There's money on the table

No Schoolwork was the morning chant among my girls. It’s Saturday and the forecast is rain. I think solving the world’s problems would have been easier than deciding what we were going to do for breakfast.

Let me back up a few hours.  This morning Sanija joined us in bed as she said she had a bad dream. I’m so glad that she knows to come to us rather than just lying in her bed and thinking about it or being scared.

Since outdoor activities would be a bit……..wet, we decided that rather than stay home we would find some indoor activities.  Solving the worlds hunger crisis would have been easier than deciding what we would do. E v e n t u l l y……..bowling would win out…..by dictatorship!
We caught a taxi to a place called “Fantasy Bouling”, which sat inside a plaza. Little did we know it was a very large mall with a complete activities center. Again, little did we know we needed to make reservations so the first available time was  6pm….it was only two pm when we made them. So what to do for four hours? Well, each girl was given $10 euros to spend in the arcade. But my favorite was the Virtual Reality Motion Chair. I think Sanija choose the Motorbike racing and Nata choose hang-gliding.  After a late lunch we moseyed down to the Indoor go-cart racing center. Little did we know we needed reservations for that as well. So we passed on indoor go-cart racing. The girls did a little shopping and found some of the best Bathtub goo that we have used to date. In fact, the girls are in the tub now completely slimy and loving it.

Finally, the clock struck 6 and it was time for bowling. They ally’s here are very kid friendly. You can have  gutter bumpers, ball rolling and aiming racks and even a 6…….a 6lb…….a 6….whatever is used in metric. Just know it was light!

For both girls this would be their very first time bowling and for Sheri and I, it might as well have been their first time walking, first words, first whatever. Watching my girls do something for the first time was such a proud moment for me. Then watching my girls go from using the aiming/rolling rack to the granny underarm swing to actually trying to bowl like mommy and daddy. What a great thrill that was.

We had the lane for 1 hour and completed 1½  games. Not exactly speed bowling but what a game and a half it was. Finally, we team up, Sheri/Sanija vs. Bobbi/Nata in the fast and furious game of air hockey! Now, winning and losing was not important (we won – shhhh) but it was the family bonding that was so important (we won 9-4an).

After arriving home, don’t ask me why but the girls wanted to take a second bath for the day. Oh yeah, we bought some NEW slime goo.  Okay, I have to admit, this goo was the best they girls has ever used. It was a good as any Troll snot you can think of.

Being Saturday meant the girls could stay up late. The girls managed to get the goo off them and out of their hair why Sheri made homemade popcorn. We all snuggled up on the couch and watch, Nanny Mefee.  Thanks John for the movies you gave us last year. I really appreciate it!

Finally, off to bed! I love tucking my girls in at night. Can’t wait to see them in the morning!
Just some note on Nata.  No matter where we go there is always a brochure, advertisement or something. Nata is like a shark smelling blood from miles away. She hones in on those pieces of paper and in a blink of an eye, snatches them up and proudly walks away as if she just won the World Cup.

Many times there is a quick look at either Sheri or I and the inevitable question: Can I take these?
The other day she had two cashiers laughing and we were walking out the store. Nata without knowing whirled around and dashed to the register and swiped up two postcards for the “Free” rack. She then yelled out. “Daddy these are free”, as she sprinted out the door. I looked back at the cashiers to check to make sure they were actually free….they were!

Nata also needs to learn about……….let me say…..being …….tactful. At breakfast this morning as we were walking out, just at the door, Nata turns around and yells to our waitress, “There’s money on the table”. That’s my daughter! Then coming home tonight she says to us, in a load voice that everybody could here, ”Why did the driver take this road, that road is much faster”! That’s my daughter! I will gladly take every moment of embarrassment just to get the countless laughs she makes for us.

