A Tuesday afternoon post

What we are up to:
baseball
thrifting
gardening
we're in the last week of school! 
chicken raising
child rearing
we are loving time outside
baseball... oh wait, I already mentioned that!

This time of year is so.very.busy.
It is also very fun. 
Willem's school BBQ just started and I am at home experiencing just a bit of mom guilt. Oren and Hazel both had 9 a.m. dentist appointments. Hazel was so cooperative and Oren did better than I expected. We tried grocery shopping after. Hazel wanted to ride in the cart, Oren would NOT. So I was pushing a heavy cart with groceries and a five year old in it with a two year old on my hip. And I was quickly running out of room for groceries because Hazel is a long legged, cute thing who likes to stretch out and she almost sat on my eggs. We got home and everyone was tired and Hazel really wanted a sandwich. She loves lettuce, spinach, mustard and mayo on her sandwich- no meat, no cheese. And I thought to myself do I push these two to make it to a 12:25 BBQ at the school?? I decided no. Willem told me this morning that he was fine with whatever, us being there or us needing to stay home. Oren is sound asleep, Hazel is watching Indian in the Cupboard. I just threw a load of baseball stuff in the washer and I think I might drink a diet coke.

Memorial Day weekend Matt and Brenda came to visit and we had so much fun! Also, Jill and Jeff came to visit. They were passing through. They had driven from Texas to Washington with their destination being Whidbey Island. We were just a quick stopping point for them but the connection was good. The weather was gorgeous all weekend.

Oren reminds me so much of Merit at this age. He is opinionated, stubborn, has a lot of personality, he throws fits, he laughs, he can be in the BEST mood and the WORST mood all within a matter of ten minutes... Memorial Day weeked Merit was in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament downtown. The street ball was so fun! Oren was whining and being a pistol. Morgan Raymond swooped him out of my arms, entertained him for a while and I took a deep breath and enjoyed the break! Morgan is a God send! If I didn't have Morgan and Julia, I would drink more, sleep more and be more grumpy. ;-) 

All Star baseball started last week Thursday and we might have two or three days off between now and July 6th. It is a big commitment. A good commitment. Merit and Willem are some hustling, hard working baseball players. Their teams become like family.

I got an afternoon of crafting last week with a few women I love. I got out my card making stuff! I have quite the collection. It was fun to design a few simple cards for our group to make and send each friend home with a little packet of cards for them to have on hand.

Saturday night we went to Jaime Jr.'s graduation party and the dancing and the laughter and the food and the fun... oh! We had a blast! 

Thanking God today for friends. For sunshine and rain. For dance parties. For toddlers and big kids, for baseball and for memories in the making.