Big Helper

Now that E-boy is getting older he is learning to be more of a helper. Some days it's like pulling teeth but others he is happy & eager to help. This day was one of the "happy & eager" days. Hooray! He helped me strip the beds upstairs and carry the bedding to the back porch. What a great helper!

E-boy had great fun throwing the bedding down the stairs.

Then he helped pick it up and take it to the back porch.

Mixing a little fun in with the chore.

More Soccer!

I couldn't resist posting more of Boo's soccer pics. These are from her game on June 8th. She was on fire! When I told her that after the game she remarked that their shirts should be red! Hot! Lol! She played another awesome game and this time Grannie came to watch and cheer. So please forgive this proud mama as she brags a little.

Boo in action!

Going for the ball. (She's #6)

Bugs watches Sister play. He wouldn't let go of my water bottle. Lol!

Won't Auntie Chris be proud?

She's like the Energizer Bunny!



Defense! Defense!

Love the ponytail!

Sleeping Boys

These were too cute and I had to share them! These are the boys sleeping. Aren't they funny & precious all at once?

Bug-a-boo conked out on the couch.

E-boy insisted he wasn't tired but this is how I found him 5 minutes later. Lol!

They crack me up how they can sleep like this!

Incentives

We're trying something new at home - incentives! The charts weren't motivating the children anymore so after a bit of inspiration from the Super Nanny I made these. The flower is for Boo & the train for E-boy. They each have their particular goals to work on in order to earn their treats/prizes. Boo earns a petal for each of hers until she makes a complete flower. E-boy earns a train car each time until he has an entire train. They really like them and I hope they continue to motivate them in their daily routines & goals.

Boo's incentive flower.

Another shot to show the seperate petals.

E-boy's incentive train.



Close-up of the train & train cars.

My Grown Up Girl

A couple of months ago we had given Sweet Pea a gift certificate to get her ears pierced. This was to be her super special birthday present. She had decided that she was ready and for this grown-up birthday this is what she wanted to do. Unfortunately it took us until June to be able to make it happen. She had wanted to invite 2 of her best friends to go with her but their schedules never complied. Then we were away for a bit. So finally, I said we were setting the date and whoever could go would come with us. Her friend Darien was able to go and Sweet Pea was thrilled. They chatted like two little magpies all day. Goodness! Lol! Boo came with us too. We first went to McDonald's and then to the mall. After the BIG EVENT we shopped for a bit before exhausted Mama (me!) begged to go home. Hee, hee. Yep, my age is showing. The girls had a wonderful afternoon & evening shopping, chatting, running outside in the sprinkler, eating lots of pizza, and just being girls.

Here is Sweet Pea right before the Big Event.

I missed getting a picture of Ear #1 but here she is bracing for Ear #2.

Darien held her hand for courage.

Here goes Ear #2!

Cleaning the new piercing.

Much happier now that it is all done! Doesn't she look so grown up?

MY BABY!

Here are the 3 girls. Boo, Sweet Pea & Darien. What a fun day & special memory!

SOCCER!

Boo has been playing soccer again this spring. I finally remembered to bring my camera along! She played an AWESOME game on Saturday. At one point she was on defense and she was burning up the field. She even did a few slide tackles which reminded me of her uncle, my brother, when he played soccer. After one fantastic play a father from the other team remarked, "Boy, that girl is BRAVE!" He was impressed with her defense and 'no fear'. I couldn't help myself, I turned to him and declared proudly, "That's my girl!" Here are a few pictures of Boo. Yep, this is only a few, I have MANY more! LOL!

Going to the goal!

Passing with her teammate.

Go, Boo! Go!

That's my girl!

Awesome defense!

Still going strong!

Hurry Boo!

Close-up action shot!

I forgot to add that she is FAST! She raced a 12-yo boy recently and won! Pretty good, eh? She's a fast little bugger!

School Days

I decided to do a little 'indoor' schoolwork with the children. We read the books
"The Seed" by Kazuko Nakazawa and "How a Seed Grows" by Helene J. Jordan. Afterwards I send the children out to the garden to observe how the garden is growing. They were thrilled to find that many plants are growing all over! Once they arrived back inside we set to work drawing pictures of what they saw. Because E-boy is in pre-school I found a printable on the Enchanted Learning website that showed stages of a seed sprouting and growing into a plant. E-boy colored these and I cut them out. Then he glued them and made a book. He came up with his title all by himself and printed it all by himself too! I helped him spell, of course. Boo Bear had a meltdown and had to finish her drawings later. Sweet Pea loved drawing and wants to continue keeping track of the garden. We also plan to use charts to track the garden's growth.
Oh, and I failed to mention Bugs had a meltdown as well and cried almost the entire time. Whew! Sometimes school days are tough! Lol!

E-boy working on his book.

His favorite part..........glue!

Sweet Pea draws her observations from outdoors.

E-boy proudly shows off his book entitled, "The Best Seed in the World".

Children's Gardens

For Easter the children all received several packets of seeds in their Easter baskets. They have been waiting to plant them ever since. Well, the big day arrived! Daddy dug up some extra garden space and the fun began! We still need to dig some more space for E-boy's garden as he ran out of room before running out of seeds. He reminds us every day that he still has seeds that need in his words, "Soil, water, sun and lots of love!" Lol!

E-boy happily plants his garden.

Daddy & E-boy

Boo plants her flower seeds in the side flower garden.

A very proud Boo Bear!

Sweet Pea plants her vegetable seeds in the new plot.

She is excited to have her own garden!

Dad dropped off some starter plants that he grew. More tomatoes and peppers!

What's New?

These are a little out of order but I'm sure you will understand. Lol. I didn't get pictures taken of Memorial Day weekend with Sweet Pea being sick and me being either all out tired or all out busy. BUT I did get a couple photos of projects that were completed that weekend. Here they are!

This is the bookshelf Dave made. I am thrilled at how he used that little bit of space to hold so many books! I have one shelf for science, one for history, one for treasures, one for my Christian fiction and then one for extra videos.

This is a 'Before' shot. Yep, out of order.

And this is the back porch after we set it up for the children. There is still a place to sit for the adults and we brought the kitchen up from the basement and added the little desk given to us and the basket of toys from the living room. Perfect! The children have played there everyday since.

New Tenants

Some new tenants have taken up residence in the corner of our house. If you look closely in the corner below you will see a little head peeking out. (If you can't see him follow the trail of bird poop. Ick!) There are at least two baby birds inside. When they chirp for their dinner they are quite loud. We plan to close up this hole but will wait until the birds move out. In the meantime it's a lesson in science, right?

Way up in the corner you can see the baby bird's little head.

Here is a closer look at the two baby birds. Aren't their eyes freaky?

Here is one of the babies squaking for his dinner. "Feed me Mama!"

Visiting Friends

Remember when I mentioned that we visited some dear friends on the way back from Nana's? Well here are a few pictures from our visit. We had a fabulous time. We even had the honor of celebrating their youngest son's birthday! Such fun!

The boys took turns pretending to drive. They really clicked this time and had a blast playing together. It was neat to watch them.

Buddies!

I couldn't resist having my picture taken with the birthday boy!

Big brother enjoys his cake. Chocolate of course!

E-boy digs in!

What a handsome birthday boy!

We had a wonderful time. It is always great to see our friends. What a blessing they are to us! We love you guys!