Home at Last

So it turns out the airport was insanely busy, and a cast on her arm meant an extra test at security. But we're on a plane headed west.

In spite of staying up nearly all night and doing everything I possibly could to succeed in this critical moment, we actually missed our 6 am flight! The lines were unbelievably long-- think Disneyland in June. I would have needed to be 2 hours early at the airport to make the flight, which was basically impossible with the early hour and the weather and other factors involved. Providence is a small, normally low-key airport so all of this extra craziness caught me by surprise big time; apparently it was the start of a school break. All the flights for the day were fully booked too so it looked like for a little while that we might not make it back at all. We were very fortunate however that there was another flight just one hour later that arrived only two hours later in SLC for which another passenger missed their flight, probably for the same reason as us, (and honestly, we walked up just in time to board by the time we did the extra stuff at security) and the longer layover in Denver meant we caught our breath a little and had a good lunch. We were blessed with some incredibly kind row-mates on the plane that helped me a lot with my tired little trooper. 
 

When we finally reunited with the family, I hugged and kissed everyone, we drove the hour home, and for the first time in six months I walked into the bachelor pad formerly known as my home.  I didn't cry.  I tried not to grouch.  But I pretty much picked up a rag the moment I walked in the door and cleaned until 9:30pm (I can only blame it on adrenaline, since I woke up at 3am Eastern to clean the bathroom at the rental house and have enough time to finish cleaning and the last tiny bits of packing) until we all stopped for some food and watched the first half of a movie as a family on mom's bed-- the older kids have been reading Harry Potter and were excited to watch the first movie, basically for the very first time. Watching their reactions to the movie was as much fun as the film itself!

The next morning my facebook status read:  Back home in beautiful Utah and loving being with my sweet family again! The house is still standing, but that's about it. It is going to take a long time and a lot of work to repair and clean and purge my beloved home from the no-mom state. We were mid-remodel when all this began with Audrey two years ago, and that adds to the chaos, but wow. Thank you to my angel friend Patty who made a huge difference in the main living space working together with me today with her cheerful helping hands. ♥

Our first morning home, Audrey and Gideon colored side by side in their high chairs, in matching Dora the Explorer coloring books.  (Luckily I had two of the same one; we nearly had their first argument in a while when they both wanted the Dora one! Both of them are going to have to get used to sharing the baby status in the house again.) She was so happy!

 

 

One of my first items of business was to get everyone's hair tamed from the wild state they were in.  We cut Justin and the boys' hair within hours of getting home, and Eden and I went to the hair school a couple of days later.  In order to cut her curly hair, the student first straightened her hair with a flatiron.  It was the first time we'd ever seen her hair straight and glossy like that!  It was a fun mother daughter date.

This is his first time reading the Harry Potter books. We are really proud of Aaron; his new glasses are really helping him take off in the love of reading that his older siblings have long possessed!

A little music with big brother J.J.

"Sleeping in my own bed again is a party!  Yo!"