McDonalds has gone too far, buy my husband is creative

Ok, so has your McDonalds decided to start charging for WATER??? Well, if yours has not...ours has. Yes, we actually have to pay for the water that comes out of the faucet. I have rebelled! I will not pay for water. So, my poor kids just get told that they can wait until when we get home or to a place where I don't have to pay for tap water. What kind of mother am I? The never get the Happy Meal, except for special occasions, one item from the dollar menu and that is it...and now this no drink???

Anyway, tonight we happen to be at McD's and, of course, they are going to charge us for water. And I said, never mind. Well, my husband again shows who has the brains in the family, realizes that they have tiny plastic cup, much like this one, to put ketchup in. So he takes those tiny cups and uses them to fill up something for the kids to drink. Genius I say, and it didn't cost us anything! I love it when a man is frugal. We have figured out how to enjoy some water while we eat dinner. Yes, the world is a better place.

Taco Friday!!!

Today is Friday! Fridays are taco day!! My mother-in-law has the BEST recipe ever for homemade taco shells. Tacos just aren't the same without them. So tonight is taco night! Yeah!!!!!

Rainy days = Picnic time

Rainy days at our house are fun! The kids yell, "Yeah, it is raining!! We get a picnic today!" On rainy days they get to have a picnic lunch and watch a video while they eat. It is a special treat that I like to share with them. It makes rainy days even better! So today is a rainy day (not a snowy one for a change) so let's have some fun!

The kids declared it School Picture Day!

I came out of the shower this morning to find my kids dressed in some of their nicer clothes. "Mom, today is school picture day." "It is", I replied. So it was. I drew a backdrop on the chalkboard and tried my best in the limited space to take a good one. I am sure my husband would have done a better job! He is our photographer. He said he will take the class photo this week sometime.

Our youngest has declared that it needs to be a photo in the backyard. So here are our school photos for the year. Hope you like them. I love my kids and their creativity. Who told them you get school pictures anyway??? Hey, at least this photographer only had 4 in the class!

Our Chili Cookoff Winner for 2009

Our oldest won in the 2nd Annual Chili Cookoff at our church. My husband came in 2nd. "J" was so excited he beat dad and "Mr. Joe". There were about 14 different chili recipes to judge from. Congratulations!! He made it and we are proud of him! Maybe we have a little chef on our hands!

He was EXCITED he won and apron that says, "2009 Chili Cookoff Winner". It is a little big for him now, but he wants to hang it on his wall until he is big enough to wear it.

It was great we raise over $400.00 for two missionary couples that we support. It was a great evening!

A mommy "no no"

So our youngest started Cubbies this year at Awana. All of the other kids looked forward to saying their verses and did it with no problem. Well, the little one decided that she didn't want to say her verses until she was four. She has always been on the shy side, so I just decided to go with it and I didn't want to push her. All year she has not said a word to anyone, not even if she needed anything. The volunteers there still think that she can't talk and that I am making it up. Seriously, I am not sure why she can't actually do that at our house someday??? Anyway, last weekend she turned 4! Yeah, we have been building up for a week, "You get to say your verse at Cubbies!!! Yeah, they will be so excited!!!" So, yesterday we went over the verses at lunch. She looked at me and said, "I am not going to say my verse." Promises. They are a big thing to me and I have been telling her that she promised them that she would start saying her verses to them when she turned four. So, I wanted her to realize that when she promises something, she needs to do it. So, she starts bawling. Tears streaming. Alligator tears. I took her in my lap and calmly told her that I knew it would be hard, but she has been saying all year that this is when she was going to do it.

THEN I DID IT, THE MOMMY NO, NO!

I told her that since she promised that could not leave that night until she said the verse. Yep, I did. I SHOULDN'T HAVE! Once the words crossed my lips, I knew I shouldn't have said it.

I dropped the kids off at Awana, the little one insisted that I drop the older ones off first. Nervous, I understood and did so. Then we headed to her room. Her leader was happened to be waiting right by the door. LIPS PIERCED. I smiled and said to the leader, "This is your lucky week, she turned four last weekend and so you get to hear her say her verse tonight." She looked at me with big eyes PLEADING. You said it, you need to make her do it was all I could think. I had to go. I help out with the community youth at our church while the kids are at Awana. I couldn't stay. I left her with the leader, PRAYING SHE WOULD DO IT! I came back, was running late, and there I saw here. Her leader was heading out the door. She participated in gym, but I have still not heard her speak. THUMP went my heart. NO! I couldn't leave the room with her.

