handsful

Last week was…how shall I put it?  Busy times infinity.  And, given Randy was out of town for a lot of it, the brunt of the comings and goings (and comings and…) were on me.  I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see the weekend come.

Not that things slowed down much.  Or, at all.  But, at least my sweet husband was home, and we could tag-team like usual.

I’ll start with Friday.  That afternoon, Dylan went to the birthday party of his best buddy.  I picked him up afterwards and we rushed home so that I could curl Abbey’s hair.  Her friend Aaron arrived from Raleigh just a little before I got home…he and his mom made the special trip so that he could take her to the prom.

Abbey and Aaron have known each other for years, his family was in a church small group we hosted back when the big kids were little kids.  Since moving to FL and then moving back, the’vey re-connected through FB and now Skype all the time.

They had a great time.  We’re thankful that our kids get to experience things like proms, despite being home schooled.  This one was planned by a local homeschooling group, and they went all out with beautiful invites, engraved glass mugs, and gorgeous decorations.

Saturday morning came early, and we had somewhere to be.  Our annual Easter egg-hunt at Gram and Pa-Paul’s house.  Yes, we know it’s past Easter…but, finding a date where we could all make it was a little tricky.  As usual, it was all 8 of us, along with Randy’s brother’s family…minus Caleb and Samara who couldn’t get away from college.  Gram’s Sunday school teacher, his wife, and their two little girls joined us this year, too.  And, Aaron, who was driving back to Raleigh (same direction we were going), decided last minute to stay as well.

The required pre-hunt picture on the porch

Ready, set, go!

The older kids, who graduated to “hiders” instead of “hunters” quite a while ago, goofed around while waiting for their turn…Gram does a scavenger hunt for them to find their treats.

Even the big, big kids goofed around…

Payton lends Micah a hand at getting the highest egg…

Gram’s system…find eggs, dump them into the big bucket (by the way, she had about 40 eggs per kid, for 6 kids).  Then, we go inside and divide the eggs based on the sticker on the egg (i.e. red smiley=Lainey).

Time for the teens…

Read the clue, run all over the place, read the next clue, etc.  This year, she had all their goodies hiding in their car trunk.

Back inside to open the eggs…it gets a little crazy, as the adults divide up the eggs and toss them to their owners.

We left around 8:30, getting home at 11ish.  Head to bed, tired from a great day.

Sunday.  Randy took the big kids to church, while I stayed home with the littles.  I seriously needed a little break from the going and going, and me being home meant I could cook lunch for them rather than spending money on fast food (like we tend to do too much on Sundays).

He got home with the four big kids, as well as three extra teens (it’s the usual).  We ate, and Randy was soon off with a few of them to Testify drama / dance practice.  I hung back, and took the others (having added even one more teen in the meantime) to the practice to meet up for their first performance of the year.

This was just a mini-concert…only a few songs, a little dancing, and no acting.  But, Marley and Kylie got to sing their duet, and they did a great job.  Happy to have that first one under their belts :)

After the concert, I dropped Marley and Ethan back at home, and drove to church for another drama / acting practice.  Payton and Abbey both have acting and dance parts, so their Sundays are always full of practices.  Their first full concert is May 12th!

That was our weekend.  After an exhausting week, it was still busy but lots of fun.

And, this week so far? Blissfully boring.  Ahhhh…..

Abbey’s 17th birthday was on February 9th.

Her party was last night.

Don’t judge me, people.  Once she figured out what she wanted to do for her birthday, it was decided we should wait till the weather warmed up a bit.  Hence, the delay.

Itinerary?

Arrive, 6:00ish

The “Picture Scavenger Hunt” began at 7:30, with three teams of 5 kids (plus an adult driver) scrambling to their respective cars, lists of things to find in hand.  Randy had the whole thing planned out, with a long list of things like “police car” (1 pt), bald guy (2pts), urinal (ask Payton about that one…) (3 pts), and shoes on a power line (5pts).  I was a driver for one team, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN.  There’s nothing quite as freeing as running madly through Wal*art with a bunch of teenagers, looking for a guy with facial hair.  We had to have at least 1 team member in each picture, we weren’t allowed to use photos of things, and we had to be back by 9:45 or we’d be penalized.

person getting a haircut

traffic cone

silo

sandwich artist…he invited them behind the counter, made a sandwich, and gave it to them!

