The best day ever

Thursday topped any other day in my books.  Ben was supposed to go back to the base that morning for a ceremony, but thanks to the storm, it got cancelled and I got to watch this all morning long:

The kids would not let Ben out of their sight.  Colin clung to him like velcro and just snuggled up to him nonstop.  Eli was mr. chatter box about legos and Minecraft, which we were both surprised about and Alison had this huge sense of peace about her.  I melted just listening to them talk as they played legos together.

Alison and I eventually made it out of the house to go stock up on food and water before the storm and the boys stayed home to work on getting the generator ready, just in case the storm was really as bad as they were predicting.

By afternoon, it was present time.  Ben wasn't able to bring very much home, but scrounged together a few random things for the kids.  I had ordered the movie 'Home' and hid it in his closet so he could pass it off as his gift.  Some of the things he gave them were just things he got on the ship, like t-shirts and sour candy.  I think he could have given them stinky socks and they wouldn't have cared.

Alison's soccer practice was also cancelled, so we got to have the party that she was worried wouldn't happen.  Ben made pizza and I made pumpkin pie and ice cream for dessert.

Yesterday Ben took Eli out for his special date and they went to buy some new Lego's and a cookie.  Some friends graciously offered to watch the kids last night, so I got my turn and we went to Vintage Tavern and basically had the place to ourselves because of the storm.

Colin had a donut date this morning and Alison got to go to her favorite store, Claire's, and get a smoothie.  Again, I didn't get any of the photos I wanted, but some times it's better to just soak up the moment instead of worrying about documenting it.  I am so thankful that we made it a priority to make sure everyone got one-on-one time with Ben; I think it helped all of us feel a little more "caught up".  I got a bonus date on the trail this morning and could have cared less how far or how fast we ran, I had my Hubs back!  

P.S. the dreaded storm has turned away and we've just had rain, but no flooding or power outages or trees down.