Missing Daddy

This week has been a little bit of a long one.  Matthew has been doing lots of driving across Wyoming, Nebraska, and back to Wyoming.  Doing lots of demo's and kicking butt.  :)  He does such a great job (everyone says so.. not just me!) and I'm so proud of him.  I always wanted to marry a man I could be proud of, and he sure fits the bill.  He's a hard worker - even when no one is looking - which seems to be such a rare quality in people these days.  He's also an amazing daddy.  I've never seen a man so patient or willing to let a child help.  When he's cutting stuff up in the kitchen and Brielle wants to help, he pulls her up a chair and sets her up cutting her own stuff.  When he is going to work on his motorcycle and she wants to help, he takes her with and actually (gasp) LETS  her help!  She is so proud of herself, especially after their garage time.  She'll come in and tell me all about the carburetor and the spark plugs.  :)  I love it.  I'll have to sneak out there with the camera one of these days and snag some pictures.  Matthew will probably roll his eyes and make some comment about how "not everything needs to be documented"... but I think he'll enjoy looking back on those photos later on and be thankful I took the time to take them.

 

Anyway, this picture is actually from before daddy left, but I hadn't gotten it posted, so I'll do so now.  The kids got moving quicker than I did one morning and when I came out to the living room, I saw this:

 They were set up at the table, having a tea party together.  Neither one was screaming... they were both just having a good time together.  It's pretty rare that Joshua is sitting still, let alone that they're sitting still together.  They were both quietly pretending to eat their cakes.  Made for a very nice start to the day.  :)

 

The next day, 3/7/13, I made steel cut oatmeal for breakfast.  Both kids LOVE hot breakfast cereal stuff.  Oatmeal (regular, steel cut, or baked), cream of wheat, etc... they'll eat it all.  Well, Joshua had already had a cup of milk so I guess he wasn't as hungry as usual so he decided to play in his cereal a bit.  He managed to make quite the mess.

I even had to vacuum so we wouldn't be grinding the oatmeal into the carpet throughout the day.  Whatever posesses people to put carpet in the dining room (especially of a rental unit) is beyond me.  It makes no sense - other than it eliminates the noise of chairs scooting across the floor I suppose... but still.  Dining room floors should be washable.

 

Over the weekend, I made an offhand comment about wanting cookies... so what did my sweet husband and daughter do?  They made cookies.  :)  Oatmeal chocolate chip... and my husband even used the grain grinder and used fresh flour!  I came to check on them right after he'd put the first few cookies into the oven and I noticed that the dough was still very sticky.  He peeked into the oven and sure enough, the cookies were turning out more like giant oatmeal chocolate chip pancakes!  I advised him to add more flour until the dough was 'right' (yes, I'm so technical when it comes to baking!) so the cookies would stay thicker.  I helped and we doctored the dough and ended up with some very yummy cookies.

Then it was nap time for a tired boy!

 

We got up on Monday morning and took Daddy to work so he could pick up his vehicle and get on the road.  Brielle has been counting down the days till he comes home.  We pretty much did nothing on Monday but clean up a bit.  I was pretty sore and uncomfortable.

 

On Tuesday after nap, Brielle wanted a popsicle.  We'd gotten some last week as a special treat.  Dreyers Lemonade Fruit popsicles... yum!  She scarfed hers down and I was curious to see what Joshua would do with his.  He hasn't had one in quite a while.  He didn't disappoint.  :)  He was so funny.  He kept saying 'Bite!' and trying to bite it, but he'd barely touch his teeth to it before pulling back and making a funny face.  Eventually I convinced him to suck on it - though he seemed to prefer licking by that point. 

For those of you that might want more than just a photo... here is a little video of him.  :)

 When Brielle came out, he decided that he'd share with his big sister.  Not that Brielle minded.  After I quit recording, she started trying to get him to ask her if she wanted the rest of it... the little sneak! 

 Again, a quick video...

I also got a little treat... but mine came from the FedEx guy.  See what he brought me?!

Ok, so it wasn't actually from the FedEx guy, he just got to be the lucky one to drop it off and make my day.  :)  My dad had offered to buy one as a combined birthday present for Brielle and I, since she likes to help so much in the kitchen and my hand held beaters emit a yucky electrical smell and threaten to die on me every time I use them on anything thicker than whipping cream.  So yay!  I haven't managed to use it yet, but I will soon!

 

This morning we broke up the monotony with a play date!  Brielle woke up and ran to the bathroom and started brushing her hair.  I asked what she was doing and she said, "Getting ready."  I asked what she was getting ready for, and she said, "Braylee's coming over, I can't look like a ragamuffin!"  Of course, how silly of me!  :)  Braylee and Nora - and their mom of course - came a bit later and I ended up being that parent that has to constantly apologize for my child's behavior.  Joshua was a terror!  If the girls hadn't been playing in the bedroom, he would have been put to bed.  He threw a block and hit Braylee on the head, then he threw a hard ball and it hit Tiffany, then he whacked Nora on the head with the doctor kit... it was nonstop with him all morning!  Of course as soon as it was pointed out to him that his friend was crying, he'd go give nice touches and say sorry... but two minutes later he was at it again.  Not sure what got into him.  Don't get me wrong, he likes to throw things and that's something we've been working on, but he isn't usually so determined to throw things at people!  So he went to bed immediately after they left.

 

So now it's Wednesday afternoon.  Brielle has an eye doctor appointment in the morning to double check her glasses prescription... and then daddy comes home in the evening!  :)  A neighbor once told me, when I'd made a comment about missing Matthew when he was gone, that we just hadn't been married long enough.  So far that has proved to be total baloney.  The longer we've been married the more I miss him when he's gone. 

So come home soon, honey!