loving life and awesome kids

Dave and I doing a double date with some friends.  We rarely ever get to go out and enjoy some adult conversation.  It was well worth it.  Thanks for the fun night guys!
I've been working really hard at trying to get in more pictures.  My kids request.  They look at the photo books we gift them every year and get sad that there is no pictures of mom in there.  It's a bit hard when your the one always taking pictures. 

This guy has good days and bad days in the potty training department.  He some how pees in the bike trailer or the stroller and random places throughout the house.  The joys of potty training.

Olivia is a baking fool.  She keeps asking me if we can run a family restaurant. Not a day goes by where she doesn't mix or concoct something.  She is always cutting, sorting, sifting, mixing and stirring things.  Anything she can find.  This girl has big  dreams.  These are her mint pies and dirt cake.

We had a great time with my brother and his kids this week.  We usually only see him a few times a year.  It's and hour and a half drive so they stay all day and we just hang out or vice versa. 

The little stars got out the Lincoln logs again.  You gotta be in the mood to build with these things.  Olivia was building the Lumar and Star from Captain America 2 and Miah was building the cabin that was getting blown up.

Check that out.  Wicked cool!

These guys love obstacle courses homemade with stuff from the yard.

Gabe fell asleep on Olivia and she started to cry.  It brought back some memories of the last little boy we fostered.  She missed holding a baby.  She wanted to just hold Gabe while he slept.  Seriously all of my kiddos love babies.  They are anxiously waiting for the next one.  Love their hearts.

Olivia teaching Gabe how to bake chocolate chip cookies.
Love these pictures of them.

Olivia made this for art class this week.  So cute with the poppy seeds.

Some of the stars are highly addicted to clue right now.

They are back to sleeping all together in one room.  All 5 little stars.   They love to hang with each other.

Happy Monday!

   homeschooling....

Thank You, Homeschooling.

 I never knew, when I started this journey, just what you would end up meaning to me:

snuggle time everyday with each of my children

lots and lots of patience even when I thought there was none left in me.

it has shown me that the worlds standard for my children/family isn't the one I want to follow.

you have made my children each other's best friends.

i have reevaluted the idea that significance is found in one's career.

i have been exposed to some amazing friendships and experiences I would of never had.

it's not only a way of education, it's a way of doing life.

it has taught me history, since I never learned it in school.

it has given me the chance to see my children as the unique, irreplaceable, one of a kind little stars that they are.

grandparents get to participate in my children's education.

there are endless options curriculum options to fit each kids needs.

has provided a way of responsibility and service to others to be just as important learning objectives as math and reading.

the best learning comes through relationships. 

lots of GRACE, GRACE, GRACE

enjoying the process rather than getting to the end result.

the children socialize(ya know that big socialization word)with various people in all different stages of their lives 

I am so thankful for being able to impact each moment of each day the kind of little stars they will become.

randomness

We had a great weekend hanging out, doing lots of swimming and errand running.  
The kids love to box while we adults supervise and dad takes part and gives a quick lesson.  We've had no broken bones yet!
 

This guy is wearing undies!  Praise the Lord for no more diapers and extra savings on the pocketbook.

These 2 never stop wrestling.  They were moving the pool and it became a wrestling match/water fight.

Can you tell Olivia loves having people over to play.  This is how she gets ready.

These guys are from our garden.  

This is our homemade gluten free macaroni and cheese.  I liked it but no one else did.  We won't be doing that one again I guess.  

Olivia has been making a lot of fresh cherry pies and key lime pies.  She has been randomly giving them to people. They are so cute!

This sounds crazy but we've had 2 pots of chicken noodle soup in a week.  The little stars are on some kind of soup kick.  Gluten free too.

We made this for daddy's vest he wears at work.  Each kid had a spot to write.  They loved doing this.

We are having lots of play dates this week, a visit from my brother and more family fun before school starts.  Trying to spread these days out as much as I can.  Summer is going to fast.  Secretly...I'm excited to start school.  

Happy Monday!

daisy stew, reading and friends

Those cheeks......I wish they would stay like that.

 

Olivia making up some kind of daisy stew.  

Cleaning out Legos from the vacuum bag is not fun at all.  The kids thought this was hilarious and gross at the same time.  We found at least 20 pieces.

This guy loves bike rides. Odin has been carrying the bike trailer on his bike now.  I'm thinking he feels pretty cool doing that.  He loves his little brother something fierce. I keep waiting for him to take out a mailbox with the trailer.

These 3 rascals got themselves stuck in here.  So I spun them faster and faster and didn't get them out.

We found a great truck for Dave.  When he retires I think!

We love an hour of quiet time every day.  For some reason in the summer I get to read more books.  It's great!

One of the 4 books I'm reading right now.

A book about doing more with your faith.  Not just going to church, tithing and studying the Bible.

David Nowell shares powerful stories of faith in action, and encourages us to move with him from the sidelines to the front line, to get our hands dirty helping the hopeless, the disenfranchised, and the poor.

Loving as God loves is central to the gospel, whether that means taking in foster children, ministering to inmates at the local jail, or something else God has in mind just for you. Let this inspiring book help you find what's been missing in your faith.

Yard full of kids running around and having a blast. Love having friends over to play and hang out.

Our new bird watcher

He is still doing this hiding under the blanket thing.

Our Kale is growing like mad and we're loving the garden thing. 

Math lessons on the driveway.  I'm the mean mom making them school through the summer.

My parents took us out for breakfast and this is what he does.  The butter train.

We've  had some great weekends.  Filled with movie nights, a visit to my brothers a few hours away, get togethers with friends and just plain hanging out. My brother has a pool so the kids were stoked. They swam, ate and swam some more and played all day.  The kids would love a pool.  We had a great time just hanging out.  

Jeremiah's blood tests came back negative for allergies.  Which was a huge plus.  For some odd reason he was disappointed and wanted allergies.  Weird kid!  The other kids are not having any symptoms or signs of allergies so we won't bother getting them tested right now.  

I can't believe August is almost here already.  Where is summer going?  Have a wonderful Thursday!