End of August and some September

At the end of August we visited my extended family on my dad's side, his uncle, cousins, etc. I havent seen my third cousin since we were like 8 years old, so it was cool to see each other and each others children. Somehow I managed to forget to take pictures of her and her little girl :(. I guess next time we see each other, I'll be 50.


Front yard, those black things in the leaves are very tasty grapes that they use to make wine.
Right to left: my babushka (grandma) Kseniya, babushka Tanya, my babushka Kseniya's brother, dedushka, Tolya (babushka Tanya is his wife)

Dedushka Tolya hangs newspapers on a laundry line to "air out the smell"

kitchen in their hata (house)


living room (notice the carpet on the wall)

same living room, different wall (different carpet!)

Everette really wanted a picture in the Ukrainian hata
TV in the room was made in USSR! Its probably considered antique by now

One night we went out for dinner with my friend Vika and her husband Denis. Vika and I grew up together, went to kindergarden together and hung out during school years. We had a good time and it was good for Everette to talk English to someone besides me (Denis speaks pretty good English). Once Denis leaves out to sea for about 5 months and Everette to US to work, Vika and I will have a lot of time to hang out :)

This is what Everette had that night: pork with potatoes and mushrooms grilled with cheese and pickles! I liked the pig-looking skillet

Lucas is growing fast and rolling ever which way, so we got him a playpin - made in Ukraine.

Its small but it will do for now

"I see you sneaking up on me, Mom!"

Cold August Day:

nothing to do, so I thought Id make an applesauce

Peel and chopp the apples in small bite-size pieces

Add: 3/4 cup of water, 1tbsp of sugar, some cinnamon

Boil, turn the heat down, cook for 15-20 min

Cool it off! (like my polka-dot pot??!!)


Enjoy! Better than the storebought; we dont have applesauce here, so this was pretty awesome taste of home. The whole family devoured it with blinchiki (crepes)

Watching movies with Daddy

fun with Lucman

such a love bug

I think this picture was taken after both of them took a nap :)