What are my girls like?

When I was a young girl, I dreamed about having a family of my own, but never thought I would have three daughters! Now I can’t imagine my life without them. Each of them are alike and unique in their own ways. 

Veronika is our firstborn. No doubt she has some leadership potential. When she and Erika play together, you can sometimes hear her saying, “Erika! I am the leader. You follow me”. And Erika obediently does. Amazing!


When Veronika was in pre-school, she had no problem playing with boys. And it sometimes seemed that she got along better with boys than girls. She is extremely competitive and hates it when she loses a board game. 


When my Dad learned that according to the American Constitution, any citizen of the U.S. could become the U.S. President, he became confident that Veronika would become one when she grows up. 


Veronika is six and started grade school this year. Absolutely loves it! Loves her teacher and her classmates. Her favorite class is Physical Education. 

Veronika is a gentle, artistic, and sometimes dramatic soul that does not lack any creativity or imagination. She absolutely loves to perform: dance, sing, and act. She is my “Audrey Hepburn”: charming, radiant, cheerful, sociable, and refined. I pray and work hard to nurture her beauty both on the inside and out.


Erika will be four this month. She misses her sister during the day when Veronika is at school. But she also enjoys having all the toys and games all to herself. She gets up at 6 a.m. like her sister because she doesn't want miss a minute of play and fun. 


Erika is my “little iron lady”, a.k.a. my “Margaret Thatcher”. This little girl is so resilient and determined that it puts my determination and drive to shame. 


She is our tomboy: feisty, spirited, stubborn, always knowing what she wants, never afraid to take punishment and stand up for what she believes is right. 

Amazingly, Erika is also a girly girl. She is all into Disney fairies, and her favorite one is Tinker Bell. (She looks like her somewhat, especially with her hair up!). Being a girly girl, Erika absolutely hates wearing pants, and prefers dresses and skirts any time, even in the cold weather. And boy, does she like to change clothes! She can go through several outfits a day, perfectly matching or complimenting colors and styles. 


Erika also likes to perform like her older sister. They both go to their respective age dance classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. So at home they turn the music on and improvise. Erika loves singing! She sings during her play time or bath time. I can imagine she will sing out loud in the shower when she grows up (I was always self-conscious and never had enough guts to do that!). 

In addition to her feisty personality, Erika’s character is quite tender and compassionate. I have never seen a child her age being so caring! She loves helping with Laura and immediately runs to comfort any crying baby (or parent, for that matter!). She will definitely become my “Mother Theresa” when she grows up. 

Laura is this happy and content baby who absolutely adores her sisters, giving them her wide, toothless grin every time she sees them. Or when they recite the "Pat-a-cake" rhyme, doing all the motions with her, she gives the cutest belly laugh. Being a third sister, she is taking it all in, learning things fast, and growing like a weed. Doesn’t like to be left alone for too long, knowing that somewhere, in another room, some action is going on, so she doesn't want to miss it. She is just happy to be around, wherever we are. Also, she is quite talkative for her age. She usually likes to coo and ‘speak’ in her own language as soon as she wakes up and has her breakfast. This video is a month old, but it proves it well that we have yet another extraverted daughter who processes information by talking, talking, and talking...  

Brian and I are so blessed to have our three little girls...

The Runaway Bunny

It has become a tradition in our family to read books to the kids before their bedtime. When Brian is not working in the evenings, he usually reads books in English to Veronika and Erika. Their favorite ones are definitely anything by Mother Goose and Dr. Seuss. Recently they have finished the first couple of books from “The Chronicles of Narnia” series by C.S. Lewis. After they read “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”, they also watched the movie (during daytime, of course).

When it is my turn to read, I usually read in Ukrainian, and we go through fairy tales that I have grown up with. For example, we love reading anything by Charles Perrault, a French author who introduced the genre of fairy tales, and whose most known tales include “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Sleeping Beauty”, and “Cinderella”. We also love the Brothers Grimm, German authors, known for “Snow White”, “Rapunzel”, and “The Frog Prince”. The girls also enjoy listening to the stories by Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author, who wrote “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Thumbelina”, and “The Ugly Duckling”.

However, recently when Veronika learned to read, she now can go through her library and make a well-informed choice of the books for her parents to read before her and her sister’s bedtime. One of her and Erika’s recent favorite books has become “The Runaway Bunny” written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clemen Hurd. (Margaret Wise Brown also wrote the famous “Goodnight Moon”, the poem that my kids have memorized by now, so many times Brian read it to them).

“The Runaway Bunny” is about a small rabbit, who wants to run away. His mother, however, tells that “if you run away, I will run after you”. It is a sweet and touching story. For me, as a mother, to read, or to listen to Veronika read it to us, it is the best ending of any day, no matter how tiring or challenging it was. The plot is so simple and so deep at the same time. It is a great conversation-starter with your kids if you want to talk about God and His love for us. If we ever want to run away from Him, He will lovingly pursue us. Nothing really in this world can separate us from His love.

So here is the story...

The Runaway Bunny

Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.

So he said to his mother, “I am running away.”

“If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you.

For you are my little bunny.”


“If you run after me,” said the little bunny,

“I will become a fish in a trout stream

and I will swim away from you.”


“If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother, 

“I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.” 

“If you become a fisherman,” said the little bunny,

“I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you.”


