Little ways that say I Love You

To say that parenting has it's ups and downs is an understatement. To say that "single"-parenting while your spouse is away for weeks at a time has it's ups and downs is even more of an understatement.

Big Daddy left on Sunday, February 12. We decided that he would leave for the airport at the same time that I left with the girls for church. We were going to take him to the airport, but then Big Daddy and I decided that it might be too much for me to try to carry two crying, kicking, heavy girls to the car after he had boarded his plane. Goodbyes to Daddy can be hard.

Maggie had her first "I just miss my Daddy" episode on Sunday night. She completely lost it when we finished our phone call with Big Daddy and then she said, "I just can't do anything without him here. I can't do anything at all without him during the day". It was like looking at myself some 14+ years ago when I would finish a Sunday night phone call with Big Daddy. I explained that I used to feel that way when we were dating, but now I had two little girls to make me feel better and explained that being apart was hard on all of us. To make matters worse, we were getting sick, too.

We stayed in all day on Monday and Maggie even asked to miss dance that evening. We were snotty and coughing and all feeling a little lethargic. At some point during the morning, I found an envelope with our street address written on it and opened it to find this:

I might have melted! I never want her to feel like Mommy can't handle things when Daddy's away, but I always want her to know that this is hard for me too. I had written her a little thank you note a couple of weeks ago because she had folded all of the towels, wash cloths and cloth napkins (nearly a full load of laundry) without me knowing. She was obviously touched and then wrote me a thank you note to thank me for the card. She loves the written word.

We woke up on Valentine's Day and Maggie was thrilled to finally give me my present. She had wrapped it (a David Crowder*Band cd) a couple of weeks ago and had been giving me hints about what it was. I opened it and then fixed the girls chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Ellie was playing with static cling hearts on the french doors and then spit all over the door because he heart wouldn't stick. (Yes, it sticks if you use spit!) I scolded her, she apologized and then I got the cleaner and a cloth and she cleaned up her mess. A few minutes later, I had a "delivery" in my bedroom.

And then found this on the easel in the living room.

No day would be complete without some sort of accident. On Valentine's Day, poor Ellie couldn't get her bathing suit (long story, don't judge) down in time when she went to the bathroom. You can imagine what happened. This is the note that I received:

Heart melting again.

We needed more tissues and I really needed VapoRub, so we had to go out and my mom asked us to come by her house so that she could give the girls their Valentine gifts. They each had a snowglobe in their bag. Of course, Ellie decided to put her snowglobe in her backpack once we got home and then she jumped up and down on it. Of course, it broke. Of course, Maggie wrote ANOTHER note.

The rest of our Valentine's Day was spent making homemade pizza and then delivering treats to our closest neighbors. (Both girls started out in bathing suits, but Ellie likes to change clothes A LOT. Maggie was trying on a new suit, but the bottoms were way to big, which explains why she doesn't match. Not that she normally matches!)

Lots of other stuff happened, but we'll just fast forward to this past Sunday. Maggie always has at least three art projects from her Sunday School class and this was one of them:

This is now framed and sitting out where I can see it!

There are SO many days that I feel like the worst mom and I wonder if anyone appreciates anything that I do or if they hear anything that I say. I am so thankful for these little reminders.

Do It Yourself Photo Shoot

I had every intention of taking Maggie and Ellie to have their pictures taken by a professional, but I haven't forgotten the last time we did that. After thinking about what I liked and what I wanted I just decided to do it myself with my cheap point and shoot camera...not my phone.

Ellie wore the Valentine shirt that Maggie wore once upon a time. Maggie wore a plain white t-shirt that she already had. I made both girls red hairbows and they both wore jeans. I wanted some sort of cute Valentine-y prop, but couldn't come up with anything and I was in the mood to take the pictures right then.

I like white backgrounds, so I grabbed the white comforter off of Ellie's bed and put it in the middle of the living room floor. Then I positioned Maggie (Ellie had ran to her room and locked the door) where I wanted her and I stood up and had her look at me.

Ellie wasn't as easy. I had to offer her a Tootsie Pop. Luckily, I had a red one and it looked appropriate for the "holiday". I was thrilled that she left her hairbow in and her clothes on long enough for me to snap a couple of pictures.

I cropped the pictures and then went to Picnik (so sad that they are closing) and did some changes with the color.

All three of us girls have colds, so I'm not sure what we will be doing to celebrate Valentine's Day. Big Daddy is out of town, so we may just have a little movie night.

You Are Amazing

We started out our week with a trip to IKEA on Monday. It's a two hour drive, so we talked about leaving you girls with Nana, but we wanted family time. Your dad had phone meetings, but we were able to have some nice family time.

We went to Bass Pro Shops first and you two loved playing on the boats that they had inside. You can make anywhere into your personal playground.

And Maggie, you wore one of my favorite dresses. Forget that you had slept in it from when you wore it to church on Sunday. You decided to change it up a bit and paired it with dark brown leggings and your brown cowboy boots. You looked beautiful and I wish I had taken a picture of the complete outfit. I let you pick out your clothes and I can't help but smile even when you embarrass me.

We walked just inside of the big mall and after one store, I decided that I couldn't do the big mall and IKEA with you two! Of course, we walked right by a chocolate shop and someone wanted a candy apple. That would be you, Maggie.

$10 later, we walked away with a nice dessert (caramel, covered in chocolate with a strawberry drizzle)for after lunch. And Ellie, you met a new friend.

We had Mexican food for lunch and then pulled into IKEA around 12:45. The two of you could totally live on the second floor. You jump from "room" to "room" and are just do excited to look at everything. It wasn't crowded like last time, so you had lots of space to roam.

Since we knew what we were going for, we picked out the two pieces of furniture for your rooms and I picked up a few other things. Your dad and I have looked at furniture for your rooms for so long and finally decided that this was what we want and we really couldn't be any happier. I want to get some cute antique headboards or something, but I like to look until I find exactly what I want. We were back on the road a couple of hours later.

You were both thrilled when Daddy started putting the new furniture together on Tuesday. Both of you are quite handy with a hammer and a screwdriver. You treated your dad like a king and were quick to give him any tool that he needed. The best part was that you were able to help again on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Daddy quit the work at home stuff and went back to the office. Both of you were sad, but we needed to do a little school work, go the library and get the house in order. "We" worked on Valentine stuff and were excited about our homeschool group's party in Friday.

Some of our friends from church are part of the big group now, so Ellie, you played in the toddler area with Kamrynn. The two of you had lots of fun and were so funny trying to sneak off and get into trouble with the big kids. Maggie, you loved decorating cookies, playing games and doing a cake walk. We ended the party with snacks and a puppet show.

Daddy decided that it was time for a certain five year old to get her first gun. A rifle, to be exact. I was (hoping) for something child-sized and pink, but got this instead.

A big, black Ruger.

When I asked you about it, Maggie, you said that you really like black anyway. Then you asked if we could go out and shoot at trees. Your Daddy has already taught you a lot about gun safety and you are anxious to learn how to shoot.

Now, it is Sunday. We are finally getting our first colds of the season. It started with me and I think it's moving to you Ellie. Maggie, you tucked your sister into bed, read her a story and prayed with her tonight. You two can be SO sweet and then sometimes, you're not.

But every single day, you are amazing.