Cousin School

Pam (Allen's cousin) and I have decided to do a preschool program with our kids and their other cousin Caleb. They are 5 months (Makenzie doesn't really participate much :P), 16 months, 2 that are 2, 3 years, 4 years, and almost 5 years old. Here they are waiting for school to begin. Doesn't Breanna in the foreground look thrilled? :P

You just have to start a school day with the pledge. So Caleb got to hold the flag for the first day of school. He was a proud flag carrier :)

Makenzie just wanted a nap at this point. Isn't she too cute with all that hair???

Hannah working diligently on her number of the day. We had a letter of the day: T, number of the day: 1, color of the day: green, shape of the day: triangle, and verse of the day: Eph 3:5

Lauren is decorating her shape of the day

For our art project we made a green turtle using both the letter and color of the day.

Caleb working intently on his art project. Cutting is still quite difficult for most of them. Tammy, I want to know where you got those spring loaded scissors though. They are most cool!

I am not even sure what she ate that got her lips all messy. I was impressed with Emily and Breanna (they were born 1 day apart). They both sat and did all the school work with the rest of the kids!

Recess time: Papa took them for a train ride with his green tractor. So, we were able to use the color and letter of the day again. They sure loved it!

Then the kids got to have a little bit of free play. This picture cracks me up. Breanna is looking in the "gas tank" like...."seriously, is there gas in this thing?"

Hannah and Caleb just adore each other. Here they are eating their tootsie pop desserts. Of course they start with T. They even had to share a chair :)

It was a great success for the first go around. I was impressed with how excited the kids were. We'll see if that holds up. We are planning on doing this every other week.

Goals

Hmm...I was thinking that more than half of 2007 is over. Hard to believe. Then I was wondering how well I was doing on my goals for this year. Here are the goals I wrote in January.

1. I will read my Bible 5 times a week
2. I will schedule a date night with the love of my life every other month
3. I will drink 32oz of water before I am allowed to drink any soda
4. I will do one load of laundry a day from start to finish (wash, dry, fold AND put away)
5. I will exercise 2 times a week
6. I will have school time with my kids 3 times a week.

Ok, so I really have not done any of these to my shame. Well, I been doing much better on my devotions in the last two weeks.
I had our first date night in six months 2.5 weeks ago.
I am hardly drinking any water at all :(
Laundry...well, I am not doing complete loads a day. But I am doing much better keeping up with the volume of laundry.
I have not exercised in forever. It has been so very hot here that we haven't had a chance to do any exercise as a family like walking and biking. Am I making excuses here?
We do school quite often even if it is just flashcards or reading.

Any suggestions?

How are you doing on your goals??

Our Monday Morning

I have really been bothered once the dust settles from the day that I rarely have time to play with my kids....or so it seems to me. So, this morning the girls were up early before Joseph. He is a little terrorist and flings everything within reach. So I figured now would be a good time to have a tea party. We got on hats, aprons, scarves and had cereal and hot chocolate in style :)

Here we are in our tea party garb. Sorry for the creepy eyes; I was trying to figure out how to take the picture myself at arms length and still get all our big heads in the frame :)

Then we were able to play a rousing round of Blue's Clue Memory. The girls are really doing well at it. I would highly recommend it! Doesn't Emily just look thrilled ?!?!

Our State Fair is a Great State Fair!

Saturday we got to go to the IL State Fair. I have never been there before. My mom and I have religiously attended the WI State Fair though. We got an awesome parking spot right across the street from a gate with a gas station right next door. Unfortunately, while we were using the potty it began to down pour. Their bathroom ceiling was leaking everywhere. Here we were waiting for the rain to let up by the pumps :) Funny memories! Thankfully, it stopped soon after and the day was stupendous!!!!!! The kids didn't have to pay to get into the fair, and Papa paid the $3 each for Allen and me. Can you believe that? So we got parking for $3 and that is all it cost us to get into the fair and park! Great deal.

Besides being cheaper than the WI State fair, they had tons more kid friendly activities than I remember the WI fair having. The kids got to make free t-shirts, blow bubbles and make bookmarks. They thought it was really cool :)


Joseph carefully making his bookmark with Joseph

Yes, yes! I got my hair chopped again. I was sick of the flip that would just flop 10 minutes after doing it. Well, it didn't stay looking nice very long after the rain and with the humidity yesterday either. Oh well! Here we are making the free t-shirts. The girls thought this was sooooo cool!

In the bubble fun! This was a really neat idea. Although I can't imagine how many bottle of Dawn were in that pool!

We didn't look at many animals. They did get to pet a cow, rabbit and sheep.

We love our soldiers! I am trying to teach my kids early that we love our military. We always tell them thank you for their service!This captain loved Joseph's seriously look so he put his hat on him and called him a little Marine. Adorable!

Papa and his little buddy!

Our family. Can you tell it was a little bright even in the shade. Ugh...my hair looks so stupid there. Better luck next time!

Emily was completely and utterly pooped. She is actually sleeping like this!

We, of course,had toride a couple of rides. Thank you to MawMaw and Papa that treated the kids for that!!!

