Life These Days

With the busy-ness of getting ready for a new baby and the quietness of just waiting, there have been many moments where I just don't know what to do with myself...either because I'm too overwhelmed, or I've accomplished my list and I sit and think, "now what?" Tyler has tried to self-impose some crunch time in this last week as he knows the next few will probably be a bit busy and overwhelming. He's been putting in longer hours at work trying to get some things done while he still has control over his own schedule. This has left the kids and I to figure out things to do on our own...the point? We've been doing a lot of coloring lately. Tyler's boss gave Max a coloring pad for Christmas and we finally broke it out this week, to the children's delight. They have spent time coloring countless pictures of lions, penguins, dinosaurs, and sharks. Lucy has observed my coloring quite a bit over the last bit and realizes that a good picture means keeping the coloring within the lines, instead of the haphazard toddler style coloring she was accustomed to before. It takes her quite a bit longer to complete a picture, but she's usually much more pleased with the end result. Max still likes to use as many colors as possible in one picture, and that's fun too.We also took the opportunity to head to the airport last night to welcome home our good friend and faithful missionary, Matthew Wheatley. He was scheduled to land at 5:45pm and we arrived at the airport just after 6pm as we were delayed leaving a bit because both kids decided as we were getting shoes and coats on that this was the perfect time for nature to call. It's hard to complain, though, when both of your kids go on the potty, rather than in a diaper...something I have been waiting a long time for. This is not to say that Max is potty-trained...just that he did it this time. And that is GREAT by me.
Some of Matt's luggage was lost so he ended up not coming through the gates until close to 7pm, so it turned out we had lots of time for potty trips anyway. His whole family was there (which as you can see from the pictures is a lot of people), plus a few friends. His mom was very anxiously awaiting his arrival and said quick hellos and then went back to her post of watching for her son. I guess he had sent an email home saying that his mission president had asked for all missionaries who were going home to instead serve one transfer (6 weeks) in Haiti, helping out there. Of course, this was just a joke, but his mom was in tears as she read the email...until she got to the bottom where he clarified that he was just kidding and he'd see them on Thursday. As we waited the hour in the arrivals of the Calgary airport, we started to wonder if he was actually kidding...but our missionary finally arrived.
Here's the crowd ambushing him as they didn't even let him get much through the doors before he was attacked with hugs. Lucy and Max each colored a picture for Matthew and Lucy was so excited to give it to him. Max told us on the way that he was going to be shy. Nothing like planning ahead.
We spent a few minutes saying hello, and then took off as it was after 7pm and our kids still hadn't eaten dinner - the trip to the potty had run into our stopping for McD's time before the airport, so our kids were getting a bit growly. (In stomach and attitude). It was a fun evening, and super exciting to see Matthew.