Kids 1st VBS

M making a strap to hold her new sunglasses.
The kids dancing at their final night of the "Beach Party"
Z making her sunglasses strap.
Z, M, C with "Fla-May" the talking Flamingo.
Hanging with some of their new buddies "on the beach"
In class learning about God and water and air.

Doing an experiment with air and feathers

M & C
Z & M
Chillin at the tiki huts

The kids just finished a week of Vacation Bible School at our church. They had SOOO much fun!! I was their preschool leader and we had the largest group the entire week. The theme was "Beach Party" and all of the lessons, crafts, songs, food, and scriptures related to the beach. As you saw in a picture above, Fla-May was a talking flamingo that my whole group was IN LOVE with!! She helped open and close each night along with 2 college girls whom Z, M, & C are smitten with. It was a wonderful week and the kids really blossomed and asked lots of questions about God and made several new friends.

Lil' Chefs

We made beef kabobs last night and let the kids choose their own veggies and "decorate" their kabob.
They helped me make a "veggie pizza" which is really an appetizer on crescent rolls. The topping is cream cheese, sour cream, and several spices mixed together topped with your favorite veggies (broccoli, carrots, red peppers, and of course.......cheese!!!)
Here is the finished product. They only put red peppers on the adult side. We enjoyed our creations on the back deck and followed the meal up with an ice cream cone!

Newest addition to our family

Meet Buster
Everyone attempting to bathe him
He is 7 weeks old.
Trying to get a picture of a puppy is much harder than getting 3 kids to smile.

Last Saturday, we went and picked out a free puppy. He is 1/2 Lab and 1/2 Great Pyrenees. He is a very gentle and smart dog. He sleeps on the back deck and goes under the deck to relieve himself. He is not a big chewer and doesn't whine at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We let the kids name him and that was a comical conversation. Some names thrown out where: Bella, Boy Dog, x-ray, truck, ketchup, pickle, bark, and little dog. Luckily, Z said "Buster" and everybody fell in love with the name.

M LOVES Buster!! She checks on him every morning, plays with him, and makes sure that he has food. She checks on him several times through out the day and she always says goodnight to him b/4 her nap and bedtime. C has a love/hate relationship with Buster. He likes him when he isn't touching or licking him. Whenever Buster comes near him, he freaks out. C likes to pet Buster when he is distracted and the rest of the time he likes to stand far back and observe him. Z does not really care for Buster at all. I asked her if she was jealous of him and she said, "YES!!". I believe her. She will go outside, look at him, sigh, and come back inside. She tries to pet him but when he jumps at her or tries to lick her, she squeals and goes inside. It is so funny.

I'll try and get a better picture of him and hopefully post an update that says they all like him!!

Yard Sale Finds!!

I decided to take the kids to their first ever garage sale today. Boy did we hit the jackpot!! We went to a neighborhood sale that had 40+ sellers. We got 9 books, one movie, 2 "batgirl" mask, one Darth Vader costume in excellent condition, a set of air guns that shoot foam rings, a brand new set of drawer dividers, 3 long sleeve shirts for the girls, and 2 brand new purses filled with jewlery for the girls. We got all of this for $19.50!!!! They had so much fun! I was on the lookout for unique items for the house and a new comforter set for downstairs but nothing I saw struck my fancy. It didn't matter though b/c I was more excited to see their faces light up at each house.

Here they are dressed up in their new treasures!!

More sewing projects completed!!

"Child of God" onesie
Birthday gift

Since it was pouring down rain today and the kids were taking such an awesome nap, I decided to finish some more sewing projects. The top picture shows the onesie that I hand embroidered yesterday for a baby shower and the 2nd picture shows a swimsuit cover up that I made today for a birthday party this weekend. If you look closely to the right of the swimsuit cover up, you can see an embroidered pony tail holder with a flower on it. That is also part of her gift.

A Day of Creativity

Wedding gift
C's swimsuit cover up.
M's swimsuit cover up
Z's swimsuit cover up.

Today was a great day! M and C are finally getting over a fever virus that they have had for 4 days. It was awful. They would come and climb in bed with us early in the morning with temperatures ranging from 102.5 to 104.0. They would suck down 2 cups of water each and then just shiver in bed.

Today, they both had energy and finally wanted to play. I took them to the downstairs playroom and they were so excited to play with Z (who never got sick) that I was able to complete a HUGE amount of sewing projects. As you can see from the pictures above, I monogrammed pot holders for a wedding gift, made 3 swimsuit cover-ups for the kids, and I hand embroidered a onesie for a baby shower. I forgot to take a picture of the onesie today so I will post a picture of it later. I was also able to mend a few t-shirts.

How did I do all of this you ask? The kids played for a while independently, watched me for a while, and helped me pick out thread colors for each item. I even read some old nursery rhymes from a childhood book of mine to them will the machine was embroidering items.

What a great day!!!!!

Wounds of Friendship

Foam sword to the nose
Collision with a scooter on the ankle
Tree branch to the eye and head

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, my sweet, sweet friend and her 6 yr. old triplets stayed with us. The kids had SOOOO much fun playing together. Luckily, the above pictures show the only injuries that my kids received. That's not bad considering the number of sword fights fought, scooter races raced, trees climbed, and other mischievous things they got into.

