The One With Daddy Home Day 6 & 7

So this weekend, we tried to just have a family weekend, and spend lots of time together.

We slept in on Saturday, got up and ate breakfast, everyone got ready and then we went out on the town. We ended up at the dollar store and found MORE stuff for Parker's Pirate Party - seriously, it's so cheap, I should have started there first. Then went to my parents adn dropped off the kids, and Eric and I went out to eat at Old Spaghetti Factory. It was fun, and downtown was dead for the most part as the Music Festival was happening.

We went home and put the kids down for bed, and started a movie, but of course the kids wanted to watch it too, so they got out of bed and came down with us.

Sunday we slept in again, ate a good breakfast, watched some MonsterQuest, and skipped church. Really this was because with Eric's flight, we couldn't go to the whole thing and get him to the airport, but it was kind of nice to spend the entire day together when Eric was really only home for 36 hours. We did laundry, got him packed, ate lunch, then we left and went to the zoo for about an hour and a half. It was fun again to have Daddy at the zoo, and it was great to have the kids get to spend some close time with him before he left again. I can tell that they have been missing him. Then we took Daddy back to the aiport and dropped him off . . . where of course his plane was delayed AGAIN, and between flights and trains, and taxis, he didnt' get to his hotel until midnight . . . poor guy will be dead in training tomorrow.

So what's on the docket for this week? Well, Parker's 4th birthday party is this Sunday, we hadn't realized that Eric being gone fell right up next to Parker's birthday, so it is up to me to get most things ready. Luckily, we already have most of his birthday shopping done . . . the kid is seriously spoiled. And we have a lot of the decorations already, so that is checked off the list . . . although I do need some streamers, so another dollar store run is in the future.

But his cake I haven't even started. I thought about doing a huge pirate ship cake . . . but the more I thought about the execution of it, especially trying to get it done without Eric around and while simultaneously trying to keep an eye on two kids, the more I realized it was probably outside my realm of capabilities while a single parent. So he is going to get just a vanilla meringue sheet cake with chocolate frosting, trying to make it look like some sort of old weathered wood, and I will powder sugar dust a skull and cross bones onto it. Nothing too fancy, but it should get the job done.

It also means I have some serious house cleaning to do. While my spring cleaning kick has definitely been going well, it leaves little piles of things everywhere. This pile for DI, this for garbage, this for storage . . . and we can't have all that sitting around for a party. Also, Eric's sister Katie will be staying here Monday night on her way back from Portland to Utah, so I'll need to make sure things are at least mostly nice.

Eric and I think we may do some sort of hors d'eurves or light dinner for Parker's party, and one of his presents will be set up in the back yard, so there is some serious weeding that needs to go into our garden and our currently barren flower beds so that the backyard looks nice when everyone comes over.

Also this Wednesday I have Activity Days, although it is at the same time as some other appointments, so I may end up needing to call in a back up. But I still have some responsibilities at it. We have family dinner this week. So this is the week's plan as it looks from early Monday morning:

MONDAY: Bake cake, and freeze for easier decorating. Finish spring cleaning and get stuff to DI. Clean main rooms for Katie coming over. Begin weeding in the backyard. Paint celing in Preslie's room.

TUESDAY: Work and family dinner

WEDNESDAY: Get piles of things to store, stored. Get garbage out of house. Finish wrapping Parker's presents. Activity Days.

THURSDAY: Work and weeding in the backyard

FRIDAY: work, weeding in the backyard, and picking up Eric at the Airport!

I am most excited for this Friday. But I am hoping that with so much going on this week, it will be another quick week of Eric being gone, and then he will be back, and not be leaving again this time.

Eric and I were talking about it this weekend, and I figured out why things are so off kilter when he's gone: I HAVE NO CONCEPT OF TIME.

Usually it's morning, and it feels like morning, because either Eric is leaving for work or we are all leaving for work. Then it feels like lunch time when Eric calls on his lunch break and we talk for a few minutes. Then it's the evening when he calls and says he is coming home from work, that's when dinner starts getting made and everything. Then about two hours after he gets home its time to start getting the kids ready and into bed.

But when Eric isn't at home, it's hard to keep everythign straight. It can be 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and I will be running around thinking it's 8 in the morning. Needless to say, my world gets a little turned upside down.

So here's to the second and final week of no daddy!