The Beast

So this post is totally going to be bragging.  I apologize now but it is, after all, my blog :) Cade is having an amazing week!

We are in the middle of football season.  Football has been different this year.  He's playing for the jr. high school and it doesn't quite compare to the amazing season we had last year.  Last year was something special.  However, he is in 6th grade and he's doing great.  He plays in the 7th grade game and will likely start seeing the field in the 8th grade games, as well.  I never knew I would enjoy this sport as much as I do! I have yet to catch any amazing pictures yet, but I'm going to try again tonight :)

In the middle of football, we are also playing a little baseball!  Not a lot, but we are on a newly formed team this year and they want to see what they have.  This will be the first year that Cade has played in his own age group.  He has played in a higher age bracket since he started tee ball at 2!  He got away with that because Richard coaches and because he's so much bigger than most boys his age.  Also...he's that good!

He has had an amazing week.  He went 9 for 10 Sunday with his first over the wall homerun!  He was just a little excited.  I, however, have been in mourning all week because I was in the 200 degree bathroom with 2 little 4 yr. olds when he hit the homerun!  I'm pretty ticked about it actually, but so proud of him and happy for him!  He also caught a pass for a touchdown yesterday (NO...I was NOT there!!!!).  I will be there tonight, however, so he'd better do something impressive!!!!!!!!!!

They played and won 4 games Sunday and I had 4 other children to take care of, so I missed the last 2 games.  A friend snapped these for me.

That is his homerun ball and the ring they won.

Tired.

I thought I would sit down and document (mostly for myself because I will never remember!) what I do in an average week these days.  This doesn't include cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc:

This week I've:
been to church once
one orthodontist appointment
brought Braden to one baseball practice...yes...BASEBALL!!
brought Cade to two baseball practices...yes...BASEBALL!!!
watched 2 jr. high football games
brought the girls to school and back 5 days
brought the girls to 1 gymnastics class
brought the girls to 1 dance class
went to my class at the gym 3 times (yes...I'm very proud of myself!)
went to see Bryce's band play at the high school football game
multiple trips to the grocery
many nights of homework
had at least 1 serious "girl" conversation with one of my boys
2 baseball games beginning at 8:00 am on Sat.
2 baseball games again beginning at 8:00 on Sun.

I'm tired.
I'm crabby.
I'm a little overwhelmed.
I have the girls home today because we all needed a day to stay in our jammies.
I get to go away this weekend with a girlfriend.  Actually, we're just going to a hotel in town because we're both too worn out to do much more than that (sad, but true)!!
I'm very happy about that.
I need it!

I thought you'd get a kick out of this pic.  Even watching tv with Gracie is a physical sport!  This girl makes me laugh.

My Boy

Oh, how I love this boy! You don't see him much around here because he does NOT enjoy having his picture taken. I can force him into it every once in a while, but it's often met with many rolled eyes! The other day, however, I saw this pose on a friend's facebook page, and I knew I just had to copy it! Braden spends many afternoons in the backyard shooting targets with his bow. Yes...we live on a golf course. No...they probably don't know we do that...don't tell!!

 I can't say he was excited about taking the pics, but he was willing and he was pretty happy with the turnout. I am thrilled. These pics just capture my sweet boy perfectly.

 



 I just realized this morning on the way to school that Braden and Cade have a homecoming dance coming up! (I already have Bryce's on the calendar) Braden said he was going to ask a date, so I told him he needed to hurry up! I guess that means I'm going to have to get dress clothes for all of them! I'm so excited to see them all dressed up...not so excited to shop for the clothes with them though! :) It does mean that I should have lots of handsome pics coming soon :)

 BTW...the girls start dance again tonight!!! They are so excited (OK...I am too!!)

A Little Funny and a Lot Sweet :)

I thought I'd share a few of the funny and sweet things that have been heard around here recently. I know I haven't remembered all of them...but here are a few:

Wesleigh has the biggest crush on Braden right now.  It is really funny.  She adores him and has been talking about marrying him for quite a while now.  She says, "when I get big, I'm going to be a princess and Braden is going to be my prince, and we going to get married".

The girls have gotten quite good at their prayers.  It is precious to hear their little voices talking to sincerely to God.  Gracie, however, can get pretty long-winded saying her blessings sometimes.  The other day, she started saying her blessing and we just let her go.  She thanked God for the obvious things, then she started naming all the princesses.  We let her go until she hit Aurora, otherwise known as "seeping bootie" in this house!!  We all started dying laughing as she thanked God for "seeping bootie".  She looked up and said, "HEY!  What everybody laughing at!".

I was in Walmart a while back pushing the girls in the buggy with the addition on the front so they can fit.  I was going about my business when I hear Gracie complain of a booboo on her hand.  W looked at her and said, "Gwacie, you want me to pray for your boo boo?".  When G said yes, Wesleigh held her hand, bowed her head and prayed that God would heal Gracie's hand.  So sweet!

Richard hurt his back a couple of weeks ago and was in bed with it.  Gracie went over to him, put her hand on him and asked God to help "make Daddy's back feel better".  So sweet!

