hey mr. “i’m gonna be home in three weeks.” we miss ya over here.

the first thing i have to tell you is darla has gotten it into her head that the first conversation you and she will have when we greet you will go like this, in her words; “dad will say ‘who IS this big girl? what happened to my baby?’ and then i will say ‘i growed up, dad.” so if you could do your part to memorize your lines i think it would make her one happy, big girl. winkety wink. oh, she also then informed that if i have another baby then that one will just grow up, too.

she has been an extra good, sweet girl for me this week. there were moments of her being a little haywire during all the birthday goodness but, in all fairness, her blood probably resembled something close to a simple syrup by 11 am so i let her have a day pass.

we had a really wonderful weekend visit with your folks. they gave me lots of assistance and i feel a bit revived from their helping hands. i think i’m gonna make it through to the end of this tour without a major breakdown. for the first time in history! i’m very much looking forward to our thanksgiving trip to TN and darla was all but begging your parents to take her with them when they left. i think this is an indicator that she is ready for another slice of nashvegas or she is just as sick of being stuck alone with me as i am. or both.

there are only two comments darla made that i managed to chicken scratch down. i think this is our daughter’s explanation for tattoos. “mom, some people are colorful and some are not. some people are all painted (insert these rapid wild arm motions that shows paint all over arms and legs) with lots of colors.” she also gave me a guilt trip today. sighs loudly, “you and daddy go to concerts and i’m….i’m so lonely.” i think the girl is telling us she wants to tag along to rock out more often.

here’s our pics from the week. sorry there aren’t any of your parental units. we’ll have to be photo ninjas during our thanksgiving visit.

our girl’s first braid. love these milestones. you’ve missed some pretty good hair days this tour. of mine, not darla’s.

you can hardly see but she was making funny faces in the mirror

these next few are some mommy + daughter shots at clare bear’s birthday. we were having fun with bubbles.

it’s hard to see but she blew the bubbles and then caught one again on the wand.

also, see what i mean about the good hair days?

sending you off with some words of love. i know one little girl who is missing you somethin’ fierce and one big girl for whom the feeling is mutual. we’ll try to be extra boring these next three weeks so you don’t miss out on too much more.

love and misses and lots of kisses,

wifey