March of Holidays

We couldn't go a week without celebrating something in March.  It started with Miley's spring break which was a stay-cation for us. . . and this is all I had planned. . .

But there was lots of this too. . .

A visit from cousins. . .

 And some dessert. . .

We were really missing the beach after our ocean trip, so we headed to the lake one day as well. . .

Dave went with us too, but I guess he didn't feel very photogenic.  ;)

Next holiday:  {Pi}e day.  We made mini chocolate cream pies.  Mmmmm.  Next time we're thinking strawberry, or lemon, or coconut, oh my.  We can't decide.  It may be the best holiday, cause it's sweet and simple.

St. Patrick's day was green-wearing, gold chocolate eating, green cookie making fun.  Jovey was sure to wear green so the leprechauns wouldn't pinch her.  Miley told her horror stories about leprechauns I think.  We made the green chocolate chip cookies to share with neighbors and friends.  We talked about who St. Patrick was and what he did.  I encourage you to look it up.  It's pretty interesting, and it makes for a better holiday.

Then it was Grammy's spring break. . .

So we had to go back to Sand Hollow. . . to play with caterpillars in the sand

Dave's birthday and then we were to Easter. . .

 (Jovey's best friend, Sloane)

The egg hunt was early in the morning and a tad chilly with the breeze, therefore the jackets, which I had to threaten Jovey to keep on.  She is POSITIVE it is summer already and needs to wear less clothes.

Easter dresses. . .

Our Easter celebrations were simple.  We did one egg hunt, and we made the rice krispie nests.  We talked a lot about Jesus and the resurrection.  We don't do the Easter bunny, but we did have some treats on Easter morning in their egg finding baskets.  A chocolate bunny is a must, sidewalk chalk, lip balm and some books about Jesus.  Perfect amount of fun and spiritual.  ;)

The girls sang the Gethsemane song all week long, and although Jo spends most of the video yawning and wiggling, she too can sing the whole thing.  It made for a nice reminder of what Easter is about.

Life's a beach

. . . at least during the Spring, it is. . . before the heat and the crowds.

Dave might have over dressed a bit, or a lot.  He was mocked, and will continue to be mocked for his intense fear of the sun and sunscreen.  He's wearing his fancy pants that turn into shorts, but they were only shorts for a minute.  That's his sun limit.  Oh and he rolled his sleeves back down as well.  Poor boy.

 Tiff, look at all this fun playing on the BEACH!  By the lake, a beach by a lake, who knew.

Jovey wasn't afraid of the sand this time around.  Oh yeah.  She LOVED it instead, well after we took her shoes off.  Sand in flip flops is uncomfortable.

IMG 0795 from Mindy on Vimeo.

4/4/13

Hello internet,

I've been absent for some time now, for a number of reasons, but now I've noticed that I've missed you a bit.  So here I am.

Dave and I are getting ready to do some traveling.  We don't have a timeframe yet, but we are optimistic.  We attended our travel seminar and got a nice long packing list to chip away at.  Looking forward to having that filled with check marks.  We're packing lots of donations for the orphanage as well.  We can take two 100lb bags (checked) filled with extras.  I've had some awesome family step up to help us with that part and to them we are so grateful.  It seriously makes me tear up to think about their kindness.  So far we've got clothing for older children (it was so surreal buying boy clothes, I seriously didn't know how to do it), shoes, and some books.  Baby wipes, and ordered some formula as well.  It's looking good and hope to add a lot more.

We received news of our baby Jovey.  She is doing well and is happily residing at the Transition Home.  That is the facility run by our agency, so she is not in the orphanage.  We also got a 5 second video (I don't know why it was so short, don't ask) of her from our director who just returned from Ethiopia.  I believe our baby girl rolled her eyes at the camera.  She is most definitely my girl.  She is almost 10 lbs now and 23" long, at 4 mos old.  The Pre-hearing happened on D's birthday and the agency told us that if the court needed further information they would hear something, otherwise no news is great news on that front.  Now we wait, like we have been, but in a new phase with a touch more anxiety.  The next news we'll get is the GET ON A PLANE NOW, kinda of news.  Hopefully with a weeks notice at least though. *

Miley is all signed up for Kindergarten.  Sigh.  She's thrilled anyway.  I'm not really worried about her, she'll be fine and make friends in any situation she finds herself.  I'm just gonna miss my baby.  She already wants to lose her teeth.  I'm trying to keep them in her head a touch longer.

We enjoyed our spring breaks.  We took two.  We thought we deserved it.  Miley really missed school the first time, but the second time she was ok missing it because her Grammy was here to play with.  Hit the beach, got a little burned.  Me on my shins and Dave, well hopefully you saw the pic, most everywhere cause he can't figure out how to apply sunscreen.  I threatened him for the thousandth time that I would make him put it on every day when leaving the house until he learned/remembered to do it when he actually needed it.  Miley, however, was unscathed and had the best time talking like a pirate for the duration of our beachy experience.  The dogs also enjoyed the sand and the water, though I couldn't get them to go out very deep.

Took my mini Nikon to the beach and it faired pretty well.   I believe it will be of service on our trip to Africa.  If not, I'll take my good one for trip number two. . . or vice versa.  Who am I kidding, I still don't know what I'm going to do.

Miley missed her school Easter egg hunt, because I had the wrong time in my head.  Not on the calendar, but in my head it was an hour later.  I felt awful.  I don't like forgetting things.  Didn't make it to any other hunts either this year.  I'm doing great with this holiday.  She found plastic eggs at home though, and got plenty of sweets so I'm going to dump this guilt over the edge and worry about more important things. . . like whether I should make cookies or cupcakes to erase any residual disappointment.  ;)  For myself, cause kiddo doesn't seem to care at all.

D and I played some tennis the other day, after YEARS of not playing.  It was rough, I'm not going to lie.  It's not riding a bike.  I haven't ridden a real bike in years either, I wonder if I still can??  Anyway, tennis was fun, and we got better.  Monte Python/Holy Grail?  Well, that's what it sounded like in my head when I typed it anyway.  Now Dave is convinced we must play much more to improve or the shame will haunt us forever.  We shall see.

We think we may have a solution to our middle name problem with Jovey. . . two.  Yep, we may use two of them.  It will make her name longer, but that's what feels right presently.  Right now we're thinking Zala Quinn.  We'll see.

Well internet, it's been nice updating you on our life this month.  It got me out of watching The Hobbit with the hubs for now.  Probably can't dodge that bullet forever though, and maybe it won't be so bad. . . but the length of it may kill me.  I can't sit still forever.

So, how are you?

Sincerely,

*Yeah, obviously I wrote this before I got the NEWS the other day!

a little beach

Spontaneity is not my thing. . . unless it involves going to get a dessert, I'm in.

The stars aligned one day this week so that we ended up on a little beach instead of the planned events of the day, mainly housework and gardening.  I know, sounds awesome.

Miley had class pictures and then she was done with her school, early out.  Dave had a weekday off.  Wahoooo!  We ended up at Target running errands and some beach toys caught the eye.  Epiphany.

A couple hours later we had scraped together enough crap to last us a few days and set out for some sand.

Hello beautiful day and a thrilled little girl!

Make that girls, plural.  The dogs had fun too.  The water was higher than normal, or the normal I remember.  Many a picnic table was submerged, but we found this little stretch that was perfect for our picnic/water/sand needs.

That handsome albino in the shelter is my hubby.  Yeah I know, it looks like his legs glow.  Weird.  ;)

My girls preferred laying in the wet sand.  Dave loved that part.  I couldn't blame them, the water felt great.

No sandcastles were built, but there was much digging, trench making, and starfish and lobster molds utilized.

Dave even stepped out in the sun for a second or two.

Nilla and Bear enjoyed wading in the shallows, but I couldn't entice them to swim out deeper.  Miley on the other hand was eager to swim, until it got up to her chest and she decided it was a little chillier than she anticipated.

She made us promise that we'd go back.