I know the answer

Some will see the cup half full and others the glass half empty. I must be honest I hate staying in but the girls loved it. Let me explain. Once again they paved cobblestones were slippery and wet. The rain started just after 11am and have not stopped even as I write these words. Our plan was to venture to Sigulda and visit Tarzan Land this weekend but the rains have put a kibosh to those plans. But back to today. Outside of 60 minutes, we spent the entire day indoors. However, that 60 minutes was everything a daddy could want.  Sheri want to get in a run, as she did not get one in this morning before the girls got up. So, she asked me if I would take the girls out for a little while. Gee…..let me think about that………OKAY!  

The girls ate pretty healthy yesterday so today they want pankucus.  We visited a small, family owned pankusus house that we found last year. All the serve is different kind of pancakes in a buffet style line. Nata feasted on crepes while Sanija had a crepe, banana pancukus and I think an apple pankukus.  You will notice I spelled Pancu….pank….pancakes different every time. At some point I will learn to spell the word correctly.

Afterwards, it was fun time. Sanija wanted to go back to the 5D movie that we have seen….oh, maybe once or twice….or 38 times. I keep forgetting the exact number. Anyhow, as we walked in the cashier said, ‘you guys are my most loyal customers. I had to chuckle but I told her, “anything for my girls”.

We didn’t watch one but three 5D movies this time. In fact, they put on a special one just for us…being loyal customers.   As soon as the third one ended, Nata replied, “Lets go again”. But there are other days and we are still for a few more weeks.

On the way home, Sanija asked if we could stop off at the ring store. We have been there several times before and she really, really wanted this special ring.  Being with Daddy she knew (I think) I wouldn’t say “no” to my baby…..so I bought it. In my defense, All of us had looked at this ring before and together we told Sanija we would get it for her if she thought about it and still wanted it a few days later. Well, she thought about it!

At that same store they have some nesting dolls. Now, my cousin Sandy asked us to pick one up for her. Nata said she had found the perfect ones and wanted to buy them right there, right now. Instead, I took photos of the dolls and will be posting those photos on FB, real soon. Just to give you a heads up. I think we should buy the traditional Russian dolls while Nata wants to get the one with cartoon characters on them. Hmmmm……I think that might be a tough call. In Nata’s defense, two of the dolls did have Disney characters on them. We will let her decide.

I love spending time with my girls and cherish every moment with them.

When we got back they both still had school work to do and art projects to master. Almost every day, the girls put on music and either sing or dance or sing and dance around the apartment. I would post those video but the girls make me promise not to, especially after the great “I’m a gummy bear” incidence.

Before bedtime it was family game night. As always, I set the girls up for winning. For those who know me, you know I’m competitive but when it comes to my girls……well let’s just say they are my number 1’s.  We often race to the front door, a corner, a________(fill in the blank) and somehow the girls always win. It’s close but they always just inch me out somehow.

One of my favorite thing to watch is how Nata adores Sheri. Oh my gosh, does this little girl love her or what! Rhetorical question!  If mommy sits on the couch, Nata will snuggle up and wrap their arms together. If possible, she will lay her head on her lap….if possible she will want to be picked up by her……if possible she will _____________ (fill in the blank),  She will stare at Sheri and study everything she does. She wants to be part of anything that mommy does. 

Sometimes you can’t see the forest through the trees, as my dad would say. Tonight, I spoke with Sheri about my observation and Sheri had a rather large grin on her face. I’m not sure she is aware of the attention, love and affection this cute and adorable girl needs and wants. No, I’m NOT JEALOUS! I’m not, I’m not, I’m not! 

Both Sheri and I are starting to think, “She gets it”. She understands that we will be her forever parents. She told Sheri that she (meaning mommy), will be the last mommy she ever has!  If that doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, nothing will.  We are the family that she has been longing for, dream of since she realized that she was a foster kid. The love she shows us is such a pure, innocent love that it makes it impossible to see it any other way.  This is my baby girl. From the moment she was born she was ours. There is no doubt in my mind about that. Both girls were put in that foster house together for a reason and holding both of them in my arms, I know the answer. 

