5 years 6 months 21 days

Day 2031. Yesterday Randy took Tammy and Emmy to kindergarten, while Sammy stayed home as he has horsetherapy every Monday morning. He wouldn't let me sleep but kept insisting he'd watch videos on my computer until I gave in. He then ended up watching Mickey Mouse on my computer. He has now a bigger attention span and did pretty well watching. I was surprised how educational the Mickey show was.

After Randy got home, he got Sammy ready and left with him to go to horsetherapy. I could have gone back to bed, but decided to work instead. After they had come back home, they both got something to eat. Then Randy left to go get Tammy and Emmy. Sammy and I stayed home, having fun together, while I was also scanning and working on the computer. I had to get the pictures of the kids in Mali ready to be printed out, which took some time.

At 2:30 pm I started teaching. Randy and the kids arrived just after, which was later than usual. After I was done, I made their sandwiches and got everything ready for us to leave the house. Sammy said that he wanted to go to the shopping center where the Peppa Pig rides are, and Randy took him there. He had lots of fun.

I left with Tammy and Emmy just before 4 pm. We took two subways, then walked to the premises of the Robbo-Club. They started playing with the kids that were already there, as the class wasn't starting yet. I told them I had some errands and would be back soon.

It was a really cold day. I walked down the road to where I had seen on the map that there was a store where I could print out the pictures from Mali. When I got there, the store was being renovated and closed. I looked on the map again and saw a store two tram stops down the road, so I got on the tram. I got my pictures printed, which took some time, then I took the tram back and walked down a different road, as I needed a post office. I mailed a letter, then walked on. I knew there was a way to get across this unusual appartment complex, and a lady told me that I had to take an elevator up, walk across, and take an elevator down on the other side. Interesting.

It was way after 5 pm, and the kids were on their break, so I got to get a peek of their computers. Then I sat down in the lobby, where there were already two other parents sitting on chairs. I was glad that I didn't have a student this time around. I used my phone and read the paper. Five minutes before the class ended, I went inside the classroom to see what they had done.

They had used the same software again and had characters moving and changing colors on their screen. Of course Emmy had a soccer theme, and Tammy had a unicorn theme. They shut their computers down, then we put our coats on and left.

They ate their sandwiches, while we were walking to the subway. We took two subways, then got off three stops early to make a bread-pickup. We were early, but then I saw that they had the same jeweler there where Tammy had had her ear pierced. A while back an earring fell out during the night, and by the time I tried to put one back in, the hole had grown shut already. That was the second time. So we thought we'd give it a try, to have her ear pierced again. However, the lady there told us that the person doing that wasn't there. So we left and walked to the bakery, where we picked up the bread, then took the subway home.

Back home, I went straight to the kitchen to cut up their fruit. After they had eaten, we went downstairs for piano practice. Then Tammy and Emmy went into the bathtub; Sammy is not allowed to because of the cut on his forehead, not for another few days.

Tammy and Emmy still wanted to read stories, but time was short. I told my 8:10 pm student I was gonna be five minutes late, which gave us enough time for the stories, then they went to bed. I then taught until 9:05, spent some time wrapping it all up, then went to the kitchen to make some soup to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work and to bed as late as usual, at about 1:30 am.

This morning Randy left with the kids to take them to kindergarten, while I had a free morning and could go back to bed to sleep. At about 10:30 I woke up and slowly got up. I put some lasagna into the oven so that Randy could eat before leaving just after noon to go get Sammy. For me, it was my first meal of the day.

They returned at about 12:40, and a few minutes later Randy left again to go pick up the other kids. As for me, I had work to do, as I needed to put all the Mali kid pictures into envelopes and put the addresses on them. Sammy played with the door for quite some time, then he always wanted to eat lasagna, so I fed him. I also made sandwiches to take with us for their dinner and got everything ready for us to leave the house. I took the envelopes with me, but unfortunately had no opportunity to go to a post office.

After Randy returned home with Tammy and Emmy, I got the two of them ready, and at about 2:50 pm we left the house together - with our scooters. We took the subway, then the tram, then rode our scooters to the dance school. I took Emmy inside, gave him his shoes, and told him we'd be back soon. Then Tammy and I left - without our scooters which was a mistake.

We were gonna get on a bus to go to the shopping center where the jeweler is, but the bus stop was dissolved because of construction work. We had to walk the 2+ bus stops, which took about 15-20 minutes but seemed to take forever. With our scooters we would have been faster. We finally reached the shopping center and went to the jewelry shop. I was surprised how many people there were. Then it was finally our turn, and the same lady pierced Tammy's ear again, for the third time. She was so impressed by Tammy, and Tammy not crying, that she gave her a lollipop. Then we left. It was time to walk back. Time was short, and I correctly assumed that we'd get there right when the class ended.

When we walked in, Emmy had just finished his freestyle solo. I was not able to even take one picture. I waved him out, he got dressed, and we left.

We rode our scooters to the tram stop and got on. After three stops, we got off and rode our scooters the one stop to the school where their ball-playing class was taking place. Randy and Sammy arrived at the same time we did. We went inside, the kids got changed, then we went inside the gym.

Today all the parents were sitting on the other side of the gym as the sun was coming in through the windows and would have blinded us. Sammy's friend Michi wasn't coming, so Randy and I were playing with him. We weren't just playing ball, but I was holding the ball with my legs and telling Sammy there was no way that he could get it out, but of course he always could. He was having lots of fun and doing lots of laughing. Tammy and Emmy were also having fun, even though Tammy got hurt by the same boy several times. They were playing some fun games.

At 5:30 pm the class was over. They got dressed again, and we left. As there was still time until the 5:53 pm bus, they stopped at the playground and climbed all the way to the top. Sammy wanted to swing, and I pushed him. Tammy also came by briefly, then climbed up to where the slide was. Then we left and walked to the bus stop. It was time for them to eat their sandwiches.

By 6:20 pm or so we were back home. I warmed up some leftovers for them and started cutting up fruit. Then I sat down to prepare for my 8:10 pm student, while they were eating. After they were done, we went downstairs for piano practice, then they went into the bathtub. They still wanted to read stories, so we kept it shorter. I prayed for Sammy and put him to bed, then I read stories to the other two and prayed for them. They left to brush their teeth and go to bed, while I sat down at the computer to teach.

At 9 pm I was done, and by 9:15 pm I was really done and could go to the kitchen to get something to eat. After having eaten, I went back to work. Tomorrow we leave for the yearly missions conference 2 hours from Vienna, and we'll be back by Sunday.