lotsa cheese!!

cause, i didn't want to make lunch today. we decided to visit The BIG CHEESE. it was fun. and, although the kids did eat our $18.99 cheese pizza, they were all still hungry when they got home. blah... i hate food. ok... don't you HATE the dumb prize part? i do. you can't get anything good for under 5,000 tickets. dumb. but, i've figured out my revenge on the whole prize thing. i don't help. hee, hee... have you ever seen 7 kids with 16 tickets each, telling the man at the counter they want the gumball machine that cost 10,000 tickets. :) finally, after 20 minutes of... "no, i changed my mind" or, "do i have enough tickets for..." or, can i have the green star necklace, not the grean heart necklace" or, tears because everyone else in the family got the 80 ticket fake gum and even though one kid only had 16 tickets, he wanted the fake gum... hee hee. i'm pretty sure my kids were better at working out their own salvation than i would have been. leah, with no tickets, ended up with a lollipop and a tootsie roll. and, justin, who had minimal ticket ended up with a YELLOW fake gum pack... the guy even had to go to the back to find a yellow one... hee. hee.... if you want to advertise to my children, then be prepared to negotiate with them! and, LUCKILY, we were on our way out the door, when the REAL, LIVE Chuck E. came out throwing tokens and tickets... oh, the joy of RE-NEGOTIATION. love it. When the professor came home, i was pooped out and not wanting to cook dinner... so, we decided to take a DUNK in the pool... throw some kid around!! and squeeze some freezin' baby...

and now... i must blog while the PROFESSOR prepares dinner.

Did you see that? Somehow summer fun got me out of two whole meals today...

lovely, crazy, summer days...

wish i was paintin'...

don't you want a chalkboard pantry door?? i do!! i need one.

Melissa at 320 sycamore is having a paint party... there are lots of links to people sharing their favorite paint colors.

IT'S FUN!!

My pictures are all from Country Living...

I just want to show you that i REALLY, REALLY want to paint everyting in my house WHITE.

yup. beds, cabinets, armoires... EVERYTHING. i do HATE painting and furniture is way worse than walls. AND, we're moving in a year-- so i feel like i'd be dumb to paint my cabinets.

But, i LOVE, LOVE white.

I like white because you can pick a fun accent color and it really POPS when everything else is white. PLUS, everything looks happy and clean and cheery... well, clean UNTIL my kids wipe their dirty hands all over them... ohhhhh. i want to paint stuff white today.

FIRST, i'm going to finish putting my laundry away.

THEN, i'm going to clean up my whirlwind of a craft room.

and, maybe on MONDAY... (when Todd is back from his trip...)

I'll PAINT.

ok.

monday.

just wait till then.

ok.

i can do it...

trail ride, not bull ride...

the professor would LOVE for me to start painting cabinets while he is gone...

i mean, at least it's not buying anything living? right?

climb mt fuji

little snail

but, slowly, slowly.

monday.?

IT KILLS ME TO CLEAN WITHOUT REDECORATING!!!

i think i'm dying because i haven't made ANYTHING in a very, very long time.

my right-brain is dying...

i NEED to paint.

ok. monday. ;) (maybe...)

and then... i'll make this quilt from red pepper quilts

won't this look good in my mostly white living room???

swingin' moments...

what a gang!!!

and, what do you do AFTER you have fun swinging?

Sam's Club SLURPEE's. of course.

why i love "NO SCREENS"...

If my kids had their way, they would LIVE in front of a screen. cartoons, movies, gameboys, computer, wii, nintendo... oh the SCREEN possibilities. i LOVE screens. they teach my kids good cooperation, and turn taking skills, they give the kids something to talk about with other kids their age, they can be educational, the kids learn how to trouble shoot and how to not be afraid of technology, and the kids are happy doing what they enjoy-- it's a great reward AND in front of a screen is a great, safe place for them to be when i need some time alone. BUT, i LOVE the times when we turn OFF the SCREENS!! When the screens are turned off my kids' imaginations come alive. They play fun, old-fashioned games, they read, they create, they gender and age mix... yup. i LOVE screen time. AND i LOVE no-screen time. this is my gang when i came out of my room this morning... cute huh?!

and, something else i LOVE...

during the school year, i'm better able to devote large amounts of time to house cleaning. Not So during the summers... Here are a few things I LOVE for the 5 minute bathroom cleaning that i get in when I'm bathing my baby (like this morning) or turning out the lights, at the end of the day.

1. My ALL-TIME FAVORITE bathroom cleaning necessity is CLOROX wipes. Although we use them often and have two bathrooms, i only buy ONE container. Because, i don't like them to dry out AND i can keep track of one container better (i keep it in MY bathroom) so little 2 year olds don't decide to "help" clean or use 50 clorox wipes to do a deep-bum cleaning... i use a lot of these daily, i am always wiping up toothpaste, cleaning splattered mirrors and wiping out toilets... yup. love em.

