10, 9, 8...

Dear Jesse,

We're happy to know that you're safely back in the U.S.—and even happier already to have a few days of our current "daddy countdown" done! As usual, I'll do my best to keep you up to speed on our lives while you're gone this week.

So, what's happened so far? Let's see...

On Saturday after your departure there was, among other things, a major bowling competition. The competitors were William, Josiah, Teddy, and I.  You can see Teddy's flawless form below, so it should come as no surprise that...

 

...Teddy won!

Teddy always seems to become a little more noticeable when you travel, Jesse. He often spends weeks without leaving the bed, but when you're out of town? Suddenly Teddy starts popping up around the house. In that vein, Josiah was very, very sad at bedtime on Saturday about you being gone. (Thankfully he was fine last night and tonight.) William was less overtly concerned, in fact boldly declaring repeatedly, "But...we don't really need daddy. I like gentle crashes and things, but we don't need gentle crashes. It's okay if daddy's not here..." Of course lest you feel spurned by the rejection, methinks his comments fell squarely in the Shakespearean category of protesting too much...

Yesterday, Sunday, was a good day. Since it was the week for the Thouars worship service mid-afternoon, we didn't head off to Saumur in the morning and instead enjoyed a lazy first half of the day playing games together and hanging outside. Although it was only in the 60s in the morning, the boys wanted to play with water. Of course they instantly were cold and decided the stream from the water guns was too tiny and chilly for comfort. Instead they wanted to run in and out of the kitchen to fill bottles from the recycling bin with warm tap water to pour on themselves and each other. After about three trips in and out, I volunteered to keep the bottles filled so their soggy little selves didn't have to keep trailing indoors. They loved it, but talk about a lot of mess and work and laundry for about 7 minutes of playtime! Happy Mother's Day, eh?  :)  Anyway, church in the afternoon was great, and folks said to wish you well this week. So, bonjour from them!

That brings us to today, their first day back to school. Both boys went off just fine and were happy to be back with their friends, no worries or complaints. I'm so thankful! I managed to be hit with a pretty grand headache so was especially grateful to have a few hours of quiet to lie down this morning. Fortunately it wasn't to the point that I couldn't make the walk to and from school the four necessary times—at 9, noon, 1:30 and 4—although you can imagine I was a wee bit grumpy seeing as in addition to my headache the temps were in the 80s. Grr. Heat just makes me...angry. I'm sure you've never noticed. 

After school I let Josiah pop over to the co-op to get some little candies for a new Lego candy machine he created yesterday. He came back with not just the candies but two candy paper euro bill things that I'd never seen before. They were 5 cents apiece, from his own pocket money, and he shared one with William. 

Here's some preprandial licking—euphoric licking on William's part, it would appear. Good grief, that child loves him some sugar.

And here's a shot after the first bite. They ate it all up well enough and declared themselves fans—I mean, they have reputations to maintain; you can't not like a candy—but I think the pictures show that the bills maybe didn't quite live up to expectation. Barely sweet papery/cardboard material that turns to mush in your mouth? What's not to love?  (In case you're worried, they had salmon, asparagus, and new potatoes for dinner, so I'm not letting their health go entirely to pot in your absence.)

Josiah also wanted to show you the mega-straw he made this evening by taping together several smaller straws. I required an outdoor setting for the inaugural draw in fear it would spurt from every seam, but lo, mega-straw worked flawlessly. I should know by know not to doubt our eldest's engineering skills.

And...I'll leave you with a parting shot of our kitchen window—because If I were away,

I'd most definitely be requesting photographic updates on the flowers as well as the children.  :)

Love you and miss you tremendously! Eight days to go!