The Mister came home last night after a trip back to Chicago to see his family. We sure did miss him. We stayed very busy, though, baking and making and finishing each of our own holiday projects. I must say that I was more prepared for his trip than usual, meaning that I went to the grocery store and ran all of my errands before he left so I didn't have to schlep the kids around town with me every day (none of us like that very much).
Arden had her annual Gingerbread Sleepover at the Paulson's so on Friday night it was just me and Mr. P. I wanted to make the night all about him so I told him we could do anything he wanted to do. His requests were simple and mostly entailed some coloring and ornament making and the two of us on the couch watching old Christmas specials. I love having uninterrupted time with my little guy, even if it's just for a little while.
The next day the three of us made cookies for the neighbors. We made just one kind of cookie—the Snickerdoodle—and made a bunch of them. The kids were patient and only ate a few so there were enough to package up nicely and take to the neighbors' houses. It was a cold, dark, and rainy day so our little house felt unbelievably warm (and still smelled like vanilla) when we got back inside. The rest of the afternoon we wrapped presents and drew pictures and made even more ornaments for the tree.
The next morning, well rested after driving around and looking at Christmas lights the night before, we made the "Frosty Mugs" cupcakes from the book What's New Cupcake. Arden loves this kind of stuff and asks to make crazy cupcakes a lot. We used our own cake and frosting recipes for the snowmen and did our best to make them look like the ones in the book but Arden only gave them a 7 out of 10 for looks. She gave them a 10 out of 10 for taste, though…
Soon enough, the time came to pick up Daddy from the airport. Perry gets very talkative and inquisitive when we drive somewhere at night. It's very exciting to him and it always has been. This time, he told us about the dinosaurs and why the earth is round and he asked why people were ever born and he wondered how people ever thought the world was flat. Square he could understand but he couldn't understand why they thought it was flat. When we pulled up to the curb at the airport, the kids searched the faces of all the weary travelers and I smiled as the people hugged and patted each others backs as they found their families and friends. Inside the car, the kids knelt on their seats with their noses pressed against the glass and shouted and pointed and hoped each person coming down the escalator was him. When they finally saw him, they both yelled and screamed and jumped up and down and waved their arms. Michael said that seeing the kids through the window like that was one of the cutest things he'd ever seen.
Welcome home, babe.
