We celebrated Father's day with my parents and brothers the week after Father's Day - and it was beautiful. I wish it could be a family tradition every single Sunday.
It was stinkin' hot so things were planned for a campfire down at the creek. Complete with the hotdogs, pasta salad and s'mores. We got there late because I had been packing all morning for our week of staying out there and then was packing everything into the tahoe right after church, which gets out at 4. Thank goodness for all my little helpers or it would have taken forever. Each girl, and Talmage, took a bag and came back for more. I wasn't out to the car until the very last load and was amazed at how much I had given them to take out. It just added and added. Steven had gotten caught up talking to someone after church and we were loaded by the time he got home. He had to change and do some other little things so we left, the carful of us, since we had to take two cars up anyways.
Everyone was there and I wish I would have thought to bring a camera for photos. The girls were charming as ever, besides splashing a little much close to everyone that was sitting. It was a day to remember. Steven and my mom and dad took the kids walking up the creek after dinner and that left me and the boys to sit and talk by the water. It's so nice to spend time with just siblings. Something that doesn't always happen, or happen often, but I love it when it does.
We didn't even get up to the house until 8:00 that night, and after strawberry shortcake and baths to get all the smoke and creek water/mud off, it was late. My mom had beds ready for everyone and it didn't take a whole lot to get everyone settled in for the night.
8:00 p.m. became our standard for coming inside and getting dinner and then baths and stories for the week. Soaking the summer days in as much as possible. Summer only comes once a year and with all the rain we had in June, it feels good and will be an even shorter dry season that needs to be taken advantage of.
Monday morning came earlier than a lot of us were planning. I had swim lessons planned for 10:00, over at 11, eating lunch at the high school for their free lunch program, and then home for naps. We had to leave the house at 9:15 to get there to sign up and it takes half a hour drive anyways. Everyone was up, but it was a hustle to get breakfast in and then wake E up and throw a granola bar in the swim bag for her to eat on the way there. She's not much for eating breakfast in the morning - and I can always count on her to be the last one up.
Our routine was beautiful and it felt so good to nail that Monday down as done and fulfilled. Naps and rests were taken - lots of books were read and then a full day of playing outside. Snack at 3:30 when everyone was up and dinner at 8. It set the tone for the rest of the week and was just what a vacation should be.
Tuesday was a repeat - but a little crazier. I had invited the girls' brother out for a couple days. He's three. 4 days older than Talmage. Everything went smoothly until my 3:00 counseling appointment to get the girls set up. They call it an intake appointment - where I give the counselor the lowdown on them and set some goals and stuff. But when I got there, apparently they had tried to call and tell me that actually, it was canceled because the lady went home sick earlier in the day. I was fine - things happen, but as the next week unrolled I grew more and more upset because 1) I was out of cell range at my parent's house and it's hard to get ahold of people or for them to get ahold of me. And 2) I sent an e-mail and never heard back and 3) I made an appointment with the receptionist, and then called back a day later to confirm the time and apparently the counselor had cancelled it!!! Without letting me know or anything. I was livid at that point and asked to make another one and called that morning, even, to make sure it was still booked. But by this time things were a little messier because the girls' new foster mom wanted to be involved, too, which she should be. But it means more people to try to schedule to meet in one hour of the day. Near impossible and thank goodness the receptionist and I are friends or else I would have been driving her crazy with all my back and forth about yes this day will work, no, never mind, it won't work.
It was Talmage's birthday on Tuesday and we had plans to celebrate on Sunday. Except Steven's parents were going to be out of town that weekend for a wedding so they invited us out for dinner and cake that evening. I 'went' to my dumb 'cancelled' counseling meeting - had an extra hour to use so I swung by the house since I didn't have any kids and did some cleaning. The sweeping and mopping that are near impossible to do with little feet everywhere. Went and picked up the girl's brother - we'll call him Z - and then up to Tamera's house for dinner. Steven already had all the girls and Talmage up there and I had forgotten to tell them that I was bringing Z. It was a happy family reunion.
Tuesday night was a little crazy, getting everyone to bed. I ended up putting E in my parent's bed and then sitting between D and Z while they fell asleep before moving E back into bed with them. It's a double - so there was plenty of room for all of them.
And the days repeated themselves. Same routine. Steven did a strawberry run on Wednesday - I stayed home with the kids and Z just about ran everyone ragged. He had a lot more energy than I had anticipated and he was fast. Super fast. Like be on one side the house one minute and opposite side of the house the next minute, without me seeing the transit. It wasn't until later, talking to his foster mom, that we put it together that no, he isn't usually like that. But being with his sisters again triggered his behavior. When the girls moved in with him the next week, all of his eating training fell apart and he was grabbing food from everywhere again and gorging on stuff. These poor kids. It's so important to keep them all together - because when everything is ripped apart, at least you have your siblings. But they all trigger each other something horrible. They do so much better when separated.
Thursday I did a strawberry run - which I felt so bad about. I hadn't planned on there being berries left, but there was, and so I left my brave mom home with all the kids and drove around, delivering berries. I took Z home right after getting back from delivery.
Friday - we had planned on leaving that night. Turns out - it's hard to get up the motivation to leave your most awesome vacation. We had taken to calling the place, 'Nana's Resort' because it is absolutely the most perfect for kids. Sand box, swings, blueberries to pick, a Rapunzel tower and patio for riding bikes and drawing with chalk.
I packed everything up. Washed all the clothes - put them in the correct bags - and we were ready to go out the door. Except that it was already 9:30 and so we put a movie on for the kids and let them have a party in the living room - all sleeping together in a row. It was bliss to see them all out in front of me like that. My angels.
Saturday Morning I was dropping the girls off at 10 to start their new life with their new foster mom. We left my parent's house as if leaving a fairy tale and got to our house just in time for Steven's parents to pick up Talmage and Alaska so I could have an hour at home with just the girls - packing up their loose ends and stuff. I had known it was going to be a little crazy, getting them off with all their stuff after having spent a week away from home - but actually, it was pretty simple because I had kept everything super organized, knowing that they were only going to be with us a short while. The thing that took the most time was organizing their paperwork and highlighting a few things on reports and immunizations and putting things together like Kindergarten registration and camp registration and things like that. Where all the pieces needed to be together.
I wasn't chokey at all. I knew they were going to a good place and they were going to be reunified with their brother - all happy things. And they were excited. One thing about these kids in the system - their sense of relationships is so completely skewed it's almost unbearable. But I also knew that I would be able to keep close tabs on them and we already had plans to pick them up for Talmage's birthday party that Sunday. So things were going to be alright.
Their bedroom was already decorated for them in girl colors and butterflies on the walls and shelves filled with books and art supplies and a bed full of stuffed animals. It was all so comfy it made me wish I was the one moving in! D immedietely pulled herself to the top bunk and started rearranging her things. E was more cautious and it took me by surprise that I appreciated her being so loyal to me. Staying close until she was comfortable.
It wasn't until Sunday evening, when I dropped them off after Talmage's birthday party - that I felt my throat get tight as E held my hand and wanted to come home with me. I love that girl.
Naturally - I am writing this a few weeks after all this happened. And the happy ending is that we had the girls over once a week until Axton came into our lives and that last time they were over for just a few hours totally and completely wore me out and I knew - I knew that they were in the right place for the part of my life that I am in right now. I can't help it. But I love them and every time I see them I miss the energy and brightness they brought to our home.
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