Daddy's coming home today!

And we're all so excited.  We're about to drive home ourselves.  I'm  glad we made this little trip; it was the perfect way to end our time without KJ.

No Christmas is complete without a visit to the park.  The kids loved it.

The tunnel of lights was always my favorite.

 Precious Girl 

 Dancing Boy

 "It all so magical."

I always say that in my head in Princess Jasmine's voice.

The kids won't get to see KJ tonight since he'll be home late, but I will! And I'm so glad.

For my husband

Ella's 2012 Gymnastics Recital from KJ Pugh on Vimeo.

Dear KJ

Yesterday was a really good and productive day.  I was tired by the end of it, but still...it was good.  

Today has been pretty good, but if I hear James ask, "What do you want me to do?" in a whiney voice one more time...let's just say that's kind of wearisome. 

We took a 30-minute walk around the neighborhood this morning, and he burned off a lot of energy.  He ran for about 10 minutes non-stop, and he was so cute I wanted to record it for you.  He took a little convincing to start running again, though.



In other James news, he wrote his name all by himself today!  I was so proud.

Ella is continuing to study about how flowers grow, and we did a fun project.  

She did a great job labeling all the flower parts, and then we decided to get up close and personal with our second-to-last petunia.

 Stamen and Pollen

I hope it doesn't make us sick.

Ella also had fun examining the flower parts through her magnifying glass.  Afterwards we played some games involving synonyms and adjectives.  Your little first grader is so smart.

A Christmas Present

We're sending a very special gift to Haiti for the week.

This is the man who takes care of us, and my heart felt heavy last night, and I cried thinking of a week without him.

Just think of the time I'm going to have to put in playing video games with James while he's gone!  

And he won't be here to play silly games with Ella that make her laugh echo through the house.  And I get 13-hour days of teaching and training, discipline, bottom-wiping, and cup-fixing.  But it really is okay.  We're on our third trip of the year, and what I've found is that His strength really is perfected in my weakness, and there is much joy to be found in just the three of us.  We may cry and get sad from time to time, and feel a little bit orphaned and widowed in his absence, but this time I feel more than ever the joy and surety that the offering up of him this week is accepted and pleasing to the Lord.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father

is this:  to visit orphans and widows in their distress,

and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

 - James 1:27 -

In an unexpected turn of events, he's also getting to make this trip with both his mother and father.  I know it will be a special and wonderful time delivering Christmas presents and hugs to Haitian orphans and teaching and encouraging those who care for them.      

A Little Glimpse of Saturday and Sunday

A quick picture by the Little River before leaving Saturday

I wish we could have stayed longer in Townsend,

but I'm so glad for seeing a glimpse of Fall there.

A little stop in Mayberry

Ella was a little unhappy because she wanted to drive

straight to John David's.

A Little Brother trying to cheer up his Sister

Sunday's Dawn

Fall Fun with Cousins

Pizza on the Porch

New Baby

It's been a whirlwind, but we're really glad we went on this adventure.

He's coming home tomorrow.

Last Monday the kids and I got down the globe and looked to see where Daddy would be all week.  I'm glad he'll be flying back this way tomorrow.  His plane lands exactly 24 hours from now.  Late night, but I'll take it.

He's northwest of Guantanamo in the city of Holguin.

We were excited to see it was on the globe. 

My Little Superheros

Sometimes your kids set up a really nice shot for you all by themselves.  We were out on the deck last night before bed enjoying the sunset.  They flew around, capes flying.  And then this happened.  This supermom is ready for Daddy to come home.

The Mommy Diaries

So here we are on Thursday, the third full day without KJ.  I've had to do the following things myself:

• clean the hair out of the drain in the shower (for some reason, KJ always takes care of this)
• take the trash out to the road
• hand out vitamins and brush kids' teeth at night
• clean poop off the floor

Now we come to it.  That fourth item has been filling my days since KJ left.  James decided to become terrified of doing this in the toilet, though he does try to make it.  He doesn't want to take the time to just sit and wait it out, so he waits until he's in the process of going to run to the bathroom, just in time to kick off his underwear or pull-up and spread poop on the floor, his legs, and the toilet.  (I'm really trying to write this as delicately as possible.)  It's been such fun.

