My crazy day

7:45am: Vivi (sleeping with me, at my parents house) declares "I slept willy well mommy!" We went downstairs and Maya was already awake. We woke up Tonito, ate breakfast, got ready for the day and hurried home to meet the plumber coming between 10-2.

10am: We found a katydid on our screen door while unloading the car, so we made a little habitat for him in our aquarium. The kids gave him a water dish and lots of different leaves and sticks, and "friends" (rolypolys, ants, and some old cicada shells that the kids think are bugs). The plumber didn't come, so we went to the post office to get stamps for our party invites!

Now from 11-2 things get hazy: our realtor in Houston calls us with a counteroffer and I have to make the decision on what we should counter back; I call Tonio several times in Norway, but he doesn't answer; Maya starts crying wanting to eat; I make lunch for the kids and sit them down to eat; the plumber comes and gives me the estimate to fix some random things our buyer's inspector found (leaky pipe and something with the water heater)- yikes I decide to have the work done and he starts; Vivi starts calling me from the bathroom- something about needing help; our realtor stops by with a builder to look at cracks in the foundation (again, that the inspector found); I walk around the house with them looking at the cracks and *fortunately* 2 are cosmetic and the 3rd will need 2 anchors- which is cheaper than the plumber's bill; I reach Tonio via phone about the counteroffer and tell him to make the decision and let our Houston realtor know; the kids are yelling "the toilet's broken" from upstairs;

I say good-bye to the builder and go upstairs to see Vivi and Tonito standing next to a clogged toilet. Vivi deciphers "Mommy I go potty and I say Mommy help me but you are outside and Tonito helped me but he had mucho mucho mucho toilet paper and now the toilet's broken." At this point I hear the builder and realtor coming inside downstairs and I need to think fast. "OK, Vivi and Tonito, sit on my bed in a timeout, you know you're not supposed to put a that much (ie a whole roll) of TP down the toilet. Just sit here for a minute." I run downstairs and finish the conversation with our realtor and the builder and he says he can fix the cracks by mid-September; they leave and the plumber comes up and wants to show me he fixed the angle of the flue vent on the water heater; I hear screeching and laughing upstairs and carrying Maya around is making my bicep numb; I quickly feed her a bottle and put her down for a nap and walk toward the squealing in my room. I grabbed the video camera to catch the kids in the act of whatever they wer doing in there, and all I managed to tape was two 3.5 year olds laughing hysterically and jumping on the bed. :) Life is good!!!!

3: The kids napped, I paid the plumber, washed dishes, and then when everyone woke up we walked to the Post Office to mail the letters and to Jewel to get whatever food you can fit in a double stroller with 3 kids. Except when the cashier's cubic zirconia studded 2 inch nails slipped and charged me for 61 cucumbers instead of 1 and couldn't figure out how to get rid of the charge, the walk was uneventful. Somehow I convince the kids to run from hydrant to hydrant (which later helps them sleep!:). I came home to 8 missed calls and found out we got the house we had been bidding on in Houston!!!

6: Dinner, pajamas, and a bottle for Maya who goes down without a sound.

7: Pajamas, millions of books, and teeth and the kids went down.

8:15 Aaaaaaaaaaaaah. Oops, let me quick go let out Mr. Katydid.