I cleaned the entire house all day on Friday.

On Saturday morning I woke up and we had four extra people in the house; our wonderful friend GB, with his three children.  (Rich had stayed up to welcome them).

I made baked oatmeal and roasted sausages drizzled with maple syrup for breakfast.

Big Mike (Jacob’s buddy and our “8th child”) arrived with Cardell and Jimmy.  Ethan S. arrived.

The kitchen and living room was filled with boys checking airsoft guns and ammo.

Trying on safety gear.

LOTS of teasing, talking, and laughing.

The 8 of them ran off into the woods, including Rich and Seth.

I saw Cardell and Seth, after a while, team up …. Cardell even picked him up in order to run faster into the woods.  So cute.

I went to go get Davy from his friend’s house, to take him to baseball practice.  I left him there to go back home.

In due time, I went back to the field to get him (15 minutes away) and took Seth with me.

Came back home…..for lunch that day we had sandwiches.

I put dinner in the crock pot; 2 pork tenderloins, a sliced onion, a sliced green pepper, and BBQ sauce.

Left at 1:30 with 8 year old Caleb.  He was going to a birthday party.  We went to the mall to get a gift and I dropped him off at the party.

I GOT TO SPEND ALMOST 2 HOURS ALONE AT THE BOOKSTORE….

While I was gone, the girls joined the guys for another airsoft battle.

GB left to take Myriah to her friend’s house.

I picked up Caleb, went to grocery store, went back home.

Meanwhile, Rich left to take Davy to a second ball practice.

I finished up dinner.  We had bbq pork sandwiches, cole slaw, and I can’t remember what else.

 

Mike made gallons of lemonade.  Jimmy took out the garbage.

GB got back in time for leftover dinner and then he got to work in the kitchen.  He made 2 lasagnas and a pan of ziti for us to eat after church on Sunday.

Billy-Cat kept trying to jump on the counter.

GB talked to me all about his new girlfriend.  (they are both christians) He has a great testimony.

All the kids hung out together…Dave was home again and in his pj’s in the rocking chair.

Everyone colored with little Sarah, including me.  I love coloring.  We had like six hands working on the same page.

Happy music was playing, we hummed or sang or whistled along.

I went to bed at about 9:30 and that was Saturday.

*****

On Sunday we all got up and got ready for church.

GB sang a solo (what an amazing voice he has!!) and gave his testimony.

After church we came home to warm up dinner and tidy up the house.

Rich left to take Seth to his little league meet and greet.

Mike was here for dinner.

GB’s salad was made extra special with avocado, strawberries, and goat cheese.  It was delicious.

He had a job as a cook in his younger days.

He was in the Coast Guard, too.  This guy has lots of great stories.

The kids adore him from their camp in the summer.  Rich met him last year and they became good friends.

Sunday evening we had bible study.  I made a pan of brownies, a crumb cake, and a spinach-dip bread bowl.

The dog ran through the study and then Billy Cat jumped up on Gary’s lap (the pastor leading the study).

David and Daniel had made a big triple batch of Davy’s special pretzels and he begged to bake them up.

It was about 8:00 pm when we got started, everyone around made a pretzel.  I just had to laugh.

You roll out a gob of dough into a three foot long rope and then twist it into a big pretzel.  Then, you dip the raw pretzel into a baking soda bath, and bake it in the oven.  When they come out you brush melted butter on top.  YUM, SO SO GOOD!!!  The triple batch was entirely gone in no time.

GB played the camp video from last year.

Kids made a fire outside in the fire pit.

They had music playing outside and all the fellowship between them was so precious to hear….so much fun.

I went to bed around 10:30.  Ethan S and Caleb S spent the night; the kids all stayed up really really late.  I heard stories of Grace and Ethan S jumping in the pond at 10:30……and Myriah fell over wood while running in the dark and hurt her leg.  They were playing manhunt.

Yesterday, (MONDAY) GB left to go stay with Gary (our pastor and his good friend of 18 years) and his kids stayed here.  My own children have spring break.

They all spent a lot of time outside; the weather was GORGEOUS.  Davy caught tadpoles, crawfish, frog eggs.

I did my nails on the porch with kids surrounding me.  It was fun to have them here….we love to talk and laugh.

I feel like my brain is fried.  In a good way.  (I truly love these days)

Jacob had a track meet at 1.

I went grocery shopping, sipping an iced coffee as I shopped; the sugar and caffeine pepped me up.

Ethan had practice at 2:30.  His first after recovering from his yucky bronchitis/pneumonia type sickness (whatever it was)….

Grace had music at 1.

I took Emily with me to watch the meet and Myriah watched the other kids.  (thank you, m!!)

Rich came home at 5 to take Caleb and Seth to practice.

We had leftover pasta for dinner.

There was a lot of jumping on the trampoline.

 

 

I love this picture of Emily and the dog…..she was so good to him and he adored her.

 

Grace and I had to take Sammie to the vet’s this morning (TUESDAY) for her surgery.  She was supposed to go last week but we could not find her.  Rich has nicknamed her “Slinkie” for a reason-this morning she ran away from us AGAIN and got into her favorite hiding spot; the drop ceiling downstairs.  Jacob had to wake up and help us.  We disarranged the ceiling until we grabbed her.  We drove through the rain with tired eyes to the vet……..I got Grace a sandwich at McDonalds and we had a sweet time together first thing in the morning.

When we got back home I made scrambled eggs with cheese, ham, and toast for breakfast for the rest of us.

It’s been raining all day and the kids have watched two movies.  We watched Secondhand Lion while I folded socks, and they watched Spiderman while I finished up my bible study lesson and took a catnap in my room.

Myriah slept until 12 today….she was exhausted….the sweet girl needed some good sleep.

We had mozzarella sticks and melon for lunch, some of us had pb and j.

In a few hours our guests will be going to Youth Group with Jacob and Ethan and our visit with these delightful kids will be over.

Tonight another guest arrives; Erinn is spending the night with Grace here at our place.

I have to pick up the cat at 6:30.

*****

THEIR FAVORITE THINGS:

 

GRACE:  it was either airsoft or watching our movie. that movie was fun.
JACOB:  it was probably airsoft.  either airsoft or manhunt
DAVE:  shrugs shoulders.  has nothing to say.
ETHAN:  taking a walk at 3 in the morning.  playing apples to apples.
CALEB:  when we got to play airsoft
SETH:  my first baseball practice
DANIEL:  playing airsoft
EMILY:  playing manhunt
SARAH:  playing in the bath with my ponies and these.
MYRIAH:  playing airsoft.  when i was president, that was the best.  people were trying to assassinate me.  and other people were trying to protect me.  staying up until 2:30

*****

“I don’t wanna leave!  I don’t wanna go to NY!!”  Myriah

“I hate how when we get down to the last couple of hours we get desperate when we don’t know what to do.”  Jacob

“This game is addicting.” Jacob, playing a new app

“Did someone say they had an addiction?” Mother

“I’m addicted to breathing.  Every time I try to stop my head gets really light.” Grace offered.

*****

I had to write all this down so that someday when my life is slow again I can look back on it and laugh.