Summer Days

I've been working my brain lately on a couple of topics we have studied in church lately. I'm not quite ready to blog anything on my thoughts, I'm just too short on time to do that. I will, however, leave you with a few more photos of the last few days.

July 4th was a rainy day. We had plenty of outdoor projects needing to be accomplished, but alas Mother Nature had other plans. However, there is ALWAYS the pressing need to fold laundry around here(Tara you know my weakness). We are trying to teach the boys different chores around the house this often takes more time, but hopefully will pay off in the end....



July 5th Keith, Rachel, Matt and I hosted a July 4th Celebration, complete with fire works ala "Super Keith", for our church family ".


























This week is going to be busier still. Yesterday Rachel and I did some landscape work up at our church camp. Today "Lil Guy" came to visit and the boys have been having a wonderful time. Our neighbors are finally home from their vacation and the girls came down to take the boys berry picking. These two young ladies have no idea what a break they give this Momma when they come over to "play" with the boys. They are so gracious! Combined the kiddos all picked enough berries to make a pie! Micah is looking distressed because he cut his finger in the woods while picking berries.

I hope you have a lovely week enjoying the beautiful warm summer weather.

Happy Independance Day!

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in forever. I really do miss you all, but you know how it goes. Busy, busy, busy. This summer I am mowing for 3 hours about two days a week, I help a friend out in her office one afternoon a week and sometimes if it's crazy busy at the rocking chair plant I go help out there. So you add a couple boys and a house to that mix and presto, you don't blog. I will be back though, I do so miss staying in better contact with you. Until it slows a bit I will leave you with these pictures that my dear friend Lora took of the boys. Why? Well, cuz I'm a proud Momma, that's why. :)

Meet the Presidents

It has been a very busy summer, thus explaining my absence from the blog world. Lots of mowing, lots of chair building, lots of running in general. We are now in the midst of trying to prepare our back yard for a bigger pool this year. And so the "To Do" list never ends. I'm not complaining, I know this is the phase we are in at this point in our lives. Find me a 30-something aged couple(especially with kiddos) and I'll show you a couple of insanely busy folks. Someday when the boys are gone and our landscape is done and our house is clean, we'll look at each other and say, "I wonder if the kids need help with their yards?" I know we will miss the constant questions about some new creature they have found and brought to the door for inspection.

Speaking of creatures, I am officially calling this the "Summer of Creatures". I have unsuspectingly answered the door to find the following creatures in the hands of a boy..... a dead rabbit, turtles, spiders, worms, ants, and I'm sure there have been more I just can't recall. I started washing out peanut butter jars and leaving them in the garage for our explorers to place their charges. We also decided after several creatures into the summer that we should start naming our creatures after the presidents(this is a tricky way to teach your kids). So without further ado, I introduce to you.....(drum roll please...)

GEORGE WASHINGTON(btw, that's Matt's boot, so the spider is covering that much area on an adult male's boot!)


and JOHN ADAMS

Photo Journal Part 2

OK, where were we? Oh yes, we were at Disney World on Tuesday. On Wednesday we went down to the Treasure Coast. We met Harold, Kayla, Landon, and Dillan at MFI and got a tour of the facilities. MFI and the work the Martin's do there is so practical and yet really is a part of reaching the world for Jesus. If you don't already support Harold and Kayla on a monthly basis I would encourage you to do so.(Pardon the shameless plug for my friends.) After our tour we all went to lunch at a delicious little Mom and Pop place called the Red Barn. They serve the best fresh squeezed OJ you've ever tasted. We then headed on down to HS and the boys spent the afternoon splashing together in the pool. Later Kayla invited her parents, Gay, and Vernon's over for a cookout. It was so good to be with so many dear friends. I don't have many pictures from Wednesday because my camera is very willful and so was in a mood. grrr. Kayla and I on the back porch of her beautiful new home.

Matt and our boys checking out the cockpit of the DC4 Harold flies.

On Thursday we went back to Central Florida and spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool.


Well, some of us relaxed!





Now you know why I love this man so much!

So much like his mother.



The rest of our time in Florida was spent with Family.

My brother Larry's family at Steven's graduation party.

Micah and Maria.

Carl and Tamme with Steven at his Graduation Party on Saturday.

Carl's Family at Steven's Graduation last Sunday.

A very proud Aunt!

Well that's it. I hope you enjoyed a photo journal of our vacation. We send our best wishes for a blessed summer to you and your families.

