I started my new job last week, so the kiddos went to Stacy and Joe's house for four days. It was the longest that we had both been away from the kids at the same time. I had mixed emotions about the separation. I knew I'd miss the kids tremendously, but, then again, there's so much that we could get done around here. The time flew by. I was surprised at how little we accomplished. The one thing that we did do in the absence of our packrats, was to clean out the basement. We donated a bunch of McDonald's toys to my classroom prize box. A bunch of stuffed animals and babies went to ARC, and a big bag of broken toys and toys with missing pieces went in in the garbage.

It was really strange, and extremely quiet around here for those four days. I don't think they missed us very much. Although I feel a little underappreciated and saddened by this, I'm glad that they feel so comfortable and at ease that they don't pine for us while we're gone.

They were a bit Playstation crazed from my understanding, during their time at the Groves' house. We don't have video games, so they wanted to play all the time. I reminded them that that's a toy for older kids and that you have to be at least 10 in order to get one. I just can't put myself through the pain of all the battles that will arise- between children and between parent and child. I'm standing my ground on this one.

It was great to see them finally on Thursday. They were so excited to tell me about everything they did. I think they all got along very well, much better than they do at home. The only battles were, of course over whose turn it was to play the SpongeBob game on the Playstation.

Cousins, Hannah and Rachel came to our house when I picked up the kids. It's so fun to watch them all interact. The Schulz kids really love their cousins!