Still Standing

The sun was shining, children playing in the parks, people strolling in the city if this sounds good to you, it sounds good to us. Where do we find it? It’s freezing here! It’s colder now than any So. Cal Winter. It’s so cold the kids asked if they could stay up late: “Daddy, my pajamas haven’t thawed out yet”!

Today was another stay at home kinda day.  Sanija worked on her schoolwork for almost 4 hours which prevented us from doing too much. Nata decided that a 1 ½ hour bath was needed to get out of doing her school work – it didn’t work.

Both girls decided to take baths today as the other day we brought Bath Tub GOO. Basically, you pour it in the tub and it thickens the water to a thick gooey…..mess.

We did venture out to today as Sheri wanted to walk to the far reaches of worlds end to visit her favorite “raw” restaurant. Of course, she was the only one to eat (Sheri insert: the girls did enjoy smoothies; Sanija and I have eaten here together on previous trips…Bobbi just decided to sit that one out J ). Enough Sheri, this is my blog…if you want to type about what happened…get your own blog!   On the way to the outdoor market we stopped by “Wok to Walk” to buy me lunch. Then to the market to buy food for the girls’ dinner.  Yep, we need to work on going to a single restaurant where we can all eat; that is so not happening.

As mentioned, we did go visit the very large OUTDOOR famers market today. Oh, did I tell you it was cold. Oh, I did…….  Although the market is not that far away, apparently the word “daddy” translated in Latvian to ‘Pack Mule’.  Seriously, did the girls really need to buy 20lbs pumpkins? Only kidding, but they did buy some small heavy pumpkins nevertheless.  

When we got back to the apartment the girls helped Sheri in making homemade “Healthy” peanut butter cookies.  Since Sheri has exhausted all avenues in trying to find any pumpkin pie spice in Latvia Fall inspired baking will need to wait for a couple of more weeks, much to Sheri’s dismay!

The girl almost faded away as today ended up being a NO POTATO day. I think we almost lost Sanija at lunchtime but somehow she survived. In fact, as this is being typed (around 8:30pm) we’re not even sure the girls realize that it actually ended up being a no potato day and that they SURVIVED and even managed to continue laughing and walking upright.  With that, somehow being back in Latvia Sanija has reverted to some of her old habits.  If the girls had their way they would own a potato farm……and a sweet shop!

Again, not much to talk about today. Our relationship with Nata is as strong as ever. I even think Sanija’s and my relationship is getting stronger as well. She now lets me put my arm around her as we walk down the street. We now even play around in public.  If you remember my stories from last year, she was very uneasy with that a year ago.  It’s amazing the different a year can make (except for potatoes).

photo: are apartment street

Double Day

A Double day    (10/5/16)

The morning started out with breakfast at Double Coffee. I have to laugh at the Rossini family as everything that we ordered had to be modified. Remember the scene in “When Harry Met Sally”, when what’s her name was ordering a salad. Well, that was all four of us.

Today, we started to make our plans for the near future, which includes buying airline tickets. First up, was to contact Nata’s new foster family and asked if we could all meet up at Big Lido on Oct 16 for lunch. Being that the FM did not speak English I put Nata on the phone to coordinate the event. For all I know, she might have told them we were buying them a 16 person Big Limo in October. I hope she got it right!

I also contacted our adoption travel agency to book our airline tickets. The big question is….do we get two window seats or 1 window seat with the 4^th person sitting in the adjacent row. You would think that would be an easy question for the girls. Nope, it took over an hour to decide.

While Sanija had her school work to do….let me stop for a moment and tell you about Sheri. At some point Sheri came back to where I was getting Nata ready for the day. By the way, try getting a little girl out of the bathtub when the bath has waterjets, bubbles, toy mermaids and LED ice cubes. When taking her out she told me next time she wants to take a longer one. I told her I think 45 minutes was long enough. Anyhow, back to the story. Sheri comes in and shows me a 5^th grade math problem. Her comments, “What the….., this makes no sense”, I just smiled and said, “you would rather have the partial dyslexic person attempt to teach her about common core math”. “She’ll really be confused then”.

