Our Little Men

Homemade roll-out biscuits

2009-03-18T10:43:00.000-04:00

DS1 made our breakfast biscuits this morning while I started the griddle with some eggs-over-easy, yummy! :-) He got out the recipe book and went to town, all on his own. . . he decided to do "number" biscuits, sooo cute! I must say, they were delicious. . . his brothers all complimented him on a 'job well done' and then asked if he could make some more for lunch! ;-) lol

Math Time - fun for all!

2009-03-13T20:58:00.000-04:00

Upon waking first thing this morning, the boys were asking for their favorite Math game online. . . and I was happy to comply! Nothing like finding a math game your kiddos love and beg for, eh?! I think littlest man is learning math via osmosis! lol

The Circus

2009-03-05T22:03:00.001-05:00

We went to the circus this evening and had a lovely time. The big boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves and all the neat activities. . . it was a bit long for little man so we took some breaks and walked the halls as needed. The animals are my personal favorite and are just incredible! Here's a few of our favorites in the shots - enjoy!

Birthday Celebration

2009-02-28T21:23:00.004-05:00

Strawberry Shortcake - it's her fave right now!

She got this super-cool bath and her and little man put it to good use - they had such a blast! ;-)

Obviously, he thoroughly enjoyed the cake! lol

She's incredibly beautiful AND ya just gotta love her 'faces'. . . she gets those from her Mama! ;-D lol

My baby girl (my niece) is 4yrs old - WOW, that went fast! It seems like yesterday I was with my sis in the delivery room awaiting to see her beautiful new bundle of joy! We travelled a few hours to be with family and celebrate her birthday. . . such a wonderful day! Daddy's parents and their respective spouses joined us in the celebration so it was fabulous to be able to see everyone and fellowship together. We all had a super-duper great day. We are so blessed that our parents all get along so well and are so inviting - it blesses us in ways that I just can't explain. . . soooo awesome to get to see you all!

Weekly Nature Hike

2009-02-23T22:39:00.001-05:00

Big boys checking out the ice - it looks like water free-flowing in the background but it was frozen on top, absolutely beautiful!

We found this opening in the trees, along the woods, and here the water was not frozen and was moving with a fast current. . . gave us the opportunity to discuss currents and reason behind why it wasn't frozen thru in this spot.

Animal tracks

Littlest man carrying his thermos of hot chocolate. The view from this bridge over the river is breathtaking!
I got us a big, warm breakfast and made up a huge batch of hot chocolate and out we headed for our weekly nature hike. We LOVE to have breakfast outdoors and sometimes we are priviledged enough to witness deer meandering around while we sit and eat and watch them play. We were out for a couple of hours this morning and spotted quite a bit of wildlife, some animals tracks (which we identified), gathered some things for our nature journals and then we headed back home. Such a fabulous way to start our day - it just sets an incredible mood for the rest of the day. If you haven't attempted to add nature studies or hiking to your homeschool, you really should give it a try - it's so refreshing and the conversation possibilities and learning adventures are limitless! You won't be disappointed! :-)

Family Day

2009-02-22T19:50:00.001-05:00

S2 was trying out the awesome catapult. . . aim - fire!

S4 driving the highway truck

S3 dressed up as a Knight with his horse

S1 dressed up - such a cute smile!

All of our little men!
Sundays are our 'Family Day' and we truly guard this day of the week for our family. . . a day to really spend together without interruptions. Today we took our kiddos to the Museum to play and enjoy our morning and afternoon and we had a great time. Then we headed home, had some lunch together and then spent the rest of the day playing some games and just hanging out together. It was a wonderful day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T09:50:00.003-05:00

Littlest man holding up his Valentine

DS1 savoring his homemade cookie

Yummy! :-)

I rose WAY before the sun even thought about rising this morning and finished up getting things ready for when the boys would wake. I pulled out the Valentines I made them and set them out on the table, decorated them with some special chocolates and got started on making up some homemade cookies. I got them all decorated and ready to go. I love watching their sweet little faces when they wake and see all the decorations and yummies. . .nothing like witnessing the happenings thru the eyes of your children. . .

Happy Faces

2009-02-13T10:20:00.002-05:00

What more can you say. . . their sweet, happy faces say it all! We can all take a lesson from the little ones - it's about attitude and choosing to be happy and then basking in that happiness. . .you've just got to love the simplicity of that!

Goggles Galore. . . a hint of summer

2009-02-12T09:41:00.000-05:00

Can ya tell our boys are SUPER anxious for warmer weather? What that actually means is that they are ready to go swimming - they LOVE swimming! :-) They've been running around the house for the past couple of weeks donning their goggles and putting on their swimming trunks and having diving competitions (read: jumping off the edge of the couch in their playroom into a sea of water. . . err, uhhh, I mean pile of beanbags and cushions!). Summer, oh summer, where are you?!

Make A Wish

2009-02-10T22:31:00.000-05:00

DS1 & 3 taking their turn with the wishbone

I've never see this before, but they are literally both equal halves!
Yep, the wishbone is a big deal in this house. . .just like in my house when I was a little girl. They don't have to wait too long for their turns as I generally cook up a whole chicken at least 1x/wk, but the excitement it brings it hillarious and sweet to watch. It's also interesting to see what's pondering in their minds at the time, sooo the question is. . . is it more fun for them or more fun for Mom??? :-)

Pizza Night. . . a la chef de son!

2009-01-03T17:48:00.001-05:00

S1 rec'd a chef's apron and hat for Christmas from his Pappa & Nana P and he had it on 1st thing Christmas morning and helped bake up Jesus' birthday cake. . . he was biting at the bit to put them to good work! It was so cute watching him, he did an awesome job and pretty much did 90% of the baking on his own. . . and the results were d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! Everyone had their own little individual cake (sorry no pic, we scarfed them down!) and he was quite proud of himself, it was incredibly sweet. Anyways, Daddy & I got him a Wolfgang Puck cookbook (Pizza, Pasta & More) and this was the 1st creation he made out of it - it was scrumptious! We had family visiting and Saturday is our Pizza & Movie Night and he wanted to make up the pizza utilizing a new recipe from his cookbook. Daddy & he worked in the kitchen while I kicked up my feet and enjoyed a nice game of Blokus with my sis! :-) Boy I tell ya, this gift just keeps on giving and giving! ;-D

Letterboxing

2008-12-30T18:40:00.003-05:00

This is our newest find this fall (Letterboxing) and we are still going strong with enjoyment and challenges! Quite honestly. . . we LOVE Letterboxing. It combines several of our VERY favorite things to do. . . hike and seek! ;-D Seriously though, we love to hike, it's part of our regular routine, and we love to still engage in anything that is treasure hunting'esque (don't bother looking it up, I just made it up!). If you want to learn more about Letterboxing and/or find some boxes to go hunting for in your area, go to www.letterboxing.org. There are like 593 boxes in our state - incredible! Sometimes we decide to go hunt a certain area so we just log online and print off the directions or sometimes if we have a field trip we check to see what's in that area that we can hunt for while we're there - SUCH fabulous fun and so adventurous! Daddy and the boys are working on creating our own family stamp to use for logging when we find a box and for our personal logbook - I'll be sure to post a pic of it when it's all done. Some of you may be familiar with geo-caching and that is pretty much the same thing just with a GPS system, rather than a compass. Since we hike on a regular basis we really wanted the boys to be able to fully understand and utilize their compasses, plus they were a gift from their Grandma & Grandpa L for their birthdays, so we're putting them to good use! Boy are we racking up the miles on those babies! ;-D Anyways, check out the link and plan your own family adventures.

Family Photos

2008-10-13T14:28:00.001-04:00

We took advantage of the extra hands and had them snap a pic of our family! :-)

My Dad and P, Daddy & I and the boys, my baby brother and his wife and daughter.

Vacation

2008-10-12T23:03:00.001-04:00

This is my baby brother, D, and his adorable little daughter, C. He was home for leave from Iraq for a few weeks and we were able to spend time with him and his family at my Dad & P's.

You can see how much the big boys love Uncle D - they think he's "it"! :-)

Littlest man is a fish - who has no fear! We have an eagle-eye on him!

Just having fun!

They would stay in the water ALL day and night, if we'd let them!

