OK.... So I've been busy lately....

I got a bit chastised last night by some very close friends. They called to check on us because they'd been watching the blog, not seen any posts and were worried we'd gotten stuck in Russia. Which I'll admit is not outside the realm of possibilities, especially considering my highly threatening penchant for taking photographs in the markets....

So, long story short, we got home at 1:30am on Thursday March 30. It was 25 hours total to get home from Moscow to Texas. Then when we did get home, while Michael & I were exhausted, Tabitha was wired on adrenaline. Seeing the house, the cats, her room (in that order) just increased the "wired" effect and she was akin to a gorilla on speed. She finally pooped out at 4am as did Michael. I gave up at 3:30. Michael was up and at work later Thursday, while the rest of us were comatose. The longer stay in Russia meant that the jet lag really knocked us for a loop this time, and then the time change on Sunday didn't help. The three of us reached some sort of normal about Monday/Tuesday, meaning we finally stopped being wide awake at 3am....

Since the arrival home, Tabitha & I have been a couple of busy gals:

• Friday, March 31 was the eye doctor
• Saturday, April 1 was ordering glasses & visiting with Grandparents Erwin
• Sunday, April 2 was visiting with Grandparents Mutzig and making friends with the neighbors
• Monday, April 3 was visiting the pedi dentist
• Tuesday, April 4 was a failed attempt at a haircut and a non-confidence inspiring trip to school to pre-register (as in she screamed at the top of her lungs for 30 minutes that she didn't want to go to school, including the walk there....)
• Wednesday, April 5 was visiting the pedi, lots of labwork, an ice cream lunch at the Purple Cow, and then shopping with Nana and dinner with the grandparents (Can you say spoiled? The kid came home with *eight* pairs of shoes!)
• Thursday, April 6 was our first stomach flu, hers - not mine. Woke up with a 101.1 temp and throwing up. Mostly just binged on Russian language movies (mental "comfort-food" as it were). Got her temp down enough for her to make a brief appearance at Dad's office for a big welcome party. Wish I had taken a picture of the crowd -- over 60 people came to the conference room! Got home and she just pooped out again. Topped out at 102.6 at which point I kept repeating to Michael "Motrin is your friend. Motrin is your friend...."
• Friday, April 7 Miss T got up at 11:45am feeling like her usual princess self. So ran a few errands and then met Uncle Matt, Aunt Christy & Cousin Alyssa for some serious Easter Egg art time.
• Saturday April 8th was hanging out at the Trophy Club Arbor Days and making a few friends
• Sunday April 9th was church for Palm Sunday. That was fun waking her up after she refused to go to sleep until about 2330pm. Ended up literally dragging her out of bed and dressing her myself (good practice for the teen years??) She was fascinated by the kids choir and decided to give childrens' church a try. I was going to stay with her, but it only took her about 5 minutes of looking around and doing the math to realize that I was the only mom there. At that point she looked at me, and with a great deal of seriousness told me "You can go now." When I picked her up after service, she'd made a couple of friends. The other neighbors, with the potential babysitting daughters, came over to meet & greet that afternoon as well.
• Monday, April 10th was the first day of school, which went remarkably well. In a complete contrast to Sunday, when I went to get her up at 7am, she was wide awake, bed made, dressed, and scurrying about her room looking for just the right hairband. She grabbed a very quick breakfast, and then she wanted to leave for school at 7:15. Which isn't a problem, except that school starts at 7:50 and the walk takes about 3 minutes.... Antsy is an understatement! I absolutely LOVE her teacher and she was all smiles & giggles today when I asked her how her day went. Apparently made a couple more friends in class. As a matter of fact, the only glitch today was a water bottle failure in her lunch bag. She & I did about 15 minutes of homework that took about 45 due to the translation requirements. But she would have kept going if there had been more that I understood.... Note to self, ask teacher about the spelling list and which handout that is?
• So when I asked her tonight did she want to go back tomorrow she said "Yes!" So I'll take that as a good sign....

Some photos in no particular order -- well at least I tried. Blogger is choking on downloads right now so maybe tomorrow