far and away

the week before we left for europe, my anxiety level about my sweet babes hit an all time high. i wrote page after page and note after note for my mom, instructing her on the finer points of caring for my children (never mind that she does have a few years of experience in this regard). here is just a small sampling of my wisdom:

"Car safety: When loading the girls at home, first load Afton while Summer waits by the door. Then load Summer. When unloading, unbuckle Summer and have her walk to Afton’s side (while still inside the car). Then unbuckle Afton, get Summer down (have her hold on to your leg) and then get Afton down. When loading the girls while out, put Afton in her car seat and have Summer also get in and walk to her seat while you buckle Afton. Then go around and buckle Summer."

i know, it's super stressful to be me.

anyway, underneath all that stress, i wanted to find a fun way to let the girls know we were thinking about them while we were gone, so i came up with little "love you" daily gifts. every day when the girls got up, there was a new toy or book or puzzle or game or dvd or treat with a little note from bryan or me waiting for them. my mom read them the note, and summer and afton spent the better part of the day playing with their new whatever.

really, it turned out to be one of my better ideas (baking fifteen different kinds of cookies in one week for christmas 2006, not so much) and was a huge hit with the girls. recommend.