Finn's 6th Birthday Party

My sweet Finn turned six years old on July 7, 2011. Six! He will be in 1st grade when school starts in August. 


When it drew closer to time to plan Finn's Birthday party, we asked him what kind of party he wanted. He said he wanted a pool party. Ok, that's easy. We have a pool in the backyard. Finn said he wanted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles plates for his party. I asked Finn what kind of plates he wanted if I couldn't find Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He replied, "Just pick something." That's one of the things I love about Finn. He is so easy going and easy to please. He cares more about others. Well, I wasn't able to find Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles plates in the little bit of time I had left to get them...I am a procrastinator. So, I got him the next best thing...Batman! 


Jeremy is the official cake maker in our family. And he does a VERY good job. I am VERY thankful he can do it and that he enjoys doing it. Jeremy asked Finn what kind of cake he wanted. Finn said, "A red alligator with a brown piece of candy for the nose, because I want to eat the nose." 

Jeremy is in the process of making a tree house for the kids. Finn's friends had fun playing in it.

Right now, we just have the floor down, but they didn't care. They still wanted to play on it.

Time for cake!

But first, we have to sing to the birthday boy!

Everyone enjoyed the cake...

Pool fun...

I had people at the party ask what is that pink thing on the ladder. It is Piper's inner tube deflated. For some reason, she decided it needed to be placed there.

I love how the water being splashed out looks! 

To give you an example of how sweet Finn is, this is his friend Jericho. Remember how Finn was specific about how Jeremy was to make his alligator cake? Well, Finn didn't end up eating the nose, that he specifically requested. Jericho wanted the nose, so Finn let him eat it. He is such a sweet kid!

Book Review: Love & War, Find Your Way to Something Beautiful in Your Marriage

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review


John and Stasi Eldredge do a good job at stressing how important God and prayer are in your marriage. They wrote this book together. As they tell different stories of things that happened in their marriage, you get to see it from John's point of view AND from Stasi's point of view. 


Every marriage has struggles. John and Stasi share some of the struggles they have faced in their marriage. They both were "broken" as they went into their marriage. This has caused some problems, but they have been able to work through it, with God. If you believe in prayer and that prayer can fix things, you may want to read this book.

My Kids Like The Black Eyed Peas

We had on some music one night and the song that came on was "I've Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. Finn decided to honor us by doing some of his awesome dance moves.

Then Rilian, being the little brother, decided he wanted to dance just like Finn.

This is gonna be some helpful blackmail footage when they get older! :)

While The Big Kids Are Away, The Little One Will Play

Anyone who has kids knows that summer time means Vacation Bible School or VBS! Most parents look forward to this "free babysitting." Rilian, our youngest, is 2 years old. This means we don't get to take advantage of the "free babysitting" with him. This means we get to spend some Mommy, Daddy, and Rilian time together! Rilian gets to be an only child...he gets to enjoy being "spoiled."

Piper, Finn, and Seven attended two different VBS this summer. The first one was at Granny's church. One night after Jeremy and I took Piper, Finn, and Seven to VBS, we (and Rilian) went to eat at TaMolly's. Rilian was so good! I guess he didn't have the influence of his siblings. Not to say that they are all evil, but he can be a little toot on his own. However, this particular night, he was demon-free. 

Jeremy ordered fajitas. Jeremy was making the tortilla warmer "talk" to Rilian and he thought it was so funny! He couldn't stop laughing! He tried to cover his mouth, in hopes of stopping the laughter.

This week, Piper, Finn, and Seven attended VBS at Finn's kindergarten teacher's church. The building where alot of their children's ministry happens is pretty cool. It is decorated with an ocean theme. Anytime we go there, the kids like to look at the fish in the salt water fish tank. 

I tried to get Rilian to look at me, but he was too excited with the music that was playing for VBS. He was starting to dance!

One of the nights that Piper, Finn, and Seven attended this VBS, we met up with a good friend that we hadn't seen in awhile and she suggested we go to Nikki's Swirl Shoppe. If you have never been to one, I suggest finding the nearest one to you and going to it. It is yummy! Here's how it works...you get a bowl. Then you decide what flavor and how much frozen yogurt you want. You can choose as many or as few flavors as you want to put in the bowl. You can also sample any of the flavors to see if that is the flavor for you. Then you decide what add-ins you want. Take it up and put in on the scale and get out your wallet to pay. Voila! It's that simple.