Photo Journal of Vacation Part 1

This year we went to Florida for our family vacation. Since having children Matt and I have made it a priority to go on vacation once a year. We save and save to do this because we feel like it is so important for our family. However, up to this point we've always just taken extended weekend vacations. This year however, my nephew was graduating from High School down in Central Florida so we decided to take a whole week off. I felt rather irresponsible going when gas prices are so high, however, we had already booked the house when gas was $1 cheaper per gallon and just couldn't get out of it without losing money. Well, I'm happy to report we stayed within budget and had a great time! (no more guilt, yeah!)

We met my parents in GA on Sunday and then headed on down to FL on Monday morning. We had to stop on our way down at a farmers market for fresh produce and at a bookstore that priced all their books under $3!! We finally arrived at our rental house around 5pm on Monday and just relaxed and had a cook out with Carl's and Larry's families. The next morning we woke up early and went to Disney World. A man at Carl and Tamme's church works at Disney and gave us all park hopper passes for FREE!! Thanks Eugene! Here are some pictures of our day.

I love the Florida sky.

A nice lady offered to take a group picture for us.

The never ending lines!

Courtney shot this picture for us.


Micah on the Teacups. I had the boys wear hats to protect them from the sun, however, Micah kept turning his sideways with the string over his face. Go figure!


Steven talking with his "Little Buddy". Notice Josiah is sacked out in the stroller, Disney can be exhausting!

Chris watching his cousins play at Pooh Corner.

Micah refreshing himself at a "spring".


Checking out the Swiss Family Tree House.

We also went over to Epcot for a couple hours. The boys LOVED the aquarium there. The photo below is proof that there is such thing as having too much fun. :)

Well, I have more photos from our trip, but I'll stop with Disney for now, since I need to get a few things done before lunch. Check back later for more photos.

WERE BACK!

Hola my Blogging Amigas!

I sit here a bit nauseated from an all nighter trip home from Sunny Florida!(BTW, this was much easier to do 15 years ago) I've missed you all, but had a wonderful time. As always though, it's good to be home. We left Lakeland yesterday afternoon around 4:30pm and arrived home around 8am. We've just rested today, and plan to rest more tonight. Tomorrow we'll get back into the swing of our lives.

We had such a nice time and would definitely recommend renting a house while on vacation as opposed to hotels. We shared the house with my Dad and Mom and so it was actually cheaper to stay there than get a hotel. We had a private pool, full kitchen and laundry, so spent a very minimal amount on food. Not to mention having a big house with a private pool and game room was so nice when my brothers and their families came over to visit.

So tomorrow I will have energy and I'll post a photo journal of our week. This is the first week long vacation we have ever taken as a family and our favorite part of the trip was just getting to be together. Our lives are so busy, it is a real treat to just have a whole week with nearly every moment spent together. We kept singing periodically during the week, "We're on vacation!" (everything is a song with us)

Well, I need to at least put a few things away and maybe mow the lawn. Check back tomorrow.

Photo Journal

Mother's Day morning. I got hugs, breakfast in bed and a homemade card with an "Off Duty" badge to wear for the day. Matt answered all questions, cared for the boy's needs, and did Daddy/Mommy duty in general all day. It was WONDERFUL!
We found 2 box turtles this week. Josiah named his Rex and Micah named his Pregnant. I'm thinking he doesn't understand that pregnant is a state of being, not a name.

A couple of weeks ago Josiah had his last group recital. His wonderful teacher is semi-retiring(she is holding the retirement gift Joisah made her in this picture. She will still give private lessons, but will no longer give group lessons or recitals. It was a wonderful concert, I'll have to post a few video clips later.
Some of the kiddos from our church who take lessons from Dr. and Mrs. Mellado.

Our parenting class this month was held at Bryan and Shelli's and we brought our kiddos along. Our class represents 12 children, only 3 of those are girls. :) Here are some shots of the boys wrestling with Mr. Robb.



I had to share this with my girlfriends. I was invited to an Uppercase Living party. It's a new line of wall rub-ons(for lack of a better term). I got this small verse to see how I would like the effect on my wall. I love it, and plan to incorporate more verses throughout our home. They have plenty of great pre-made verses and images to choose from, but you can also customize your own. Such a neat way to add a personal touch to your home.

We've been studying the Romans the last couple of weeks. These are some Mosaics the boys made. Josiah's is of an Aqueduct and Micah's is of a checkerboard. The other day the boys piled chairs, blankets and such in a corner and I heard, "Micah we are two Romans and we are fighting one Carthaginian(I'm assuming that was me). Then Josiah runs to his room and comes out with his pool noodle and says, "And here is an Aquadot!" TOO FUNNY!

Hope you enjoyed this little Photo Journal of the last few weeks. Hope you have a blessed day.