"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2014."

This week:

• my girls have been silly this week.
• Monday was a fabulous day for me. I got to go relax with a friend at a spa with an hour full body massage and a facial massage. Then I got a haircut (more of a trim), though as usual I did not like the end result.
• after the whole week with the kids at home it feels like my massage was way too long ago and I need another one. Good thing they are very affordable here.
• Sonia finally had her well check-up. She's growing well and on track with everything. Weight = 16lbs 5oz (95th%) and length = 24.6in (75th%). She also got her scheduled shots and did pretty well after them.
• my sinuses are finally getting better. I was miserable for a whole week and my snot (sorry for TMI) changed colors like leaves in the fall and today I am finally feeling better and don't have to use a kleenex every 5 minutes.
• Matt and I hung out at our best friends dentists again this week. Matt even got to spend half a day on a Saturday there. I am going back next week.
• speaking of teeth, Sonia got her second tooth on the bottom. She's been chewing everything like crazy the last couple of days and is a little uncomfortable but snuggling fixes it right away.
• still speaking of Sonia, she's transitioned nicely into sleeping in her crib AND no more swaddling. She's sleeping pretty well but still comes to our bed in the middle of the night. Mainly because of my laziness and me not wanting to get out and put her back in her crib.
• on Saturday Matt took us, the girls, out for dinner at La Skara (place where they grill your meat in front of you). I was a little concerned that the girls would play with the grill but was pleasantly surprised to see that they were pretty civilized. It also helped that the restaurant had a play room for the kids to hang out at after they were done eating and we were still enjoying our food.
• all in all great week.

Linking up with Jodi.

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2014."

This week:

• we got snow on wednesday! AAA! Then it rained ALL week long. As long as I did not have to go anywhere I was alright with the weather. I love rain when I stay in my warm house and craft. This time around I did not get to craft much though.
• I got sick with a sore throat. Sonia is still recovering from her sickies. Which is the reason I am doing her well check up next week. My cold decided to become a sinus infection which I am still trying to recover. I might be asking for some antibiotics when I take Sonia to her well check up. I've been congested for a week and today it got worse - I cannot clear my nose to breathe and sometimes my upper teeth start to nag me.
• jinxed myself about K's #2s. She's been doing it in her pants every single day. Ugh. I will just stop talking about it here (I am sure you don't want to hear about it every week. Ha) and hope this problem will fix itself by the time K is 18 and ready to go to college eventually.
• Matt and the girls got some days off because of Easter and it's been so nice. A month ago I wanted to go somewhere during this holiday break but then my plans did not work out and I am so glad we stayed home. We got to lounge around and do pretty much nothing. We spent all the time together as a family and with friends. It was such a nice change from all the craziness we deal with every day.
• on Thursday I went to Emma's school to surprise Emma's teacher for her 50th birthday with some other parents. It was such a great surprise as she did not have an idea about it. Those are the best kind of surprises. We are so happy with Emma's teacher. Ms. Becky has been very nice to Emma throughout this year. We will definitely miss her when we leave.
• Emma started her spring break on Friday. I am excited to have a helper at home. Probably more excited than she is.
• my friend and I booked the hotel for our Istanbul trip. I have so many things to look forward to in May.
• my quilt is almost done. I just have to hand stitch the binding and it will be done. I have been feeling crappy lately though and had no desire to do much, so it might take me a couple of weeks to finish the binding.
• Alyssa found some chapstick/lipstick somewhere in Emma's desk and put it on about a thousand of times this week. True story.

Linking up with Jodi.

Last weekend of March we decided to go on a road trip. My mom came to Bulgaria for a visit and we felt like we needed to do something with her to distract her from all the stress she got in Ukraine. I wish we could take her to Greece but she does not have a schengen visa so we decided on Macedonia. It is not far to drive to, it's pretty and Ukrainians don't need a visa to go there. Win win.

We decided to drive straight to the beautiful Ohrid. My friend, who's from there, told me how beautiful it is and it did not disappoint us.

We were lucky to get some good weather that weekend. It's been raining when we got there the previous day and I thought we'd spend most of the time inside. The next morning though I was surprised with the nice and sunny weather.

The day was fabulous. We took a boat ride, walked around the old part of the city, saw some ruins, went into a fortress, took pictures at the ancient amphitheater.

