My Favorite Four Plus One!

My heart belongs to these beautiful people~

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Molly Statistics






















Molly just had her four month check up yesterday. Her Stats: Height..24"..45%, Weight...14#3oz....70%. She is doing awesome! She coos and "talks" now. She is now laughing. She loves to watch the kids and is VERY interested in any activity that is going on. She always wants to see what is happening. She has finally decided that her car seat is not terrible and doesn't scream every time she is put in it. She sucks on her first and second fingers but also takes a pacifier. She is sleeping in her big girl crib now, at least in the beginning of the night. She wakes up once for the most part and then either sleeps in our bed or goes in the cradle beside our bed. She still eats about every 3-3 1/2 hours. She just found her feet yesterday on the changing table. She smiles all the time but when something new is going on..she is very interested and studies it. She likes her Bumbo seat and now can hold toys and put them up to her mouth. She is so chubby and her hair stands up on her head. Her eyes still look blue and her hair is blond with some darker highlights. She holds her head up great and likes tummy time. She loves riding in the stroller and is great when we take walks. I love her to death and cannot imagine my life without her. She has fit into our family just perfectly! What an awesome blessing!

So EXCITED!!!

I am so excited to be going out of town with my sweet hubby! Mrs Harriet said she would babysit (and we hope to return the favor one day soon) so that John and I could go on an overnight trip. The whole thing started because I told John I wanted to try some snow crab legs with him (I've never eaten them). He said he would take me to Destin to get some and then we started thinking about what we could do for our ten year anniversary. Our anniversary is not until October but we wanted to go camping in the mountains in October for the obvious reason of it being beautiful in October and the cooler weather. But if we go camping in the mountains, we wanted to take the kids so we were still trying to figure out something "special" to do for our anniversary. We love our kids and love to travel with them and have adventures but it is so nice to have some couple time. Ten years is a pretty special anniversary. Years ago we talked about going on a cruise or something really different but that is expensive and well we have a baby that is still in need of her mommy and daddy! When Mrs. Harriet offered to babysit we, of course, were super excited and decided to go for two nights somewhere before school started as an "early" anniv get away. Destin is Opposite way from Tallahassee than Madison so we started looking for places past Madison that way...we came across Amelia Island. Neither one of us have ever been to Amelia Island and have heard great things about it. We found a cute bed and breakfast for a great deal. Molly will go with us but it will be a treat to be minus two kids and get to have some talk time in a new place. Great thing is that Molly can't talk yet :) The big kids are super excited because they get to go meet the Brewers' new puppies. Thanks Brewers!

Messy Camp


John Daniel is attending Wildwood Church's Make a Mess Camp this week. It was a little bit more money for a week of camp that I would usually spend but it sounded so cool and I knew the teacher and knew she would do some cool things. It said in the ad for it..."all the messy things that are too messy to do at home!"....sounds perfect! It has been sooooo good for him. Finally he is the one that gets to do something by himself. He has been super excited and enjoyed every minute of it! The first day, they splatter painted t-shirts and then splatter painted the teacher! Today, they painted flower pots. Emily is too funny when he is gone..she misses him. She is not use to being here without him. Her and I are going school shopping tomorrow. John Daniel told me today that he wanted to "sign up for messy camp every time!"


Another funny quote from J.D. this week...."I have three girlfriends, the two Mackenzies, the one that stays in Madison and the one at church, and Maddie but I don't know which one is going to be my mom!" (I found out that this means the mom of his children)

Sunday, July 26, 2009

It has not been that bad!