I HAD TOLD HER SHE COULDN'T LEAVE. THE MOMMY NO,NO!

The other teacher from the other room brought my other kids in. We sat waiting. I told the other teachers to go. We were not going to leave until she said her verse, even if it was just to me. The halls were clear. Just me and my kids in an empty classroom. 9:00pm hit. Still no verse. Then I started thinking, is this right to sit here and MAKE her say a verse. Yes, this is where the will is won. Right? I had to keep telling myself I was doing the right thing. I mean now it was just our family and she STILL was not saying it. She cried. I told her that was not going to get her out of it. 9:10 pm. The kids were getting restless, my husband probably thought I had gotten into a car accident. I couldn't go. People were wanting to lock up the church. Car. I would sit in the car. Come on, was all I could think. Just say it!!! I had to inforce other disciplines. Finally, around 9:15pm. The words, through the tears, came out and she finally said the FOUR words I had been waiting to hear, "Lord, teach us to pray." That was it. That was all I had wanted her to say. Well, He had taught me in those LONG minutes. It was FINALLY time to go home.

Hello Mr. President!

Monday was President's Day so we took a field trip to the Chicago Historical Museum. They also had a portable exhibit about Abraham Lincoln, it gave a little taste of what the Lincoln Library and Musuem in Springfield is like. That ended up being the kids favorite part of the trip. After the portable exhitbit we headed into the historical musuem. And met Abraham Lincoln. We loved that he looked as tall as the real Lincoln (who was 6'4" tall). We later saw him with Mary Todd Lincoln in a bit called Meet the Lincolns it was a great way to teach the kids about what was going on and about the Lincolns themselves. After meeting Abraham Lincoln, we headed to the kid area, where they had face painting and a craft for the kids to do. The face painter was an actual artist and it was fun to see the kids get their faces done. (Should you live in the Chicago area and want the contact info on the person click the comment section and it will have her information).



After the wonderful face painting, the kids went over to do an ink painting of Abraham Lincoln and Barak Obama's faces. It was something great to take home and we now have them hanging in our window in honor of President's Day.
Then we headed to an area called Chicago. The kids got to dress up like a Chicago hot dog, famous for all its toppings, ride an old fashioned bicycle, pretend they were running the marathon and because Chicago is known for its smells got to test their nostrils and guess the smells of the town. Unfortunately, we missed the Grey Lake Navy Band, but got to enjoy the Faces of Mount Rushmore.
Hearing about the four presidents on the famous Mountain was great to hear. They were all so different. We got pictures with all of them, except Thomas Jefferson. There were a bunch of people having debates with him, too many to wait to get a picture with. Sorry Thomas, maybe next time. After touring the diaromas and rest of the musuem we decided to check out Moody Church. It was closed, unfortunately, but the kids got to see it. We will have to go back another time to check it out. We had an hour before dad got off work so we headed back our car and worked on some workbooks they had been handing out at the musuem. It was called Lincoln and me. They read different things about Lincoln and then wrote or drew pictures of where they lived, how tall they were, etc. and compared them to Lincoln. We did that in the car, and I was thankful to my oldest for thinking of bringing pencils "just in case". It came in handy. We were able to "waste" enough time to then be able to drive and pick dad up. The neat thing was because it was a holiday the traffic was low, so the kids were able to jump out and go up and see dad's office. They loved doing that and dad enjoyed showing them off. It was a great day and it was neat to see the kids get excited about our presidents and our government.

Our youngest just turned 4!

My Favorite Valentine!

I am not usually one for Valentines Day, it is fun for the kids, but I like to celebrate it everyday! But, I can not help expressing my great appreciation and gratitude to God for the gift He has given me with Jason. I am truly a blessed women, and sometimes I really take him for granted. I don't like those days. He is such a strong man, physically and spiritually and spurs me on to be better. I love that he cares for me and even gets in my face when I need it...which is a lot. He listens to me when I am crying about who knows what, but he just lets me bawl. He pushes me to pursue my dreams and I love that a lot of our dreams are the same and that we get excited doing them together. He is a wonderful servant to our kids, our church, our community and especially to me. Thank you Jason for all that you are and all that I see God making you to be. You are a blessing in my life and I am forever grateful for your love. I pray that as tomorrow is a day for expressing our love to our loved ones, that we also focus on those that might not feel loved and show God's love to them. Valentines Day is a great day to show your love, but please take some time to really focus on the ONE who showed the ultimate example of LOVE by laying His life down for us...when He didn't have to. He loved us so much He did and saved us all from a lot of pain. Seek His LOVE this Valentines weekend!! HE is my favorite Valentine!

