when husband's come home early on a thursday afternoon

there is just something extra special about husbands that come home early on a thursday afternoon.  something unexpected and exciting.  and, oh the possibilities of those extra two hours together.  dinner is already in the crock pot so no need to worry about that.  a nap together?  why yes that sounds nice.  and so you snuggle in really close to each other, close your eyes and think to yourself, this is what afternoon naps are made of.   but then your brain takes over, which it usually does in perfectly quiet moments like this, and you realize that these two hours, these precious two hours together are not to be slept away. after all there is a little baby that is about to disrupt (in the best way possible) afternoons like these.  and so your eyes pop open and you think of any sort of diversion that could possibly distract your now peaceful husband from the fact that you are about to take away what is potentially his last nap before baby arrives in favor of something more, um . . . communicative.

then it hits you - cookies!  we can make cookies together.  i mean really that seems like a fair trade off doesn't it.  he'll get something delicious out of the deal and i can feel like i got to enjoy two hours of my husband awake.  and so you present this idea in the form of a whisper to closed eyes and are instantly met with the question: "can you put chocolate chips in peanut butter cookies?"  success! and you smile because you know that this cookie making scheme isn't really such a bad idea after all and good grief if you didn't just pin a recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies that morning. and you think to yourself that this day just keeps on getting more productive (which never happens when pinterest is involved).

so downstairs you go and ingredients are measured and mixers are turned on and your husband sits on the counter and you just talk and talk.  and then the recipe calls for "good-quality dark chocolate chips" and you dig through your stash until at the very bottom you find that package of ghiradelli 80% cacao chips that you have no idea when you purchased it (because you really aren't all that picky about chocolate - its all good) and gosh darnit if that $10 package of chocolate chips wasn't made for just such a thursday afternoon batch of cookies.

somehow between the tester scoops of dough and the 10 minute oven bake time you convince your husband that this is probably an appropriate time to install that car seat. and wouldn't you know it . . . challenge accepted!

and then when you take a fresh batch of cookies out to the garage you find that not only is the car seat installed but there is a stuffed sleeping bag in the seat as a tester baby and all of the sudden you are overwhelmed with love for this family of yours and the time that you get to spend together.

i think this is definitely one of those thursday afternoons for the memory books