to Moosebugs for locating the following video....incredible!    I loved it.  

Click on The Big Finale and prepare to be amazed. 

I used to be able to juggle a bit, but this guy's beyond belief. 

Give the mint its due, I rather like the new $10 bill being put into circulation today; it's a colorful critter, isn't it?

Does Spring burst out so fast anywhere as quickly and suddenly as it does here in Fort Worth?

March 1st and the projected high is 88°, with trees showing green this morning and even a dogwood or redbud (whatever those white-blossomed trees are) blooming along Camp Bowie Boulevard, unlike yesterday.