A Happy "Stay-At-Home Party" For Daddy . . .

Well, Anna is our little party planner.  Any excuse for a party, and she's all over it.  hehe.  Anna had the fun idea of having a "Welcome Home" party for Daddy, since we'd been counting down the days until Ethan would be done with his internship in Alpena.  We ended up calling it a "Stay-At-Home" party because Ethan had been coming home every weekend, so we were seeing him pretty regularly.  But now . . . now.  Oh the excitement of it all.  hehe.  He gets to STAY HOME with us, and not leave at 6:30pm on Sunday evening, coming home late Friday night.  No more traveling back and forth all the time.  No more missing each other so much.  No more long stretches of time apart.  The kids are super excited, and I'm super excited!   

 It was just a small group at the "party", kept that way on purpose :).  (We weren't going to invite anyone over, but Anna finally changed our minds at the last minute.)  The mood was fun and relaxed . . . and there was plenty of excitement in the air mostly from Anna and Ben-Ben.  Well, Caleb looks pretty excited too, he just wasn't making any noise.  And everyone was super happy to see cute, little Hudson too . . . and Uncle Andrew.  My kids LOVE their cousin, Huddy, especially Anna.   

Benjamin and Anna were super interested in all of the things that Andrew was feeding to Hudson, especially since we STILL haven't fed Caleb anything. . . we're getting to it this week.  Second pic - Besides the fact that I rolled out of bed just in time for the breakfast - so ignore my look - I love the shot of Caleb chomping on my arm.  Typical.  (Also in the pic, the lovely Miss Amy.)  And I love the pic that shows the big, platter full of bacon.  Ethan loves bacon, LOVES IT!, and we wanted to make sure there was enough.  It was a fun, lounge-y kind of morning.  Perfect.  

 The whole day turned out pretty relaxed and low key.  For the first time in a long time there was not one single thing any of us had to be at or do that Saturday.  So perfect for Ethan's first weekend back with us.  We lounged.  The kids watched a movie after breakfast since it was raining out. . . and movies are so perfect for rainy days.  We went to the sand dunes after it cleared up for some fun and exercise - ran up and down them, threw rocks in the river to see who could get the biggest splash, played hide-and-seek in the woods, had mini races on the hike back to the car, met some new doggies (and their owners), and both kids went pee-pee in the woods (yes! since it wasn't in their pants . . . except Ben-Ben a little bit :).  Fun afternoon activity.  The day was rounded out with Grampa Dewey calling us on the way home from the sand dunes to say that he was almost home too, and was picking up some dinner, if we'd be there.  So, we stopped and got some sides, enjoyed a delish dinner, bathed the filthy/sandy kiddos, and popped them into bed.  Then, Ethan and I had some alone time - grocery shopping together and watching a little MadMen when we got home.    

I am so happy these nine months of Ethan being away so much are finally over.  It was a crazy nine months, as you've read in detail on here.  It would have been nice for him to have been here for more of it - or all of it - but we made it through.  Mainly because we had some amazing family and friends to help us and spend time with us in his absence.  Thank you all again!!!  I am grateful that Ethan's longest stretch away (most of September) was over with first.  Then, we had every other weekend for the rest of the fall semester.  Then, weekends and Thursdays during his 10 weeks in Iron Mountain (that started the beginning of January after his entirely too short Christmas break).  And finally, his 10 weeks in Alpena when he came home every weekend, which are now done.  Ethan has the coming week off to hang out with us, then he starts his last 10 week internship at Marquette General Hospital in town. . . only a few blocks away actually.  The kiddos and I will probably try to walk over to have lunch with him once a week . . . or more.  And Ethan just found out his schedule is from 7:30am - 4:00pm.  Perfect for the summer. . . done at 4 with plenty of sunshine and time left in the day.  So, bring on a beautiful Marquette summer that we can enjoy all together!  Now, we just need to get our own place again. . . as soon as Ethan finds out where he's getting a job.  :)