Georgia's Surgery

2008-10-01T11:52:00.001-04:00

Our big girl had surgery to get fixed and get her do-claws removed, all 4 of them. She has to wear this lovely contraption for about a week so her sutures will have a chance to heal and hopefully be removed then. Poor baby, but she still looks so cute! Our girl proudly weighed in at 78lbs - she's 6mo old! :-)

Another First - Tent Camping

2008-09-26T01:19:00.003-04:00

Our 1st experience camping in a real-life tent! Look at how awake they still are. . . at 1:16am in the morning! We had just finished up a late-night hike the park offered (it was fun hiking in the dark with limited flashlight use), and we had the munchies! :-)

These are our very special friends - the F family, who we were able to enjoy this experience with. We love you guys!

Look at them all. . . hard to believe they're all 6 now! And even harder to believe we've been getting together for almost 5yrs! Look at our babies!

The big boys and I enjoyed this wonderful experience together while Daddy & littlest man enjoyed some 1:1 time and he got to accompany Daddy to the office - such a big boy!
I cannot state enough how much we enjoyed this trip and what a wonderful job the park did at putting this program together - we so enjoyed ourselves. And our family has had an RV for over 9yrs so we love the outdoors and enjoy camping but it was a neat experience to tent camp. . . we will be buying a tent next year for sure to add to our future experiences!

Reading Anywhere. . . Reading Everywhere

2008-09-24T16:08:00.002-04:00

These shots really speak to the truth about where we read/learn/discuss/research - yep, anywhere and everywhere! ;-) Boy isn't that the truth?! I walked out to the garage as we were getting ready to go for a bike ride and the boys were getting their shoes on. . . well, I found them hanging out together on the freezer just reading away. The next day we were outside playing in the backyard and they went back in the house and brought books out onto the deck and sat and read there. Reading is just a normal part of our everyday activities. . . just like eating and breathing!

Firefighters Survive Alive

2008-09-16T20:34:00.003-04:00

Oh my goodness, this shot is just priceless! It truly captures how they felt. ALL. DAY! They were hooping it up! And their fire fighter hats were intact until bedtime and we could barely get them off of them for bath time! ;-D

Today we had our much-anticipated field trip to Survive Alive and we were very excited. I coordinated this field trip for about 10 kiddos and everyone really enjoyed themselves. The wonderful gentleman (a retired firefighter)who helped facilitate this program set-up for us was so great with the kids and just plain amazing! There was a police officer who came in and talked with us about his role with the police department and about gun safety. Then we spoke with the firefighters about fire safety and then we took the Survive Alive tour which involves fire simulation in a home. This gave the kids all good experience to test the knowledge of what they had just learned regarding fire safety and what to do in case of a home fire. They all did a great job! We really enjoyed our visit there and we also got to visit the Firefighters Museum which had an old fire wagon - it was amazing to see! After our visit we went over to Daddy's office and donned our new fire hats and chatted about our exciting field trip and what we learned. God bless the firefighters who so selflessly protect us!

K'nex Creatures

2008-09-09T16:21:00.002-04:00

Ours boys really love their K'nex and will build with them (or anything else for that matter) for hours. . . the possibilities are endless. This seems to be ds3's favorite building manipulative right now. . . I think because he really enjoys making little cute, funny-looking creatures and then naming them and telling us about each of them. . . very fascinating!

Spend or Save?

2008-09-05T18:10:00.002-04:00

That was today's topic - spend or save? We were reading and this was what littlest man chose for his reading, so when I was done reading it out loud he told us what he would "spend" on and what he would "save" for. Apparently, he's saving for a plane. . . so he can fly us all to Hawaii! ;-D Hey, sounds good to us! lol

Performances

2008-09-01T20:55:00.003-04:00

We were invited to a performance today. . . via personal invitation, which was hand-delivered. We were told to arrive at a precise time and then we would be guided from there. So of course, I changed into a nice skirt and was then escorted to a front row seat where we were given a lovely, healthy snack to munch on while we awaited the starting performance. :-)
We were then treated to a lovely play performance which was a story they had all created together (yep, this is where the tears start). Then each of the big boys took turns playing a musical solo for us on their instruments. . . so we enjoyed a piano performance, guitar singing, violin solo and then the show closed with a gymnastic performance by our littlest man. And did I mention all the lovely decorations they hand-created? It was incredibly sweet. . . something I will treasure and remember forever. I feel so blessed to be with them to enjoy all their creativity and to be a part of it all! I am a Mama whose heart is overfilled with joy! :-)

Today's Engineering

2008-08-31T16:42:00.000-04:00

While I prepared breakfast, the boys engineered their own creation. . . a building with a secret hide-away. Secret passageways/hide-aways/compartments are "it" these days. . . they are so creative and the amazing thing is what they all come up with together. Someone will have an idea and they may start at one place and end somewhere completing different from where they originally anticipated. I could watch them for hours, literally. It's phenomenal what little ones will come up with when we supply the manipulatives and then just get out of the way! :-) (unless your assistance is requested of course - then ya jump right in!)

"Fireproof"

2008-08-30T16:30:00.001-04:00

This is something that is very near and dear to my heart. . . we need to come together, in Christ, and help one another, share what we know, and encourage one another in this journey of marriage. I feel incredibly blessed that God chose me to be the wife to my wonderful husband - what a blessing he is to me and what an amazing father he is to our children. I am thankful to him, each and every day, for the effort that he makes to always provide for us. . . spiritually, emotionally, physically and mentally.

Let's reach out to another and share, support, uplift and encourage. . . the way God commands us to, in His name. Let's share the message of this coming movie! Please join me in praying for marriages across the world - for strength and God's direction and amazing blessings.

Afternoon Out

2008-08-28T23:23:00.002-04:00

Today we headed over to Paradise Cafe to grab some lunch and then to round out our afternoon at the bookstore, choosing some new books. The big boys earn new gift cards based on the readers they get thru. . . then they get to take those and choose more books to devour! I love watching them carefully perusing the book isles and picking up and inspecting possible choices, it's such fun to watch during this process. Not only do they feel proud of their accomplishment and happy about their new gift card that is theirs to spend on what they choose, but they also get to use their math skills while figuring out how much they have to spend and what they can get with it. . . or how far they can stretch it! :-) Love, love, love the bookstore!

Shoe Thief Strikes Again

2008-08-27T19:09:00.002-04:00

Shoe. . . shoe. . . oh shoe, where are you??? Uh huh, I'm wondering if any of you know the shoe thief as well? Does he come and visit your house too??? It is astonishing for me to think of how one actually loses a shoe. . . I mean seriously. . .I am very well organized, have taught (or that I had! ;-)) our boys how to be organized, and we even have a system in place. Yet somehow, we are missing a shoe! And truth be told, it's not just one shoe, nope. . . it's 1 shoe today for ds4, but ds2 and 3 have each lost a croc to the shoe thief over the last 6months. Pretty soon, we may have to start charging the shoe thief for all these great new shoes he's accumulating! ;-D Sooo today, our handsome youngest one was stylin' in his own kind of. . . hmmm. . . we'll say. . . fashion! :-)

Happy 15th Anniversary Babe!

2008-08-21T22:57:00.002-04:00

We celebrated our super-fabulous anniversary by taking a little trip, just the 2 of us. . . for 4 wonderful, incredible, amazing days! WOW - did we have the greatest time! It's so easy to get bogged down with the everyday life stuff, and anyone who knows me understands how important I think it is to make weekly time for just you and your spouse, but getting away, truly away. . . well, it's just F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S! Our 4 little men were in the best of care (my sis - thanks again Hun, you rock!) and had a wonderful time all of their own! :-) When you know your kids are in great care with someone who loves them, it's easy to relax and really enjoy your time away. So this little snipet of a pic is all you get. . . oh and the free advice to plan your own annual away-from-the-kids, just-the-two-of-you trip. . . the rest of our trip is well. . . Top secret! ;-D

1st Day of Co-op

2008-08-18T19:43:00.000-04:00

Today marks a new day! The beginning of our co-op year, yay! And the boys and I are very excited as God has led us to a new co-op group this year - lots of new friends and new adventures await us. While we are year-round homeschoolers, our co-op group will follow a standard school year length and then break from classes for summer. Don't our little men look so big. . . and so handsome?! :-)

Birthday Festivities Come to a Close

2008-08-17T22:28:00.002-04:00

Well, after about 6 straight days of celebrating (since they're 6, ya know!) with friends and family, our family headed back to their respective homes and we began to prepare for our 1st day of co-op! This pic is a true testament to how wound up and exhausted they were, all at the same time! ;-) The boys said to us several times over the past couple of days, "this is the BEST birthday EVER - can we do this EVERY year?!" Boy Daddy, what were we thinking?!

