counting the days

This is one of those weeks where so much happens every day it's hard to know what to write on the blog, and when to sit down and write it :)  But I also don't want to forget these days.... so I hope to get as much on here as I can.

A few days ago I drew some flowers on our living room windows - each flower represents one day we have left here in our apartment and we color in the flowers as the days pass by.  (Admittedly, coloring flowers is not a very masculine exercise but Isaac could care less about the flowers and can't count days, so I figured it was ok.)

It's been really helpful for the girls, and we now mark days by flowers.  The tall yellow flower is Julianna's going-away party at school.  The fat pink flower is the day we pack our suitcases.  One of the ones right smack in the middle is Julianna's 4 and a half birthday :)

Speaking of packing for America, the girls are in charge of packing their treasure shelves and their clothing.  Clothing should be no problem, I've already cleared out their drawers and everything that remains is going to America, so they have a lot of freedom as they choose :)  And what they don't choose, well, I'll toss that in too. 

The treasure shelves are another story.  For Christmas this year we gave each girl a shelf to hang above her bed, as a place to store "treasures".  The gifts were a huge hit, they love their treasures and they love keeping them in such a special place.  No one is allowed to take anything from someone else's shelf, so it's a fun way for them to each have a special place of their own. 

Problem is, little girl treasures are mostly junk.  I don't have a lot of compassion for junk, and I certainly don't plan on transporting it half way around the world next week.  I'm thinking I'll give each of them a large ziploc bag.... whatever treasures they can fit in the bag go with us to America, the others will be on the moving truck headed north. 

This afternoon we go pick up the special gifts we bought for each of Julianna's classmates.  Matt had a really cool idea, and I think they are going to be great.  Gift giving is a really big part of this culture and I am excited to watch Julianna give them to her classmates at the party (tomorrow morning).  Pictures and stories to come.....