2 months TODAY!

Yes, we have been home for exactly 2 months today... kinda hard to believe. 

So what has taken place in the past 2 months?  LOTS to give you the short answer.  Not sure where to begin. 

~Benjamin listens very well BUT is ALWAYS into something... I'm telling you that if he did not have dark skin and I didn't travel to Rwanda to bring him home, I would say he was 100% blood related to Andrew... those 2 are the most curious kids I have ever seen! So with that said there is A LOT of teaching and correcting going on here!  Benjamin will try ANYTHING he sees the older kids do (or Rusty and I for that matter)... dive head first into the pool, try to pop a wheely on his bike (ended up on the pavement), make coffee (we grind beans every morning) and the list is LONG and goes ON and ON!  I do think he will be a good swimmer one day... loves the water!  Getting more picky with eating but will eat just about anything we ask him to.  He has a best friend, Gavin, that he is learning to play with.  Sleeps well... always has.  Speaks only using nouns and verbs.... doesn't use pronouns at all.  Does not speak in sentences, yet.  Is understanding more all the time and will try to repeat everything you tell him to!

~Hope is just plain LOUD and ACTIVE.  She can scale the stairs in NO TIME flat... and she is not allowed to climb the stairs but find her chance when the gate is down:)  She eats any and everything and a lot of it!  She has 9 teeth now.  She takes 8-10 steps at a time, multiply times a day but refuses to WALK!  She does do this neat speed crawl on all 4's... will have to post the video sometime!  She sleeps well, still.  She loves the water and loves going under water.  She doesn't like the dog... at all.  Hope loves people... I NEVER would have guessed it!  Says bye-bye, thank you, diaper, Carter, Aubrey, Andrew, DaDa, shhh, please and a few more words... none very regular except MAMA!  She does some sign language:)

What about me?

• So ALL 5 kids have shared a cough and cold in the past week and still have it, frustrating. 
• My bedroom looks like a VERY unorganized office... stacks of papers galore on every flat surface(not like me but may be the new me).
• I have yelled a little more than I would like to admit.
• I have disciplined in ways that I thought I would not but found out that I NEEDED to.
• I have decided that with every year older I get I lose some of my patience.
• I have used the dishwasher, washing machine and dryer WAY more than I want to.
• I have slept less than I have in a few years... I am staying up too late.
• I am out of a routine for exercise and reading...  HATE that A LOT... but I realize it is in my control to change it...!
• Wondering how home schooling will go... we start in one week!
• I have 2-- yes TWO -- more kids calling me mama (or even an occasional mommy)... love it, except when I hear it for the 1,384,450,245th time in a day... no, I really am blessed and I love it (most of the time)!
• If I want to use the bathroom with no visitors I go to the half bath in the laundry... that lock works.  I usually still carry on a conversation through the door but at least I have a bit of privacy!
• and my brain is too tired to think of anything else!

So I thought I might post some CUTE pictures from today but what I have posted below are just real everyday pictures... from today!

just finished dinner... without a bib, i did wipe her face!

 this is the exhausted, my mom let me skip my nap, food on the face, blood shots eyes and ashy skin from swimming all afternoon look:) and we are wearing the place mat as a cape!

 this andrew who can't sit still when he finishes eating so he is the one who got the camera out!

 why are you showing me your teeth when i said SMILE?!!! it is his humorous side... he really has one!

dried snot and drool look... and yes, a rash of some sort... think it might be a food allergy, it happened in rwanda and twice since we have been home... NO CLUE!

and this is the typical look... everyone comfortable... no shirts, pajama type clothes (except for Benjamin, he must like looking nice, would choose a button up shirt or one with a collar everytime if i would let him).  there are 3 pictures below... just liked different faces in each one!

To put it mildly... LIFE HAS CHANGED!  Life is busier but fuller than ever.  God is ready to mold me and change me... IF I WILL LET HIM.  I can't do this on my own... i mean apart from the Lord.... Rusty is ALL ON here these days! 

So I left out a lot of details... not on purpose but because I can't remember:)