The kids were so great that I think we might be finally getting into an "easy travel with kids" phase. (Or maybe it's because Matt and I got used to all the craziness around us that road trips don't faze us anymore). They were awesome in the car for the six hours of our trip. Katelyn was miserable as she threw up couple of times during the drive. Since this summer she suddenly started having motion sickness. It's been pretty bad lately that last week I finally ordered some stuff to try to help her with it.

The old town reminded me a lot of Bulgarian old towns in Plovdiv and Veliko Turnovo. There is a lot of charm in the old cobblestone streets and nice old houses. There were a lot of cute little vintage cars driving by that I wanted to take pictures of but did not get a chance. And then we stumbled upon this beauty. For some reason I loved it so much that we had to stop and take a family picture in front of it.

I loved Ohrid so much that I asked Matt if we could come back again before we leave Bulgaria in July. With so many plans though and not many days off (Matt cannot take days off anymore as he spent all of them when he went to London with us) I am afraid we won't be able to come back. But then again, you never know.

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2014."

This week:

• I got a ceramic filling for one of my teeth. I can eat bonbons again. Though I still have to go back to the dentist to fix another tooth. Boo hoo.
• it seems that Katelyn started making improvements on her #2's. All of them this week went into the potty. Yay! Let's hope it continues this way and we can start wearing normal underwear from now on. (hopefully I am not jinxing myself right at this second).
• I got a nap today! I am writing it here because usually it never happens. I wake up every two hours at night with the little lady and up at 6:30am every day but never have time for a nap. Today I got one and it felt so nice.
• Emma had a PT conference this week and her teacher had only nice things to say about her. She also said that Emma's reading on the 4th grade level, but her math is struggling a little. Now I know what to work on with her this summer.
• Alyssa has been my little helper as of lately. I rely on her to pick up toys after she comes home from school.
• Sonia turned 4 months on Friday. No stats this week. No improvements in her sleeping. She started waking up more often at night than usual. She might be working on her second tooth or something else is bothering her. I hope it passes soon because I am a walking zombie.

Linking up with Jodi.

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2014."

This week:

• my mom left and I am again tackling my crowd by myself (and with Matt when he gets home from work). And again I am sad that we are so far away from our families. I guess this is one of the big downsides of being in foreign service and living overseas.
• we celebrated Katelyn's birthday. She turned 3. She is my buddy these days. She likes to touch and poke every single food help me cook, loves to talk and sing, and loves hanging out with but mostly bug her sisters. I know I say this every year and with every child but I cannot believe she is three years old already. She was my baby not so long ago.
• Matt and I keep working on our teeth. For Matt especially the dentist office is like his second home. I am sure everyone there knows him by name there.
• One of E's teeth was also fixed this week. She was very brave and did not make a peep. The destruction of the tooth was pretty bad (and the chance of pulling it was very high) but luckily her dentist was successful at saving the tooth.
• I think we finally have an official date on going back to the US - July 16th. Leaving Bulgaria became suddenly so real and I start making mental lists on what to do before we move. Three months will go so fast. And it seems like I just settled into our house and our life here. (Again, another downside of this life).
• my garden is waking up from the winter. My tulips and daffodils are blooming and the apple tree is almost there too. I love this time of year. It just reminds me of how beautiful this world is.

Linking up with Jodi.

"A portrait of my girls, once a week, every week, in 2014."

This week:

• my mom and sister came for a visit. It's so very nice to have them around. We've been enjoying our time together. They are leaving this Sunday though which is already making me sad.
• we took Friday off and went to Ohrid, Macedonia. It was such a relaxing weekend. The weather was nice and warm. I fell in love with Ohrid and hope we can return there during summer. Maybe do some hikes and swim in that beautiful lake.
• Sonia is surprising everyone here. She's been drooling like a mad dog and finally I know why. She's got a tooth! She is only three and a half months old and she's got a tooth. None of my other girls did that. :) Sonia is rolling over like a pro too. She rolls both ways - back to front and front to back (though front to back scares her a little).
• thankfully (almost) everyone in our family recovered from the sickness. Only Matt is still coughing. And my sister got sick over the weekend and now she is the one with the cough and sniffles.
• my mom is learning how to read in English. Katelyn keeps bringing her books to read and all in English. With this rate my mom will be speaking and reading in English in no time. :)
• Matthew got some kind of a language award for his Bulgarian language. We are so proud of him!

Linking up with Jodi.