2. Those little, green, soapy, scrubby things. These things already have soap in them and they're great for a quick clean of the tub or shower. Last night ellie took a bath with soap crayons... they're a MESS! When i wanted to wash the baby this morning the tub was BAD. But, two minutes later it was white and shining... love those soapy things.

3. THE WORKS- works great for hard water stains in the shower... (that i clean twice a year.)

crappy day?...

What do you do when you have a crappy day?

I...

eat some baby.

of course.

chubby baby can make anyone smile!!

i'm so grateful for the nibbles of joy

that can brighten even the dumpiest of days...

just singin' in the rain... {edited}

Rain in Texas is fun and warm... What do you do when it rains? We... jump on the trampoline. of course. We had a fun day today. The professor is headed to Boston for a conference so, we dropped him off at the airport and headed to the library. At the library, we saw a petting farm from with camels and donkeys and jacob sheep and zanu's and baby elk... we got to feed them and everything. We signed up for the summer reading program and each kid picked out a biography of a hero they wanted to learn more about for their summer book report. I found some fun books on kid heroes, dog heroes, and of course, American heroes. I'm LOVING this theme. Jakob picked composers... he has books on Mozart and Beethoven and a chapter book on the early lives of famous composers. Drew picked the Wright Brothers... he already finished a chapter book about them, but refuses to read the picture book that is from the point of view of their sister-- because, after all, that is a girl book. Anna picked a book about Mr. Braille, complete with a lovely illustration of him laying on the ground with a bloody tool that was inserted into his eye. She has been asking me how blind people read because she writes and then touches the letters and can only feel smoothness... braille was the PERFECT book for her. Ellie got two beautiful, picture books on Joan of Arc. A real-live girl who got to wear armor and ride horses and hold a sword and fight with the men. Yes, IF Ellie could still wear a princess gown, without panties, she would be a PERFECT Joan of Arc. Justin got a picture book on Lou Gehrig, a famous Yankee who got Lou Gehrig's disease and died young, and a book about Hank Aaron*, who I think was the first black, professional baseball player. We also found a few books about shelter dogs that were adopted and went on to do great things, and other dogs who performed brave rescues. I mean, you don't have to be human to be a hero, do you? Justin fits right into my clan. He is ADORABLE and a lot of fun to have around. He is a GOOD kid and has really adjusted well to the dynamics of our big family. I'm so thankful for my little sister's sacrifice to serve our country. I pray for her and for our country daily. I'm so grateful for the many men and women who are oversees training and protecting the freedom that we enjoy everyday. It's because of my sister, and people like her, that my kids can jump on the trampoline in the rain. We can live without fear and without tyranny. Many days of sacrifice have given me the freedom to enjoy each and every moment with my family... THANK YOU!! *Note-- Actually, Hank Aaron was NOT the first black man to play professional baseball. If I remember correctly, from our last night book-time, that was Jackie Robinson. Hank Aaron beat Babe Ruth's all-time home run record. He endured despite death threats and hate mail. Go HANK!! (I personally love his mama- Isabelle, who held on to him as tight as he could as soon as he crossed home plate on his record-breaking home run, because she was worried someone would try to kill him. Sweet, sweet mother bear.)

see what i won!!

OK, so I LOVE the bright side project... They have a lot of happy, fun giveaway opportunities-- They said... In order to try to add this lovely print to your home, office, sanctuary what have you please answer the following question: Is there any job/task that you love so much you would be willing to do it for free, if so what?

i said... love your site!! thanks for the daily sunshine. and, i LOVE being a mom. yup. i do it for free. we just added one to our clan, my sister is heading towards iraq and we have her son for the next year. (that makes 7 kids for us.) to be honest, you couldn't pay me enough to take another kid... i guess what i love is what i do... EVERY MINUTE of my life... for free. Posted by: Jenifer 05/26/2009 at 06:09 AM

AND I WON!!

For real.

They're sending me this print for my house.

Isn't that wonderful?!

I really need this sign to remind myself how grateful I am that I get to do what I LOVE every single minute of my day... Yes. It's hard. I'm tired. I'm lonely for lonely time. But, I KNOW I'm doing what I LOVE. What I've always dreamed of doing...

motherhood-- there is NOTHING that can compare.

we all can do what we love and love what we do.

and that is looking a little bit of sunshine delivered daily... thanks bright side!!!

rollin' moments...

Have you ever tried to take young kids skating?

How about 7?

Yeah, it's FUN!!

