crazy crazy

before i left for the beach the other weekend, i warned pat that when we got back, we would be entering THE craziest 3 weeks of our year. crazier than december. insanity. and it has been. so so many things going on. spring sports overlapping swim team. end of school everything (projects. tests. teacher gifts. awards assemblies. field day.) but life is GOOD. the joy of that weekend at the beach has carried me through and everything is just fine.

so. this is a bit of a catch up from the past week. i'm so thankful for my phone at times like this! it's captured a lot of our moments...i've hardly used my "real" camera at all!

joshua is SUCH a good big brother. truly loves his little brothers and always is willing to play with them.

 these 3. i could not love their conversations and the way they do things ANY more. the dynamics are about to change bigtime with everyone home this summer, so i've been taking this in as much as possible.

my new "thing" is making my own sunscreen. did you know that your skin is your biggest organ? and what you slather ON your skin is in your bloodstream within seconds?? crazy, right?? i also have never been a fan of sunscreen in general (it's a running joke with lots of friends that have known me for a long time...) i don't want anything between me and the sun..i LOVE to feel it beating on me! anyways. saw this idea and thought i'd try it. coconut oil, beeswax and zinc oxide. i'm going to offer myself as the test subject. i'll let you know!

last weekend pat and i had 2 date nights in a ROW!! we are trying to be better about spending time just the 2 of us. friday night we went to a Nationals game.

and saturday night, after we got everyone to bed (early. after an INSANE day) we ate chipotle and frozen yogurt while we watched a movie.

 saturday was FULL of baseball. game for sawyer. 2 games for joshua. followed by a party with joshua's team. it could NOT have been a more gorgeous day. we were all happy to be doing what we were doing.

sawyer watching joshua play...

 joshua's team this year has been SO great. all really nice boys that like each other. dads vs kids in kickball...

still going strong with trying all the burgers (we ate burger #12!) added a new side last sunday...grilled sweet potato fries. AMAZING!

i've spent quite a bit of time planning our summer. it's going to be busy. and fun. and just GOOD. i can feel it. the transition will be rough (it always is) but then we'll get in a groove and it will be great! no "summer list" this year. not even a "how many miles can we ride/bike". and i didn't write a Bible study to do with them, either. all those things have been great. but this summer is busier than most. and we are going to focus on a FEW things and do them well.

everyone is doing great in swim team. i LOVE having them all out there swimming away!

i'm pretty much at my limit most every hour of every day. literally talking to myself and telling myself, "you can do this." i haven't been sleeping well and that's my sign that i'm stressed. my brain is going a MILLION miles an hour all the time. notes and lists everywhere. but it's short-lived. 8 more days and it will mostly all be over.

the other afternoon, i was laying flat out on the floor. i couldn't even make it to a couch. just laying on the floor for a minute. taking some deep breaths before the afternoon activities got going. sawyer came and lay down next to me and flung his little legs over mine and told me about his day. then we laughed SO hard making goofy faces in the camera on my phone. oh, it was a sweet few minutes!

i'm in charge of "apparel" for swim team. the orders came in. hundreds of items that i got to sort. now they are in the back of my car until i can get them to everyone at swim team practice! it will feel GOOD to have that behind me!

i'm so so blessed to have 2 grandma's close by that love to be with their grandchildren. THANKfully the day that i had to sort all that apparel, pat's mom was coming over for a couple hours. otherwise, i would have just ignored the little boys and done it anyways. but, instead, they got to do a fun craft and eat lunch with her while i worked my brains out!

we are so close to wrapping up baseball. pat is an AMAZING coach. and has handled this team of kids with such patience. i don't think sawyer will EVER forget it.

joshua's team.

the regular season is over. and the tournament has started. you lose, you're out. last night was the first game. i LOVED how excited ALL our kids were...it was a BIG game to all of us! and ALL the grandparents were there, too! it was a fun evening! especially because they WON!! onto the next game on saturday...

and i still have those normal things on my list like, "oil change." which needed to be done. we've gone to the same place for years. a newer place has opened about a mile from our house, but we still go to the old place. mostly because we have a relationship with them and i think that's valuable...but also because there is a Great Harvest Bread in the shopping center and we always go get bread for breakfast the next day (and a sample for right then!)

i think we're mostly caught up. 

8 days...8 days...