SURPRISE!!!

I tell ya, my little girl sure loves her daddy.

He'd been out of town for almost two weeks when he decided to surprise us by driving home on Thursday night. You can imagine my surprise when I returned his 5 MISSED CALLS I saw on my cell phone after getting the kids in bed, finally! (Bedtime had been a little rough.)

I call him back to hear him say, "Can you come and let me in the back door?"

WHAT????

Not only that, he came bearing gifts - a Snickers bar, a frozen chocolate cream pie, and a Cherry Coke from the fountain. oh yeah!
(And no, I did not indulge in them all at one sitting.)

More exciting than that, I just couldn't wait for the kids to see him when they woke up in the morning. Abby's been missing her daddy and asking pretty much every day when he'll be coming home...(and when he'll bring her the surprise he promised.)

So sure enough, when the kiddos woke up on Friday morning, they did a bit of a double take when they saw a big lump under the covers on Pat's side of the bed.

"Daddy, is that really you?" Abby asked with a shy little grin on her face.

"It's me, Doodle! I came home to surprise you!"

"You did?" Abby says as she pounces on top of him. "I thought I was dreaming!"

How cute is that? Of course, five seconds later she was asking about the surprise he brought her. (A ballerina Barbie for Abby and a little tool set for Noah...in case you were wondering.)