Relax, Panic, Enjoy

Here is a great example of how each day is a little life. Had we known how the day would end, we would have spent it quite differently, but it turned out just perfectly as it happened.
On Friday morning, we called to see what was going on at David's parents house since his aunts and Mark & Maria were still in town. We offered to bring dinner over that evening so we could see everyone again and David could help his mom with her new Apple computer, but we found out that his parents had taken Paca to the emergency room. They didn't want us to bring the kids over and possibly expose them to the bug that had her down for days.
So instead we stayed in our pajamas as long as we could. David made yummy pancakes and then the kids wanted to work their new puzzles.
Even Paloma helped in turning the pieces over (and for once didn't run off with pieces).
They were pretty proud of themselves when they finished this 300-piece movie poster of the Little Mermaid.
After we finally got out & about, the kids played on their new scooters
except for Paloma who jumped in the leaves as David & I worked on raking batch #2.
We worked for hours raking and bagging leaves; it had to be done, and it was nice out.

But at about 5 PM I went inside for a minute and noticed that our answering machine was blinking with a message. It was Lety saying that Mark & Maria were on their way to our house for dinner and Joe & Susan's to spend the night.
Oh my goodness... we hadn't started anything for dinner, and we hadn't spent hours cleaning up the house like we would have if we knew were having company, either! You know how it is after Christmas--stuff everywhere! But we were thrilled to get to see them more because they were leaving the following morning.
The kids were excited about having them too; Gabe even drew them a picture! But there was no room for them in the inn; Joe & Susan said Meg's room was empty since she just moved out. We have no guest room anymore either, so Mark & Maria ended up at an airport hotel that night.
However, we had a good (if late) dinner of chicken cacciatore (made on the stovetop and not in the crockpot) and good conversation while the kids watched their new DVD Ratatouille. It just made us wish we were able to see them more often! Love you guys!