I think we should definitely do something Tuesday, even if we wouldn't be all there. I thought that was the whole idea - to surprise her. Birthday isn't the same day before or day after. So, I think this would be a very good start for our plans. Start planning the Tuesday dinner. Where are we going to do it, how are we going to get our mom there, Rene already volunteered himself for taking care of the cake (if you could get us a quote for the cake, and maybe we could start entering items for our budget - I wouldn't mind doing that, I was always pretty good with math...) As far as the budget goes, I think everyone should be responsible for their own transportation. Even if you're going to be carpooling with someone, you should work it out with each other. The only thing that we should be budgeting (and correct me, if I am wrong) is food, and possibly give our mom a reasonable monetary gift to cover the electricity/heating for those few days we'll be there. Phone call charges should be taken care of individually, and same goes for internet, if there would be any used. I don't agree with paying the whole month's utility bill, and such things that we did in the past. One thing that I will strongly suggest is that we buy ALL of our food from a grocery store, because I don't want to hear her say that we were eating out her pantry. So, let's not give her any reason to look back at this visit as a negative experience.

Also, if Rene is going to talk to Tom about the CD, can you find out how much is that going to cost? I know most of us will have a very limited budget for the present for our mom, and if this should be a part of the gift, then we need to know ahead of time, so we can manage our money accordingly. I think the CD is a very good idea, because I remember when we had tapes from U.S. when I was still in Czech, we listened to them constantly! So, if Tomas is willing to do that, it would be great.

So, what are we going to do about the food? Do you think we should just create a reasonable rate per day and that way everyone just pays for whatever days they were there? Who do you think should be responsible for the menu? I think Zuzka should be in charge of that, what do you think? And also, she'll be there the whole time too. So, Zuzka, could you come up with a simple menu Wednesday morning through Sunday night? That's when we know for sure that most of us will be there. Also, if someone could suggest price per day per person. Another thing we might have to consider into our food budget is if we're going to do paper dishes, and plastic silverware.
So, if anyone wants to discuss this, let's start with these topics:

Tuesday dinner
CD
Food budget/Menu
Suggestions on Wednesday through Friday events for now

Love,
Ika