Day with Daddy!

Almost every week I make a batch of cookies or brownies. When I make a batch that Paul loves (ex. M&M cookies), I end up making cookies twice in the week because they vanish so quickly. I have quite a few different cookies that I make throughout the year, but sugar and gingerbread cookies are not included in that list. Sometimes I make them at Valentine's Day or some other holiday, but the one time I'm guaranteed to make them is Christmas. They are my least favorite kind to make because of the colossal mess involved. But the kids love decorating those cookies, and so I will keep making them as long as I have a child who wants to do it with me. Of course when they get older I expect they will be more helpful with the cleaning up part of the process, which will make it less odious to me. Yesterday afternoon the kids and I made 3 dozen sugar cookies. Today I made 3 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, two loaves of pumpkin cranberry bread, and about six dozen gingerbread cookies. We have six plates of assorted cookies ready to give the kids'

Sunday School teachers and Soul Patrol kids' choir directors tomorrow, and we'll make up plates on Wednesday for their AWANA leaders. One of the loaves of bread went into the freezer to save for our Christmas dinner. I need to make one batch of chocolate peanut butter chip cookies this week, and that will be it when it comes to making cookies for the near future.

We had sleet in our area during the night, and it was supposed to worse down near the plant so Paul took the DAY OFF!!! Usually *if* he takes a day off (which he doesn't always do - sometimes he goes down there 7 days in a row), it's either on a Sunday OR because he's joining us for one of our frequent outings (ex. he went with us to Corning, NY and to Lancaster this fall). It had been more than six months since he spent a Saturday with us here at home. Sundays are different because we go to church and in the fall we watch football on tv. When I found out he was going to stay home my first thought was to ask him to tackle some things on the honey to do list. Top priority is to repair the grouting around the floor in front of our shower. He told me in May that we were growing mushrooms there. YUCK! He bought the supplies at Lowe's in May, but that's as far as he's gotten with that project. We keep pulling mushrooms out periodically which is incredibly disgusting. Many times he has told me he will do the project on xyz day, but then he's always too tired to do it. Working those long hours at the plant takes a toll on him, and he's exhausted when he's with us. In the 20 years I've known him, I have never known him to take as many naps as he has the past six months.

But then I thought about the kids and how thrilled they would be to have a day with him. It would be the best Christmas gift possible for them. Ian in particular had commented just this week how much he misses his Daddy. This week was worse than normal because he was in Virginia Monday-Wednesday, and he spent Wednesday night at his parent's house because they got back so late. He didn't get home until 8:00pm on Thursday. Oliver was already asleep. He had 15 minutes with Nadia and Ian before they went to bed. The kids and I went to church on Friday night for a special Christmas service, and we didn't get home until 8:30 which meant they went to bed immediately. When Paul is with the kids he gives them 100% of his attention. Today he played the Wii with them, played Don't Spill the Beans with Oliver, did a puzzle with Oliver, read the kids books, did math flashcards with Nadia and Ian, etc. He did help me a little by doing thing like running to the grocery store for molasses for the gingerbread cookies and helping spackle a little in the dining room.

I had wanted to paint the dining room before Christmas, and I was wondering how I was going to get it done, but I figured today was the day when I found out he was staying home. The kids and I had picked up some green paint on Wednesday afternoon. Between the baking and painting, I was on my feet for almost 10 hours straight. I am exhausted! I love the color of the dining room. It looks SO much better than the boring white that has been there since we moved in. I painted many rooms this summer, but the two I hadn't gotten to that were on my list were the living room and dining room. Now I am very motivated to do the living room. Maybe I'll tackle it after we put away the Christmas decorations. It's amazing what a difference a gallon of paint can make. I used a $10 off coupon, which meant it cost me about $15 to repaint that room. The room is a disaster at the moment, but tomorrow after church and the football game I will put the things back in the bookshelves and get everything back in order. With the new flooring in the family room and kitchen on Tuesday and Wednesday and the new paint in the dining room today, this floor of the house has undergone quite a transformation in the past five days! As you can see, I've also been practicing on my new camera. I love it! There is a bit of a learning curve involved in the transition, but I am SO glad I bought it.

I had planned to take the kids to a Happy Birthday, Jesus party at First Baptist this morning, but it was cancelled because of the weather. Then I planned to take them to a party (that included making gingerbread houses) at the library that is very close to First Baptist. Then I planned to come home and make cookies with the kids. I am very glad we just ended up staying home today because it gave the kids far more time with Daddy than they usually get any day of the week. I'm going to be hoping there will be other snow days that keep Daddy from work over the next few months.