Life in a clown car

So I have been waiting to get the time to write about our newest endeavor. I will start with the backstory first. Last spring/summer my wife and I found out that my wifes brother would be being deployed for a twelve month ship duty, we were also informed that his wife would also be deployed for a twelve month duty station in Djibouti Africa. The crisis you ask? Their two boys. Gaige 3, and Jesse 2. What to do with the boys? Well as luck would have it my wifes family is distant,(which is a nice way of putting it.) her brother had first talked about having a friend of his take care of the boys during the 7 month differential. And then he talked about his ex stepmom take care of them which didn't sit well with my wife, well. Because an ex stepmom is an ex for a reason. After a minute or so of debate we both agreed that the only correct place for the boys to go would be our home. I call it a debate but it was more of a given.
Our newest family members arrived from California in mid November. Their father Jon drove them and their necessary belongings across the country. Their mother Kathy joined us a week later. She flew back from Djibouti where she had already been stationed for 4 months. The first couple of weeks with the parents here was nice to let them slowly acclimate to the new surroundings, but yet it had it's disadvantage because there are schedules and disciplines we would have liked them to help us set in place. Obviously that was not an option with both parents knowing that these were the last weeks that they would be with their boys for a couple months. So needless to say, it was a free for all for the boys before we got complete control of them. Ummmmmmmm that pretty much fucking sucked when they had a month of never being told no.
So December 4th, our first actual day of complete say so in the boys lives. Now prior to this day my wife and I sat down and kind of made a mental list of the things we wanted to jump on right away. So here they are. Getting Gaige to start using the potty, get the boys on a very strict nighttime schedule because there ups and downs where not consistent, and it showed in their attitudes. We also wanted to get them to be more independent in their day to day duties. Temper tantrums and timeouts where hand in hand for the first couple weeks. And the last thing we really wanted to focus on was getting Gaige to talk more confidently and using yes and no instead of unhuh and untuhn. So the journey began. Within one week bedtimes were in place and the schedule was showing in their attitudes. Within two weeks Gaige was using the potty full-time and waking up dry in the morning. Also both boys were getting their own boots in the morning and for the most part getting them on by themselves. Gaige and I are still working on the yes and no, but he is slowly getting it. My wife and I are very pleased with the progression of their relationships with us and with my two children also. Now I will not say that these accomplishments have been easy, or that they were not draining but I will say all of these have been worth it. My wife and I have had our share of conflicts through our first month and half. And the main one so far has been discipline, who, what for, when, and how. I am a firm believer of an older version of discipline, and my wife is more of a talk it out kind of disciplinarian. I was always told a firm hand holds a family tight, but after watching my wifes magic in calming a situation with a smooth tongue has made me a believer in both sides of the discipline world.
Our house is definitely busy day in and day out and the memories shared will be worth this crazy road we are traveling. Even with the social side of our lives taking a baseball bat upside the head;) we have 5 months and appr. 15 days left before this journey is over so there will be more stories of this new part of our life we like to refer to as the clown car. There are moments I sit and think to myself, what the fuck were we thinking, and then there are hugs and kisses from 4 kids that bring me back to reality. In all honesty, it was and always be a simple decision to be there for your family, even if it's your wifes family! :)