Got to do something really fantastic Thursday...

A neighbor, Renee, and I volunteered for our local county DFCS office -- they were having some sort of dinner for the parents. The kids were in a separate area and we hung out with them, sang karaoke with them, danced, ate pizza, made arts & crafts, etc. Most of the kids were school age, but there were a handful of younger children. I was paired up with a group of three young children who were all "siblings." They didn't want to dance or sing. They were shy and one was very clingy. She held my hand right away. Leaned on me as we watched the other kids. Gazed (and smiled a lot) at me. It made me a little bit uncomfortable b/c I think there are rules about me not being affectionate back... but it was clear that she needed it.

Several times throughout the evening, I had to hold back tears. These children were very happy, normal kids. One of them looked like an older Mercer. They mostly seemed like they were pretty well-adjusted. I can't imagine what their lives are like when they have to move from family to family. We're both really glad we helped out. We're now "on the list" to hang out more throughout the year.


Friday night, we (as a family) did something fun: we went to the square with neighbors to hear a concert in the park. There was a Beatles Tribute band playing. We caught some video of Mercer dancing and playing with his friends... and Todd will try to edit it and upload it over the weekend. (Check back soon) We all had a really good time as we officially celebrated Marietta's 175th birthday. (They had balloons hanging up everywhere and a huge cake (supposedly). The place was a zoo, but we were nestled into our spot which several families staked out together earlier in the day and were surrounded on one side by bushes / on other sides by lawn chairs... so the kids were somewhat confined and able to run around.

Instead of walking to the square / farmer's market today (Saturday), we rode our bikes. Mercer still does not like his helmet! We got our first CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) distribution today from a local farmer who sells veggies up there. We've signed up for 10 weeks. One of the veggies we got was a head of cabbage (which we would probably not tend to buy on our own -- so we need to look up cabbage recipes. That's the beauty about a CSA -- eating seasonally and trying things we probably wouldn't have tried normally. Brocolli is also in season... I had actually planned to make some sort of brocolli recipe this week -- now I'll double that recipe!

Tonight, the fun continued... we had our neighborhood putt-putt golf tournament. More playing for the little guy and more socializing for us. Since he loves balls.... he was as happy as he could be. Here, he's got the two-handed behind-the-head ball toss (it's hard to tell what direction they will head in, but sometimes, they go forward (as seen in this blurry action shot)

He wanted to play football with some of the bigger kids and take a spin on some of the ride-on toys that were there, but he settled for throwing a golf ball around and chasing it much of the evening. Here, "uncle Orie" is getting in that rough-housing activity Mercer really wanted!





Have a great week ahead!