The kids and I took mom to the local museum. Tiger LOVED this wall. He probably spent an hour there. Yes, the ball did go all the way from one side to the other with this arrangement. That is, as long as you used the ping-pong balls, not the golf balls.

On the way home from the museum, we stopped at the botanic gardens and ate our sandwiches. (This is another photo taken with my phone. It turned out blurry. I tried to modify it so it looked like it was supposed to be blurry, but it’s not perfect.)

Mom took the kids and let me lay down on the blanket and rest a bit. I fell asleep. Thanks for the nap, Mom!!

I’m starting to run out of interesting things to write. So…. pictures today, videos tomorrow, then start reading George’s adventures on Saturday.

The kids and I took my mom on her very first trip to IKEA. I bought a new bed for Kat and will be selling the loft bed that wasn’t working out for us anymore. The new bed is smaller than a twin-size, yet still larger than a crib mattress. It fits nicely in the not-so-large room that Kat and Bear share. Usually George does all the tying of IKEA boxes onto our van’s roof, but it was obviously up to mom and I this time. Luckily, I married a guy who thought it would be important to teach his wife a few good knots. You never know when you might need to tie a tautline hitch!

I wanted to help each of the kids send a text message to George tonight. They would dictate and I’d type it in. Or so I thought. Four words into Kat’s message she gently pulled the phone out of my hands and started pushing the buttons herself.

And away she went. She needed help spelling some words but that was about it. I didn’t have to explain anything about having to push a button multiple times to get the letter you want. She just knew it. Somehow.

Three? Nope, I’d only received one. A text message from me and one back from him and we cleared up what I had and had not received. The messages I missed had instructed me to “Go talk to The Cat in the Hat. He had something for me.” I went into Tiger’s bedroom (who was still awake…at 10:30PM!) and searched the bookshelves until I found this:

And behind the book was this:

A sweet Mother’s Day card and a bag of Dark Chocolate Toffee Almonds. Mmmm! Poor guy. He’d been trying to tell me about his little surprise for over 48 hours and he was not getting any response back from me. That had to have been frustrating for him.

(This was the last text message I received while he was away. He sent more but they were never received by me.)

Cousins at the park.

Kat and Tiger are coming back today with Gran, but they won’t leave until this afternoon. Bear and I ran a few errands and found ourselves only a few miles from my sister-in-law, Christy. The cousins played at a park for a little while and then we had a quick dinner with them before heading home.

Kat arriving home and running to get a hug.

I drove as quickly as (legally) possible to get home just before my mom and the other kids. The too-quiet-house problem was a distant memory now as they were talking over each other to tell me about their adventures at Gran and Gramps’ house.

I know the team in El Salvador is pretty busy, but I still didn’t hear from George today. *sigh*

My Mother’s Day letter from Kat.
(Our camera was with George. This photo was taken with my cell phone.)

I sent a text message to George today, hoping I’d hear back from him. But I never did. A quick text message on Mother’s Day would have been nice, but sometimes guys don’t think of these things, I suppose.

The phone rang at 8:10 AM. I knew George’s first flight had just landed in Houston. Only it wasn’t George calling. It was Kat calling from Gran’s house.

“Mom, did you know that Daddy put notes in our suitcase for us?”

Then, “I got a dollar for my tooth.”

I commented about the tooth fairy finding her at Gran’s house.

To that she replied, “Mom, you know, I KNOW the secret!”

Sweet girl. They are having fun.

Just before 9 the phone rang again. This time it was George and he had only a few minutes to talk.

I watched the flight status online until they took off. Then Bear and I headed out to get a few things done. When we returned home, I had a phone message from George saying they had arrived safely. Later that evening I received a text message from him saying that they were now at their hotel and it was quite nice. A phone call, a message on the machine, and a text message. Three in one day. How nice!

This morning Daddy took Kat and Tiger to the bagel shop for a breakfast date. I hear they had a good time. When they returned home we finished packing their suitcase. Gran and Gramps were headed our way and would take them for a weekend visit. The original plan was for me to meet the grandparents halfway, but those plans changed and they drove all the way here. Gosh, that was sweet! We had a relaxing morning and I even had time to mow the lawn before they got here!

Gramps took us out to eat for lunch and during lunch Kat lost a tooth. (A little trivia for you: Half of Kat’s four lost teeth have come out while eating a subway-type sandwich.)

Missing tooth on the bottom right.

After lunch it was time for the oldest 2 kiddos to leave. Goodbye’s were said and George and I then turned our attention to packing HIS suitcase. We finished early enough to go out for dinner and stop by the bookstore. Then he headed to bed. Tomorrow was going to start really early for him.

So we got out in the street, I gave her a little push, and ran along side her all the way to the end of the street. I did not have to catch her even once! We went between our house and the end of the block about 4 times until I was a bit tired. We then worked on her starts; at first I had to give her a push each time. I didn’t have to do anything about teaching her how to turn.

In the video you will notice she can start by herself, ride relatively straight, dodge her brother, turn, and stop.

And now she rides back.

Let me know if you have trouble viewing the videos.