I finished up with the little one while Sheri finished up with the bigger one. After everybody was ready for the day, our attempt will be to ride the Double Decker Tour bus.

It’s now 8pm and we just got home. The girls are writing in their journals and have a lot to write about. We made the 3:45pm Double Decker Tour Bus. This is the second time we have taken this tour and it was still entertaining. Afterwards we hopped in a Taxi and headed off to Spice. The cab driver wasn’t sure what I meant as they would call it Spizza in Latvian. Anyhow, we made it to one of the biggest malls in Riga and a mall we have never gone to. Besides shopping they had a Lido. Lido is kind of a Chucky Cheese but with more interactive games, rides and carnival type games. I’ll tell you, 30 euros goes very quickly! But we had a blast doing it. The girls each got a few bucks to spend on whatever they wanted. Sanija bought a remote control car and Nata some Ken doll clothing. Sanija, the master negotiator she is, convinced me that it was imperative that she buy Nata a “Every After High” Doll. So tonight she will be doing dishes.

If I said that my ugly green monster was lying dormant and unaffected by…….let’s just say…...things! You could start calling me Pinocchio. But to be honest, I couldn’t be happier….grumble, grumble grumble. No seriously, I’m happy….my inner voice keeps saying “keep telling yourself that”. No big revelation here but we know that “males” were not a big part in our girls’ lives. In fact, for the most part males played no positive remodel for either of my girls. So it would make since that our girls natural gravitate to Sheri. Nope, that doesn’t affect me one Bit! Since we got our littlest princess back Nata always goes to mommy for 90% of most things. Again, No problem here! When walking in public, she will typically grab Sheri’s hand. Nope, doesn’t bother me one bit!  Each day she keeps getting more and more affectionate with us. Opps, I meant to say with Sheri. Well tonight in the car it was Nata, Sheri and me in that order in the back seat. Nata was sorta snuggled up against Sheri and Sheri did a quick rub of Nata’s hand, then stopped. Nata in a very soft, loving voice asked Sheri, “Please Mommy, no stop”. She snuggled up even more while Sheri rubbed her hand. A few minutes later and Sheri had stopped again. Nata started to rub Mommy’s hand and softy said, “you have beautiful nails mommy”. Very seldom does Nata wonder too far from Sheri.  NO….I”M NOT JEALOUS!!!!  I’m not, I’m not, I’m not!

Okay, deep breath…in…out. I’m better now!  There was a small part I left out.  Sheri called me back into the room and told Nata to say what she had just told mommy. Nata said: “you’re the best daddy in the whole world”.  Okay,Okay….all is forgiven…..till tomorrow!

On a funny note. I wish I could write down how many times I laugh each day. You know my thoughts about how funny Sanija is. Well, Nata is just as funny in a different way. She is the biggest ham you have ever seen.  She gives Savannah a run for the money. I wonder where she gets some of the expressions she uses, it just cracks you up! I truly believe it’s because she never had a real mother before and she is just soaking it up. Each day their bond gets stronger and stronger. I love it! 

One of Three

Morning: Blah blah blah. Okay, that out of the way, here’s the good stuff. 

Around 10 this morning we got a text from Ilze letting us know that the Orphans Court Representative would be coming by today at 3pm. Holy Moly, there were still four showers to be taken, bedrooms to be clean, Living room to recover from Hurricane Sanata,  hor d’oeuvres to be ordered, video presentation to be made and things to be organized. Not to mention the 3 hours of Studying that Sanija does each morning.

