The Ray's Days: catch up

*saturday, may 19*

christian had a game at a new ball field (cecil park) and matt and i did not divide and conquer!!!

first game of the season that we actually got to sit and watch together and it was so fun. we packed a picnic, the little girls played, fun, fun, fun.

(more to come w/pictures)

that afternoon i took the little girls to a pampered chef party at debby's. delish and fun.

that night i'm sure we did something... maybe an avengers movie?

*sunday, may 20*

day of rest

and aren't freshly bathed babies just delicious???

*monday, may 21*

alexis had a dr's appt, so we dropped the girls off at alecia's and really had a fun time. we talked and giggled and i got caught up on the comings and goings of leonardtown high school.

so glad i'm not in high school anymore, and kinda sad that i have to send my children there every day.

that afternoon was the big middle school track and field event. christian did well and had fun.

(more to come)

that night we went to mccombs for dinner and some wholesome recreational activities.

(since i am a loser and didn't plan the fhe lesson or schedule)

*tuesday, may 22*

we got sprinklers, yay!

tax return dollars at work and i tell ya, we feel like we're living in high cotton over here! so nice not to be moving around sprinklers all day! or really, so nice for matt to not be moving sprinklers around all day. :)

since we knew we had to be home all day, we scheduled sae (sarah, abby, and ellie) to come over for a photo shoot! those two are soooo cute together!

(more to come)

the big little girls came and tried to help after a few minutes, so it was kinda short lived.

heather came over and i got all visit taught and the kids played and watched the sprinkler guys.

that night christian had a game, so we all loaded up and went to watch the yankees.

*wednesday, may 23*

glorious day, glorious day!

the return of the kid swap!!! and i needed it so!

delaney must have felt guilty for last time i had time without the bigger girls, cause she was a perfect angel! she seriously slept all day, woke up to eat, then right back to sleep. i was able to get soooo much done, it was awesome! i was able to spend time organizing because... we've decided to hire a housekeeper. it really pains me to do it, (and kinda makes me feel like a failure) but i'm having major trouble keeping up with everything since becoming a mom to 2 teenagers and 3 3-and-under. and i know a clean house isn't the most important thing, but it does make things so much nicer. and matt's in school and getting a little bit of gi bill $, and, and, and excuses. i just don't want to miss out on time with our kids right now. seems like they all need me so much. she comes for the first time tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.

that night we had an appt at church then rushed christian to a make-up baseball game. laura came with me and we had a fun time cheering and chatting.

*thursday, may 24*

preschool day and sweet alecia offered to watch riley. that enabled me to finish laundry, start dinner, and spend some time with the franks (and the lanes too:). after preschool we headed to lowes where the girls helped me pick some plants and other various sundries.

we stayed out longer that i had planned and to ensure everyone ate lunch before naps and that everyone got a nap (they have been so overtired lately!), we picked up happy meals.

bad picture, but the girls were so cute finishing their lunch at their little table. :)

(even though they're not supposed to eat in their room)

that afternoon lexi had piano and then we went and ate pizza and ice cream at mccombs.

frankie frog loves ice cream. :)

this after pic courtesy of christian.

*friday, may 25*

matt was off on friday, happy day. we also got to watch abby for our turn in the kid swap. they played outside and watched pocahontas and had a good day. they are so funny when the lazily lounge outside.

matt ran around getting things done all morning, and by that afternoon i had decided i needed a haircut and i needed it now. my hair has been so unruly and i couldn't take it anymore. and as i do every few months, i decided i needed bangs too. you know, spruce up my mom pony a little bit.

da hollywood bangs. ;)

that evening, christian and i took the 4 little girls and headed up to the clubhouse to register the little girls for the fun run on saturday. they let all the kids sign up on this board and addie wrote her name so nicely. :)

close up.

i let the girls play at the park for awhile and then it was time for the fun eq date night at church. we had a good time playing games and eating ice cream. christian enjoyed some quiet time at home and alexis hung out at robins and ate at salsas. that night alexis and i had a heart-to-heart. parenting is hard and i have been praying and working and praying and working. and i am so thankful when i feel prompted and guided, and i felt that that night. we had a good talk and it ended with a nice hug. i love that girl so much.

*saturday, may 26*

up and at 'em nice and early. we had our first annual leonards grant 5k! this is what christian and i had been training for for the past month. the kids fun run started at 8, so we left our house at 7:45. my girls run all day long, so i thought for sure they would have fun running 1/4 mile around the green. not so much.

they were tired because we'd been out late friday night (even though they woke up on their own) and just not really into it.

christian and matt trying to line them up.

in the end matt ran with frankie and i ran with addie. it went a little something like this. walk, talk addie up so she would run, happily run for a minute, then randomly stop and cry. repeat. we tearily crossed the finish line and they got a gold medal, cookies, and bananas.

then it was time for the 5k. we weren't sure that matt was gonna make it (with his 2 week annual training and all), so chris and i had planned that he would run as fast as he could (he wanted to place in the top 10) and then come back and take the stroller so i could finish. i made a last minute decision though to let lexi keep the little girls. i signed her up to run too but she declined. she refused to walk, run, bike, or in any other way participate. i decided she at least had to come out and cheer us on and then that she might as well keep the little girlies.

it was so fun, we know most of our neighbors and christian had invited chelsea, so martines' came and ran too. fun, fun, fun event. :)

christian finished first from our group, i think his time was 25 minutes, matts was 28, and slow and steady i pulled up the rear with 33 minutes.

post race pic.

(more to come)

after the race spencer picked christian up and they went to the swapmeet where chris bought this little diddy.

he's decided he'd like to decorate his room with them. boys are so weird.

matt and david left to work on the boat, lexi went to mccombs to hang out, and johnna came for a playdate at the park. her grandson landon is going to marry our frankie you know.

we brought the kiddos home and johnna had brought them each a lunchable. then she helped us pick up. i have good friends! during the babies nap the big kids and i watched chronicle. then after naps (while laney was still sleeping) i took the girls up to the pool that just opened.

dinner and baths and lifetime movies and bed rounded out our saturday.

after the little girlies went down, the big kids and i went drugstore shopping (cvs and riteaid) and to pick up megan to spend the night.

*sunday, may 27*

addie loves hanging out with lexi and friends. she heard them awake and they called her to come say good morning. don't mind that she's half naked.

church was really really good. all about families and just what i needed to hear.

my top 3 things:

soft answers, mothers controlling the volume of their voice, and building protections for our families.

we had an easy dinner of grilled cheese and lunchmeat sandwiches, watched saturdays warrior, made treats for the memorial day picnic, the big kids "tanned" in the backyard (at 6pm...), and laney and i hung out on the deck.