Can't wait for April 15th!

And no, my excitement has nothing to do with tax day :)

It has everything to do with my bestest bud coming to visit, all the way from Australia!


This photo was taken three years ago, in Aussie land.

So it's about time for my "Kirsty fix". Can't wait to see you Kirst!

Introducing Maryana

We have finally got around to posting a photo of our newest niece, Maryana. She was born 6 weeks ago to Andre's sister, Olga. They live in Pennsylvania and so we've not been able to visit yet, but are thrilled to keep up with the newest addition via photos (these are the first ones we've seen). There are already 5 kiddos in the family so she receives lots of love and attention, as you can imagine.

Welcome to the family, little girl!

Hotel Yakovlev

Since Christmas, our little condo has turned into an hotel, much to our delight! We're so thankful for our spare room, which allows us to have overnight guests and we've had quite a few of our sweet friends and family to stay.

Roman, Shannon and Ellie, good friends from Chattanooga, were in town for a wedding in January

John and Yuliya, Andre's newly married cousin and her husband, came to Atlanta for her GreenCard interview

Heather, my dear friend from church, stays over every now and then when her hubby goes out of town (we love our sleepovers!)

Ness and Michaela spent a night in February when Sean took a trip for work

Victoria, my special friend from Chattanooga, stayed last week while she was working in Atlanta

Xavier and Kara, another "cross-cultural" couple and good friends of ours, came this past week for his citizenship interview (he's from Ecuador)...congrats Xavi and Kara!

Matt, who lives in Greenville, had meetings in Atlanta this past week and spent a night (we missed you Katherine!)

And coming soon, Laura is staying next week while she takes some classes here

Liesl, my bestest bud, is coming for a visit in two weeks (and bringing the munchkin too!)

And finally, we're looking forward to having Mum and Dad the weekend after Easter...hooray!


So now you know that if you ever need a place to stay in the South, the Hotel Yakovlev usually has room (but as you can probably guess, we have had some double bookings the past few weeks!!)

Stars on Ice

Last night Ness and Sean took us to Philips Arena for a performance of "Stars on Ice", which is an ice-skating show put on by Olympic and World Champion figure skaters. Sean's company owns seats in a private suite, so we watched in style...

...as did Michaela, who enjoyed everything immensely

...until she fell asleep and stayed that way for most of the show!


And here's the Russian champion, Ilya Kulick, who was great fun to watch.



It was a lovely evening and good to get away and do something entirely different. Thanks Sean and Ness!

Snow Day

Sunday brought a rare Atlanta snow fall, complete with thunder and high winds! Very strange weather, but we enjoyed the change around here.