Last night James was HYPED up.  He ran all over the church, snitching sugar cookies off the table before I could catch him, and generally being a whirlwind of activity.  (Let me add that he is snuggling in my lap as I write this.  Thank goodness he's a snuggler, too.)  I finally made the call to get out of there, and the ride home was so, so loud.  Ella and James went back and forth in the loudest voices possible, while I tried to keep the car in my lane and not lose my mind.  The evening hours are hardest without KJ.  By that point, I've been momming it for 12 hours, and my brain can't handle the noise level anymore.  

So, I'm holding it together, "Almost bedtime, almost bedtime, almost bedtime...".  We get home, and James made a run for the toilet, came back in the living room with no underwear, then started freaking out, yelling for me to put his pants back on.  He just needed to go.  I told him no, that he needed to go to the potty.  He didn't want to, but the situation became dire, and he headed that way.  He did, however, leave little presents across the kitchen floor as he went, though.  

Oh, my goodness.  At that point, I felt so frustrated, but then just started laughing hysterically instead.  And being the 21st-century mom that I am, I took a picture with my iPod.  I'm going to refrain from posting it, but if Instagram is about capturing little moments in daily life that used to go undocumented, that moment qualified.  Poop in the floor has been my life this week, and though one part of my mind felt frustrated and crazy, the other part felt the joy and the craziness of this season of motherhood.  So I laughed.  And then we made this video.  This is my life this week.

What's Up

We've been going strong the last several days.  The kids and I took a road-trip to my parents' house over the weekend, and I spent all day Saturday with one of my college roommates photographing a wedding in her husband's stead.  I think the most important wedding guest was her youngest little one, who was celebrating her first birthday.

Joy and I had a really fun day together.  It was a great learning experience (my first wedding!), and I enjoyed getting to use some really nice equipment.  I got to hold on to one of the lenses for the week...I think I know what I want for Christmas.

 The kitchen floor is a good place for portraits, right?

Our busy weekend ended in saying good-bye to KJ for the week.  He's leading a team to Cuba, and I drove he and two girls from our church to the airport yesterday.  They were joined by our brother-in-law, David, and KJ's good friend of years and years and flew out of Miami this morning.  Pray for them as they had to wake up before 3 a.m.

The kids and I celebrated Big Daddy's birthday yesterday afternoon with pizza and cookie cake.  Big Daddy provided his own birthday party entertainment.

Ella and I spent the afternoon doing school, and thanks to a free Redbox rental, made a trip to Walmart and the aforesaid box.  This resulted in a later bedtime than normal, but I think everyone got a pretty good night's sleep regardless.  As a matter of fact, James just woke up.  I have teaching Ella and a million household chores to keep me busy today, so we should make it through Day 1 without too much incident.

Watch out! Busy day ahead!

I'm going to give myself about 10 minutes to write a blog post this morning, and then I have to get going.  We have a pretty packed few days ahead of us.  

School has been going well.  I'm sure things will continue to vary as we adapt and learn the best way to do things for us.  Monday and Tuesday we did everything in the morning, finished by lunch.  Yesterday I needed to go to the store for bread and milk among other things.  I hadn't left the house since Sunday.  I also had to buy traveling items for my husband who is leaving for Cuba soon.  I was thankful that my mother-in-law was able to keep the kids while I went out...Mom's morning out at Target!  That's happiness right there.  I was able to browse and think about upcoming events (Ella's birthday party) without interruption. 

My morning out resulted in missing my afternoon quiet time, but that was okay.  Ella and I did math, learned about the four seasons, and she wrote her first short story during James' naptime.  I was also able to scrub the tub while she worked on some things, so that was a win-win...win!

Today we'll be doing school in between the last gymnastics lesson of the summer and an afternoon date for me and KJ.  Are you old when you start going to matinees instead of late-night showings?  Maybe.  But there's no sleeping-in the next morning when you're parents.   

Olympics here we come!