Nate has been putting this experience off for years now. It is a week long resource management school all about park planning. He doesn't like to be away from us and he knew that every evening there would be drinking which isn't a draw for him but this week long school is needed to advance in work so he finally bit the bullet this year and the week he was gone just so happened to be one of the busiest weeks for me also. He has been dreading it for months now and compared it to going to prison but when he came back he said it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be and that there were little tender mercies throughout the week that made it a good experience for him.
Monday morning, Dad left us! We were all able to see him and say goodbye before we had to go get Paige to school. We sent him with goody bags to open every day and he left some for the girls to open every day. It was our way of counting down the days until we saw each other again. Paige was tearful the night before and a little at drop off but she held it together for school and we texted each other a lot and talked to each other as much as we could.
First goody bag for the girls!
Nate's gorgeous view from his bedroom window. One tender mercy was that the first years (yes he has to go again next year!) got nicer accommodations compared to years past.
The school is at Fort Warden. It is a beautiful setting. He was in this building for all his classes. He was pretty much in classes from 8 am to 7 pm with food breaks in between.
Monday was super busy for us at home. Paige had parent teacher conference week so Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday she got off at 12:40. The timing turned out nice for McCall's naps. We got her to school Monday, nap time for baby before getting Paige, afternoon nap for baby, and then it was parent teacher conference at 3:30 and we went to the book fair afterwards. Paige did a really sweet thing this year and bought a book on her teacher's wish list with her own money. It was sweet to watch and she decided to do it all on her own and I loved seeing her teacher's reaction when she gave her the book. We got home to have dinner and then we had the art reflections thing that I blogged about in my last post celebrating Paige's artwork.
I think it finally hit Baylor that Nate was not coming home Monday evening when the girls were going to bed. There were some tears but the rest of the week she was good and was happy to text him when needed. Paige was the biggest help this week! On Monday she even put McCall to sleep at night and loved it. She was super helpful especially while I was prepping for dinners and if I ever needed any help she was so willing!
Tuesday's pictures of the day!
Wednesday's pictures- this day was my big day that kept me busy all day. We have been planning a tri-ward carnival for over a month and it just happened that it had to be scheduled for this week when Nate was gone. I was in charge of it so I did as much prep and planning the week prior but Wednesday was BUSY. I was at the church setting up from 9:30 to noon. Then I was back at the church at 5:30 with kids in tow until we got home close to 9 pm. We had an amazing turn out of youth and it was a super fun evening just busy. The girls did great and had fun and I had lots of help from young women who were more than willing to carry McCall around. I will blog all about the carnival in my next post.
Some pictures of this cute baby that I got on Wednesday while waiting to pick up Paige.
Thursday's goodies!
Thursday evening we had a fun girl's night and we went shopping at Kohl's. I had a gift card to spend and then we went to IHOP for dinner. It was a little hectic with 3 kids by myself at a sit down restaurant and I had a few moments where I thought to myself, "Why did I even think this would be a good idea to do by myself?" but it was a fun evening with my girls.
Friday was the day we finally got to see Dad again! This cute baby had fun playing in the box for quite a while which kept us entertained in the morning while waiting for the day to pass until we were all reunited again. We all got home about the same time (Nate from his school and all of us girls from getting Paige from school).
It was a very busy week which made it go by fast for me. Nate says the days were super long but the week did end up going faster than he thought it would. Another tender mercy was that he got a really good group which helped in lots of ways. He had some really good classes and experiences though there was drinking every night which just gave him an excuse to go to bed earlier than everyone else. We all made it through the week and we are all so happy to be all together again!
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