He's HOME!

Joe rolled in around 2:30 Friday morning after an 11 hour drive. Even though I knew he would be arriving sometime during the middle of the night, I still got super scared when he woke me and I saw a figure looming over me in the dark:) I am a total scaredy cat!

We spent Friday doing thrilling things like taking children to & from school, registering our vehicles in Minnesota, buying groceries, unloading his car, applying (and testing for!) drivers licences, and getting Joe his very own library account set up. Truly exciting stuff. The girls were thrilled...

What could be better than the DMV on a Friday at lunch time?!?

Later today we plan on finishing unpacking both of our vehicles and cleaning them out. Like really cleaning them. Because we are hip and happening like that. :) In all seriousness though, we have been getting life stuff done AND having fun as a family.

Isaiah's soccer team remains undefeated. And he had a LARGE cheering section this Saturday morning which finally included daddy! We got out on Papa's pontoon for a spin around the lake. And Joe and I were able to get out last night WITHOUT children (the in-utero one doesn't count!) to celebrate Joe's little brother's 30th birthday. (I think that officially makes us old. Yikes.) Oh and today Isaiah finally lost his first tooth. That was a long time coming!

Despite the look of terror on his face in this picture, he really was/is excited about this milestone. As he was putting the tooth under his pillow he told me that losing this tooth makes him "suddenly feel older". I love it. And him. 

All of the kids have expressed in one way or another how excited they are to have their daddy home. But I had to laugh at Charlotte's assessment of the situation..."I am happy to be with my daddy. But his deals are tougher." And by deals she means he doesn't make deals with her. His no means no. And his yes means yes. There is no *one piece of candy* for cooperation or *prize* for finishing your dinner. Suffice it to say we definitely need some of his toughness around here. Especially at meal time and bedtime. Two and half hours of bedtime is ridiculous. I know that. But have been unable to change it. Hopefully daddy knows how. 

(PS - I am completely open to suggestions on how to get a two year old to fall asleep in her bed in under two hours. Our challenges are that she can climb out of her bed faster than you can blink and she shares a room with her siblings so she keeps them up as well! So frustrating.)