Birth Day. . .our babies are 6!

2008-08-14T21:26:00.002-04:00

What a morning. . . full of laughter, giddiness, wide-mouth smiles, lots of hugs and kisses and LOTS of excitement! We arose bright and early and let the big boys open up their gifts before we hit the road for their birthday trip. Daddy and I had packed the night before so pretty much everything was loaded and ready to go - it was a nice, relaxed time spent just basking in the glory of their sweet littles faces and shouts of shear happiness. I love to treasure these moments. . . I can hardly believe our babies are 6 today. . . it seems just yesterday I was on bedrest, just hanging out gestating, eating 4000 calories a day and reading to them in the womb. . . how is it possible our babies are 6?! It just goes too fast. . .

Our big boys ask if we could take a birthday trip so, per their request, we headed to the amusement park of their choice where we had the BEST time! Daddy & I were so impressed with the park and their cleanliness and family-friendliness - it was simple and purely THE BEST place to spend the best day! :-) Thank you Jesus, for these amazing little boys you have lent to us!

Park Day Fun :-)

2008-08-14T19:53:00.001-04:00

2008-08-14T18:57:00.000-04:00

Early Bday Present Gets Delivered

2008-08-12T21:03:00.001-04:00

They. Were. SOOO. EXCITED! It's hard to say who was more excited with the anticipation - the big boys or Daddy and I. ;-) We had told the boys that they would be receiving a gift, via delivery, before we left for their birthday trip. The suspense was such fun. . . well, for everyone except Daddy - he doesn't like to wait! I had the piano movers call me when they pulled into our addition and then I had the boys go sit on the couch in their playroom. They waited so patiently and it was wonderfully sweet to hear the excitement in their voices as they talked amongst themselves about what it could possibly be (a new 4-wheeler, maybe another puppy from Daddy, a HUGE remote control helicopter). . . oh my goodness, I could hardly keep from falling over on the floor with laughter just listening to them! lol The movers were awesome - they had it covered/wrapped and left it that way for the surprise. . . I had all 4 of them close their eyes and then the movers slid it into the designated place. . . and then aoilo - the screaming began! ;-) You can see in the 2nd shot when they opened their eyes - it was truly priceless! Yep, I think Daddy & I did good on this one! :-)

Another Tooth Gone

2008-08-07T11:42:00.002-04:00

DS1 - and his new fabulous grin! :-)
Tooth #3 gone. . . and exactly 1 week before celebrating his 6th birthday - what a morning! His brothers are sooo excited for him, it's so sweet! :-) He is the only one out of the trio to have lost any yet and it's hard to tell who's more excited . . . him. . .or his brothers. And yes, of course I cried - but then those of you who know me well, probably already figured that. He was so cute - he said, "I know, you're crying because I'm growing up." (sniff/sniff) Yes my sweet son, it's bittersweet for Mama.

Leaf Pie. . . err, umm. . . Tree Pie

2008-08-04T11:58:00.002-04:00

I had to laugh because as I was typing this new post to our blog, DS2 said, "Mom, it's not a Leaf Pie, it's a Tree Pie, " LOL - well, there ya go! :-) We were out doing our usual Nature Study and exploring and observing and then the boys were studying the big tree in our back yard. Well that turned into a discussion about what the tree eats and how it survives and how old it is (the big boys were sharing and teaching their youngest bro). . . and then came the question posed from DS3 - "What type of pie do you think the tree would like?" And this was the result! I must admit, I love just watching them and those sweet little wheels spinning. . . so incredibly creative!

Berry Picking

2008-07-30T21:23:00.002-04:00

We awoke bright and early and headed out the door to go and do some berry picking! Today was the perfect day for it too, very overcast (looked like rain for the first couple of hours) and cool with a lovely breeze. And we pretty much had the orchard to ourselves (see the advantages of being early birds?! lol). We picked blueberries and raspberries. It's still a bit early for the raspberries so we didn't get a ton of them (we'll go back in a couple of weeks) but we ended up with a little over half of a flat of blueberries, so not bad for 4 little ones and a Mama! ;-) We picked and just enjoyed the incredible surroundings - they have a couple of lakes on their property and some woods and it's just amazingly beautiful. We did some berry picking and some nature studying all wrapped up together today! We will be making some blueberry jam with the blueberries, yummy!

My Little Helper

2008-07-29T21:17:00.002-04:00

I love mornings. . . early mornings. . . right after Daddy leaves I am up moving around the house and working on this and/or that, getting things ready for our day, starting some baking and cooking. . . it's just so quiet and peaceful. Well, this morning, littlest man came out to the kitchen and wanted me to "snuggle" him into the great room so he'd still be within eye-shot of me, so of course I complied. Well, along comes Miss Georgia to snuggle up in the chair with him and keep 'watch' over him while he went back to sleep. And she proceeded to stay there until he awoke about an hour and a half later! Yes, she is indeed my little helper. ;-)

Roots & Relations

2008-07-28T18:10:00.002-04:00

This is the new unit study that the boys and I are working on and man are we loving it! It's so fun and exciting. Today we made our weekly trip (sometimes more than weekly! ) to the library and scored these fabulous books to do a bit of reading and studying and gleaning to help us in our creating some Heritage Books. The boys are each making their own. They've already started making calls to family members with questions and requesting info, like favorite recipes (hey, ya didn't think we'd leave out food, did ya?! lol), favorite books, favorite and/or unique stories to share with us. I see this as something they will add to over the years and what a collection of information and memories they will have to share with their own families some day.

My 'Replica'

2008-07-27T20:58:00.003-04:00

My sweet, sweet little man (DS3) made this for me. . . he very proudly presented it to me and announced "It's you Mommy - I made you, see the smile on your face? 'Cause you're always smiling." (I'm glad he thinks so! lol)Awww, how precious is that? I literally cried. This picture just doesn't do it justice, but I hope you can see some of the detail. . . like the broad smile, medium length hair, shoes. . . it's just so touching that he took such immense time to fit all the details in to this creation. . . and just for me. I love it!

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-07-25T20:57:00.002-04:00

Isn't it just beautiful?! I'm just gazing at how intricate the design is. . . and well. . . I just love it! It has fabulous rubies that just shine like the sun. . .it's just so pretty. I love things that are 'antiquish' looking and this is exactly that. My wonderful husband is so funny - it's kind of like a joke between us. . . how early will he be with giving me something he buys? Today is not actually my birthday but he's like a kid in the candy store - he just can't stand it! ;-) He knows I LOVE surprises and will gladly wait until the specified day but he on the other hand, well, he just can't do it! So, ya never know when things are coming from him (which is a surprise in and of itself!). . . it could be a week early. . . or three weeks early! lol I love him. . . and I love the way he loves me. Yes, I appreciate the gift and the thought that I know he puts into selecting just the right thing he wants to give me, but above all I just love his steadfast and amazing love. God really blessed me with him and I thank Him for that every day. And thank you Huney - it's absolutely beautiful and I love it! :-) Love you Babe!

Angels vs. Red Sox

2008-07-24T22:28:00.002-04:00

Yep, we are the "Angels"! (Have they MET our boys?! lol) Just kidding. . . we have SOOO enjoyed baseball this season - what a joy to watch the big boys have their first experience as part of a team for baseball. These kids are truly a hoot to watch! We are pretty much an all boy team, with the exception of one little girl and boy is she a doll, not to mention she has quite a little arm! Could be the fact that she is one 8 children and definitely knows how to play and keep up with her siblings! ;-) The boys have just really enjoyed playing and Daddy is helping coach so that's been extra special for them too. As our baseball season is coming to a close, 2 of our big boys are now asking about basketball, so we'll see what the schedule looks like. S1 absolutely loves to play basketball so we'll certainly do everything we can to arrange that for him. :-)

Weekly Nature Study

2008-07-22T11:56:00.001-04:00

I just love the first pic. . . one, it's a cute pic of all the little men and Georgia (who loves to accompany us on our walks/hikes) and two, it truly represents their enthusiasm for just being out in nature and exploring - it's definitely one of our favorite weekly affairs. Notice our little spider buddy in the bottom picture - we observed him for quite some time and he didn't seem to mind us (or the noise) the least bit - what a trooper he was! :-) We've got some wonderful ideas for new notebooks for our nature studies. . . stay tuned and we'll try and post some of the creations.

