...to share our excitement about Mark's R&R

...Mark will be home in just a few days (Monday).

In fact, I think as I write this, he has begun his travels.

As you can imagine I have been am still blazing helter-skelter through all of the projects and tasks on my to-do list in anticipation of Mark's arrival.

I want everything to be perfect.

I think to him, it probably is already perfect.

These are the things that Mark is coming home to in reverse order...

The UGLY:

Lots of whining.
Plenty of fighting.
And enough "but I wanted...'s" to satiate him until his return.

Let's face it, because I am a softie.  And I am not much of a disciplinarian.

The BAD:

A list of projects including: mow the lawn, fix the lawnmower, fix the computer, set-up the remotes...

He gets to kill all of the bugs (especially crickets) and spiders that I find.

He can jump the van's battery when it dies...again.

And is most definitely his turn to : take the dog for a walk, pick up the doggie-do-do, and any other unpleasantry associated with the dog that I don't want to do.

The GOOD:

I know, I know...you feel sorry for him.  He shouldn't have to come home and do all of this work and deal with all of these things because he has been working so hard.  Well, while it is certainly true that he works extremely hard in Afghanistan, there he is not rewarded by:

Oodles of kisses and bunches of hugs.  He will be rewarded by plenty of both!

Besides he also gets to come home to:

A nearly settled new house home (when he gets here).

Home cooked meals that do NOT include shelf-stable milk.

AND no more diapers.  (Yup.  We haven't had any accidents around here in a long time!  Unless, you count Timber.)

I know he'll be more than happy to pitch in to help with the our chaos.

We have no set plans for his time here.  The kids lists include lots of wrestling and tickling.  The little girls has lots of songs they want to sing to him and stories they want to read to him.  We'll try to make enough memories these next fifteen days to last us for six more months..  We'll try to savor all of the moments.  And all the while he and I will both silently plead that the time go slowly.  Very slowly.