Long-Overdue Update

Well, my last verbal post was a long time ago. And a long time ago means that a whole lot has happened for us. First of all, we are planning on going to Ukraine. We have non-refundable plane tickets purchased so unless something major comes up, we will be there. The plan is to be in Ukraine from June 8 to July 20. Then we will train over to Budapest where some friends of ours will be, then go to Vienna and hang out until it's time to catch our plane on the 27th. So there we have our basic plan. We keep laughing at ourselves because we are the poorest people we know but somehow managing to take a summer vacation to Europe. I stated in my last post that this Ukraine trip would be free but it's turning out to be far from that, mostly because they only pay $1000 for each plane ticket. So anyway, oh well-- we're going to Europe this summer! Aaron's adorable little passport will not only have a stamp or two in it, but a visa!

Besides settling our summer plans, a lot has happened on the schooling front as well. Ben got accepted to both University of California San Diego and Columbia University, both for a PhD in communication. We're pretty excited but still choosing between the two schools. Ben is taking a trip out to NYC this weekend to check out the scene. He got to get a good feel for UCSD when we were there last year but his exposure to Columbia has been very minimal. He has to tell both schools his final decision by May 4th, so we'll have to make a fast decision after his trip. We're excited to figure out where we will be!

If, for some reason, Ben decides that neither UCSD nor Columbia are the schools for him right now, we still have the option of BYU for a master's for me. Also, we got a call the other day about being apartment managers in Ogden (just north of Salt Lake City). It's kind of tempting to hide away for a year with free rent to have Ben hang out with Aaron and me work. We could save enough money to at least buy groceries throughout graduate school. Kind of tempting.

In other news, Kelcie's room is eerily un-Kelcieified now. It's kind of sad because the objects that once filled and gave character to her room have now been reduced to the closet in an empty study with a lonely desk and computer. Kind of sad. But, on the plus side, Ben has a good place to study.

And, finally, in Aaron news: he is still the cutest kid ever. He has become a communication-machine, with both signs and words. Most words he just says once or twice and then abandons. So far he has said eyebrow, shoes, mama, ball, dog, dada, paka, gdye ("where" in Russian), and papa all at least once. He seems to say ball and dog pretty consistently but the others come and go (mostly go).

Aaron LOVES dancing. He'll request music to be put on by opening and closing his hands and going over to the computer and pointing. Then as soon as something comes on, he starts jamming out-- all manner of twists and arm throws. He usually holds his hand out to request you as a partner within a few seconds, too. Here we are dancing together this afternoon.

Taking a break from dancing to sign "food/eat/drink"

At a church activity last night they had the Stanford Square Dance Club perform. The next time he danced he kept putting his hands behind his back, like so. I guess he picked it up from the square dancers.

squinty face

This pic is blurry but it kind of looks like he is doing a Russian dance.

Playing a "Boowa and Kwala" game with his baby keyboard. He doesn't quite do what he's expected to yet with the game but he has fun pushing the buttons and watching what happens at least.

Aaron was running around the house without clothes the other day. He wanted to go outside so we put a jacket and boots on. We think it's a good look for him. Hehe.

This is kind of a typical moment in the kitchen: me trying to do something with Aaron (not usually so patiently) holding on and looking up.

He's really getting the pose-for-the-camera-thing down

Peanut butter smiles

Wazup with this thing?!

Aha, there we go

Reading a book

Here he is dancing with papa.

Happy kid

This is Aaron's newest trick/game: the "Where is it?" game. He'll 'hide' something (which might just mean throwing it across the room) and say some words with a question-intonation and do this sign.

Looking out into the sunshine

And off (with one of his favorite push toys)

Aaron has pretty much mastered the art of chair climbing.

Super cutie geek in training

Aaron really likes to push strollers, or whatever is pushable, around.

BPIE!

He particularly likes to push and pull the stroller (or whatever he has at the moment) over barriers, like the grassy hill and yellow curb here. This one required a little help from papa.

And back over (immediately)

Aaron watched me work hard at trying to work Kelcie's bike lock one day. Ever since then, whenever keys are anywhere near the porch where the bikes are, he tries to stick the keys in the bike lock. So here he is with Kelcie's bike.

Hmm... let's see if this one will work any better.

Yay! I got it in!