Let me say that I was super super nervous about the summer. We had a new baby, John changed jobs, John went to night shift, and school was out all in one month! I literally was freaking out that I was going to be stuck in the house having to make everyone quiet or have to be gone all the time in the hot weather, running around in the car. I planned more activities for the summer in hopes that it would keep us busy. I laid it all out on my calendar, set up play dates, camps, and challenged myself to do things like mission projects with the kids all in hopes that I would not go crazy! It will be August at the end of the week and let me say the summer has flown by! We have actually had a blast. I certainly have had a couple of bad days but it really has been very nice. I like the purposeful projects we have done (I am so proud that I have actually followed through on something) and it is to the point now that the kids ask what our next "service project" is. I like that the kids have done some really fun camps that they have never done before. I have also liked our downtime where we have cooked together, watched movies, gone swimming, played outside, done "homeschool" and listened to music. I have also learned some things about myself. I like order and it usually drives me nuts when things are out of order but this summer has taught me that it is o.k. to "think out of the box sometimes." It is o.k. that Emily and J.D. play in Molly's room some days because their Daddy is asleep in their room. It is o.k. that Emily has an "American Girl store" set up in Molly's room where tiny shoes and clothes are hanging all over Molly's bed. It is o.k. to set up a fort under the kitchen table. It is o.k. to pull the sleeping bags out and couch cushions off the couch to make a bed on the floor for watching movies in the middle of the day, it is o.k. that Daddy sleeps in the bunk bed, Molly sleeps in my bed, and I sleep on the couch for an afternoon nap. It is o.k. to turn a movie on for the big kids to watch while John, Molly, and I catch a few zzzzz's. It is o.k. to run a bubble bath in the middle of the day for the kids just to entertain them. It is o.k. to play in the sprinkler with your clothes on. It is o.k. to let the big kids play in the rain with their umbrellas as long as it is not lightning. I have enjoyed a different kind of summer...one that was very planned out but spontaneous all at the same time!

Making a plan

My heart is to shepherd Emily and John Daniel 's heart and to teach them the Bible. I am very grateful that they both attend Christian schools but John and I both feel that our main purpose is to teach them about God ourselves and not leave that to their S.S. teachers or their schools. So lately I have been looking through my books, buying new ones, reading some online, and asking around as to what other parents do. I feel a little bit overwhelmed because there are so many ideas, so many different resources and so many things I want to share with them. I don't want to be hit or miss with it. I don't want it to be disorganized...I like to be organized!

Here are just my thoughts: This is very rough. These are just ideas that I am mulling over.


Scripture memory

Practicing worship

Bible as a history book/timeline..starting with the old testament

Teaching the Essence of God (who He is)...I have a study on this that includes stories and song.
(It explains God's sovereignty, righteousness, Justice, Love, Eternal Life, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Immutability, and veracity. )

Prayer time

Mission/serving

Application/devotional type study

Study on Heaven to go along with what our pastor is teaching on

So I just need to organize my thoughts and figure it all out! I am reading some great books right now though that have really helped me in my walk. I am soaking up some good stuff on my own right now that I just want to share with my kiddos!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Quote

This is a great quote from a book I am reading..Parenting in the Pew by Robbie Castleman

"All of us find it easy to miss the truly important moments in life. Distraction, busyness and the clamor of worry about the future things rob us of what God may be up to in the present moment of our lives. We usually see the significant minutes, the turning points of our lives, from a distance. Then we pause in wonder and mutter, Ahh, little did I realize how important that was at the time. The lives of children are affected by moments that hardly get our attention. Given an adults's confidence and familiarity with the world, it is easy to overlook the often poignant perspective of children."

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Backwards night

Tonight John and I are going on a much needed date! We are going all by ourselves without the baby or the big kids. Our long time babysitter, Heather, is going to come over. She has been babysitting for us since Emily was a baby! I was trying to get the kids to clean up their room which actually was not that bad and I told them they wanted it to look nice for Miss Heather, etc, etc. Well my imaginative daughter Emily got turned on....she is one of those that is not the most likely to pitch in just to help but once you get her excited or motivated, she can clean up as I would and it will be perfect. She came in my room and said that they had decided to redecorate! I said o.k. but wasn't expecting it to work out. In about 30 minutes they came running in (very excited) and said they were ready for me to come look. I went in their room and was absolutely amazed. It looked like I had cleaned it....beds were made, trashed was picked up, floor was vacuumed, all toys were put away where they belonged, and it was just perfect! They had "redecorated" by moving the doll house to this wall and the tool bench to the other wall etc. I did silly things to make them laugh like pretended to pass out and hyperventilate when I walked in. I can be a cool mom sometimes....on a whim I said "I am so proud of you guys that we are going to have backwards night!" "Backwards night, what is that?" So I told them to go brush their teeth....after that I put them in a bubble bath and lit candles in the bathroom and turned the lights off..after that they ate ice cream with chocolate syrup on it...and finally about 1 hour after that they ate their dinner (ravioli with meat sauce). They were so excited and the expressions on their face showed pure joy! And yes, they will have to brush their teeth again!

