while daddy's away...

...the kids will play!  matt went to wisconsin to take care of a few items at the house before our closing in a few weeks.  he left wednesday night after work and came back late saturday afternoon.  thankfully, he took maggie with him so i wouldn't have to walk her with all three kids.  it turns out that he was glad for the company since the house had no cable or internet; he said things were pretty quiet there.

the kids and i didn't just sit at home though. there was snow so we didn't get out everyday but we did go to the library on friday and saturday we made stops by wal-mart, lowe's, and michaels.

our first lowe's project.  madelyn was disappointed that she had to wait for everyone to get registered before they handed out the projects - and that she had to wear the safety goggles.

hard at work on her game box.  it was nice that they had kid sized hammers.  lowe's gives out patches instead of pins (like home depot) for the project.  madelyn asked for her pin on our way out and just didn't understand why she couldn't have a pin.  but she cheered up when we passed by some cashiers she could show her project to.  this kid will talk to anyone.

madelyn 'teaching' maddux to lift up his head while holding his hand.

after our trip to the library madelyn and mason were sitting side by side 'reading' olivia books and it was so cute.  unfortunately, mason got down from the chair before i could get back with a camera.

happy wrestling and blocks before baths.

the block table has become a major component to madelyn's imaginary play.  she is always voicing characters, singing songs, and telling stories to herself (and her friends).  here friend is getting a ride from clarice while madelyn drives cars through "city" (she told me that her city just doesn't have a name).

mason is really ready to potty train so we picked him up some big boy underwear on our trip to wal-mart and i had to try them on him.  we are going to wait on actual training until after our trip to close on the house in a few weeks.  he can pull his underwear and pants up and down all on his own and even goes to sit on the potty when going in his diapers so i really think that we have a chance now.  if not, we will just wait some more - no pressure.

mason has come a long way with holding hands in the parking lot so i am getting braver about going out with all three.  it wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the cold and snow.  i am finding that more than three short stops and i am worn out from the loading and unloading!

we got along just fine without daddy, but we are more than delighted to have him home again!  mason just kept saying, "da-da!  da-da!  da-da!".  he really missed his daddy.  love.