Mothers' Day

What a whirlwind, amazing weekend! We just got back late last night from California, where we and all of the other Bair children congregated to surprise Joe's mom, who is fighting cancer, for Mother's Day. She was in the hospital (home now, hooray!) all weekend, so we all mixed and matched, ebbed and flowed, visiting her for three days. How wonderful it was to be in the midst of so much love, able to contribute our own love and support, to show her how much we all care for her and how hard we're all praying for her. For the record, I have the best mother-in-law, ever. And major kudos to my super-organized sister-in-law who coordinated in part or in full the comings, goings, housings, and feedings of twenty-four people, some of whom flew in from four different states, where two of the three arriving flights went awry. I personally would have been freaking out under the stress load, but I guess if ye are prepared, ye shall not stress. I saw the color-coordinated clipboard. She's amazing.

We bid farewell to the California relatives with a "See you in a few months!" We even caught a drive-by glimpse of Berkeley before catching our San Francisco flight home. I can't believe we're moving there. In a few months. My brief impression: beautiful, green, ritzy, narrow roads, very hilly, scary beyond all reason. Coming home to Urbana felt ... weird. Like I've already taken a step back. Like while I was driving around Berkeley, I cut a few of my emotional Illinois ties in preparation for the coming separation. Like Urbana and my little house in it and all of my established routines here were a little bit less homey and a little bit less mine than they were before we left. I can't believe the end is already upon us. We're thinking of selling our house and jumping ship in August, because who's going to buy a house, even an adorable one, in October/November in a college town? Anyone?

Anyway. This has turned into a very verbose post when I know all you readers out there (hi, Mom!) just want pictures of my children. So here you go.
The awesome Bair caravan. The big truck and both Autocraft vans and the car we're driving in, all headed to see Grandma Bair.
Some of us waiting to go into the hospital, wearing our matching "Mary's Maids" T-shirts.
Spencer. A self-portrait.
Silly Joe, making Spencer, the photographer, laugh.
Isaac being his cute little self.
Spencer playing with the new love of his life---Grandma's giant toy recycle-truck.
The belt-fed dart gun. Just when I think the Bairs can't get any crazier with their dart guns, they manage to outdo themselves. My contribution to this picture is the Elephant and Piggie book that Porter is reading. I brought two of them along, and I think I successfully converted all of my in-laws to Mo Willems.
The stowaway. So this guy, which is about the length of my hand, was in the side pocket of my carry-on backpack, all the way to California, and all the way back. We didn't notice it until we were in Atlanta waiting for our connecting flight home. So yeah. Aren't we glad security is doing full-body pat-downs. Because apparently their x-ray machines don't really work. How did they miss a big hunk of metal in my side backpack pocket, both in Bloomington and in San Francisco? Yikes. Should we report this, or something?The lady of the hour. What a trooper she is!