This was to be the first of three visits from the OC. Somehow we were ready to have our special guests. At a few minutes before 3pm Ilze was the first to arrive. By 3:15 the OC rep was knocking on our door. When she walked in, we had never seen her before. Later, after she left, Ilze told us the she was the most serious of all the reps. In fact, of all the OC people we have met over these two adoptions she was definitely the most professional in her mannerisms and appearance. Maybe, just maybe I should have worn pants vs. shorts. Anyhow, introductions were made and the girls sat with us for a little while. But as kids will be, they got bored and started playing around, luckily the girls left and went to their bedroom to play. This was good as the OC sat with Sheri and I along with Ilze. Her questions to us were pretty basic; are the any problems? How is the bonding going, What we were doing with our time in Riga.  How is the relationship between Sanija and Nata. One interesting set of questions was about her brother Andre. Does she speak of him? Does she comprehend his death? Things like that. After 30 plus minutes with us she asked us to leave and she wanted to speak with both girls. As Sheri, Ilze and I sat in our bedroom we noticed that the interview was taking some time. Not watching the clock, we estimate she was with them for 40…45 minutes. Finally, we were asked back into the room. There were a few more questions asked and a few statements that she said the girls told her.  Don’t worry, they were not bad it was about how we restrict them on sugar and sugar is bad for them “Yeah”, Sheri though, “They’re learning”.  Other statements like “she calls you mommy and daddy”. Loved that one!!!  When all was said and done the OC Rep basically said, “Everything was on a positive note and would grant us permission to continue with the adoption”. Now we just have two more OC inspections (each Tuesday for the next 2 weeks). We even spoke about being able to depart early, after her visa is issued with the US Embassy.  As soon as we make the airline arrangements we will let you know. All this is in an effort to get Sanija back to school as soon as we can. Note: Sanija wants it too. (so proud of my girl).

With a big sigh of relief we took the girls out for a celebratory “Movie Night”. The girls have really wanted to see Stork and you know what…It was a cute movie.  Which once again brings up a good question. Being Americans in Latvia seeing an English speaking movie were we seeing a Foreign Film or Domestic film on Latvia soil?  Ponder that one for a while will ya?

Let me revisit the Blah, blah blah. First off, WHAT HAPPENED? It was very, very cold out and windy. If you don’t believe me, just as the penguin that was walking down the street, he was flying a kite! It must have dropped 20 degrees out. The polar ice-caps aren’t melting up here – no sir-re! Anyhow, the girls joined mommy in a morning run. Of course, now buying the girls warm hats and gloves is now on the shopping list.

There was something I forgot to mention about last night’s blog. Sanija always asks Sheri if she will stay with her till she falls asleep and last night was no different. On no other nights before did Nata snuggle with her mommy in bed….till last night. Sheri said, slowly a foot would touch her, then a leg over her, then an arm followed by butting right up to her. In between she would give Sheri a peck on the check.  We are thinking that she never had to opportunity to do this in her short life. She didn’t know what to do and eventually found comfort and protection with mommy. I’m thinking mommy’s new bedtime is whenever the girls go to bed.  I’ll keep you posted on this.  Ohhhhh…it’s been about 10 minutes since I wrote that last sentence and Nata just came out to get mommy to lay down with them…….oh sooo cute!

Oh yeah, one more thing. After the interview but before we left for the movies Nata handed both Sheri and I an envelope and asked us to open it. We pulled out the cards (see below).

A day at home.

Sorry everybody but today was a bit mondane. 

I would like to first start out by saying I had no sleep last night. As I did last year, I typically write these post after the girls go to bed. I try to get some quite time after that by watching some episodes that I downloaded to by tpeablet. When all is said and done, it’s about midnight. Normally, I would take my sleeping pill around 10ish so by the time I’m ready to sleep, I’m out. But last night I forgot to take it or I should say by the time I realized I did not take it, it was too late. With trazadone you really need a minimum of 8 hours otherwise you just can’t function very well. Therefore, I starred at the ceil to about 3am, then went to the living room till 5am, then back to the bedroom till….whenever. I think I caught about an hour of sleep somewhere between 6 and 7am.