Monday, July 20, 2009

Manners


Emily is going to Manner's Camp this week at Wildwood Presbyterian Church. Today they learned about saying please and thank you, greeting one another, shaking hands, setting a table, passing serving dishes, sitting up straight, table manners and being kind and courteous (even to siblings). She wasn't all that thrilled to go but in my effort to be very prepared and planned for the summer I signed her up. When I picked her up today, she was very excited and glad that she had gone. Her homework was to set the table. She placed everything perfectly and even made name cards! One funny comment from today was: "Mommy, back in the old days when people shook hands it was to show the other person that they didn't have weapons."

In talking about manners this morning on the way to camp, I was telling Emily and J.D. the kinds of things that I appreciate from people and the manners that our parents taught us (meaning John and I). It is so rare these days in my opinion to find people that have nice manners, even adults are rude and disrespectful these days. Gosh I sound like an old person. But you know when you meet a really nice and mannerly kid...it is so refreshing! Something that I admired about John when I met him and something that my parents admire about him are his manners. He always, no matter who it is, says "Ma'am and sir." He also says Mr. and Mrs. to everyone, even to my own parents after knowing them for over 15 years. John is big into respect and if the kids ever show me disrespect in their words or attitude, he is quick to correct them. He also is very respectful to his elders and his superiors. Another "manner" that I love about John is that he does not gossip! My dad is that way too in that he does not like gossip. I am very grateful for the manners that my parents instilled in me. My brother and I joke to this day about my mother's obsession of writing thank you notes. She made us write thank you notes for EVERYTHING growing up...birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, Easter goodies, etc. I have continued this and I have started making Emily write them as well. I believe it is a very nice gesture. My dad was big on table manners. To this day my left hand is almost always in my lap when I am eating because he would tell us over and over not to "guard" our food and put one hand in our lap. My dad was also big on respect and being in the sales business he is always talking about customer service. My mom always talked to us about being thankful, speaking to people, and showing gratitude when given something. I have talked to Emily and J.D. about this numerous times. You know those times at birthday parties when the child gets two of the same thing. I have tried to teach Emily that you don't say "I already have this" or "I just got this" but to act thankful no matter what. We are working on Emily's greeting skills. She is shy so she tends to back away from greeting people. Maybe manner's camp will help...Emily is now our official manners police. We just ate dinner and the three of us had to hear about all the things we were doing wrong! It was hilarious!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

another crazy night

First let me start off with saying that I hate changing the sheets on the crib and the bunk beds..it is just a pain! I changed all the sheets yesterday..crib and bunk beds. During one of Molly's naps yesterday, she pooped and it was a blow out and it got all over freshly made up sheets. So the crib was changed for a second time! Last night was John's night four of six nights working. His six days on are really tough on all of us. It just feels like forever! I was also oncall for the second night in a row. I do not usually take call all night but I do sometimes fill in for the night nurses when they are on vacation. So at 8:00 I went oncall and got several calls right off. While talking to patients I put everyone to bed. It seemed as though the night was going as it was suppose to. Then Emily walks in and says her belly hurts which sometimes means "I miss Daddy" or "I am worried about something". I gave her a bucket just in case. Next thing I know J.D. is running in and I hear retching from her room. She is vomiting! She is my most awesome vomiter..in that she can hit the bucket every time and can pretty much do it herself. We get the bucket washed out and her cleaned up and back to bed it is. Called more patients. Emily vomits again. Cleaned Emily and bucket up again. Back to bed. Quiet for one hour. I thought everyone was finally asleep. Then I hear a strange muffled coughing like noise. I go in the big kids' room and Emily is laying face down on her bed but is vomiting ALL OVER her sheets, her pajamas, her pillow, etc. My most awesome vomiter wasn't so awesome anymore! So it was everywhere. I think I about cried. She was half asleep and I had to have her just strip down in the bed so I could get her in the shower. There goes my next freshly made bed! While Emily was in the shower, I talked to more patients, stripped her bed, and made her a bed on the couch. I put Emily to sleep on the couch. by this time it was around 11:30pm. Molly wakes up and is stuffed up so she isn't wanting to go right back to sleep. I get her out of her bed and nurse her but she is now wide awake and playful. Another patient calls and this one is a train wreck. I have to call the oncall doctor for this patient. We just never have to call the oncall doctor. I think it has been six months since I had to call the oncall doc. So now I am holding Molly and talking to the doctor about his patient. I call John at this point and the first thing he says after I tell him everything is "man your blog is going to be great tomorrow!" All I needed was for J.D. to pee in his bed and I would have made three beds six times in one day. Finally after finishing up with the patient and rocking Molly she falls asleep enough for me to put her down. I think I finally laid down at 1:30am. Emily slept the rest of the night. I had one more call in the middle of the night and Molly woke up one more time. What a crazy night. It was almost comical.

