handsful

This won’t be the sort of post with a focused topic and nice, clean ending.  I think I’ll ramble a bit.  This season of my life feels like it’s all over the place, so why not my post?  I’m glad you agree.

Randy was out of town this week from Monday afternoon through (hopefully) about an hour from now.  Yes, he comes home tonight.  Whenever he’s out of town, I always think of single moms, who rarely get a break.  Or those moms with husbands who travel A LOT, or have husbands serving overseas.  I know for sure that God must give those women a special helping of strength and patience.

We managed to get through another school week with most everything done, Abbey finished her class portion of Drivers Ed (drive time sometime in the summer), we bought some supplies for our “Steelers win another super bowl” party, and I marked a few things off of my ever-growing to-do list.  Progress is progress.

Oh, I finished “Choosing to See” by Mary Beth Chapman.  Cried, held back tears, and sat in awe at her honest account of the grieving that her family has been through.  If you’ve not read it yet, run to the bookstore and get it.

I’ve started 2 other books.  “Organized Simplicity” by Tsh Oxenreider is giving me the urge to purge everything in my house that I don’t find purposeful or absolutely love.  I told Randy he fits both categories so he’s happy.  I truly want to live more simply, and this book promises to show me how to do that.  I’m hopeful.  I also started “Radical” by David Platt.   I’m only in the 2nd chapter and it’s already mind blowing.  Thanks to my handy dandy new e-reader, I’m flipping back and forth with these two…gotta love that.

Dylan is eating much better these days, but he’s still not a great eater.  We realized tonight he LOVES pickles.  Oh, great.  Just the smell of pickles makes me wretch.  And, he’s sucking on the thing like it’s a candy.

Only my husband would spend his evening throwing fish crackers at everyone, aiming for mouths.  Ending in me being pelted by a barrage of crackers.

The littles, as I’ve come to lazily call them, showing off their new NCSU shirts.  Our wonderful friend, Donna Judd, sent these to Lainey and Dylan this week.  Our family and Donna go WAY back.  I met her at church, right before becoming pregnant with the triplets.  Soon after they were born, she told me she wanted to help me out once a week.  She came each week, usually carrying a grocery bag full of cereals and other stuff the kids loved.  Then, she told me to go nap or run errands…whatever I wanted to do.  It was absolutely magical.  She did this for THREE years.  A true blessing!

Anyway, she saw that Dylan loved his squeaky shoes from China and told me about her friends from church that have their own squeaky shoe company.  I browsed the shoes and was considering buying a pair, when Donna told me her friend wanted to send Dylan a pair free of charge.  Wow!  We chose the NCSU ones, of course :)

See the emblem on the top?  He loves them!  The website is www.squeakmeshoes.com  Go check them out!

Anyone ever try the new almond snickers?  I have one in my purse.  Think I might try it tonight.

I’m sitting here blogging when I should be putting Dylan and Lainey to bed.  He’s beside me whining right now…gotta run :)

Last night, we spread out a sheet and ate our dinner in front of the TV…the Steelers were playing for a shot at the Super Bowl. 

I kinda married into the whole Steelers craze.  Randy played football as a kid, on the Cary Steelers.  That was all it took to make him a fan for life.

The kids have embraced the fever as well.  Even the littlest ones.  After every big play, Dylan frantically looked around for someone to high five!

Lainey was in the spirit as well.  She didn’t have a Steelers shirt, so she wrapped a scarf around her waist.  She worked it well. 

First half, our guys were unstoppable.  They probably heard us cheering in Pittsburgh.  Second half, we were biting our nails and everyone else’s nails.  But, they pulled it out and we’re headed to the big game!  I feel a Super Bowl party coming on!

Overnight, it snowed and we woke up to around 4  inches covering everything.  What else could we do but PLAY? 

Marley was sick the last time it snowed, so she was super excited to enjoy it.

The snow was very powdery, so no snowballs or snowmen.  But, it was perfect for…

Snow angels!  As you can tell, Jack was having a blast, too.

Dylan had to be content to just watch from afar.  Later on, I did take him out in it but he still won’t touch it…and, I had to keep making sure his leg with the cast was staying dry. 

It worked well for sledding…we borrowed our neighbors sled again…all the stores were out of them yesterday. 

They set up the skate ramp and put it to good use.  This is Payton and Lainey catching air. 

