12:50 AM

Well, this time tomorrow night my baby will be home. No, we're not expecting again...I'm talking about Brooke. It has been a long 9 days, but Amanda and I have managed to stay pretty busy, so I guess the time has passed as fast as 9 days can pass. But no matter how well the week went, we can't wait for Mommy to come home tomorrow night! We are excited (or 'excitec' as Amanda says).

Since Brooke has been gone, I've tried to make sure to do special things with Amanda to help the time go by. OK, special things with Amanda to help the time go by for me, too. So last night, we had to stay a little late at work to finish up a few things for the week. Then we went swimming and grabbed McDonald's for dinner. This morning, we got up and went to Krispy Kreme. (I know...that's a lot of health food in a 12 hour time span!) On the way home from Krispy Kreme, I asked Amanda what she would like to do today and she told me she'd like to go to the mall. So we came home, I did a little house cleaning and worked some sermon prep until 3pm when we headed for the mall. We spent well over an hour going through Heart to Heart (I think that's the name of the store...it's a 'girl store', that's all I know). And then we were on to LibbyLou (I'm sure I'm spelling that wrong, but again, a 'girl store' so I'm not gonna worry about it too much). And then it was off to Build-A-Bear with stops along the way to look at all the jewelry kiosks. And, of course, the Disney Store was right across the way, so we had to stop there, too.

But lest you feel too sorry for me, I gotta tell you the funny part. With all of those 'girly stores' and my big Daddy heart that loves to buy stuff for my daughter, you'll never guess what present she came home with. Here's a hint...I'm sure her momma's gonna be thrilled. Amanda Kay is now the proud (and yes, she is proud) owner of an Airsoft gun! When we walked in the mall (through the Dick's Sporting Goods entrance), Amanda was so happy that I took her to the mall that she wanted to take me by the gun counter so I could look at guns (now is that sweet or what...see why she has me wrapped around her little finger?). She didn't know where the gun counter was (and didn't tell me this until we were out of the store), so we missed it, but she encouraged me to look at the Knife Shoppe as we walked by. Jason mentioned getting a couple guns for an Airsoft war (complete with safety glasses for those of you are freaked out by this), so I looked at the guns. A Glock copy was only $10 so I got it. Amanda was oohing and ahhing over it, so I knew she would want to shoot it. I saw a smaller gun (not sure what it was supposed to look like) that was on sale for $5, so I got it for her. You would have thought she won the lottery when she asked if that was for her and I said "yes". So we came home, discussed handgun safety and proceeded to shoot Mommy's pillow for about 30 minutes. It was a blast. Maybe Mommy will want her own gun when she gets home. I don't really think that will be the case, but we can always hope.

So we grabbed a bite for dinner, watched the Discovery Channel together and then headed out for a few caches this evening. Just as we were ready to head out, a new cache listed, so get a First to Find tonight! Amanda found it, as well as the three others we found. Good thing I was driving so I could get some kind of credit. We stayed out late, grabbed a drink at QT on the way home and Amanda is getting to sleep in my room tonight since it's the last night before Mommy comes home.

We've only got a few minor things to do to have the house ready for Mommy to come home tomorrow night. We are 'excitec' and can't wait!

- Rob