Fresh Lemonade anyone?

2008-07-21T09:13:00.000-04:00

We made a huge batch of some freshly squeezed lemonade on Sunday and boy was it good. Daddy bought me a new glass container/ dispenser (you can kind of see it in the background) and even our super huge batch only filled it about half way up. So, this morning, I bottled up what we had left and put it in the fridge to enjoy through this week. We tried a new recipe and as soon as I have time to figure out how to properly post a link, I'll share it with all of you. Mmmm, good!

Bye-bye Nummies

2008-07-20T22:26:00.003-04:00

DS4 so happy with all the festivities - what a blast! (Notice the cherry-stained face?!)
Happy faces from everyone - they all got to enjoy a great time! Notice the lovely decorations. . . courtesy of our fabulous Daddy!
He's like his Daddy - there is just nothing better than ice cream. . . so of course we had some ice cream sandwiches - yummy! :-) Here he was saying "bye-bye nummies!" Awww, what a big boy!
Enjoying his super yummy treat!
Daddy and I decided to plan a little party to help assist the final phase of saying good-bye to nummies and honestly, it worked very well! Plus we all had a lovely time. . . Daddy did balloon creations for all the boys and decorated all of our chairs. We had some lovely leis to wear and after dinner we served up a little treat with some sparkler candles for littlest man to blow out - sooo fun!

Stitches and Rocky Road

2008-07-17T21:03:00.001-04:00

We were at a birthday party for the boys' best friends (also triplets) who were turning 6yrs old and had only made it about 15 minutes into the fun when this little accident occurred. . . oy! DS3 got hit in the head with a balloon that was weighted down by a rock. . .yep, you read that right. . . a ROCK! Who ties up a balloon with a rock?! That just doesn't sound safe to me and as evident from the picture above, it is NOT safe. We had to load up and make a visit to the local ER/Urgent Care, where my baby got 2 stitches. I must just say, that the entire staff there was absolutely incredible. . . truly just amazing! They were so friendly, kind and just overly gracious in their dealings and treatment with our whole family. The nurse made sure all of the boys had toys when we went back to the room then proceeded to get them each a coloring book and box of crayons. Then to top it off, she brought them each a Popsicle from the freezer. . . God bless her, she was amazing, and really touched my heart with the wonderful care and graciousness she displayed with all of us. It was the best of a bad and unfortunate situation.
My Mom and sister and niece had come down to visit and watch the boys baseball game that night, but unfortunately we didn't make it (and our big boys represent 1/3 of the team - yikes!). But as always, Nana knows how to make ya smile. . . she had Rocky Road ice cream waiting for us when we arrived - yep, 3 whole containers! lol Boy, does Nana know how to fix boo-boos! :-)

My Turn!

2008-07-15T13:26:00.000-04:00

We had just finished our devotions and littlest man yelled, "my turn Mama!". So he climbed up in the chair and started pointing to the words and giving us his version of what we had just read. . . it was just so cute, my heart was quite joyful.

Playdate

2008-07-10T15:07:00.003-04:00

We spent the whole day with our dear friends, the F family, and what a lovely time we had! This place had a quarry with water park stuff for all the kids to enjoy. It was amazingly beautiful! We had visited this place previously while searching for a new seasonal site location. They have tubing down the river, kayaking, paddle boats and canoeing - so much to do! We all swam and it was such incredible fun to watch the kids just thoroughly enjoy themselves. Our boys were pretty tired for their baseball game later that night! :-) (Mental note to Mommy: No all day swimming excursions on game nights! lol) ;-)

Growing. . . Growing. . . Growing!

2008-07-09T16:18:00.000-04:00

And of course, we haven't seen anything yet! lol ;-) She's getting so big and growing so fast! She has such a lovely disposition and has been a real blessing to our family. The boys are just in love with her and of course the feeling is mutual! :-)

Water Play

2008-07-08T16:50:00.000-04:00

It was another heat-fest day again so we pretty much stayed wet all day. . . it's just too hot to not be in the water. The boys had fun running through the sprinkler and using their super-soakers and playing games of tag and chase. We pretty much begged Daddy for a pool, but his common sense and level-headedness gently reminded us that we do not have a level yard for a pool. Geesh, who said reality rules?! ;-)

Creations With Pegs

2008-07-07T17:04:00.001-04:00

DS1 started out playing his peg game but then progressed to building. . .
Here is the house that he said he is going to build for me. . . what a Sweetheart!
And here DS2 was using the pegs as his gear shifter in his motor home. He took me for a ride and even made me my own "bed" area so I would be comfortable on our "bumpy ride". :-) Ya gotta just love that sweet, thoughtfulness - it just makes me so proud they understand showing God's love and compassion in all we do.

Happy 4th!

2008-07-04T21:18:00.002-04:00

One of the ladies who was in charge of the festivities here graciously offered to take a picture for us so we took her up on that kind offer!
DS4 and his creation of a "mower". . . he was rolling the ball with the stick and "mowing" the outer perimeter of the field. . . very creative if you ask me!

DS3 - Our champion bubble blower! lol
DS1 LOVES basketball - and he's pretty good! He was keeping up with the big boys pretty well! :-)
DS2 enjoying the last of his ice cream treat right before the fireworks show began.
DS2 took this shot of Daddy and I. . . he loves to use Mommy's camera! Perhaps a budding photographer?

We had such a fabulous day from beginning to end! We got up and grabbed some granola bars and made a big batch of smoothies and then the big boys and I headed out for a date with Mommy while littlest man had some individual time with Daddy. The big boys escorted me to the movies and we saw Wall-E, which I thought was pretty good and the boys enjoyed. While we vegged at the movies, Daddy and little guy did some shopping and then we all met up at the mall later. Then we grabbed some food at home, rode bikes and played and then took a little nap before we headed to the fireworks festivities. We tried a new place this year and we really enjoyed it - it was not too packed, peaceful, the people were very friendly and they had lots for kids of all ages. First we grabbed some dinner, then we enjoyed some play time for a few hours before the big show. Daddy treated us to some ice cream (do you see a theme in our family??? We LOVE ice cream!) and then we all snuggled up on our quilt and watched the fireworks. . . they were great! Oh and the really great thing about our new location - we weren't stuck in traffic for 3 hours trying to get home. . .oh yeah, that was great! ;-)

Reading Creates Readers

2008-07-01T20:22:00.000-04:00

We were playing and doing a bit of dress up and then DS1 & 4 switched gears and popped a squat to do a bit of reading. I LOVE the fact that they love to read and be read to. . .it's a fave around our house! I have read to the boys since they were literally inside the womb. . .weather reading God's word out loud or just a good classic, living book. . . now they take turns reading to me and to one another. . .wow, how far we've come in 5 short years. . .

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

2008-06-30T22:33:00.002-04:00

Ds4 was bringing books by the pile to have his big brother read to him. I offered to give DS2 a break and I would read for a bit, if he wanted, but he replied "It's okay Mom, I'm good!" lol He read to his younger brother for probably 2 straight hours. I was VERY impressed with his ability to ease through the book 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". These boys never cease to amaze me!

Batter Up!

2008-06-26T22:41:00.001-04:00

Our team is increasing in their skill level with every practice and every game - what a wonderful thing to witness and how fun to cheer them on! I'm loving their baseball season. . . and what fun to see them really enjoying themselves! And I love the fact that we have prayer and devotions that take place at each practice/game - teaching our little ones that it's all about God and keeping their eyes faithfully focused on Him in all things. . .big or small.

Library Time

2008-06-25T21:27:00.001-04:00

I love our Library, it just rocks! Seriously, they really cater to the homeschool community and the activities that they have and plan are just phenomenal - we so appreciate all the time and effort they put forth on our behalf. As evident of our pictures, you can do it all at the Library - from creative imagination/dress up, to all the different kid-size play stations, to all the quiet reading nooks, available games and tables to finishing it off at the cafe that serves up yummy (and somewhat healthy) food! Yes, this is one of our favorite weekly affairs too - it ranks right up there with our weekly nature studies. The Library truly does open up a world of adventure and opportunities just waiting to be had!

