handsful

We had a great weekend trip to Orlando! We spent Saturday at Sea World and then decided to have a lazy day by the hotel pool on Sunday! Here are 10 things about our trip…

1. Pressurized water misters work really well on a hot day at Sea World.
2. Manatees are huge and move reeaallyyy sslloowwllyy.
3. Our kid’s suitcases are filled with more stuffed animals than clothes.
4. Marley should not look down while trying to climb a rock wall.
5. Mom can be talked into going down small water slides, but not steep roller coasters.
6. There are nice and not-so-nice parts of Daytona Beach.
7. Hotel curtains really encourage sleeping in.
8. Henna tatoos are fun and will eventually go away.
9. The “Soak Zone” in Shamu Stadium is named appropriately.
10. I’m a blessed Mom to have this kind of fun with my family.

More pics…

Ah….little help?

Ethan really “flipped” for Sea World.

The air is hot, but the water feels fine!

Payton slides, Abbey watches for pool rule breakers.

Marley and I gather Daytona sand for our collection.

Ethan, holding his Mom’s hand, at Sea World

We have 2 boys, Payton and Ethan, both age 8. Payton is very sensitive to other’s feelings; very much at home snuggled in a chair, reading a book; content to let the other person win in whatever game he’s playing. Ethan is your typical “boy’s boy”. Loves sports; loves competition; hates losing. My boys have lots in common, and yet they are SO different. Two things I observed today:

Our church has Sports Camp this week. At the end of each day, all the kids (probably 150 or so) gather together in the gym, sit on the floor and have their last group bible lesson. Today, I was sitting in a chair in the back (parents had started arriving to pick their kids up), waiting for the lesson to start. The kids were all sitting, but hadn’t been “called to order” yet and so they were all talking, etc. Ethan walked up to me (in his typical boy “swagger”) and promptly sat on my lap. Now, how cool is that? My 8 year old boy couldn’t care less if it’s cool or not cool to hop on his mom’s lap in front of all his friends. I don’t know how long this will last, but it’s heaven to me.

Tonight, the kids were all in various stages of getting ready for bed. Payton was ready quickly, and sat down to read his bible. He started to read about Daniel and then heard me comment on the story of Joseph to Abbey…so he decided to find that one instead. After prayers, he told me he’d like to have a “lemonade stand”, only instead of selling lemonade, he’d want to sell bibles. He said he’d sell them for $5/bible. He smiled, and headed off to bed. Now, how many 8 year old boys have the idea of a “bible stand”?? He’s young, but he has a heart for God and for teaching others about Jesus.

It’s been a good day to be a Mom.

Yes folks, we’re this excited about rain. It’s been SO dry here lately. You could almost hear our poor grass complaining! Last night, the skies opened up and it rained ALL night. Then, it rained ALL morning today and off and on ALL day. Talk about catching up! Abbey and Payton just love swimming in the rain (as you can see).

As most of you who read this blog know, we homeschool our kids. We’ve always homeschooled, this being our 6th year. There are several things that most all homeschoolers experience…reading chapter books to your kids, doing science experiments at the kitchen table, and raising all sorts of things from beans in paper cups to tadpoles in a tank. At the homeschool conference last week, Randy and I picked another “homeschool – gotta do it” item. The owl pellet.

You see, when an owl eats his “meal”, there are parts of the animal that he can’t digest. Fur and bones. His digestive system creates a pellet out of the undigested parts. He basically…uh…coughs it up. There are companies that find, sterilize (how, I don’t know!), and sell these pellets. Ours came with a bone identification chart. The girls and I spent about an hour dissecting this thing with toothpicks! (we’re very high-tech) I have to admit…it was fun! The bones are so tiny, and filled with fur. We found evidence of 2 rodents, including skulls, ribs, hips, legs, vertebrae, etc. At this point, you’re either doing a google search for “owl pellet” or you’re thinking we’re nuts. lol…

The “stairs picture”…it’s a tradition. My parents came down for a visit this weekend, so that Randy and I could attend our local homeschool convention. They arrived Friday afternoon and we arrived in Orlando a few hours later. We had such a great time, it was nice spending some needed time with just the two of us. Plus, we got lots of great books and curriculum supplies for the kids. Here’s a picture of the kids enjoying a game we bought at the convention…Spy Alley!

The kids had a great time with Granma and Granpa…they were treated with trips to Krispy Kreme AND Bruester’s Ice Cream! The rest of our weekend was filled with church, shopping, and relaxing at home. Here are M, P, and E, after a dip in the pool.

Our church has a really fun program for kids K-5th grade called Kidstuf. It’s singing, dancing, and a play all centering around that month’s virtue (this month was Endurance). Kidstuf takes a summer break, so this Sunday was their last for the year. Plus, with Abbey going into the 6th grade (eeks!), she has “aged out”. However, since she’s one of the Kidstuf dancers, she’ll still be a part of it all. Here’s a picture of Abbey dancing and singing her heart out. I think the girl likes being on stage!!

Today is Randy’s birthday!! So, we’re following his lead on what we’re doing today. I think we’re taking the boat out for some kneeboarding and tubing, and probably going out to dinner tonight. Happy 41st, babe!

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!!