Catching up from the weekend

It was so good to see Will. He adored Paris and was quite grumpy to be home.  I often find when my boys go away (camp) they have a hard time returning to the  ho-hum life at home.  He is getting back to normal.

Will  had NO idea of my slight obsession with the Laduree shoppe in Paris.  We did not go there when Dave and I visited Paris years ago (I did not know of this beautiful place back then) but I will definitely go there someday when we return.

Anyway, Will came home with a sample of some lovely French perfume and a small box of chocolates from Laduree for his Mom!!!  Can you believe it?  It is exactly what I would have chosen! I have eaten 3 of the 6 chocolates and they are DIVINE!!!

We had a really nice weekend. Harry had his first soccer game of the season....

Harry usually plays baseball in the Spring but this year, he chose competitive soccer instead.  He really enjoys it and his team did very well and won this first game 5-0.  I enjoyed the game a lot but I must admit that I do miss watching him play baseball a little too.

After the game, we went to a really fun St. Patrick's Day Party...

Our friends had snow-cones, a bouncy house and face painting for the little kids.  A ping pong table for the bigger kids.  And lots of food and beverages for everyone!

Kate was still on break Monday so she and I spent the day together.  I painted her nails, we read books. We had lunch. We went to the park.  It was a gorgeous day

There was this cool little "tulip" at the park that you sit in and spin.  Kate LOVED it!  She would have spun for hours.  I get nausea simply watching stuff like this.

All this Spring Break fun has really cut into my Lenten resolution of exercise:(  I did great the first week  but I should never have been so smug to write about how I usually do well keeping my sacrifice because I don't want to let God down. The Lord immediately humbled me! Unfortunately Kate will not go in the childcare at our gym...so I missed a whole week at the gym while she was on break.  I did walk and swim and get loads of recreational exercise.  Anyway, I am jumping back on my Lenten wagon though and stepping up to my commitment  to exercise for the reminder of Lent.  

I love what Edie says about Lent here

" If I purpose to ‘give something up’ for Lent and then two weeks later find that I fail and can’t keep my lenten discipline, God is not disappointed in me. God is pleased with Christ and thus pleased with me when I have faith in Christ. I am a sinner who fails and sins constantly. And my failing is not a surprise to God. If I keep my lenten discipline to the ‘tee’, I must be careful not to try and convince myself that I’m ‘more spiritual’ or holy than before. I have been freely clothed with the righteousness of Christ and am only learning to ‘fit’ into clothes that were given me by God."

Monogrammed pumpkins and more

I have been bad about blogging but here are some of the little things we have been up to....

So you all know I am seriously craft challenged but I had the urge to make these monogrammed pumpkins. I got the idea from my very talented and creative friend, Kristi (who gave me step by step instructions on the phone last week. It was so nice to chat with her:) This one is Kate's and we happened to notice that it matched her dress the day after we made it.

The S is black mini polka dots for our family. And the T is a fall toile for Harry's teacher.

Then, Will wanted me to make some for his two favorite teachers. I am going to make 3 pumpkins that spell out "BOO" for a counter between my kitchen and hallway too.

To make the monogrammed pumpkins~simply find a font you like and print it out (large font). Use it as a template to cut the initial out of paper (I used scrapbook paper). Then modge podge it to either a real or artificial pumpkin. Modge podge the entire pumpkin. Easy-peasy. You cannot mess this up!

Kate has been feeling "crafty" too. Here is one of her recent masterpieces.

Harry is having a blast playing soccer this Fall. He plays sweeper and he is awesome!

Will went to his homecoming dance last week (I felt SO old!) and he is joining Speech and Debate. He has become quite a social butterfly in middle school. However, he had a GREAT report card too. I don't have a photo of him because he is way too cool for that.

On a serious note...I have spent a lot of time reading about the corruption in Chinese Adoption and I am completely devastated. My whole belief system about our adoption process has been challenged and I am sick about it. I feel shaken to the core. I was very naive. I plan to blog about it someday when I can compose myself emotionally.

Thankful for so many things!

~I am thankful that Kate had school for a few hours this morning!  I accomplished quite a bit and I think Kate was very happy to get out of the house. Most importantly though, she was excited to go to school!  She happily waved goodbye and blew me a kiss.  She did not want to bring her "lovey" to school this morning for the first time. Her teachers told me today that she cooked blueberry muffins and she taught her friends their colors!

This is Miss Kate right before school today.  Doesn't she look like she is concocting some mischievous plan?

One of the other Moms e-mailed me these pictures of Kate cooking at school.  I was not there (bad MOM!). I was home unpacking! I am thankful she e-mailed these to me.

I am am thankful that all of our closets are unpacked!

I finished Kate's closet.  I still have some framed photos and special decorative pieces for the shelves but they are not unpacked yet.

I have been working very hard on my closet.  As I have posted before, I arrange everything by group, color etc.. So this was a daunting task. 

Again, I have several family photos in silver frames and decorative trays to hold jewelry and accessories that will go on the top of the drawers but I have not found that box yet. 

Guess whose closet this is?

~I am thankful that Harry is feeling better.  I did not share this (and I will go into more another time) but Harry was experiencing some serious health problems.  They are so much better and I am so grateful to have my sweet Harry back again.

~I am thankful for Harry's soccer team.  It has been the best part of his days here so far. Last night they had their final game.  His team was undefeated this season and he is one of the strongest and most consistent players.  I am so proud of him.  He has great sportsmanship.  He always congratulates his team and the other team's players too!  Here are a few shots from the season.

Before each game, the teams hold hands and say a prayer.  It is a church league.  I love that!

Harry gets a little nervous and is either smiling while he plays or chewing his nails!

Last night, Miss Kate put her hands on her hips and said, "I want a Gatorade."  We instructed her to ask politely and she did.  But it was quite funny!

This one was right before......

Harry was bitten by a dozen FIRE ANTS!

OUCH!

I love this one!  They just gave each other some skin.  I wish the lighting was better (it is very shadowy at these late afternoon games in the South) and I am thinking about cropping it.  Any suggestions?

What are you thankful for today?