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! :)

The Mulch Arrives!

Now that we were committed to getting our backyard back into shape, we ordered our mulch and had it delivered on Saturday morning. We were able to get a good deal from the company our neighbors are using and so two giant trucks arrived with a LOT of mulch!!!

here's the FIRST truckload...

Mound #1

And there's the 2nd truckload!!

I about DIED when David told us how much mulch we were going to need. We've just never had a yard like this so it was a bit overwhelming to me. And of course all this mulch in the DRIVEWAY means a LOT of work in the future to put it where it's supposed to go!!! Sigh...It's going to be a long week!

Building for Dad

One of the best things about summer break is that we have our Saturday mornings back! We're in between seasons with sports right now and it is VERY nice!! My kids are thrilled to be able to go back to Lowe's and do some of the build-your-own workshops and I really do love it too. Even Callie really gets into it!

3 very proud builders with their swivel picture frames that they made for David for Father's day! (and they came with Father's day coupons to Lowe's...could have used that when I bought all those plants last night!!!)

The ONLY reason to drive a mini-van on a date night!

David surprised me by asking me out on a date for Friday night. I of COURSE said YES and lined up a sitter for the kids. We enjoyed dinner (David got to choose, but it had to be a place I had a coupon for! I know, I'm nuts) and decided to skip seeing a movie (I just think that movies are SO ridiculously expensive now. I'd much rather get a $1 movie from the kiosk machines and watch it more comfortably on my couch in my pjs than pay $20 to sit in a theatre!). We instead went to Lowe's and spent almost 2 hours walking around and figuring out what to plant in our yard! I made Beth walk around the yard with me when she was here and show me where I could plant things and give me some ideas. She is SO great with gardening stuff, and had she been here one more day, I would have TOTALLY made her do it ALL with me. At least she got me pointed in the right direction!

We found what we needed and filled up our van with all this fun stuff! Hydrangeas, azaleas, gardenias, hostas, and other stuff I can't remember the names of. I saved all my receipts though so I can take them back if I kill them all!! :)

Cue Sad, Boyz II Men Song...

...you know the one..."It's so hard to say goodbye...". Wednesday finally came around and it was SO hard waking up knowing that it was the last day of our visit. The only thing that made it a teeny bit better was that we've already got the next visit on the calendar, and it's not that far away!!!

Are these boys surrounded by fun or what?
Callie and Addison were getting nice and Squeak. E. Clean upstairs...

And then I looked around and everyone was playing a game with their buddy! Jacob and Jackson were playing the "Hulk Smash!" game (of course...)

Addison and Callie were playing Hungry Hippos (and with their purses at the same time...)

and Harrison and Josiah were playing Guess Who! It was the cutest - seeing them all paired off like that! A lot of the time, they just travel in a herd, so this was really cute!

Our new neighbors next door are having their background landscaped, so the machines arriving provided quite a bit of exciting entertainment for our boys!

We went to the pool for ONE last swim...

While Beth got their stuff all packed up, our kids sat and looked...and LAUGHED...at our blog books together. Beth brought hers so I could see them and we stayed up WAY too late in the night on Tuesday night going through them together. It was so fun sitting together on the couch and remembering our children when they were younger and seeing pictures of different events - laughing at the funny things our kids have said. I have that picture in my head and I LOVED it! Then to see our kids gathered around these special books and enjoying them as much as we did - it was a special memory. Come back soon - we LOVED every minute!!

EdVenture-ing with the Williams' Family

Our children's museum, EdVenture, has a special $1 admission night once a month. We were delighted to find that it was going to coincide with the Williams' visit and decided to go for it on Tuesday night. (Despite the fact that a few of my children had MAJOR issues that afternoon after LOTS of fun at the pool and BEFORE a much needed naptime....we still decided to forge ahead...) Good thing Beth loves me inspite of my many inperfections!!

Caleb decided he did NOT like this strange fireman statue that David placed him on...
Building away...

Silly boys....

While Beth & I went exploring some of the museum with the older boys, Anthony & David took Callie, Caleb, and Addison to the playground where they had a ball! (and were confined :) ). It was a little crowded because of the admission discount and it being the first one of the summer....containment was good!

You can see a bit of "Eddie" in the background - he's the gigantic boy in the background and the kids can go climbing all through him - seeing his organs, muscles, bones, etc. It's pretty cool!

Outside is the water play station with all kinds of fun to get into! This was Jacob's favorite last time, and probably again this time too! Callie and Addison really enjoyed it too!

Anthony had some business in a nearby city, so he got to pop in that afternoon and stay that night. Beth & I always feel bad when our husbands miss out on all our fun - so we were glad that Anthony got to join us for a bit!

Apparently this is what Addison and Callie did at the water station - they kept drinking it! GROSS!!! Trying not to think about it....they both survived anyways...

Hard to say no when you see that big smile!!

Josiah really is getting older - he loved reading all the informational posters and signs - he just loves learning!!!