When Daddy is Away...

Momma and the boys will play! So, what happens when your husband tells you that he has to fly out to Indiana to fix a server and that he'll be out there for 3 days? What happens when your life at work is super crazy...your tired and feel worn down to almost nothing? Well...I'll tell you what happens when these things happen to me: I pull it together, work through the things at work that are dragging me down, tell Brandon to have a good trip, and I find something super fun to do with my two little guys!!

There's nothing better than being outside when you start to feel super stressed. And, I think someone up above was watching out for me this week because He gave me a week full of beautiful sunshine, cooler weather, a breeze to rustle the trees, sweet little boys, and an idea to spend the ENTIRE evening (almost 3 hours) at the local City Park...just hanging out with the most important parts of my life!



After a long day of staff retreat (which makes my neck hurt, just to think about....not that it was bad or anything, but to think about all of our plans at work in the coming years...just gets me a goin'!), I ran home, changed clothes, packed up some picnic food, and picked up my guys.

There's nothing better than saying to my boys, "Guess what?!" And, hearing their response, "What?!" And then I tell them something that makes them light up with excitement....well, that's just what I did on Thursday evening. You see, Parker loves everything about the park and the fact that we were going to stay there all evening, and even have a picnic, well, in his world, that was like winning a trip to Hawaii would be for me!



Little did I know just how fun this trip to the park would be.



We played on the playground...



We ran over and over the little wooden bridge...





We at a picnic dinner of PB and J, goldfish, yogurt, and grapes...







Grandma came by for a visit...



Andrew had his first trip down the slide...



And, his first ride on the merry-go-round...



And, through all of this fun, fresh-air, and family time, I realized just how blessed I truly am. I realized that I am lucky to have the "craziness at work" because there are so many people out there who don't have a job or a career that they love. I realized that I would absolutely hate my life if everything were easy and if everything went as planned....because, I realized, that if things had gone as planned this week, I wouldn't have had this evening and this time at the park with my little boys.



I am blessed beyond measure.



And, do you know what one of the most special moments of the night was? As the sun started setting and I told Parker it was time to head home, he said: "Mom, this was a fun day. I can't wait until Dad gets home and we can show him our picnic spot and play at the park again."



Yep, he's right, and we will be doing this again real soon (in fact, we've already got plans to do it again this weekend).