handsful

And, it’s me!  Last Friday, I crammed a lot of luggage and all 5 kids into the Yukon XL and headed to FL.  Unfortunately, Randy had to stay behind…lots of meetings, conference calls, traveling by car and plane to be done. 

Which is all good and bad.  Being “busy” when you’re in sales is a good thing.  But, I miss him TERRIBLY.  This is the longest we’ve ever been apart (I can hear the resounding “Awwwww”s going on) and it stinks.  How DO single moms do it?  My patience isn’t thin, it’s GONE.  Lainey hasn’t slept very well on this trip.  Could be because we’ve stayed in 4 difference places?  Or, I’m getting her so tired during the day going to Power Up Clubs that she can’t settle down at night?  Whatever the reason, she’s been a bit “edgy” lately (putting it nicely).  Which is sending me OVER the edge every now and then. 

Back to our trip.  We promised the kids when we moved that we would most definitely bring them back for Power Up Clubs.  What’s that?  Our FL church doesn’t do regular, old VBS.  The amazing children’s pastor came up with a different idea, years ago, to take VBS to streets..well, in this case neighborhoods.  She plans a whole weeks worth of VBS-type stuff (theme, skits, songs, games, etc.) - asks church members to host the clubs in their yards and invite neighbor kids - builds teams of around 8 youth (7th grade to college age) each - and sends them out to 3 host homes per day.  It’s AMAZING.  This year, there were 67 host homes around Jacksonville!  The kids and adult leaders stay the whole week at the church, and are fed by an army of volunteers who handle the ravenous appetites of hot, exhausted kids each day.  I’m told the food is awesome :)  Oh…if you want to see last years Power Up Club, search for it on the sidebar.  I blogged about our club last year. 

Each of our big kids was on a seperate team!  I wanted to take Lainey around to the clubs so we could see her sisters and brothers in action, so I’ve logged a lot of miles on the truck this week!  We ended up seeing 7 clubs total.  I loved seeing the kids stretch themselves…Marley in FRONT of people, playing a character in the skits!  Each gave their testimony, too. 

Today is the last day of clubs, and tonight is the celebration called Power Surge!  I’ll be taking Lainey, then we’ll gather all (heh heh…any bets that we’ll find ALL of the kids belongings??) of their stuff, and head back to my friend Anne’s house to stay the night.  Tomorrow, we head HOME.  What a lovely word!

Sorry, no pictures…the site that I upload photos from decided to CHANGE all of their settings and procedures and now it won’t let me upload.  I’ll get that figured out asap! 

Next post from NC :)

Whew.  Last week was busy.  Fun, and not so fun busy. 

It started with my flight to NJ, for my grandmom’s funeral.  It was odd to be there, knowing she wasn’t with us anymore.  I’m glad I was able to make the trip for my mom.  And, we’re just thankful that she’s out of pain and with her Lord. 

While I was at the funeral, Randy was driving the kids up to Florida.  We had this trip planned for some time…the kids were registered for a youth conference at church called Out2B.  Mornings of amazing biblical teaching by Charles Covington, afternoons of service to the community, evenings of fun and little sleep.  They were jazzed about going. 

I literally flew in to NJ, went to the funeral, and flew out - so I was at the Jax airport that same evening and Randy picked me up from the airport.  The kids were farmed out to various friends houses and Randy, Lainey and I stayed at a hotel. 

Church the next morning was wonderful…how we missed our friends!  That night, we stayed at our dear friends Jon and Anne’s house (some of the kids again farmed out to friends homes). 

The next morning, Anne took Randy to the airport.  He was due to be in Vegas Mon - Wednesday.  I took Marley and Anne’s girls to drop them off at Out2B. 

The next few days were relaxed and pretty laid back.  Lainey and I spent our days hanging out at Anne’ s house playing with the “zoo” (check out her blog on the sidebar - Life is a Zoo).  We also went by the old house to go through stuff we left in the garage…did some cleaning, took some things to charity, etc. 

Wondering where the pictures are yet?  I took almost NO pictures.  Just never got the camera out.  Until, Anne decided it was time to teach Lainey to swim.  She’d been telling me that she’d be thrilled to teach her - she taught her own girls and is fabulous with Lainey.  So, off with the floaties and…

no fear, trusting completely.

she listened intently.

Learning to walk the wall…

having a blast

and, in no time at all, she was off!

swimming underwater like she’d been doing it for years.  She’s not entirely sure what to do with her arms yet…usually gracefully holds them behind her, with her feet kicking like mad.  And, picking her big noggin up to get a breath is something she’s still working on.  But, Anne said she’s a “natural” and the easiest kid she’s ever taught to swim.  Ever.  Lainey couldn’t get enough of it.  So, as long as there is an adult supervising, she’s going no-floaties.  We’ll keep them for times when the big kids are with her down at the dock swimming in the lake.  I’m so proud of her! 

Before long, it was Wednesday and time to go to church for the end of Out2B banquet and to pick up the kids.  Charles spoke one more time to the kids, and the parents got to listen in.  He’s amazing.  Teaches Bible at a public (yes, PUBLIC) school in Mississippi.  The way he grabs the kids attention with hilarious stories that tie perfectly into his message on the Sermon on the Mount was incredible. 

So, I farmed the boys and Abbey out again (they wanted to spend AS MUCH time as possible with their friends) and Marley stayed with Lainey and I (her besties are Anne’s girls) at Anne’s house again.  Thursday morning, Jon went to the airport to pick up Randy (he had taken the red-eye so he could be back in Jax early) while I started packing us up.  We spent that day picking up a trailer to pull behind the truck, loading the trailer with items from our garage, adding more items from our rented storage rooms, and finally pulling out to head back to NC around 6:30ish.  Our intent was to drive until Randy got too tired and stay at a hotel…Randy had gotten VERY little sleep on the plane.  Turned out, he found his second wind and we arrived home at 1:20am. 

So, now you can see (if you’re still reading…) why I’m glad we’re now settling back down into our new-normal routine of living here in NC.  I’ve gotta go…more unpacking to do.  :)

I had such a hard time narrowing down which pictures to post about our trip to Magic Kingdom last week!  As you’ll be able to tell by the large number of photos, I decided to go all out and post almost all of them. 

We had participated in the Give a Day / Get a Disney Day promotion a few weeks ago by volunteering at our local City Rescue Mission thrift store.  Those few hours gave us all (except Lainey) free passes for one day at Disney!  With our move coming up, we wanted to go ahead and use them so we woke up early last Wednesday and hit the road.  We arrived around 10am. 

The kids all wore their Disney pin lanyards with their current Disney pins to trade/collect.  We bought Lainey a lanyard, and bought the kids a few pins each to use for trading.  Lainey was really into it, wanting to trade with all the Disney employees! 

The boys favorite attraction is the Stitch’s Great Escape.  It’s really hard to explain how it works.  Suffice it to say that in one part, you hear Stitch burp and then smell that he had a chili cheese dog for lunch.  I skipped this one. 

We all rode the carousel.  :)

See the goofy mom?  Get it?  Goofy.  Disney humor.   

Ice pop break. 

Having fun, Abbey? 

Notice the obvious joy on the boys’ faces?  We’re in line for their FAVORITE ride…care to guess?  Think of a Disney song that’s nearly impossible to get out of your head. 

Yea, that’s the one.  :)

I asked Lainey if she liked this next ride - she said a definite no.  She didn’t like getting wet! 

She did, however, enjoy feeding the beautiful bird some of her fish crackers.  A perk about living in Florida…we have really pretty birds!

See?  He was just hanging out among the crowds. 

Amazed at all the Disney sights. 

Lainey LOVED the tea cups. 

Her first ride was with just the girls, spinning it just a little.  By the end of that ride, she was ready for big-time spinning with the whole gang.  I couldn’t catch her face during the ride, but believe me when I say she was having a smile explosion! 

Randy prides himself on how fast he can spin a tea cup. 

In case you’re wondering if I ever rode any rides, let me assure you I did.  I love Space Mountain, but it’s too dark for pictures.  Rode that twice.  Randy and I rode Thunder Mountain Railroad a couple of times, and tried getting pictures of each other. 

This was the best of the bunch.  What a riot. 

How can you not smile at Disney?

Sword in the Stone

Marley couldn’t budge it either.  Despite those guns she’s got!

Amazingly, she pulled it right out a second after I snapped this picture :)

Ethan and his stare down.  I think it’s cute and a little scary. 

After about 9 hours, the sun started to go down and we started to wind WAY down.  Disney at night is gorgeous. 

green…

 blue!  Disney magic…can you imagine their light bill?

Me either. 

Zai Jian (”Goodbye” in mandarin) from Disney!  Not sure WHEN we’ll be back, but we will be back :)

On Sunday, we returned from a VERY quick trip up to NC to celebrate Randy’s grandmother’s 90th birthday!  We had a lot of fun in a short amount of time.  Here are some pictures of Memaw’s day…

We got ready for the party, and then took a few pics.  You’ll notice a certain color theme with our clothes.  Here is Marley, Kendall, Katherine, Lainey, and Abbey.

Foolin’ around with Daddy.  For the record, the official color of his shirt is “Rose”. 

Awwww….

Cousins Kendall and Lainey sharing trail mix.  This is the first time that they really hung out together and played…it was sweet. 

The birthday girl.  In case you hadn’t guessed, her favorite color is pink!  Doesn’t she look great?

Ethan and Payton with cousin Grant.  Trying to look cool in their pink shirts.  I think they’re totally pulling it off. 

Randy snapped this one…

After the party, we all posed for an all-pink picture.  This is Memaw’s family…her kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids.  Quite a crowd!!  Randy actually took this picture, so he’s not in it :( 

Our family

And, just for fun.  Lainey loves her cousin Caleb.  He leaves for college this summer…hard to believe!

In August, we made our annual trip home for Cousin’s Day…a full 24hrs worth of crazy fun for Randy’s dad and step-mom Kathy.  The very first CD had 5 in attendance, I think.  Kathy, correct me if I’m wrong.  With Abbey being the 3rd oldest, that would be maybe 9 or so years ago.  We’re now up to 17, with our Lainey being the youngest!  They were all there this year…

Out of the 6 or 7 pics I took, this was my best shot.  Hopefully, Kathy got a better one to use in her annual Christmas card :) 

It’s very unlike us, but we barely took any pictures during our trip to NC.  Not sure why, other than we were just so busy not being busy.  It was a nice trip (with the exception of bringing home the flu - amazingly 13 / 17 grandkids got this!)  Here are some shots I did get:

Granpa and Ethan having a jam session. 

Grinning with Granma

Lainey attacking Granpa with her black bear.  I’m not sure who was laughing harder. 

One of the highlights of our trip was visiting with my Grandmom.  I just love her! 

Have you ever seen a sweeter picture?!?

Now for the “comings”…

Randy’s mom and step-dad Paul came down to FL for a visit this past week.  We had no big plans…they relaxed, we went out to eat, we swam, etc.  It was a really nice visit for everyone…

Gram brought her crocheting and knitting bag and was instantly swarmed by Lainey and Marley.  She makes little caps and booties to give to her local hospital’s NICU and she taught Marley how to make them. 

She made 4!  (Today, I used my 50% coupon at Michael’s and bought her her own knitting looms)

Lainey spent a ton of time at her feet, cutting and winding yarn.  I guess I know how to keep her busy from now on. 

When she wasn’t “knitting”, she was sitting on Pa-Paul’s feet.  Weird kid. 

Everyone went swimming on Friday…Gram was really looking forward to that.  She looks pretty happy to me! 

Gram and Pa-Paul, with 5 of their 11 grandkids.  Thanks for coming to see us!

Wanted to quickly add the pics from our “lost” vacation day…when Randy took the bigs to go white water rafting and I took the little to visit Patricia.  She has 6 children, 3 nearly grown men and 3 lovely ladies from China. 

Lainey, Willow, Piper, and Sage.  I tried, but this is the best shot of all 4 I could get!  Patricia did much better and posted pictures on her site http://www.littlecabininthewoods.typepad.com/.  She takes GORGEOUS pictures, I’d love to spend gobs of time learning from her.  Check out her post “Summertime” to see more from our day. 

Here is her youngest gal, Willow.  Even though Lainey and Willow are almost the same age, Lainey outweighs her by 10lbs!  She’s an adorable little thing!  Patricia and I had never met before, but we knew each other through our adoption agency’s Waiting Child program.  We were waiting for our referrals at the same time (her 3rd, my 1st adoption) and actually received our match calls on the same day!  Once we decided on Banner Elk/Boone for our vacation, I quickly emailed Patricia to plan our visit.  She was so gracious to let us hang out and play in her sweet log cabin.  Patricia is a very laid-back woman who loves life for the simple things…as a woman who struggles with “letting my hair down”, I can learn much from her. 

One of Lainey’s favorite things at Patricia’s house was her family of bunnies…a mama, dada, and 2 babies.  So soft!  They were hopping in and out of our laps and Lainey took it upon herself to re-arrange the bunnies cage.  I’m sure they appreciated her eye for style. 

While we were having our lazy visit in the woods, Randy and his crew were doing anything but being lazy! 

Excuse the digital picture OF a digital picture (these were taken by the group photographer and we were able to purchase them).  Here they are, gently floating down the rapids. 

Another run, and this time not so peaceful!  This is a section of the Watauga River where you can run the rapid, paddle to the shore, walk your raft back to the top, and ride again.  They did this several times.  The guide in front is hamming it up for the camera.  He was their favorite guide. 

I’m not sure what the end result of this run was, but it makes me kinda glad I spent that day in the woods :)  They loved every second of it.

We’re home now, and missing the mountains already.  The weather here at home is in the 90’s with thick humidity…boy, were we spoiled last week.  We never had the A/C on at the cabin and were actually chilly at night.  I have more mountain pics to share, but wanted to post about our last day now.  Oh, and today is our Lainey’s 3rd birthday!  I’ll be posting pics of that soon, too. 

We went back and forth about what to do our last day of vacation.  We originally decided we’d go to Tweetsie Railroad, something we thought would be mainly for Lainey since everything else was more geared toward the big kids.  Then, we woke up later than we wanted to and started thinking we wouldn’t have enough time to get our $$’s worth.  We polled the kids, talked about our options, sent them away to discuss it…you would have thought we were making a life changing decision here.  In the end, it was Tweetsie. 

After riding the train (where Lainey was scared to bits of the cowboys and indians fighting and proceeded to bury herself about 3 feet into my neck until it was over…), the kids threatened to throw us in jail if they didn’t get funnel cake.  (they let us out after we promised we’d visit the funnel factory at some point during the day)

Chair lift rides were cool…the boys are just ahead of the girls. 

First time having her face painted.  A kitty cat.  Blue… of course.  In Lainey’s world, everything should be blue!

After she enjoyed riding in a blue car and a blue boat, we thought we’d see how she did on a faster ride. 

Like the scrambler.  She smiled and laughed through the whole thing!  We also rode the Tilt-O-Whirl - another big hit with Lainey Q. 

There was a nature area with deer, goats, donkeys, etc. to feed.  They sold little ice cream cones with food in them. 

Lainey couldn’t get enough, she squealed when they ate from her hand (first time she’s allowed this at a petting zoo, she used to get close and then chuck the food at them!)

This donkey was too hungry to worrry about how hillarious he looked trying to scrape the food off the fence with his teeth and lips. 

Having fun, Abbey?

that would be a yes!  The big kids ended up loving Tweetsie - it’s very much like a state fair only cleaner and the people aren’t quite as interesting to watch. 

After more big kid rides,

a quick lap around in a snazzy BLUE race car,

and a roaring good time on the carousel…

Lainey was wound up and as hyper as could be. 

We thought this might be a good time to head out. 

We had a fantastic time and were very glad we came.  Bye, Tweetsie!

On Tuesday, Randy and the big kids went white water rafting.  Since Lainey wasn’t old enough, I stayed back with her.  My friend Patricia lives in Banner Elk, so it gave us a wonderful opportunity to see her and her family.  She has 3 almost grown sons and 3 beautiful daughters from China.  You’ll have to wait on the pictures from this day :) 

Wednesday was our busy, busy day!  We got a slow start, but managed to do everything we had planned.  I’m counting on at least a few days of exhaustion when we get home from this vacation…there is always the recovery period! 

First stop, Mast General Store in Valle Crucis.  We went to two, the main store and then the annex Candy Barrel.  I could have spent the whole day here.  So much history, so much to look at and buy…lol.  We came away with a few things at the main store, and then headed for the candy.  If you’ve never been here, picture what a candy store must have looked like back in time.  Barrels and barrels and…of candy.  There are baskets at the door and you fill them to your hearts (or wallets) content.  You could go nuts in here if you have a sweet tooth (or a whole mouth full, like me).  The fun is seeing all the brands you remember as a kid…BB Bats, Mary Janes, Whistle pops, those little wax bottles with the sweet liquid inside, candy cigarettes (the kids were a little dumbfounded on that last one).  It sure brought back memories of when my dad would give me $1 to walk up to the corner store for candy.  I guess I can blame him for my love of sweets. 

Linville Caverns came next.  We weren’t sure what to expect, but we all ended up loving it.  Well, except Randy when he realized they were taking us down this extremely narrow passage that had only one way out.  He bowed out of that part.  Close spaces wig him out.  The highlight for the kids was “total darkness”, when they turned out all light sources so we could see how dark it is.  Completely dark.  Nothing, not even a hint of light.  Freaky! 

I carried Lainey in the Ergo since it would have been hard for her to walk and back carriers weren’t allowed.  She LOVES the Ergo and gets giddy with excitement when she sees it. 

Abbey saw a store with this sign, so we had to get Randy’s picture under it.  He loves to talk to the kids in a Scottish accent.  Weird.  They crack up. 

EJ was so looking forward to his time at the Grandfather Trout Farm.  They stock the ponds and provide all the equipment you need, clean, and ice pack the fish.  We were there for quite a while and only getting nibbles.  Lainey used the time to learn the fine art of rolling down a grassy hill. 

Finally, right as I was focusing this shot he yelled out “I’ve got one!”.  See the line pulling?

His first Rainbow Trout…the boy could NOT stop smiling.  We had trout for dinner :)

At the trout farm, there was also gem mining.  They loved the process of finding the cool rocks. 

The last stop of the day was Hawksnest.  During the winter months, this is a snow tubing place (years ago, it was a ski resort…when Randy and I were dating, we came here with friends for Midnight Skiing).  They are now in the process of adding a huge system of cables for zip lines!  They had 4 lines open, with plans to open a total of 14 next week.  Since Randy took the big kids rafting, I had the pleasure of zip lining with them.  I was a little nervous…heights aren’t really my comfort zone.  To say the least.  But, I have to say.  It was AMAZING.  I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Is it possible that anyone looks good in these things?

We did 4 runs, each one longer and higher.  The last one was 2000 ft. long! 

One of our guides was impressed with how aerodynamic Marley was.  We joked she was like an arrow shooting through the air. 

EJ flying through the trees!

On the last run, Payton had a very concerned look on his face!  He assured us he was fine and loved it. 

Favorite shot!  The guide said Abbey was a natural and asked her if she wanted a job :) 

Randy had the easy job of juggling picture taking, video, and Lainey.  The kids will love being able to watch the videos of themselves! 

We ended our day with a delicious trout dinner (thanks, EJ) and a boys vs. girls game of Pictionary (after Lainey went to bed).  A fantastic day.

Monday’s assignment…climb Grandfather Mountain.  Or, at least do some hiking.  We were keeping our options open. 

After seeing the otters, deer, and bears at the nature park, we headed to the Mile High swinging bridge - here they are looking over the edge at the parking lot. 

It was SO windy! 

This picture freaks me out. 

After the bridge, we headed to the trails.  Here they are deciding which way to go at a fork in the trail.  We chose the more difficult trail, with ropes and ladders.  Oh goody. 

Here’s a rope…they were very helpful with the steep, slippery spots. 

And, here is a ladder.  Very steep.  Lainey loved riding in the backpack, never complained or fussed about being scared at all.  Randy was a brute, carrying her the whole time.  He’s our hero. 

The last series of ladders, that took us to the top of McRae’s Peak.  See the ladder at the top?  That’s the one that I totally FROZE on back in ‘94.  I eventually made it back then.  This time?  I chose to only climb that 1st ladder. 

I’m standing at the top of the first ladder, taking a pic of the kids who easily made it to the top.  Yea, kids! 

Here is Randy, climbing up the 1st ladder.  I told Randy that this picture would give the grandparents a major shock.  Everyone still with us?? 

We made the logical decision to both come down from the 1st ladder (which I totally FROZE on for a moment - coming down is SO much scarier than going up!).  Then, I stayed with Lainey while Randy climbed up to join the kids on the TOP.  They were SO excited to make it so far and they said the views were spectacular.  While we waited, Lainey decided to leave a bit of herself on Grandfather Mountain.  No pics of that.  heh heh…

Time to come down, down, down…

All total, we spent almost 3 hours on Grandfather Mountain, just the hiking / climbing part.  Randy’s shoulders and back were sore and my knees were toast.  The kids were fine.  So, why did they get to end their day doing this??

Great day.

Taken Sunday morning, from our balcony…

We’re having such fun here, and taking full advantage of the 5 full days we have.  On Sunday, we started our day at Banner Elk Stables.

This place had dogs and cats EVERYWHERE!  The kids loved that.

Abbey

From the back, Marley, other rider, Ethan, Payton, and guide.

Kinda fuzzy, but here is Randy and Lainey.  Ever tried riding a horse and taking pictures at the same time?  Ain’t easy.

Digger, my horse.  He was a hungry thing, stopping every now and again for a quick  bite.  This picture is the only somewhat proof that I was riding!

Better shot of Randy and Lainey…and, their horse Charlie.  Payton’s horse was Walter (my dad has always wanted a dog named Walter…), Marley’s was Tootsie (my grandmom used to call ME Tootsie…), EJ’s was Kidd, and Abbey’s was Ginger.  I know you were dying for the names of the horses.

Horse riding was fantastic…it was so relaxing to just meander through woods and up and down hills with the breeze blowing.  Everyone loved it!

Today, we went to Grandfather Mountain and did some serious climbing…pics tomorrow :)