When the cat's away...

We have been without Travis for a record 5 days now, and so far we've survived! Travis left Friday to go to a cancer research conference in Denver, and then on to Utah for his cousin's wedding this weekend. That makes for a total of 10 days away from us... and ever since we've had kids none of us (the three and now four of us) have ever even spent a night apart. So this is bold new territory for our fam!

Of course Kate got miserably sick the day Travis left, and now that she's finally recovering, it looks like she may have passed it along to Brooklyn and I. Go figure. Anyway, otherwise we HAVE been playing, and it's kind of been like a little vacation for the three of us as well! I don't have to cook if I don't want to OR teach piano lessons, and we pretty much just do whatever we want ALL THE TIME! It's like being in college again! Only... with a much earlier bedtime. And no dating. Or studying. Okay pretty much it's nothing like college.

Here are some highlights of what we've been doing. Not that any of you are even slightly interested, but Travis is reading and he misses us.
Day 1: Here's how Brooklyn reacted when she woke up and found that Daddy was gone:
Totally traumatized. (She's on the floor crying.) That's her new thing... when she's sad, she throws herself on the floor face-down and cries. Every time she does it I grab the camera because it's just so darn cute! (I'm heartless.)

Then she saw that he'd left an empty suitcase out... (I came around the corner to find her perched on top of it.) "Is this for ME???"

"This suitcase ain't big enough for the two of us..."

For dinner we had:

Buttermilk Belgian waffles with fresh strawberries, *real* whipped cream, and powdered sugar
MMMMM... nutrition! See girls? College life is so much fun!

And after dinner we went out on the patio to swing on the hammock. Um... you get the idea. (It was moving so I was having a hard time taking a self-portrait of all three of us. I hope you don't get seasick...) While we were soaking up the beautiful weather we had on Friday, Travis told us Denver had been hit by a HUGE snowstorm! Some parts of the area were completely snowed in. CRAZY!
And so ends our first day alone. Not bad, right? Well after that the next few days were all a blur of sleepless nights (remember how I said Kate was sick?) and really long exhausting days. I can probably throw together a sampling but provide no guarantees of cohesive thought processes. Mainly these are the little tidbits of everyday life that I would show Travis if he were here. I feel like every tiny thing or moment or event is what makes up the very fabric of these little girls' lives, and to miss any of it is somehow to know them a little bit less.

On Saturday we walked to the Rio to visit a favorite haunt of ours, Target.
Since I've been missing my runs, I tried to pick up the pace a little and jog most of the way. On the way home, Kate wanted to run beside me, even though she was wheezing hoarsely from her cold! I kept asking if she wanted to stop, but she said no, she wanted to keep running.

On Sunday we tried to go to church, but we barely made it through most of sacrament meeting, again because Kate was sick and miserable. Thankfully I had plenty of help from my friend Karen, but we still had to go home and take the rest of the day off. As soon as we got home Brooklyn sprawled out on the floor for a little R&R.
Speaking of Brooklyn, she's also entered the do-it-myself phase, which has made mealtimes quite exciting. Kate was always a pretty self-contained eater as a baby, but Brooklyn thinks she is creating modern art.
For me, this sight is like fingernails on a chalkboard. I don't care how cute she is. Give me a garden hose.
Oh and I think I have a video of her and her new self-feeding accomplishments.

Yesterday, Ben & Jerry's was giving away free ice cream cones. Now you know me + free + ice cream... well, enough said. So I called up my friend Shauna and we loaded up our kids and trekked deep into Rockville for a much-needed treat. However, the line was so long when we got there that we chickened out. Instead we rerouted to Brusters in Gaithersburg, which gives free kids cones to anyone under 40"! (I wore my flat shoes but still didn't quite make the cut...) Definitely a brilliant alternative (nice work, Shauna!) PLUS... who knew that if it rains, they give you a FREE second scoop??? Shauna did of course!
(If you look closely you can see that the little guy has a face made out of sprinkles! So cute!)
Um, there's more, but I'm going to have to finish later. Why am I still awake??? I hope this holds you over, Trav! MISS YOU!!!