Our Family Circus

Some of our favorite people came to visit us today! The children played outside most of the day and were catching lightening bugs this evening. Then their parade was rained on, literally, or was it? Fun splashing in the rain! But the rain turned into so much more! Look at this face (and shirt!)... and these and oh my that buttom! Never thought the rain fun would lead to mud fun! But I guess this free-God given version of a slip-n-slide will do it! They had a blast! Fortunately for our friends who traveled to see us, we had bought them new PJs for their birthdays! I am doing laundry now, have any hints on how to get those clothes clean? If not, looks like another donation to a local mechanic!

My Dear returned from camp #2 on Sunday afternoon. I was to be in KY for the bridal shower. We met and I gave him two more children to add to the 17 he had with him. L. and I did not return home from the shower until late due to a bridge being closed...such a long journey home through the unknown. With all that being said, I neglected to inform My Dear of an informational meeting at the church on Sunday afternoon. He took the older kids to ride dirt bikes while I had B. at home for a nap, yep, both of us. I awoke at a quarter til 4. Surprised My Dear was not home yet, I called to learn he was riding with the kids and decided I would just wake sleeping baby to go with me. Then I realized he took the van, I did not have a car seat . Called my neighbor secured a car seat and then realized I did not have keys to the car! She offered me her van but we live close enough I would take the bike. THIS BIKE~ NOT THIS ONE-oh you thought we sold it, we did th...

My desk is a type of To-Do list as well as a catch all. Tonight it holds: 1. a shower gift for my soon to be sister-in-law who has a bridal shower tomorrow-lots of driving for me but we love this girl! 2. kindergarten lessons -I have the plan books but need my own planning book and L.'s books have been ordered. As soon as they get here, we are getting started with this one! 3. a green ball I could not find when I gave a friend the toy it goes too. Hope I can keep it hidden here until I see her again. 4. an empty Silly Putty egg and I am a little concerned about its contents (1) because baby girl has been crawling up here and (2) I have really enjoyed playing with that stuff and noticed, believe it or not, I skip an evening snack if my hands are busy. So glad L. won it at the library for reading 300 minutes! (but seeing that she does not read yet-I guess I earned it for reading to her!) 5. AWANA catalog time to order for this great ministry! Anyone want to volunteer? 6. ...

A couple of years ago, My Dear took our little man cub to his first Men's Shoot Out. The Men's Ministry at church hosts an all day event of food, ATVs, target shooting...man stuff! We tend to feed our kids what we eat and since his plate was prepared by a CARNIVORE-CARBOHYDRATE KING, I wondered what he ate so I asked him when he got home that night. He said brownies and apparently, a lot of them! I asked if he brought one home for me and he responded with, "tell me something you don't like?" I assured him if they had nuts in them I would eat them. Not good enough for him so I finally responded, "Peas-I don't like peas." "Yep," he said, "they had peas in them!" Peas has since then been a joke between us. Fast forward a few years-the boy loves breads! I cut a piece of fresh baked bread for him that a friend had made. As he went to take a bite, I informed him it had peas in it. You can image his surprise to look in his bread and see...

When my brother was little he had snow boots that reminded me of something an astronaut would wear. Whenever I hear of someone talking about stepping out in faith, I think of those big ole' snow boots. No, the boots in the picture are not them-those are fireman boots according to our son who wore them at 2 1/2. Faith boots are much bigger and frankly, they are a little harder to walk in. In fact, they are uncomfortable! As I type this, I have my Faith Boots on! No, I am not wearing snow boots but the image of those navy blue snow boots . My friend Fay is wearing a pair too as well as our friend Bob. Chelsia , a student, has at least one boot on and a few others are looking at their boots considering climbing in. We are Faith Walking together. We have the opportunity to wear our boots for 11 days to Vietnam and care for orphans there. We are praying, getting our passports ready, packing, preparing our families, praying, checking the weather in Vietnam, praying , and waiting on God...

