Daddy, come home!

“Daddy come home!”

This is the chant I started with the kids on Saturday afternoon, day three of our missing him. He is the Jr. Counselor for the Wyoming District LWML and is attending the conference in Portland, Oregon while we stay in Bport, wishing we were closer to Papa & Grandma, and all the cousins. Lord Willing, Daddy will be getting off a plane at 10:45 p.m. Sunday night and driving home. He tells me he has to work Monday morning in the office, but I have news for him…

During his 4 day absence, we drove to Sidney to cheer on Bridgeport’s Swimming Beez, the local swim team. It was a beautiful sunny day and not too hot. Kyra rode home with us and I made a quick return at Cabela’s while we were down there. Dropped her off at the pool once we got back into town, which, of course, was where Eden wanted to stay. So, we drove back and got our suits and headed back to the pool. The kids swam and I got my feet wet, which felt wonderful! Lars decided to have another 2 hour temper tantrum, and while he lay on the hall way floor, screaming, Eden and I went outside to the swingset, watered the vegetables & flowers, and had a loud supper. When nothing would calm him, we loaded up in the stroller and walked 2 miles. That worked, and we even had enough energy to stop and swing at the park on the way home.

Friday, I ran errands in Scottsbluff all morning, and twiddled my thumbs all afternoon, watching another storm blow in. Literally. Bport had 58 mph winds. Neither child napped, so by 5:00, I was tearing my hair out. Daddy phoned at bedtime and the kids took turns chattering away. I worked on lesson plans until 11p, crawling in bed just in time to hear Lars start screaming. Got him back to sleep and slept until 0300, when the sprinkler that I have had ‘off’ for over a week began pounding water on the window/siding outside my bedroom. After removing myself from the ceiling, I trudged outside to the garage to see that, indeed, the sprinkler was turned off, but was actually running. Who knows how to disable a sprinkler at 0300? Not me. I pushed every button, advanced through all the circuits and went ‘on’, ‘off’, ‘on,’ ‘off’, about 13 times before it shut off. Got back in the house to discover that Lars had also been awaked by the same noise. Got him back to sleep and he was up with a smile at 0600. Fun.

The same thing happened the next night, but the front sprinkler was stuck on. Even after unplugging the system, the water was still happily spraying. At 11:00 p.m., I was in the front yard in my pajamas, trying to figure out how and where to shut the water off. It was not a pretty sight. I’m not meant to be a single mom slash homeowner.

Eden has been attending KinderCamp on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at the community center. It’s a program for 3-5 year olds that involves coloring, crafts, snack, 20 minutes of the movie Madasgar (which is this summer’s theme), exercise and walking across the parking lot to swim at the pool. It’s a very affordable program and it provides me with some one on one Lars time two mornings a week. I think it is also preparing her for pre-school this fall.

Tuesday afternoon was Story Hour at the library and afterwards I took Douthit’s home, where I made myself comfortable for much of the evening. She makes the best grilled chicken.

Thursday afternoon, I had a yard full of neighborhood kids. It was 100 degrees in the shade and we have the best sprinkler this side of Main St. Between the Turtle Pool, sprinkler, swingset and sandbox, it was like an amusement park. I even had red Kool-aid, which got its start in the wide open state of Nebraska, by the way.

Monday & Wednesday evening I taught EMT class. It’s starting to get past the boring stuff and into the fun stuff. We’re getting on the floor and really doing hands on learning, which I love.

Firecracker season is here in town. Every time there’s a mere crackle, the dog barks. He’s spent a lot of time indoors this week.

Last Sunday, Father’s Day, we were at the West Park all afternoon throwing horseshoes with a buddy of mine from the Fire Department. I intended to display photos of the event, but Al has the camera 1000 miles away, so it’ll have to wait until next week.

I am sitting out on the back deck, watching what I can of the orange-y sunset over the roof tops. A bird is on the wire near our apple tree and it’s desperately calling for something or someone. The thumbnail moon is hanging overhead in the clear blue sky and if it weren’t for the mosquitoes, I might actually stay out and wait for the stars.

Daddy, come home!