Wednesday, April 29, 2009

We're Home!

So much to catch up on. We haven't even looked at all the pictures and videos yet. It was an incredible trip and definitely gave me an appetite for more travel. Here is a little video Shane put together. Definitely Epic. Oh, and the kids had a great time too. In fact they wondering if we could leave again. It definitely made it more enjoyable knowing they were happy and having a good time- thanks to Grandma and Grandpa and Tirzah and Aaron. And being able to keep in touch with email was very comforting.

There will be more stories and pictures and lots of pining for Palau in the coming weeks, but now there is lots to do here. Just a couple weeks of school and we're finished. At least with the book learning part.

http://laketorture.com/PalauMovie_Draft1.wmv

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Two Weeks

I woke to the sound of Kateri doing dishes this morning. At 7am. Knowing she had everything under control, I lay in a bed a few more minutes and then showered and came down to find the dishwasher unloaded- not a small feat for a 5 year old in a kitchen designed by a 6ft builder-and the dishes left over from last night, rinsed and loaded.
I watched and saw how she moved the chairs around to get into the cupboards. And was amazed there was not a single broken dish. As she was scrubbing the cookie sheet, she paused to re-load her sponge with bubbles and said,
"Thank you, mom, for getting this new soap. Because I needed some."
Kateri always gets up early when she is excited about some event that day. Which is really nice because she gets excited about a lot of things and its nice to have at least one chipper kid in the early mornings. Sometimes its Sunday school, or a new recipe we are going to make for breakfast, or a play date with Jack and Matteas. This morning, it was a dentist appointment. Seriously. She counts down the days to her visits. She loves the glasses and the movies and getting to pick out a prize with her coins.


It is the William Sonoma Grapefruit soap. I only get it to help me feel inspired to do the dishes. And it makes the kitchen smell nice too.
Kateri has also been working on her phone skills lately. She tried to call Jack and brought me the phone to check the number she had dialed. She was only off by one, a 6 for a 9. I showed her the right number and apparently she has been calling him quite often. Tirzah asked if I was aware how often Kateri used the phone. I told her if it gets out of hand she might want to change her number. The funny thing is Kateri does not know the numbers. If you ask her a phone number she can't tell you. But giver her a phone and she knows the dialing pattern. She currently knows how to call Jack and Grandma. I haven't taught her Shane's number. He'd never get any work done.
Here she is the other night. Waiting in the rain for Jack to come for dinner. Luckily they weren't too late.



But she will soon have her fill. Shane and I are leaving Friday morning and the kids will be taken care of by Grandma and Grandpa and Tirzah and Aaron. We all figured it was best to do the visits in shifts so everyone can have breaks and Tiri and Jack can still miss each other.
I'm starting to get a little nervous and worrying about the kids already. Because if I'm here they wont' get hurt and nothing will go wrong but if I'm out of the country who knows what will happen. Yes, I know. I need to get over it. But I know the kids will have fun- they have been counting down the days and are so excited it is only two more days until mama and papa leave. But I'd rather have them shooing us out the door than being sad and clingy.
So, unless Kateri gets on the computer this will be the last post for a couple weeks. And hopefully we'll have some fantastic stories and pictures when we get back, and Shane has made me promise to swim with the sharks if we get the opportunity. But hopefully that will be a good story. I hope everyone has a peaceful Holy Week and a Blessed Easter.