“If you become a rock on the mountain high above me,”

said his mother, “I will become a mountain climber,

and I will climb to where you are.”


“If you become a mountain climber,”

said the little bunny,

“I will be a crocus in a hidden garden.” 

“If you become a crocus in a hidden garden,”

said his mother, “I will be a gardener. And I will find you.”


“If you are a gardener and find me,”

said the little bunny, “I will be a bird

and fly away from you.”


“If you become a bird and fly away from me,”

said his mother, “I will be a tree that you come home to.”


“If you become a tree,” said the little bunny,

“I will become a little sailboat,

and I will sail away from you.”


“If you become a sailboat and sail away from me,”

said his mother, “I will become the wind

and blow you where I want you to go.”


“If you become the wind and blow me,” said the little bunny,

“I will join a circus and fly away on a flying trapeze.”


“If you go flying on a flying trapeze,” said his mother,

“I will be a tightrope walker,

and I will walk across the air to you.”


“If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air,”

said the bunny, “I will become a little boy

and run into a house.”


“If you become a little boy and run into a house,”

said the mother bunny, “I will become your mother

and catch you in my arms and hug you.”


“Shucks,” said the bunny, “I might just as well

stay where I am and be your little bunny.”


And so he did.

“Have a carrot,” said the mother bunny.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God..."

I have been on a sick leave for the last two days (read: also, working from home). Urgh! I hate being sick. For all kinds of reasons. Can’t take anything to relieve the cold/ flu symptoms due to the breastfeeding stage in my life. The running nose, the sore throat, headaches, and muscle aches make for a cranky and miserable Lena. As the saying goes, “If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy”. Can any mom of pre-schoolers really take a real sick leave and rest? 

What I like about staying at home and not going to the office when I am sick is to catch a few moments of stillness and quiet when Brian is at work, my eldest daughter has already left for school, the baby is napping, and the middle one is engrossed in playing with her Barbie dolls. Then I make myself a cup of tea or coffee, open my daily devotionals book and read. Currently, it is “Come away, my beloved” by Frances J. Roberts. 

One of the Bible verses I have been meditating on, as I have been reading this book, is Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him”. Amidst the busyness of my life and all of my responsibilities, it is really hard to find peace and quiet on a regular basis to be alone with God. I was confronted by this verse, particularly by the phrase ‘earnestly seek Him’. Do I really seek Him in all earnest? Am afraid to leave things at hand, to underperform, or to lose control over the multitude of daily tasks I am responsible for? Sadly, it is only when I get sick and am forced to slow down and rest, I realize what’s the most important.

Tarry not for an opportunity to have more time to be alone with Me. Take it, though you leave the tasks at hand. Nothing will suffer. Things are of less importance than you think... I love you, and if you can always, as it were, feel My pulse beat, you will receive insight that will give you sustaining strength.

What's cooking?

So what’s cooking at the Welch household this month? We go with what’s in season: apples, pumpkins, etc. Good stuff with its health benefits. We all know that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Trying to make the kids eat more apples, I need to be creative. Got this recipe from one of my favorite cooking sites: www.kuking.net. See below: Devonshire Apple Cake. Made it last week.

The kids also will not eat pumpkin in a soup or any other dish, even though they love the pumpkin's vibrant orange color. They also love muffins! Banana muffins are sort of a staple food in the Welch household. So pumpkin chocolate chip muffins was a good variety this weekend, especially for the season. Pumpkins are dirt cheap in Ukraine these days. I buy them at the market from babushkas who sell them already cut and cleaned. Sweet!

By the way, did you know that pumpkins are an excellent source of beta carotene. Our bodies ‘translate’ beta carotene into Vitamin A and reap its rewards, making us less likely to develop certain cancers as well as other diseases. So basically, it's really good stuff. See the recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins below. The recipe is from another favorite site of mine: www.allrecipes.com

Devonshire Apple Cake

Devonshire Apple Cake 

INGREDIENTS:

450g/1lb apples 

juice of ½ lemon 

350g/12oz self-raising flour 

2tsp baking powder 

350g/12oz sugar 

4 eggs 

1 tsp almond essence 

2-3oz marzipan (optional) 

225g/8oz butter, melted 

flaked almonds

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and base line 12 x 9 in roasting tin with baking parchment.
2. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and squeeze the lemon juice over them. 
3. Measure the flour, baking powder and sugar into a large bowl. Beat the eggs together with the almond essence and mix into the flour with the melted butter. Mix well then spread half this mixture into the tin. Arrange the apples over the top of the cake mixture. Chop marzipan into small cubes and scatter through apple. Carefully top with the rest of the mixture; don’t worry if the apples show through. Sprinkle over the almonds. 
4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1¾ hours or until the cake is golden, firm to the touch and slightly shrunk away from the sides of the tin. Leave to cool for 15 minutes and then turn out and remove the paper.

P.S. I use silicon bakeware, so it was done before an hour was over. Also, no baking parchment is needed for silicon.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Muffins

Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Muffins 

INGREDIENTS:

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 cups canned pumpkin puree*

4 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup water

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 24 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, sugar, salt and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, beat together pumpkin, eggs and water. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture; beat until well blended. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

*It is easy to make pumpkin puree from scratch. After the pumpkin is cut into pieces, seeds and pulp are removed, I put the pumpkin pieces in a casserole dish, add a little bit of water, and bake them in a pre-heated oven at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).