Okay, the day would be a stay at home day as Sanija has a ton of homework to do and Nata has her studies as well. Which worked out well as we were having a cleaning lady come by at 1pm to clean the apartment down to the last spec. She was here for a couple of hours and cost us about $30. That’s thirty bucks well spent. We know this week we will have a visit from the orphans court representative and we want the place to look spotless.

Although, we did not hear from Ilze, we should have issue the care and supervision papers today and this will allow us to travel outside of Riga with Nata.

Around 12ish today, while Sheri was working with Sanija, I took Nata out for a few errands around town. This was a fun bonding time with her and I think she enjoyed it. Something tells me that Sanija has passed along a few of the things she has learn over the past year to Nata….like daddy buys more things than mommy does. Or as Sheri would say, “I’m a push over when it comes to my girls”.  In my defense I must say………..ummm……..what about th……….Okay True! I have no defense. But I love my girls and when they look up at me with those puppy dog eyes…….I…I just melt!

Sheri today was not also at her best. She doesn’t know if it was all the pulling / saving of the girls falling on the ice yesterday or the girls riding on our shoulders last night but her back is killing her. You know it’s hurting when she asks that I run down to the store to pick up some aspirin.

Feeling better Sheri wanted to take the girls out to Druga’s. Now, we don’t allow the girls to wear any makeup other than some lip gloss but the girls wanted to have some play makeup. Anyhow……the girls came back with an assortment of Eyeshadow, Lip gloss and some brushes. Earlier in the day when I took Nata out we found a doll store with handmade items. I was able to deflect buying any items as I kept telling Nata that we would need Sanija to be here to tell us if the handmade clothes would fit her American Girl dolls.  I underestimated Nata and her perseverance because when they returned they has spent a small fortune on dolls clothes. Keep in mind that Nata does not own a full size American Doll yet she has several new outfits for her.  Hmmmm……I think mommy is a bigger push over than daddy is – don’t you think?

Once home, Sanija took right up again with her studies. She needed to type and upload three of her travel journal pages to google documents to have her teacher review them for the week.

A couple of hours have passed and the littlest one though we should go to Lido for Dinner. It’s about a 15 minute walk (10 minutes if it was only two adult). But there are poles to swing around, bushes to jump over and of course, hide and seek along the way.

As both mommy and daddy were/are very tired that must mean that everybody must go to sleep early. Now, I would like to say that our two precious girls love us and want to make us happy by jumping in bed but…I think giving the a black light flash light could have helped us in our endeavors.

On a side note: I really think taking Nata out by myself helped us in our bonding. I think this was because “mommy” wasn’t there for her to fall back on. We really had a lot of fun together.

 .

an afternoon with Ilze

Since O’dark thirty and all you could hear was the rhythmic beating of the raindrops beating against the windows that line our bedroom. Unlike our home, this apartment has dark curtains that block out the morning light allowing for later sleep.  Sheri as usual was up first followed by the other two girls in my life. Apparently, the words “speak softly” has no concept to our two young girls and soon high pitch laugher filled the apartment.

Today was Sunday and we had spoken about a Sunday brunch for a couple of days now but it was raining out.  For those of you who know Sheri you know when she gets focused on something she can literally and figuratively wear “blinders”. You know, what they put on horses during a horse race to keep them focus and running forward. Now this can be a great quality or a….not so great quality. ( On a side note: this is great for actually getting things done, like adoption stuff) In this particular case…well…..maybe they could have been taken off. Let me explain. First off, it was raining. By itself, no big deal but now add in: Number 2: Sanija did not bring a “rain” jacket with her. Number 3: None of us had rain shoes…of any kind. Okay, we were on the border between going and not going – Right? Now the big one. Number 4: It is NOT close to us. It was about a 1 mile or so walk to the Radisson Blu Breakfast buffet.  So let me paint the picture for you. It’s raining, no rain shoes, no rain jackets, it’s raining, walk in rain about a mile in the rain for a $15 a person breakfast. 