As you know I am cleaning out! We had our box demolition to celebrate our achievements BUT we still have a few items I am sure we could find a good home for! So, I typed a list of about 20 items and emailed it to some homeschooling moms, daycare providers, and moms of preschoolers-honestly, just about 10 people. Well, I am now gathering items in bundles for those folks to come pick them up! Some things I am giving away and some I am selling. It is a double blessing-something for them and less for me! So, do I have something you are looking for? Better check with me soon cause it is moving on out of my basement!! Need to make some room for the neighborhood boys to have Nerf Gun Wars!

If you read any of my Christmas suggestions you may remember that we were planning our own 1/2 Christmas Celebration for June 25th. You know what I learned about June 25th? It is just as busy as December 25th! Nana sent the kids Christmas crafts to do which are still undone. One thing that we did do was to raid the library for Christmas books. They are readily available in June! June 25th hit while we were in the last week of baseball, training camp, and the parents in for a visit. It was one of those weeks where we were supposed to be in 2 places at one time, so much for our Christmas Celebration. Although we did enjoy the books! I bet somewhere within that week, B. was forced to wear a Christmas bib because all the others were piled into the mounds of neglected laundry. It was a thought.....

My friend Shannon and I teach 3 year old Sunday School. At 3, we usually get kids that cry on their first, second and maybe even third time to church. We also get to be the first to teach kids to participate in a group learning time. It is so easy to fall in love with them, even the ones that need love the most. Isaiah was one of those kids. He could not stay still, he interrupted with unrelated questions and comments, he was all action all of the time. BUT Isaiah was always ready for a hug and always made us laugh! Three years later, he still calls me,"teacher." Our church hosted a Training Camp. Mr. Isaiah was there and ready to play basketball. I went to Spiritual Training the same time he did. One night, the plan of salvation was shared and kids could talk with their coaches if they wanted to make a decision. A few of those kids were baptized today. One of those kids was Isaiah! I know I cheered longer and louder than anyone else in the building, in fact if our little man...

A few months ago, I watched television! It is a rare occurrence but somehow I got stuck on the show Clean House. I guess it made me feel better about my own house. They clean everything out and stick it on the lawn to sell. Zoe Elmore encouraged the liberation from stuff on her blog as well. So I cleaned out-bathroom cabinets, bookcases, the basement, storage shed, closets and anything I was tried of picking up or stepping over-out on the lawn it went! It went well and a few of my favorite charities benefited as well. Today, the girls helped me pull all of the empty boxes to the drive-way to be taken to the recycling center. We played "blocks" with them and then tried this for our celebration with others joining in later.....

Finally broke down and bought myself some new summer socks-that I will wear year round. Mopped the kitchen, hallway, and baths on Thursday. The yard sale was Friday. Wore my new socks through the house on Saturday... So much for new...should have spent the extra few bucks for the grey bottomed ones but instead, I will just make them grey myself!

The past two weeks we have... 1. been at the baseball fields 4 nights a week. 2.coached a sports training camp for one sweaty week. 3. hosted the parents visit from Florida. 4. hosted another set of parents for a weekend. 5. hosted a bridal shower 2 1/2 hours away. 6. hosted a yard sale. 7. sat in the rain for 2 out of 3 baseball games on the 4 th -with little man bringing home a league champion trophy! 8. swam 9. went to the zoo on the hottest day of the year with my siblings, parents, niece, and nephew. 10. went to the free movies and story time at the library. We have loved it! But, today, we are resting and apparently I am not the only one that needs it.

I was DREADING baseball season! Don't get me wrong, I love watching my darlings but I don't like the demands of baseball games and practices. This year, instead of one player, we had 2. L. played t-ball and C. was beginning his first year of coach's pitch. In t-ball , everyone wins including me because My Dear coaches and I can skip any practices they may have. But coach's pitch was 2-3 times a week and one of those nights was Wednesday nights-church night. My Dear and I both have teaching responsibilities on Wednesday nights and Man Cub was finishing his year in AWANA -and that was priority. I let the coach know of this priority from the get-go. C. was able to play for about 30 minutes of the early games before we had to leave and would miss the later games. The little guy did great with this and it was worth it to him to have the 30 minutes to play while little sisters and I picnic dinnered in the stands. With 2 kids playing, we were at the park 4 nights a week with...