And because I would never want you to think they are always this cute and loving...Wesleigh told Gracie last night, as we were driving home from a football game, "Gwacie!  You weally tickin' me off!!!"  lol....seriously???  I could so tell you that they get it from the boys, but I'm afraid that one comes from me.  Yikes!!

Show and Tell

I wanted to share which pics the girls chose for show and tell today. I laid out 3 pics for each girl to pick from. Gracie chose first and picked this pic of the two of us:

I really had no idea which one she would choose, so I'm glad she went first. I asked her what she would tell the class about her picture. She is still not great at stringing together lots of words, so she pieces together thoughts.
 She talked about being on my lap and also about her toys. I think she remembers that this picture was taken on our way back from Walmart. We let her choose whatever toys she wanted :)

Neither girl really paid any attention to the other 2 pictures and really didn't even acknowledge that they were of themselves.

Next, Wesleigh chose this pic:

I would have been shocked had she chosen a different one.
I asked her the same question, "What are you going to tell your friends about this picture?".
This is her reply, word for word, because I ran to write it down as soon as she said it!
"I want to tell my friends that I was a baby in China, and my family come to get me. And I so happy and my heart is Jesus heart."

Talk about make a mama smile! What a blessing these two are!! I pray that they will always use their story to share the love of Jesus.

It's That Time of Year...

...the time of year to bring baby pictures to share with the class.  I knew it was coming.  I know it will be every year in elementary school, so I guess I need to make peace with it now, but honestly, as I sit at the computer ordering prints of my girls, I am a wreck!

Baby pictures?  Baby pictures are supposed to be cute and cuddly.  It is not fair that the only pictures I have for Wesleigh are this one:



Where her orphanage beds are in the background (and because I stole it from the internet, it's not even big enough to print a 4x6)

.... And this one:

 
that I had to photoshop the fly off her arm!!

I'm sad. Sad that one day, she will want more...and I don't have them to give to her. This is the picture Wesleigh sees and says "I a baby and I fall asleep in your lap":
I love that. And I suspect, this will be the picture she chooses to bring.
She will be so proud to share it with her class and that makes me happy. But someday, she will realize that she is almost 2 in this picture, not really a baby.

Gracie is not as bad, thanks to Pearl River Outreach. PRO takes pics of the children on a regular basis that are better than the regular "orphanage mugshot". Because of this, Gracie has a few more to choose from: (the unshaved head doesn't hurt either!)





 I am curious to see what picture Gracie chooses. I am printing 10 of each so I don't have to go through this every year. Unfortunately, there won't be more to choose from later :(

I know that this is something most parents deal with when you adopt an older child.  I know it will be fine.  I know that God has His hand on my girls and they have such a future and a hope.  I know that God has given and will give them amazing teachers who appreciate their history.  But tonight....I'm sad.  Grieving their loss.  When I pick up those prints and help the girls choose which they want to bring, we will celebrate their life and ooh and ahh over what adorable babies they were and how precious they were (and are)  :)

First Day of Preschool

I know I'm a couple days late with this post, but I have been the single mother of 5 this week.  And quite honestly...it's kicking my butt!  So far, I've only forgotten one child so far this week :)  I know...sad, but that's the reality over here.

The big girl news of the week is that preschool finally started!  I don't know who was more excited, me or the girls!






They have had a great week, but we have been SUPER busy.  They are exhausted and have been going to bed around 7:45 when I can swing it.  I have lots more to post from the week...hopefully, I'll do that sooner rather than later!!

Hurricane Life

Well...we made it through Hurricane Isaac with little more than some inconvenience and alot of water.  Isaac was the slowest moving huricane EVER!  We waited and waited on that storm to hit and then waited some more for it to pass.  The boys were out of school from Tues. on and because of Labor Day, won't be back until next Tuesday!  I am just very thankful this storm hit before the girls went back to school.  They are so ready to start (and so am I!!).

Here are some pics of hurricane life :)

What do you do with no electricity for a couple of days?
The girls painted and played with play doh the same day!  That is a good day in their books :)


Cade and the girls played in the rain:











Richard filled generators and set up our bedroom so we could sleep in the cool.




Our compound:  4 twin mattresses on our bedroom floor.  We had the window air conditioner, tv and DVD hooked up to the generator.  It was actually very comfortable.  (Braden was at a friends...otherwise there would have been 5 mattresses :)


Two little girls telling stories with their lantern :)


The next morning, we did wake up to quite a surprise.  We have never seen so much water at our house!  This is the golf course!!








Thankfully, the generator runs coffee pots too :)


After the storm passed, there was just alot of water to play in!  Bryce and his friends found this huge raft in a box in my garage.  (I had bought it years ago on sale, expecting we'd build a pool.  I guess this will have to be the pool :)


They paddled all the way over the flooded canal to one of the other boys' house.  A little scary for a mom, but since I wasn't home at the time, the boys get to play :)




Braden spent the whole storm with a friend, so I don't have any pictures of their storm antics.  I've heard that they spent time skin boarding on the flooded hill behind their house :)

In all seriousness, there are some people who live in our part of the state who have flooded terribly.  I am so sad for these families and pray this is the only storm we see for a long time!