Day 1

So my man flew out mid-day today for two and a half weeks in Africa. I was a bit emotional about it… life is just so good with him, I don’t like him to be gone. Especially to places that don’t have reputations for being particularly safe. But I’m fine. And he will be too.

I was a little discouraged because I felt so exhausted this afternoon only a few hours after he had left! He’ll be gone for such a long time, I’ve been thinking about it and scheduling things and making preparations and gearing up for a couple weeks now. So even though he just left half a day ago, I feel exhausted from getting myself (and the house) ready, not to mention getting him ready to go. And getting him ready to go always happens at the very last minute (do you know my husband?!) and that stresses me out, so that tires me too I think.

Anyway, he’s gone now. And I feel kinda sad about it. I just like him so much!

But, on a happy note, the kids were awesome today! We had lunch out with a friend and then played outside most of the afternoon while the baby slept. They were so happy outside playing with friends. While some kids were running around and riding bikes my little engineer boy had his bike upside down on the ground experimenting with all kinds of things to see what it could do. Putting things on the pedals, under the tires, on top of the tires, all kinds of things. For a long time he was there and I could just see his little brain working.

We came home about two minutes after the sun dipped down behind the mountains because it felt like the temperature dropped about twenty degrees! Brrr. They played in the hall, ate soup for dinner and then guess what?!!!

(This is the purpose, actually of the entire post, but I’m just now getting there…)

I turned Pandora on, said it was clean-up music and told them to clean up. Would they do it?! I didn’t know. But I needed to clean the kitchen so I was hoping they could take care of the living room at least a little. And they bustled their little selves around helping each pick up this and pick up that. Then their bedroom door closed. Several minutes later they emerged, triumphant and excited! I was requested to close my eyes and they led me in and their room was PERFECTLY cleaned up! I was so impressed and immediately rewarded their behavior with hugs and squeals and with five dimes each in their dime cups. As they were taking me around showing me the various things they had cleaned, they announced that they had also created a new rule:

“We decided that we should only get two toys out at a time! That way the room doesn’t get very messy. And if we have friends over, they get to choose what they want to play with!”

Um, seriously?!

Are these my children? Cause they are the best!

Now, I don’t exactly put a lot of weight on their new rules, but as a minimum I am BEYOND pleased that their little minds are even beginning to think in this way.

So that was day 1. And I don’t intend to blog each day, just so you know. One of my main philosophies when husband is traveling is to simplify and greatly lower expectations. Committing to blogging daily doesn’t really fit into that plan.

But I’m so thankful for day 1.