Before starting this draft, we looked back to last year's February entries to see how they compared. It would be very easy to cut and paste those entries with only a few minor changes in the details. Funny enough, some things change and others don't!
One change which we were happy to see was a non-repeat of last years Night of the Tornados. During the anniversary week of that event, we did experience unusually warm weather and a few minor thunderstorms, but thankfully nothing like last year. Being from more northern climates, we're still not used to that sort of weather in mid-February. We're still on the temperature roller-coaster though: yesterday hit 72, today's high will barely hit the 60's and we're expecting snow flurries in the morning... Daffodils began popping right on schedule around the 14th and this week we are seeing the start of flowers on the bradford pear trees. Although Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of winter (or to quote Bill Murray, "I'm predicting Spring on March 21st"), the signs of spring are beginning to show in Memphis.
A little side project Bill has been working on for the past six months has been to check weather readings and sunrise/sunset times and compile the list in an excel file. The last daytime high temperature in Petropavlovsk above freezing was on December 7th and the shortest day, December 21st, only offered 7 hours and 12 minutes of daylight. Of course, the big trade off comes in summer when the days in Petropavlovsk can be over 17 hours long!
In honor of Groundhog Day, "День сурка," which also happens to be Kate's "Half-Birthday," our friend and Cake Man Extraordinaire presented us with yet another masterpiece. Kate got into the spirit of things while helping bake a big batch of cupcakes to take to school for her celebration. The Groundhog cake was greatly enjoyed during Super Bowl Halftime at a neighbor's party. (David and Kate thought the 3-D commercial was pretty neat!" 
Academics have been a challenge which David and Kate have taken on and continue to amaze us. Granted, there is a lot of parental pride in this statement, but also much humor. Kate is still a bit confused, but David is quickly grasping the absurdities of the English language. Recently, David has been dealing with synonyms and homonyms and we had a good laugh when he simply stated, "English is crazy! How can "pound" be how much something weighs at the same time as hitting something?" Welcome to our part of the world!
Despite all the challenges, David scored another academic success this month: His Science Fair project was selected as one of a few to represent his school at the county level. We are extremely proud because the project was truly David's work with only a little parental assistance. Drawing on Wikipedia and his Большая книга экспериментов (Big Book of Experiments), he put together an excellent Water Wheel project. 
Sports and Scouts continue to keep us busy. David just earned the rank of Tenderfoot and is well on his way to Second Class Scout. His basketball team wrapped their season with a 12-1 record as the league champions for their age/category. The following Tuesday David started tennis and Kate's basketball season began. Tomorrow, we'll be back in the swing of shuttling between games, practices, etc. They're also looking forward to the lengthening days so they will have more time to enjoy scooters, bicycles, and a new Rip-Stick skateboard. 
In addition to school and sports, both are also learning about charity and service to the community. Tonight is the first of this year's Lenten Fish Frys and they will be earning service hours by helping set up and run the event. Last weekend, we trekked downtown to the FedEx Forum to enjoy the annual "Soup Sunday" fundraiser for Youth Villages. We had a very interesting discussion one afternoon last summer when the kids wanted to know why we went all the way to Kazakhstan instead of just going to the Detsky Dom not far from our home. Since they had been placed at the Priute Shelter Home before going to the Regional Boarding School, they quickly understood the difference. 
While at the FedEx Forum, both took a few minutes to pose for photos, Kate with the "HAPIBUG," and David trying to get an early start on the soccer season... 8-D
Be sure to periodically check the Antares Orphans blog, http://antaresorphans.blogspot.com/, and last, but not least, we want to put in a plug for Kazapalooza (http://kazapalooza.blogspot.com/) which will be held at the Opryland Resort in Nashville, TN this year (June 5th-7th, 2009). Although geared mostly toward younger children, Cathe REALLY wants to see the Grand Ole Opry. Anyway, do check out their web site for more information.
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