handsful

Thought I’d do the mom thing this week, and find some fun recipes to try out with the kids.

First it was Slime, made with glue – water – borax – food coloring. Made this with the littles. They enjoyed making it, but in the end, Dylan wouldn’t touch the stuff. At least not until the water was absorbed and it was more like silly putty.

Yesterday, we got out the cornstarch – water – food coloring and made Goo. That’s the “official name” on the website. This was a huge hit with Marley and Ethan. Lainey loved it. Dylan…wouldn’t touch it.

It was the strangest stuff! It behaved like a liquid, as long as you played with it slowly. If you pushed down quickly on it, it acted like a solid and was VERY thick. It was a blast!

We started neatly, with everyone’s goo in a bowl. It didn’t stay that way.

I didn’t take an “after” picture, when they were all done. I should have. The cornstarch turns back into it’s powder form when the stuff dries, and the table was covered! And, around Lainey’s seat, so was the floor and her chair. Thankfully, it cleaned up really easily.

I guess this is my way of clinging to summer just a little bit longer before we start school and homeschool co-op next week. I’m looking forward to our new year…1 preschooler, 1 kindergartner, 3 8th graders, and 1 10th grader. But, there’s definitely something about having free days that are very appealing.

* Monday – Friday…VBS at church. Up and out early everyday. Abbey was a teen leader – helped teach the little cheerleaders, which she loved. Lainey was a big Kindergartner, the youngest group at VBS. I have to admit, being able to run a quick errand between the drop off and getting back home was priceless.

* Well check for Marley, Payton, and Ethan. All healthy and doing great…all below average in weight, some more than others! They survived their vaccines. The doctor we saw was very thorough (really like her), and the appointment was long!

* Okay, I’m cheating…Lainey and Dylan’s well check was last week. I’m gonna talk about it anyway. Lainey is 42.4lbs. (75%) and 44.5″ (90%). Who said Asian kids are small?? Dylan – on the other hand – is 27lbs (<3%) and 38.5" (25%). Yes, you read that right. He's STILL 27lbs. Same as almost 8 months ago. The doctor isn't terribly worried. He is growing in height. But, she did order blood work to rule out anything that could be an issue. * Wednesday was supposed to be Marley and Ethan's dentist appt, but we got stuck in traffic and thought we weren't going to make it. Called the dentist, and she said come on...as long as we're not more than 10min late, we're fine. Traffic clears and I know we're gonna make it. Whew! Dentist calls my cell...they've had an equipment failure and need to cancel. Sheesh. New appt? Next Tuesday at 7:30am. Oy. * Don't even get me started about Thursday. Spent most of the day in the van, driving what felt like thousand's of miles, carting kids here and there and always feeling like I was gonna be late. Started driving at 8am, finally drove back home for the last time at 8pm. Still tired. * Today...was great. Nice ending to a whirlwind week. VBS was great. They had the Finale celebration for the parents and Lainey was cute as a button on stage, singing and doing her hand motions. We had some downtime around the house in the afternoon, and then decided it was time to put the new boat into the water.

Verdict? We love it. Now, we adored our previous boat…we’d had it since the trips were Lainey’s age. But, this one holds more people (we’d about maxed out the other one with just our family), so we can have friends over for boating.

Speaking of friends…Marley, Payton, and Ethan are having their birthday party tomorrow! They’ve each invited friends over for pizza, cake, and lake stuff (kayaking, swimming, and boat fun). Stay tuned for pictures.

This week. It’s been full, frantic, frustrating, and fun.

Being short 3 kids certainly makes for a quieter house. And, a cheaper grocery bill. Just an observation.

Abbey, Payton, and Ethan were gone last week, with their Testify Youth Choir. They arrived home late Sunday night.

Marley, Payton, and Ethan left early Monday morning for our church’s youth camp for a week. Yes, the boys are crazy. They’ll most likely sleep away all of next week.

With less food to cook and laundry to do, my days have been lighter. That leaves more time to do summer things like yard work, projects (I will go through all the toys and school materials…), and just hanging out on the dock.

Everyone already knows that Lainey is part girl / part fish. She’s fearless.

Dylan, on the other hand, is more cautious and takes to things more slowly. We’ve had him in the water, but only in short bits and we’ve always had to hold him – a regular life jacket made him bob straight onto his face. The boy hates water on his face! I found a combo waist / arm float at the store and this one seems to work better. Plus, he’s finally understanding that he has to kick his legs to keep them under him.