Friday, July 17, 2009

update

Well after my pitiful post yesterday, I figure I better update it. Molly slept better last night but not great. I think she slept from about 10pm until 2:30 am. Then it was a pretty restless night until early morning at about 6 am when she went to sleep again. It was still better than the previous night though.

Today I had to go to work for a little while. My boss called me and asked if I could come for awhile because they were short so I agreed. That meant that John would have the kids when he woke up from about 3:30 until 6:00 when he would then take the kids to my mom's until I got off at 8pm. Seems like a lot of effort for just four short hours at work but to tell you the truth it was nice to "get away" for a few hours and just sit at the computer at work and give people advice. So I was all worried that Molly would be fussy b/c of her cold b/c she had been for me all morning. I think I have held her for 72 hours straight..at least it feels like that. She wasn't happy in any of her "apparatuses" and so I did all I could to make it easy for John. I ironed his shirt, put his pins on it, packed the diaper bag, loaded the car, and had all the times and plans just perfect. So I left for work and Molly was finally asleep at that time. So he calls me at 5:45 on the way to my parent's house and says she slept the WHOLE time he had them and she was as happy as could be when she woke up! SERIOUSLY!!! Then my parents brought her up to work at 6:30 so I could nurse her and they talked about how happy she had been and she was just laughing. When I showed up at their house to pick them all up...J.D. was holding her and they were all watching T.V. and she had been happy and cheerful the whole time.....SERIOUSLY! So nobody felt my pain :) But that's o.k....I'd rather her be fussy with me I guess!

John gave J.D. his old work phone to have and play with. It is a palm and J.D. loves it. He takes pics and writes on it with the little stylet pen, charges it, plays games on it, etc. He forgets where it is every once in awhile. Tonight he says to me, "I'll give you $20 dollars Mommy if you find it." If I could only have $20 every time I find something for them that they have lost!

So here is to an even better night of sleep and a fun Saturday....oops..maybe not....I am oncall all night :) I wasn't going to tell you mom..I know I would get the "you need some sleep lecture". I can do anything for a couple of nights though and with lots of caffeine :) Hey and maybe I will get to sleep through the night and get paid at the same time..you just never know!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Bad Night

So after two nights of practically no sleep due to a restless, crying, and stuffed up nose baby, I am very thankful for my "Baby-Wise" baby! You forget how great it is when your baby sleeps all night and wakes up only once versus every hour!! I felt so sorry for little molly last night. She couldn't breathe out of her nose so when I would lay her down on her tummy, she would get so frustrated and wake herself up. Then I tried to elevate her head by putting her in the boppy on her back...oh heck no...she wasn't having anything to do with that..don't try to lay that baby on her back! So we went from my bed, to the couch, to the chair and around and around again. I talked to John on and off for an hour at 5 am. Crying at one point at 6 am because I was just so tired! She ended up sleeping for awhile on me. I was on my back in our bed, she was kneeling by my side with her upper body on my chest. Finally at about 6:55 she fell asleep in what seemed to be a deep sleep. Of course all I could think about was that John would be walking in the door at 7:30 and my kids would be awake by 8. John got home and told the kids that they had to watch cartoons while I slept a little. I think I slept until 8:30ish. At least it was solid sleep though. Emily was awesome in that she let the dog out, fed her and gave her water, got her and J.D. breakfast and kept the t.v. low. We were suppose to go to Madison today to see the Brewer's new puppy but I decided that me driving on the interstate would be a bad idea. We, instead, have done chores and rested. I am determined to go exercise tonight though. My good friend Harriet has challenged me and given me the idea to do the bleachers at the track when we go. I am going to go take the kids and walk/run around the track and go up and down the bleachers. She keeps telling me that interval work like that burns more calories so I am on a mission. It just started pouring down rain but hopefully that will blow over! AND hopefully tonight will be a better night!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Memmy's