Now, I think most people would have said, tell you what gang, it’s raining out. Let eat breakfast at home and we’ll do it next weekend – right? Nope! Not for my wife. She was focused on that task for 3 days now and it could have been raining meatballs from the sky and we would have still marched on to a buffet breakfast.  To be fair, for the girl this meant stepping in puddles of water, getting wet, they didn’t care one bit and in the end the adventure makes for a good story.

I will admit, last time we stayed at the Radisson Blu the buffet was good. My girls ate crepes (no, not as good as Papa’s) eggs, vegetables, fruit, dry cereal, sausage (even Sanija had the sausage) and fresh squeezed orange juice.

On the way home we decided to take a taxi!

Once home the girls started on their arts and crafts again. This time I brought down the paint by numbers and all was progressing until we got “the call” from Ilze. At 2:30 we would meet them at the Vol…Vul..Volvo…..that place where they go ice skating. So we pile into a cab for the 20 minute drive until we reach the Vollu….Volka……the Ice skating place.

We rented skates for the girl and they gave them each helmets to wear. Of course Sheri and Bobbi had to rent skates as well. Ilze was kind enough to bring the girls some winter snow pants , from the boys. For Nata, not only did they fit but they were perfect for her butt as it layed on the ice many, many and I mean many times.  Ilze knew how to skate well and gave Sanija a lesson. By the end of our skate time, Sanija was doing a great job. As for our little mighty might…Holy jump’in  jahosifats. She was good. Before this she had never stepped on the ice. Without any help except to hold her hand she was moving around the ice. After about two laps, she wanted no more help and was skating on her own. Yes, she had many falls but this girl was fearless. After about 30 minutes she was in the corner with me and watching some “real skaters doing real moves”, she decided to do a spin on her own. No, it was not pretty but she spun on her own. Sign this girl up for competition.

I was so proud of all three of my girls. You should have been there.

Now the girls had another plan for us. To make us dinner. But it was a secret. They needed us to take them to the store and buy groceries but not watch what they were buying. Not sure how Sanija knew this but she found me and brought me back to the wine department. She told me she wanted to buy mommy a bottle of wine. So we made our way back there and I asked her what kind of wine was she thinking. She replied, “I don’t know…a wine, one in a bottle.” Okay, that narrows that one down.

To be honest, I kept thinking what on earth can they be possibly making that I would eat. So once back in the apartment, Sheri and I were asked to stay in our room till dinner was made. Okay, 10 minutes later the girls came back as asked mommy to help with something, “but don’t look at anything”, she said. 10 minutes later, “Mommy”! Apparently, the girls needed mommy to run off to our local subway and pick me up a sandwich. Isn’t that just the cutest thing?! Rhetorical question.

OMG!!!!!! You should have seen what the girls did for us. As mentioned, we were sequestered in our bedrooms till dinner was done. The girls called for us but the doors to the living room were closed. Nata, open the doors and told us to follow her. As we entered the room, the lights were soft and  dim. A candle on the table was lite and flickering. As Sanija asked us to sit, she poured our drinks. She then proceeded to turn on soft romantic Italian music. The table was decorated by hand made decorations by Nata. Sheri was treated to a plate of chopped up vegetables, while enjoyed a “plated” subway sandwich. There was some homemade potatoes wedges top with a little fresh dill.   The girls then left the room and let Sheri and I enjoy our meal prepared by the girls to wonderful Italian music with love notes from the girls scattered around the table. Shortly, Nata came out an performed a dance for us and it was the best dinner show I could have ever wanted.

THIS WAS/IS A PERFECT NIGHT!

Afterward the girls enjoyed face-painting daddy. I will post photos tomorrow. We told the girls “to bed by 10”, yeah…so much for that. It’s 10:30 and I’m just getting a chance to finish the blog post.

To Ilze: I hope you know just how special you are to our girls. They love you very much.  Without your help, I’m sure we would not have adopted Sanija. Or I should say, Sanija adopting us. We owe you everthing – Thank you!