This Weekend

We had an incredibly awesome, perfect weekend! After a long break from J, we were all finally able to be reconnected as a whole family.  In some ways the past month has gone so quickly, but when it comes to being separated from your other half it really dragged on.  It was hard on the kids to go so long without seeing their daddy, but mostly it was difficult for him to be working so far away from home, friends, and family.  While he was working hard at his internship in Baltimore, we were able to spend almost a month in Arizona, staying at my in-laws and playing with them. It only really hit me how lonely I was after my sister in-law headed back on her plane last Wednesday and I was officially on my own with the kids.  Luckily Jesse drove in only a few days later.  And what a trouper he is.  He literally drove all night long on Friday to make sure he got home to us and could spend Saturday as a family.  The kids were just as excited to see him as he was to see them. On Friday they were buzzing with excitement and I had a very difficult time getting them to go to sleep because they knew in the morning Daddy would be there. I didn't blame them because I also could hardly get my body to go to sleep knowing that Jesse was on his way home to me.  He ended up arriving around 4-5am and only a few short hours later he was he tickling, snuggling, entertaining, riding bikes, running errands with his boys, and spending precious quality time with the children.  They were all so delighted to have a chance to spend with daddy and spent most of the time arguing who got to hold his hand or sit next to him. 

Our welcome home sign that Maddie and I made right before bedtime

 Some of the fun things we did were hiking into Boston Lot Lake with a picnic lunch and swam, and attend the Norwich Fair.  At the fair we ate lots of junk food, road cruddy, rusty rides and played games. To top it all off at the end of the night they had some fireworks that they shot off right next to the fairgrounds.  Maddie was shocked at how loud fireworks are when they are so close to you and actually started crying when they first started.  It ended up being a late night for all of us, but was well worth it in the end.  I was so impressed by how well behaved the kids were through all of this, but particularly Robby.  I feel like over the past two months or so he has really become such a mature, helpful, kind, obedient little boy and was happy that Jesse could see this growth in Robby. 

 The highlight of the games for all was this cork gun shooting game.  The kids have definitely developed a love of all forms of guns after playing with Papa and his BB gun in Arizona.  I am not so sure how I feel about this

On Sunday we had a special meeting for church that didn't start until 11am and so we all slept in A LOT! We didn't roll out of bed until after 9am and to actually wake up Robby to get ready for church.  It was such a nice, complete feeling to arrive at church all together, not to mention helpful to have another set of hands assisting in dressing and grooming the children before.  Once again Robby surprised us all and dressed himself all on his own with us asking him one time! We had a big shocker at church and found out that we were annexed into a different ward and will be going to that one next Sunday.  Even though I am sad to say goodbye to many incredible families, I am also looking forward to change and growth.

Too soon it was time to say goodbye to Daddy and to our fun weekend together.  It's a good thing we are already planning on heading down to Baltimore to visit in just a few short weeks!!

Eli, Robby, Jesse, Maddie
--Robby ALWAYS changes out of Sunday clothes immediately.  Like as in undressing as he is walking from the car to the house :)