More Christmas Celebrating

Every weekend this month we've had some kind of party or celebration to go to. The first week Stoyan's work gave a kids' party. We also had a ward party that day but weren't able to make it to both. At the work party Santa came. Victoria didn't like him, of course. So we had a repeat of last year when it came her turn to sit on his lap. He gave her a book, but it didn't help anything. She still cried and wanted to stay as far away as possible. Oh well. I don't remember being fond of sitting on his lap either.

Leah didn't mind him, and surprisingly Stoyan didn't mind him either so we got a family picture with him too.

The next Christmas party was with family. A whole lot of family! The sad thing was that we forgot the memory card for our camera and came away with only what the internal memory could hold. We did get a picture of Victoria by the gingerbread house,but she was too busy eating the candy to help put much on. Maybe if she had realized we were taking it home she would have taken Kevin's suggestion and poked a hole in the gingerbread and filled the interior with candy. She did have a good time the next day with the house. I found her more than once using a knife to pry the candy off.

Christmas Trees

Christmas trees have always had a special place in my heart during this season. As a kid I loved to climb behind the Christmas bush (our trees were always very full) and lay down on the floor and look up through the branches at the lights. I loved all the homemade/kid-made decorations we put on it and always looked forward to putting on my favorite ornaments.

Our first Christmas tree following our marriage was a little bit... different, though memorable (I made it out of a Readers' Digest--Trisha that magazine you sent me came to good use)

The following year... we were moving... it wasn't very high on the list of things to do for one of the two of us... I was pregnant and tired... we didn't get a tree.

One more year... My "dream tree" priorities had to be humbled. Is the tree really that important? Or is it the memories we make? Our tree did improve. It wasn't anything like the trees we had while growing up, and it definitely wasn't fancy, but at least it was real! It was even cute and alive. I was happy, though I did put up a fuss about some of the decorations Stoyan tried to put on it (tin-foil icicles and cotton-ball snow). Some families have the weirdest traditions, or is that just my husband? ;)

Well, this year I was determined not to wait until last minute to get the tree. At Thanksgiving we went and bought our permit and (I hope) started a new family tradition of going out and getting our Christmas tree.
We went with Owen and Jenell's family. We had a great time and found our tree. Hurray! The only problem we encountered was how to get it home. It definitely wouldn't fit in our car and tying it on top didn't work either. Thankfully Owen and Jenell were able to bring it up last week. It even came to us a little cleaner than when we cut it. (They went through the car wash with it in the back of their truck.) Stoyan and Victoria decorated it on Monday for Family Home Evening. I started putting the lights on, but Stoyan seemed to want to do it, so I let him finish it up. He did a very good job.
Four Christmases, four years to make a lot of Christmas tree memories and four years to get over my "dream tree" ideas. I am thankful now I could watch my little girl and husband make memories together while I sat and held the baby and we formed new family traditions with a little bit of this and a little bit of that from both of our families. The decor doesn't really matter (though I did request we not have any cotton-ball snow and purchased those silvery stringly "icicles" as a compromise instead of tin-foil) and the size, shape, and color of the tree isn't such a big deal. And I must admit though I haven't liked the silvery stringy "icicles" since I was a little girl, they do make the tree sparkle.
It's a beautiful tree!

Victoria really liked the little train we put under the tree.

Well, I don't have much time to blog these days, but here are some pictures from the past month.

Victoria concentrates hard when it comes to drawing. She must be related to Stoyan.

Leah is a good natured baby

Victoria loves to cook, especially birthday cake!


Victoria outside Grandma and Grandpa's house on Thanksgiving.

We went Christmas tree hunting this past weekend. It was pretty fun, but very cold. This isn't our tree, but it is pretty. Leah is tucked inside my jacket.

Halloween

So this is way after Halloween, but I figured I ought to do some catching up.


Stake Halloween Party October 25, 2008

Victoria wasn't very happy about putting on her duck outfit. Maybe because it was too small (she wore it last year too). After I finally got it on her, dried the tears, and promised her candy for it we went to the Stake Primary Party. She felt much better about the costume after she saw all the other kids in theirs. One week later she was much more compliant about dressing up.

The ward Halloween Party October 31, 2008. Victoria got a haul of candy! Of course she didn't understand the whole dressing up and saying "Trick or Treat" but she did it very well once she realized people would give her candy for it.

Ahhh! I have a TODDLER!

It's been a while since I've been able to look at other blogs. Today I decided to do some blog surfing so I turned by back on my bored toddler and three minutes later she'd grown a five o'clock shadow. If only it were Halloween today, I could have dressed her like a hobo.

