Vacation Days with Papa

I don't think the kids really missed me while I was in the hospital (or hotel, as they kept calling it).  Sure, they were a little sad when they realized after visiting me that they had to go home without me, but I don't think they were sad for long.  Why?  Because they have an awesome father!

Yesterday I got to see for myself why that is.  Joel took the day off work and the kids had a blast!  They had much more fun with him than they do with me.  It reminds me of when I was six and my younger brother was in the hospital for a few months--I always looked forward to movie nights with popcorn on the days my Dad was home with us.

Joel let me sleep in and handled all of our usual morning things, like chores.

He even did school with the kids.  They learned about the letter P and painted pictures of princesses, pirates, and penguins.  Everett claimed Joel's pirate ship masterpiece as his treasure.

As though games of Memory and Guess Who?, fun TV shows, and a trip to Wal-mart for some essentials and candy weren't enough, it even snowed yesterday.

You can't have fun outside without running from a few snowballs.

Joel showed Ashley how to form a perfect snowball and she was delighted.  William was sad that he didn't get to go out with the kids so I finally got him dressed and sent him out.  He was thrilled, although he fell down every other second.

It's funny how big the youngest child looks when you bring home a new baby.  I always know it is going to happen but I am never fully prepared for it.  William doesn't look like a baby to me anymore, but he is still just as fun.

Everyone has enjoyed snuggling with baby James, especially Everett.  He is pretty comfortable around babies by now and he has learned to really value the cuddliness of newborns.  These two share a room.  When William wakes in the middle of the night, sometimes Everett does too and so I let Everett give James a little kiss and a snuggle before I feed and change him.

These two co-conspirators were sneaking candy from under that Spiderman blanket.  Pretty funny!

So as you can see, Everett, Ashley, and William were in kid heaven with Joel home.  (I was in wife heaven.)  Today has been pretty boring without him, I'm afraid, although Everett and Ashley found the rest of the candy stash and polished it off before I caught them.  I don't know what that means but it probably counts for something.