Ganson Family Scrapbook: May 2016

The kids now do their own laundry. Micah has his own day, and Caleb and Abby work together since their clothes together make about one big load. :)

Ben went with the kids to Ohio over Mother's Day weekend. Not going to lie... I was a little bit of a wreck when they left since I had a WHOLE DAY alone before I left with my friends for the beach. (Pathetic, I know... it's just so WEIRD being busy all the time and then suddenly having a 5 day stretch ahead of me with no kids bugging me!) Anyway, Ben worked a half day on Thursday, and I took the kids up to Charlotte so he could continue on to Ohio and I could switch cars with him. I thought Caleb and Abby had been playing outside for about half an hour while I finished up some stuff in the house. When I came outside to tell them it was time to go, I found out they had been buckled in the van the whole time. :) They were just a little excited.

3rd year in a row that the Moms all got to go to the beach for Mother's Day weekend! View from our room:

Those of us who arrived in time for dinner Friday evening. (I'm taking the picture, and 3 more came later that night...) Amanda is posing like this because in the picture from the men's retreat, all the guys are smiling except Seth (Amanda's husband) who thought they were doing a silly picture, so he looked like he was falling asleep.

Most of what the weekend consisted of: (also, we took walks on the beach, watched a movie, read books, ate a lot... pretty much perfect weekend for a group of women!)

We decided to drive about 2 miles to dinner one night, but one van was parked too far away, so 11 of us crammed into one mini van. 2 people in the front, 3 people in the middle row, 3 people in the back row, and 2 people in the trunk (whose hands are poking up in this picture.)

At Micah's babseball game, Abby and Caleb decided they wanted to go join some older kids who were playing football...

Day 180 of school! Which means the last day of 3rd grade (Micah) and kindergarten (Caleb.)

Donuts to kick off the first day of "official summer vacation". We actually only took off about two or three weeks, and then started doing school 2-3 days a week during the summer (except when we were traveling.) It's just so hot here in the summer that it seems worth it to get some work out of the way so we can take off more time during the school year when it's nice out.

Playing in the sand at Cherry Park:

If there's one commandment our church took seriously, it was "Be fruitful and multiply." We have SO MANY kids at our church, and they just keep coming! Baby Jenai and Joanna were born about a week apart.

This must have been "Pentecost Sunday" because they are wearing flames on their heads:

Abby attempted every means she could think of to reach the pink cookies on top of the fridge. :)

More of Caedmon:

One evening, we met some friends at Amelie's (a French bakery and coffee shop downtown.) Abby set up a game at a table by herself, so Mike Jette walked over and said, "Can I play with you?" He said she ducked her head and sighed and then said, "Fine." :)

Micah and his friend Camden:

Aunt Carrie and Lindsey Bucher are the only two grown women that Abby would voluntarily approach to snuggle with (besides me and Grandmas of course.)

Ben preached at the Greenville Vineyard (and their pastor came and spoke at our church), so we went down the day before to enjoy the downtown area. I don't remember who this statue is of, but Caleb really wanted the telescope in his hands:

Downtown Greenville. We actually ran into Seth and Amanda who were in Greenville for the weekend celebrating their university. :) Of course, we can't do anything easy.... we all spent the night on fold-out couches in the basement of the pastor's house... and in the middle of the night, Abby woke up screaming saying her head hurt. After she woke everyone up (including, I'm sure, the entire family we stayed with), she threw up and went back to sleep. Traveling with Abby is so overrated.

We discovered Freedom Park in Charlotte. One play area is dedicated to the Panthers, and it's a football obstacle course, including a place where you can time yourself on a 40-yard dash. Micah especially was in heaven.

End of baseball. Abby making sure she gets a snack too. :)

My flowers starting to bloom more:

My tiny garden on the side of the garage. I planted tomatoes, popcorn (brought back from New York by Mike Jette), strawberries, and some lettuce. I'm really horrible at keeping up with a garden though, even when it's this little!