Our Valentine Party with our homeschool group

Today was great, celebrating Lincoln's 200th birthday and having a Valentine Party! It was good, oh and The Office and Survivor starts tonight, but that is just cherry on the top! Anyway, back to our party. Our homeschool group TEACH organized a party for all the kids so they could have games and exchange valentines, so they wouldn't miss out. John was hesitant to go, but as we were leaving said, "Mom, this was so much fun!" See, don't not do something because the kids groan about doing it. In the end they will see that trying new things, usually, is a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of our time.
Here are a couple of pictures of them making their Valentine bags to keep all the treats in.

Then they played games and made some more crafts. And even got their face painted.

We had lunch after the games. Pizza, carrots and grapes.
Then our leader at TEACH talked to the kids about how you can show love in so many different ways, and asked the kids to tell how they feel loved by their parents. Emily said she felt love when she sucked on her lollipop. Ok, not in the mood to share, oh well. There were a lot of different answers and it was great to hear their answers. Then she went on to explain the greatest demonstration of love, which is Jesus voluntarily dying for each one of us. There is not a better picture of such love! After clean up, we all headed into different age groups to hand out Valentines. The three girls were all in the Pre-K and Kindergarten group and then John was with the early elementary group.

They had so much fun getting Valentines from all the kids. The girls kept holding up each one to show me and feeling so special that the other kids thought of them. It was a great experience for them, and I am so glad that we were able to make it. Then we headed home and sat and poured out all of the Valentines and candy. We read all the different ones.
It is nice to be part of a homeschool group where you can do something like this and then you know they aren't missing out on the fun things that go on in school too. It was a great day! John is now excited to hand out Incredible Hulk Valentines at One Day Enrichment tomorrow! Fun times!

Family Pictures

Yesterday, Jason arrived home from Michigan after spending a few days with his parents. He brought back with him the family pictures we took during Christmas 2008. So I thought I would share them with you.

Jason's whole family!

Just our fam!

I love this one of the kids!

Sailing boats and serving food

So the weather warmed up this weekend and so since Jason had a meeting Saturday morning I thought it would be fun to do something out of the ordinary, so I took the old juice containers (that I had been saving up to make coin purses out of (see Family Fun Carton Wallet, but instead we took them and made boats. Boats to float on our new lake in the backyard. Yes, a lake. It was an ice rink, but now it has turned into a lake. So we went out and enjoyed the warmer weather and floated our boats.
Yesterday, my kids created their own resturant, Fruities, they served me breakfast and are working on learning the cleaning up aspect of running a business. I thought it was cute, they wanted to do lunch and dinner too. I thought it would be fun for the day. I thought it was cute, until this morning when I woke up and found out that Fruities was still in business and now they wanted ME to pay for their food and service. Hey wait a minute, I don't know how cute this is anymore! I like creativity, but I think we have gone a little too far. Now I have to convince them that maybe Fruities isn't such a good idea after all. Four to one, not sure I will win. Then they found out I was writing about Fruities on here...they are getting ready for you all to come...although since I am a good friend just to let you know I think that you need to go wash your hair and I see a pile of laundry over there. What have you been doing all day???? I guess you can't come, too bad. I will let the kids know. Maybe next time! (***Later Edit: So after school I went down to get lunch together...there were 20, yes 20, cups of milk and juice in the refrigerator. Apparently, they were quite excited to have customers. I made sure they realized that at a resturant they make the drink AFTER it is ordered, not before. Oh, my. I need to figure out how to channel this creative idea to something positive...think, think, think!***)

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, BLAST OFF!

Last Saturday was Jason and John's Cub Scout Rocket Derby. The worked hard on making their own rockets and couldn't wait to try them out. Last year John won for his Tiger Pack 1st place and then 1st place overall in his den for his Pinewood Derby Car. Last year, since Jason had had lots of experience with pinewood derby cars there was a lot of expectation, which thankfully they held up to. 8-) This year was A LOT more laid back, which they liked too. They had a lot of fun. John came in last in his pack, but he had fun! Jason had made a promise that his rocket would not do as good as Johns. Why he said that I am not sure, but I am glad that it worked out that way. John was last in his pack, but Jason's was worse. I am glad the boys had fun and us girls had fun cheering them on. We can't wait until next year when we get to race our Regatta Boats, the kids get to use their own blowing skills to make it go. Now where did I place that article on how to make your lungs stronger?? 8-)