Weekend Ramblings: Friday June 21st

June the 21st was marked on our calendar for a few months.  It was National Flip Flop Day and Tropical Smoothie gives you a free smoothie if you come in wearing flip flops.

We also had an Adoption Connection event to attend at Brandon's workplace.  It was on a different campus than the one that he works at so we picked him up from work and stopped by Tropical Smoothie on the way across town.

I was really nervous because Brandon's big boss is in charge of the Adoption Connection and I've never met him.  Also, all of the kids were going with us and when you put 5 children in a new environment you never know what you are going to get.  Before I left the house, so I snapped a picture and said, "Here we go!"

 Brandon sent me a message back saying I looked beautiful and we'd all do fine.  

The girls were all dressed up to go to Daddy's work.  Here they are waiting in line for their smoothie.

Then the boys went in with Daddy.  Isaiah was sleeping so we took turns.  Xander is not wearing flip flops... remember the whole shoe fiasco?  And Solomon is wearing sandals but the gracious owner let them both have smoothies.

When we got to the adoption event, the girls were thrilled to see that there were craft activities set up all around the room.

Here is a picture of Daddy introducing everyone to his boss. 

Jason has a large family too so he was pretty good at keeping up with their names.

Everyone had fun painting.

The girls went to the cupcake decorating station.  The boys did not do this due to food allergies. 

And they did a layered sand art project.  I kept telling them to fill it ALLLLLL the way to the top so that the sand wouldn't shift and the layers would stay neat.  Some listened, some did not.  Such is life with five.

We had some appetizer type foods and the children played some games.  Then we packed up and grabbed their treat bags and headed out.

On the way home, we stopped by Whole Foods to use a giftcard we had.  

It was an excellent start to the weekend. I love the opportunity to chat with other adoptive families.  I loved seeing all the different skin colors.  The girls really enjoyed seeing other families that looked similar to ours. 

There are some rumblings of the company changing their adoption benefits for the better.  Right now they have a $5,000 reimbursement and 12 weeks leave after placement.  (6 paid!) We are eager to see what will happen!

~Stephanie