Persistence Pays Off

2008-06-24T03:25:00.000-04:00

I love to work right along side my husband (when the boys allow it! lol) and honestly, we make a great team, but on my own, without his assistance and direction. . . well. . . er. . . umm. . .I'm not always so handy! ;-) However, today I was determined to load up our little guys and get to the store and buy this lovely patio set, load it AND them back up (do they make a bigger vehicle than a Suburban?! ), get home, unload and put this set together BEFORE Daddy got home so I could surprise him and have him, just for once, get to enjoy something without having to put it together himself. Yes, I was quite proud (and busy!), but as the saying goes. . . persistence pays off! I had everything set up and in place and was literally finishing the last chair when Daddy came out onto the deck. I was a bit bummed that I didn't have it ALL done, but hey, it was quite a feat. . .especially for me. . . without my man! ;-)

Kiss the Pig!

2008-06-19T03:18:00.001-04:00

We raised $14,557.27 this week - woohoo! Praise God - how amazing is that?! At the beginning of the week, there was a challenge to raise $10,000 for a new sister church out in California and boy did we supersede that! The deal was, if we raised the $10,000 during VBS week then our Children's Ministry Pastor would kiss a pig. . . and pucker up he did! :-)
A deal's a deal Pastor! lol :-) The kids just thought this was hilarious - what a hoot to hear the roaring laughter in the church!
DS1 - this face says it all. . . they had a super fabulous week! Nothing like lighting their hearts on fire for the Lord!

Who has a new big boy bike?!

2008-06-18T02:52:00.004-04:00

Yes. . . my baby. . . has a. . . big. . . boy. . . bike! (waaaahhhh! How can that be?!)
Note to Daddy: Stop rushing Mommy! (j.k. Huney, he of course loves it. . . yes, you rock!) ;-)

Here is how it played out. . .

Daddy brought home a surprise for littlest man this evening - a BIG boy bike! Boy was he thrilled!

Yes, I was thrilled for him. . .even through my tears!
Putting it together. . .
Man, Daddy will NEVER have to worry about not having enough extra hands. . . EVER. . . AGAIN! ;-)
Some brotherly help. . .
Sooo proud to be "helping" with the big boys!

Boys Will be Boys

2008-06-17T03:09:00.002-04:00

Yep, we had VBS this week and WOW was it fun-filled, energy-filled, lively, wonderful and exhausting all wrapped up in one! I actually lost my voice this week with all the wonderful 'yelling matches', singing, reading and just plain having fun with all the kids! lol As evident from these pics, the boys thoroughly. . .yes thoroughly. . .enjoyed themselves. I was not their teacher this year - I taught the 2nd graders (they were a great group!) so it was really fun to have them recap their evening for me on our ride home. God is so good!

How many takes???

2008-06-16T14:43:00.001-04:00

Ummm. . . yeah. . . as you can see - the answer is ALOT! ;-) Let me tell ya, it's hard to get 5 kids to all look at you at the same time (especially with 2 other people taking pics at the same time! lol). Yeah. . . this is as good as it gets. . . at least today! :-)

Pool Fun

2008-06-15T14:23:00.001-04:00

DS3 - such a little dare-devil in the water! He is afraid of NOTHING! (keeping us on our toes always!)

DS1 - He too loves to swim and does not want to be outdone (a little peer pressure, I think, from his bro)

DS2 - Yay, he's swimming! He got it this summer while staying with Pappa & Nana P. . . being in the pool everyday truly does make a difference!
DS4 - Just hammin' it up. . . as usual! ;-)

We had such a lovely time visiting with Pappa & Nana P - they sooo spoil these boys! :-) It's just so great to be with family and I just truly enjoy watching the boys nestled in the love and quality time spent with their Grandparents. . . such a blessing! Thank you Dad & P for the wonderful vacation - it was very gracious of you and we had a fabulous time!

Happy as can be!

2008-05-27T17:26:00.003-04:00

Notice the vibrant smiles? Yep, it was like this all day as they enjoyed every little nook and cranny of their new playset! We hunted for buried treasure, took turns being pirates on an abandoned island, served as 'mates' on a sea ship and set up several fun obstacle courses - what a day! What a lovely day indeed! I even managed to fit in a 'chat' with one of my nearest and dearest! ;-)

Happy Memorial Day!

2008-05-26T16:59:00.001-04:00

And it's finished - yay. . .hip, hip, hooray. . . way to go Daddy! Our Daddy is so handy and we are ever so lucky to have him. Thank you Huney for working so hard and faithfully to get this done for our little men - I can only imagine the adventures we will have enjoying it.

Daddy & I kicked up our feet and relaxed on the deck and watched the boys enjoy their new club house. Later we all retreated to the house and took a wonderful nap, yes all 6 of us. I just want to say a special 'thank you' not only to our veterans on this very special day that honors them but also to all the men and women who still continue to give so selflessly of themselves and sacrifice daily so that we can enjoy and appreciate our freedom. It's because of them that we get to enjoy the simple things in life. . . like a nap. God bless them and keep them safe!

Day 2 & 3 of Playset building

2008-05-25T16:39:00.000-04:00

You can see the succession from the 1st pic when we began Saturday afternoon, towards the last pic when we completed the roof on Sunday evening. We then moved on to the 'tunnel area' and the swing and trapeze area. We were soooo close to be completed today but we were missing a bolt and since it was almost 8pm on Sunday, we decided to call it a day.

Saturday was also our Meat Buying Club day, so with that and yard work that Daddy was doing we didn't actually start until about 1pm Saturday, so not a bad 2 days with the progress that was made. We WILL finish tomorrow, so it's all good! ;-)

Thank God it's Friday!

2008-05-23T20:49:00.003-04:00

Our big boys writing sentences. . . "What are they writing?" you asked, well read on!
Yep, we took a detour from our scheduled/planned studies today and took some much-needed time to discuss the importance of respect and listening. (Turns out they DO have ears today - I checked and they were still intact!) ;-)
We started our morning out with a trip to the Strawberry Festival with some friends (God bless those friends - we hope to see them again some time. . . especially after today! lol). . . and let's just say that things were downhill from there for a bit. When we returned from our morning out, I decided to refocus our lovely children whose hearing seemed to have disappeared. After a discussion about respect and listening and a review of our "family rules", things seemed to turn around (Praise God!). We reconnected over oatmeal and raisin muffins and a nice cold glass of milk. (To my loving husband - I know you're wondering if you'll ever see anything this week besides food on our blog. . . I sure hope so Babe! lol) Are ya all sensing a "theme" the last few days??? Yeah, it's been challenging the last couple of days but we ended on a positive note. All 4 of our men had stacks of books out and were reading to themselves and each other. . . what a lovely site to see - sorry no pic of that, I'm whooped! And I know you Mamas know what I mean! :-)
Sidenote: As I close this week, Daddy and I are sitting here listening to 3 sweet voices singing back in their bedroom. . .God bless them. . . and God bless us! ;-D

Peaceful ending to a not so peaceful day

2008-05-22T20:27:00.001-04:00

Today was another challenging day. . . soooo I planned a nice, peaceful dinner. Praise the Good Lord that Daddy was home tonight - boy was I happy to see him! We had steamed broccoli, roasted garlic cauliflower, some cheese slices (thanks to some friends we are enjoying raw milk cheese again - yay!), delicious and juicy strawberries, and some homemade bread smothered in yummy honey. Yes, I love to cook and bake. . . and what a stress-reliever it is for me. Today I cooked ALOT! ;-)

Thanks to our farmers

2008-05-21T20:17:00.002-04:00

Every other Thursday is 'egg day' - the day the eggs are delivered to a friends house and we go and pick them up. I know my husband is laughing at this pic, but seriously, have you ever seen such lovely eggs?! These eggs are not only the most beautiful eggs but the yolks are incredibly gorgeous - just a lovely, vibrant orange color. Eggs (along with our milk) is the substance behind our household food. . . used daily for baking and cooking. I know it probably sounds silly to some of you (yes, you too Huney!) to describe eggs in this way. . . but it's sometimes the simple things that just delight me so. . . especially when it comes to food! lol God bless our farmers!

