Lighting the candlesMikus reciting his poemChristmas presents ( Just what I always wanted!)The Cook and the MagicianTrying to crunch iceSledding on very little hills is hard w...

Just a few snaps of us preparing for Christmas eve. As you can see the snow at Kugures was quite spectacular - especially when the skies cleared and turned a bright Brisbane blue! The boys have been so excited over the last few weeks - that preparing and celebrating with them is just so much fun - they throw themselves into any Christmas related activity, heart and soul.Here's wishing y'all a bright and wonderful Christmas! Sorry I am so slack with Christmas greetings of any sort - I haven't...

This post begins with an apology to my father and you, dear reader, for leading you astray in this post last year. Dad has just started reading the blog (hi, dad!) and insisted that I amend some information I wrote about the Doukhobors. For a quick recap - whenever the subject of a surplus of material possessions comes up in my family, my dad never fails to mention the Doukhobors - what I thought was some mythical African tribe, who supposedly burn all of their dwellings and belongings every seven...

We have been taking the boys to swimming lessons since September. Once a week - Mondays - each boy goes to their own class at the Riga Olympic centre - a beautiful, super-modern, brand-new public swimming pool, which is on the third floor, and it has two big glass walls so that you can look out over the city as you swim.Because the boys are still at drownable stage, we get in the water with them, and encourage them as best as we can. I figured it was high time that Tiss learned to swim, because...