Viva Italia!

Tomorrow morning, Amy, Marci, Melissa & I

will be on a plane headed here for

our girls weekend.

Can't wait for the pasta, gelato, splendid views,

atmosphere, and fun times!

photo source

Ciao!!

Friday Foto Dump

It's been a full week- some expected busyness and some unexpected. The kids have been fed, we have two things left to do this afternoon for school, and for this exact minute, the three are playing happily. So I thought I'd take a moment and share some photos- in no particular order- of what has gone down in the Yellow Hat household lately (some a more distant lately than others!).

Mr. YH's parents' pastor and wife are in country. They had dinner with us on Monday along with another pastor and his wife who are now missionaries here. Baby Girl had a bad attitude last week and was being simply ornery when we talked about these couples joining us. I told her that this would be a lot of fun and they would bring dessert to share. Henceforth, the child thanked God "that Gigi's pastor can come and bring us a yummy dessert." I went with it! And she thoroughly enjoyed Kellie's angel food cake with warmed up Nutella.

I don't remember why Mr. YH wasn't home. But sometime after the kids were put to bed and I was unwinding in a chair, I heard little pattering feet. I walked through my room to the kids' room and didn't see her. I looked in the bathroom- no Baby Girl. I called her to come to me thinking she had gone one way in the loop while I had gone the other. Still no answer (and that's a big no in our house to not come when called). Big Girl was still awake and I asked where her sister was; she had no idea. I went back through my room and this is what I saw:

It tickled me so much that she had wedged herself under all the bedding that I laughed, grabbed the camera and put her back to bed {with only a warning to stay in her own!}.

I think most Ukrainians have a dacha- a little piece of land somewhere outside the city to farm. Usually they have a little cabin, sometimes more. Plumbing would be primitive. Sveta and Yuri have one and Mr. YH went out to go fishing with Yuri. He came home with a huge bag of apples, so I made applesauce. The only problem was that the jar lids don't screw on and I needed some contraption to seal them. Thankfully, Sveta had one and helped me out.

This is Sveta, my right arm, twice a week.

I think this was in August. We had read about the Romans and made a recipe that was in The Boy's history book and then dined as they did.

My aunt and uncle always send the kids money or a gift card for their birthdays. Baby Girl received a Toys R Us card and we were able to use it when we were back in the States this summer. She picked out the pink piggy and the mouse lunch bag to take to home school group- just like the big kids. She insists she is having a piggy party for her next birthday. When Zulily had a smocked piggy dress, the deal was done.

First tooth lost- the second came out in the van a few days later while we were on our trip to Crimea last month.

Amy and I were out one day, and I found these little oven mitts that were the perfect size for Big Girl.

She's been learning to do a few more things in the kitchen. She's making rhubarb strawberry jam here- we scored a bunch of rhubarb at Mega Market last month.

A friend had a birthday party with a "mixed-up" theme. The kids were to come dressed appropriately. They opened presents first, had cake under the table, and in general, had a wonderful time!

My little reader. Recently she has started fixing her own hair. It about brings tears to my eyes- she'll be 9 in January. How did that happen? And what must I expect next!?

Totally random.

These are amazing- chocolate covered dried apples.

The Hungarians are brilliant, I tell you!

I prefer milk chooclate; Mr YH likes the dark.

Techno-challenged & Winner

Is there a support group for people like me?!

The bad news is that I have no idea how to get the screen I captured to paste into my blog post. And because today has been rough with a capital R, I am through trying to figure it out.

The good news is that I do know how to work the random number generator and when I tried to copy the screen, the information below showed up:

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max:10
Result:8

So the really good news for Paige is that she left comment number 8. Congratulations, Paige- I'll be sending you an e-mail!

Big Reveal- Who Broke the Bone?!

It's the last day of the giveaway for the digital scrapbooking software. You can have up to 5 entries! Go here to see the original post.

It's been a {half of a} week here. And have mercy, we have 2.5 to go! If you guessed that The Boy was the one who stood on the rubbermaid tub of toys and fell and broke his collarbone, you were right.

We took him to a local hospital accompanied by one of our Ukrainian nurses that works at the embassy health clinic. They wrapped him in a figure-eight bandage to hold his shoulders back and then we were instructed to keep his arms elevated at all times so his circulation wasn't cut off. This is my child who sleeps on his side, sucking his fingers, so the first night especially was a rough one for me as I was up multiple times checking on him and giving out more ibuprofen. I've been placing pillows up at his armpits which forces him to keep his arms above his head on the pillow or high enough to maintain circulation. The silver lining is that three weeks of this and perhaps he'll learn to fall asleep without sucking those fingers!

Our American nurse practitioner in charge of the embassy clinic wanted to see him yesterday, and then she sent everything over to the regional medical guy who concurred with the current treatment. He goes back to the hospital on Sunday to see how things are looking; they may leave him in this wrap if things look well or they have some other type of splint ordered that is his size and will hold the shoulders back to allow the bone to heal up.

