handsful

My kids have been in cheer / basketball camp this week, so I’ve had an unusual amount of time to MYSELF. I’m in major spring cleaning mode right now. Actually, I should call it ”throwing and giving away” mode. Goodwill is LOVING me these days. Maybe I’m nesting for Lainey? Those who know me know that I LOVE to organize. Every drawer, closet, bin, and shelf is shaking in it’s boots!

Anyway…one of my big projects has been going through all of our photos. Good gracious, we have SO many! Boxes and boxes of (mostly organized) snapshots! Folders of years worth of studio photo sessions! Ziplocks full of photos with the scary label “Miscellaneous”. After a lot of work, I’m happy to say that I’ve tamed the beast! I’ve gone through everything, and organized those that needed it…filled one big album with the misc….seperated the photo session pics into folders for each kid…and all of our current pics are in the most current album. Boy, that feels good. Now, should I tackle the garage or the hall closet?

The first picture is of the girls, right after gymnastics where their coach surprised everyone with face painting. Abbey is a tiger, Marley a butterfly!

The second picture is the boys, posing with their Red Sox baseball trophies. I had to take FIVE pictures of them before I got one without them laughing, moving, or making funny faces. Don’t worry, I’ll save them all!

Boys, with Coach Robert

Today marked the end of Red Sox baseball. For our boys, at least. For the last 2 years, our boys have played on the Rookie Red Sox team of our local youth baseball league. Same coach, mostly all the same kids. Next season, our boys move up to “kid pitch”, rather than “machine pitch”. The BIG time! So, instead of staying with the same team, the boys will go back into the draft and most likely all be split up into different teams. We’ve had a blast with the Red Sox, and all us parents will miss hanging out on the bleachers together. The boys will miss Coach Robert, too. But, Randy will continue as Assistant Coach on whatever team they end up on. Here are a few pictures of this season!

Payton, on his way to the plate!

Ethan, waiting for the perfect pitch!

Payton, at 1st base

EJ scores!!

…and she came all the way from Illinois! I received a package full of goodies today from my friend Lisa. Lisa is one of the gals on my “Ladybug and Red Thread Believers” yahoo email group. All the ladies in the group are in the process of adopting from China, and we talk EVERYDAY. Our name is a combination of two common China adoption symbols AND the fact that we are all Christians. So, we’re sisters in adoption and Christ! Even though most of us have never met, we’re very close and pray everyday for each others praises and struggles. It’s been a huge blessing to me!

So, why did Lisa send me Ladybug goodies? Well, we get pretty silly on our email group! Somehow (and, I’m told I started this, though I don’t remember how!) we ended up having a contest to see who was the FUNNIEST gal in the group. It was between me (yep, me) and Janet, a crazy lady from Canada (I mean that in a GOOD way, Janet!). Well…I lost. BUT, Lisa promised to send us both a prize and I got mine today! The ladybug wind thingy, ladybug pens for the kids, ladybug magnet, wooden mirror with Chinese writing, ladybug key chain, AND chocolate (she knows me well!). Thank you, Lisa! Your gifts certainly made this Friday even better!

Thought I’d share a picture of my kiddos and I, on Sunday morning…Mother’s Day! We had just come home from church, and posed in front of the house (with the triplets standing on a ledge, in case you’re wondering why they’re so tall!). On the way to church, the kids surprised me with several “I love you because” notes from each of them. They were great! My Mother’s Day gift was a day of pampering at my hair salon…a massage and a facial! Can’t wait for that.

It occurred to me that this *should* be my last Mother’s Day without Lainey. I sure hope she’s posing with us in next years picture.

I received my May gift from my Fireflies group yesterday! The theme was “travel toys” and she really hit the mark. Here’s what was in the package: Musical keys (you can insert a photo in each key!), roll-up fabric crayon tote (ingenious!), adorable onesie with a heart and tag that says “Mom” (that was my Mother’s Day present from her!), and a great assortment of candy for the kids. LOVE it all.

I so look forward to my Secret Pal gifts, just like I really enjoy buying gifts for MY Secret Pals. It really helps the waiting time pass by, and I love imagining Lainey with each gift we receive. Thank you!!

Remember the ladybug house we had, with 9 little ladybug larvae? About a week ago, they all obediently turned into little pupas. Then, one by one, they all crawled out of their pupa shells (we got to see a couple of them do this…it was so cute how they wiggled their little bottoms out!). We kept them in the ladybug house a couple of days, and they feasted on a few raisin halves. Yesterday morning, we let them go. After each one crawled out, we placed them on our yellow lantana plants, right outside our front door. Of course, I snapped tons of pictures! Here are a few…

Come on little girls, time to go! (see the 3 at the bottom?)

Marley introduces them to their new home

Hang on!!

The ladybug house instructions said that if we release them in the morning (which we did), our ladybugs should stay close to where they were released. So, we hope to see them again!

Since we arrived in St. Augustine too late last time to do any tours, we decided to go back for Part 2 last Thursday! We were able to tour inside the Castillo de San Marcos fort and the Lightner museum. I just love history, and being able to see and touch things from the past is such a privilege. To stand in front of a throne chair and know that some nobleman or king sat there…amazing. The kids especially loved learning about the cannons at the Fort and standing where the sentrys stood to keep watch over the St. Johns river.

The Lightner museum used to be the Alcazer hotel, built in 1887. It held the largest indoor pool of it’s time (so they say), which now holds a cafe at one end. The original pool floor is still there. Abbey counted the steps and compared them to a photo showing the pool…she wanted to know how deep the water was!

We’ve still got more to do in St. Augustine, so we’ll be back :) Here are a few more photos of our day…

Can you imagine standing in that little tower all day?

See?! It’s quite small inside!

A model of the fort…this is the shape of it from above. The middle section is an open courtyard, with rooms all around. The top is where the cannons are (obviously)

Guard room, complete with straw-filled mattresses. Comfy!

“Pool” at Lightner (see cafe tables at the end?)

Photo in the back of when it WAS a pool!