Today we went and visited Memmy..John's grandmother and the kids' great-grandmother. It is a shame that we don't see her more often or for that matter all of the great grandparents but it really is hard to get a visit into everyone all the time. We are trying to do a better job of that. We decided as one of our service projects that it would be good to "serve" our great grandparents since we want to respect and love our elders and since they have done so much for us over the years. We took lunch to Memmy's house and had a picnic with her. Her and John's Aunt Kim live together and they have a cute new house. Kim has a way with decorating and picks out trinkets from all over town that make the place really cute. She has cute rockers on the porch and pretty flowers everywhere. It looks like an all American kind of home. Emily came away from the visit wanting to decorate our back porch like theirs and buy some new decorations for her bedroom. I told her she needed to get a job :) We had a nice visit with Memmy. John used to live next door to Memmy and Kim when he was in college and Memmy took good care of him and our dog Samson. When we were cooking for her this morning, I was talking to the kids about who we were going to see and why we were going to see her etc. John Daniel said, "she is the small one." He means this in a very sweet way. They think she is cute because she is "little." John Daniel is already over half her size! We made her a fruit pizza for dessert. The kids designed the top of it and it read "We love U" in blueberries. Afterwards, we went to see the movie "UP" which funny enough is about an elderly man and his relationship with this little boy and what he teaches the little boy and what the boy in return teaches him. It had a serious tone to it even though it was a cartoon....just a sweet movie about an elderly man and his dreams. We decided that our theme of the day was teaching the kids to love and respect our elders and we sure do have some sweet "Grand people" in our lives!!! P.S. Memmy wouldn't like it that I posted these pics b/c she had just gone to the dermatologist and has a bandaid on her nose but we think they are sweet pictures!

Monday, July 13, 2009

A Visit to the Farm





























John has a coworker that lives out Capital Circle NW with his wife Leslie. Leslie has grown up on a "farm" with horses and chickens. Her parents live right down the street. She runs a horse camp, teaches private horse lessons, and takes care of the property. I believe most of the horses that she owns, she rescued from abusive situations. They have chickens both at Larry and Leslie's house as well as at her parents house. Larry told John at work that they have so many eggs that they cannot get rid of them or use them fast enough. Larry invited all of us over to "gather" eggs and visit the horses. We went today and it was a lot of fun. We got a little lesson on chickens and talked about the horses. Ms. Leslie let my kids brush the horses and ride them. John Daniel actually really took to it all and brushed and brushed the horses and was so excited to ride on one..Emily was a little more timid. They rode on a horse named "Yuck" and brushed a horse named "Tater". Tater was quite funny in that she kept nudging all of us with her nose because she wanted to be rubbed on more. Ms. Leslie and Mr. Larry were very sweet to do all this on their day off from EMS shifts and horse camp. We came home with two dozen fresh chicken eggs. Ms. Leslie said that they have a richer taste than store bought eggs. The kids gathered some of them just seconds after mama hen got up from sitting on them. It made John and I want chickens...sort of!!!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

losing weight and exercise

We just got back from the track, second night in a row. We have taken the whole family both nights. The big kids run around (actually they do quite a few laps) and I push Molly in the stroller. I really do not like to exercise...I mean I have my moments where I think it is fun but it isn't a great thing to me. I was always skinny until I hit college. Slowly I have gained way too much weight....but my pregnancies always help me take some off (not the greatest way to lose 20 lbs but oh well). Right now I am about 20 lbs lighter than I was before I got pregnant about one year ago. I lost 20 lbs during my first trimester, gained about 24 lbs back during the rest of the pregnancy and now I have lost those 20lbs again having the baby and nursing. I decided that if I let myself gain that weight back well then I would be such a loser!!!! I have the chance now to get down to my ideal weight. I joined weight watchers online this week. I am not a big "jump on the latest band wagon for weight loss" type of girl. I agree with my husband that it is not the program, it is eating healthy and activity and just a way of life but i have done weight watchers before and if anything..it helps guide you in making healthier decisions and i also feel like I can still eat some of what I regularly eat and make my own choices. John and I have also committed to making exercise a priority. John is a much happier person when he is exercising..I see this in many aspects of his life...he loves to ride his bike and runs because it gets him in shape. So we have talked about it and decided that at least every other day we each get to exercise. I have tried taking all three kids by myself and it is just a pain...I mean I don't even like to exercise and then putting three kids in the mix..well I will just give up! The track is cool though because they don't have to be right on top of me and can run and do their own thing. John is trying to do some training for a 1/2 marathon and a triathlon. I would like to just be able to run a 5K and then eventually a 10K but my main goal would be to look better in clothes and be a nice size 8. So I am posting about all this not because I like to talk about it because I don't but it holds myself accountable in some small way. I hate it when people complain and talk about their weight etc....so I usually don't like to talk about it....I feel like I just need to do something about it and for me it is a very personal thing...I just have to make up my mind to do it. I always feel better when I start working on it but I just can't be pushed. So like I said the past two nights we have gone up to Chiles track at 8 pm. Molly loves the vibration that the track makes her stroller do. She has just chewed on her fingers and propped her foot up and been as happy as can be. John runs. I walk and run and the big kids walk/run/play/push Molly some etc. Emily is our little runner. She ran like 3 full laps around that track. Maybe she will like to run and maybe we can instill the liking of exercise in her at an early age. It has been a good thing...and hopefully will start to be a habit.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

