handsful

We packed a lot into this one!

Marley’s started early, on Friday.  She was invited by her friend Kylie’s family to go skiing at Beech Mountain for one of their homeschool days.  It’s crazy affordable and you even get a lesson.  She LOVED it.  We weren’t sure she would, since she’s our least adventurous kid with most things.  She said she only fell twice, and hit some pretty big slopes.  Impressive!

I think she definitely looks like a pro!

The rest of us took Friday off school…hey, if Marley could play so could we right?  I got a couple of projects off my to-do list, which was NICE.  Oh, how I love checking things off a list.  I digress.

Saturday, Abbey and Randy got up way too early as usual for volleyball practice.  She has it EVERY Saturday, no breaks.  8am-12pm. She’s usually sore the next day, they work so hard.  It’s good for her, and she’s learning a ton.  Randy helps with coaching, too.  This league is serious about teaching these girls, with the goal of having them make travel teams.

A little while after they returned and we had lunch, and it was time to get ready for our Chinese New Year celebration with the FCC-CLT (Families with Children from China – Charlotte).  We didn’t know a soul, but we all got dressed up in our best silks and went.  Little did we know that most of the adults went casual, very few wore Chinese clothing but most of the kids did.  We didn’t care…if you’re going to celebrate CNY, you should dress up!  I took very few pictures, but there was a photographer there who took a family picture and individuals of Lainey and Dylan.  I’ll try and post those when we get them.

We had a nice Chinese dinner, browsed the tables (and bought an antique rice measure!), made crafts, and watched a wonderful show put on by the kids from Living Hope International (www.livinghopeintl.org).  Please check them out and consider sponsoring an orphan that has aged out of the China adoption program!  We’re going to.

After the show, the children lined up for the Hong Bao distribution…it’s tradition that children receive treats or money in red envelopes on CNY.  This 87 year old Chinese man did the honors.

We left the party a little early, because Abbey had a Valentine’s dance to attend.  Her first real dance.  It was planned by a couple of homeschool moms, and very well attended as we could tell when we dropped her off.  She had a GREAT time, just ask her!  Here she is, after the party.  See the glow on her face?  (or is that sweat?)

Sunday was the usual…church for all, and then 2 friends over to hang out.

Our weekends are usually full, and I guess that’s why they seem to fly by.  One of these days, we’ll have NOTHING planned for the weekend.  Yeah, right.