Whirlwind {Sunday Snapshot}

We have had a whirlwind couple of days.

First, Kate and I had the privilege of meeting this new family of four at the airport as they cam home from China....

All the kids waiting (I did not make the sign that Kate is holding--Shelly's sweet friend did)

Libbie is seriously the cutest lil peanut you have ever seen!

Kate was so taken with Libbie.  She could not wait to give her gifts.  It was so cute.
She kept saying,"I love that Libbie, Mama!"

It has been a blessing to witness their faith filled story and I cannot wait to see how it unfolds now that they are home.  In fact, you should go see the miracle that happened in their house just today!!!!

Then on Friday it was field day for Harry which may not seem like a big deal but field day is Harry's favorite day ever!  At his school, the 4th graders plan field day and Harry was elected by his peers to be on the planning and logistics committee.  He had a very big role in field day this year.  I only have a few photos because the school name is all over the other photos.  

You can see Harry cheering loudly in the middle of the tug of war.  I have to say...I was SO PROUD of Harry.  I have never seen him be such a leader as I did this day.  His whole class looked to him as the leader/captain of the team.  He led cheers, helped out everywhere and was so encouraging to his teammates.  He has this natural charisma and leadership at school that we do not always see at home;)  I felt like I was seeing my son through different eyes.  Also, Harry is by far the smallest kid in his class yet all the kids seem to look up to him as a leader.  That made this Mama's heart smile.

In this shot Harry is leading some chants in a huddle.  He is the little one in center:)

The next day we went to the beach with a bunch of families from our neighborhood.  Our good friends (the ones who have Snickers now) have a beach house and the invite us a few times a year.  We usually stay for the weekend but we could only stay the day this time.  It was a beautiful day though!

The water was FREEZING cold but it did not bother the kids.  They all went in the ocean.

Kate had a BLAST running around with her friend, Layne.

Harry had a big time boogie boarding and skim boarding and playing basketball.  In fact, he spent the night with our friends even though we had to go home...

And Will found this big piece of wood on the beach and convinced some of the Dads and kids to carry it to their beach pit/fort....

He also did a a little boogie boarding.

We even got to see snickers at the beach...



but he was way too busy having fun to look at the camera!

We saw this man of war jellyfish too!







Time to head home:)
Harry got to spend the night but Dave, Kate and I came home after dinenr to get Will ready for a big trip!

Today we took Will to the airport.  He is leaving for Paris for Spring Break!!! I am so excited for him!  He is traveling with his art teacher, her husband, a pediatrician/Mom and 9 other students. I love that Will wanted to go on this trip. He does not really know any of the kids going but that did not deter him in the least. He loves seeing the world and was so interested in this trip.  They will visit the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay, Notre Dame, the Loire Valley and Chartres and may other sites. I must admit that I am a tiny bit nervous for his safety and would appreciate your prayers.  It is not everyday your young teen goes out of the country without a parent.

I am not fond of how I look in this photo (at all) but we took it just before he left for the airport.
I am thinking I need more sleep.

We went out for our favorite Mexican breakfast this morning to send Will off nice and full.

Kate sobbed hysterically saying goodbye to Will.  It was very sad and unexpected. She really loves her brothers!

And they're off.  The students travel group is comprised of 8 girls and only 2 boys!

feeling nostalgic {flashback friday}

When Will was just one year old we used to take him to this Noah's Ark pool. He LOVED it there. In fact, he had his 2nd AND his 3rd birthday parties there.

Today, I took Will, Harry, Kate and two of the boys' friends there. We had not been there in at least 6 or 7 years. I looked around remembering what it was like to bring Will there 12 years ago and how much our lives have changed since then, how our family has grown, and how we have been so blessed. We had a great time. Here is a little now and then series of photos...

Will and me going down the slide on his 2nd birthday (scanned). I promise this is the only time you will ever see me in a bathing suit on the blog and Will is luckily covering all my problem areas;)

Harry had a lot of fun being silly!

And here Will is 11 years later helping Kate go down the slide....

Above is Will on the little whale when he was 3....

And there is Kate on the whale (at 4!)

Will skipping in front of the frog... and Kate below...

Will going down the rainbow slide at age 2

And here is Kate.

Can I just say here that I would give anything to have Miss Kate's long, lean super model legs!

The big kids had a great time on this alligator yesterday too.

One thing I love about my kids is that they all will play together (sometimes:). Even though I had five children ages 4 to 13 with me yesterday, they all played and got along great.

My 3 peanuts.

{these were all taken with my new lil point and shoot...it is hard to get used to it. I am so used to looking through a lens and shooting manually}

Follow-up Friday

(one of my floral photos)

A reader asked for a follow up today. Well, here it is.

Kate is in a lot of pain and won't eat or drink anything but popsicles. All she wants me to do is hold her.

Will is still home with the flu.

And now Harry is home with a BAD stomach bug. He cannot keep anything down at all! He does not have fever so I do not think it is the flu. He came in to sleep with me and Dave last night so let's just hope we don't get it.

Dave is at work and I am hanging on by a thin thread.

Let's just say that I have had better weeks. Okay back to my nursing:)

I hope you all have a delightful Labor Day weekend!!!!

One of my readers asked me to post this too...

SEPTEMBER is NATIONAL CHILDHOOD CANCER month, let's all do our part, DONATE BLOOD, BECOME A REGISTERED DONOR, BRING AWARENESS TO THIS HORRIBLE DISEASE! If nothing else wear YELLOW to show your support for these brave little warriors!

Happy~the Elf

The other day when the boys arrived home from school there was a beautifully wrapped box on the front porch.  It had no name on it (either to or from).  They excitedly brought it inside and asked me if I knew what it was or who it was for.  I said "let's open it and see what is inside!"

Will and Harry were so excited!  They had heard of the elf on the shelf but this is the first time he has come to our house. They immediately named him "Happy" and he has been going back to the North Pole every night to report on their behavior.  They run around each morning looking for where Happy might be the next day.  Today, he is in Harry's room.  They sure are well behaved when Happy is watching!

Here are a few photos I took as we were decorating our tree a few weeks ago.  I won a camera lens in one of the adoption raffles (85 mm) and I was practicing with it so some of the photos are really out of focus. It is a prime lens and not ideal for the situation I was using it but I got a few good ones of Kate.  I am not sure if I like the black and white or color better..what do you think?

See, here the tree is in focus and Will is not.  Will is hanging one of his favorite ornaments.  It is the White House and I bought it when I was lucky enough a few years ago to go see the White House decorations for Christmas.

Kate hanging an ornament I got for her last year.

Harry has a crumb on his cheek.  I forgot to retouch it.

He loves his soccer ornament.