When mom's away... days 3 and 4... dad learns his lesson

So... I don't have any pictures of days three and four because I lost my energy for adventure.  On Saturday we got back to real life with grocery shopping, mowing/trimming/edging the lawn, napping, etc.  On Sunday we went to church and tried to be somewhat reverent in sacrament meeting. DID NOT HAPPEN!  Yeah, so the stuff normal parents do.  Real life parenting.   Below is a video and a picture that best summarize the difference between days 1-2 and days 3-4 from this dad's perspective. 

Days 1-2: So, if you have the patience to watch this cool dad video you will see what days one and two were like with dad and the boys.  Fun! Dad's cool! Kids are happy! Dad is happy! Everything is enjoyable.  We were singing and dancing together like this dad and his kids.  I'm a great dad!

Days  3-4: So if you are a history buff you will quickly note that the below painting is a rendition of Custer's Last Stand.  Yeah, I'm the one in the middle! The honeymoon ended.  Dad wasn't fun anymore and he made us take naps and didn't take us to the the stream park and didn't get us ice cream and didn't allow us to hit each other and didn't like it when we whined ALL DAY and didn't allow us to mess up the house without cleaning it up and didn't allow us to sit in the grocery cart (even though there was no room) and etc. etc. Goodness... these were not the kids I had fun with the first two days when mom was away.    ;-)

Ok... so days 3-4 weren't that bad but I renewed my appreciation for Heather and full-time homemakers everywhere.  It's hard being with wonderful children all day when they have mood swings and they get irrational and they whine about little things and fight about nothing.  I get it.  At around 3:00 pm you just want to have a sane conversation with an adult that can reason with you and think logically about things.  These boys are wonderful but I completely understand why at 3:00 pm Heather wants me home.  I love my wife for being the mother that she is. What hard work 24/7... even with angels that we love so much.

In summary, here's my favorite conversation of the weekend:

Background noise: SLAP! (the kind that leaves a red mark on the cheek)

Porter: Crying and screaming and looking to dad for vengeance on his behalf.

Dad with a sudden turn and stunned look on his face:  "Caden! Why in the world would you do something so unacceptable like a full on face slap on Porter"

Caden with a scared look on his face: "Porter was stealing my stuff!"

Dad still in shock that his kid did a face slap so hard: "Well I don't care what he did, hitting is unacceptable and a face slap so hard results in a full 5 timeouts!"

Luke, the sudden advocate, steps in to negotiate: "Dad, wow, 5 timeouts is a lot.  I think that's too much.  I don't think mom has ever given 5 timeout all at once."

Dad now in shock that Luke is negotiating Caden's sentence: "Well boys, some things are so unacceptable that they get a full 5 timeouts and that face slap was so, so, so unacceptable."

Luke making his final statement: "Dad, I just think 5 timeouts is a lot of timeouts."

Caden just sat there hoping the sentence would change but didn't weigh in on his own behalf.  Porter came over and got his hug and was fine.  I was just in shock at what just took place.  Not only have I never seen my middle boy do the open handed abuse he enacted, but Luke trying to do a plea deal with me on behalf of his brother was a new experience for me. 

In summary...   I love my family!  I love my boys! But I sure love our mom and my wife.