We're ready!

Tomorrow is our big Fun Family Fourth - it's something we've done year after year for a while now. It's always a wonderful time full of family, food and lots of fun.

Some years we have done relay games, some years we have had a talent show, and this year we're doing our own version of the game show 'Minute to Win it' - I am very excited!

The food has been bought, the decorations are ready, and I spent this week planting some flowers and getting the gardens and yard ready and looking nice. Here are a few pictures ...


Please excuse our horrible front porch - it needs something, either a paint job or something, I'm not sure what. But I did the best I could with decorating it and making do with what I've got for now!

I had some old yucky planters and used some of that cool Krylon Fusion spray paint to fix them up - I love how they turned out.

In the past I have made shirts for all the people who attend the party - but this year I decided to just make them for the kids. I just used fabric paints and I think they came out cute!

So everything's all ready ... time to get a good night of sleep and then let the festivities begin!

Carnival & Fireworks night

One night while we were in NC we went down to the boardwalk area where they were having a carnival, live music and fireworks. The kids had a blast going on rides and then we all watched the fireworks together.

Sorry some of the pictures aren't the best - I'm always trying to figure out which setting on my camera to use for different situations.

The older 4 kids rode this crazy ride - it went soooo fast and looked kinda scary! The Moms were standing on the side watching and holding our breath the whole time!

The younger 3 rode this much tamer train ride.

Most of our group gathered together to watch the fireworks ...

The girls were mimicking the way the fireworks would burst in the air ...

Bob and I - just wish we didn't have that bright light behind his shoulder!

They are getting so big ... I can't believe they are big enough to ride some of these rides without us! Stop growing so fast girls!!

Riding the waves ...

One of the most fun things about our vacation was riding the big waves. We do live near the ocean here in New England - but we rarely get big waves here so we're really not accustomed to that.

In NC the waves were HUGE at times, much bigger than what we're used to. The kids would spend hours jumping in them, diving under them, riding on their boogie boards ... they had a blast!

I am usually not a big fan of getting salty and sticky in the ocean - but I couldn't resist getting in on the fun - plus it was like a thousand degrees out and I had no choice but to stay in the water!

I had a lot of fun riding the boogie board too - I'm so glad I got over it and just did it because it really was a lot of fun. And the salty/sticky feeling is easily remedied with a quick shower back at the house.

Beach House

As I mentioned in my previous post, we just returned from a fabulous vacation. We rented a beach house in North Carolina with some college friends. There were two other couples and their kids so all together there were 13 of us. We have been friends with the two husbands {Stephen and Rob} since we were in Bible college which was 15 years ago! We met one of their wives {Nicki} a couple years ago and this was our first time meeting Rob's wife, Brooke.

This is the house we stayed in - we were in the left side. The house itself was beautiful and I loved the way it was decorated. Each room was painted a different color and they had bright paintings and beachy decor all around the house. It was 3 stories high with 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms so we had plenty of room for all 13 of us!
The house was right across the street from the beach - in this picture I'm standing on the beach and you can see the top of the house across the street ...

In the living room there was fun, brightly colored furniture ...

I loved the main level bathroom - the walls were a gorgeous creamy mocha brown and it had neat beachy decor ...

The bathroom we used had this sign - Life is Good AT THE BEACH. I couldn't agree more!

There were two decks, one off of the master suite and one on the main level. We hung out there on a few nights - when we could take the unbearable heat that is!

Overall it was a GREAT house and we would definitely consider renting it again. It was so convenient to just walk across the road any time we wanted to go to the beach. It also had an outdoor shower so you could rinse off all the salt and sand before going in the house.

We also had a BLAST with our friends. We spent every evening hanging out together and talking and laughing for hours. It was fun to reminisce about the good ol' days and just laugh and enjoy not having the responsibilities that come with every day life.

The 7 kids all had a great time together. They ranged in age from 9 down to 2. And the other two Mamas were both pregnant too! It was definitely a loud and high energy house! We talked about doing this again in 2 years - just think, then there will be 9 kids! We also joked about maybe doing it ADULTS only - well maybe we didn't joke - maybe we'll actually consider it seriously! ha!

More pictures to come soon!

Road Trip!

We've just gotten back in town from a long and very fun road trip. We travelled through 7 states + DC and had a wonderful time! I have lots of fun photos and stories to share but first I wanted to share how we coped with the actual travelling part of the trip.

I have never been a good traveller. I get motion sickness when I try to do just about anything. Even reading a map for just a few minutes makes me nauseous! Unfortunately this makes for very long and boring car rides.