Ragball photos

C
M with gnats in her face
Z

Ben took some shots while the kids posed for team and indiv. pictures with their ragball team. They love playing but their favorite thing is lining up and slapping hands after the game is over.

Mother's Day Gifts

Z
C
M
Today the kids came home with a bag full of Mother's Day gifts. The pictures above are SOOOOO precious. I can't wait to frame them. I work at their Mother's Day Out and didn't even know they took those pictures. (surprises are great!) The bottom picture is all of the other goodies that I received......ladybugs, flowerpots with a sunflower, little questioners that they filled out about me, and envelopes with "MOM" stamped on them. These are priceless!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!

Unexpected gift of love!!

My sweet baby boy pulled these flowers from the yard by the roots and came inside gleeming with joy!! He insisted that we get a vase right away and "make them look pretty!".

Spring Discoveries

Z with her first caterpillar on her hand
M's turn. She kept saying, "It tickles!".
The gentle switch-off
C's turn. It climbed all the way up to his sleeve!

Spider's Program

Z in her bungee suit
Working the stairs
Enjoying the big swing
Posing with her new friends.

For the last 3 weeks, Z has been attending an intense physical and occupational therapy program called SPIDERS. The program is 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks. She is working on strengthening the right side of her body, becoming better coordinated, and mastering everyday skills that are difficult for her but come easy for M & C.

The above pictures show her wearing her bungee cord suit. This suit helps with her body awareness and provides resistance, which makes her work her muscles more. She wears it while climbing stairs, running and walking outside and on the treadmill, swinging, riding her bike, and throwing and kicking balls. She did lots of muscle toning and coordination activities and she she got to have some fun in the "Jammin' Gym" every Friday. The Jammin' Gym is a gigantic indoor playground with slides, obstacles, ball pit, stairs, inclines, and different levels to crawl on. M and C even got to play with her one day. That was the highlight of every one's week.

Now that she is done with the program, we are noticing that her confidence in doing physical activities is higher. She is more coordinated and isn't falling and stumbling as much when she walks outside or up and down stairs. She can ride her bike independently!!!!!!! She has built her endurance up to play longer, and asks to play outside more!

We are so excited and blessed that she was able to participate in this program. I think it was exactly what she needed. We now have an intense home program that we have to follow to continue to strengthen her. This program is fun for her though b/c it involves C and M. She will go back in 3 months for a follow up evaluation to see if she needs to continue therapy or if she can be dismissed. We are praying that she will be dismissed!!!!!!!!!

Rag Ball

C at bat.
M on first base.

We signed the kids up for their first year of ragball. In case you don't know what ragball is (neither did hubby or I), it is a step under T-ball. They hit a very soft ball off of a tee and there are no outs or score. Each team allows all of its players to bat and then they go out into the field while the other team bats all of its members. It is hysterical to watch. Nobody knows where to run or how to stop a ball.

At their first practice, the coach told them to tag the bag when they had the ball. Everyone looked blankly at him and then one child said, "I don't see a BAG". (They were all looking for a paper or plastic bag to tag). He then told them to touch the sack. Again, they all looked around for a sack. Once they understood what a base/bag/sack was, they literally went over and touched it. Boy, did he have his work cut out for him.

I hope to post more pictures and stories next week. Our digital camera was acting funny and it only took the 2 pictures seen above. They have a game every Saturday through May so I know I will get some more great shots.

ARR Mateys!!!

Defending their pirate ship from the enemy.

Daddy opened to mast to their "new" pirate ship.
C holds the mast while Z poses.
C's best picture ever!!!!!!!!!!! Isn't he handsome???
M's silly pose with crazy hair!
The side view of the pirate ship.

C is really into pirates and pirate ships right now. We decided to make him a pirate ship out of some empty boxes and the patio furniture cushions. They loved it!!!!!!!! They defended their ship from all of the real and make-believe "bad guys"!!!!!!

Easter Party at School

M going down the slide with one of her friends.
C at the top of the slide.
Z.....always on the go!!
Their classmates during their party.
More of the kids and their friend at lunch.

The kids had an Easter party and egg hunt at their Mother's Day Out the Thursday b/4 Easter. Their teacher was absent that day so I got to be their substitute. It was fun but VERY stressful. I don't mind being a sub for other classes but there is something really stressful about being in your own child's room. They were overly excited b/c it was "party day" and there were no activities left for me to do with them!!!

I missed snapping pictures of them actually looking for eggs b/c it happened so fast. Each child was only allowed to find 6 eggs to make it fair for everyone. Needless to say, they found their 6 eggs b/4 I could even get my camera out. Each egg was filled with a little goody.

Easter Sunday was a great day!! The kids played music instruments and sang a song during the Easter program. They were so excited about being able to sing in church. They were even more excited that PaPa, MiMi, Uncle A, Aunt N, and the cousins came to see them preform. After church, we went to MiMi and PaPa's house for another egg hunt and lunch.

This year we introduced the resurrections eggs to them and they really got it!! It was amazing to watch their little minds work and process each story. We wanted to focus less on the Easter bunny and more on the true meaning of Easter. They all know now, how and why Jesus died on the cross for our sins. GOD IS GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!