Weekend Without Daddy

 Matt's grandpa died last week, and he left Friday morning to head to Texas for the funeral. We talked a lot about it and decided that the trip would be too hard on the kids, so we stayed home and spent the weekend without Daddy. We missed him a lot, but we still managed to have some fun while he was gone.

On Friday, we didn't have any plans, so we had a jammy day! I'm treasuring these stay at home days with Nathan because I know they are numbered. Kindergarten is approaching way too fast.

He asked to play Catan several times on Friday. He really has it figured out (and it's pretty complicated for a kids' game). He likes to buy parrots almost exclusively, and I always think there's no way he can win with that strategy, but he beat me several times. He has the trading and resources figured out. We're training him young to love board games.

 He also spent a long time playing with Samuel's Legos. He built this without any help from me (he did follow the instructions that came with it), but did it all by himself. I was proud of him!

 Samuel and Elisabeth played all day too. I had some baking to do for a baby shower, so I just brought a whole bunch of toys down from upstairs and they played all day while I baked cupcakes.

 My mom picked the kids up after naps and they spent Friday night and Saturday morning with Grammy and Papa Joe.

 The timing for Matt to be gone worked out okay because I had plans Friday night and Saturday morning anyway, and since my mom was able to babysit, I didn't have to cancel anything.

Friday night our Sunday school class had a girls' night to eat, visit, and meet our church's new Women's Ministry Director. It was a fun night. We all stayed and visited until after 10:00. We were all talking that it was a rule that everyone had to stay past our kids' bedtimes, so we didn't have to put them to bed that night, and then we stayed so much later visiting. I love so many things about our new church, one being that everyone lives so much closer to us. The house that hosted the girls' night was a three minute WALK for me. It was awesome. The new director also asked several of the ladies what drew them to FBC-BA, and almost everyone answered that it was the children's ministry and our Sunday school class, which were the two big reasons we started looking for a new church. It was a reminder of God's faithfulness in leading us to such a great church.

 Saturday morning, we all got together again for a baby shower for Chandra. I'm on the Baby Shower Committee for our class, so I had fun getting to help celebrate baby Mackenzie. It was a beautiful shower!

 I picked the kids up after the shower and we headed home for naps. When I found out Matt was going to be gone for the weekend, I contacted my good friend Michelle whose husband is gone often on the weekends to see if he was out of town and if she wanted to get together, so as soon as the kids got up we headed out to visit them. We had the best time. Brett had a change of plans and ended up being home, but we still crashed their family night.

Our kids play SO well together. I loved watching them play and visiting with Brett and Michelle. It made what would have been a long, lonely Saturday night so much better.

 Nathan threw a pretty big fit, and Emma was in tears when we had to leave. We consoled them by planning our next play date, and ever since, Nathan has been asking how many days until he can see Emma again.

I told Nathan that when Daddy is gone, he can sleep in my bed, and he was so excited. He didn't want to just sleep in the bed, he kept saying that he wanted to sleep on my side with me and wanted to snuggle. Love that boy!

 Sunday morning was probably our hardest time without daddy. I never look forward to going to church without him. A friend mentioned needing help in the nursery during the church service on Sunday, so I jumped at the chance to volunteer, so I didn't have to sit in church without Matt. Nathan was in a bad mood, and things were hectic getting ready and trying to leave the house early to be there to help in nursery.

This is the best picture I got of the kids before church. It pretty much sums up our morning.

 Nathan was still in a weird mood and stayed with me while I worked in nursery. Thankfully, he snapped out of it and happily went to his class after church, so I could go to Sunday school.

We came home and ate lunch and played Candyland before naps. Matt made it home late Sunday afternoon, and we were so excited to have him home! I'm thankful for friends and family that make weekends without Matt easier.