She should've been sleeping....

My sweet peanut. She is a night owl, she gets it from me. Last night I saw her sneak out of her room and lay something on the dining room floor. When I got closer this is what I saw....

She had left me a folded up piece of paper, I went a little closer and saw that it was addressed to me.

I honestly started to giggle at this point, because I knew I needed to discipline her for being out of bed, but this was going to be good.

 This is what she was doing when she should've been sleeping. By the time I had taken the pictures and went in to talk to her this is what I found...

My sweet little peanut. She is such a mommy's girl, and I love it. And for all those times when she is pushing my buttons and being rotten, these moments remind me of what a great child she is. Thank you Lord for our little peanut, our lives would be quite dull without her.

Kids and Messes and Laundry ....Oh My!!

This is my house today....a little crazy....

Lunch, Mac n' cheese with grapes and pretzels

The living room as of 11:30AM!!

Self Explanatory

Anyone wanna join me?

Camping Trip with my son, Hubby and a few great friends.

We got up ready to start our trip, we packed the car, loaded the bikes, and left, only 2 hours later than I wanted to. In the midst of the packing I am pretty sure that Booger asked about 700 times when we were leaving. I don't think he has ever been more excited, a camping trip without his sisters, what boy wouldn't be? We picked up a great friend on the way out, and headed to Garrett County for the long weekend.

THE CAR RIDE.....
The Car ride was sooooo much fun, we sang songs, listened to Booger play the harmonica I bought him at Cracker Barrell (sorry Summ!), played a few hilarious games of Mad Libs and even slept a little. Booger only asked what time it was and if we were there yet about 750 times, so really not to bad for a 7 year old who is more excited than he has ever been in his life!!!!!

WEDNESDAY....
Wednesday was mostly a day to set up camp and enjoy a great dinner of Tacos made by yours truly. Booger helped a good bit to set up the tent but mostly played with a good friend "Z" who also went along on the trip with us. We did get to take a small hike around the falls, with the whole group of 8 which was very nice. Once it was dark we started the fire and had Smore's...I think between Adam and Z they ate about 10 smores.....a side note, my best friend of 19 years Stephen, planned this trip, he was super organized and super prepared, and I am super grateful because given the recent events with our family vehicle I was in desperate need of some time away where I wasn't the one in charge. So thanks Steve!!

THURSDAY......
Tut tut it looks like rain.....for about 30 minutes.....but enough to deter us from going on our bike trip which was planned for the day. Instead we decided to head to place called Smiley's and make a ton of memories. Smiley's is a fantastic little place that has Go Karts, putt putt, bumper boats, bumper cars, laser tag and a small arcade....a 7 year olds dream!!! Booger had so much fun, even though he was a bit small to ride the Go Karts alone he loved being able to ride along with all of the adults and cheer us on. My Good friend Summ and I had a fantastic and absolutely hilarious time on the bumper boats and when told by the attendant that we drove the bumper boats worse than a 3 year old couldn't stop laughing. Thursday ended with some of the best Ice Cream I have EVER had in my LIFE, Card games, more Mad Libs and teaching Booger how to play Sudoku, (which he is actually very good at).

FRIDAY.....
tut tut looks like rain.....again.....and it's cold....oh well, 5.5mi bike ride through the woods here we come!!! So we start off on the "bike" trail. Which I later learn is not actually a bike trail, but rather a hiking trail, on which if you choose to torture yourself you may ride your bike. Even though the "bike" trail was extremely hard, Booger and his friend "Z" who is 10, did a fantastic job, though they did walk some of it (we all walked some of it).  What a beautiful ride through God's creation, and what a sense of accomplishment at the end. I was exhausted and ready to call it quits for the day after lunch, when my energizer bunny convinced me to take him and Z out onto the lake in a scanoe. For 8$ and a smile on my boys face I couldn't say no. But I had to convince the hubby, who looked more tired than I did.  Of course he agreed, but once out on the lake we could both feel the tiredness start to set in, I am a little sad to say that we even though we paid for a ful hour we only spent about 30 minutes in the scanoe, before calling it quits. Our friends however enjoyed the full hour and came back to the docks happily singing,  screaming "row, row your boat", We ended Friday around the fire tired and worn out. What a great day!!

