a week without Daddy

Thomas just returned from Bulgaria after being gone 9 days, by far the longest time Jamie and I have been alone together. I was nervous about it, but it actually went pretty well! Unfortunately, Jamie came down with a cold halfway through, but other than that we had a lot of fun. We tried to stay busy to make it a more special and fun time. Here are some of the things we did . . .

(some of these pictures were taken on my phone, so they aren't the best quality! Apparently I have a hard time remembering the camera.)
We played at the mall and got a treat at a new frozen yogurt place. They had all kinds of toppings, but Jamie's favorite was the rainbow sprinkles.

Jamie got to play at Gym Bugs, a little gym for kiddos. They have classes and things, but in the mornings they have "open gym," so Jamie got to play on trampolines, gymnastics mats, slides, a little ball pit, etc. So fun! He has really been into jumping lately, so it was perfect.

Story time at the main library branch downtown (he is going after bubbles here).

And after story time, we went over to the farmer's market and got a tasty snack.

There's a fun little splash fountain on Market Square. Jamie had never played it in before, but when he saw some other kids doing it, he wanted to also. I hadn't brought him a swimsuit or anything so he just went in his clothes. He LOVED it. He was absolutely shrieking with glee. It was amazing...pure joy! He is such a water baby.

We went to the zoo. Jamie sat on a turtle statue.

Saturday was Knoxville's annual Biscuit Festival, so we went to that and sampled some biscuits! My favorite was the smoked chocolate and sorghum biscuit. Here Jamie is trying the cinnamon toast crunch biscuit. Afterwards we got a snack at the farmer's market, and then headed over to World's Fair Park, where the Children's Literature Festival was going on. Jamie was a little young for a lot of the things there, but they had a fun play area and we ran into some of his friends.

A balloon and a dum-dum...This is a happy boy!

The next day we had a picnic, though all he wanted to do was take things in and out of the basket. Not much food was consumed.

Jamie spent a lot of time playing at the sink while I made dinner. He loves to help me "measure water" and "wash potatoes."

And on our last day before Daddy came home, we made oatmeal cookies together!

The week was so much more fun than I anticipated, even after he got sick. There were a few hard times because the congestion messed up his sleep, but it was still okay. I won't be so nervous next time Thomas has to go out of town.