While the kids are away the parents will play...?

The kids have been at Nana and Grampa's for nearly a week now. We dropped them off last Sunday, and we'll be going to pick them up tomorrow. It's been a rather quiet week without them here. I wake up regularly at 7:15 (instead of 6:00) to get ready for work. I stay a little later, without feeling guilty. I get home, and on the nights Derek is teaching, it's quiet, and even a little lonely.

Derek and I have had some great conversations and some good "hang out" time, which we almost never get. Even on date nights, which are rare enough, we feel pressed to "enjoy" ourselves and stare into each others' eyes, that we don't really just hang out.

And, like the kids' stay at Nana and Grampa's last year, I got some time to do some decorating in their room. Last year I painted the lower half of their walls purple (in the hopes of putting up the chair rail within weeks). I also painted flowers on their closet doors. This year, I painted some more of the same flowers over their beds, as per their request over the past year. The chair rail still isn't up, but the hope is to get it up within a few weeks (!). The new flowers are a surprise for them, so I'm looking forward to their reaction.

I miss those girls. I've talked to them nearly every day, and I love their little voices and their excitement, and even their independence. Solanne frequently ends the conversation before I ever would, letting me know she has other things to do. She even told Derek one evening she didn't need to talk to me when she was done talking to him.

It's good being in a position to be able to miss them, to look forward to seeing them again. It's nice to realise that I really like those little people. I love them, of course, but I like them and think they're really cool. I guess the time and distance lets me see some of those things a little more clearly.