Ahhhhh.....

Every guy could use a little bragging on...Mine really deserves it today! He volunteered to take all six kids to McDonalds to the playground so I could have some time to myself! Some friends who saw us on the news and stopped by to say hello gave us some gift cards to Mikky D's so that will be quite a treat to the girls and to Max. (Misha still needs to learn to like American bad-for-you food!)

Anyway, I just took a nice long hot shower, soaked in the tub, slathered myself with new body lotion, removed the remains of toenail-polish long ago applied and repainted. Now, I'm no foot model and I did a bit of a sloppy job but doesn't that look good?! I even put it on my fingernails which I rarely do because, while socks and shoes hide the fact that I am not very good about refreshing the polish, I don't often wear gloves to hide chipping fingernail polish!

Next, my big plans are to turn on a music CD really loud and speed-clean the house. I do it this way, for each song, I clean (and dance) each room. One room for each song. When the song changes, so does the room. It helps me keep my mind on my task and not be distracted all over the house! Don't laugh! It works for me! If I am alone, I can put more energy into the process so I expect to work up a sweat here pretty soon! Great! I can clean my house AND get fit all at the same time!!!! I would be more fit if I did this more often but if I did it more often, it wouldn't be as fun, would it?!

Alright, off to work but first, here are some pictures of the kids and stuff:

Steve and Little Vitali, who loves his "Papa!"

Vitali and Ivy together at lunch. The big 4 are out with dad.

Misha proudly shows off his piece of Americana.

Max covers his ears while Steve is using the saw in the garage.
The bigger girls, Hannah and Annette, have a dresser that needed work. Steve fixed it with the "help" of his boys today. Mom and I hung that shelf above it.

Ta daaa!