Thankfully my girls are great travellers. They can read, color, watch movies, play video games - you name it, they can do it in the car. And they did all of the above on this trip!

So for this trip I decided that we'd have some fun and find a way to keep me busy in the car. We printed out a map of the United States and we brought paper and markers to make a list. Then we looked for license plates that were from other states and wrote them on the list, and marked them on the map. {Working on our geography skills at the same time!!} Our goal was to get 30 different license plates - but instead we ended up seeing 44 different states + DC, Ontario, and Quebec!!! We were shocked and excited that we saw so many of them! Each time we'd see a new one we would shout it out and mark it on the list and map.

The only states we were missing were:
ARKANSAS
WYOMING
MONTANA
IDAHO
SOUTH DAKOTA
NEVADA

The other part of this game was taking note of vanity plates that said interesting things on them. I wrote out a list of them and thought some were very clever and showed a lot about the car owner's personality.

Some of my faves were:
TRY LOVE
OK NIP IT
ILN BREZ {island breeze I assume?}
NY CT GRL
TWNS R US
THANX GD
LV PLAID
4 SCORE 7
GR DAD X2
GLF GOD
OH MY
VORTEX
EDGEEE
TM EDWRD {twilight fan perhaps??}
VAN RATS
3 SO FAR
MY OH MY
CHICKYS
FIT 4 GOLF
IF ONLY
HP NANA
3 GEMS
2 SLOW
WOW
BIRDS
FAST 4 DR
ULTRA 1
ALOOHA

We also saw some baseball and football stadiums, a cruise boat, the nation's capitol and went over lots of big bridges and through one very long tunnel.

So, I have 2 questions for ya ... when you travel - what do YOU do to keep busy in the car? AND, if you ever got a vanity plate, what would you like it to say?

Father's Day

As Father's day approaches this Sunday two things come to mind. How thankful I am for my husband - the amazing Father of my children. And how much I love and miss my Dad.

My Dad was never one for a lot of fancy words. In fact I was listening to this song by Bucky Covington today and it reminded me of my Dad a lot. It talks of how his Dad didn't say 'I love you' much, but he was the one who would always go out and check the oil in the car, make sure the tires had enough air, etc... and how that was his way of showing how much he loved his son.

That is exactly how I feel about my Dad. Although he didn't always express himself with many words, I never doubted for a second that he loved me deeply. At my wedding reception, he surprised me and had a family friend sing the song 'Butterfly Kisses' to me. It was the first time I had ever heard it {it became very popular that year} and it made me and everyone else at the reception cry! It was such a sweet reminder of how much he loved me.

He died of leukemia 6 and a half years ago. One of the hardest things I still struggle with is wishing he was here to see my girls grow. I know how much he would have loved playing with them, teasing them, and being silly with them. I know it's silly, but I would also love to know that he's proud of me. That he is proud of the person I've become and the way I've raised my girls. I wish he could see the wonderful little ladies they are becoming.

Now my husband - I feel inadequate to fully put into words how grateful I am for him. He is patient, caring, understanding and kind. He works so incredibly hard for all of us. He helps me in a million ways - like doing laundry, dishes and yard work. He puts myself and the girls above his own wants and desires ALL the time. He spends a lot of time doing things with the girls - playing ball, watching sports, snuggling together, talking about their day, taking them on errands and lunch dates, etc. The girls adore him and he feels the same about them. The Lord blessed me BIG time when he gave me Bob. He is truly my best friend and soulmate.

The two videos below are for my two special men.

To my Daddy I miss you every day and thank you for all those years when you raised me and taught me and guided me so that I could be the person I am today.

To my husband, Bob; You are truly my best friend and I thank God for you every day. Happy Father's Day to the most amazing Daddy our girls could have ever hoped for.

And finally, Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Father in law - I KNOW that Bob is the wonderful man he is today because of your influence in his life. You have always treated me like I was your own daughter and I love you!

Happy Father's Day to ALL the Dad's out there!!

Bambi

We have had a visitor in our yard lately ...

This is why my hostas are chewed down to nothing!

And then just like that, she heads back to the woods again ...

The girls followed her and said there was another one in the woods.

And just for fun, here's a wild animal of another kind - in one of her more quiet and calm moments {which are FEW and FAR BETWEEN I might add!}

Pumped Up Pancakes

Ok have y'all ever seen that show on the Food Network called 'Semi-Homemade' with Sandra Lee? Well that is the kind of cook I am. I love making things homemade, but I also love using quick and easy shortcuts.

One of my faves is something I like to call 'Pumped Up Pancakes' - pumped up meaning they are pumped up with stuff that is good for you!

