Being Family

It is hard to believe that we've been home nearly a month.  Sometimes, it feels like its been like 3 months to be honest.  But, we are doing well and are finally starting to feel settled in-ish.  The first full week home was intense, I'm not going to lie.  Kaleb was really struggling with needing his parents after us being gone for 16 days.  Its hard explaining the concept of 16 days to a 3.9 year old.  His world is pretty much scheduled at the times of... now, tomorrow and someday.  Ah, needless to say- he needed some reassurance that we're not going back to China anytime soon & lots of snuggles.  Elsie was glued to my arms and craving attention as well.  By the end of the week- I literally had bruises on my arm from holding her so much.
The 2nd week home... the theme was 'competition' :)  Competition over who could be the closest to mom, have the most of mom's lap, be touching the most of her, the most attention... ah, the fun.  Coupled with some fairly demanding food obsession and it made for quite the week.  As long as I didn't walk into the kitchen and sat on the couch where everyone could touch everyone, we survived.  The 3rd week home... they finally figured out the joy of playing together instead of against each other :)  Yay!  This past Saturday, I told Wes if finally felt like we had a 'normal' day.  Kids played outside, I cooked my first real complete hot supper, we worked on the yard and the weather was beautiful!  Life is starting to settle in however, we definitely have our days when life still is full of a lot of adjustment and reminders that Mom & Dad will never leave a certain 4 year old.  Between the 12 hours of time zone adjustments, learning how to be in a family, healing from Mom & Dad being gone for 16 days, food obsession/insecurity, five trips to Black Hills Peds, and many, many sleepless nights (think waking up about every 45 minutes)..... we've had a lot of fun along the way too :)
And, here's the proof- we've got some cute and precious kids I tell ya!  There've been some challenging moments but also some really sweet family memories.  The first hugs.  Learning to give kisses to Mama.  An abundance of snuggles on the couch.  Giggles as they tease each other.  Good times, indeed.

Enjoy :) 

What a cutie she is... and, a trooper too!  

 Playing in the barn tent... compliments of Grandma Berry.  

(Ah, the tent...which is near life size & nearly consumes my house once it is 'built'.  

Every time we put it up, I'm tempted to buy Grandma a very large kitchen island that is like 5' tall just so her kitchen feels 'full').  

 Meet the pumpkins... we planted them a few days ago to get them started inside.  And, it has turned into quite the adventure as Kaleb would say.  These last few weeks, we've had many conversations between the two of us about "who is in charge".  Ya, Mama's in charge kiddo ;)  Kaleb's been designated as being in charge of the pumpkins... trust me, they will not be drying out as he religiously sprays them down numerous times throughout the day.  

 This afternoon, Kaleb intentionally and quietly slipped himself and little Elsie out the back door.  They got about 3 feet as I was onto their game pretty quickly.  Mr. Kaleb and I had a little conversation that went like this... 

I am reminding him that he can not take Elsie outside and he always needs to ask before 'helping'...

Me:  Who's in charge of the kids, Kaleb? 

Kaleb:  Mama is.  Kaleb in charge of the pumpkins!! 

(said in the most authoritative 4 year old voice)

And... I might add that Mama's just prayin' the pumpkins grow!

 On Saturday, the weather was beautiful.  It was a fun evening in the yard riding bikes, running around and simply enjoying time together! 

Love that boy, yes I do!

And, today we made a little side trip to see the baby chicks.  Oh, boy... the temptation was great to smuggle a couple home!  Grandpa's lucky too... if he didn't already have hundreds of pesky turkeys, we just might have brought home a couple baby turkeys & then 'let them live at Grandpa's house' :)