We had the WHOLE rink to ourselves... it was a true GROWING experience.

I gave tokens for FALLING!

I told the kids that the goal wasn't to skate perfect, it was to skate better at the end than at the beginning.

There were some tears... NO BLOOD... and LOTS of falls.

I'm so proud of their determination and effort.

My favorite part was that when we were done they all wanted to go skating again soon.

(And, i loved getting Sam's Club slurpies afterward!!)

By the end of the summer, we'll be skating super-stars...

maybe.

Good Times!!!

end of the year brags...

Jakob finished 4th grade. His homeroom teacher was Mrs. Alexander (the blond right behind him). He is a great kid and a joy to have around, except on Sunday mornings. Jakob got... All A Honor Roll Principal's Award (for perfect behavior) Most AR Reading Points* Science Award (from the science teacher)* Most Artistic (from his class)* Best Sportsmanship (from PE)* Art Award (from Art)* Talent Plus Award (for playing Greensleeves on the piano in the talent show).

Drew finished 3rd grade with Mrs. Dennis.

He is wonderfully disciplined and is learning to control his issues with control. :)

Drew got...

All A Honor Roll

Citizenship Award (from Character Counts class)*

Math Star*

Commended Performance Math TAKS

Commended Performance Reading TAKS

Math Bee Participant (he tied for 3rd place)

Anna just finished 1st grade.

She is super, super smart. A complete perfectionist and a sweet, emotional girl. Ms. Teague has been perfect for Anna this year... she has seen Anna's potential but has also been adorably nurturing. Anna got...

All A Honor Roll

Gold Card Award

Highest Average in Reading*

Highest Average in English*

Accelerated Reader 30+ Point Club

Style Diva Award (voted by her class)*

Shining Character Award*

Ellie. Oh, Ellie.

What a kid. She has graduated from Kindergarten and her teacher was Mrs. Hagood. I LOVE Mrs. Hagood. I told her that I would give her one of my kids if she wanted one. :) Ellie is a good girl with spunk and emotion. I got a call AGAIN on Thursday that Ellie had no panties on... she was wearing a DRESS! That girl. I'm thankful for her sweet teacher who laughed and, I'm HOPEFUL that life with ellie will always be WONDERFUL and fun. Ellie got...

Certificate of Completion

The Art Award*

The Music Maker Award*

Note: The awards with a * are awards that only one child per class was awarded.

These kids are GREAT!! Yes, they keep me on my toes. But, they are smart and active and happy. I wouldn't change a thing.

Thanks for letting me brag!!

maiden voyage...

No, school isn't out till Friday.

But, with our first official trip to the pool--

SUMMER IS HERE!!

(the first picture is pre-editing, which do you like better?)

and then there were 7... [edited]

My nephew, Justin, arrived late last night.

(He's spending the 10 months with us while his mom is oversees with the marines.)

He's SO cute, and a bit in awe of our crazy family.

I asked him how he liked being here and he said,

"Well, I wasn't really expecting the beatings." *

(I think he was referring to Anna and Ellie's love taps as they went out the door this morning... they were laughing and saying, "I can't believe you made us KISS him...")

leah just came in my room and said, "Mom, where's cousins?"... then she went out and shouted, "COUSINS!!"

Oh, sweet justin, welcome to our home!!

the beatings are just beginning...

*[note- i was telling someone at school this story and justin said, "Not Beatings, MEETINGS." He was talking about our morning devotional. hee hee... yup. he wasn't really expecting all the meetings... and we DO have lots of meetings! and beatings... and, our traffic lights go from side to side and traffic lights in Virginia go up and down. and, poor thing, he hasn't learned "leah language"... he's always asking me to interpret. i have no doubt that by the end of the summer he will know that when leah is asking for some spice, she really wants some of his soda... hold your nose justin, you're in for quite a swim!]

justin and anna are the same age-- only 2 months apart.

don't they look like cousins? i bet they could pass as twins... (wouldn't boy and girl twins be so cute?)

my sister and i don't look that much alike, isn't it funny that our kids look so similar?

even in the picture below, with ellie who always stands out in our family as the only blond, they all blend don't they? see- if my kids look like justin, then they have to look like me somehow...

Notice anna's "bangs"... a friend at school cut them for her because her hair kept falling in her eyes when she was trying to do her art project. love it.

lessons i've learned...

ohhh.

note to self: next time, listen when the professor says it's a bad idea to let the girls help paint. (if they can't take a bath without making a mess, purple paint might be too tempting...)

just enjoying the action...

growin' up is fun to watch...

and, i'm starting to agree with the old ladies-

it goes by so quickly.

i love the movement of life--

sweet moments.

HAPPY WEEKEND!