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Leah and Victoria

Everyone asks if Leah looks like Victoria, so I thought I'd put a couple pictures together to see how much they look like each other. The picture of Victoria was taken at 4 weeks, Leah is two weeks old. I think they look like they are relatives.

Leah Marie Kolev

Leah Marie Kolev
She's here! Victoria's baby sister was born October 8, 2008 at 10:34 a.m.
A little one, weighing in at 7 lbs. 6oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Daddy and Daughters

She has daddy's hair line.

Finally I'm not pregnant anymore! She is definitely worth the wait, even though it seemed like the last month was about 3 years long.

Ioanna Came To Visit

Stoyan's cousin came to visit for a week, it was great to have her with us. We went shopping at the Gateway Mall and Victoria thought the water was pretty interesting, but she didn't want to get wet.

Looking at the temple from the roof top of the conference center.

Of course we had to go out for Mexican food, so Tres Hombres was the place. Ioanna had never eaten Mexican food before.

Ioanna Came to Visit

This last week we were lucky to have Stoyan's cousin come and visit us. We didn't do a whole lot, but it was fun to have her here. I especially liked that she did my dishes everyday. :) We took her to Kanosh on Friday and saw all the main attractions like, Kanosh Canyon, Black Rock and the Hot Pots.

Ioanna and Stoyan went horse riding on Owen's new horses and had a good time. This was Ioanna's first horse ride. She must have liked it because she wants a horse of her own now.

Now that she has gone home Victoria keeps asking for "Wanna" I think she's kind of bored now we don't have anyone visiting.

Surprise!

It's been a couple of weeks, but I can't pass up blogging this! Remember the little boy that Victoria and I babysat? Well, his mom asked me to go out to lunch with her, (she said I had been a big help and wanted to do something). That sounded pretty good, so I said sure! Little did I know, the lunch was actually a surprise baby shower. Surprised is kind of an understatement. You don't expect a baby shower for the second child, and I honestly didn't know the people in our ward liked me that much. We did have lunch, which was delicious, better than a restaurant. We played some fun little games, chatted, opened gifts and just had a good time. I felt pretty great and loved to say the least, not to mention a few prayers were answered in the process. We should be set with diapers for a few weeks, thanks to the cute diaper cake Becky made. All the gifts were so great! Even Victoria got a few gifts so she wouldn't feel left out. I was a little sorry she wasn't there to open them, but am excited to have something to give her when the baby comes. One of my biggest anxieties with the new baby coming is ... how is Victoria going to take it? Hopefully this will help. If anyone involved with the shower reads this blog, Thank you again!!!!

Zucchini Bread

I received a zucchini yesterday from someone in the ward. It was a little too large to do much with except something like Zucchini Bread. Victoria loves helping me cook and I enjoy having her help--if I'm not tired. Today was a good day for cooking with a toddler, I found it pretty funny. Grating the zucchini.
Once in a while helping Victoria help me is kind of challenging. Today she didn't want help pouring the cinnamon into the bowl. She pulled the tablespoon back from my reaching hand and dumped it on her head. She didn't even notice she'd spilled it and put the toddler size pinch remaining in the bowl. Her hair sure had a nice smell the rest of the afternoon.

It's been a while

Well it's definitely been a while since I posted anything. I'll blame it on other people's creativity. I went browsing blogs and decided I'm just not up to that kind of blogging, so I dropped it for a while. Besides, setting up this blog was partially meant to connect our family with our Bulgarian family a little more... has anyone from Bulgaria even popped in once to look? I don't see it on the live feedjit thingamajig on the side of the page if they have. Oh well, I guess it wouldn't be very interesting to check a blog all in English if you only speak Bulgarian. Or maybe... my husband hasn't meantioned it to them yet...hmmm.... we'll have to have some words.
So, a few weeks ago I bought a new camera. I liked it, but there were some issues about little things such as, it didn't come with a rechargable battery and recharger, it took too long to "process" and I have a hard time being satisfied with anything that I spent a lot of money on, unless it does exactly what I want, when I want. Stoyan thinks I'll never be happy with any camera. I spent a lot of time debating at the store. Then we tested it out for a week (vacation week), and then I took it back. I'm still researching what I really want and now I see that my old 3.1 MP-no zoom-Sony isn't all that bad, it works for the little everyday things. Though, I must admit I am glad I had the other camera for our vacation. I guess I'll just have to be sure to get another new camera before we go on another vacation.
The highlight of Stoyan's vacation was probably the fishing. Victoria thought it was interesting and enjoyed eating the fish later.
The scenery around Boulder, UT never ceases to amaze me. My cute hubby and daughter never cease to amaze me either. Love this picture of them.
We loved going to Green Lake. A little 1.25 mile hike and a freezing cold swim. Of course the best part of visiting Boulder was seeing Caroline and Ray and their four boys.