Sveta, Sveta, Sveta.  My lovely Russian hair stylist that helped me so much during our time in Latvia.  She spoke a little English, very little, and I spoke no Russian or Latvian, so I literally sat with my Google translate open on my lap every appointment to communicate with her.  We worked through different cuts and colors that I needed for me and my kids.  Despite the added time it would take to communicate through Google translate, she was always so patient and gave me the time I needed to get her advice or opinion.  And she was so cheap.  To color my hair was like $15 and a cut and color was about $30.  So much cheaper than the States!

Sveta was so cute with my girls too trying to speak a little English with them.  :)

Before we left Latvia, everyone wanted one last haircut from Sveta.  Rhea didn't want to be left out.  So it was just a little trim, but Sveta at the "salon" did it, not mom.  ;)

We had the chance to celebrate summer solstice (Ligo/Jani) one more time before we leave Latvia in a few weeks. It's a huge holiday here, and we love how they celebrate. In old town, there were performers singing and dancing and vendors selling handcrafts and farmers market type things, along with flowers, wreaths, etc. Traditionally Latvians hang oak and birch to dispel fire and evil plagues, and thistles and nettles are hung to keep evil spirits away. The party goes all night until the sun comes up. We love our nature loving Latvians and celebrating with them!

Of course the kids had to get a large gingerbread cookie. ;)I couldn't get enough of the flowers with the backdrop of the beautiful Duomo Cathedral.  The Duomo square was the perfect venue for this festival!Of course we girls had to get a head wreath!  I would have loved the really flowery ones, but they were super expensive and we knew they wouldn't last long (and we're getting ready to leave in a week), so we bought cheap ones with a fake flower that would dry and we could keep for a souvenir. :)We ran into James and Nadia and a few other ladies from the embassy community.

And of course we had to get something to eat at Egle, a favorite little Latvian restaurant in the middle of the city that served yummy pork tacos.

Gundega, our music/voice and piano teacher, was a huge part of our weekly homeschooling routine.  She came and taught the girls voice and after some time, the girls wanted to learn how to accompany themselves on the piano.  So she taught them the chords to each song.  It was fun to hear them at the piano singing their hearts out!  Gundega taught in a way that my girls felt uninhibited in using their singing voice to express themselves.  I was always amazed at how little insecurity they felt as they sang for all in the house to hear.  They have beautiful voices and I'm glad that Gundega helped them to hear the beauty in their own sounds.

I also hired Gundega to teach Thomas on piano.  He did Skype lessons for 3 years with Ms. Mecham and then he took a break for 6 months or so before he wanted to start up again.  It was convenient just to have Gundega teach since she was already in our home (although we miss Ms. Mecham!).  It was nice to have Gundega there to encourage his creativity and piano discipline again for a handful of months at least.

We started tennis lessons over summer 2018 for all the kids, so we just continued them for the girls for part of their P.E. in homeschooling.  This was the kids' very first day of lessons in the summer where they experienced the 30 minute warm up of running and stretching followed by 1.5 hour lesson.

So during homeschooling, the girls had weekly lessons.  We had a few months of frustrating coaching techniques (Eastern Europeans coach differently than Americans) where I picked up girls that were upset with how frustrated and impatient their coaches acted with them.  The coaches seemed to resort to shaming as a "motivator" for the girls to do better, but after I spoke with Janis, the head coach, and explained that the girls need positive reinforcement instead of shaming, things got better.  Janis talked with their usual weekly coach and the girls could tell he was really trying to be more positive.  Sometimes the coaches traded off between two men and Victoria.  The girls liked Victoria.  She seemed to understand the girls better and what would motivate them.  :)  Overall it was a positive experience and a great two hour physical activity that they especially needed in the winter when they were stuck inside!

Here they are a year later on the last day of their lessons!  It's wonderful to see their improvement!

Lesson with Victoria for their last day. :)

Savannah turned 13!  It's official...she's a teenager.  Luckily she's proving to be atypical--she's still sweet and not talking back to us...yet.  ;)  We're so grateful to have Savannah's endless supply of hugs, cooking, creativity, craftiness, and love!  So glad she was born!

I feel bad that it seems that around the kids' birthdays, we're always transitioning from one post to another, going on R&R, on home leave, or friends are on vacation or have moved away.  So we celebrated Savannah's birthday early before school got out.  That plan worked out well.  We had all of her good friends from ISL and the neighborhood come and support her.  In about a week and a half (I was busy with the packout and was slow to finalize plans!), we pulled together the invitations, plans, decorations, and food.  We decided on a movie theme.

Here are Savannah's words:

My family has a birthday policy: One year we have a party, with friends and family. The next year, we have a small party, with only family. My 13 birthday was one of the years that I could have a party. The theme was movies. It was amazing. 

Without realizing it, we had a balloon store less than a mile away. So, right before the party started, we got some red, black, and silver balloons and hung them around.

             Another thing that we had, was trays that we found at a party store. On the dining room table, we had nachos, cake, and fruit, and then drinks were set on a “concession stand” that we made from 2 benches, one right on top of another.  We also put candy on the shelves.  So everyone could get their trays and fill it up with the goodness from the dining room table and then drinks and candy from the “concession stand.”

After everyone got to our house, we played a few games.  One was a game of rolling dice and trying to get doubles.  If you got doubles, you could pick a piece of candy from the pile, or you could steal a piece from someone else.  It was really fun!  We also played a game with 2 teams where we competed to see who could recognize a movie theme song and what movie it was from.  I think everyone had fun!

 We also put names of movie characters on the backs of everyone that came in.  We had to ask each other questions about who we were so we could guess our character.  That was so fun too!After the games, we filled up our trays with food (nachos, muddy buddies, and fruit) and candy from the concession stand and moved into the family room, where we had pillows and blankets on the floor to watch Freaky Friday, the 2003 version.  Nobody had seen it before, so we all loved it.  My mom suggested the movie and I’m so glad she did.

After the movie, my friends wanted me to open my presents.  They gave me the sweetest gifts.  They know everything I like so the gifts were perfect!Zara always talks about how much smaller she is than her friends, especially me.  So she was happy to stand on the step ladder and be taller than me.

 When the movie finished, we hung out on the trampoline outside until everyone left. When we were hanging out, I had everyone write in my “S book.”  It’s literally a book shaped as an S, and I let people write notes in it, right before I leave places.

Tired mama and girls.  We had so much fun, thanks to my mom. She is a superstar. :)

And the aftermath: