Monday, June 30, 2008

Monday's business....

This was the first day in a long time that we didn't have to rush off anywhere. The only place I had to go was to take my three older kids to their art class. I just love all the things that they have come home with. These, by far are my favorite! Their art teacher, Miss Heather is only 22 years old, but has been painting for 12 years! She is such a blessing to our family!! You can click the pictures to enlarge the images!!









A little later in the day, one of my friends came over with her ADORABLE niece! I just love her curly hair and long lashes!! I took alot of shots of her today, but I will post a couple here. Here she is, "J" with Miranda and Veronica.





Busy weekend!

On Saturday, we took Eli and his friends roller skating for his birthday. It was so cute because two of the boys have never gone to a skating rink before. Thank goodness, the session we went to was one that gave a 30 minute instruction session to beginners. Afterward, we went to lunch and then home to kick back for a couple of hours before we had to go to church for the Awana Award ceremony.

After church yesterday, we went to lunch with our friends since it was her husbands birthday too. So, all in all, busy, busy weekend!!! Oh..and Isaiah isn't in any of the pictures because he was at a friends house all weekend.

Eli & his friends (plus Miranda..lol)
Veronica skating
Game Stop gift card!
Yay..more money!!
Carmen, Isaiah, & Miranda
Isaiah & Jeremiah
Danny, hubby, & Randa
Goofy Boys!
Cubbies!!
Happy Birthday, Roger!
Eli..yummy ice cream!
Happy B-day, Eli (again)!!


Miranda, Gracie, Veronica

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Eli's is 8 today!!

This is going to be a quick post! Today is Eli's birthday and we're getting ready to go Cal Skate for his birthday party. We're just waiting on a couple more of his friends to get here. I'll post pictures of that tonight or tomorrow since he is also having a couple of them spend the night.

Yesterday was the last day of day camp. The entire week was awesome, and it also showed me how much work goes on behind the scenes with something like this. As a parent, I really appreciate the people even more so than I did before, that organized the whole thing! From the background, it seems hectic and chaotic, but you know, God works it all out and the kids are truly blessed! The day ended with them putting all their craft activities together and making a book out of it. For cooking, they made individual banana pudding w/ the vanilla wafers, and then lunch was provided for them (grilled hot dogs & chips). It was a long week, but so worth it! Here are a few shots from yesterday!







Thursday, June 26, 2008

Day camp, Day 4!

Oh my gosh, I totally forgot my camera today! I was going to at least take a couple of shots of the kids. I didn't plan on helping out today because I really needed the time to be at home and clean up. I've been a little behind here at home since being gone all day with the kids. I needed to do some catching up with my laundry, vacuuming, etc. You know, all the FUN STUFF! But, I did enjoy some quiet time, that's for sure! The kids also had a blast at the lake! It was their first mission outreach at the park!! So, since I didn't have a picture to post of today, here is one from yesterday. It's of my son Eli and two of his buddies! On the left is Jeremiah, Eli in the middle, and Keith on the right. LOL, Eli always has to make a "face" at the camera!! This Saturday, Eli will be turning 8 years old! I can't believe it! He's having a skating party with five of his little friends (including the two in this picture). How time flies....

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Day camp, Day 3!!!

What another busy, fun filled day for the kids! This weeks theme is "Mission Minded Kids" so at the end of the day, the kids broke up into four big groups and went around the neighborhood passing out cards. I went with a handful of 4/5 year olds and it's so awesome to see them excited handing out cards they made and telling the people, "Jesus Loves You!" I took a couple of pictures of what they cooked today. I wasn't able to take too many since I was helping, but the first picture is of Eli & his friend Keith smashing garbanzo beans. The entire meal was an African dish with meatballs over egg noodles and a salad. The meatballs were yummy!

Veronica has buddied up with one of the cutest little girls there named Juju! She looks forward to seeing her everyday. I took some cute shots of them hanging out and holding hands! I was able to take one of Eli on his way to the gym. Like I said before, I hardly see him all day since he's with the older group.

Anyway...I am just soooooo pooped by the time we get home. It definitely is a full day!!!!!!!






Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I'm pooped!!!!!!!!! Day camp, Day 2..

Boy, I'm wiped out from today!!! When I signed the kids up for this program, I initially had no intentions of helping out. I thought, "I can't wait...a whole week to MYSELF!" But, as I was there yesterday, I did notice that there were not enough volunteers for as many kids that were there. I told my husband that I'm going to help this week, because I'm sure you've heard the saying, "Many hands make light work." I just know that this program is such a blessing to have in the first place. This is the least I could do! Anywho, there are about 55+ kids at the day camp, and I was helping out with the younger kids (K-2nd grade). We actually had to split that group up in half because there are 35 of them all together. The morning starts off with a bible story from Mrs. C, and then they head off to cooking class! We even have Mrs. Marie dressed as a chef to help guide the kids along! Today they made chocolate chip cookies! Of course, we pre-measured everything so all the kids have to do is pour all the ingredients in the bowl and stir! After cooking class, they played in the gym for a little bit then headed over to the craft room for their cookie art project. I was busy helping out so I didn't get to take alot of pictures like I expected. Anyway, they all have lunch together at noon, and then it was more activities for the kids! The older group (3rd-5th graders) went to a Convalescent Hospital, sang worship songs to them, and then handed out bagged chocolate chip cookies! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Eli since he is with the older group. Finally 3 o'clock comes around and the parents start picking up their kids. Each of my three older kids asked if a friend could come over. I was like, "NOOOOO..not today." LOL. So, here are some shots of the kids today! They are not in order..lol.






Monday, June 23, 2008

Summer Day Camp!!! Day 1 of 5

Our church is having summer day camp all this week. I'm really excited because 1)It is all day (8:30-3:30) & 2)All my kids will be there! My two older kids are coming home from Jr. High camp today, so they won't be helping till tomorrow. In fact, I volunteered all day tomorrow so I will be able to take lots of pictures! So, right now, my house is completely quiet. It is void of any noise except for my typing!! It's so weird because I'm not used to being able to just sit here without a distraction, or feel like I could just get up and go on a whim!! My kids were so excited about today. They got up at 6:20 a.m. and took showers right away! We were out of the house by 7:45 to pick up my friends two boys, and they even ate breakfast before we left!! Well, except Veronica. LOL, she told me that Jesus didn't make her hungry today...HOW CUTE IS THAT!!!!!!!!! I think she was just too excited to eat! I also got a taste of making their lunches. It was so cute to get all their sandwiches and snacks together! I can't imagine doing that every day for an entire school year! With homeschooling, their food is just right here, all the time..lol. Oh, and they were so happy to wear their backpacks. I guess that's how they would look if they went to public school..lol. Anyway, in this picture from L-R is Josiah (my friends oldest son), Eli, Veronica, Daniel, & Jeremiah (Josiah's little brother). Aren't they cute!!!!!!!!!!



Sunday, June 22, 2008

Our normal Sunday routine...

Our Sundays are probably our busiest day of the week! It's rush rush in the morning getting ready for church! You can imagine getting up five kids, making them get in the shower, and hopefully having a bite of anything before we leave! Most of the time my hubby is already gone before us because he plays on the worship team, and plays for the first service. It always feels like a huge accomplishment when we get there 15 minutes early! After service, we hang out and fellowship while the kids are stuffing their faces with all the junk food from the cafe! If we're not going to lunch with anyone, we'll just head home and kick back here for a few hours before going back to church in the evening. I love it though, and so do our kids. Our church is literally like a second home since we are there so much. But, I can't think of any other place we would rather be. I know to some people that might sound weird, but if you knew our church and our friends, you would probably feel the same way!! Well, the picture I'm posting today is of Danny & Veronica in the tree outside the cafe. Eli was playing with his friends so I didn't take one of him. I love the convenience of being able to send the picture directly from my phone to my blogger!!!!!



Saturday, June 21, 2008

Keepin' Cool!!!

It's been super hot the last couple of days! Yesterday it reached 100 degrees, and today it stayed in the 90's up until a little while ago. Today was the first day that we actually just stayed home and vegged! It always seems like there is something that we have to do on Saturdays, so it was nice to just sit down and do absolutely nothing! Actually, I take that back, we were supposed to go to a birthday party today, but it was just way too hot to go to an outdoor party. Anywho, my in-laws bought our kids one of those blow up pools a few years back, but it takes forever for the water to fill up. We haven't used it in a long time so it seemed like the perfect day to have it up for the kids. With our two older children gone till Monday, it was perfect for the "three little ones" (that's what we call them). I said I was going to post at least one picture a day, so here goes! Daniel (my almost 6 yr old) was already out of the pool and in the shower when I snapped this shot of Eli & Veronica.



Friday, June 20, 2008

Off to Jr. High Camp!!!!!

My two older kids left this afternoon for Jr. High camp with our church. There will also be another Calvary Chapel there as well, so there will be about 200 kids total. This is their 3rd time going to camp, and I know they are in good hands! Of course, I always get a little teary eyed when the bus drives off, then soon realize, "Whoa...what a cool break!!" It is really hot today (high 90's), so my three youngest were like, "When is the bus going to leave?" Oh, and my older kids were getting annoyed at all the pictures I was taking. I'll share a few, but they are all out of order. I don't know how to move them around or at least download them the way I want it to show up.

Also, I was reading another girls blog, and she said that her and her hubby decided to make theirs a "picture journal", and will share a photo every day. I think that is a wonderful idea, so I'm going to copy them and do that too..lol.







Thursday, June 19, 2008

My little fashionista!!



When my youngest daughter was about 1 1/2 years old, I stumbled across "Custom Boutique Clothing" on Ebay. Oh boy..I had no idea how sucked in I already was at that moment! I couldn't believe all the beautiful, original outfits I saw, and how many designers were/are out there! I felt like I discovered something that nobody I knew, knew about! It started out with buying her matching bows for EVERY outfit she had, and then bidding on that custom outfit that I knew was going to be adorable on her! She's almost 5 years old, and LOVES to dress up. She's so girly, it's crazy! She has all the accessories to match her outfits, and I went from bows to hairflowers! It's so fun to dress her (especially because she enjoys it too), but I know she'll come to an age when she will pick out her own clothes (sometimes she does already). Anywho..I wanted to share a picture of her in one of her first custom outfits, which was made by a very talented girls named Lisa. Her Ebay ID is casedi*boutique. I can't believe how little she looks! She was 1 1/2 at that time. The most current custom outfit she is wearing on the top is by hannahs*hangers. On a side note, it may seem that the majority of pictures I have is of her, but she is ALWAYS by my side..LOL (wink).



Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Days of Summer!






Wow..haven't been blogging here for awhile. I think I mentioned before that I have another blog on homeschool site. I put alot of my pictures up there, and just give updates on what we do. It's so time consuming to put pictures here & there, but I'm sure I can share some updates on this blog as well. I homeschool my kids, so I'm excited that summer is here, yet we will still do some school during the summer. My two older kids are going to Jr. High camp this Friday and will be coming back Monday, and then next week our church is having a summer day camp for the entire week for grades K-5. I will be kid free an ENTIRE day for a whole week! Here are a couple of updated pictures of the kids in the last couple of weeks. These are just random shots!!!