A week of single parenting...

Gary was out of town last week for a business conference... to most, a seemingly insignificant event I would guess. But for me, my first time ever being home alone since we got married! Crazy, I know... we've been apart before, but I've always been the one traveling somewhere without him - never the other way around! Anyway, we tried our best to keep busy, but oh my goodness we missed him so much and those were 4.5 long days! (I'm a baby, I know!) Between the lack of help in the evenings (I realized how much I depend on a little break from those two adorable but demanding little boys after 6:00!) and the loneliness that comes along with being without my best friend and love of my life! I think even moreso being a stay-at-home mom and still not having really anyone to depend on around here, I really really look forward to talking to, laughing with, snuggling up to, and just relaxing with my husband each evening. Daily phone calls and text messages throughout the day just don't come close! Anyway, enough complaining... here are some of the things we did to keep busy this past week:

We made cinnammon applesauce Christmas ornaments! They smell amazing (but didn't turn out nearly as cute as the ones in the picture... haha they never do!)

It was very hard for Alex not to habitually eat the dough! I kept reminding him there was glue in it!

We worked on Christmas thank-you gifts - mint chocolate covered pretzels with m&ms on top! yuuuummmm!! These are AMAZING! I'm making more for Gary to give as part of his gifts for his bosses at work!

We mixed, rolled, baked, and decorated 8 dozen (yes, DOZEN) sugar cookies for a cookie exchange we went to on Friday! When I chose sugar cookies I don't think I really realized how many cookies 8 dozen is... rolling and cutting takes a loooong time! Especially when you have two little "helpers" by your side ;) As much as I enjoy baking with my little man, when I have a large amount of something like that to make - and when it's not just for "fun" - I found that I can get pretty impatient!

Here is my "helper" again! He BEGGED me to let him vacuume! After cleaning under the table, he wanted to do the whole apartment!

And we played of course! These two have been soooo cute together lately! Alex has started paying more and more attention to Nathan as Nathan responds more and interacts! Alex had him belly laughing for quite some time this day! We also finished up just about all of our Christmas shopping, had a lunch date at Panera, and stayed up late watching Christmas movies two nights!

Well after 4 1/2 long days without Gary, we were all more than ready to have him back on Friday night! While checking his e-mail the next morning, Alex grabbed his laptop to check his "me mails" too! (this lap top is pretty cool by the way - you can program in your own e-mails and your child's name!)

And they snuggled up together on the couch most of the morning! :) Gary had Monday off, so it was great to have a 3 day weekend after a week without him!