29 hours

29 hours ago my kids realized our sweet pal neighbors returned from their 7 week Germany work/family staycation.

For the past 29 hours my kids have been DRIVING ME BATTY... Why?

a) they love Henry and Jane and have absolutely missed them...

and

b) SADLY, it's really the B...

the real b) Henry's mom may have happened to mention that they brought the kids souvenirs but happened to call them surprises...

I was not witness to the "surprise / souvenir" language because I was on the phone taking care of important business (I switched my 15 year old cell phone number to a local number!!! HUGE. 15 years of reciting that number! All now gone... E and B of the future, I don't think you realize the sacrifice I made moving to NY... 15 years of the same number!!)

Ben woke up at his usual 6 am this morning. But, instead of starting every morning off like he normally does, "Mom, can I play the iPad?" he said, "Mom, can I get my surprise from Kim now?"

I explained that everyone was still sleeping and he totally got that and asked, "Can I play with the iPad then?" Yes, yes, dear sweet Ben...

We were out the door by 9 am and didn't see their car in the driveway until our kids went to bed so sadly the surprise never went down. It did not stop the children from asking every 17 minutes when the neighbors were coming home!

Seriously - it was hysterical. Ben: "Mom, I ate all my waffle, can I get my surprise now?" "Mom, I watched Curious George, can I get my surprise now?" "Mom, I pooped, can I get my surprise now?"

At one point Emma begged me to call Henry's mommy and ask her when they were going to be home. Daddy jumped in and reminded our children they should simply be grateful our friends thought of us while they were traveling and we needed to have patience until the timing was right. Emma in her cleverness quipped, "No, I don't want the present, I just want to hug Jane because I haven't seen her in so long."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Needless to say, we missed you awesome neighbors! Mommy and Daddy have plowed through the chocolate you gave us... Oh, wait, we didn't share it with the kids. Oh, crap, maybe if we had, they wouldn't be so obsessed.

Nope, they would just be sugared up obsessees!! (Thank you for the chocolate! Thank you for giving us so many laughs watching our kids struggle with patience! Feel free to hold off another day or two!)