An end to the road trip, and an extension of the SoCal trip

Jonathan's update:

"I'm here!"

He's very happy to be done driving.



Mom's update:

Xanderism: After I read the big boys a couple quick stories before bed last night, Xander wanted to go to sleep. Ari, not so much. So after a little bickering, I made some comment to which Ari responds, "I hate Xander!" And Xander turns to his little brother and very calmly says to him, "No you don't, Ari. You love me."


My update:

Because the movers are going to arrive three days later than we had anticipated, I changed our flights to Saturday.  So I get to go to Mom's service on Friday night!  This required an emergency Target run in order to get something to wear, as all I had packed was jeans and t-shirts. I rocked the house and got lots on sale to wear at work, using up all my gift cards and still only being gone 2 hours.

The kids and I spent an easy day at home, playing, then Barbara and Cristina came over to visit, followed by haircuts, Big Stick popsicles for snack, and more playing: fuse beads, puzzles, Duplo, origami, etc.  Bedtime was much easier tonight.

Cristina took some wonderful photos of their visit, below.  It should be noted that this was specifically a pajama visit: they came early in the morning and told me to stay casual and not change, so I didn't.  I've known these women since before I can remember, so it's deeply ingrained in me to listen to them... plus, it really helped not having to argue with the kids to get dressed. :)

Barbara explaining her cane, holding the origami penguin Xander made her.

Xander's origami. I can't recall all of them, but the orange is a penguin, the green is the back of the piano, light green is a pelican, I forget what the blues are... but he also does frogs, houses, swans, "fancy boxes," and lots more.  We got him this Easy Origami book as a travel gift, and then Antonio brought him a packet of paper, and he's spent quite a lot of time on it.

Connor trying on Mom's glasses.

Telling Ari his fortune, using a Xander-folded fortune-teller that I had written up.  I remember them from my own childhood, it feels a little strange to be the parent this time round.

"Hi Cristina.  If I wait very patiently and coo at you, will you please give me your phone?  I'm really good at pressing buttons."

Panorama of my mother's house.

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Mom built the outdoor enclosure for Simcha.  It became my kidlet's enclosure today, as last night she assured them that it could hold their weight.  I had been saying no, you can't go out there, but today it was a whole new world, one that was all about being outdoors and building Duplo.

Climbing up.

As high as the kitty cats.

Back in the house, there was more bonding.