Whew!

Stephen has returned from an 8 day, 7 night work trip... and I survived!  The kids survived!  Hallelujah!  I wasn't so sure that would happen!

While Stephen visited 4 states, including Hawaii (can you say, jealous??), we got through half a work week last week, a weekend, and half a work week this week.  I have to say... it wasn't easy.  I mean, having 3 kids, a full-time job, commitments outside of work, and a hubby who is HOME isn't easy.  You take away that hubby being home, and it makes it 3000% harder.

On top of it all, I was sick last week.  It started before Stephen left, but really hit me last Thursday.  At school, I had a sore throat, chills, cough, and I lost my voice.  They sent me home from school early, afraid that I may have caught the flu from Parker.  Luckily, it was just a sinus infection and I got an antibiotic.  My sweet mom came down Thursday night to help out.  My mom is the BEST!

Friday, I woke up feeling a little better, but my voice was almost completely gone.  So, I took the kiddos to school and enjoyed a day off!  Mom and I talked on the couch for hours and then enjoyed lunch out.  That night, it was cold and rainy... Sydney begged for Chick-Fil-A and I gave in.  I was still full from lunch, but the girls got kids' meals.  Get this: we got home, and realized that one drink and one chicken nugget serving was missing.  So, basically, one meal was just fries.  I called the store up, just to let them know... hoping maybe they'd just say they would get us a free one next time or something.  The manager said- "If you want to give me your address, I'll be happy to have someone bring another meal to you."  I laughed and told her no way, that wouldn't be necessary for a little kids meal.  She kept kindly insisting that they would be happy to, so I finally gave in.  10 minutes later, we had a whole kids meal, plus two cow dolls for the girls.  What other fast food restaurant would do that??

Driving home from school.

Sleepover!

Saturday, I entertained the kiddos while it monsooned outside for most of the day.

It was no joke.

Watching the rain!

My kids don't last long doing any one activity, so I was pulling things out left and right to keep them happy and challenged.

Paper weaving.

Arts and crafts in her bathing suit.  Makes sense, it was raining!

Parker HATED the playdough!

He would throw it on the floor and then laugh.

P's new ride.

Miss Sassy Pants herself.  

They love to play in my closet.

 My sister and her girls came down later that day to have a sleepover.  We had so much fun- we played games, watched a movie, painted nails, made necklaces, and more!

Poor guy.  Can't catch a break with his sisters and girl cousins.

Sunday, after my sister and nieces left, we hung out, ventured to Publix, and had a meeting at church later that afternoon.  It ran a little later than expected, so I decided to take the kids to Chili's by myself, since I didn't have time to cook anything.  Whew.  That is always an experience, taking all 3 to a restaurant by myself.

Monday, it was back to work.  It's funny- I wear this band on my wrist that calculates my steps that I take.  I checked out my steps from the other morning, just to see how many I had taken.  This is what a typical morning looks like for me, getting myself ready, all three kids ready, in the car, and taken to their classes at daycare.  This was from 5:29-7:02 am.

The red and orange lines indicate activity.  Red lines are basically like exercise-level activity.  You can see where I drove to daycare (the time where there are no bars).  I walked 1.07 miles in an hour and a half of getting ready- that's how ragged I run!

Tuesday was the day-I-had-to-get-through.  I had to be at work at 7:30 (an hour earlier than normal) which meant I had to leave the house by 6:15, which meant I had to be up around 5 to get everyone ready.  Then, after work, I had another meeting at church from 6:30-8:00.  Luckily, my mom was coming down again to hang out.  I got to work right on time, then I rushed to fix dinner after work, then made it to church, then got home, got the girls to bed, made dinner for Wednesday, and then crashed hard.  

And today, Stephen made it home!!!!  Yayyy!  We are one complete, happy family again.  And this girl is about to be one relaxed, rested person.  I'm so proud of myself for not only making it through the week, but actually making sure I didn't get too anxious about anything.  I got to enjoy my kids to myself for a few days, and enjoy some family time with my mom, sister, and nieces.  I didn't cancel any commitments I had outside of work, even though that would have been the easy way out.  Now I know that, if Stephen has to be gone this long again, I can do it!  (though if he goes to Hawaii again, mark my words- I will be on that plane with him!)