Advancements

Well, we got some really good news this past week. Ben and I have had this dream of trying to find a way to get funding to travel out of the states this summer. A free trip to Europe for a family of three is a big thing to ask, I know, but it turns out that we actually pulled it off! Both Ben and I applied for a summer program in L'viv, Ukraine and we both got accepted and got FLAS Fellowships, which pay for all tuition and fees plus travel plus a little extra cushion money for whatever we want! Can you believe it? We are very excited about it. I can't believe we actually pulled it off. Ben found out about this program (it's with Kansas University) four days before the deadline and started applying. Then he managed to convince me to apply as well! I emphasized in my application that I am excited about the program but that we do have a one-year-old who, although extremely cute and fun to be around, can be an occasional sour-puss/fussy-butt. I just keep thinking that they must have skimmed over that part because they're inviting us to come anyway, and paying us for it!

So now at least we are pretty sure that we will be in Ukraine from June 7 to July 20. We might spend some time traveling around Europe at the end of the program but we're not sure yet. We have friends who will be in Budapest so it's hard to pass up a free place to stay in such a cool city. Our flight might be going through Vienna so we might check that out too. Anyone know anybody in Vienna? Contacts are always good.

We declined custodial and window washing in Moscow positions today. It was mildly tempting because they give you a nice package deal but nevertheless, we declined. Just doesn't seem like a good career move, for some odd reason.

I'm thinking about going back to school to do a Master's in Mathematics Education at BYU next year. Ben could probably get a job in Provo and I could do a master's. Sounds really fun but we're trying to work out the details. We'll keep you posted.

Well, we all already know that Aaron likes tomatoes but he also likes salsa. Here he is shoving spoon/handfulls into his mouth.

D'oh... that must of been a spicy section. D'oh. (I am reaching for something for him to cool his mouth off.)

Aaron and his friend David, tired out after a long morning trip to the zoo. The first Wednesday of every month is free to go to the San Francisco Zoo, so we went up with some friends this past week and had a good time. As you can see, Aaron was really tired by the end of our trip. (Unfortunately, there was something on the lens of my camera during our whole zoo trip. I didn't realize it because the sun was so bright that I couldn't see the screen very well. So there is a smudge across the left side of all these pictures. So sad. But you can still get the idea.)

This was at the beginning of the zoo trip. He was happy to sit in his stroller and wear his hat. Then about two minutes past and everything changed... Oh well! We still had a good time.

Telling us all about the giraffe. (The dark mark on his left cheek is a nasty-looking bruise that he got a few days ago when he fell onto the corner of the table from the bed. Ouch! It actually seems to look a lot worse than it feels because it's not tender to touch and he didn't make that big of a fuss when he fell.)

The two of us in Africa

Checking out the penguins

Making friends with a penguin

Jumping in puddles. (He was much happier walking around on his own, jumping in puddles or standing on the gates, than he was to walk from animal pen to animal pen.)

This is our zoo crew. Six kids two or under and four adults.

Me and Ben on our anniversary (three years!). We went out to a Mongolian BBQ restaurant in Mountain View. It was yummy and a great chance for us to have some time to ourselves. Some friends from church watched Aaron for us. He really likes them and they like him so it works out wonderfully for everyone!

This is a picture that our friends/babysitters took while we were out. Guess he survived okay.

This is Aaron trying to push his friend Lulu in our courtyard.

Lulu hugging Aaron

Drumming with chopsticks on an upturned bucket

Trying to feed me something or other

This is Ben moving Aaron's arms really fast, pretending to throw a little ball.

I really like this picture

Jabbering away on the phone

Cutie

First Russian Word

We're pretty sure that Aaron blurted out his first Russian word yesterday. He was standing at the door when he turned around, waved, and said, "Paka" (which means "later"). Well, actually it was more like "baga," but we know what he meant; he just has to figure out how to not vocalize his consonants and he'll have it perfectly! I just hope we don't confuse him too much with our mezcla of languages.

Pictures, once again!

Well, sorry about the long lapse without new pictures of our boy. Hello wasn't working right and then we were in Iowa for a week visiting Ben's family.

As you can see, I just posted several new pics for everyone to enjoy. Aaron is still extremely cute and doing well.

We are still unsure of what we will be doing this summer and next year. Ben's on the waiting list at UCSD (he has about a 50% chance of getting in, according to last year's waiting list results) and still hasn't heard from Columbia (which likely means bad news will come when it does come). We decided to not do China this year so at least there's one option down. Another possible option is to work with PAE in Moscow being janitors and/or Russian Linguists. We're still looking for apartment managing positions all over but we're kind of thinking that Ben should probably work this next year to get experience in something and help him figure out what he wants to do with his life. Who knows what we'll be doing! We're still enjoying ourselves immensely out here and while we're excited to figure out what we're going to do next year, we're relaxed and having a good time looking at options.

We had a courtyard activity this past Saturday with face painting. So here is Aaron with a mouth full and a face painted. (I think Aaron looks just like Ben's cousin Rex in this shot.)

Suupa cheez

Is he photogenic or what?