Here is what you will need:
I use traditional Bisquick pancake mix - most of the time I just double the recipe on the box.
Then I add - a large scoop of Vanilla Soy Protein powder
- a tablespoon or so of cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed

Mix well then cook on a hot skillet.

These pancakes come out nice and thick and fluffy - I love me some thick, fluffy pancakes!!!!

I made these the other day on my birthday ... then ate them with some yummy butter and some of our freshly made strawberry jam - yummy!

Who needs syrup when they taste this good? ;)

Mexican Cheesecake

***Be forewarned, this is NOT a healthy recipe***

OK, moving on .... I got this recipe from a friend and was dying to try it. But my hubs doesn't like cream cheese and I knew it was too much to make for just myself and the kids. So when my brother, sister-in-law, niece and Mom were coming for lunch a couple weeks ago I was like 'ding-ding-ding-ding now I can try that recipe!'

{I have to say, it looks a little funky in the pic, maybe I should have rolled the crescent rolls flatter? But either way, no matter how it looks it was simply delish!}

INDULGENT, easy and DELISH!

2 packages cream cheese
1 1/2c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 pkg crescent rolls
2 tsp cinnamon
1 (WHOLE) stick butter (mmmmmm)

Press one package of crescent rolls into bottom of 9x12 baking dish.
Mix together cream cheese, 1 cup of the sugar and vanilla.
Spread mixture on top of rolls in pan.
Press 2nd package of rolls on top of mixture.
Mix together remaining 1/2c sugar and cinnamon in small bowl.
Sprinkle on top of casserole.
Melt stick of butter and pour over top of entire casserole.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour. Serve while warm . We served it with sliced strawberries and some cool whip {although it certainly didn't need anything extra!}

There will be NO leftovers...

Busy but fun!

Whew, the past few days have been such a blur! So many fun events and now I'm simply exhausted!

I apologize in advance because although I've been super busy and having lots of fun I have NO pictures to show for it! Sometimes ya gotta just lay the camera down and go with the flow!

Thursday was my Mom's birthday, it was also the day we babysat for little 'R'. So the 3 girls and I met my Mom at her work, then went out to Friendly's for lunch and ice cream. That afternoon was pretty low key - just playing with R and hanging around.

Friday was MY birthday - I had grand plans of taking the girls to the beach for the day but it was cloudy and very unseasonably cool. So instead we went to see Marmaduke at the movie theater - which was hilarious by the way! Then we went to buy the girls new swimsuits, got a yummy Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks, then home where the girls used the tiny smidgen of sunlight to jump in the pool for a while.

That evening my awesome hubby watched the girls so I could go out for my birthday dinner with my 3 girlfriends. We went to the Olive Garden which as always, did not disappoint! Then we came back to my house where we had homemade cake {made by my friend Sandy} and opened presents - they got me the cutest and most fun stuff. I love my friends!!

On Saturday the girls and I went to the flower shop where I work and I helped deliver 145 arrangements to a local event while the girls stayed and 'helped' at the shop. Then we went home and cleaned our house for a couple hours.

In the afternoon my Aunt Chris, cousin Megan and Chris' friend Maggie came to visit from out of state. They were going to a concert near my house and Megan was going to spend the night with my girls {she's my cousin, but she's my daughter's age}.

My amazing hubby AGAIN watched the girls {and Megan} so that my Mom, my Aunt, her friend and I could all go out for an awesome buffet dinner. Then my Aunt and Maggie went to the concert and my Mom and I went home.

Megan spent the night and the girls had a wonderful time with her ... of course they stayed up late - I think I was asleep before they were!

Sunday morning we got up and went to church, then our Bible study group was helping our leaders move. So the men went to help move the big stuff and the women and kids came here to my house for a swim/BBQ day. It was not warm and not sunny though - but as you may have guessed that didn't stop the kids. They still swam a little, played a lot and just had a wonderful time together. When the men were done they joined us here and we all ate burgers and hotdogs for dinner together and enjoyed some wonderful fellowship. We love our Bible study group!

And now it's after 10pm on Sunday night ... I've eaten out 5 times in less than a week - eaten LOTS of yummy things that were not at all healthy for me, not exercised one bit. And now I'm not only tired, but feeling super sluggish and unhealthy! LOL

Soooo..... tomorrow is a great day to *try* to get back on track before we go on vacation {which is soon!} and hopefully we will get some school work done too so that we can finish our school year in the next few days.

Oh, before I forget, there is a great online Bible study of the book of Ephesians that is starting tomorrow - you can click here for more info. Since I'm not currently involved in a Bible study I am very excited about doing this one!

Good night friends!