I'm so glad when MOMMY comes home! ... by Ben

Alicia is gone tonight on a photo-shoot with Sarah, and the thought that keeps coming to mind is "I'm so glad when Mommy comes home."  I don't think I'm the only one with that sentiment, as each one of our children said at some point tonight, "When is Mommy coming home?" or "I want Mommy!"  Even McKay said it in his own little way.  He crawled to the door and kept doing his "I want Mommy" grunt.  I could only reply, "I hear you buddy."

Well I've been meaning to post about my time together with Jax and Sadie while Alicia and McKay were in Utah, so what better time than tonight? Over a month later - sorry.

May 29, 2012 - We had been staying at the homestead for our 'stay-cation' when we put Alicia and McKay on a 6:30 am flight to Utah.  If my memory serves me correctly, Jax and McKay did not sleep well while we were away from our own beds, so getting up by 5 am was a bit challenging physically as much as it was emotionally.  Thanks to Gramma Meyers for sleeping at the homestead that night so we could leave Jax and Sadie asleep while we went to the airport.  When I got back, all was still quiet on the western front.  In fact, it wasn't until right before I left for work that Jax and Sadie woke up.  That was the day Max and Mary returned from Hawaii, so they were there when I came back from work in the evening.  When I walked in the door, Mary greeted me with her usual happy, "Hi Ben!"  I guess that had alerted Jax that his dad was home.  He came running around the corner yelling, "Ben, you're back!"

May 30, 2012 - I worked one more day.  I had to finish up some work for a June 1 deadline.  Mary somehow managed watching our two lovable hoodlums all day by herself.  She's got the magic touch, especially with nap time.  It's usually quite a process to put Sadie or Jax down for a nap.  We can rarely get Sadie to relax enough to sleep during the day, and Jax just likes for us to lay in his bed with him.  Somehow Mary can get them both asleep within minutes of laying them down.  Amazing!  I asked her how she did it.  She said Jax went out immediately, and Sadie read an operating manual for while (no pictures - only words) and flipped through almost all the pages before drifting off to never-never land.

We had a wonderful dinner (they're always wonderful at the homestead) before heading home.  I think the kiddos were glad to be in their own beds again.

May 31, 2012 - Unpacked clothes from our stay-cation, did a few loads of laundry, went to the grocery store, and went swimming at the pool.  Here's a few thoughts about the day from Jax.

I know this is long, but it get's good around the 1:30 mark and then again around the 2:40 mark.

June 1, 2012 - This is how most of our day was spent: 

I picked up more than a few good dance moves this day.  We learn so much from our kids.

We also went to Target, PetsMart, the Library and Lowe's this day, and we watched the "Fox and the Hound."  I think they liked it.

June 2, 2012 - I put up chair-rail and window casing in our master bedroom about a year ago and haven't gotten around to doing the putty and paint.  I tried to take the opportunity to paint the molding but struggled to keep the kids entertained.  They wanted to paint too.  Not a bad idea.  I knew I would be in trouble if I let them get paint on their nice clothes, so I rummaged through the rag-bag to see what I could find.  Mostly just onesies, tops, and socks.  Not much I could do with the socks, so Sadie ended up with one of her old shirts for the top and a onesie for the bottom.  Jax ended up with one of his old shirts for the top and one of Sadie's old shirts for the bottom.  I didn't tell him it said "Princess" on it.  They seemed to like their painting outfits, except for the fact that Jax's pants, er I mean shirt, kept falling down.

He kept telling me, "Pants, fall down!"  

It was nothing a safety pin couldn't fix.

See.  All better.  He loved his outfit, trust me.

I found some green hand-paints and let the kids loose.  They painted some blocks that Michael made for us. They also worked on some chairs they had painted in the past.  I think they turned out pretty good.  What do you think?

Once we were all green, I wasn't quite sure how to clean up without getting paint all over the house.  The hose wasn't too far away, so I thought I'd give it a try.  Jax didn't seem to like it when I sprayed him with cold water, so he stole the hose and started watering the garden.  

Sadie wanted in on the action.

They still had green paint all over, so I needed another approach.  When I was growing up, we used to love putting the sprinkler under the trampoline.  It was just the solution I was looking for.  All the green paint quickly washed away, and the kids were entertained for a very long time.  They absolutely loved it.

They were so tuckered out they let me go to work on our bedroom molding.  I filled all the cracks and crevices with caulk and started the painting.  Turns out I didn't have the right paint, so that still remains an unfinished item on the ol' to-do list.  Hopefully it doesn't take me another year to approach it.

This is what the bedroom looked like just a couple hours before Alicia and McKay returned.  I should have taken an "after" picture, but I was too busy trying to clean up and get everything in order for Alicia.  It was a lot of work cleaning up three days of messes, but I think it looked pretty good in the end.  

Sadie, Jax, and I had a lot of fun together while Alicia and McKay were away.  It was good to be able to spend a lot of time with just the three of us, but boy have I gained a greater appreciation for the life Alicia lives.  Three is a lot different than two, and two sure kept me going.  Plus, life just isn't complete without Alicia's laugh and McKay's smile.   Sadie and Jax are happy when Mommy comes home, because it means they no longer have to wear funny outfits.

We were so glad when Mommy came home!