I'm not sure what they put in their frozen yogurt, because it had some sort of effect on Rilian...

In case you are worried now, the frozen yogurt didn't stop him from being able to walk. He was just being silly and pretending.

How many of you take advantage of the "free babysitting" otherwise known as Vacation Bible School?

What Happens When Mommy's Not Home?

I was painting Piper's nails one night when Jeremy decided he would make dinner that night. He started to make it and realized he needed a missing ingredient in order to finish. So, I stopped painting Piper's nails and went to the store. The closest store is less than 5 minutes from our house. I told Piper I would finish her nails as soon as I came back.

When I got back, I saw that Rilian had decided to paint his fingernails on his own.

AND his toenails, all by himself. 

Not too bad for his first time and for being a two year old. Although, I don't plan on letting him paint his nails regularly.


Wanna see what else can happen when Daddy is in charge and Mommy is not at home? Click here.

2 Moms and 8 Kids...ages 7 and under!

The church we now attend sends their elementary kids to a camp near Ruidoso, NM. Jeremy decided to be a counselor at this camp. Since we have some good friends who work and live at this camp, I decided I would go with our four kids and stay with them. Connor is the activities director. Kaylee and Connor have four kids. They had four kids in four years, just like we did.

I thought I would just follow the charter buses in our vehicle. That way, if something should happen along this 7 hour drive, they could stop and help me. I was a little nervous taking my four children all by myself on such a drive. If they were older, it might not be so bad. Piper is the oldest. She just turned 7 years old in May. Rilian is the youngest. He is almost 2 1/2 years old. 

The campers were supposedly leaving the church at 7am. So, I woke up my kids at 6:30am. This is earlier than they get up for school! Jeremy called me at about 6:50am and said that he didn't really pay attention to the schedule, but they weren't going to leave the church until 9am. I thought about it for a little while. I knew there was no way I could go back to sleep now that my kids were awake. So, I decided I would just start driving without the rest of the group. I knew that if something should go wrong along the way, at least they would be a couple of hours behind me. The trip was uneventful. Everything went well. I made the drive without any problems, with my four children. Coming home was just as good. I was very glad! 

Combine my four children and Kaylee's four children and what do you have? EIGHT kids, ages 7 years old to 6 months old. There were 7 boys and 1 girl. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. It  actually wasn't bad at all. They all got along really well. If any of the children ever had a problem, it was with their siblings.

Since we would be staying in Kaylee and Connor's house, my children and I would be sleeping in one room. We decided the kids needed sleeping bags. So we took them to Target and let them pick some out. Piper, Seven, and Rilian all picked this orange fox.

The tail is the zipper. There was also a pink bunny and a brown bear to choose from. Finn picked a plain red sleeping bag, so he could tell his apart from the other's. 

Who would have thought that there really were Sasquatch in Ruidoso, NM? ;) We were sitting outside one day while our 8 children played and I saw this sign posted on a telephone pole behind me. I couldn't resist capturing the picture!

We took the kids to play in the river one day. They said it was cold at first. I did not get in, so I can't tell you one way or the other. But is sure was beautiful! Finn and Piper are exploring here. 

Seven and Piper exploring. 

Trip, Finn, and Thatcher exploring. Trip and Thatcher are my friend's older two children. 

Piper wondering off on her own. 

Rilian didn't want to get in at first, because he said it was cold. 

I tried to get a good picture of Rilian, but he wasn't very cooperative during this shot.

My friend, Kaylee's, third son, Truett. Otherwise, known as True True. 

Kaylee and Townsend in the river. He is 6 months old. She was blessed with four boys! They call him Towns for short. I love her son's names! 

Rilian and Thatcher had fun throwing rocks into the river.

He finally decided it wasn't too cold to get in.

Sweet Finn, in the river...

 And Seven, in the river...

Precious Piper, in the river...

On a different day, we took the kids to the playground at the Smokey the Bear Historical Park. It was a pretty cool park. Check out Rilian's climbing skills!

It was a good week. Kaylee and I are already looking forward to next year!

Hair

I have three sons. They all have the same dad. How can they be so different? Take for instance their hair color. They all got a hair cut on the same day. Take a look at their hair...

From top to bottom, it is Seven's hair, Rilian's hair, and Finn's hair. Amazing, huh?

They all started out with dark hair. This is Finn at 12 days old...dark hair.

And at a year, his hair is still dark. It doesn't look as dark on the sides, because it is cut shorter than the top.

Finn's hair hasn't really changed color. It is still dark. Another interesting thing about Finn, is that if you look back at his pictures, his face has stayed the same. All through the ages. We definitely will be able to tell his pictures growing up!

Seven was born with dark hair. You can see what it looked like at 8 days old, while napping on Daddy's chest.

When his baby hair fell out and his new hair started to grow in, it grew in alot lighter. This is what is looked like when he was one year old. 

It got even lighter. By two years old, he as a definite blonde. 

Now his hair has gotten darker. Not quite as dark as when he was born. I would label it as a dirty blonde. It also has some curls, if we let it grow a little. It mostly looks like "bed head". It is kind of funny, but he can pull it off with his personality. 

Rilian was born with dark red hair. 

At a year old, it was lighter.  

And was starting to get some lighter colored curls in the back.

A few months before Rilian turned two years old, he had alot of curls! They were huge curls! 

And his hair was really blonde! 

He is still a cotton top today, but has much shorter hair. You can read about the drastic hair cut here, if you want to. 

I don't know what will become of Rilian's bleach blonde hair as he grows older.

I find it very interesting that three children, from the same mom and the same dad, have such different hair. They all have their own personalities, as well. But that would be a whole other blog post!

A Trip to Sam's Club

Have you ever been to Sam's Club on Saturday when they have samples? Our kids LOVE eating "lunch" at Sam's. 

If you haven't ever had the privilege of going to the store with any of my children, take a look at what you are missing out on...

Don't you wish you were at Sam's with us that day?

Book Review: A Reluctant Queen, The Love Story of Esther

I am a book reviewer for Booksneeze/Thomas Nelson. They sent me "A Reluctant Queen, The Love Story of Esther", to review for free. If you like free books, check them out!


I saw this book and thought I would give it a try. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not. To be honest, I'm sure I have read Esther in the Bible, but I could not really retell the story if you asked me. It was very interesting to hear the story of Esther through Joan Wolf.   


Joan Wolf wrote "A Reluctant Queen" it as a love story. She went into more detail about Esther and all she went through than the Bible did. All the characters of the story seemed to come alive. It was very easy to feel as if you were there with Esther. Joan did a beautiful job of describing what the characters were wearing and what the Palace looked like. She did an excellent job of describing what Esther must have felt while going from just a Jewish girl to becoming the queen and actually falling in love with the king.


"A Reluctant Queen", by Joan Wolf, was a book I had a hard time putting down. I didn't want to stop reading it. I would recommend this book to anyone who is or is not familiar with the story of Esther.

Angels

If you ever hear my kids talking about going to see the angels, they are referring to Jacob's Dream at Abilene Christian University. They love to "go see the angels". 

I think it is mostly because they love to climb on the rocks and hope that I let them play in the pool of water. I don't think they really care too much about seeing the actual sculpted angels.

At the beginning of summer, I was trying to think of things to keep my four children busy with. Piper and Finn are used to being in school. Seven and Rilian are used to being at home. Combine them all when school is out and they have to get used to being around each other so much. I decided to take them to see the angels. While they were climbing on the rocks and stairs, I thought it would be a great photo opportunity.

I am glad that they cooperated and let me take their pictures.

Seven climbed up to this spot and said, "Mama, take my picture." 

Rilian didn't quite make it up as high as Seven did. But he wanted me to take his picture. 

Rilian was being tempted to get in the very inviting looking pool of water. 

Finn climbed up and stood here so I could take his picture.

He is so photogenic!  

I thought I had taken some pictures of Piper as well, that day. But this is the only picture I found of her. This is the pool of water that they always hope I let them get in.

Sometimes I let them walk on the steps and ledge in the water. But they usually end up deeper than what I originally told them. So, this day, I only allowed them to sit with their feet in the water. Well, that just wasn't working...the water was so inviting...one thing led to another...and I decided we should go home before they were soaked!


I love my little angels! Looking at the pictures, why would you think they weren't angels?