We did it! We survived 28 hours without Jimmy! A few months ago, he asked if I was okay with him attending an overnight seminar in Ohio with a group of men from our church. I took a deep breath, said yes, and braced myself to be the only parent for a little over a day.

I wanted Jimmy to go, and I also didn’t want to be the only one in charge of three young kids! We did just fine and it was so sweet when we were all reunited. 😊

Jimmy said so long to us at 10:45 am on Thursday and I think God knew just what I needed: warm weather! Thursday and Friday were in the 50s and 60s. It was such a gift! We got some school work done and then headed to Starbucks so mama could properly caffeinate!

Afterwards, we went straight out the door for a bike ride/walk. It was so lovely to get outside without having to bundle up too much. The fresh air was, well, a breath of fresh air in the middle of winter!

After our jaunt around the neighborhood, we jumped in the car and went to the mall. Basically, I wanted to keep us busy and having fun, especially because Sadie is a huge daddy’s girl and was missing Jimmy a ton.

We had some laughs in a photo booth (see the first picture in this post!) and then grabbed Chick-fil-A. Sadie said the sweetest prayer for the meal and asked that Jimmy would have a safe trip. It made my mama heart burst with joy to hear her sweet words.

We walked around the mall for a bit and I dragged the kids into Bath and Body Works because they were having a semi-annual sale and I love their hand soaps. I was hoping it wasn’t an experience like the time Mordecai broke a soap bottle as a baby.

I firmly believe that the best way to help kids know how to act in not-so-kid-friendly places is to practice going to not-so-kid-friendly places! They all did wonderful, nothing was broken, and we left with an under $3 bottle of hand soap. Mission accomplished!

Afterwards, we went for ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. These kids love ice cream so much—even in the dead of winter!

Once the kids were sugared up, we went home and I put Dakota to bed. My big helper Sadie got Mordecai dressed in his bathing suit and we all went in the hot tub! It was fun to soak—just us three.

Sadie and I then read Mordecai some books and put him to bed. I let Sadie sleep with me—partially because she was sad and missing Jimmy and partially because I was sad and missing Jimmy, too. 😂

Friday started early—Dakota gave me a 5:00 am wakeup call. I sipped a warm mug of coffee, read my devotional, and Dak “helped” me unload the dishwasher. She is very into climbing lately—send help!!!

We tidied up the house, Sadie decorated (by hanging ribbon everywhere) for Jimmy’s homecoming, the kids did school, and then waited outside for daddy to come home around 2:30 pm!

They cheered, hooted, and hollered—and mama did, too—when he arrived! It was so sweet to be back together again. We filmed a vlog of our 28 hours without Jimmy and it’s a fun memory to look back on. Jimmy enjoyed watching what we were up to while he was away!

The weather was so nice that Jimmy set down his duffel bag and we went straight out the door on a walk to the park. It felt like a little taste of spring in the middle of January. 😍

All the excitement must have worn Mordecai out because he crashed that evening—right on the living room floor!

There’s something so sweet about watching your child sleep. Jimmy, Sadie, and I went in the hot tub that night and all agreed that we like having daddy around for hot tub time!

The rest of our weekend went by in a blur of laundry, crafting, and a trip to Millie’s for ice cream. I was making eggs for everyone on Saturday morning and the empty egg carton was practically begging me to use it for a craft. Am I losing it? I realized I said an egg carton was talking to me. What can I say… 28 hours alone with three kids ages 7 and under will do that to ya. 😉

I started cutting the carton into flower and leaf shapes and forming it into a wreath.

Then I painted the shapes, glued accents like buttons and pearls onto the flowers, and cut a circle wreath form out of an old cardboard box. I hot glued it all together, tied a ribbon onto it, and voilà, I made a wreath for the girls’ bedroom door!

I loved getting creative with things we already had on hand! Jimmy always gets a kick out of my random stress-relieving crafts. 😉

Saturday evening found us at one of our favorite places—Millie’s ice cream! Jimmy’s sister met us and we had a great evening filled with ice cream and playing a memory matching game.

I learned my lesson from Coldstone the night before and bought Dakota her own ice cream cup. When I had brought the kids to Coldstone, Dakota was screaming because she wanted Sadie and Mordecai’s ice cream! No screaming happened this time, except when I couldn’t shovel the ice cream in her mouth fast enough. 😂

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And that’s a wrap on my 28 hours of solo parenting! It honestly went better than I expected. It made me appreciate the team work of parenting even more than I already did, too. I was glad Jimmy could get away and I was so glad when he came back!

Now we’re starting a new week with nothing too crazy on the agenda. We’re doing our usual routine of homeschooling, I have a hair cut (help—what do I do with my hair?!), and we might attend the Pittsburgh RV show. I’m also hoping to play with my new soapmaking kit. I’ll be sure to report back on how that goes!

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What’s the last thing you did that went better than you expected?

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?