Family reunion, Kevin's return

Well, Kevin was supposed to come home early this week. He called several days ago and said that he'd be delayed a week or so. The postponed homecoming opened up our schedule for a few days as I procrastinate and put off deep cleaning the house for another week. We took the opportunity to drive up to Indianapolis to go to my Grandpa Chandler's 80th birthday party. My parents and sister Meri were up there for the event, but I'd not planned on going because of Kevin's impending arrival. Friday evening I spent several hours organizing and packing and cleaning the house. We left as early as I could get it together on Saturday morning- 8:30. We were only an hour late to the party at my uncle's house, but I'd forgotten about the time change, so we were 2 hours late. Classy.
I told my grandparents and the party hosts that I was coming, but not my parents. It was fun to surprise them, although I think my mom had an inkling. I sent Caleb in first. Good fun, good cake, and lots of second and third cousins. Family barbecues are what Memorial Day weekend is all about, right? I'm glad I went. It was good to see Dad's side of the family together. (And it helped the slightly depressing loneliness of spending actual Memorial Day cooped up inside.)
The boys played football with their 3rd or 4th cousins, I'm not quite sure what my children would call the children of my father's cousin. Caleb had so much fun chasing after the big kids. He does this at the playground but last time a 5 year old girl got tired of him following her around and pushed him away. His cousins were really nice and played with him for a solid 2 hours.

Here is a rare photo of Joshua with someone else, in this case, his Great-Grandma Chandler. He has been pretty clingy and doesn't like for other people to hold him if he can see me. It's sweet that he loves his mama, but it's kind of embarrassing too. Just let your Grandpa (uncle, cousin, etc.) hold you already kid, you're not winning any friends.

I just stayed the one night and went to church with my mom's sister and her family, then hit up the mall downtown with mom and Kayla. My Grandma watched Joshua while Caleb went to check out a train with my dad, so I was blissfully without babies. What a rare treat. We drove home late Sunday night, which was not the best idea. I kept falling asleep.

It was a whirlwind weekend and I am so tired. I also suffered from another sugar hangover. I don't know why I do this to myself, but this is the second time. I have been limiting sweets to Sundays until Kevin gets home. When I started it was 6 weeks of no dessert, but now with Kevin's delay, I have an extra week of it. I ate so much this weekend- big cookies from the mall, popcorn and m&m's, and a milkshake on the way home ("to keep me awake"). Hopefully this ill feeling will wear off soon, and hopefully I can finally learn my lesson. And hopefully, I'll only have one more Sunday of this anyways.

I haven't posted about Kevin's return, because I wasn't sure about all of the OPSEC (operational security) implications. But anyways, he's coming. Soon. Maybe just a week. I have so many feelings coursing through, I can't list them all here. I'm excited, of course, to have my husband home. My best friend, my baby daddy, my man. But I'm pretty nervous, too. What will he think of the job I've done raising the boys? Will he question every decision? How will we share the continuing task of training Caleb? How much should I expect him to help with the boys? I hate the picture of the dad in a suit coming home from work and the frazzled mom throwing a crying a baby in his arms before he can take off his shoes. "Here, take your son," she says. But I am also afraid of doing everything myself and not letting him be in charge. I'm not looking forward to having to cook every night, but I am glad to serve him, and try out new recipes. Caleb and I are finally tiring of peanut butter and jelly, black beans and rice, tuna, and chicken salad. I am thrilled at the prospect of being able to get up at 5:30 and run before it gets hot, without my two training partners. But the thought of how much I need to clean before he gets here is also causing some heartburn. I should stop writing now, actually, and dust that bookshelf that is staring at me. I'll let you know when he gets here.