Yesterday I was supposed to work. When I woke up, I saw a text from work saying that we were down patients and it was my turn to stay home. There was a staff meeting that I had to call in and be a part of, but after that, it was all family time! The downside is that I lose hours. The upside is that I got some MUCH NEEDED time with the entire family.

The minute I hung up from our meeting, we piled the kids in the car and drove to the local ice cream place. It’s a few miles further than Dairy Queen, but worth it! On the way, Ella told us she wanted “pink” ice cream with sprinkles. We asked Andrew is he wanted blue ice cream and he said yes. When we asked about sprinkles, he said no.

We got there just before a bunch of people lined up behind us. Sam took the kids and grabbed a table for us to sit at. One by one, the worker passed me each of our items. Ella was happy as a clam eating her sprinkles. Andrew ate some of his Blue Moon ice cream, but eventually wanted to eat from mommy’s cone. This led to Ella wanting to “try” mine, and by the end of the visit, Sam and I lost our ice cream!

“I like mint ice cream, Daddy!” I do, too, kiddo!

I just love this picture of Sam and Andrew. He is a real “mama’s boy!” They have such a special bond.

After we were done, we went home and started the bedtime routine. It was already long after their normal bed time, and because they were outside a lot earlier in the day, they both fell asleep almost immediately.

Sam and I actually got to have some time to ourselves last night. Because of our work schedules, we don’t get much quality time with just the two of us. It was so nice to have that last night. As we sat in bed talking, Sam said she could go for Taco Bell. This made me chuckle, but it also reminded me of those nights before our kids arrived where this would be a very common thing to say. Without hesitation, I got out of pajamas, back into my clothes and drove to Taco Bell to grab us each a Nacho Bell Grande!

The two of us sat in bed for a while, each with our late night snack, laughing and talking. It was something that both of us really needed.

Our plans for today were altered a bit, but in a good way. Sam had a bunch of clothes she wanted to take to the resale shop. She was going to take the kids to her mom’s house so that I could paint the nook we build recently. At the last minute, I decided that I wanted to go with her. We dropped the kids off, and we drove up the resale shop about 30 minutes from us.

We had decided to have lunch together while they sorted through all the clothes. We were going to grab Panera, but Sam noticed a steakhouse across the street, so we went there instead. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together and then went and walked around Target. We didn’t intend on buying anything, but we saw some cute stuff for the kids and ended up buying more than we needed to.

Once the resale shop called to tell us they were ready for us, we stopped there and loaded up the items that they didn’t take, and drove home. Sam dropped me off so I could nap before work and went to get the kids.

I was awakened by my daughter who was very excited to show me all the “prizes” we bought for her at the store. I could have used a few more minutes of sleep, but waking up to her smile was worth losing a few winks.

I may have to start scheduling days off. The last 24 hours really refilled my tank. It reminded me of what life should be like. It reminded me of just how important it is to share that special time with family. It reminded me of how important one on one time is with my wife. Those moments are few and far between and that needs to change!