When the mama's away . . .

I got home last night from a very eventful & busy "big girls" cousin camp (details to come in a later post). Ben and Lacey stayed home with dad & appeared to really enjoy their time without all us big girls around. Everyone was in good spirits when we arrived home despite the minor disaster that occurred in our absence. Though the story didn't make national news headlines, it is noteworthy enough to be picked up by the local Henderson community newspaper.

While I was away from home, Hurricane Lacey struck our house with a vengeance. Fortunately, permanent damage did not occur, and no one was seriously injured, but a great deal of trash and debris was spread throughout the house. It is estimated that it may take weeks of community clean-up to restore our home to its proper order. Dolls were found in odd places like under a piano bench, on top of the fireplace hearth, and in the far crevices of the master bedroom. It will be a time-consuming chore to return each doll to her designated home. A myriad of toys was found outside of the toy room in various other rooms throughout the house. The power of Hurricane Lacey was initially underestimated, so dad was not able to take precautionary measures to prevent the spread of debris. The community clean-up effort is currently going very slowly, as none of the household citizens are particularly interested in restoring order at this time. Pictures below demonstrate some of the details of the disaster -

The Master Bedroom

One of the victims of Hurricane Lacey - this doll was found a full story and several rooms away from her home. She was a little traumatized by the disaster and had to be heavily sedated.

The Toy Room/Guest Room - believed to be the eye of Hurricane Lacey - much of the debris strewn throughout the house originated in this room.

The Family Room - a significant amount of the debris collected here. [Note one unconcerned citizen pictured below who was perfectly happy laying on the ground watching TV, oblivious to the disaster surrounding her.]

As an added bonus, a major pile of laundry was gathered into a hallway, awaiting to be tackled by the mama!

Other minor incidents occurred in the mama's absence. One favorite - at 8:00 pm, while having a phone conversation with her mother, Lacey was asked what she had for dinner. Her reply, "Well, I had a donut, but I haven't had anything else because dad won't feed me." Hmmmm - probably not 100% true - but worth a laugh anyway.

Ben was proud of his new tractor. Daddy likes to shop for boy toys when he and Ben get to spend a little time alone. Ben calls his new tractor his "John Deere." He is very protective of his new tractor and always has to know the whereabouts of his John Deere. Thankfully, the John Deere was not a victim of Hurricane Lacey.

Lacey, unaware that a Hurricane was named after her, neatly hung posters on her bedroom wall. Can you tell this 6-year-old has older sisters?

Yes - while the mama's away, the children & daddy will play. This is a good thing. The weekend brought:

- rides in daddy's truck, a highlight for Ben
- 2 trips to Krispy Kreme
- hot dogs, cherry 7-Up, and chips for dinner
- Taco Bell for lunch
- Tootsie pop suckers - one in each hand for Mr. Ben
- swimming in Mammy's pool 2 days in a row
- new shoes for Ben & Lacey
- new John Deere tractor for Ben
- naps for Ben and naps for dad
- golf & olympics watching for daddy & Ben
- quiet play time for Lacey - she actually had hours and hours of unstructured play time, thoroughly entertained in her world of pretend. This trend began when we returned home from our month of travel in July. She has been quite serious about reacquainting herself with her toys. She has played with toys she hasn't used in a year or more.
- hours of TV watching & computer game playing for Lacey (absent were the typical arguments from big sisters about what to watch or what to play.)

What more could a kid or a dad want? My kids have no idea how lucky they are!