Doctor Dolittle

2008-05-20T18:25:00.001-04:00

This is our current Read Aloud, so to kick us off to a wonderful start, I made animal pancakes. . . the boys thought they were pretty cool! We had some penguins, seals, and bears - and boy were they yummy! lol

Memories

2008-05-18T18:07:00.003-04:00

L-R: My SIL and niece (aren't they both beautiful?!), my Dad & Aunt M, my cousin K and her beautiful family, and a pic of just us girls! (K, me, Nana P, SIL, Aunt M)

Time spent with family. . . relaxing

2008-05-17T17:43:00.001-04:00

Meet little "C", our newest addition to the family! She is the proud daughter of my baby brother and SIL - what a doll baby. . . and such a happy little girl!

Our 4 little men were quite smitten with her, as you can see in this shot! Too bad they live so far away, we could offer up some extra hands (as evident in this pic! ;-)
Daddy holding "C" and the boys getting ready to take turns holding her. You can also see my cousin's little girl, "M", to the right - the boys just thought she was 'it'!

What a lovely day just spent hanging out with our family and visiting and enjoying each other's company! Praise the Lord for family and the time we get to spend together!

Mammoth Cave

2008-05-16T17:18:00.001-04:00

This is the old historic entrance, you can see the stairway down - it actually goes under a slow-trickling waterfall. The view was just breath-taking. While they don't use this entrance anymore, you can still go down the stairs, unless the water level is high, then they have it blocked off.
These shots are from our tour that we did - the Frozen Niagara tour, it was phenomenal! And just the right substance and length (time-wise) for the boys.

This shot was at the very end of our tour and on the bottom level of the cave. Right across from this was an amazing waterfall. It had been shut off the previous week because of the water level; we were blessed to be there when we were and get to experience the bottom level - just incredibly beautiful.
This is from the first level of the cave and you can really see some of the structural levels and texture in this shot. The spots appear pretty narrow, however, they really were not this narrow in the walk-way, which was nice.
At first glance these appear to be large spiders (at least to us they did), however, they are really crickets. Daddy and I cannot remember the name of this particular cricket - anyone know? Hmmm. . . we'll be searching this out! :-)

Mammoth Cave National Park actually has over 365 miles of caves. . . WOW! We were blessed to have the tour director that we did - his family was actually 4th generation diggers and his wealth of knowledge to share was just incredible. We also had a very small tour - it was just our family of 6 and then 2 other couples and that made it really enjoyable. The boys had questions the whole way thru and the small size of our group made it possible for them to ask all of their questions. . . and what a wonderful, patient man he was to answer them all!

Dinosaur World

2008-05-16T12:16:00.001-04:00

Here are my 5 handsome men. . . the lights of my life!
Here you see littlest man & I, ds3 on the left just intrigued by all of the amazing dinos we were blessed to witness. And of course ds2 just smiling. . . as usual!
Here are the 4 boys at the beginning of our walk thru all the different types of dinosaurs. The pic shows how huge these replicas truly are!

Another shot inside the museum - it was just amazing.
Love this shot of the big boys - ds1 was wrapped around s3 & s4 with shear excitement and they were literally holding him up! :-)
Here are our little men showcasing their fossils that they found during their fossil dig - pretty cool!

Such an amazing time we had. . . all of us! It was great fun for Daddy and I to watch their facial expressions and body language as they took all of this magnificence in. They had over 100 life-size dinosaur replicas. The big boys are just enthralled with Dino's so it was a wonderful learning experience to be able to see and name the ones that they were familiar with and distinguish which ones were meat-eaters versus plant-eaters. The museum had some fabulous pieces that we got to see as well. They also had a paleontology area to view. We went and had some lunch and then returned for a 'fossil dig' which the boys thoroughly enjoyed. They got to dig for awhile and then they were able to choose their 3 favorite fossils to keep and take home (which is what you see up above in the last pic). We spent about half a day here and then headed on to Mammoth Cave National Park (I'll post those pics separately).

Breakfast Surprise

2008-05-14T20:46:00.002-04:00

Today was a VERY busy, full day! I had an eye appt @ 9:30am so I needed to be up and have all the boys up, dressed, fed, loaded up and heading out of the drive at 9am. I got up with my dear, sweet husband and got in the shower and got myself around and ready. Then I took the dogs out, fed them and then made sure the boys clothes were laid out and ready for them to slide into after breakfast and teeth brushing time. I headed back to my bedroom to finish up a few things and ds1 came in with a huge, vibrant smile and said 'breakfast is ready Mama!' He had made breakfast for all of us and had the table set and ready! What a sweetheart and such a little helper for his Mama! When we make oatmeal, we make a huge batch so we have leftovers for oatmeal muffins. . . well, he had taken the leftover oatmeal and warmed it up in the microwave and added our ususal, milk/honey/cinnamon/butter, and we sooo enjoyed it! I was so incredibly proud of him. I've noticed over the last couple of months that they will readily get breakfast around and ready. . . without being asked. . . what a wonderful, welcome surprise!

Mama's Little Secret

2008-05-12T14:35:00.002-04:00

Meet the Oreck Orbiter. . . my little secret to quick, efficient cleaning! lol This bad boy cleans it all. . .hard wood floors, laminates, tile, stone, carpet, upholstery, etc! I LOVE it! I have cleaned our wood floors on my hands and knees for the last 6yrs because everything else under the sun would leave marks and that drives me bonkers! :-( In my pursuit to make better use of my cleaning time, I came across this lovely blessing. We are fans of Oreck - they're a great company with awesome customer service, fabulous products and they stand behind them (which is pretty hard to find these days!). . . so I figured, "what do I have to lose?" I tried it out and you couldn't pry it from hands now! (kinda like my breadmaker! lol) Oh and one of my nearest and dearest ask about "corners" and so of course I set out to find the answer. . . yep, it's a breeze! You can move the bonnet (the padding you see on the bottom in the pic above) up and then it runs very nicely around trim and corners - such a godsend! Ladies. . . you've got to try this out!

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T10:53:00.002-04:00

These are the lovely creations I received today from our little men. . . they are so incredibly beautiful and unfortunately this picture just doesn't do them justice. I sat looking at them for quite some time, just basking in the beauty. . . they're just intricate pieces of art and because they were created just for me. . . well, I am just touched beyond words. I am going to make a collage with them and frame them. As I sit here typing this update to our family blog the wonderful aroma of Rhubarb-Strawberry crisp is filling our home and making our tummies growl in anticipation. . . this wonderful treat was made by none other than my dear, handsome hubby (a.k.a. my own personal chef!). He asked me what I wanted to eat, I told him, and off he went setting to work. . . yummy!

Phase 1: Playset building begins

2008-05-10T20:10:00.002-04:00

This is the beginning of our morning. . .the start of our project. . .phase 1, day 1
Ds4 helping out. . . trying out his 'hammering' skills
Daddy and I worked all morning and into the early afternoon to get the foundation and base of the 1st floor of the clubhouse in place. . . it's starting to take shape (notice all our little helpers!)
I got the little men and myself some lunch and we took a break to refuel our bodies. Our very hard-working Daddy declined a break and kept pushing through.

We got the 2nd floor up and completed the flooring and bases - looking good!
This is how we looked at the end of day 1, not bad I think.
Tomorrow is supposed to be an overcast day with "chance" of showers. . . we are so hoping that is not the case, as we're wanting to complete our project tomorrow and the rain would certainly interfere with that goal / timeline. Praying for rain only through the night and NO rain for tomorrow.

Our "girls"

2008-05-09T10:21:00.001-04:00

You can see the queen in the 1st shot, right after we picked her up from our groomer's. . .don't ya just love those sweet little pig-tails? It's hard to believe she's almost 7yrs old already. In the bottom shot you'll see our newest member of the family - she's 8wks old now, wow, she's a big girl! :-) She is settling in quite nicely to our family and even Montana is starting to play pretty well with her - she has established herself as alpha dog and so Georgi is quite aware of the pecking order! lol

Super Tuesday

2008-05-06T13:11:00.002-04:00

We just returned from voting this morning - it's 'Super Tuesday!' Notice they each have an 'I voted' sticker? The big boys have been accompanying me to the poll for as long as I can remember and today was no different, except we had another little one in tow. It was funny to hear them asking all of these questions of the people there about voting. . .they were the hit of the show! lol We've been discussing voting and how it works and our responsibility to seek out the candidates who best match with our family philosophy and who can help enable us to do God's work for the better. . .they're so inquisitive and I just love it. Oh, and funny thing about this shot, you can see ds4 has his finger up in the air and he's saying 'Go Vote!' How cute is that?! lol So, do your part, and be sure to vote!

