Here we go again ....

Hailee and I started to gather everything together today .... once again the dining room is full. I've had quite a few requests from others who are in the process of adopting -- they would like to know what we're taking. Here goes:
This is at the end of the day. We've grouped items together -- gifts, things to do in the apartment, food, electronics, pile of things sent to us from Amazon .....

This the pile of things we've received in the last few days from Amazon. Because Amazon will not ship to Bulgaria the agency there asked if they could ship to our home and have us bring it.

The food we'll be taking. On our first trip we only brought a few things, but this time I'm bringing more. A bit concerned about how the days will go so I thought I'd be prepared to make some of our meals in the apartment. I'm bringing peanut butter, small jellies, fruit snacks, dried soup mixes, poptarts (Hailee's favorite), rice & noodle packets that only need water, granola bars, crackers with cheese, microwave popcorn, mac & cheese, a couple dried meals that Lisa found, ramen noodles -- still want to get instant oatmeal, pancake mix and some of the small cereal boxes. I learned that this time we'll only have the translator and driver when we are doing adoption business -- hoping that they will at least take us to the major grocery store in the beginning so we can get some groceries for the week .... Gifts: For two four year olds -- princess dominoes, musical poms and 2 color wonder books. For Dori -- a doll, some clothes and also a necklace for Gabriela to give her - one necklace says big sister, the other little sister - also a picture of the two of them together. For Ganka - she's very religious so we bought a cross necklace; also made a hard cover book using pictures from our first trip - hoping to have Gabriela write a note to her in it before we leave, will also give her stationary already addressed to Gabriela along with stamps. Other gifts for translators, drivers & workers -- scarves, bath & body lotions and shower gels, makeup case, sundial (for Petko - an avid gardener), small colognes, earrings and bracelet.

Keeping the girls busy - small puzzles, card games, coloring books, crayons, word searches, paddle balls, play-doh, ceramics to paint, beads, we bought a Bulgarian/English word book in Bulgaria last time and a couple books for Gabriela to read, addition/subtraction books, velvet coloring, memory game, yatzee.
Gabriela's clothes -- it looks like a lot but it's a couple of this size and a couple of that -- not sure what to get. We're bringing a backpack too - will be using those space saver bags to compact this pile even more.
Have to work on clothes and essentials yet ..... that will be tomorrow. Oh, almost forgot one of the biggest items that will be going with ............. Hailee ......

That's it for now ...... let me know if you can think of something that we've forgotten or something you've heard is needed or someone else wished they had brought. Biggest concern is keeping the girls busy ....... I think everything else will fall into place. (I pray!!!)