When Daddy's Away

Dave's job requires him to travel a little bit. He left us home alone for the first time this week. To keep my mind off not having him home, we stayed busy all day.

Our first adventure was going to the Carolina Aviation Museum. I used to complain when I had to go to "those" places when I was a teenager, so I'm sure this is karma getting me back for being a brat to my mom and dad! It was a fantastic museum: there was even a open runway, where we got to see planes landing and taking off from the Charlotte airport. Yes, I did put Lincoln in a helicopter shirt, just because we were going there. I did resist changing Drake into his plane shirt, only because he is so hard to get dressed.

Lincoln loved pretending to fly in a couple of cockpits. One volunteer was so nice to Lincoln, and answered all of his questions, mostly about where the "bew" gun buttons were. Then he would yell down to me, "Mom, the big bew guns are there."

We were about to leave when someone told me a B-29 was about to land. If I hadn't just read the book Unbroken, that wouldn't mean much to me. Unbroken is an amazing book about a former Olympian captured by the Japanese during WWII. The men lived in miserable conditions: they were diseased and starving. One day they were outside when they saw an American plane they never had seen before, the Super Fortress or B-29.  It was a huge plane, and they knew this had to mean the end of the war was close. I can't imagine how much joy they felt! Anyway, Lincoln, Drake, and I got to see the only flying B-29 land at the museum. It was a great Memorial Day present!

Our evening consisted of 59 cent hamburgers at McDonalds and lots of playing at their indoor playground. There were 3 middle school girls who played with Lincoln the whole time. Is it bad I don't try to correct how Lincoln says girls? "Hey grills, my name is Lincoln." or "Hey grills, watch this."

The next day, we went to the library and did lots of playing outside. I am trying to clear out a weird patch of land on our property. The previous owners put pine straw over some weed block netting. If you could see all the scratches on my arm, you would think the netting won, but you haven't seen what the netting looks like! I am about half way done and am excited to plant wildflowers in the crazy patch. Lincoln likes to ride his bike outside and Drake likes to explore everything. He also enjoys eating large handfuls of sand. I let Lincoln have a picnic dinner in the den, while we watched Dino Dan.

We have fun when Dave is home too! He started making a big breakfast every Saturday. His pancake pen comes in handy for making Iron Man pancakes.

Last Saturday we had homemade waffles with Trader Joe's cookie butter, orange juice, bacon, and eggs. I stayed full until dinner, but I guess everyone did too. Lincoln and Drake can down some breakfast food!

We celebrated Rachel's birthday this week. Lincoln was thrilled to show her and Dave E his new bedroom. Dave E made his famous chicken Tinga and Dave S made a cake with sinful chocolate butter cream.

I made a birthday banner from old scraps of fabric. I thought about taking it down, but decided it's close enough to Drakie's birthday. The banner wasn't my idea, I found it on pinterest. I also found a website with tons of freezer meal recipes. Dave helped me prep a month's worth of meals. It has been and will be so nice not to worry about what's for dinner. I can just pull something out of the freezer. That leaves me more time to enjoy the kiddos!

Catch Up

I so want to catch up, but only making time for a little bit. We are in our house, and loving it! It is so nice for Dave to be only 20 minutes from work: this means we get to see more of him/put him to work at home. Lincoln has been having fun playing with all the toys that were in storage for 5 months, and Drake is loving the freedom of crawling all over the place!

There aren't any appropriate words to describe how wonderful my Mother-in-law is! She kept me sane, while we were painfully waiting for our loan to come through. Lincoln and she got so much great play time together. When we finally did move it, she and my just as great Father-in-law worked their buns off. I'm just glad we live in this time, where airplanes, skype, and telephones can keep us in touch with them all the way in Oregon.

It is strange, all of the sudden Lincoln seems like such a big boy. He is so smart: he has a crazy good memory. We were at the library and I briefly showed him a book and told him the title, which was pretty long. A couple days later when I took out the book, he told me the title. Since the piano has it's own room, he has been really interested in playing. He cracks me up when he hits a low note and sings, "BIG, BIG;" then he will hit a high note and sing "small, small." Bedtime is still a problem. Dave took Lincoln to the hardware store, and they enjoyed a getting some things for the house: they didn't get home until after 10pm! Lincoln also loved it when the 4 of us all played flashlight hide-and-seek in his room.

Drake is one sassy, strong-willed 11 month old! He is so vocal about what he wants/doesn't want. We have to basically have a wrestling match to get his diaper changed. He has been doing better during the night, only waking up once to eat. I have a feeling it will be harder to wean him than it was with Lincoln. After eating, the first thing he wants to do is crawl to Lincoln's room. He has 2 teeth now, wants nothing to do with books, and loves his teddy bears.

Dave prepared a yummy Mother's day dinner and blue cake (blue, for my boys). As the 4 of us sat outside eating, I felt so extremely blessed. I love being a momma to Lincoln and Drake!