The blur that was November

So most of November passed before I realized that we'd missed Halloween. (I was standing in a Target one night with Ian and the kids shortly after we got back from China and commented that I couldn't believe they had Christmas decorations out so early. Ian said, "It's not really that early honey." And I replied, "Halloween hasn't even passed yet!" To which he said, "Um, we were flying from Wuhan to Guangzhou on Halloween." We're not big Halloween folks ~ though we do trick-or-treat ~ but it usually does help me mark time before the holiday rush...)
I've been spending lots of time reading OLD posts on my own blog, just jogging my memory and decided that I want to make sure that I recall later a few things. (So expect a slew of posts over the next few days...)
That first week home was both wonderful and horrible at the same time. The kids and I had nice mornings, but the afternoon/evenings stretched on forever without Ian coming home for dinner and some play time. Most of that I'd like to forget, but here are a few pictures of the better moments...

Caleb and Kylie's "China sister" Lottie at a local park the first Wednesday we were home.

Playing happily with toys just a few seconds before Caleb realized that Kylie had what he thought was his drum...
One night when I fell asleep reading them a bedtime story.
Hall races ~ thank goodness Tricia told me NOT to pass one of those "cars" off to a friend!
Going for a double ride ~ you can't really tell, but they are both on the same car.

I mentioned in an earlier post that initially I figured that I'd be fine to manage the kids (and our collective jetlag) while Ian was in Texas. It only took me until about Wednesday of the first week home to realize that I wasn't quite up to it yet. So I called mom, managed to make myself sound pitiful, and heard the words that I was hoping for, "Well honey, let me see if I can get away from the office for a few days..."
Saturday afternoon (and her arrival) couldn't get here fast enough!