Catch-up....or is it catsup?

Good morning, all.

It's been awhile, huh?  I guess that's what happens when you take a vacation that stretches out to 10 days (5 of them driving..) and you make a commitment to not eat fast food gourmet on the way or in the hotel rooms.   Yep, that was my life for the last month.   I doubled a week's worth of meals and froze them, and we trekked them to and from FL with us, eating them in the hotel room every night (One plus of being "too big" of a family for a regular hotel room:  we're forced to book the suites, which tend to have more options for making food).

But now we're back and re-adjusting to real life.  With a baby who is now walking.  And getting into everything.   And refusing to eat baby food, be fed by someone else, and (as of today) insisting that all drinks come in sippy cup form.  Which means that my baby pretty much always looks like this now:

Which also means that my dogs are in doggie heaven.

And that you should not look at my floors when you come visit.

Anywho....it was a fantastic vacation.  We headed back to my hometown for the week, and spent it soaking up the sun on the beach, watching the Blue Angels, exploring the historic village, and dolphin cruising.   Wanna see pictures?  Of course you do!    I'll try to keep it to the bare minimum, as some of you have already seen these on Facebook, I'm sure:

Historic village tour....old Protestant Church....adopted child pretends to serve Mass.....hilarious

Grahaminator's science lessons had been on the ocean recently - including marine animals.  All he wanted from vacation was to see dolphins.....mission accomplished!

Driving the dolphin cruise

Stopping to see dear friends on the way home....so blessed

Love the Blues

Living it up, resort-style

This child is going to keep me on my toes.  She is an adrenaline JUNKIE

Biggest child left this for the housekeeping staff at the hotel to "make them laugh because their job is so hard"

Theo LOVED vacation!

It was an added blessing to share the week of fun with my mom (Nanny) and my grandma (More Nanny)

Early morning nature walks TOTALLY make this a school day, right?

You may have noticed something about the pictures above........a certain little face maybe?  

Right before we left for vacation, this happened:

Yeppers!  Theo is officially Theo, and we are so very very grateful.  This little man brightens our days and fills our hearts.  He's a special little guy, that's for sure!!!

Alright, I need to go pick said little man up from school, but I'll be back.  SO MUCH HAPPENED during our week that I need to process (reflections on mothering, family, adoption, faith, you name it....pretty much everything was questioned or illuminated this past week, including a very anxiety-ridden lunch stop for me that brought A LOT of things to the surface).    I'll be back to do so as soon as we are unpacked.....