Christmas lights…lit up

yellow truck…SO hard to find.  And, creativity in the photos gave extra points!

My team

After tallying points and having the usual birthday dinner of pizza, it was time for the next game.

“Property Puzzle Hunt” began around 11:30.  Randy took 16 gallon size bags, and put 3 identical pictures in each one.  He hid the bags all around our property, and when the teams found a bag, they were told to take 1 picture out.  After they found all 16, they were to come back to the house to try and match up the pictures to make words.  (i.e. picture of a robin, guy in a hoodie = Robin Hood).  Once all the photos were matched, they had to figure out the overall theme of all of the words.  Each team had 1 flashlight!  In the end, each team found about 12-13 pics, and with a little guidance and hints, they all came up with the correct theme of “Archery”.

Tallying all the points across both games, and it was MY team that won first place :)

The special Unbirthday Girl

The rest of the sleepless night was filled with lots of snacking, birthday cake, a movie, Wii games, and an impromptu dance party in the Shop.  I went to bed at 1:45, leaving Randy to take the night shift.  He stayed up mostly, dozing a little during the movie.  I got up at 7:30, and sent Randy to bed at 8:00.  Almost all the kids were still up, so I popped the baked french toast in the oven and did a little cleaning up.  Eventually, everyone was picked up and the house was quiet(er).

It’s now 9:22 pm Saturday night, and I realize that the amount of sleep I got last night wasn’t nearly enough.  And, when we should have rested, we didn’t.  We ran errands and then spent a good part of the day doing yard stuff.  It became clear I should just push through and stay busy, or I would do what ALL the kids did at some point during the day…sit down too long and fall dead asleep.  I have to wonder how the wake up for church is going to go tomorrow!

But, it was all worth it.  The party was a huge hit, the games were a ton of fun, and one of the guests said it was the best. party. ever.  Success.

Can’t believe that Abbey’s next party will be her 18th.

Goodnight, all…

We had a wonderful garden last year, full of tomatoes, beans, peppers, corn, watermelon, and cantaloupe.  With the weather warming up, we’re preparing to start again.

But, the winter was unkind to the garden and it was a big mess of dry weeds and grass.  How to begin?

Weed-eat it?  Mow it?  Till the soil and grass together?

Thankfully, our wise neighbor Mr. Fesperman showed up.  He’s lived across the street for decades, everyone knows and respects him, and he owns about 200 acres of land.

Burn it.

My response:  Really?  Are you sure?  I mean, is it safe?  How do we control it??  What if it gets OUT of control?  And, what if…

Randy’s response:  Now, where did I put those lighter sticks…

He started the darn thing before I was even down there to help!  What was he thinking?!?

And, notice that Randy is IN the fence.  Counting on the wind to blow the fire AWAY from him and down the garden.

Did I mention he had ONE hose?  The rest of us were watching like hawks, yelling “hey, over here!” and “watch that left side!” and “Oh, oh, it’s coming this way!!”

I was amazed at how fast the fire swept through.  Obviously, the wind helped it along.  At one point, the wind turned and was blowing the OTHER way, but it switched back quickly.  Yes, I was nervous.

Right about now, Randy yells “I can’t see a thing”.  Oh good, cause it’s not like seeing anything would be HELPFUL right now!!

See Randy behind all that smoke?

Almost to the end…

And, finished.

After he sprayed it well to make sure nothing else was smoldering, he let it sit a while to cool off.

Then, it was time to do the first pass with the tiller.

So, the moral of the story is…

Randy can handle himself when it comes to fires.

Burning the garden is definitely the quickest way to a freshly tilled garden.

And, always listen to Mr. Fesperman.