What a day!

I...am...so...tired! But in a very good way. It feels so natural having Nastya here and she is already fitting right in. She is a joyful and sweet girl who is quick to laugh and has been excited to do just about anything offered to her.

We started the morning pretty early, I with my coffee and she with her "flakes" as she indicated on Google Translate (thank goodness I had corn flakes on hand for my holiday cookies...don't normally stock those!)

When Samantha woke up, Nastya types in "What's up Samantha?" I'm surprised we still got Sam to school on time with all the "chatting" they had going on. Trevor woke up soon after and, with hair sticking up all over as always, started his morning of goof-ball entertainment which had her giggling all over again.

After dropping Sam to school, T and N had the morning to hang out. We baked cookies (I should say Nastya baked cookies...she was a pro), they covered my fridge in magnets, and colored on white and chalkboards. They explored Trevor's room and we discovered she is very afraid of snakes (so I now have about twenty rubber snakes in a box in my room). She also swept T and I (beginner's luck!) on a boardgame that we played. Super fun morning. 

Cookie making pro!

Snuggle time (watching Wonder Pets)



 

I was so glad my Mom came over to lend a hand. She picked Sam up from school and then watched Trevor while he napped and the girls and I paid a visit to Kohl's. (It turns out Nastya is about right on track for her age...some size 8's I had fit, but some of the things I had were too small and we needed 10's!)We went a little crazy over there, but got Nastya several nice things and the girls got matching dresses...cute! N is a little fashionista and modeled all of her clothes for Mom and I when we got back. She then proceeded to try on every one of Samantha's costumes and play dresses. It was neat to see her having so much fun!


Fashionistas!



She is so sweet with S & T.

They wanted matching dresses...






















I had suspected earlier in the day that she understood more English than she was letting on and when we left Kohl's (and she was on a high from our shopping spree) she started busting out all kinds of English..."stop" as she pointed to the stop sign, "mom", "dad", "sister", "brother", "grandmother", etc. in rapid fire. I was quick to let her know that her English was very good. I think we will be hearing more from little miss in the coming weeks!

She was visibly tired this evening (almost passed out at dinner) but every time I asked her about it (which was frequent through the afternoon and evening), she insisted that she was not. She didn't want the fun to end. The whole family piled up on her top bunk tonight before bed and looked at one of those "seek and find" books. Then we read one of the English/Russian storybooks I had bought. I'm not convinced she can read Russian, but I think she enjoyed the family time and having us all there. She went right to sleep after that.

There is so much more I want to share, but I'm beat and I have to get my sleep so I can whoop it up again tomorrow. I'll have all three kids at home so it will definitely be a party! Here's the highlight reel from today:

* I translate "do you want to go look at the clothes in your closet?" and it comes out as "do you want to go look at the clothes in the toilet?" Laughter ensues.
* She takes the longest shower ever. When she comes out she's clean, but also hands me her freshly washed clothes.
* Eats very little all day until I make a special cucumber, tomato and onion salad with sour cream (popular in Ukraine)  for lunch. She takes the bowl and entire container of sour cream to the table with her and eats like it's been days!
* She tells me she has a loose tooth early in the day. Late in the afternoon she bites into a banana and out it comes!