There's no place like home.

I just got home from a week away. Sleeping in my own bed next to hubby was wonderful last night. Last week Char, Emm and I started out at a summer camp where I worked as the nurse. The kids had a blast and the campers really took them under their wings. Emm always had someone to play ball with or dig in the sand around the volleyball court. I even came home with the number of a camper who lives in my city and wants to babysit them!! Thankfully I didn't have to deal with anything serious beyond a mass epidemic of The Itch. I almost ran out of antihistamines. Emm and Char were ok because I didn't let them go in the lake. Besides The Itch I just had to put a lot of bandaids on a lot of bumps and scrapes. One kid came to me after butting heads with another camper--he developed a spectacular black eye that he couldn't wait to show his friends back home. Emm got a little homesick. Everyday he would take me by the hand and lead me to the van or to the road. I missed his daddy too!

The rest of the week was spent Up North in my hometown. I attended the bridal shower of my good friend (Manitoba Farm Girl if you read my comments). We had a blast hanging out together and stuffing our faces with cheesecake at the shower. I got to play farmer and help her and her hubby water cows and pick berries. I even named a calf for them, accidentally. I also played nurse to one of thier horses who ran into a barbed-wire fence. He ran right up to me to show me his owies. Emm played in a garage full of kittens and tried to take one home. I had to tear a little black kitten from his hands as he cried at me. It is too bad we are both allergic or I would have let him keep it.

Mom's house was stressful. Her home is painfully clean so we were able to trash it in the first five minutes we were there. I had to run out and buy latches for the cupboard doors to keep Char out. Mom also had porcelain dolls at floor level that had to be taken away. Char and Emm were really good at finding new things to get into. Always having to be on guard made me so tense. My house is comfortably messy and there is nothing in lower cupboards or on shelves that can't be taken down and thrown around. I prefer to spend my days not having to redirect and say no constantly.

Hubby took the bus to Mom's house on Saturday so that we could drive home together as a family--a 4-hour drive home with two kids under age three was not something I was looking forward too alone. It was with great relief that I picked him up from the bus depot. The kids were thrilled to see him and glued themselves to him until we loaded up the van to come home.

I almost didn't recognize my house when we got home--we had a two-level porch built and it was finished while I was gone. I am looking forward to relaxing on the new balcony outside my bedroom this evening. It looks fantastic and our house looks so different now.

Emm had a breakthrough at Grandma's house--he can blow bubbles now. Our therapist will be thrilled when we show her tomorrow. He can make the "F" sound now. I am so proud of him.