it has been a wonderful day - long, but wonderful. amazingly enough, i did get some sleep last night, not much, but i did finally drop off and i did drop off before it was totally pointless. took me a little to get up with the alarm, and we didn't quite make it out the door as planned, and we had to come back for a few things we forgot (and still forgot stuff; nothing important, fortunately), but we made it to the airport with time to spare. we couldn't meet them at the gate, so we waited at the baggage area. waited and watched and paced.

and then, there she was, in my arms, each of us holding the other tight and crying. she had grown, but yet she hadn't. and i couldn't let go for a long time. then linnorm handed me a box with things they picked up for us in cali, but my eyes were only for my girl as we walked so she could hug and see the other kids. we opened the box while we waited for baggage and inside were a california mug and california shot glass.

finally free of the airport, we were all off to breakfast. considering how things were set up, linnorm had to go pick up his car and find his way, but we kindly gave him directions. we all met at the nearby ihop. had a wonderful breakfast - though neither kitty nor i could eat much. from there it was home to open the giftees they had brought for us. kitten had wrapped them and i'm happy to report that nothing was missing or unwrapped upon their arrival. it felt more like christmas morning than the 26th did, being surrounded by all my children opening their gifts with paper landing just about anywhere and the oh's of joy. for saxy and i: a couple of laser pictures (black panther for me, wolf for him), matching heart covered coffee mugs, 2 boxes of candy canes, a boot perfume bottle, a christmas bear coffee mug, and a borders gift card. the kids made out like bandits with coats (jewel and froggy), a sleeping bag (taz), gift cards (all), a binoculars camera (jewel), dress up stuff (froggy), and quite a few other things (movies among them).

with the gifts all opened it was time to let the new arrivals . . . and me . . . nap while the remaining kiddles watched a movie or two and saxy went to work. we didn't rest long, we didn't want kitten and linnorm to not be able to sleep later tonight, although that may not have been a problem. around noon, i took kitten off to the barnes & noble i live in and we had a treat and spent mother-daughter time together, while linnorm explored the neighborhood with the kiddos. when kitten and i got back, saxy was home from work and we all went off to borders to use out gift cards and to actually see a borders book/music/movie store. on the way home, we took a detour to see one of the houses saxy did some work on and then went to a nearby pizza buffet place for dinner.

it was a long day, but one full of joy and hugs and laughter. dinner was particularly entertaining. seeing both my oldest girls together again was something of an eye opener. they have both grown so much. jewel is out of her shell and becoming more assertive without the presence of her oldest sister, and being back with her didn't seem to have any regression affect. we came home and froggy read to daddy, kitten refused to write a journal entry, and now we're all scattered about the house, with most watching tv. when the little ones go to bed, the rest of us will watch i robot.

one of the joys of the day, besides squeezing my oldest so tight you'd think i'd never let go, was watching her and saxy together. all this time he has been saying he wants to spend time with his daughter. and still i worried some that the problems they had relating would make it hard for them to enjoy each other's presence. not so. there has hugs and kisses and walking arm in arm and laughter and more joy than i ever thought the two would be able to have with each other.

and, even as i type, the normal routines are being put into motion - little ones' baths, the cleaning up of the toys and the rooms, and so on. the day feels full, the house feels full, but pleasantly so, and the feeling of connectedness and family are running through everything in a way i haven't felt for a long time.

it's been a wonderful, joyful day. it's drawing to a close, and i wish it would never end.