Our trip to the states was fast this round (only 4 weeks- usually we're there 6-7 weeks). We split our time between 4 sets of families and our friends in Houston, so when it boils down to it, we just don't have enough time at every place, or as much time as we'd like. We're constantly busy when we're home and always try to fit everything in that we can. So, when we were in Lake Charles, things weren't much different. We filled our schedules with appointments for baby doctor, eye doctor, dentist, hair, etc. We did Christmas shopping, picked up our supply of goods to bring back to Saudi, visited extended family & close friends, and mainly tried spending as much time with my family as we could.
Most evenings consisted of everyone (brothers, SIL's, nieces & nephews) coming over to my parents house and we cooked dinner, let the kids play, and spent quality time together. There is NEVER a dull moment with 6 grandkids under the age of 4 running around and this trip my mom came up with the brilliant idea to clear out the garage, put as many big toys outside, and let the kids have a field day. They loved it, had room to run around, played with every possible outside toy imaginable, and had a grand ole' time. This allowed for small increments of uninterrupted adult time inside. I love how close in age all our kids are with one another and they really do have fun playing together.
All the kids are kinda over taking the house so my mom started using my old homework table for the kids dinner table. The kids have a blast eating surrounded by one another and sometimes- just sometimes-- us adults can get at least 3 or 4 bites in before having to check on them.
One of my favorite things-- just sitting around the dinner table visiting and catching up.
As I said earlier, most of our time was spent in the evenings at dinner together since everyone's day time schedules were pretty full; dad and brothers had to work, and all the cousins were in school.
As quick as our time was with my family and as much as I missed getting to stay a few extra weeks with them, I'm grateful for the time we did have. I loved loving on my nieces and nephews, appreciated my family working around schedules to spend time with us, and am thankful for the memories we made laughing, telling stories, and just reconnecting! My mom's a big trooper tending to everyone and their needs and is always looking to make our time together special. Thanks mom!
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