Learning Anywhere

2008-05-05T06:56:00.003-04:00

One of the most wonderful things about homeschooling is the ability to pick up and go (or not go!) and be able to do your learning anywhere. This was a wonderful attribute when we were traveling with Daddy for work. Today we had breakfast and then started on our lessons, which we started in our Play Room but then moved outdoors to the deck to enjoy the fabulous sunshine and warmth. Here you see us enjoying a game of alphabet bingo. . .which was followed by some Math Brainteasers (sooo fun to watch them get hyped up and excited about their Math story problems!). They love their math! We followed this up with some yummy, fresh vegetables and some hummus and refueled for an afternoon of play and planting. We headed out to pick up some flowers and more potting soil for our deck baskets and decorative pots. It was so cute (and rewarding for me!) to listen to them talk about the growth process from the seedlings into the starter plants. . .and the discussion of whose would be the biggest and why! lol ;-) Then we just hung out and planted our flowers - we actually got them all planted so we're ready to start on the beds next!

Creativity

2008-05-03T06:11:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a morning. . .full of creativity and expression! The big boys and I headed out to the Art Studio and littlest man and Daddy headed to check out and finalize our plans for our new Play Set. Well, the big boys had their 1st experience on the Pottery Wheel - you talk about some fun, woohoo! I have been eyeing the pottery wheels for about a year now and checking them out and doing some research on the different brands, etc because they are such a big investment. Today just sealed the deal for us. . .we will definitely be keeping our eye out for one. While the initial cost is a bit salty, we have 4 children (+2 adults!) that will be able to use this and that divided down over say. . .the next 12yrs, is more than reasonable. We LOVE our art teachers - they are so wonderful, full of excellent talent, and always take the time to give us direction in where our best options are to accumulate different supplies and access items (like a kiln) for our area - they're just such a blessing!

We also had our 1st Drama class today and that was great fun! Our little men really enjoyed it and were singing the songs all day long. . .all of us actually! :-) The Drama teacher thinks we may have some little actors among our crew! I thoroughly enjoyed watching them and their facial expressions and demeanor while doing their different forms of expression - such a hoot! It was amazing how they really got into it!

Daddy Has a Surprise

2008-04-30T20:48:00.002-04:00

Yep, we've added to our family. . . meet Georgia, our newest girl, isn't she beautiful?! We are just in love with her, all 6 of us! lol Daddy called to tell me that he had a surprise and for those of you who know me, you know I love surprises so of course I wanted my hints so I could immediately begin guessing. Nope, didn't guess this one. I have been asking for about 2yrs for another dog and she just fits our family perfectly. She is St.Bernard and she's 6wks old - yeah, you read that right - can ya believe how big she is already?! Oh yes, we're definitely in love with her! She was out in the yard just following the boys all over and playing with them - it's so incredibly sweet. The boys immediately starting thinking of names for her. . . Cutie, Honey, Amy, Happy. We thought, to keep with the "theme" of our other dog, we'd stick with a state name, thus 'Georgia' - we're thinking we'll call her Georgi for short. . . but seriously, isn't she just the sweetest?! :-) Thank you Daddy. . . I've said it before and I'll say it again, you are the BEST! Love you Babe!

A Great Start to a Great Day

2008-04-29T10:55:00.002-04:00

Look at these adorable blueberry smoothie mustaches. . . aren't they just too cute for words?! This morning we got up and made a big batch of Oatmeal muffins and while they were baking in the oven we whipped up a batch of blueberry smoothies . . . y-u-m-m-y! (for those of you wondering, yes, the big boys are in the same clothes as yesterday. . . yes, it was a night where we just all collapsed! Don't worry Nana, they're in different clothes now! lol) :-)

The Princess & The Pea

2008-04-28T19:09:00.005-04:00

Well, the day finally arrived. . . our long-awaited theater performance of 'The Princess & The Pea'. We've had tickets reserved for about 3 months and today was the day. We had such a fabulous time and all 4 of the boys enjoyed the performance. I smiled to myself because the boys have been to quite a few theater performances, beginning at the age of 2. . . the same age as ds4. . . this was his 1st performance (sniff/sniff). I looked at s4 today during the performance and reminisced about the 1st theater performance the boys ever went to. There they were, 3 2yr olds all sitting in their seats, eagerly awaiting the live performance of Sesame Street - what a treat it was for Daddy and I to watch them as their sweet little faces lit up watching all of the hoopla - such a joy. Today was another milestone moment as littlest man experienced his "first" in the theater arena. After the performance was over, the boys were able to talk with the actor/actresses and they really enjoyed that. Then we all went and enjoyed a lovely lunch at the cafe and chatted about the highlights of the performance and about our plans for the week. . . yes, another wonderful day spent with my men, well 4 of them anyways! ;-)

Our Date

2008-04-27T18:40:00.002-04:00

This is how S3 and I started our "date" - we went to E's dance recital and wow, we had such a lovely time. E was in the Lion King performance and did a phenomenal job! S3 was quite excited to see his friend on the stage, performing. (she's the 2nd from the back)
Here's a close up of E twirling her ribbon.
S3 quite happy, at his choice of restaurant. . .'The Hamburger Place'. lol
Yes, I took a picture, because I knew no one would believe me unless I had a picture to "prove" what we had for lunch, my ds and I! :-)
And here, of course, is the true reason of why he wanted to go here - the Play/Climbing area. Let's face it, Daddy's grilled burgers are WAY better than The Hamburger Place. Nonetheless, when each of the little men get their "date" with Mama, they get to choose what we do, where we go, and what and where we eat and this was his choice. I have to share this, when we were ordering our food he said, "I want a hamburger, chocolate shake (make that a small please!), and 1 chocolate chip cookie please. . . no, 2 chocolate chip cookies please so Mommy has one." Now, is that not just the sweetest? I'm telling ya, their Daddy has taught them well! (Thank you Huney, you are the best!)

Our family time is VERY important to us and we really enjoy our quiet, bonding time together. Also, I do alot of talking about how important Date Night is for you and your spouse, well let me also suggest trying to seize the moment and do some "dates" with each of your children, allowing 1:1 time. We have been doing Mommy and son date time since the big boys have been 2yrs old and I cannot say enough about it - give it a try and you'll see exactly what I mean! You'll love it! ;-)

Earth Day Celebration

2008-04-26T18:15:00.002-04:00

Here are all 5 of my very handsome men! (Daddy doesn't like this shot of him, but I LOVE it) Sorry Babe! :)
They were busy non-stop from the time they opened the yard, the boys and I enjoyed watching this pile grow.
And of course the boys REALLY enjoyed watching the Mag Crane and the Grapel Crane in action - we had such a fabulous time.
Here is Daddy walking/checking on the activities in the yard - it was BUSY!
After all of the festivities and the yard closed, we got a personal tour from Daddy. . . and littlest man got a ride as well! lol

We celebrated Earth Day at Daddy's work and got to see Daddy in action - what a wonderful team they have up there. The wives and family members were also there to help serve up 400 hot dogs (yep, you read that right!), chips, soda and bottled water to all the customers bringing in scrap. The boys and I enjoyed getting to meet people that Daddy works with and the family members of his workers; such fabulous, kind people! We got to see all kinds of items being brought in for scrap, like an old school bus, a bobcat, a forklift, all kinds of old vehicles. . . it was quite a learning experience for the boys (and I). We discussed the process of it being torn/smashed down into scrap, resold/recycled, and reused and what an important part of our environment this process truly is. What a fabulous day we had - thank you Daddy!

Color Everywhere

2008-04-25T20:44:00.002-04:00

I love this time of the year, every day new things are blooming and popping up. . . it's like a wonderful surprise every morning to get up and walk out and see all that popped up and out over night! The beauty is just so intense and incredible. . . sometimes I'm just mesmerized by it - I could just sit and stare at the trees, flowers, bushes, etc. . . I just truly love it!

