guess I need a laptop!

Sorry I've been so hit or miss lately - it's the downside to NOT having a laptop I suppose! Our computer is in the playroom/guest room - so when we have guests, I'm not on the computer to keep my blog updated! I made no guarantees about this weekend either - my mom and sister & her husband (Kristen & Chris - the newlyweds :) ) are arriving tomorrow to spend 4th of July with us - yippee!! :)

The Williams' - Short but Sweet

We were lucky enough to see the Williams' really quickly as they passed through on their way to vacation. They got in late Friday night and had to leave after lunch on Saturday. We LOVED having them - it was a treat since I had just seen Beth & the kids a few weeks ago...and we have a visit to Raleigh in July!!

Anthony was a willing participant in David's Rockband addiction.

Jackson & Addison

The girls - Callie - and Addison - being silly girls!

I love looking out from my kitchen and seeing these sweet friends! :)

Callie was "reading books" to Addison - my blog books! :)

(And do you like Callie's outfit? Beth had brought Callie's birthday present down with her and Callie immediately stripped down and put everything on - the dress AND rainboots! :) )

The boys all went to a building workshop at Lowe's in the morning - they made monster trucks!

(David got home from their adventure and said "I just noticed the camera was in the van...I bet you wanted me to take pictures of them building, didn't you?" Yep, but that's okay - an "after" picture will suffice!

Sneaking a roll before lunch :)

Closing VBS Program

Trying to reach that next shelf of books...he's all the way on his tippy toes! :)

My proud gardeners with the first fruit of their labors...a tomato! :)

(Update as of June 30: David ate it last night and said it was AMAZING! Now we've got 2 more tomatoes growing as well as 2 jalapenos! Everything else is looking good!!)

We had a closing program on Friday night for the kids to get to do their songs for the parents. My kids (I don't think they were the only ones either...) were pretty much fried - it had been a FULL week and they were exhausted...and of course the program fell right at bedtime. I had to be on stage with all the kids, so David was on his own. It was not super enjoyable...for anyone.

The preschoolers got to perform their songs for us....

...except Jacob refused to go on stage...not sure why, but he did NOT want to...

...see Callie over on the right hand side? In the cowboy hat? The ONLY one NOT singing and doing the motions? Not sure what that was about either...

Finally - one of my kids participating! Josiah LOVED the songs this week and LOVED being part of the Kids Leading Worship team. I was SO proud of him!

A sweet visit

We had such a great week with David's mom here. It was crazy busy with it being the same week as VBS, but she definitely got to see what life is like here! I hope she enjoyed seeing the kids and seeing all that life entails these days. They loved her being here and getting to show her all their interests. She came up to VBS on Wednesday to get to see the kids in action, and was put to work very quickly when Caleb came down with a fever that morning. I was thankful for an extra pair of hands to hold a sleeping baby as I was completely tied up with leading music all morning.

I had to constantly tell the kids not to jump on Grandmommy - they think everyone just wants to be pounced on I guess - but they just loved being with her. I'm sure we were quite alot to take in - it's been a LONG time since she's had young kids in the house, and even though she had 4 kids of her own, David came along 10 years after his sister...so it was different. We're a bit much for a lot of people I think! :)

Thanks for coming all this way to see us Grandmommy - we love you and can't wait to see you again soon!

Some rock & roll, some swimming, and some shells!

David was able to come home early on Tuesday afternoon to spend some time with his mom. He came home with some new toys too - someone gave him their rockband equipment for the Wii - so he HAD to stop and get the LEGO Rockband game for the Wii (at least it was on sale) to bring home. His mom got a total kick out of watching that!!

Here's David singing - he can sing on"expert" level - go figure! Maybe he should do it for a living! :)

David trying to teach Callie the drums...the boys are actually pretty good at it. I'm pretty good too - as long as I stay on "super easy" level! :)

We went for a late afternoon swim before dinner - the water felt so good...these 100 degree days are rough!

Guess who enjoyed the Stuffed Shells that I made for dinner! :)

First Day of Saddle Ridge Ranch!