And, then Marley…how cool does that look?!  The landing is a little jolting, though.  Not that I tried it. 

Icicle tasting was in order. 

Ethan tried to snowboard on a sled.  Nice try. 

Randy made a grocery store run today for a few things we forgot yesterday.  Tonight, we’re due for lots of sleet and ice.  That’ll make for a nice layer on top of the snow tomorrow…guess we’ll be snowbound again.  It’s okay with me.

Dylan had a follow-up visit yesterday with the pediatric orthopedist who casted him.  They took another x-ray and everything is lined up just like they want it. 

They scheduled him for cast removal on 1/26…THREE weeks.  I can’t believe it…that x-ray didn’t show any healing that I could see, but these guys are the best so I guess they know what they’re talking about. 

In the meantime, Dylan is doing better and better everyday.  He’s becoming more active…actually flipped himself over on our bed tonight.  He spends his days in his bean bag chair (awesome idea from another BTDT mom!), in the Ergo carrier with mama, or just sitting on the floor with one of us for back support.  He fits in his booster seat at the kitchen table (but not the highchair!), and is doing fine in his car seat (that’s a tight squeeze, but thankfully works).  He’s sleeping well most nights, and mama is excited to not have to wake up as often during the night for pain meds…yawn. 

In other news, Abbey started Drivers Ed on Wednesday.  The class is held at the local high school, and when I dropped her off for her first day it felt really strange.  After 2 days, she’s even more firm in her decision to continue being homeschooled.  I know high school has changed a lot since I went….those kids looked scary!  :)

So, what else?  Marley enjoyed getting back into horseriding today, sporting her new riding pants she loves.  Payton and Ethan are lamenting the starting of school, as usual.  Well, mostly Ethan.  And, Lainey is still working out the kinks of not being the baby anymore. 

Life is anything but boring around here.

Waiting ever so patiently for us to give the go-ahead to run into the living room on Christmas morning. Yes, we’re those parents who have to have the camera set up and ready to capture their faces as they see the things set out for them. We wrap most everything, but leave out a big thing for each kid.

More pics of our Christmas coming later…I’m having issues with my photo upload account, but a very nice friend is helping me get it worked out (thanks, Alan!). Sorry the pic above is so small, it’s either that size or one that fills the entire page! Grrr…

We’re speeding through the last few days!

Going out for my birthday. We went downtown where, on each Friday in December, they open all the stores, have cider and cookies, lights up everywhere, Santa, and a favorite restaurant of mine.

Okay, I’m fuzzy on what day this was. We saw the snow starting to come down and headed outside to enjoy it – since we knew it wouldn’t last.

We heard that the kids saw snow when we were in China, but they said this was a LOT more. And, the flakes were huge!

Dylan approved :)

That night, we headed to a Christmas tree lot to find the perfect tree.

Checking out the freshness factor. Everytime Dylan has a new experience, I wonder what’s going on in his little head.

The winner!

Super Dad!

Lots of table crafts and activities lately. Dylan loves being in his chair and will sit a long time working on something. Here, he’s sticking cut-outs of stickyback foam pieces to paper.

It was big sisters idea.

This was actually on my birthday, I think. He’s enjoying his first lollipop from the pediatrician.

We made it through the first week home. I’m so glad to be back in our (new) routine and looking forward to Christmas (which we’re still feverishly trying to get ready for – I’m one of those ladies with the overflowing carts at Target days before Christmas). Am I missing anything from China? Room service, maid service, the water pressure at the White Swan (gracious!), doormen who are always happy to open the door for you, and friends that we met. Oh, and….

Okay, okay. I’ll stop talking about the french toast, already. Sheesh…

Our wonderful crew of kids…waiting on the last crew member.

We took our last ride out on the boat this past weekend, then pulled her out of the water. She’s at the shop, being winterized as I type. Something we never had to do in Florida!

I wonder what Dylan will think of the boat? Lainey was a little wary at first, but it didn’t take her long to love it. Dylan has no clue how his life is about to change. Sometimes I look at Lainey and think about the kind of child she’d be if she were still in that orphanage. I watched her run down the driveway the other day, head back, arms and legs flailing and laughing the whole way. Pure joy. I cannot WAIT to see Dylan living his life the way he was meant to. The way all kids deserve to. How I wish all of the orphans in China could have that.