Life is a bowl of. . .blueberries

2008-04-24T20:29:00.000-04:00

Today was our baking day for this week and we made up some big batches of blueberry muffins. . .mmm, mmm good! Our little men, yes all 4 of them, LOVE to cook and bake and they are really great at it. They have become quite the skilled little recipe readers and measurers, but I guess that's what one would expect after spending the past 4yrs in the kitchen with Mama! lol We all sat at the table and ate some yummy blueberry muffins, getting our daily fill of antioxidants and vitamins and minerals. . . ya just gotta love organic life and the benefits of eating the way God intended us to. After our baking we headed out to our friends' house for a playdate and had a lovely time. Our friends have this incredible piece of land with a woods area behind their house and the boys were enjoying every minute of their adventure. They also have a big hill to ride down and I'm quite sure between the 6 boys they probably put a few good miles on that hill today! :) We sooo enjoyed our visit and had such a phenomenal time just hanging out, exploring and being adventurous. It's nice to just bask in the beauty that God has blessed us with and we feel very fortunate to have found our new friends who enjoy the outdoors like we do (not to mention the healthier things in life). . .God is so great!

Europe

2008-04-23T20:14:00.000-04:00

We have been reading and studying the Middle Ages and the history of how they lived, what their lives were like, etc. We often do notebooking after our reading but I've been putting a different spin on it this year and kicking it up a notch! lol :-) Sometimes after reading and studying they will create their "summary" and I snap a picture and then we add that pic to their notebook - it's alot of fun for them and me! This shot is s1's creation of his take on castle life. It's quite detailed and he did such a fabulous job. I asked him if he would like to be the King of his castle and he replied, "No thank you, I want to train to be a knight!" lol Well, there ya go!

Are We There?!

2008-04-21T20:01:00.002-04:00

S2 was sooo excited to reach our destination. . . we were meeting some of our oldest and dearest friends, the F family to play and hike and have some yummy, healthy dinner! The boys get incredibly stoked when it's time to get together with these friends - something we've been doing since the kids have all been about 18mo old. It's very special because they only have memories of the F family just always being around and involved in their lives since they don't remember before that. . . very sweet. We had a lovely time playing, eating, hiking, more eating and more playing! We are so thankful to be blessed and surrounded with friends who are really our extended family. (And on a side note, doesn't his hair cut look nice? He had been asking to get it cut so we knew it was time. . . usually he doesn't like it shorter but it looks so darn handsome on him!)

Outdoor Play

2008-04-18T23:15:00.000-04:00

We had a very interesting start to our morning with Mother Nature full of surprises but oh what a fabulous day it ended up being! We were outside literally all day just basking in the awesome sunshine, wonderful breeze and enjoying all of God's beauty! I love the 2nd shot of Ds1 & 4 - the bond between them is quite clear and no words are needed to explain any further. In the 1st shot, I was doing a little "playing" - turned out nice but I prefer the close-up shot better. The 3rd shot shows Ds4 running and blowing in the glorious breeze. . . yes, it was a super day indeed!

Art Studio Wednesdays

2008-04-16T20:45:00.005-04:00

Here are our boys during Clay Class - they love this class. Today they were creating fish and here they are cutting out their big scale fish. They then put all of their details on, slit and scored it and applied eyes, mouth, etc. Can wait to see these after they're fire glazed - then they'll apply their paint.
This is our Painting and Drawing class and today they were working on a Magnolia Tree. . . below is DS#3's finished painting. He even applied the blue sky - isn't it lovely?

This is our Drumming Class which is the boys favorite - they so LOVE this class. We have 3 classes that we do on Wednesdays, Clay/Painting & Drawing/Drumming. The teachers are all incredibly amazing and I am pleasantly surprised at how well they all work to include DS#4 in their projects. . . he of course just loves it!

Pedal Baby, Pedal!

2008-04-15T13:13:00.004-04:00

DS#4 has learned how to pedal his tricycle - hurray! He's just riding all over. . . no more pushing with his feet! He follows the big boys around on the sidewalk and then promptly turns around in the designated spots and comes back around - it's so cute to watch him with his big bros!

A Day in the Life. . .

2008-04-14T20:17:00.005-04:00

Today we awoke to glorious sunshine! Yes, a bit chilly, but still shining with a feverent force of beauty! I put on a big batch of oatmeal and we settled in for a full day of playing, reading, playing and more reading! lol We snuggled up and did our Read Alouds and then the big boys all took turns reading to the rest of us. . . what a glorious day indeed!

Some Wii Time!

2008-04-11T21:30:00.001-04:00

Who doesn't like a little Wii?! It's fun for the whole family. . . and did I mention quite a little work out?! lol Our family, especially the boys, LOVE their Wii. It was a Christmas gift for the little men from Nana & Pappa G and we have put quite a few miles on this bad boy! lol Fridays are our Wii game night and Daddy stops and gets a new game and brings it home. The big boys literally start talking about what game Daddy might bring home as soon as their sweet little eyes awaken in the morning. . . it's a highlight of their day! It's not even so much the game(s) that we're playing, but the fact that we're getting such great quality family time, making great memories and having a blast together! And did I mention it's quite a work out?! lol

Some Birds. . . Finally!

2008-04-10T20:45:00.000-04:00

We have been faithfully watching our bird feeder for some hungry little birds and to no avail. Finally, after much anticipation, we were settling in for a snack and some reading and DS#4 yelled "Birdies Mama, at the bird feeder, eating Mama, birdies!" The big boys and I all went running to the bay window and sure enough there sat 2 birds. . . eating. We watched them for probably 20 minutes, just playing and returning to the feeder and then more playing - yes, it was quite enertaining. In the 2nd picture we snapped another bird who was there at our feeder in the evening. I think the birds have finally arrived!

Where'd He Go?

2008-04-09T12:30:00.002-04:00

The boys were getting ready for some notebooking and DS#1 was playing a little 'find me' game. . . he's such a silly little guy, always keeping us laughing! He would change his voice when he was behind the Note Pad and then was carrying on a 2-sided conversation. . . between the "bear" and himself! lol

A Game of Tetherball

2008-04-06T21:13:00.000-04:00

Today was nice enough for us to get out the Tetherball set that our little men got from Pappa & Nana P and man were they excited! Daddy got it all set up and they started right in playing. I have a feeling we will be getting alot of practice and increasing our skill level with this one this year! Thanks Pappa & Nana P - we're putting it to good use, as you can see!

Spring has sprung!

2008-04-05T21:47:00.003-04:00

Our Easter Lillies are springing up - hurray! We've had a drenching of rain and then some wonderful sunshine and Mother Nature is rising up - isn't God's beauty amazing? And to think He created it especially for us! Seeing this is giving us 'planting fever' - we are eager to get some heavy-duty planting done this year. . . and how blessed are we to have 8 little extra hands to help???

Look Mama, Worms!

2008-04-04T21:59:00.002-04:00

We were outside enjoying the wonderful, warm sunshine and doing a bit of nature study when lo and behold, DS#3 & 4 stumbled upon a worm. We enjoyed watching it for quite some time and I, of course, enjoyed watching their faces and the immense joy from the simplicity of nature itself. We soooo love our nature time!

Ahoy There Matey!

2008-04-01T22:10:00.002-04:00

The big boys decided to work on their Pirate puzzle - it's 100 pieces, so not too big, not too small, but definitey lots of fun for them! Their new thing is to "time" themselves and see if they can beat their last 'time' - it's so cute! Not too mention great teamwork! Isn't it cool?! Pirates and Dragons are still a favorite around our house. . . treasure hunts are a weekly affair! lol

Just Spin'n around

2008-03-30T22:44:00.002-04:00

DS#4 & my Niece, M, were having a super fabulous time on the spinner! You can imagine the delightful little squeals of laughter we got to enjoy hearing while they played together with this toy. DS#4 & M are best buds - they love playing and hanging out together. Watching them and the bond between them reminds me when the big boys were this age and what wonderful playmates there were (and still are). There's more squabbling now, but this age was truly simplistic. Littlest man will miss his M when she leaves from their visit. . . he loves her so. . .