Today

L had a very amazing day today. She was accompanied by H's best bud WG to K4 for bring a friend to school week. Wow. Could life get any better for a girl who cries several times a week for her brother and sissie when they leave her for school? She gave me the tightest squeeze and didn't consider looking back as she walked into the K building holding H's hand. Even when the teacher said, "L, say bye to mom," she was still moving too fast to look back. I got an email mid-day from our beloved Mrs. S saying that she was having a great day- all smiles and giggles, but when she got into the car, Mrs. S spelled t.i.r.e.d. And she remained that way for the rest of the day. The low point of the day was when she was trying to convince me that today was not today and that she could actually go back to school tomorrow because today was not today. She wanted today to be yesterday so tomorrow would be today and she could go again. wow, try arguing with a tired, i mean tired, 3 year old over that one. She kept saying 'but today is not today.' me in the front seat- speechless. Probably not the time to remind her of Psalm 118:24, This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it-- but next time I may try. Totally worth it though to give my sweet girl a day that she dreams of- when she is at school with her brother and sissy. And I admit, I felt so peaceful today knowing they were all there together. It will be here very soon.

Back to the ball field!!!

We were so excited tonight to start back to t-ball and softball.

Both kids are Florida Marlins, although on different teams. It took me a while to get all of Ek's bows tied, there are 4, and gather H's pants, belt and the cleats. J is coaching Ek's team so I watched all of H's game and then we went to Ek's game but only got to see about 1 inning. The tball coaches were very zealous and the softball called it early. My report of H's game was that he was so excited, he stayed alert and didn't really let any balls go by, he stopped the ball well and listened well to where it needed to go (please note the ball in his glove here..., he hit the ball strong and, of course, loved running the bases, he had a great time with his friends too. I loved watching him, he did occasionally look over to me and I would give him a big smile and thumbs up. L was a great fan, she had several friends to play with, and eat snacks with, and was very pleasant and sweet. Ek seemed to have a great time as well. She was very alert but I didn't get to see any balls come to her. She did hit the ball well, they did have a former professional ball player pitching it to them, that helped I'm sure. CG told her mom she had fun too in her debut game, she said the action from catching to throwing was 'just like a kick-ball-change in tap.' One thing makes us stronger for the next! 9 more games, can't wait!!

EK's take

Ek got in the car yesterday so excited about what she had been working on. She had made a book about our trip. She only had one page to go, but then added 2 more pages when got home. She likes to pull the big wagon out into the driveway on a pretty day, added towels for padding and sit in the wagon with container lid across the sides to make a desk. She even went for a walk the other day while coloring. Anyway, I loved the book. Love seeing her take on the trip. I especially like the dolphin, the castle on the beach and that she included J and H playing basketball, please note the girls are not playing, its true.




I'm glad we were smiling throughout, even going home...

Ahhh the boat ride HHI day 2

Most definitely not the best boat ride ever. I mean, that would mean topping a sunset cruise with 2 sunsets in one night with mo- town music playing and dancing in the floor board, or going super fast with my kids hair blowing in the breeze and ice cream stuck to their chins, or that first boat ride on the Lake of the summer. Or those awesome rides in the fishing boat that you got wet from the wake on a good turn! Even better at dawn in old wind breakers on the way to lake church. Yeah, those cannot be topped. This one was really great though. A first for me to be out in the intercoastal waterways like this. And wowie wow wow-- dolphins!!

such a surreal moment- a dolphin literally popping his head up, practically leaning against our boat and smiling at us, yes, smiling. a. maz. zing.

that is a picture of a boy happy with his father

and that is a boy happy to be let loose to climb all over a boat

(thank goodness I remember the life vests)

if L is ever having a bad hair day, she needs to head to the coast and get on a boat (this is not true of many of us) here she is checking out the mud minnow getting on the hook

the thought of this moment got J through a lot of days the last couple of weeks

ocean+ family+ Jesus loving captain+ fishing= happy day

great moment

wow, even i was on vacation if i let my kids drink coke, must be documented

what a smile

Ek found a right time and place to break it down a bit

awesome time with Capt Bill

yep, awesome

Day 1 HHI

So thankful to have been able to get away this weekend with these precious people and their amazing Daddy.

We started out our weekend with some swimming the indoor pool. They all jumped right in with their new goggles and flippers and took off. I loved to see them pick right up where the left off last summer. We got out, took a shower and headed to Salty Dog. Unfortunately the wait was 1 1/2 hours, and fortunately they had the grill fired up on the deck so we ate grilled salmon sandwiches and hamburgers. Then we picked out our new shirts. L and Ek had pink ones, so L decided upon purple and I asked Ek if she wanted to match L and she said, "no, I really just want pink." H picked black. This process took about 1 minute. L feel asleep in the car on the way back and quickly tucked into her roll away cot. Ek and H snuck out to the beach with their daddy to see the beach and play a bit of basketball. And that was day 1. Much more from Friday later.

Ek looking at the water while waiting for dinner

L and my self portrait with a bit too much zoom

A very tired H with his Salty Dog Sprite