This week, he’s made huge progress.

He’ll now go in the water “no help”, he says. He’ll let me count 1-2-3 and dunk him under. Randy has even tossed him in without him fussing. We’re not sure what changed his mind about water, but we’re glad he’s embracing the “fish” lifestyle of the other kids.

Blowing bubbles! Forgive the pics, I only had my little camera.

Today, he showed me he could swim on his belly without his face smacking the water.

Swimming is what they both want to do these days. Everyday.

Lainey learned to swim last summer, and this year she’s doing so well! We let her go without the life jacket in short spurts to practice. It’s harder in the lake, since there aren’t as many places to swim to.

We’re enjoying these slower days, but I’m beginning to miss having all my kids under one roof. Four more “night-nights” and we’ll be back to a louder house. And, bigger grocery bills.

Better go cut those coupons.

Happy Summer :)

We should have been packing for our trip to Florida. But, how could we not spend some time on the boat? It was a gorgeous day…

what’s the fun in just jumping in the lake like normal?

Abbey learned how to spin around on the knee board last summer.

Marley learned on Memorial Day. And, mastered it.

life’s rough for these two.

Girls just wanna have fun…

We decided to go ahead and let Dylan try a quick dip in the lake…

He wasn’t quite sure, and we realized that his life jacket is too large for him. He kept tipping forward, which he did not like. That might be because he doesn’t have 2 legs weighing him down.

Another first….last summer, Lainey rode on the knee board by just hanging on with her arms. This year, she scooted right up, secured the velcro strap, and rode that thing like a pro! She never stopped grinning.

Only Dylan could fall asleep on a boat.

Wake up, dude.

Time to head home, so once we got to the entrance of the cove, Randy let Payton try a turn at driving. He liked it.

It was a very fun day. We never get tired of the boat :)

We’re playing around with changing the header on the blog…I love it!  Working on changing colors some, too.  Actually, I should say our amazing techno-guy friend Alan is doing all this.  What WOULD we do without him?

Gotta figure out where “handsful” goes, and what color it should be.  Any ideas?

Oh, and guess what?  You no longer have to REGISTER to comment!  So, as long as you can click a mouse and type, you can comment here.  :)  So, please do!

since we moved from Florida to NC.  We made most of the drive up last May 14th, spent the night, and then drove in on Saturday, the 15th.  A lot has happened since then.

Randy changed jobs (which caused the move in the first place)

Adopted our 6th child, Dylan

Various kids have been in the hospital/ER and we’ve dealt with 4 surgeries.

Our oldest is driving now, in preparation for her permit.  Gulp.

Something that hasn’t changed:  we’re still in our rental home AND our home in Florida is still for sale (though, thankfully, being rented at the moment).  As we heard in church today, God holds all time.

We’ve found a church home, made many amazing friends, and seen God’s hand in this move countless times.

Last year this time, we were expectant that God would bring blessing with this move, but we were also scared out of our wits.  To be honest.  Looking back, it wasn’t always easy – it was downright hard at times.  But, here we are.

And now, since I hate to post without pictures…

Marley convinced me to go out to yard sales yesterday morning.  Even though we had to leave at 11am for a trip to Raleigh and we weren’t exactly ready.  But, we did well and I found this for the littles.

They were asking $10, I offered $8 and he even helped me load it into the van. Came with lots of erasers, chalk, dry erase markers, and magnets.  I love a good deal.

I guess, after today, I can’t say we’re new to NC.  Which is fine with me.

Last month, we had professional photos taken of our crew of 8.  A gal who has an insanely popular blog and growing photography business came into town and met us at a local park in town.  I’m THRILLED with the two sneak peeks she posted on her blog today.  The rest, in the form of a CD, are in the mail as I type.  Can’t WAIT to see them all!

The tree picture was the kids idea.  MckMama (as she’s known on her blog) said cool, as long as we were okay with them climbing a crazy tall tree.  The littles had to stay grounded, per this mama.  I love it…the big kids are all posed and stuff, L and D are just goofing around, and mom and dad are…uh..a little distracted.  A nice visual of our own “family tree”.

I wasn’t so sure when she suggested this shot.  My first thought was “glad I painted my toe nails”.  Little did I know she’d widen the shot, and L and D would be grinning away.  Love it.

I’ll be sure and post more, once that CD is in my hands!