It was a super day! I will have to say the only thing I really missed was the WI cream puffs. We tried one there, but it wasn't at all what I was used to. I think we are going to try and go to the WI state fair next year with my mom, so I will have to wait until them :)

Hannah and Mom Date

Yesterday Hannah and I went for a special day. The first thing we did was get our hair cut. Can you see how good of a job I did on her bangs myself. Sherry, I thought you could appreciate that!!!
She was very brave. I was very proud of her!

Hannah then got to choose where we would have our lunch date. She chose pancake's at Denny's. I was just grateful it wasn't the arches!

We got to shop at Toys 'R Us for her birthday. They even announced that it was Hannah's birthday over the loud speaker (it really isn't until the 29th).

On to our dentist appointment. Styling in the chair :) She cracks me up. The funniest thing is that when I asked her last night what her favorite part was of our special day she said the dentist!

This picture is from Tuesday. We went tootling around South County with Karen and Ms Mary (her mom). Ms Mary was such a trooper. She helped so much with the kids!!! It has been so nice getting to know her.

Thank you, thank you, Thank YOU to Auntie Karen and Ms Mary for watching Emily and Joseph while we had our date plus allowed me to run some errands. It was much easier have one :) I really appreciate you ladies!

Emily can't even fathom that someone might not want her on their lap :)

Almost a Week Ago

When Allen and I had our date night, the kids stayed at MawMaw and Papa's house. They were having Vacation Bible School at their church. MawMaw made all the kids Bible character outfits. They looked so cute. Thank you for all the work, MawMaw. Thank you guys for the wonderful date night. It was so refreshing!!!

We haven't done much this week. It has been just too hot. Yesterday it was 105 again officially, so it felt more like 115. Needless to say, we have stayed indoors and have had a lot of ice cream. Great excuse huh?

Ah, yes...on to THAT! I haven't weighed in since July 3rd. I have been very rebellious in my eating. I have gained back five pounds :( The sad part is I was glad it was 5 b/c I feared it was more. I have got to get motivated. Today I was reading in my Bible study that I need to gird up my mind and be holy in all my actions. I have NOT been. I need to give up that obsession of food. Any ideas? Any thoughts? Thank you, Beth, for always keeping me accountable!!!!!

Wow!!

As you can see, it was a little hot today!!!! This is the thermometer in our van

Under the Friday Night Lights

No, I didn't go to a high school football game. Actually, my kids went to MawMaw and Papa's house and Allen took me on a date. First he took me to Maggiano's in Brentwood. It was SO good. I just loved it! It was a European dining experience. It took us 2 hours to get all of our meal :) It was served in three courses.

Then he took me to the Muny!!!! I have never been there. It is an outdoor theatre that hosts Broadway musicals. We got to see Les Miserables! Ok, that is by far my very favorite musical ever. Though it was about 97 degrees even at 10pm, it was such a good time.

I love you, Allen. I appreciate all your work to date me. You are a jewel that I treasure.

Angel Food

Do you guys know about Angel Food ministries? It is a food ministry that you don't have to qualify for or apply for. They have a monthly menu. You get the box of food for $25. Then you can order extra boxes. Like this month we ordered a grill box of 8 ribeye steaks for $18. The main box of food is not day old or generic. It is usually valued at $68 retail. It is so cool! We just love getting it. The meat has been exceptional!

Here is the website if you would like to go and read about it www.angelfoodministries.com

The Weekend!

Friday we got to go to some yard sales with Auntie Karen. Hannah bought this outfit with her money. Too funny! Karen found some great deals including two chairs for her new house!!!! Then Friday night we had a movie on the lawn at our church. It was a lot of fun. We watched Facing the Giants. Loved that movie! You all need to see it.

Saturday we went to the Mascoutah Homecoming parade then to the fair with MawMaw, Papa and Auntie Karen. We had a super time, but it was terribly hot!! It wasn't nearly as good of a parade as Red Bud's :)

Karen and me at the parade

His facial expressions never fail to put a smile on my face. He brings so much joy to my life!

We let the girls ride one ride. I can't believe how fast $$$ adds up for those stupid rides. We are thinking about getting Six Flag season tickets next year so we can ride all we want whenever we want and not have to do the rides at fairs :) Plus, our Six Flags have quite a few Christian concerts. Does anyone else hear "DATE NIGHT"??

After dark it started to get a bit more tolerable. So, we decided to boogie for a little while. It wasn't a kid band or anything, but it looks like only the kids were brave enough to cut the rug :)

Joseph joined the band. It was cute. The band had all kinds of percussion instruments that they let the kids play during the songs. My kids had a blast!

TADA!!! Here we all were sweaty and red-faced. Fun times and great memories. Thanks Karen for taking some pictures for me. Without you, I would never have a face :)

Sigh....on to a more weighty issue. We have done terribly on our "diet" in July. I have not even gotten on the scale. We have been on vacation mode the whole time. We are purposing to start anew in August. So, I guess I will have to brave the scale tomorrow. Pray that it isn't as bad as I think it is.