And All is Well

The double birthday party went well. Family came, celebrated, ate, and left.

And the best part, my girl is home with us again!

I had visions of getting photos of her running out of the car and hugging her siblings, smiles on their faces. And you know what? That's exactly what happened, minus the camera! But that's ok, I'll always have that sight in my memories, of my children running to hug each other after a week apart.

Happy tears are running down my cheeks right now. I just love those kids so much! So, so much!

Grandma and Grandaddy came early, before everyone else, and we got to catch up a little bit with each other. Evelyn came home bearing small gifts for everyone. She was full of little stories of the stuff she did and I was able to get pictures off Grandma's camera.

Here's one of her when she was on the phone talking with us.  Some of those phone calls lasted an hour, and she had to get comfortable.  Oh my, she looks so much like a teenager here:

Can't you just imagine those future phone calls when she's older and talking with boys??

Anyone know how to stop time so I can keep her little?

She's different some how.  A little older, a little wiser. It was her first time staying at some one's home and seeing how they are around their house. Different eating and sleeping habits. Different lifestyle. She was surprised to see Grandma and Granddad's "office" which was the dining room table, normally cleared off and spotless when we're there, but turned into a desk with the laptop, mail, and piles of papers when it's just the two of them.  Helped her to see that we aren't the only ones who clean up before company comes!

She got to look through the family photo albums and hear stories of her dad from their point of view. Not just Daddy telling stories but *his* mom and dad telling stories about him. 

Grandma and Grandaddy got to know her better, too. To see that she is a smart young girl, reading any book she can get her hands on, able to hold conversations, and play games. They saw snippets of personalities in her that reminded them of Great-Grandma and Great-Grandad. They found an early picture of Great-Grandma Helen when she was in her 20s, maybe, and wow, Evelyn looks just like her. We'll be getting a copy of that picture soon and I look forward to trying to get her to pose similarly and keeping both pictures side by side. Evelyn's middle name comes from G.G. Helen's middle name, so it's really neat that she has this resemblance to her.

It's lovely having four children again to tuck into bed and kiss them all good night.

All is well... everything is just as it should be again.