Children's Church Week

Here are some great pics with comments underneath them of some things I took pictures of while helping out during children's church week. I love the camera so I snapped away of course. :) I have lots more but I had to condense it.

This video is of a contest boys and girls were having. Girls gave more in the offering between monday-friday and so they got to cream the boys for victory!

The two boys that got creamed with Cassia and Kayla in the background. They are happy because they didn't have to be the ones to get creamed! LOL!

The girls pretty much stayed on their own side and the boys on the other. it ended up turning out for the better because we were able to do quiet contests between the boys and the girls. It was easier to figure out who was winning. :D

Little kids praising God during kid's song service.

This year's theme was "Mission Possible" so they had some pretty cool skits going on throughout the week.

I love seeing Chaz lift his hands to Jesus and singing praises to him. :)

Noah and Hannah (not sure of spelling?) having fun during the illustrations.

Shannon getting into the jumping song and having a blast! Hee hee....

My daughter Ivy and other kids jumping during songs that require more than just clapping hands. It's so cute seeing the kids get into it! :D

Of course with kids, there has to be puppet shows!

Kids that are being called up to help out with showing the rest of the group how to do that hand movements during the action songs.

More kids up for the action songs (my sons Ryan and Kyle in dark blue shirts and I believe Georgie is on far left).

Cassia praying with kids during the alter call time.

Giggling Sick Baby

My little baby Ashley was feeling so bad I finally took her in like I said in last blog. She's so cute. Even though she is miserable right now and partially lost her voice, I can hear her giggling with her sister in the other room. They are supposed to be sleeping. I'm heading in there to go give her the antiobiotics.......

Mother's Day At Home

(By the way, that's Sparkling Cider in the pic. LOL).

This year I wanted to do something different for Mother's Day instead of going out to eat. I decided to make steak for my mom. My little girl had a fever so I had to stay home from church Sunday morning. I was bummed I couldn't be there for Sunday morning. Instead, my husband woke the other four kids up quietly in the morning so Ashley and I could rest. I never heard them so I was shocked when he kissed me goodbye and said Happy Mother's Day. They were super quiet! I got up, showered, and started on the meal for my mom. So I made steak, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, salad, snacks, and had pie. By the time they came the meal was all ready for them. :) I'm glad I got to do that for her. My dad worked on a clogged pipe under my sink later on that day (so nice!). Charles was gonna stay home with Ashley so I could go to the evening service at church but we started noticing that Ashley was sounding worse. Instead we took her to the ER, after we dropped off a rose and card for his mom (so much nicer to give in person). While waiting, I noticed the TV in the kid waiting area had no sound and since they haven't fixed it in years, I took some of it apart and started working on it. (I hate sitting around doing nothing). I got the sound working! The kids were happy and so were the staff. I come here often often so I really wanted it working so the kids are so bored when they are waiting. After the doctor saw Ashley, she got a breathing treatment and I was told she has Pnuemonia and a really bad ear infection. Poor Ashley! So I'm glad I took her in. She wasn't even crying about her ear. She was just miserable looking. So we headed to the store for her medicine and then straight home to lay the kids down just in time for Charles' friends to come over for fellowship. :) All in all, everything turned out great. I got to make my mom feel special on Mother's Day, we brought his mom a rose, card, and a hug. ;) We got to get Ashley her medicine so she'll feel better, and then fellowship with some buddies in the evening. It was a fantastic day. :D

Painting The Girl's Nails

I was painting Ivy's nails when Ashley came toddling up and put her little finger on me. She wanted me to paint her nail too on one of her fingers. When I was done, she kept giving me another finger to paint. Then when I was done, she put her little foot up for me to paint her toe nails. I couldn't believe it because she's only one year old. She was so still and even blew on her fingers when I was done too. So cute! Ivy never let me do that at that age. Ashley was so happy when she crawled back down and went to show daddy. :D

Saturday Chores

I actually love it when as a family we all wash our vans together. It's easier to just go to the local wash place to do it for us but I have so many fun memories of my sisters and I washing the car. So this is our Saturday chores and we love it! :D Oh, that is my dad (an awesome real estate agent) on a business call at my house. I just had to add him because, well, he's my dad!

Homeschooling Come July!

I'd had enough and so come this July, all three boys are getting homeschooled again. Plus the boys are begging and begging me! I reminded them that they won't have their buddies. They are like, "mom, we have each other"! I told them they wouldn't have art at school or P.E. They put me in my place about that one too. They reminding me that we have plenty of kids to make our own teams and learn sports. LOL. Okay, okay, I'm convinced. Not only that but they go to a homeschool group once a week where they get all that extra curricular stuff. I miss my boys and hate it when they are gone all day anyway. Plus they had way better grades under their mommy's watch. So, come July we start! I get to start early and it's all for the better because baby number six comes in October and I'll need a month off. Starting in July gives me a head start. I'm excited and so are the kids. :D

Whatever Happened to Being Positive?

