Almost there...

Dan comes home tomorrow...we are ready ready ready for our reunion. In fact, tonight the girls are sleeping in some of his most loved t-shirts as a show of how much they are missing him. We are all doing our best to hang in there, and despite some tense moments these last few days, I think we've done pretty well...

 Gumdrops and toothpicks saved us one cranky afternoon...

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This was our yesterday late afternoon...does dinner prep ever go like this for any of you?   It starts, of course, with me being in the kitchen, working on dinner. Then in comes the weather girl (has she ever seen a weather girl?), giving us our forecast for the week.

 It's all over the place, let me tell you...

 Then there's the visiting chef, who thinks now is the perfect time for "a pot! I need a BIG POT!" and proceeds to concoct something vaguely edible-looking - I mean delicious! (Me: honey, I have two requests to make of you right now.  One, please let's keep the mess on the table, ok? and Two, please don't use any food that we were planning on eating...)

 Flour bought to make playdough and clementine peels is it!  Meanwhile, I am attempting to make bagels for the first time, inspired by these beautiful pictures and recipe (thank you!!!).

Oh look! The mad chef has found some SOAP! AH! Yes! Soap is not something we will eat!! Brilliant!!!! And it grates so well, adding that certain texture we are looking for in our soup...

 Did someone leave the television on? There is a commercial break and there appear to be mice singing a jingle!

Whew. I managed to burn only the bottoms of one pan of bagels, and the rest...oh, are they delicious.  There you have it - soup (the edible one was tomato), salad, and homemade bagels.  Sometimes I'm  not quite sure we'll get there. Somehow we always do.