3 DOWN, NONE TO GO

It's not a done deal yet, but Anna's almost (stress almost) potty trained! I have bought diapers for 5 years and 10 months and can't imagine life without them.

I volunteered to go on a field trip to the Ethnographic Museum here in Chisinau with Sophia's class. I ended up driving 6 because her school has no buses or vans (I know transportation is alot to ask for when you taxpayers are paying the rock bottom price tag of 17K a year for her kindergarten...there also is no playground, and no real school building to speak of either...another blog, another day). So, we get the museum - and it's closed! Wednesdays at noon, don't your city museums close for cleaning. Here is a picture of everyone standing outside of the closed museum trying to figure out what to do next.

We have been dog sitting all week for some friends who went on vacation. "molly" is a Moldovan street dog (puppy) who has been given a second chance in life (street dogs are EVERYWHERE here). The kids enjoyed the company, most of the time, while I spent the week pulling stuffed animals and balls out of her mouth.

Sophia started playing soccer last week with some other kids from the Embassy and from her school. For the first hour Sophia complained, pouted and absolutely refused to join in the soccer drills and games. With about 10 minutes to go, she finally was bribed into giving it a try and LOVED it. She then spent the rest of the day (and the next, and the next) complaining and pouting because she wants to go back to soccer.

Even the old man got in on the games....

After 2 weeks of rain, the sun has returned but it is still pretty cool. The markets are full of grapes and apples, but all other fruits are pretty much gone. I'll end this week's message with a few pix of an outfit that Anna put together herself one afternoon.

Have a great week...

~L