Our First Week Home

We made it through our first week home!

We are so glad to have our entire family of five under one roof, now.  What a relief!  It has definitely been an adjustment, but the adjustment has been made relatively easily by all.  Glory to God!  Now, I'm not saying that there haven't been tears (including some from myself), but now that the jet lag is behind us, and we are beginning to close in on a schedule that will suit all of us, we are happily finding our new normal.

Three children under five years old is No Joke!  Our home is full of energy and excitement at all times!  So grateful for the awesome gift that my brother-in-law and sister-in-law sent me this week...50 K Cups of my favorite coffee!  Perfect gift!  I'm definitely going to need all of that caffeine.  Thanks, T & P!!!

This first week home has been a wonderful adventure!

Our arrival at the airport was so wonderful!  We were greeted by our precious boys, our parents, siblings, nephews & nieces, my aunt & uncle, my cousin & her family, and some great friends!  We definitely felt loved!

After our airport party, our families headed to IHOP for brunch before we made the 2 hour drive home.  It was crazy!  There were 22 of us (9 kids under seven years old)!

Finally, we got home, and we could not have been more excited!  The boys loved showing Eliana around the house, and we were so glad to have made it!

The next day we celebrated Eliana's 2nd birthday with a cake and a couple of presents.  We also presented all three of the kids with their souvenirs from China.

In the middle of the week we took the kids out for our annual Good Ol' Boys steak night with my Dad.  It was a lot of fun, and the kids really enjoyed it.

Our first couple of days home, my Mom came to help us, and the next couple of days Randall's Mom came to help.  They were such a blessing to us!  The moms cooked, cleaned, played with the kids, and helped pick up the slack while we got over jet lag.  During that time we had a lot of pajama days (and will continue to do so), and we enjoyed staying around the house.

When you are cocooning (spending ALL of your time at home), it is important to find some fun things to do.  So we played lots of games, played outside, walked around the neighborhood & planted a little "green house" with the kids.

We ended our first week home with Clay's very first violin recital!  He did such a wonderful job!!! As he sat backstage waiting for his turn to go out and play, he looked at me and said, "I'm so excited for my recital!"  He took that stage like a pro!  No nerves.  He just went out there, and he did exactly what he had rehearsed.  I think he likes being on a stage!  Hmmm...I wonder where he gets that from???