handsful

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  May you feel thankful for all that God has provided this year!

Our “old” friends from NC, the Clade’s, dropped by for a visit.  They were on their way to see family down south, and fit us in their schedule!  Awesome.  We’ve known them for about 15 years, and our oldest kids are less than a year apart.  Val and I learned how to be moms together :)

Speaking of our oldest kids, here Abbey is showing Zack how to work his new Facebook account. 

Interestingly, our youngest kids are also less than a year apart.  Josh and Lainey take a swing together. 

Marley and Danielle are about 3 years apart, but have always been close friends. 

The big kids…Ethan is holding Christopher.

Bob and Val, we LOVED having you here…when we get together, it’s like no time has passed.  Can’t wait till you stop in again soon :)

When most everyone else is pulling out sweaters and jackets, we’re still in flip flops.  So, when we do get a “cold snap” (no laughing), we make a fire.  Every year, we end up chasing at least a few lizards that wound up on top of the damper.  We rescued one, and another one disappeared into a crack in the back.  To safety, I’m SURE.  The kids love having a fire, it’s just a shame we don’t need it more often!

3 days till Thanksgiving…is YOUR turkey thawing in the fridge like mine??

Two years ago today, we saw our daughter’s sweet face.  We were sent 3 precious photos, including the one above.  We had waited so long to see our Lainey, a child that we somehow already loved!  Today, Lainey is a joy and the absolute most perfect child that God and China could have gifted us with. 

Taken today :) 

Happy Referral Day, Lainey!

Her name is Lainey.  Sometimes she’s a boy kitty, and sometimes she’s a girl, depending on her mood.  She loves to be held, and makes lovely meowing noises. 

You can find her walking around on all fours, purring against your leg, or curled up in her favorite chair for a nap.  Sometimes she tries to lick you…watch out for that one. 

We think she makes a great addition to the family.  The dog isn’t so sure.

What are these boys so deliriously happy about?  See the box behind them?  It held a magic machine…

…called a PUSH MOWER!  Randy has been telling the boys for a while that he would get one (we have a riding lawn mower and a steep back yard which ends in a pond.  ‘Nuf said…).  We bought this one last night and the boys were really anxious to get that thing cranked and cutting!  Randy walked them through all the ins and outs of how to care for it, how to add fluids, check air filters, etc.  They listened intently…

Finally!  Time to crank it.  Even with the two of them working together, dad eventually had to help out.  Once they had mowed for a while, they were each able to crank it easily.  They turned the mower off as often as they could, just so they COULD crank it again.  Boys. 

EJ is working hard!  Randy bought a nice, but “standard” mower.  No self-propelled nonsense here.  Just boy propelled. 

Working around the palm, learning how to overlap so you don’t miss grass…so much to learn. 

They made me take this picture.  They’re holding grass that THEY cut.  They were so proud.  And, happy.  And, tired!  They ended up cutting about half of the yard, each taking turns.  The boys weren’t the only ones happy.  I LOVE a freshly mown lawn.  Just hearing the lawn mower rev up makes me grin (one of the weird things about me).  Now, I have THREE guys to do it!  Happy day!

Randy left last Sunday for a sales meeting in Las Vegas and BOY did I miss him.  Lots of people say to me, being a homeschooling mom of 5, “I don’t know HOW you do it!”.  Well, I’ll say that to all the single moms out there.  Being the only ringmaster is hard work and has to be lonely at times.  Maybe having total control of the remote makes all that hard work worth it?  (grin) Seriously, if you’re a single mom and you’re reading this…know that I am in awe of how YOU do it all. 

While he was in Vegas, my Poker-loving guy just HAD to play a few card games.  He entered 3 poker tournaments at Caesar’s Palace during his stay, with each having about 50 players at the start.  Randy WON the first one, placed 12th at the next, and placed 6th at the last.  He had a fantastic time and brought home a nice chunk of change.  I’m thrilled he was able to play (even if it did mean he got very little sleep!) and do so well.  He’s my Poker Stud.  ;)

A shot of Lainey enjoying her decorated cookie at our homeschool co-op.  We have co-op every Friday from 8:30-12.  The big kids each have 3 classes with an assembly between the 2nd and 3rd class.  Lainey stays with me during the first hour while I get her classroom ready, I help teach her class of 2’s and 3’s during the second hour and I have free time during the third (L stays in her class with a new set of teachers).  We LOVE co-op, it is a huge blessing to be able to have access to such great teaching and wonderful friends to do it with.  Most of the classes are mom or dad taught, with some (guitar, composition, art, etc.) taught by outside teachers who are paid by the parents of the children taking the class.  We especially love the composition class that MPE are taking.  It is intensive, very well structured, and the teacher has years of experience teaching writing to middleschool and older kids.  The guitar class has given Ethan, and now Abbey, a love for the instrument…I could go on and on about co-op…don’t worry.  I won’t.  :)  Suffice it to say we dig it.   

I don’t think I posted this pic of Payton in his Napoleon Dynamite costume.  He has the “look” down pat!  And, yes, I made the design with a permanent marker.  I could have ordered it, but I waited too long…at least I saved the money. 

Rinsing her own hair.  Lainey is all about doing things herself these days.  Her favorite thing to tell me is “Lainey’s a big girl” – she says/signs it.  “A-eee uh Nay gull”  Not sure how “big” is coming out “nay”, but she’s being stubborn about changing it! 

Her favorites right now…soup, doing “airplane” tricks with Abbey, going ANYWHERE, lollipops, cookies, wasabi peas, cutting paper, and running!  She’s also decided to do a little testing lately, and now says “ohh ay” which means “no it’s not”.  She’s quite persistent, and will continue asking you OVER and over for the thing that you’ve already said “no” to OVER and over again.  Ahhh, the threes.  Who said two was hard?? 

Oops.  Back to co-op.  Today was Support your Sport day, so everyone showed their team spirit.  I had my Steelers shirt on, too.  Of course!  Abbey has Randy’s Rothlisberger Steelers jersey, EJ has his Braves, Payton has the Polumalu Steelers jersey, Marley has her mix of Steelers and Wolfpack on, and Lainey is also supporting daddy’s college.  There was a lot of orange and blue for the Gators…blech. 

Cupcake anyone?  A new cupcake bakery opened up a while back, so we stopped by tonight.  Looks good, huh?  I had the chocolate pecan caramel one, far right.  I hope I get a bite of that bottom left one…Creme Brulee’. 

Well, dad’s home and all is well.  This weekend, we’re catching up on yardwork, teaching the kids how to mow the lawn with a push mower, and going to EJ’s baseball game.  Church and Real Life Groups on Sunday.  Happy Weekend :)