When your wife is away you begin to realize how skilled (or unskilled?) you are at taking care of your kids.  You also realize the amount of confidence that your closest friends and neighbors have in your parenting skills…

Needless to say I’ve had a lot of offers from friends here to "watch the girls" and to "make meals for us" while Christa’s gone.  It’s really quite a blessing and I’m very thankful.  (Although I’m surprised that no one has stepped up to offer to fix the girl’s hair in the morning.)   The first morning that I had to get the girls ready for school I put Anna’s hair back in a pony tail (as instructed by the Mrs.)  From past experience, Anna was a little leery of my competence-level in this area.  She immediately ran to the bathroom to check my work.

I guess I fulfilled her requirements because she came back with a smile and said, "Daddy, you know how to fix hair now."  (Uh-oh.)

But I think this picture below is proof that I am still working on the margins.  I put Sarah’s hair back in a pony tail, but what she wanted was "one in the back" so I just improvised and created another.  It’s pretty punk rock, huh?  (This is not a job I want to keep!)

In conclusion, I thought this quote I just heard on the American version of The Office was hilarious.  Thank you, Mr. Michael Scott, for this piece of wisdom on parenting:

I don’t get why parents are always complaining about how tough it is to raise kids.  You joke around with ’em.  You give ’em pizza.  You give ’em candy.  You let ’em live their lives.  They’re adults for God’s sake.