Our Night Out

We had a present after we got home, from Melisa & her family, who offered to babysit the kids while the two of us can have a day and a night jusr for ourselves. So here we are on our little 'vacation' at Gig Harbour. This is the B&B we stayed at. Very nice!!!

 Anthony's

 We had the great pleasure to visit Auntie Jennie, and had a wonderful dinner there.

This is where the kids were in the meantime, at Kent and Melisa's house. Getting ready for night. Many thanks again for babysitting our children! What a wonderful present!

 Auntie Jennie, we can't tell you how happy they were to get the presents form you. Here they are wearing the outfits from you, which fit them perfectly, and are very anxious to open the other presents.

 They spent that night and the next days playing with the toys from Auntie Jennie, they didn't need anything else. And amazingly, they shared them very nicely. A big thank you, Jennie!!!

And thank you, Auntie Joyce, for the presents from you. Jonathan's favorite trains have been the 2 ones from you, "the little engines", how he calls them. They were his meeting toys today too.

Gordon had fun too while we were in Romania. Good for you, sweetheart!



Our Last Pictures in Romania

 Eating Romanian sour meatball soup. Emily ate unbelievably 12 meatballs, she absolutely loved it. But this is my favorite soup too, so I understand perfectly. BUT there's no better meatball soup than mama's!

At the "beach"

Dusting the furniture. Honestly, she did a great job.

Grandma wasn't home, and Emily just didn't like it, so she decided to call her on her cell.

"Grandma always says Yes" ... Hmm, is this true? Maybe so! :-)

Their 3rd train ride. A double decker. So fun!

 Visiting Village Museum with my sister. So this was a surprise, Otilia took me here in one of my last days in Romania, she didn't tell me where we were going. But it was such a nice surprise, the best choice. I used to work at Village Museum 14 years ago, so it was so good to visit this place and meet some of my former coworkers.

 That day was a real treat, my sister Otilia and Stefan took me out and we had a wonderful night out with old friends, neighbours, and my best former coworker from Village Museum, Ana Maria. Thanks to my mom who babysat the kids the whole day (until midnight).

 Fun at the Mall again with the cousins.

Emily makes friends wherever she goes, and even strangers like her. Here's the teddy bear she got at the mall from a random boy (teenager) who passed by while she was playing with her cousins. Oh well, the only girl, of course she has her advantages :-)

Happy cousins

(playing "the girls" ha ha)

Two More Days Left!!!

Excited? Happy? Sad? Hard to describe... Happy to think I'll be with my husband soon, whom I miss so much, like never before... Happy to be at our own house again.... to enjoy our family reunited... to see our dear friends again... so many things to look forward to!  But at the same time so many things we are going to miss here - parents, sisters, nephews, friends, ...life we just got used to (again!)... And how hard it is when everybody implores us to stay even longer, or to move here with the whole family, or at least for a year or so... hmm, is this a bad idea?...  But the hardest of all is to leave behind my father who is in a bad health condition :-((   BUT I want to see the good side of things, that I had the privilege to enjoy being with my father and family for 2 months(!). It was a great time, that I'll never forget. I also appreciate a lot Gordon's kindness and thoughtfulness, who was willing to let the kids and I stay longer. We miss you so much, sweetheart, we can't wait to be with you again!

Our sweet little girl knows how to make everybody happy. She is so loving with her grandma and her aunties and uncles, she always melts their heart. She LOVES to give them hugs and kisses all the time. She often reaches to them out of the blue to be picked up, telling them "Place de tine" ( I like you), then she gives them hugs and kisses and feels very happy and comfy there. She is just a sweet loving girl. No wonder that she is adored by everyone. Jonathan is too, of course. This morning for example, grandma was having some sad moments after talking with g-pa on the phone (he is in the hospital) And Jonathan came and talked with her, making her happy again and bringing a smile on her teary face.
Stefan tells Emily over and over againn that he would like to have a little girl just like her.
Here are some videos:
At bed time with Grandma - a super video
Four little monkeys jumping on the bed
Pillow fight
At Zao Park
Herastrau Park
Emily and Stefan walking
Snow ball fight
With Corina
E & J "go fishing"
"Bed time"

The last two videos are so typical of how Emily and Jonathan play together, PRETENDING all the time: going fishing, on a picnick, to the beach, shopping, halloween time, monsters etc etc. And also they play meeting!

Bucharest & Brasov

Our parents 40th Anniversary. What a great ocasion to celebrate with the whole family (minus Gordon, unfortunately). We had a great day, which we'll never forget. A 40-a aniversare a parintilor, o ocazie minunata sa fim impreuna cu toata familia (mai putin Gordon, din pacate). Am avut o zi foarte frumoasa, pe care nu o vom uita.

The pillows are our parents' present from their 3 daughters, both have two pictures: a recent one and one since they got married 40 years ago. Stefan and Otilia ordered them, along with 2 cups with the parents' pictures. The pictures on the cups are revealed when the cup is filled with hot water. Pernele sunt cadoul de la cele 3 fete, sunt cu doua poze - una recenta, iar cealalta de la casatoria lor acum 40 de ani. Stefan si Otilia le-au comandat, impreuna cu doua cani cu pozele parintilor. Pozele apar cand cana este umpluta cu apa fierbinte.

These are some random pictures but you can see more in the album below.

Click on the picture to see the album:

Dati clic pe poza sa vedeti tot albumul.

All in a Day's Work

... I don't think this is too funny. Or maybe they'll be, but not today. So this is my day today: In the morning, I start a load of laundry - most of the laundry was from Jonathan's "accidents" from yesterday (yesterday I washed another load!). The washing machine hadn't finished it's cycle yet, and here I've got another pair of pants and underwear wet. So I wash them by hand and add them to the load in the washer, before the rinse cycles, so I am "done" with laundry. Then I get busy with other house chores, trying to make best use of my time. In the meantime I remember Dayla's saying: "Cleaning the house with the children around is like sweeping the snow in the middle of the blizzard". It is soo true! For instance, putting laundry away, while they are "going shopping", taking clothes from the "store" (the closet), filling their bag, then giving them to each other and dumping them on the bed.
Anyway, it's time for a snack and the kids get their favorite drinking fruit yogurt. Jonathan gets out of the kitchen with it when I don't see him, then he spills it on the carpet and on his clothes. Then he thinks he can have some fun, and starts stepping in it before he tells me what happened. It's the first time he does something like this... anyway, I send him for time out for a couple of minutes. In the meantime Emily spills her yogurt too. (...) After we are done cleaning the mess, Jonathan wets his pants again and makes a puddle on the floor. So ... I am not done with laundry today yet...  It's 4 o'clock, maybe the rest of the day will be different. I just had to take a break and write it down to vent a little. And I already feel better :-)
If it works out, we'll get together with Otilia and Tudor at the mall at the play area, the kids love it. We are so fortunate to have that awsome place at the mall on such a cold season. We've had temperatures between 20 - 5 F.