Toomas' Birthday Celebration

Toomas had his birthday on Tuesday and we had a fun little celebration. The kids had a great time decorating and wrapping gifts for Dadddy. Erik shared his Diego birthday plates and napkins for the event, and Krista helped me blow up balloons. Erik made a bouquet of flowers for Daddy out of straws and paper. Kaitlyn blew out Daddy's candles and was SO proud of herself (and she tried to sing the b-day song too)! We opened gifts and had pizza and cake. A fun night!!!! Next up is Krista's 9th birthday in only 6 days!! Here are a few photos of the party.

Krista is the REGIONAL CHAMPION of GRS!!

Yesterday was the Regional championship for Coupe Formation 3 in Rhythmic Gymnastics and I am PROUD TO ANNOUNCE, that KRISTA is the Regional Champion for the 2nd year in a row! It was held near Switzerland this year (about a 1 1/2 hour car ride) and was a VERY long day. The kids had school until 11, they quickly came home and ate lunch and then we hit the road in order to be there by 1:15. Krista was fairly nervous about the competition since she REALLY wanted to win again this year (the pressure was on) and we talked about just 'trying her best' a lot in the car.

The competion started at 2:30 and lasted until 6:00! It took SO long mostly because there were many many girls participating from various teams all over our region. Each girl was judged in 5 categories of rhythmic gymnastics (cord, ball, freestyle, ribbon and batons). After these were graded the girls proceeded to a separate gymnasium (away from the public) for physical endurance, strength and flexibility tests. These consisted of jump rope counts (how many per minute), long jump distance, back bend measurments, splits measurments, forward stretching measurements and 50 yard dash. What a BIG day for the girls!!!

When the points were tallied the girls proceeded back into the gym for the distribution of certificates. In order to pass into the next level a minimum of 248 points was required. Unfortunately there were many, many girls who did not meet this criteria. I knew that it was only good news for our team that we were called up to the podium last....All of the girls on Krista's team were called and then....Krista was remaining. I KNEW she had done it again. I was so thrilled for her. AND SHE BROKE A RECORD she obtained 335 points!!! The second place behind her was 312 point (from a different team and region). As we were walking out a few people from other teams asked if this was "Madame 335"? They said it was truly an outstanding result--absolutely unheard of! Krista's trainer came up afterwards and told me that the person who entered the numbers into the computer came up and asked her if this was "possible"....Krista's trainer exclaimed ABSOLUTELY! I'm so happy for Krista's sucess. She has worked so hard!!!

Tennis Lessons and Tournament

Erik had his LAST tennis lesson for the year yesterday. He has one final tennis event, and that is a mini-tennis championship for our area. It will be for all the kids of mini-tennis (5-6 year olds) in the surrounding cities and will be all day on June 14th. Here is is with his group. SO CUTE! It was a fun year for him but he can't decide if he will do tennis or soccer next year (maybe both?).

Girls and their gowns...

Eriks Rainbow

Look at it today. It sure is chaning colors...The swelling has gone down a lot, but it is still tender.

A Shiner!

Poor Erik! He was running yesterday at recess and another boy ran right into his eye (with his forehead). Erik got the short end of the stick with a BLACK EYE, while the other boy only got a bump on his forehead. I hope he recovers soon..it looks so raw and tender today (even worse than the photo from yesterday). We are using Arnica gel on it (a herb that dissolves bruise blood) and of course we iced it all day yesterday. I had to pick him up from school early and then he missed the afternoon. This exact same accident happened to Krista at recess a few years ago, right before Kaitlyn's baptism.

