Sweet Success! All It Took Were Some Balls.

Almost exactly one month after Ashagre and Elsa arrived in California, they have finally made peace with (and overcome some very legitimate fear of) our dogs, Buster and Lola.  Brent and I were literally a bit choked up as we filmed this video:

Before Ashagre and Elsa joined our family Lola and Buster occupied a pretty prominent position in our lives.  We expected the kids to be frightened by them, but we didn't expect it to be so ingrained or to last so long.  The dogs, especially Buster, were crushed.  They love kids, and people in general, and truly seemed to be hurt when the kids would scream and run away from them.  Buster has barely eaten for weeks.  Truly, this has been the toughest part of our transition (and also one of our biggest triumphs) to parenthood so far.

It was a BIG weekend.  The kids' Sunday morning kwoss (ball) session with the dogs was only one part of a really great weekend.  Friday we baked peanut butter cookies.  The kids LOVE peanut butter and they LOVE cookies and I really like cooking with them (I know, crazy, but they are so engaged and really enjoy it) - so we kicked our weekend off right.  

Then...Grandma and Grandpa Corey arrived late Friday night!  The kids got to meet them first thing Saturday morning.  Of course, they absolutely adore Grandma and Grandpa (and they adore the kids).  

Not sure if it was on purpose, but Ashagre chose the outfit
that matched his sister's.

Yes, my mom and I look A LOT alike.

Sunday, I took my mom to a great play, In Mother Words, in L.A.  I guess I didn't look at the tickets too closely, so we lingered over our Ethiopian lunch and missed the first half hour, but somehow managed to show up right before the vignette about a mother of a little girl adopted from China.  It was hilarious and very appropriate.  I found it to be grounding and very affriming to take a bit of time to celebrate motherhood with my momma.  We had a great afternoon.

When we arrived back in Ventura, it was time to BBQ, and several of our friends came over to meet Elsa and Ashagre for the first time.  BBQ's at our house sure have changed from a year ago.  There were almost as many kids as adults (we haven't really had kids at past BBQ's).  Ashagre and Elsa did SO WELL with all the new people.  They really enjoyed playing with all the kids.  It was really fun to watch them, as they have been pretty reluctant to interact with other kids since they've been home, minus one intense game of tag at the playground a day or two ago.

The kids are REALLY growing and learning things at a rapid pace right now.  It's literally minute by minute that they learn new words and new skills.  It is amazing to watch and be a part of.

[Credit goes to Brent for the subtitle of this post.  Come on, you know I'm not that cheesy.]