SATURDAY....
Our LAST full day....We split up the group, the 5 friends we came with us enjoyed an afternoon of horseback riding, while we enjoyed a long hike through the woods to admire the falls. We saw unique mushrooms, amazing trees, a beautiful beaver dam, and some gorgeous rock walls. Dan, Booger and I got to spend a great 3-4 hours together hiking through the woods and simply enjoying Gods beautiful creation together. I couldn't have asked for a better time on the last day of our trip. When we returned to the camp site, our friends were waiting. We went and had some more AMAZING ice cream and saw a movie together to finish out the last day of our trip. Then we sat around the fire till 12:30am planning our next trip and talking about how much fun we had in our short 4 days together.

SUNDAY.....
Do we really have to go home? Packing wasn't to hard, we were leaving the camp site by 11:30 and we had some lunch together before heading back to cell phones, computers, TV and chaos. I so enjoyed the quiet, the talking, the jokes (and there were many!!), not being able to use technology. It was great. Booger has already talked about the scrapbook he wants to put together to remember our trip. I can't wait to start it with him.

A little side story for Sunday......
Booger had been catching frogs and Toads and other creatures all weekend. We asked him NOT to bring any of them home with him, however being a boy and being my son....hardheaded...he did not listen. As we were packing Booger caught another friend. He repeatedly tried to hide the toad in the car, and we repeatedly asked him not too. He then got a brilliant idea, "I will put the toad in my pocket." and he did. Through lunch at the restaurant our little friend, later named Trevor, sat in Booger's pocket. Once we were back in the car and headed for home, Booger decided to quietly take the toad out and put him into a side compartment on the insdie of the car door. Trevor must not have liked it there, because he made his way up front and up the pants leg of my husband, yes I did say "up the pants leg". When we stopped for gas Dan noticed that there was something wet on his leg....yes you guessed it....little Trevor. Adam immediately confessed that he brought the toad home and told us the story. TOOO CUTE. Trevor is now living in our back yard in the play house...I am pretty sure he is happy there, although Adam thinks he misses his family.

REMEMBERING THE JOKES.....
I know that most of you won't get this, but my friends who joined us will.
ALLEN!!! STEVE!!!!
YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!!!
Batmoth.
That's what she said.
More movie quotes than I could ever type...Here's one though.....WHOA!! Dream Big!!
"Moments" together.
Dylan singing.




MONDAY......
It was great sleeping in my bed, but I miss my friends. I did miss my Beanie and Peanut immensely. But I am ready to pack up my family and friends, girls included this time and go back. It was ALL so simple. We had what needed and nothing more. Life was what it should be if only for 4 days. Who wants to come?


Thanks to Hubby, Steve, Summerly, Dustin, Dylan, Z, and Booger for an amazing camping trip. I can't wait to go again.

A super fun, super tiring, super frustrating and yet totally awesome day!!

So the day went a little something like this...

I got a text from a good friend who asked us (me and the kiddos) if we wanted to head to the zoo. Of course we did!! So, I get everyone ready including my youngest sibling, (Spot <----Family joke), and head to the Zoo. On the way, I decided to take care of a phone call that Dan asked me to make, and Peanut and Booger begin to have a conversation that goes a little something like this....

Booger- "Peanut, don't do that while mom is driving. She has to have her hands at 10 and 2."
Peanut- "10 and 2? The driving wheel isn't a clock, Booger!!"
Booger- "I know Peanut, its just a figure of speech!"

And of course I am laughing, first of all the fact that my 7 year old knows what 10 and 2 means is hilarious. Then the fact that he used the phrase "Figure of Speech" for the most part, correctly in a sentence is pretty amazing.

So the rest of the drive was pretty boring, minus 2 prius' deciding that they owned the road.

We arrive at the Zoo, and get everyone out of the car, Beanie, Peanut, Booger and Spot. And I shut the door, and can't find my keys!!! The panic sets in!! Where are my keys?! Check the diaper bag....no. Check the purse....no. Check the lunch bag....no. Check the stroller....no. Can't find them, check everything again....and again. Then after 15 minutes and being super late to meet my friend for the zoo, I find them in the stroller even though I checked the stroller 3 times. Anyway, the day goes on, We decide to ride the TRAM into the zoo. The reason TRAM is capitalized is because on the TRAM, I was informed by my friends 3 year old, after calling it a train that it is actually called a TRAM. Too cute.

