Happy Easter Part 1

My sweet family!

Love my sweethearts!

This look cracks me up!

Our church's egg hunt!

My 1st Vegetable Garden

My little gardener

Taking a break from planting to have a little snack

She was working so hard!

Almost finished!

Cameron enjoyed digging in the dirt as well!

So, I was inspired to start my own vegetable garden this year. I am new to this and had completely NO IDEA what I was doing. We decided to plant strawberries, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, basil, parsley, and pole beans. Savannah has really enjoyed planting and taking care of the garden. She goes outside regularly to check on the progress! We just had our first 6 strawberries ready to pick. They were DELICIOUS!! I am very excited to taste the rest of our veggies!

Visit From Friends

Sweet Connor

Savannah and Connor (buddies) playing Twister

"Cheeessseee"

Picnic at Sonic....Yum!

Sydney, Kennedy and Savannah getting ready to go tubing!

Our friends and their family came to visit us over spring break. The weather was beautiful and the older ones were even able to go out on the lake with the dads while us mommies stayed behind with the babies. We always love visiting with them. Can't wait to see them again soon!

Butterflies

So I recently purchased a butterfly kit where we were able to watch the entire lifecycle of a butterfly. Our kit came with 10 baby caterpillars in 2 different cups. We watched them eat and grow until they were ready to form their chrysalis. Then we moved them over into their butterfly net and waited. Eventually they began to break out of them into beautiful butterflies. After observing them for a few days we were able to go outside to set them free. Savannah and Cameron both loved watching and helping to set them free! BTW...the picture where Savannah is wearing her butterfly wings and facing backwards....she ran in the house to get them and told me she was going to help show one of the butterflies who had landed on our plant how to spread his wings and fly! Too cute!

The Simple Woman's Daybook Journal # 1

I have decided to link up with this blog and do a weekly Simple Woman's Daybook journal. Here is the link if you would like to join or read more. It is http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

WEDNESDAY APRIL 6, 2011

Outside my window the sun is shining beautifully!
I am thinking about what all I need to get done while the kids nap
I am thankful for my family's health!
From the kitchen I smell the delicious pot roast cooking in the crockpot
I am wearing jeans and a green short sleeve short
I am creating my first Simple Woman's Daybook Journal entry
I am going to pick out vegetables to plant in our garden later today
I am reading Love and Respect
I am hoping my kids stay healthy! I am tired of colds and sickness!!
I am hearing the dryer upstairs and 19 Kids and Counting on TV
Around the house there are toys scattered
One of my favorite things is searching the internet for new homeschool ideas
A few things for the rest of the week are planting our vegetables and starting to get organized around the house
Here is a picture for thought I am sharing

Friends....and....Sickness

So...I know it has been a while since the last blog. Well things around here have been rough lately. About 3 weeks ago we had some good family friends come to visit. While here one of them came down with a yucky stomach bug and unfortunately my kids both ended up catching it. It was a really violent one. Poor Cameron threw up 10 times in 3 hours. Then a few days later, sweet Savannah started with it just as bad! This happened the day before more friends were due to arrive with their 4 children. Not wanting to spread "the love" to all their kiddos we decided to have them stay with my parents the first few nights so we could clear the germs out of our house. Well...the day after they arrive at our house, Cameron and Savannah both come down with yet another stomach bug. This time horribly coming from the other end! This second bug lasted for over a week! Then, Joel ended up getting it...and the night before Joel and I were to leave for a relaxing, much needed getaway to Savannah, GA....yep, I come down with it : ( So....I am now sitting on the couch praying I will be better this afternoon so we can go enjoy our weekend away! YIKES! That is a lot of sickness, I know!! Going on 3 weeks, tomorrow, that we have been dealing with some kind of stomach bug from someone in our household. I am DONE WITH SICKNESS!!
On another note, we did have a wonderful time with all our friends that visited us! The weather was wonderful and the husbands were even able to take the older kiddos on the lake, while us mamas stayed behind with the babies. We only took a few pictures, but I will try and post them next week! Just wanted everyone to know we ARE still here.....

Day in the Life Of....Part 1

I got the idea to do a "Day in the Life Of" from one of my good friends. She does this as a way to look back years from now and remember what life was like during this stage of her life. I had meant to do this for a while now and decided today would be the day. Well, today was not a "typical" day in our house so I plan on doing another "Day in the life Of" sometime next week. Anyway, here was our day....

I start out each morning waking up at 6:30 for prayer and devotion time. My bible study group is currently using this study. It is wonderful!

This is the the kids devotion and bible that we read from each morning during breakfast (which is usually at 7:00 am, but like I said today was not typical)

7:00 am So today Cameron and I had breakfast alone because Savannah decided to actually sleep in and take her sweet time doing her morning chores, which have to be complete before she comes downstairs (making her bed, cleaning up her room, and getting dressed for the day). Also, Daddy usually leaves around 7:00, just as we are getting breakfast started.

7:45 am Savannah finally decided to come out of her room. I needed to get in the shower by now so she had breakfast in my bedroom and they both watched TV (today it was Strawberry Shortcake)

8:30 am After showering I tossed a load of laundry in the dryer and put a new load in the wash

I then set up the Pack N Play for baby Lillie who would be joining us soon with her mom and sister for a morning activity (she would be napping during this)

Cameron followed me into his room and decided to look through some of his books

9:30 am Emma and her mom and baby sister joined us for a little activity to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday. (We normally do homeschool until about 9:00, but like I said this was not a typical day)

We made Green Eggs and Ham after reading the story. The kids loved them and asked for seconds. We then let them explore with a Dr. Seuss felt board (forgot to get a picture). Then, they just played together in the playroom for the rest of the time.

12:00 After Emma left, Savannah got ready for her dance lesson. While she was at dance, Cameron and I ran a few errands.

1:45-3:45 were naps for the children. During this time I read my emails, folded laundry, picked up the house, and emptied the dish washer. I also ordered some fall/winter clothes online for the kids for next year that were on clearance. I got a great bargain! Oh, I also ate my lunch during this time.

4:00pm After naps we headed outside to enjoy the beautiful weather (and yes, Cameron has a necklace on. He loves getting into Savannah jewelry...haha)

5:15pm I fed the kids dinner (leftovers today). Forgot to take a picture of this also

6:00pm Savannah got ready for Awana's.
After taking her, Cameron and I came home. I ate dinner myself and picked up yet again the mess that had been made.
Joel finally got home about 7:00pm so we visited with daddy for a bit.
7:30pm I put Cameron to bed and headed back to pick up Savannah from Awana's.

I didn't get anymore pictures but the rest of the evening went like this:
8:00 Savannah gets out of Awana's
8:45 pm Put Savannah to bed
9:00 did not feel like doing anything else, so I sat down on the couch, played on the computer and watched TV while Joel finished up some work in the office
10:15 Now getting ready to go to bed

Trying to remember to take my camera around with me all day and take pictures of everything we did was a difficult task. I plan on doing this one day next week so maybe I will be a bit better at it then....