SEAN IS HOME!!! OH HAPPY DAY!!

I know I am a week behind, but Sean is back so we have been so happy and busy that blogging hasn't been a priority, sorry. Sean called last Friday night and told me he was on his way to the airport in Georgia to fly to Frankfurt. He had left Camp Shindand in Afghanistan on Monday, the 6th and caught the first flight out of every place he had to go to, so he ended up coming home earlier than we had expected. I dropped the younger three kids off at Christy's on Saturday and told them I was going caroling with the Young Women. I drove up to the airport and figured out where to park and where his flight was coming in. That alone was a feat in itself. Then I saw the bad news: his flight was delayed. First it was delayed an hour, then two hours. Yuck. I waited and waited, hoping that if I kept staring at the flight information screen the news would somehow change. It didn't. His flight finally reached "APPROACHING" the runway status. Then "LANDING" status. It told me which gate he would be arriving at, and I quickly ran over there. Silly me. It still took another 40 minutes before he came through the doors and I was rewarded with the sight of my best friend and eternal companion that I've been missing for the past 182 days. Oh happy day!! We hugged, kissed, and cried. No pictures of the actual reunion, some things are private, sorry. It took another half an hour to get to our car and drive home. I called Christy and asked her to bring the kids to our house for a little surprise. I had rented a Santa suit so that he could surprise the kids as Santa when he came back. I thought he would arrive when they were at school, so I thought it would be fun for Santa to come into Ella and Colton's classrooms and pass out some candy canes, then pull down the beard in front of our kids and expose his true self. Reality was slightly different but just as fun. Sean was dressed as Santa, sitting downstairs next to our tree as the kids came down the stairs. I told the kids I had brought Santa home with me from caroling. Sean gave some good "ho ho ho"s, then pulled the kids on his lap and asked them what they wanted for Christmas. After Ella recited her list, he asked her, "How about your Dad? Don't you want your Dad for Christmas?" Then he pulled down the beard, took off the wig, and showed his true self. YEA!!! The kids were so happy and we all stayed up late talking to Sean and telling him about our last 6 months.
Here's Sean as Santa:





For Jaxon, we did something different. I came in the house first, telling him that the caroling took forever. Sean was outside on my cell phone calling our home phone. I told Jaxon that the phone was probably dad, so could he please answer it for me? Jaxon started talking to Sean, and a minute later, in walks Sean with the cell phone, still talking to Jaxon, and then Jaxon realizes it's his Dad walking towards him, talking to him at the same time. Don't have a picture of it, but I have it on video, give me some time to figure out how to download the video, and I'll post it, it was great.
Here's Jaxon with Santa Sean: