handsful

But, wasn’t it JUST October?

I mean, seriously, I’m not sure what’s going on lately.  My days, weeks, months are flying by at warp speed.  I need time to slllooowww down.  Not speed up, for crying out loud.

I’ll stop complaining now.

This month has been good…a few highlights.

As we’ve done every year since…well, forever…we have a Thankful Tree.  I tried to cut corners and I posted a “What I’m Thankful For” poster for everyone to write on.  I got SO much grief about that!  “MOM, where’s the TREE?!?!”  “We can’t just have a poster!!”

A tree it is.  Marley cut out the trunk, and we just used the leaves to make the top shape.  I like it much better than the poster.  There, I said it.

This is a picture of Abbey driving down the driveway.  WITHOUT me or Randy in the passenger seat.  Yes, she now has her license.  The other three are busy fighting over who’s going to drive every time we go anywhere.  They each have to log 60 hours (and turn 16) before they’re eligible to apply for their licenses.  And, we’re now also logging Abbey’s hours, so she can eventually get her “after 9” license.

Some of the kids went to see the premiere of Catching Fire last Thursday night.  Abbey went all out (are we surprised?) and decided to dress up as Katniss.  I took her to the thrift store and she found 2 dresses and a shirt.  Once home, she went right up to her room and started sewing.  She managed to use pieces of all three things to create her Mockingjay dress.  I was impressed!

While they were at the movie, I took Payton, Lainey, and Dylan to a Thanksgiving dinner and presentations, put on by the littles Classical Conversations group.  Payton graciously skipped the movie so he could be a teen helper with the kids games.  Sweet kid.

Lainey’s class presented a song about the planets.  She was Uranus, and told the crowd “Uranus is a pretty blue planet that spins funny”.

Dylan’s class sang their Timeline song, complete with all the hand motions.  Each child chose someone in the timeline to dress up as.  Dylan is Julius Caesar.

This is the end…”Jesus the Messiah!”

That pretty much wraps up November, with the exception of our yummy Thanksgiving dinner coming up next week.  I’ve got lots of cooking to do, and I’m so looking forward to it.  Not to mention having 4 whole days of zero school.  Woot, Woot!

Hey, teachers need breaks too.  :)

Heh. Heh.

Our 6 kids are involved in a program called Acrofitness.  It combines floor acrobatics (and/or dancing) with fitness moves.

Hence, the name.

There are a variety of classes, and all of the kids have found the one that really fits their interests.

Abbey takes hip-hop…Marley is in advanced tumbling (since she’s had years of gymnastics in FL)…Payton and Ethan take a Free Running class (also called Parkour; google that one)…Lainey and Dylan take beginning tumbling.

Last night, Acro had their Fitness Festival.  A recital of sorts, where all the classes did a special routine to show what they’ve learned during the last year.  Combining all of the individual classes with all of the teams (those are audition-based that do about 40 shows during the year at various events), we watched 45 routines.  Abbey’s group was #19, the littles were #26.

The boys and Marley opted out…which was fine, since you’ve gotta purchase the event attire and it ain’t cheap.

The littles being goofy, while we waited for Abbey to get ready to go.

These aren’t great pics, but it’s the best we could do given all the heads in front of us.

Loved their routine…their instructor, Heather, is so good (she’s the dark haired gal in the white suit in the first pic)

Lainey and Dylan both did great…and D loved being in front of that many people.  Ham.

They’re on the right end.

L and D with their fav coach, Mr. Joey.  He’s SO good with them and they adore him.

All the kids will enjoy their summer break, but we’ll all be back at Acro again next year.  Three nights per week.  Flipping, jumping, and dancing.

Last week was…how shall I put it?  Busy times infinity.  And, given Randy was out of town for a lot of it, the brunt of the comings and goings (and comings and…) were on me.  I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see the weekend come.

Not that things slowed down much.  Or, at all.  But, at least my sweet husband was home, and we could tag-team like usual.

I’ll start with Friday.  That afternoon, Dylan went to the birthday party of his best buddy.  I picked him up afterwards and we rushed home so that I could curl Abbey’s hair.  Her friend Aaron arrived from Raleigh just a little before I got home…he and his mom made the special trip so that he could take her to the prom.

Abbey and Aaron have known each other for years, his family was in a church small group we hosted back when the big kids were little kids.  Since moving to FL and then moving back, the’vey re-connected through FB and now Skype all the time.

They had a great time.  We’re thankful that our kids get to experience things like proms, despite being home schooled.  This one was planned by a local homeschooling group, and they went all out with beautiful invites, engraved glass mugs, and gorgeous decorations.

Saturday morning came early, and we had somewhere to be.  Our annual Easter egg-hunt at Gram and Pa-Paul’s house.  Yes, we know it’s past Easter…but, finding a date where we could all make it was a little tricky.  As usual, it was all 8 of us, along with Randy’s brother’s family…minus Caleb and Samara who couldn’t get away from college.  Gram’s Sunday school teacher, his wife, and their two little girls joined us this year, too.  And, Aaron, who was driving back to Raleigh (same direction we were going), decided last minute to stay as well.

The required pre-hunt picture on the porch

Ready, set, go!

The older kids, who graduated to “hiders” instead of “hunters” quite a while ago, goofed around while waiting for their turn…Gram does a scavenger hunt for them to find their treats.

Even the big, big kids goofed around…

Payton lends Micah a hand at getting the highest egg…

Gram’s system…find eggs, dump them into the big bucket (by the way, she had about 40 eggs per kid, for 6 kids).  Then, we go inside and divide the eggs based on the sticker on the egg (i.e. red smiley=Lainey).

Time for the teens…

Read the clue, run all over the place, read the next clue, etc.  This year, she had all their goodies hiding in their car trunk.

Back inside to open the eggs…it gets a little crazy, as the adults divide up the eggs and toss them to their owners.

We left around 8:30, getting home at 11ish.  Head to bed, tired from a great day.

Sunday.  Randy took the big kids to church, while I stayed home with the littles.  I seriously needed a little break from the going and going, and me being home meant I could cook lunch for them rather than spending money on fast food (like we tend to do too much on Sundays).

He got home with the four big kids, as well as three extra teens (it’s the usual).  We ate, and Randy was soon off with a few of them to Testify drama / dance practice.  I hung back, and took the others (having added even one more teen in the meantime) to the practice to meet up for their first performance of the year.

This was just a mini-concert…only a few songs, a little dancing, and no acting.  But, Marley and Kylie got to sing their duet, and they did a great job.  Happy to have that first one under their belts :)

After the concert, I dropped Marley and Ethan back at home, and drove to church for another drama / acting practice.  Payton and Abbey both have acting and dance parts, so their Sundays are always full of practices.  Their first full concert is May 12th!

That was our weekend.  After an exhausting week, it was still busy but lots of fun.

And, this week so far? Blissfully boring.  Ahhhh…..

Abbey’s 17th birthday was on February 9th.

Her party was last night.

Don’t judge me, people.  Once she figured out what she wanted to do for her birthday, it was decided we should wait till the weather warmed up a bit.  Hence, the delay.

Itinerary?

Arrive, 6:00ish

The “Picture Scavenger Hunt” began at 7:30, with three teams of 5 kids (plus an adult driver) scrambling to their respective cars, lists of things to find in hand.  Randy had the whole thing planned out, with a long list of things like “police car” (1 pt), bald guy (2pts), urinal (ask Payton about that one…) (3 pts), and shoes on a power line (5pts).  I was a driver for one team, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN.  There’s nothing quite as freeing as running madly through Wal*art with a bunch of teenagers, looking for a guy with facial hair.  We had to have at least 1 team member in each picture, we weren’t allowed to use photos of things, and we had to be back by 9:45 or we’d be penalized.

person getting a haircut

traffic cone

silo

sandwich artist…he invited them behind the counter, made a sandwich, and gave it to them!

Christmas lights…lit up

yellow truck…SO hard to find.  And, creativity in the photos gave extra points!

My team

After tallying points and having the usual birthday dinner of pizza, it was time for the next game.

“Property Puzzle Hunt” began around 11:30.  Randy took 16 gallon size bags, and put 3 identical pictures in each one.  He hid the bags all around our property, and when the teams found a bag, they were told to take 1 picture out.  After they found all 16, they were to come back to the house to try and match up the pictures to make words.  (i.e. picture of a robin, guy in a hoodie = Robin Hood).  Once all the photos were matched, they had to figure out the overall theme of all of the words.  Each team had 1 flashlight!  In the end, each team found about 12-13 pics, and with a little guidance and hints, they all came up with the correct theme of “Archery”.

Tallying all the points across both games, and it was MY team that won first place :)

The special Unbirthday Girl

The rest of the sleepless night was filled with lots of snacking, birthday cake, a movie, Wii games, and an impromptu dance party in the Shop.  I went to bed at 1:45, leaving Randy to take the night shift.  He stayed up mostly, dozing a little during the movie.  I got up at 7:30, and sent Randy to bed at 8:00.  Almost all the kids were still up, so I popped the baked french toast in the oven and did a little cleaning up.  Eventually, everyone was picked up and the house was quiet(er).

It’s now 9:22 pm Saturday night, and I realize that the amount of sleep I got last night wasn’t nearly enough.  And, when we should have rested, we didn’t.  We ran errands and then spent a good part of the day doing yard stuff.  It became clear I should just push through and stay busy, or I would do what ALL the kids did at some point during the day…sit down too long and fall dead asleep.  I have to wonder how the wake up for church is going to go tomorrow!

But, it was all worth it.  The party was a huge hit, the games were a ton of fun, and one of the guests said it was the best. party. ever.  Success.

Can’t believe that Abbey’s next party will be her 18th.

Goodnight, all…

Old expression, huh?  Oh well, it seemed to fit.

Abbey is on a developmental volleyball team and she has practices twice a week, with scrimmages here and there.  We were able to watch her play this past Friday…

Her team wore black…she’s the one with the black top, black shorts, and ponytail.

She’s on the other side, in the middle, serving the ball.

Time to serve.  Throw it up and then…

Smack!

I don’t know my vball terminology, but this looks like a block to me.

Nice hit.

Serving again.  She made all but two of her serves over the net.

Looks like she’s calling it here….”mine!”

Another nice hit.

I love watching the games, I wish there were more.  This may be her last year, since they don’t have a dev team for 18 year olds this year.  We’ll be looking at other options, since she really does love playing.

Great job, Abs :)

Still can’t believe she’s 17 now.  Is it me, or does it sound so much older than 16?

This was the 3rd year that she chose a certain steakhouse for her bday dinner out.  We sat at the SAME table, and she sat in the SAME chair all three years.  Weird.  We brought the presents to the restaurant…Randy got her this on his last trip out to FL.

Check out the progression of excitement when she opened this one…

Tickets for her and a friend, to go see her favorite country singer Hunter Hayes.  Who just happens to be opening up for Carrie Underwood.  Floored is a good way to describe her reaction.

Chocolate cake here…

And, chocolate cake at home.  I made this, from scratch.

Did I mention it was four layers?  :)

She’s having her party with friends in March, when it warms up a bit.  She has a great plan…and, I bet I blog about it.

Glad your birthday was a blast, Abbey!  We love you!

Last Saturday was Abbey’s Sophomore prom

This is Abbey’s second year going, and she went by herself again. She was meeting up with several friends, so it was all good.

We snagged her dress from a consignment boutique here in town, and got it for a steal. Course, we then had to get it a little altered, but it was still less than the prices we were finding in stores. Yikes.

Honestly, this dress was just made for her. She’s stunning…

Went jewelry shopping on Saturday and found just the right pieces.

Some people just HAD to pose with her.

Including her goofy daddy. It’s a shame she doesn’t resemble him at all.

Abbey’s friend Kathryn came over to help her get ready. She tagged along with us to drop her off, (we were taking her home) and Abbey convinced her to join her in a shot.

Posing with one of her friends, Daniel. Her other friends were fashionably late and we weren’t able to get a group shot. She said she had a wonderful time, and couldn’t decide which she liked better…this year or last. She’s never been good at making decisions.

Can’t believe we’ll most likely have FOUR going to prom next year.