Suddenly Summer

 Feels like we were just on Spring Break and here we are on summer break! This time of year gets even more full each year it seems. A lot of our time went to watching lacrosse for sure, but there was also a ton of work put in by Matt, Barnette, and sometimes the boys on the new house (it’s almost done!), hours and hours of math homework with Julia, getting the boys ready for summer lacrosse and summer jobs, plays and sporting events, helping Joshua do the things you need to do if you want to play lacrosse in college, some family visits, helping Gray finish his driving hours, Mondays hosting community group, and all the usual work/home/family stuff. 

School has been super challenging for some of our kids this semester, which is hard on parents too.  Everyone is so happy to be done and have summer freedom. 

 Pictures from last two months, which unfortunately didn’t load in chronological order…

The girls do a lot of “photo shoots” when they play together. 

Julia washed windows for Nanny to earn money. 

Everyone but me celebrated Mother’s Day at Stacy’s with Matt’s side. 

Day 2 of  *June* lacrosse tournament for Gray. A cloudy, breezy 60 degrees!  Mimi and the girls joined. 

Day 1 of the tournament was 90+ and sunny. Daddy and I had a good time cheering on Gray together. 

Boys watching NCAA lacrosse final in their Duke gear. They are both so grown and almost out of here.  I’m definitely taking in the moments with them when I can. 

The boys found themselves employed on many weekends and days off school this spring.  Building the deck on the new house was the main endeavor. 

Joshua and some teammates at the end of season lacrosse party. 

Celebrating birthdays at community group. 

 

So much lacrosse. The team won a mail-biter at the end of the season to a tough team, then sailed through much of the playoffs till they faced Northwood in the next to last game. They’d beaten this team twice but they couldn’t do it the last game, which was a big letdown. It was so nice to have friends, family, even community group members come cheer the boys on this season. We love it so much. 

Girls’ weekend for Mother’s Day/Mama’s 70th. We had a great time going to a garden, out to eat twice, watching a movie, and eating Amanda’s delicious brunch. It was funny to have some time of just the 3 of us girls at home with Mama and Daddy…not a dynamic we ever have anymore. Hard to process that it used to be all we knew, when now a family gathering includes 14 other family members. Life sure is full of changes. 

Love this group of ladies and teen girls so much. We had a fun night out to eat and to a movie- Are you there God…? We even got to all ride together in the Mussers’ big van. 

These 4 got their fill of prom pictures at Nanny and Pa’s, then Carly’s horse barn. They had fun with going out to dinner, hanging out and even a little dancing at the prom (Joshua told me he was not going to a bit, but as soon as Katelyn walked in the door he told her he’d dance all she wanted), and on to a party after.  When they’d been doing prom stuff for almost 12 hours and I was tired of waiting up, as it was 2:30am, he and Alden finally came home…and got up the next morning for practice!

As we neared the playoffs, the mullet fever was coming on strong in our house and I finally gave in and cut them both one. I was a little appalled at first but it’s grown out some and grown on me. 

Matt reconnected with an old friend who took us on a tour of sports facilities at Duke. 

Easter was different this year. We did our special breakfast first, then lunch and egg hunt at Nanny’s, then church and church dinner at the park. We also got back into The Chosen, which we really love. 

The Mussers hosted a wonderful Seder for our adoption group families to celebrate the coming of Easter. 

The first part included the making of unleavened bread in a hurry, like the Israelites fleeing Egypt. 

Mimi and GG came in early April and we did lacrosse plus a little of Gray’s birthday and GG’s bday. 

Matt has faithfully looked after the house, with help from his dad, to make sure it’s built well and quickly. 

We went with the Bakers to a Nate Bargatze comedy show in Raleigh. He’s hilarious!

Gray with his birthday apple pie. 

Nanny and Pa came for dinner on Gray’s birthday.

Gray loooves his bojangles and requested this for a gift. 

Bday snuggles with Raven. 

Gray ate Bojangles for breakfast but wanted me to make homemade Bojangles for dinner…which was a lot of work!

Last day of school for these buddies included a trip to the pool after their half day. 

Sawyer’s crowd of support for his soccer game. 

Last day of carpool!! These guys are such monkeys. 

We got a little time with Rick for Gray’s tournament weekend.  He was there to celebrate his 50th class reunion. 

Maddox’s soccer game 

Joshua and Gray went to help at a Younglife camp washing lots of dishes at the end of spring break. Katelyn’s family was there too. 

Trying to warm up after a cold field day with water games!