Monday morning was definitely a little bit crazy. It was the first morning of VBS at our church, and we'd all been very excited about this day! I was in charge of the music rotation, so we all had places we needed to be bright and early. Grandmommy decided to stay home and rest (we'd worn her out from our LONG day at church the day before) so the rest of us were up, had breakfast, dressed and ready to head to "Saddle Ridge Ranch" - our theme - by 7:15 am!!

Yee-haw!

Rounding up questions, driving home answers! (part of our theme...)

After we came home from VBS that afternoon, Grandmommy played the Princess Game with Callie...several times!

Callie enjoys a book on Grandmommy's lap

Caleb & Grandmommy playing peek-a-boo across the table :)

My Cuddlebug

This is how I found Caleb when I picked him up from his class at church on Sunday. He had just woken up from his nap and was getting a little cuddle time with our buddy Logan. Logan is one of the teens at our church and Caleb LOVES him! :) I'm thankful that they love on my baby boy for me!

Grandmommy is here!

Waiting...patiently...for Grandmommy...to arrive at the airport.

(Sidenote: don't we have the loveliest airport? They have all these white rocking chairs in the terminals for you to sit and wait in...and notice that there is NOBODY around!! It was 6 pm on a Saturday - and the airport was empty! It's like we live in some small little town in SC!)

She was barely off the airplane and at our home before the boys wanted to play a piano recital for her! (Josiah specifically chose a song called "Grandmother" to play for her!) :)

Jacob had SO been looking forward to her scratching his back...one of his favorite memories from the last time she came! :)

1:56 AM

David's going to kill me when he sees what time I was up until! But I got alot done - cleaning bathrooms, vacuuming carpet, folding laundry - all while waiting for blog pictures to upload!! More to do tomorrow, but getting there!!! Enjoyed catching up on your blogs - I've missed you! As for me, I haven't seen those numbers on the clock in a LONG time!!! Good night!

Full

It's been a full few weeks. Obviously. That's partly why I'd gotten so behind with my blogging. Full days. We are in the final days before VBS kicks off next week, so that has meant extra meetings and practices (I'm in charge of the music this week). Some WONDERFUL visits with friends. Extra appointments (dentist...ugh!) and things that have filled up our schedule. Children who need LOTS of training...and patience which has NOT been plentiful with me lately. (Case in point: Callie got up during naptime 3 times in one day and got ALL into my nailpolish. Painted her fingers and toes (and half of my bathroom floor)...had to throw everything away...so frustrating...and exhausting...and wearying...and slightly hilarious when her answer to 'why did you do this Callie' was "because I just wanted my hands to be beautiful!") I'm such a homebody - I like to have quiet days at home. Not that it's quiet here in my house. At all. But I really do enjoy days when we don't go anywhere. Or at least no where in the morning. Or no errands in the afternoon. The last 2 weeks have been rushing here or there. This week was consumed with the mulching project. Consumed every minute of naptimes for several days - which meant nothing else got done.

And it continues. David's mom arrives tomorrow evening from Memphis to stay with us until next Thursday. We're all so looking forward to her visit. But Sunday is a FULL day with Father's Day, (oh by the way it's our 12th anniversary too), David is doing a funeral that afternoon, and Monday kicks off VBS week. So lots going on. Great stuff. But makes for a full calendar. Praying that we ALL get the rest that we need so we can have happy hearts (of course I'm saying that as it's 1:08 AM and I'm still UP!!!). Still trying to remain very intentional with our time in the midst of all the busyness too!

Neighbors

After all the hard work on Monday, I was ready to take a break from the mulching! We finished off one pile, but still had another pile to distribute to the back. At about 10:45 am, I had a knock on my door. It was my neighbor Sue! I had borrowed her wheelbarrow the day before (because our BRAND new one kept getting a flat tire...) so she knew we were in the midst of mulching mayhem. She said she had a few hours before taking her kids to the pool and did I want any help with the mulch!! I'm not one to turn down an offer of help, so back outside we went! Caleb was taking his nap and we were able to knock it all out!! With both of us working together, two wheelbarrows going, and a few extra kids thrown in to help, we finished it up. The sad news is that we still have to get some more mulch - can you believe it - but we're almost there! The great news is that it's looking great out there! :) So thankful for neighbors willing to go the extra mile! :)

Sue's youngest - Samuel - is a few months younger than Callie. They're pretty cute together! :)

A LOT of hard work pays off!!