I will take any prayers you have to offer. Mr. YH just flew out for his annual flight physical in Germany today and won't be back until the end of the week. That leaves me preparing an inductive Bible study for the small group we lead tomorrow on top of two other teaching commitments.

In other news, SHARE is in town and Big Girl took the ITBS (4th gr. fall norms) yesterday. We got the results this morning are pleased she did well which means mama is doing ok as teacher, too.

While she and the other home schooled kids took their tests at an apartment upstairs, the two little ones and I hung out with Amy all day. We had to call a taxi and leave by 7:30 a.m. so we could miss rush hour traffic which had the potential of being bad since Tymoschenko's verdict was to be handed down yesterday- there were riot police out even that early getting ready. Amy was kind enough to feed us 3 meals because we couldn't get a taxi even at 7:30 p.m.! The rest of the day we sat on the sofas under blankets while we watched the kids play with playdoh, draw and entertain themselves. While they napped, we discussed all sorts of important topics and in general, did nothing. It was fantastic!

Ok, so go enter the giveaway if you haven't!

A Broken Bone

Guess which little Yellow Hat has a broken collar bone. You get 3 guesses, and the first two don't count...

Boo!

Not as in scary "boo!" {although the image in the mirror was quite frightening!), but "boo" as in boo-hoo! Cinderella needs a dress for the ball next month. I had ordered one and let's just say this girl doesn't do empire waists so well- especially those with pleats that hit right at that spot on my torso that has been readjusted from 3 different pregnancies. Sigh. Oh, good grief, this deserves a big one: S.I.G.H.

Once again, though, good 'ole Columbus has come through for me. All the stores are having big sales and free shipping. I ordered another option in two different sizes and am hoping that (1) it gets here before the ball and (2) it not only fits, but it's actually flattering.

How about you-

thankful for the year 1492?!

What do you have planned for this 3 day weekend?

P.S. Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the digital scrapbook software! You get up to 5 entries per person!

Chocolate Zuchinni Cake

Food photographer,

I am not.

But I can assure you that this cake is

D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.

{Double click on the recipe to enlarge

or e-mail me if you want me to send it to you.}

Cute recipe graphics done courtesy of software

provided by My Memories Suite.

Be sure to enter the drawing to win your own software here!

Software Giveaway

Recently, Liz from My Memories Suite contacted me and asked if I would be interested in trying out their digital scrapbooking software. I replied that I would certainly enjoy the opportunity; I'm always looking for ways to record our family's history as well as creative ways to personalize gifts and cards for family using our own photos!

When you look around the site you'll discover that having the opportunity to download the materials you need to your own computer is something that other well-known sites do not currently offer. In other words, once you have downloaded the system onto your computer, you can choose to e-mail your finished product or print it out yourself at home or through a more professional venue. The creative possibilities are many: cards, calendars, invitations, bags, school reports, and scrapbooks are just a few!

I created this page to print out and frame as part of my fall decor here at the house.

My Memories Suite is giving away one copy of their digital scrapbooking software (and $80 value) to one of Mrs. Yellow Hat's readers! All you need to do is go to My Memories Suite and come back and leave a comment telling me the name of your favorite scrapbooking kit pack. Even if you do not have a blog, you can leave an anonymous comment. Simply leave your name and an e-mail that I can reach you at if you win {be sure to use spaces and spell out at, dot, and com so you don't get spam e-mails.}

You can earn up to 4 additional entries by doing the following:

• Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment with a link to your blog.
• Become a follower of the My Memories Suite blog and come back and leave a comment telling me you have done so.
• Like them on Facebook and leave a comment telling me you have done so.
• Follow them on Twitter and leave a comment that you have done so.
  

You have through Wednesday, October 12 to enter.

You can also receive $10 off anything you purchase from their shop using the code STMMMS17617.

Happy Creating!

P.S. For those having trouble with links, I think they're all working now!

A Touch of Fall

I didn't send a lot over for decorating. Mainly because I got rid of most everything so I could start over and be more judicial with my choices. I hate clutter, and I hate having to pack this stuff up every couple of years and storing it the rest of the time {in new houses whose storage spaces and capacities vary greatly}.

It all seemed like a great idea until, of course, I was itching to decorate and the nearest Hobby Lobby or Michael's is oh, just a few thousand miles away on another continent!

Cue the trumpet...Dad to the rescue! My dad now has one very spoiled bird dog. I just so happened to call right after they had been hunting and returned with a pheasant. I asked for the feathers, and my dad, known for doing a lot for his only daughter, sent them over.

Mr. YH came home and said, "What in the world?!"

Mrs. YH said, "Dad sent them to me. He'll be thrilled!"

{Surely, he will be, right?!}

Fall print-out courtesy of Dear Lillie.

Cute little creamer- cheap at World Market.