Adventure 18

18!!!

I can't believe that i am already at 18 Adventures. this little blogging adventure (in and of itself has been a blast) i am so glad that i joined up with my cousin Lily to find the beauty and adventures in our weeks.

this weekend was loaded full of adventures it is so hard to pick just one.

here is a brief run down of the great things we did.

Saturday morning we went on a hike with some friends. we packed a picnic and once we were done the hike we ate lunch and then headed to a nursery to get some tomato plants for the garden.

from there I went to a friends house to write some Bible verses on the foundation of the home they are building. they are pretty far in the building process, you can check out their process here, but there is no flooring placed yet, so it was perfect timing and weather. we have been trying to plan this since February. I am so glad that we got to do it this weekend.  I so love this woman and the blessing that she is in my life. i loved being able to write scripture on the floors of her house and bless it. her and her husband are such great friends and i love their love for others.

we took my nephew and nieces strawberry picking (one of our favorite things to do in may) 2007, 2008, 2009, 2014 (see, we really like to go strawberry picking and we went in 2010-2013 too but i stopped blogging as much for a while there.)

it was so much fun. they loved searching for the biggest and pretties and yummiest strawberries. it was great watching them and picking and eating strawberries.

that is a lot of adventures, i know. but i saved my adventure this week of the 31 Bits house party that a friend of mine and i hosted.

we were sent a ton of this beautiful jewelry that is made by ladies in Uganda. i love the story behind 31 bits. you can read more about it here.

i love that they are empowering women through learning and growing and loving on them.

i so wish i would have gotten some pictures of the ladies that came. it was a small group but it was perfect and we loved having them come. i am pretty sure that they enjoyed it just as much, it was a great time.

after we decide that we wanted to host a house party and got the ball rolling on that, i came across an instagram post from Kirsten Duke that linked to her earth day party. i tagged my friend in it because her earth cookies were precious. we decided that the earth cookies were a must and that with the jewelry being made in Uganda, that maybe we should go green and blue earth colors and globes. (these were the only two globes that i had but we put them out anyway) the green table cloth and napkins were something i had on hand as well as the mason jars, paper straws and lemonade pitcher. my friend froze some blueberries in ice cubes and we floated those in the lemonade. we had a delicious artichoke dip recipe that my best friend gave me a few years ago, some green fruit and veggies(that my friend cut up and put out). it was simple but perfect.

truthfully, there was no need for much decor. the jewelry is just stunning.

the women who make the jewelry, lovely

the stories they have, beautiful

we had so much fun pulling out all of the jewelry and handing it all up and

so blessed to be a small part of helping the women of Uganda as they learn, grow, hope, dream and believe.

God is doing great things through these ladies.

***Local friends, if you weren't able to make it to the house party but you are interested in seeing the jewelry please let me know and we can get together for you to check it all out.

Tiny Feet

I think they will always be tiny feet

as he sat at the table this morning eating breakfast I got a peek of his feet crossed under the table. up top he was enjoying a bowl of cereal. he is almost 8. EIGHT! it can't be possible, doesn't seem possible, yet it is. his tiny feet though.....they still don't touch the floor. something in that makes me smile. he is still little, he is still tiny, he still likes cuddles and hugs. he is still my tiny boy for awhile longer, maybe not to much longer but I am holding on to every bit of tiny he has left.

 

here is the top half of him. dressed and ready for space day. my tiny astronaut. I love this kid. can you tell?

Adventure 17

adventures in festivals

in 2011, on our way home from a camping trip with friends, and headed back to a house with no electricity because of the tornadoes that knocked it out for a full week, we came across signs  for the National Corn Bread festival and decided to stop and check it out. 

We had such a great time three years ago when we stopped and have been wanting to get back there since then, but every year we have something going on.

 

This year it appeared we would be clear to go, noting on the calendar, until my sons Saturday baseball game got rescheduled to Sunday. we decided to make the trip anyway and just show up for the baseball game right on time to play. it was still just as cool as it was all those years ago and there was for sure some fun times. every bit of it wasn't as magical as our first visit but i am glad that we were able to make it again and go.

 

Lemonade Anyone

this weekend our neighborhood had a yard sale. the kids were so excited about the yard sale and wanted to do a lemonade stand. They manned it for a while and had a lot of fun. 

they were singing songs and trying to get people to come and buy their lemonade. it was great.

Adventure 16

Daddy Daughter Date

 

first let me say that a follow up from last weeks adventures, Golden Boy hit a home run at Tuesday night's game. it was pretty exciting for him. we haven't played a game since because of the amount of rain that we have had. he has three scheduled for this week but it looks like rain again all week.

 

on to this weeks adventure, well actually one more side note. I have had another adventure that I thought I would be posting last week and then this week but this adventure has trumped it and of course last weeks trumped it as well. check back......maybe it will be adventure 17. (only the week will tell) 

 

Our church did a Daddy Daughter Date night this weekend.  Little Girl wasn't sure she wanted to go. She likes more details about what is going to happen and this was the first one that my hubby had ever been too so we really weren't sure. We went shopping for some school supplies to donate to some missionaries that our church support and then we showed her the dress that we had for her to wear. I asked her if she would like her hair braided to wear with her head band. she was excited for the get ready process. my hubby wore the pink shirt that he bought to wear the day that Little girl was born. then we went outside and got some pictures of them together.

I included this one because it is just so Little Girl. her many faces. I think she happened to be looking at her big brother who was no doubt doing something to try and make her laugh.

just precious

 these next three are my favorites. I have been the recipient of some of Little girls intense hugs. she loves fiercely and can really show it in the way that she hugs someone. 

 

and of course nothing shows her personality like a silly picture. sometimes she smiles so sweetly but she loves to be silly for pictures too. it is great.

 

Golden boy wanted to go along too but I told him that I had to run to a store and then I would take him for fro-yo. he was great in the store and I was able to get his some long sleeve shirts for the fall and Little girl some leggings for the fall. we went for fro-yo next. he chose chocolate and orange cream with chocolate chips, gummy bears, grapes and chocolate syrup.

 

I got pineapple(amazing and I should have gotten a cup of all pineapple, pomegranate and orange cream, with gummy bears of course. (strange, maybe, but I love gummy bears in my fro-yo.)

Adventure 15

Adventures in Baseball games

not just any baseball game but Golden Boy's first Baseball game of the season.

Well actually his team, the California Angels, has played two games already but Golden boy had to sit out those two games. Remember adventure #7

well doctor said that we had to wait for 6 full weeks in the boot and then two out of the boot but no running or jumping.

 

little league baseball was never something I saw in my child's life. but after last year I have grown to love watching him play baseball.

 

the chain link fences

 

your kid playing ball

 

him up to bat

 

connecting with the ball

 

the cute little sisters and cousins who come to cheer their brothers on (girls can play in the league, btw just not sure there area all the many but I have seen a few)

 

snacks of course, and watching your son receive the team ball because it was the first game that he has actually gotten to play, even though we were at the other two cheering for the team. oh and did I mention that he got someone out when he was playing second.  ;)

 

and of course team camaraderie 

GO ANGELS!

excited for this year.

Adventure 14

Adventures in Family Picture Taking

so here are the two kiddo's on Easter Sunday.

We snapped this picture and the next couple of them right before we left for church. no one was around to get a picture of the four of us so we just hauled the camera with us hoping to get one at church. (that is what we did last year)

 

after church we stopped to visit Nana. My Hubby's Grandmother.

Before going in to see her I had my Hubby take a picture of me with Little Girl

and then one with Golden Boy.

I am the one usually behind the camera so I am not in all that many pictures unless I put the camera in someone's hands and say take this picture of me and the kids (or whoever i am with)



 

we visited with Nana and even got to eat Easter brunch with her. My mother in law was there as well as her sister and brother. we got this cute picture of the kids with Nana

 

and we did get the four of us in a picture with Nana and my mother in law




A four generation picture

I had hoped to get a picture of the four of us in our Easter clothes but this shot is about all that I was able to get. It was us as we were about to go on a family bike ride. it was a beautiful day.

i like the look of posed and formal-ish pictures. but sometimes i just have to settle for in the moment and us. this is how we really are. not all dressed up (even though we like to dress up) but just in our casual every day clothes and hanging out.