On our own

The girls and I were man-less this weekend. Daddy went fishing with some friends in Northern Minnesota, hoping to catch the fish that start moving when the ice goes out on the rivers. He had marginal luck and caught a good number of fish, but nothing too big or fantastic. But he had a lot of fun, and for that we're all glad.

So what did us girls do? We hunkered down. You see, it snowed about 6" between Friday and Saturday. Seriously. I'm done. Enough already. But we didn't let that stop us too much. Alayna didn't have school on Friday because of the weather and I didn't have any daycare kiddos, so we lounged around during the day and watched it snow. We played games, watched a movie, did some housework, danced to kids' music. It was fun. Then Auntie Amanda came over and we played a rousing game of Life! Then we had a pizza picnic and some cheesecake before putting the girls to bed. Then 2 other friends came over and we had a mini girls' night. We watched Dirty Dancing and The Notebook, ate yummy snacks, talked a lot and stayed up way too late. It was fun, even if it was tiring.

Saturday we did much of the same as Friday: movies, games, playing, housework. The snow continued to fall and I consulted my calendar several times to make sure it really was April. That afternoon my sister came over again and we watched Last of the Mohicans, then headed to our parents' house for dinner and planning of my cousin's baby shower. By this time the snow had at least stopped falling, though the wind was howling and blowing it all over. When we got home and I put the girls to bed, I couldn't fall asleep (this is a common ailment when Andy's gone) so I turned on the tv and remembered that it was a free Starz weekend! So I watched 2 movies I'd been wanting to see, Step Up and Stomp the Yard. Both are dance movies and though I was tired, they made me want to get up and dance. Or at the very least learn how to dance like that at some point. It most likely won't happen, as I have no coordination. But I can still have a bit of the dream, right?

Sunday morning was a little hectic, getting everyone up, dressed, fed and out the door in time for church by myself, but I DID IT! Woohoo, score one for Mommy. It was my day to teach Sunday school, too, so we did our lessons and then headed into town for lunch. Lilly was spending the day with her best friend, and Alayna, Mikayla and I were headed with the 4H to a traveling Smithsonian exhibit about fences and land use. It was interesting, though I thought there would be more involved in the whole exhibit. When we got home there was a surprise waiting for us...DADDY! The girls were so excited and could barely stand me pulling completely into the garage and getting unbuckled from their seats so they could give him hugs and kisses.

While the older girls could understand that Daddy would be back in a day or two, Mikayla didn't and couldn't comprehend that. She was missing her daddy pretty bad, especially Sunday morning when she heard a man's voice on the tv. She swore it was Daddy and went around the house, yelling "Dada! Dadd-eeeeeee!!" Then she broke down sobbing and didn't fully recover until she woke up from her nap hours later. Needless to say, she was probably the most excited of the girls to see their Daddy when we got home.

Now today, things are back to the normal bump and grind. Daddy's at work, Alayna's at school, daycare kids are here, and the snow should be melting (they're saying 55 today, but we'll see) Mikayla also has her 15 month check-up later this morning, so I'll be back to post when we get home.