FSU Football and the Tour De France

I really try to like sports because John does. It is something that I can talk to him about. I watch FSU football and enjoy it. I like the football atmosphere and we try to go to at least one gave every season.

The other sport that I love is cycling, especially watching the Tour De France. I actually like it better than FSU football! Approx 6 years ago John got into cycling. My dad is into it as well. I really didn't know the difference at that point between riding a bike and cycling. There is a big difference though. Now for John and my dad that read this blog...I know I may not explain this all in perfect cycling terms or even make sense but I am going to try to write about why I like the Tour De France. The Tour is like the super bowl of football. It only happens once a year and lasts about two weeks. Most everyone knows the name Lance Armstrong at this point. John has read his books and we have followed him for most of his Tour wins. He has won 7 tours and he is an amazing athlete!! For someone to be so precise and strong is quite incredible. He is fun to watch even if he has the biggest ego around. I think all cyclists have egos though!! Anyways, we have been watching the tour again this year and it is pretty exciting because after taking several years off, Lance Armstrong is riding again. I love the voices of the commentators, especially Phil Leggett. I have learned what the peloton is, what the green, yellow, polka dot jerseys mean, I know what the Team Time Trial is and that five members have to cross the line together, I know that they train for years, practice for months, measure aerodynamics, cross winds etc. I think that the cycling etiquette is very cool. Years ago when Lance and his arch enemy Ulrich were pounding up the mountain together, Ulrich had a mishap on his bike..well instead of Lance taking advantage of it and leaving him..he waited on his arch enemy to catch up just so they could fight it out to the bitter end together. I love watching the sprinters waiting until the perfect time to sprint to the end and you always feel so sorry for the one in the break away that worked so hard to get ahead of the peloton only to be gobbled up by the peloton in the end right before the finish line. I think the crowd is amazing and crazy. Years ago we watched lance climb those huge mountains with literally no room on either side of his bike because of the crazy fans. I love that the sport has members from all different countries. I think it is cool how it is so much of a team sport. Each team has usually one member of the team that is the leader. The team works hard to protect that member and will even ride on all sides of him just so if a wreck is to happen he hopefully would be protected. They ride in front of the leader taking on the wind and work of climbing so that he can save his legs until the finish and they drop off and let him climb his way to the finish line hopefully winning the stage. There is a definite strategy that goes along with the sport. It has been so much fun watching it with John. I remember last year going to a salon to get my nails done. They had these little TVs to watch as your nails were drying. It was during the Tour De France time and I turned mine to the tour...the lady thought it was really weird that I picked cycling to watch as I was getting my nails done. I think it shows that a woman really likes a sport when she will watch it even when her husband is not around.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Some happenings




Swimming lessons are going great! The kids are now swimming laps across the big pool and learning how to side breath! John Daniel can hold his breath for forever!!! They had a treading water contest today and Emily won! I am super proud of them.


















Don't you wish you could sleep like this still!










We shopped today for the Manna food pantry at church. This was our service project for the week. My mom made the greatest little flip books for the kids last year that have pictures of the items that the food pantry likes to have. Each kid got a flip book and could look at the picture and know what to get off the shelf. It was fun and the kids were so preoccupied by their "shopping list" that they even forgot about wanting cookies. We will take our groceries to the church on Sunday.

