Home & Kids

We are moving back to the US on August 1, for Jesse to start a new job in Connecticut. I've had some friends refer to it as us "coming home," and that made me uncomfortable, so I sat down to think about why. 

I think part of it is that I haven't lived in Connecticut and so it isn't "home" for me. Another part is that Ann Arbor was home for so long that it's hard to think of somewhere else being home. But really, I think that home is here now. Home is where we've put down roots: where the kids go to school, where Jesse works, where I buy groceries, where we romp in the park, where I've spent months learning another language to communicate and get around. I guess we've worked so hard to make here home, that I'm feeling reluctant to give it up so soon! 

So here's a few snapshots from our home here in Chisinau:

Miri, the perpetually messy eater, having a field day with some pasta (please note the large clumps on the chair and on the ground).

The kids have loved snacking on fresh cucumbers lately (see, they can be healthy sometimes!) Niko likes his soaked in red wine vinegar (just like his mama and grandpa!) He likes the vinegar so much that he often tries to drink the rest when the cucumbers are all gone (or you know, lap it up like a puppy, because why not?) 

Miri has been super into using scissors lately. I was a little wary at first, but after seeing her sit and spend 45 minutes turning a sheet of paper into confetti, I decided that it was good for her dexterity (and decided I'd just vacuum later!)

I have no idea when I took this picture, but I know exactly what was happening: we were heading home from the park, and Niko decided his legs were tiiiiired and he needed to sit and rest. 

When we were in Rome, someone re-painted one of the planter boxes outside our apartment building. It used to be plain white before, and I love it now! I wish whoever did it would come back and repaint the rest!

I know this photo just looks like a bunch of washed out leaves (curse you, terrible phone camera!) but in reality it's a picture of the water bottle-turned bird feeder that Niko and Jesse made. It took the birds a few months to find it, but lately a family of Goldfinches has taken notice of it and begun devouring the sunflower seeds inside. It's really fun to look out the window and see them, and I've decided to have a bird feeder in all future places we live (whenever we can!)

Our kids have never been much into dress-up, but the other day Miri put on her Cinderella dress and the Batman mask and ran around for awhile. It was awesome.

When I walk the kids home from school, they often alternate running (interrupted by my shouts of "be careful! wait! stay close!" in English or Russian). The other day I was struck by how much I liked this stretch of sidewalk in front of our apartment, with them on it. The sidewalk is pocked and there's graffiti on the building and some trash around the trees, but the light was lime green through the tree branches and the kids were so happy. It gave me a warm, homey feeling that I wanted to try and remember.