In the beginning . . . the first few months!

Well - Anneliese turned 5. Cue animal party!! (because that's what we do.)

And Halloween . . . Yellow Duck, check - Hula Girls, check

(I don't think he's trying to kill them. Yet.)

And . . . First Dentist Visit. His teeth are shining with the stars!! 

(Oh, the accent!! Breaks my heart.)

Aaaaaand this is now my life:

Godfrey - "Mama. Is potatoes like Friday or Tuesday?"

"Mama. Is government in da trees or in da houses or in da clouds?" 

(question #18ish of 37!!! on the 8 minute drive to the Callahan's house.) 

oh my word. ALL. DAY. LONG. 

Life as 5

Now begins the process of catching up on the last 20 months. Because mama don't scrapbook. And this is as good as it's going to get for my kids. Hopefully I'll be bombarding you with snapshots of our life as 5 over the last year-ish. (In my head this sounds do-able. But lots of things sound do-able in my head, so let's not hold our breath.) But for today, here's a quick picture of where our family is now. This sweet story from our recent trip to D.C. sums it all up:

So, we decide to walk to the monuments with our dear friends the Crawfords on Tuesday night. (Don't ever walk to the monuments with 3 kids. Just don't.) It doesn't help that it's a balmy 26 degrees with gale force winds. Things start out OK. We make it to the Washington Monument - which is under construction, so . . . lame. Kate's throwing gang signs. You know - the normal stuff. (what?!!)

And then we start the REAL walk. Under normal circumstances, the walk from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial is about 3/4 of a mile. That night? With those kids? In that weather? It was about 17 miles. For real. Anneliese is getting teary because it's sooooo faaaar. And she's soooo coooold. (Anneliese is not one for extreme's. Of any kind. Let's keep it 72 and semi-cloudy folks.) Deacon comes dangerously close to face planting in the reflecting pool. EIGHT TIMES. And Kate? Who knows - she's WAY to old to walk with us. Because she's NINE.

We finally make it to the Lincoln Memorial. Almost. All we have to do is cross the street. That's IT!! (Blake has already laid down the law about not crossing the street until the light tells us to, so we're all waiting to cross.) But Anneliese starts asking questions. "Sooo, is this where he lived?" "No - it's just a statue because he was a really important President." And I see the tears. And at THAT moment, Ben Crawford sees a break in the traffic and starts running across. Without the light signal. Oh man. Do we stay? Do we go? Well, Kate goes. Because she's NINE, people! BUT, she trips. And lands right on her hands in the middle of the street - and now there's traffic. Because the LIGHT!!! It didn't tell us to go!! And she's crying, and Blake's mad (you know, the light.) - so I scoop her up and run. And now Anneliese is putting it all together and she is NOT happy. Because it's just a statue. That's it. Just a really big statue. And she is NOT impressed. And Deacon? Sweet oblivious boy. Well, he saw an American flag. So he stopped. Right there. On the edge of the street. With oncoming cars. And Pledged Allegiance to it. And as if on cue, my sweet Anneliese starts SOBBING. And in between the tears and the heaves -"You mean we walked all the way here . . . for THIS?!" God Bless America.

And welcome to the crazy.

Pretending like we love it. 

Whew!

So that's what it's like to have (a) a boy, (b) 3 kids, (c) 1 1/2 years of adoption under your belt. This mess is not easy.

I remember going to a get-together for families who had adopted from Uganda shortly after we finished our home study. There were 2 families there who had just returned home from Uganda with their girls and they had this shell-shocked, glazed over look in their eyes and I just did. not. get. it. They had exactly what we were longing for - their kids at home - why weren't they just beaming?!

Oh, I so get it now. Because nobody tells you how hard this is going to be before you come home. Or maybe they do and it just flies right over your head because all you care about is getting over there. Either way - whew! So if YOU know anyone who recently come home with a new addition and you see the crazy in their eyes - send them my way. We can chat. :)

awwww . . . back when they all got along. that was a great 3 days.