Good Kids

We had a fantabulous 4th of July Weekend. The weather was awesome and the company was great. My friend Harriet and I talked about the kiddos a lot. We get ideas from each other as do most moms. When walking on the beach one morning we were talking about how hard it is to make your kids obey, not whine, stop fighting, clean up, be respectful..etc. It is certainly a full-time job and one that is exhausting sometimes. Harriet kept saying that she felt like she was constantly getting onto the kids. Anyways, it does pay off and we experienced that twice over the weekend. When you go somewhere with six kids you get lots of looks especially when you have a baby and a two year old. People usually clear the room or wish they were almost done with their food so they could get up out of that restaurant before we all walk in. We got comments like "wow look at all the ducklings" or "is this two families I hope?" We walked into this restaurant on the last day we were there (I'd like to add that we had been holding the kids off from eating b/c we were cleaning the condo, it was like 2:30 and they were starving) and a middle aged couple made some comment like "look at all the kids." They said they were cute and that we certainly needed two tables. They commented that they had four kids and 13 grandchildren. Our five big kids sat at one table and the grown ups sat at a table directly behind them. Baby Molly fell asleep in her car seat carrier sitting in a chair beside me. When the older couple started to leave they got up and came over to our table. The gentleman said, we just wanted you to know that all of your children are very well behaved and so respectful. He said they had been watching us and that one could tell we had done a good job and to keep up the good work. It made us all smile and we bragged on the kids. WOW I guess all the correcting and disciplining does pay off. At the end of the meal another table of ladies said to us as we were walking out, "Your kids are all so cute and so well behaved." It meant so much to all of us that total strangers would notice! And the kids were really well behaved and we were very proud. My mother has always said that you know if you are doing a good job by how your children act when you (the mother or father) are not around or when you are out in public. My mom always says that my children are great until I walk in the house :) So yeah it is hard work but it does pay off sometimes and John and I made a promise that when we are older and have grandchildren ourselves that we will make a point to tell parents "good job" when we see kids that are well behaved.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Happy 4th of July






























This weekend we celebrated the 4th of July at St. Augustine Beach with our friends the Brewers. We had a blast and are all water logged and drained from the time in the sun! We left Thursday and came back today and we were literally in the water and sun for the majority of 4 days. The kids were constantly hungry from all the activity!! We stayed at Harriet's Aunt's home which is a cute little condo in a gated community. It has a pool right out the back door and the beach is across a parking lot. Our time at the beach included lots of pool time, beach time, eating yummy food, watching movies, cooking, shopping, and all the grown ups got to take a run on the beach. On the 4th, we walked down to the beach at sunset and took pics in our red, white, and blue and played with sparklers on the beach. The kids had a blast and were super good. Thanks Brewers for a great holiday vacation!!!!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Galatians 5:13

Galatians 5:13-14 "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

In trying to make our "Summer of Service" projects hit home with the kids I decided I needed a verse as our motto. Duh Kathryn...probably would have been smarter to start off with showing them what the Bible says and telling them this is why we are doing these things...oh well I'm a little backwards sometimes but better late than never right??!! Yesterday we made some more yummy brownies and some bean salsa dip to take to the kids' pediatrician's office and to our church pastors and staff. I found Galatians 5: 13-14 and read it to the kids...Emily gets it of course but I think John Daniel understands that we just want to show others that we love them by doing something nice for them. Emily and I talked a lot about loving your neighbor as yourself. John Daniel helped make the brownies and Emily helped make the bean salsa. Let me tell you that God is teaching me something as I am trying to teach my kids something......PATIENCE!!! I have very little patience and boy do you have to have patience when you are cooking with your kids. I don't just want to do it for them because that would defeat the purpose so I have to be very deliberate in letting them do it. Funny how God uses one little thing to teach so many big things to each of us. We got up early and went to Dr. Elzie's office before swim lessons. John met us there on his way home from work. We all prayed in the car (something that I had not done yet before we have served others...another DUH moment) that the gifts that we were bringing to the doctors, nurses, and staff would glorify HIM and show others Christ's love. The kids walked in with their hands full of goodies and the staff was very excited and surprised. I hope they liked it. Emily said on our way there..."What if they don't eat it?" and I said "why wouldn't they?" and she said "because they are doctors and nurses and know that eating brownies with sugar and 4 sticks of butter isn't healthy for you!" I laughed so hard...I told her that is why we made the bean salsa dip because the ones that don't want the brownies can eat that. Too Cute!!! After swimming we took goodies to the church office for all the pastors and staff. They too were very thankful and excited. I know from being friends with other pastors and church staff members that they tend to hear a lot of negative comments most of the time about what people of unhappy with so we thought giving them some love through food and some cards that the kids made might brighten their day! I think it did!