Wild and woolly week

Here is how our Sunday went: we had baptisms at the beach again, so we were there FINALLY for a sunset that was not hidden behind the clouds. But, I was down at the beach without my camera, so I sprinted back up to the van to gather children and Paul for a picture. Now, who knew that the sun would fall the last few inches in seconds??? We all race back because we can see we are missing it and line up on the boardwalk. Paul takes the picture but can't force the flash to go, so we are all dark for several pictures (I'll spare you the redundancy and just post one dark picture of us!): Give me that, here is how you make the flash come on:
Now pose over there with the family members that are still standing here. Aren't the colors amazing???
A bystander has pity and takes our group shot:

I spent all day Monday and Tuesday at Agape helping get a mailing out to every Agape supporter with an update about the hurricane damage on the island and the new airplane. There were almost 6,000 letters sent out and I am pretty sure I touched half of them!! We had a fun crew of volunteers who made the work go by quickly. I had a competitive woman next to me who every time I would try to catch up to her by speeding up, would speed up as well. We had each other sweating in our seats, she folding and I stuffing and sealing the envelopes!! I never knew it could be a cardiovascular workout! I don't have any photos because Ginny would get too far ahead of me if I stopped for anything!! Somehow, I did notice Deb Pitcher's name on her envelope after I sealed it so I got to sneak a note to her on the back...be watching for that Deb!! I only really looked at the names on about 5 envelopes, so that was a pretty fun find...Ginny got way ahead as I did that though!!

Tuesday night was "Discovery Night" at the kids school. Riley had a baseball game, so Paul stayed with him while I took the others over for pizza and free smoothie samples (Pina Colada...my favorite!), and then tours of the classrooms and meeting other parents and seeing some of the work our kids had done so far this year. Alayna enjoyed some type of audio stimulus while I looked around her room:

Here is her artwork hanging on the board. I love her color scheme (obviously I love blue and brown!) and her careful coloring!! Hardly went outside the lines at all...pure genious, right??
Then, to Holden's class where I promptly forgot to take pictures, but got to watch them demonstrate the song "Head and shoulders, knees and toes" and play Five Alive which they really enjoy. I got to ask the teacher questions regarding his progress and behavior and was reassured he was doing well, except that he likes to talk (boy do I know that!).

Wednesday morning I go to the school to drop the kids and make copies for the 3rd grade teacher. I am usually done in time for Moms in Touch so I went to the meeting for the 2nd time. I really enjoy this group. There were 5 of us and we had a great discussion and brainstorming session for behavior issues and we were all encouraged by the prayer. A family recently suffered the loss of a dad and husband, so pray for them. I don't know their names.

Then, back to Agape to do more envelope stuffing until the kids got out of school. They helped with the mailing on Monday, getting the opportunity to play "Post office" in real life with real stamps and envelopes. I was surprised at their willingness to help and keep at it for over an hour. Even Alayna. Anyway, we headed home on Wednesday for some peace and quiet and homework.

Thursday was MOPS! No tears this time, no missing my friends and unable to enjoy the meeting. Did a great craft, a decorated journal. It was fun to be creative again. Even if my "remember" sticker was crooked... I also made a bookmark. The ribbon says "Home is where the heart is". It already fell out...oh well.
After MOPS we had some time to kill, so I took my friend Amy and her son Holden to the hangar to see the airplanes. Mr. Dan even let them sit in the cockpit and "drive" the plane. They loved it!
Then, I let Holden try his hand at capturing some fun photos. This is his mom, my friend Amy. Not bad for his first try!
Then my hand trying to take the camera back after the photo shoot!

Then, I went to my ladies accountability meeting, lost track of time (shocking, I know), and raced out to get the kids for Dr. appointments. Time for school physicals which were covered by insurance 100% (YEAH) and even got 2 kids immunized for the flu with the nasal mist. Will take Alayna and Holden back when we can. THEN, back to Agape to take some stitches out of a little boy's eyebrow to keep them from having to sit in the ER waiting room up in Sarasota and a lot of hassle. That was challenging since you can't very well hold down a person's eyebrow!! We got it done though and headed home.

Then, today was a breather day. I dropped off the kids at school, stopped by the grocery store, played on the computer, went for a run, did some (very little if I am honest) cleaning and laundry and headed out the door for the Friday pot luck at Agape. I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up the mailing..seriously, this was a mammoth amount of work!! TGIF! It doesn't seem that busy when I type it up, but I left out the mundane things like making dinner, cleaning up from dinner, making lunches, studying for spelling tests, quizzes, and reading to Alayna and listening to Holden read every night. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it! I am looking forward to having my time back for me next week. I have gained a new appreciation for it! I pray you will enjoy the little things in the rush of life, the goodnight kisses, the sweet giggles of kids playing together, the leftovers that prevent another night of cooking, and the laundry basket that is never empty. Much love to you all!