Music to my ears!

The kids have been saving money since Christmas to buy their own musical instruments. We have been trying to teach them patience and how to shop the sale ads and get the most for your money. Their patience finally paid off and Z got her keyboard with microphone on sale. C got his jammin' guitar for 1/2 off and M not only found her drum at the thrift store for $1.50 but she also got some news dolls and accessories with her left over money at Wal-Mart.
C looks like a pro
M with her "mean drummer face" saying "yeah!"
Z getting down on her piano

Another sewing project

About 2 yrs. ago, I went to the beach with several girlfriends and we hit the outlets for some AWESOME deals. I found the 2 tops that the girls are wearing in the picture above at The Children's Place for 49 cents each. Being a thrifty shopper, I bought every size they had (thinking ahead). What I didn't think ahead on was the fact that those shirts were actually onesies. What child wearing a size 4T wears a onesie???? Needless to say, I cut the onesie part off and added a skirt and also some monogramming on M's shirt. I have to go back and fix M's skirt b/c I made it wrong but she didn't care. You also can't tell very well, but the bottom of M's skirt has tiny pastel colored polka dots.

My 33rd Birthday!!!

The kids worked so hard with daddy to make me a special cookie. They had a little accident getting it off of the cookie sheet but it tasted wonderful. We didn't have another "3" in our junk drawer so they told me to just pretend there was another one on the cookie!!
Homemade cards from each kid. They drew beautiful pictures on the inside and signed their names all by themselves.
Being silly!
Trying to be serious!!

Lil' Picassos

Lil' Picasso Z
Lil' Picasso M
Lil' Picasso C

The kids have been bugging me for days to paint something. They love to paint and we did it a lot at our old house but haven't done much here. I finally went down in the basement and dug out our 3-sided easel, threw an old plastic table cloth on the floor and let them go to town. The pictures above actually show day 2 of their art work. The first day, the wore old aprons and experimented with mixing different colors to make their background. After that dried, they added detail with Q-tips and white paint. I have absolutely no idea what they "created" but I'm sure they each could tell you.

Look closely, and you will see that the girls also "painted" their lips with one of my old lip liner pencils!!!!

Officially joined our church today!!!

Since the kids had just finished a fun week of "Beach Party VBS", we thought it would be fitting for them to wear their "Sunday beach attire" to join the church today!
M was all smiles about it
So was Z!
And lets not forget C!!!!

We have visited AUMC for about 6 months now and LOVE it! We decided that we would make it official and join today. The kids couldn't be happier attending there and we feel very comfortable and loved at AUMC. The choir director started a kid's choir just for our kids b/c they love music so much and it is refreshing to hear children sing praise songs!!! Hubby plays guitar on Wednesday nights for the youth service and I have joined an "adult" bible study the same night (there are no kids allowed!!) Hubby also played on the church softball team and we were their cheerleaders. We love the pastor, his passion for the Lord, and his desire to reach out to others. We haven't met an unfriendly person yet and we look forward to building many long lasting friendships. Since we use to be presbyterians and have now become methodists, we like to call ourselves "methobyterians"!!!

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!!!