Joshua’s new favorite pastime is fishing with some of his teammates. He’s so into it. 

Last Younglife Wednesday morning Bojangles Bible

We loved watching Ava dazzle in her school play, Matilda. 

Mother’s Day at church. We followed that with ordering subs and then The Chosen. 

I was able to go in Allie’s class to help with making oobleck…

…and to chaperone the walking field trip to Gold Park. 

This summer will hold a lot for some of us…Matt will hopefully sell the house and think about what the business Will do next. I will teach summer school and have a few weeks off before starting my 4th year at TES in July. Joshua will work the same two jobs as last year, play summer lacrosse, and continue to work on figuring out college. Gray will hopefully get a job, pass his driving test, and think about his college plans,  Julia and Allie don’t have too much, but can’t wait for a beach trip and a camp or two. I still can’t believe the school year is over. Time just keeps marching! I hope and pray God’s work in our lives will be evident through this next season!

We interrupt this program...

 ...to announce that Matt has achieved his long worked-for weight-lifting goal!  (He did this right before the beach trip but it was a hectic week!)  About 5 years ago he set out to press 200 lb, bench 300 lb, squat 400 lb, and deadlift 500 lb.  The first three were easier to get but the last he's been steadily working on for years.  He was very excited to reach this goal and I'm proud of how hard he works!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Beach Bums

Spring Break is in full swing now and our highlight will definitely be our time at the beach.  The boys went down Thursday after school, which made such a busy week for them-- last week of the quarter, lacrosse games Monday and Wednesday, and then coming home Wednesday late to finish schoolwork and pack for the Wilmington weekend and extended time at the beach.  They stayed at a hotel with the team, did not sleep much, and spent Friday doing all sorts of things together- yoga, go carts, laser tag, and a big bbq buffet (which came back to bite some of them!) before heading to Laney High School to warm up for the game.  The rest of the family drove down to the game Friday.  Laney is a very good 4A school, so we knew it would be a tough game.  What stood out the most from that experience was the eardrum bursting speakers and the announcer that would scream excitedly for Laney into the mic when they scored, and dejectedly mutter when Orange scored.  It was annoying and funny and just way too loud.  Whoever ran the clock in the box kept forgetting to run the clock, from the very start of the game and there were some reminders and then frustrated words from our team parents after it continued many times...and then arguing from Laney, punctuated by some hand gestures and followed by an announcement about sportsmanlike conduct, which was kind of laughable, considering their behavior. :/  Anyway, we hung in there through the half and even led 9-8 at one point, but our guys were tired, laden with BBQ, and still missing some of our best players, so things weren't pretty in the 2nd half and we lost.  The boys had their fond memories of the team-bonding parts of the trip and they weren't too bothered by the loss.  Gray had a score so that always feels good.  Joshua was getting a chest cold and feeling super tired, but still loved the team time.  We met some families for dinner and then headed to the beach house.

Since it was Matt's birthday weekend, we had invited some team families with dads he was friends with to join us.  It ended up being 3 of Joshua's closest friends that he got to know in elementary school and played lacrosse with before they were old enough for school teams.

And that was one of the best parts of the trip...just watching these guys, who don't have much time left at home, playing together and having such a fun time.  They (and Gray too!) loved football/baseball on the beach (sometimes with the dads, who loved it just as much), putt putt a few times, eating, playing old games on the Wii, digging a hole on the beach, getting in the waves, and (Joshua's fav) lacrosse in the yard with a tiny goal and foam ball.  Unbeknownst to us, the first night when they walked to putt putt with the girls (Julia and 3 others who were around her age), they decided the loser of the game would have a penalty of going all the way under in the freezing ocean.  They came home after the game and sent one friend in to ask to go down to the beach.  The girls tipped us off that Gray in particular had some interesting shots.  When they returned from the beach, I asked who won putt putt and Joshua replied that the important question was who lost and they shared the deal they'd made about punishment and that it was Gray.  I felt bad for him, till they demonstrated some of the ways he was hitting the ball-- behind his back, etc.  Par for the course, I guess!  When they played the last night we were there, history repeated itself, only they played two games and Alden lost one of them, so there was a complex punishment in which Gray and Alden had to wrestle in the ocean, but Gray had to stay out an additional 2 minutes for penalties acquired on the course...not sure I even want to know what he did to get those.  Memories were certainly made this trip and the moms especially loved seeing our boys be kids with each other.  

Julia and Allie had a great time with the sisters of the boys' friends.  They were sweet to play pretend with Allie, do hair together, play chase, etc.  And Julia loved having other girls to talk to her and walk on the beach together and go in the water.  