When I say we worked HARD all weekend, I am not kidding you! We worked HARD! And of course we've already hit the 100 degree days here in SC, so it was HOT and sweaty hard work! the kids were troopers and helped us out quite a bit in order to earn some extra money for their Wii box. They helped with alot of the weeding that we had to do to prepare some of the flower beds. Then I told them they could help with the mulching by earning 50 cents for every wheelbarrow load that they could fill, transport, and dump. It was a BIG job, but we were all determined!

On Monday morning, after Caleb went down for his morning nap, the other kids and I headed back outside to keep working on the mulch. It was SUCH a big job that it was hard for the kids to see the end result. But they kept working at it. By that morning, they had already earned $35 towards their $50 that they needed. Caleb woke up and so we had to stop for a while. (Sidenote: It was just too hot to have him out there, so my mulching had to be done during naptimes. This also meant that the things I NORMALLY do during naptime did NOT get done....hence the delay in blogging!!) Anyways, we took a break, had lunch, hit the pool for a little bit to cool off and be refreshed. When Caleb and Callie went back down for their afternoon naps, the boys were playing Legos in their room. I told them they had the option of playing legos quietly during resttime or they could come help me do some more mulching. After about 5 minutes, both boys straggled out. Josiah was trying to talk them both into finishing the job up - he knew they were getting close. I told them they only needed $15 more - which was 30 wheelbarrows full. This was still very overwhelming to Jacob. Josiah told Jacob that if he would do 10 loads, then Josiah would do the other 20. Bless his little heart. So they started working. It was hot. We were all sweaty and tired. But all of a sudden, they started finishing off these loads and getting closer and closer. When Jacob finished his 10, they knew they were REALLY close. Josiah started beaming once he got into the single digits. It was SO cute seeing them accomplish this REALLY big goal - and being SO excited about it!

I told them that if they could finish it off, we would go RIGHT AWAY and buy the Wii and surprise David with it. This gave them the energy they needed to finish it off!!!

Jacob filling his LAST wheelbarrow full!!
This little guy really did work hard. Josiah is not afraid of hard work, and I'm proud of him for doing so much. He knew he was doing more than Jacob, but he was okay with that. I was proud of him for that.

The two VERY proud boys with their last loads!

Dumping it out...

WE DID IT!!!!

HOORAY! WE DID IT!!!

I tell you - the look on their faces was priceless. Obviously they didn't REALLY financially contribute...we "paid" them this money so it all came out of our pockets. But they learned such a valuable lesson in the process. About how it takes a long time to save that much money. About how hard we have to work for it. About how we need to decide what we spend our money on. It was a great lesson for them, and I was proud of them for keeping at it!

We decided that we would NOT tell Daddy about our mulching that day - that we would let it be a surprise. We went straight after naptime to get the Wii, then to kids worship team practice while David was making some pastoral visits. We all got home around the same time and rushed inside to present David with his early Father's Day present! :)

Obviously David knew what was going on, but being the good Daddy that he is, he was VERY dramatic and played the part well! :)

(Just look at Josiah's face - he was so excited he could hardly stand it! He LOVES surprises!! Jacob, on the other hand, wanted SO badly to call David and tell him all afternoon that they finished earning their money and we bought the Wii!! He'd rather have the instant gratification than waiting for a surprise!)

Trying out archery for the first time :)

It's ridiculous how much more coordinated my kids are than I am. That's all I'll say about that! :) Way to go boys - I'm SO proud of you for working so hard to earn this!!!

CAUGHT!!! RED-HANDED!

Guess what Caleb has figured out how to do!! Open...and EMPTY the drawers!

The first REAL one comes out!

Just us girls...playing a little princess game...
and Josiah lost his second tooth! It's kind of like the first REAL one though. The top tooth that he lost was only loose because it was pretty much dead from all the falls it endured from his toddlerhood. (Also evident by the fact that the permanent tooth has STILL not come through) Then Jacob kicked him in the face and all but knocked it out. This tooth was his bottom tooth - and it was loose just because it was loose! :)

He was pretty excited - and mostly because he knew another dollar was coming that he could add to the Wii collection box! :)