Tubing in Florida

We headed to Florida REALLY early one morning to go tubing and to swim in the springs. The younger kids didn't know we were going until that morning. I woke them up at 4 AM and told them to put their swimsuits on and Mariah said, "Don't be silly mama!"
Notice everyone was groggy except Malachi! :o)

The weather was perfect and we were the first people on the river! There was literally nobody on it with us!

Malachi loved it.

Jump baby!

She got the "pretty" tube. :o)

My only regret from the trip is that I didn't have a camera on the river with us. It was gorgeous and we saw lots of wildlife.

Mariah was the only one that didn't enjoy the tubing part of it. She was terrified that something was going to touch her!

To start with I had Myles in my tube. He fussed because I was keeping him pinned down in my lap. Marc made me pass him to him and he let him hang off the side of his tube. He loved it and didn't utter a peep the rest of the time! :o) Daddy is so much more fun than mommy!

After we tubed we had a picnic and then headed to two different springs to swim.

You could see straight down to the bottom of the springs. The water was beautiful and COLD!

I did have alligators on my mind... but we didn't see any.

Of course, like anywhere that there is swimming there is immodesty. The Lord really protected us from the crowd when we tubed. When we got off the river there was a huge crowd coming. When we went to the springs it was a little more crowded when we first got there. Mariah said, "A fat lady with a bikini AND a tattoo...it takes away ALL her good looks." Malachi slapped his hands over his eyes one time and said, "She is so embarrassed!" It was funny, but it is also frustrating that you can't ever get away from it!

Headed home...

Definitely a do again for our family. Next year we will go on a weekday after school has started.

Training him young... :o)

Summer Projects...

I always have a list of things I hope to accomplish over our summer break. Homeschooling mothers don't have a whole lot of time to do projects during the school year! My list is always longer than the time I have to get it done, but I have gotten a few things done.

The boys' room was looking like this... (Malachi loves when Matthew builds Lego creations for him to play with! They make such huge messes though!)

I can only take it so long and then I have had it! I got a big black trash bag and cleaned out, washed windows and curtains, and Marc and I painted the walls. The walls have been a taupe color for six years. Malachi has been really rough on them and had even picked a hole in the wall where he sleeps. I wanted to change the look a little bit so we painted a blue accent wall (Eddie Bauer- Denim) and painted the other three taupe again. The boys like it and I am pretty happy with it.

I need to take the crib down. My last two babies have slept (Myles still is) in a pack and play in my room. With my room being downstairs it just works better for everyone. I have left it up for the past six years and I think Myles has taken maybe two naps in it!

Matthew was really glad when I told him we wouldn't paint his closet. I let him hang anything he wants as long as it goes in the closet. It is pretty much covered! This is what it looks like...



Nice huh? :o)

Very glad that job is done!

I love being a mama...

Summer Learning

I love the laid back days of summer when you aren't bound to a schedule and schoolwork. We always do lots of reading though and this summer I decided to get a jump on Mariah's science. It has been fun because we have the time to do the experiments without rushing through them. Madeline has joined us and we have all (including me!) learned a lot! We are studying astronomy with "Exploring Creation with Astronomy".

One of our projects was to make homemade clay and make a model of Mercury. They looked better when they were first made. :o) Did you know that even though Mercury is the closest to the sun it is not the hottest planet? I don't remember learning that in school. Venus is hotter because of the atmosphere (in which Mercury has none-- so while it is HOT during the day, it freezes at night.) There are lots of really easy experiments and projects that help the children remember what they learned. Another thing they are doing is keeping a notebook on what we read each day. They write about it and draw pictures. They have had lots of fun doing that too.

My sister let me borrow these DVDs. They were AMAZING!!! I never really thought about how HUGE all of creation is. We are such a tiny speck living on little bitty Earth. It is amazing that God created ALL that He did and yet he chooses to love us. A man at church gave the illustration last Sunday and compared it to picking up a grain of sand and saying that you love the inhabitants on that grain of sand. Pretty amazing huh!?


"The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork." Psalms 19:1

Chick Fil A Cow Appreciation Day!!!

Last year our whole family went to Chick Fil A for cow appreciation day. This year Marc and Matthew had a white water rafting trip with scouts and McKenzie and Mariah went to visit grandparents. Matthew was so glad he missed out on the humiliation this year! That left me and Madeline taking the two little boys. Madeline and I were a little embarrassed when we walked in and they rang a cow bell and mooed at us! :o) It was fun for Malachi though and we got free food!My mom made this cow costume for Madeline years ago for a church fall festival. Myles was able to wear it last year and this year to CFA!

Bits and pieces...

It has been SO hot. One evening we were all outside and Myles decided to take a swim! It started off with him just standing there, but it only took a minute and he was diving all over the pool!

Marc and I celebrated our 21st anniversary on June 23rd.

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The other night McKenzie was teaching piano lessons and Marc and Matt were gone. Madeline and I went outside to move our baby chick pen to a new spot in the yard. I don't go outside in the evening very often but when I do, I usually see lots of things that need to be done. I walked towards the swing-set to pick up the yard toys. I bent down and there was a big black snake! I freaked out and told Madeline to call daddy and see if he was on his way home. To make a long story short... McKenzie got home before Marc and Matt. The snake started to move and she was brave enough to kill it with a shovel! I know, I know, you shouldn't kill the "good kind" of snakes, but it was where my little ones play! McKenzie wouldn't move the shovel until Marc came home to make sure it was dead. She was shaking like a leaf when he got home!

Mariah wanted to be "brave" too and hold it. (The pictures are blurry probably because I was shaking, but I thought they were funny!)

She quickly threw it down! :o)

My gross son inspected it with bare hands!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So THAT is where the missing puzzle pieces were!

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Whenever one of my little boys gets quiet I always go running. I found Myles helping himself to watermelon with a knife! I ended up watching him for a minute and McKenzie took pictures because he was very carefully cutting a bite and then picking it up with his fingers to eat it. Pretty smart huh!? :o)

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My children at our church 4th of July party.

I am so far behind on pictures this summer. I usually upload them onto the computer, go through them (blog with some), and then upload them to Walmart.com. I print the ones that I like best and label the envelopes with the date and a brief description. I used to immediately put them in albums. Not only do I not have time to do that now, I don't have the room to store that many albums! It works well until I realize that my children are taking hundreds of pictures and then I get overwhelmed! That is one of the many projects I hope to get done before school starts back!