Matt was a little sick like Joshua, but he had a great time talking and laughing and hanging out with the other dads.  One family gave him a new beach game- bucket ball- that was a lot of fun.  He also got to eat a lot and watch basketball and play cornhole and nap.  We grilled burgers for his birthday and then had a game night with everyone, which was a highlight for me.  I loved getting to know everyone a little more and laughing together with Taboo, Gestures, and the guess-who-wrote-what-celebrity game.  So much fun.

The time on the beach was pretty chilly some days, but really nice the last day.  We all managed to get some burnt spots on day 1.  It was really nice to have a change of pace and just sit and talk together by the ocean.  I found myself thinking what a blessing it is to have this beautiful place to go (Thanks, Nanny and Pa!) and plenty of friends to share it with.  And now, back to finishing up the break, with Gray's birthday, a comedy show with Matt, and hopefully a little downtime before school starts back again!

Ahhh....Spring break

 I am officially on break from school and while there's too much going on for it be relaxing per se, it's still nice to be home.  This week the kids are still at school but they get Friday off and the next week, so we'll have lots of quality time together.  Things are hopping around here.  Every Monday we host our community group, which I love so much.  It's the most eclectic group of people- grandparents, musicians, builders, a retired basketball player, native Kenyans, some painfully shy, some quirky, some outgoing..and I didn't know any of them- but we are forming bonds with each other and it has become a special and encouraging time each week.  We have dinner together and don't plan it a bit, so it's always a fun smorgasbord of all kinds of random things.  We might have spanakopita,  french toast souffle, dumplings, and quesadillas, all in one meal!  It's so fun.  Three nights a week the boys have lacrosse games and Matt and I try to go most of those.  Then we have our usual work schedule, Julia has had drama club, the boys have Young Life, and Matt's off days are spent working on the house, with some of the family trying to contribute to that effort as well.  Throw in some social times and college visits and weekend trips and life is definitely full!  Here's the last 6 weeks in pictures...

Matt and Joshua cheering State on to a victory!  Gray also got to go to a Duke basketball game.

Julia had a Winter Wyldlife weekend camp that she was so excited for.  Unfortunately she got a stomach bug and though it was over several days before her trip, she still wasn't feeling great.  Later in the month she went on her long awaited band trip to Universal, which she loved, but I've yet to see any good pictures from it.

Allie and Mimi made her Family Day cake.

So nice to have grandparents and Jeannie and fam here to celebrate...and watch the Super Bowl.

Annual Valentine's Day treasure hunt.  They got a bunch of fruit-themed candy and snacks this year and the treasure hunt had an added mystery word at the end, since they are getting older.  I think when I started, the clues were "Look under the rug" level.  Now they are much more complex.

I took Allie and her friend Molly to the school's family fun PE night.  Here she is counting Molly's sit-ups (or yelling at her?)

We celebrated Maddox's birthday with Chinese, cake, and soccer, then a week later we celebrated with ham delights, pistachio dessert, and games for Sawyer.

Our community group birthday celebration.

A couple friends helped me host a big "Spring Swap" for church ladies/girls and friends in the community.  We had more than 50 participants.  It was packed full of snacking, shopping, chatting, and lots of excited little girls.  So much fun.

Allie scored this bear: Strawberry Tea.  He is twice her size and clearly came with his own personality.  

Julia's drama club days wrapped up this week with performances Thursday and Friday.  Her job was to quickly get zombie makeup on the cast and she found it busy but fun to be a part of.  A couple of our family friends were in the show/directors and it was super cute.  It was a series of comedy skits, some super short and some a little longer.  Very funny and so glad she got to be a part of it.

I am getting to spend some time in Allie's class for the first time in her elementary career, which she has loved.  Yesterday I helped them make oobleck.  She has a small class and sweet teacher and she's very confident and happy in there.

Brother congrats after a goal.

Joshua on the move, Matt in bright orange taking stats.

Gray on a chilly game day.  But not as cold as the night before when the wind blew so chilly we couldn't feel our fingers and toes, even all bundled up!  The boys' team is doing well in spite of some injured key players and the boys are enjoying getting some goals and seeing some success.  We sure do love cheering on them and their friends!  It's so nice to have them play a sport where we know so many of the families.  

Looking ahead, we have a beach trip; Matt and Gray have birthdays; we'll go to lots more lacrosse games; we have one more quarter of school; and we'll keep trucking on the new house, which is already being framed!