Krista's Tap Dance Show

WOW! I must say I am VERY amazed at Krista's wonderfully talented dance teacher. She put on a SPECTACULAR show for us Friday and Saturday night! This Dance School has 250 students and is absolutely fabulous. It is located in a nearby town just 5 minutes from our village. Every 2 years there is a show "spectacle" in a beautiful concert hall. The show consisted of presentations by each dance class--from children's tap to adult ballet. It was truly tops! There were 2 themes for the classical dance--the seasons (spring, fall, summer, spring) and the second part was an Asian theme. The tap classes themes varied. Krista's class was "disco" and you will see Krista sporting a bright yellow wig and polka dot mini skirt. Krista also does ballet, but not in this village. Her ballet show will be next weekend (she also has the same teacher for ballet). I was very impressed with the whole show and will have to post a clip of one of the beautiful ballet pieces as well. For now I will post the COMPLETE dance that Krista and her group performed. They did a great job! We took pictures during Friday night's show and video on Saturday. On Friday night Toomas, Kaitlyn and Erik also came, but since the show was over 4 hours long they decided not to come on Saturday (although Kaitlyn did a great job being patient and quiet). So with no further delay.... I present, KRISTA's TAP CLASS!!!






And now click the arrow below to watch the Full length video and pictures! ENJOY!

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Krista had her Ears Pierced!

Krista is officially on her way to the pre-teen stage! Ear piercing, the famous rite-of-passage for almost every girl in the Western world....It is done! She had ear's pierced when we were on vacation in the US. She has been wanting this for SO long now and was literally just begging us weekly to do them. I must say in her defense, that most of the girls in her class DO have their ears pierced and she WAS one of the odd-girls-out (although I personally had to wait until I was almost 12!). Anyway, back at Christmas this year we promised her she could have them pierced. I bought a special kit that is 100% disposable. I did not like even the idea of the re-useable "gun" that they have at places like "Claire's" or "Piercing Pagoda" so when I found this sytem by Coren I was thrilled. The whole kit is sealed up (just like a vaccine), and the WHOLE thing is disposable. The gun is integrated and is thrown away. We found a pediatrician in the US who agreed to do this and she also used a lidocaine cream on the lobes 20 minutes before. The doctor was a bit spastic, but the nurse was wonderful and Krista's ears turned out perfectly! Krista was so excited that Grandma was able to take the day off to come with Krista for her ear piercing too--Krista really wanted Grandma to be a part of it. She is 6 weeks into the 8 week wait before she can take out the special studs. She is just THRILLED with her new look and with the lidocaine she said it didn't hurt at all! Her ears were red for about 1 hour after the proceedure and that was it---no hint of swelling, pain or oozing at all. They are beautiful!

The last day with their cousins!

Well here is the suite to the photos from earlier on in the week. We ended up our fun trip with Helen, Janne, Isabel and Elise by spending the day at a nearby amusement park. The weather was fabulous and the kids had a blast. After we left the park we took the scenic route home (small villages and vineyards) and that was breathtaking! Even after having had lived here for 10 years, those sights still take my breath away! After we came home we had a gift exhange---THANKS Helen, Janne and kids for your kind gifts to us. Thanks too to Vanaema for the cute book and tights for Kaitlyn's birthday. Later in the evening we ended the trip with a dinner on the town. Kaitlyn was not on her best behavior and we had a bad experience with the table behind us, but such is life with a toddler! We were so happy that Helen, Janne, Isabel and Elise came to visit! Krista and Erik are still talking about the fun they had with their cousins! :)

Stockholm Visitors

We have visitors! Toomas' sister, Helen and her family have come to visit us for a long weekend (from Sweden). The kids are loving all of the excitement around the house, as well as the chance to practice their Estonian language skills. Since the cousins Isabel (6) and Elise (4) speak 2 languages: Estonian and Swedish and mine do not know Swedish, that leaves Estonian! All of the kids have done a wonderful job of putting their Estonian into action and have had a lot of fun these last 2 days. They all fell asleep by 8:30 tonight so you know they had a full day of fun! Last night we had a cake (and pizza) celebration for Kaitlyn (her 2nd Second Birthday) and today we took a long walk around the new construction area in the neighborhood, stopped off at the park, and spent a lot of time outside riding bikes and playing in the sun. It was a beautiful day (25 C ish), so we all had a lot of fun in the warm sun. Here are a few photos of the last 2 days. Tomorrow we will be going to an amusement park which will be great. Stay tuned :)