Just wondering.... why are people so negative sometimes? There are people I talk to at times where all they have to talk about is someone that's offended them, someone that is doing something wrong, they're mad at their spouse, someone that hurt them in some way shape or form. (I'm not talking about whey they need to talk to a trustworthy friend to get something off their chest. I'm talking about a constant, every time you are around them they have something bad to say about someone thing.)It's like when you talk to them, they can't talk about anything positive or have anything nice to say about anyone. It always makes me wonder, if they will complain to me about everyone in their life, surely they must talk about me to their friends. My dad taught me this and I believe it all the way. I've learned to see the good in people. Of COURSE people have issues. We ALL do in some way. No one is perfect. So why pick on others when the huge log is sticking out of our own eye? Surely there are good things in their life to talk about. Such as their kid's latest achievement, the nice thing their spouse did for them, a friend did something nice. There are MANY positive things. I had a friend once tell me that it seemed like I have no problems in my life. Ha ha. My blog is a huge example of how to find beauty in this world and the positive happenings in our life. Maybe we should all live by the old saying, "if you don't have something nice to say, then don't say it at all". For some, that just might mean that they either learn to talk nice about others, or they'll have nothing to say at all. Either way, it'll be a good thing.

Appreciating the Backyard

My boy's friend Desmond loves the yard! He lives in a small apartment with his mom and sister. I have him this whole week while his mom is out of state. This morning he looked out our playroom window and saw the backyard. He came running in and said, "I didn't know you had that whole yard"! He told me that I had a trampoline and a castle. He couldn't believe it. I remember those days of living in an apartment and the boys needing to run around. Desmond was so happy to ride around in the monster truck and play with the boys. I'm happy Desmond can have fun too. :) Kids need to have toys and fun things to do or they get into trouble! Not the excess that people think they need. Like TV tries to promote. "Your kids need this and that and that and this". Not that kind of lust for toys. That's why a back yard with a trampoline, castle, and monster truck with soccer balls and baseballs is so much fun! Boys have energy and the backyard beckons them. :D

Ivy's V-Smile

I love this picture because in the girl's room they now have their own V-Smile since the boys have their own game system. V-Smile is for little kids so it's perfect for Ivy and Ashley. If you look close, you can see Ashley playing on the other controller too. I have to buy Ivy a new bed but when I do I think I'm going to go for a twin for her. I seriously need to paint in here too! Do you have any color suggestions? I've heard a real light green or maybe a tan.

Batting Cage Fun!

On Friday we took the kids the the batting cages (and of course I had to have a crack at it too) so they could practice some batting for fun. They loved it! I love the picture of Ivy giving her daddy a hi-five after she was done batting. Only Ashley didn't get to go up at bat but she'll get her chance! :D Afterward, we all went and got some ice cream.

How You Treat a Waiter Can Say a Lot About Character

A CEO says how you treat a waiter can say a lot about character. I read it and couldn't believe how true it is. I have noticed these things. People that servers can never make happy. Or people that just talk to them short and curt, like "go get my order and leave me alone" kind of attitude. I used to be a server and I saw a lot of this stuff myself. I think this article is spot on. It's really interesting! You gotta read it. Next time I'm with someone, I'm gonna pay attention to how they treat the server.

Ugly White Walls

Oh man, I really hate white walls. I'm so serious. When am I ever gonna paint them? This is my room but it's so plain! I have to get around to buying the paint. This is gonna drive me nuts.

Science Center Fun!

In between church on last Sunday there was a special event at the Science Center so we took the kids. When we first got there we almost fainted when we saw the long line. They were telling us it was an hour and a half wait. What?? Then we saw that the line was moving fast and it ended up only being a half hour. We love science so we had so much fun exploring and there was 3 stories of the building to discover. We only got to see half of the place so there is still lots more to discover next time. :) There is one great pic of Chaz and Ryan using "Brain Power" to move a ball. It's a contest. Really though, its whoever can cause themselves to be calm and concentrate on the ball. The one who is able to get the ball to move into the other person's goal, wins. Chaz kept losing. You know, he's always stressed out! LOL. In the first two pics, you can see us waiting in the line. We had fun talking to people around us though. Two of my boys touched a cactus because they said they couldn't see any "pokies" on it. After they touched it they realized, mommy was right. You just don't ever touch a cactus.