So things have been a little busy...

And that, my friends, is a massive understatement.  I mean there are busy seasons, and there are calm seasons, then there's the in between normal that we kind of define ourselves by.  I think it's safe to say that as a family of 6 with kids ranging in age from 2-13, that our "normal" is really quite busy, and we're actually kind of used to that.  We do well with busy.  We enjoy activity.  But the last few months- holy moly.  It has been busy redefined and I could use a break!  It's been one of those seasons of life where every so often I'll stop and think, God must be trying to teach me something here with everything that is going on and if I actually had time to THINK about it, I might figure it out....   Well, I haven't really had time to think about it yet, but I'm sure there are many life lessons packed in the pages of the story of our lives over the past few months and maybe one day I'll figure out how to unpack them.  Not today.  Today is for mindlessly posting pictures and stories on the blog and sipping my grande white chocolate frappuccino and soaking in the quiet.

So WHAT exactly has made things so crazy?  Definitely not any one thing.  More a combination of all the little things (and a few biggies thrown in there).  Here's a recap.  Some of these things will probably eventually get their own post once I get my feet back under me a little bit and actually organize my time enough to schedule "computer time"...

So, a recap...  The biggest biggie is that we moved.   Just across town.  But the girls and I did it while Jason was out of town to surprise him.  Completely crazy, probably.  Am I still catching up on lost sleep?  Definitley.  Worth the surprise for him and the heartache that it saved him?  Absolutely?  

Here's a little of the "crazy" he got to miss.  This event will definitely get its own post...

Let's see, what else?  Spring in Amman means baseball season for us on Fridays.  It makes for a full weekend, but the girls love it.  Abbey and Maddie are on the same team and Naomi is on a t-ball team.  Fridays are spent at the ball park for the first 2 months of spring.  They had their last regular season game today and Abbey and Maddie's team are first place in the league.  Tournament games will be next weekend.  

2 happy little t-ball players

I will tell you that I have gotten pretty good at the single parenting thing while Jason travels.  Obviously I don't love it, but he travels a good bit and we are fairly used to it.  Watching Anabelle at the ball park while trying to watch the other girls games ranks among my least favorite activities to do while Jason is out of town!  

Here she is talking to the team in the dugout...

Abbey was Dorothy in her drama group's production of The Wizard of Oz this spring and she did an AMAZING job.  We were so proud!   The play was in a small (ish) community style theatre, kind of ampitheatre style where you are sitting in pretty close quarters.  Anabelle was very enthusiastic to see Abbey every time she came on stage.  When Dorothy throws water on the wicked witch to melt her, AB was very concerned and kept yelling, "Abbey, you o'tay, you o'tay?!.

Aunt AJ came for a visit about a week after we got moved in to our new apt so that I could go on a trip with Jason. It was an amazing treat for the girls and such a blessing to Jason and me.  Anabelle really took to AJ and I think they had a great week together.

AJ treated us to Chili's the night before she left and we even got the chocolate molten cake- a rare treat! 

Anabelle was pretty sure it was all supposed to be for her...

I mentioned going on a trip with Jason.  Unfortunately, I went on the trip, but my suitcase didn't make the trip with me.  It ended up spending about 12 days in Istanbul but did finally find it's way back to me.  That was a little unneeded stress for sure!

In the midst of all the craziness, this little mess-pot turned two.

Here she's enjoying hummus and falafel- her favorite, before her "nemo cake" party.

And here's the much anticipated "nemo cake"

So, as I'm re-capping all of this, I'm thinking, this doesn't really sound all that crazy!?  Just take my word for it!  I'm not mentioning all the boring stuff like financial reports, school hunting for next year, meetings and event planning, and did I mention we moved?  Without Jason?   Just wait for it.  If you've never moved in a foreign country you will see when I get around to posting about it how all consuming it can be!  

So anyway, we're still here.  Settling back into a calmer routine for the summer (I hope).  Jason is currently on his last trip until September- yay!  We have a few trips as a family but we're very excited about being together for the whole summer.  That's been another part of the craziness is I'm pretty sure that Jason hasn't been home for more than 10 days straight since February.  I take that back, he was home for 3 weeks in March but otherwise, it's been going, going, going.  Of course since he's gone, I'm sick.  But I'd rather it be me than the girls for sure. 

Looking forward to a summer of family visits, memory making and lots of quality time, and hopefully enough down time to record the memories we make...