First stop Polar Bears, Beanie LOVES bears. We have a little convo about the Polar Bears, I am going to try to type this as cute as it sounded.

Beanie: "Bear a sleepin?"
Me: "Yes baby the polar bear is sleeping."
Beanie : "Bear a pillow?"
Me : "The bear doesn't have his pillow?"
Beanie : "Bear no pilloooowwww!"
Me: "where did the bears pillow go?"
Beanie: "I nuh no."

And I was able to get it on video!!!! LOVE IT!!

Some of my other favorite parts of the day include two super sweet almost 2 year old's holding hands. My little Peanut following ALL directions and being the best little girl she could've possibly been the entire day. She was so fantastic that I even took her out to buy her a special reward! Spending the afternoon with a dear friend with whom I am so glad that I am getting reacquainted with. And getting flowers from another sweet friends garden.

Some of the frustrating parts of the day, were that my usually fantastic, little Booger, lived up to his name today. He was not a good listener, got put on red, which in this house means punished, and was not able to get a special reward at the end of the day. I am trying not to dwell on it, because everyone is entitled to a bad day but I guess it was just frustrating because he took over being rotten while the Peanut was doing everything that is expected and asked of her (SOOOO unlike her). Also that I bought 3 chocolate smoothies for the kids from Starbucks figuring they would LOVE them....only to find out that they did NOT love them because I forgot that there were bananas in them.

But overall, pretty great day today....what did you do?

The School Year comes to an end....sort of.

Well, we just finished our review this weekend, and once we get the certificates in the mail we will officially have a 1st grader and 3rd grader :)

I really feel like the kids have done well this year. They are both so smart and willing to learn, I love it! So the reason I say "sort of" done is because I school all through the summer, so even though they are "done" with course requirements I want to be sure that they don't lose speed in the things that they are doing well in. Paige will actually be starting her 1st grade math book in the next 2 weeks, and Adam will be continuing on with review and worksheets in the things that he has already learned.

I LOVE teaching my children, and being a crucial part of their learning. I feel like it makes us as a family stronger, and better at working together to accomplish things.

So here's to another school year coming to an end.

Blogging for a purpose

A good friend told me last night that my blog is helping him through some things. I have to admit while I was talking to him, I got a little teary eyed. I love talking about my kids and my family, and the whole reason I started to blog was to help other families and people realize that you don't have to be the perfect family, for God to use you in amazing ways. So here's a great big THANKS to my friend for always knowing just what say to lift my spirits!!!

Things kids say.....

Booger, Peanut and Beanie are hilarious.....

Booger is a smart, cute type of funny. His favorite new word is Hypothesis. It is absolutely one of the cutest things I have ever heard, when he tells me that he has a hypothesis for something. Yesterday while swimming he had a hypothesis for why the ice melts in the swimming pool. Within minutes he was testing his hypothesis and drawing conclusions. I love listening to him when he gets excited about science. He also told me yesterday that he wants cure cancer, and once he figures out the cure he is going tell God so that he can cure everyone else. His heart is so big, it melts mine.

Peanut is a sassy type of funny. I don't even think she tries to be funny, she just is. She is a lot like her dad in that sense. We were at a Graduation Party for a friend of ours and one of the girls was wearing a strapless dress that had only 1 sleeve, confusing I know but try to picture it. Peanut walked right up to the girl and informed her that she lost one her sleeves. Everyone was cracking up, can you blame them? Peanut is also my actress, she walks around the house talking in English and southern accents, no one can be upset or in a bad mood with a 5 year old walking around telling you she is "Falling madly in love with you" in an English accent.

Beanie is just naturally funny in every way, another one who doesn't try. I wish I was naturally funny. Beanie's new thing is asking why, to EVERY thing I tell her. We are taking a nap...why? we are eating lunch....why? we need a bath.....why? A tad annoying but also super cute coming from a not even two year old. Beanie also has different tones she uses in her voice to get a rise out us, sometimes she'll talk in a low voice, other times in high voice just looking for a laugh.

Our house is never quiet and never dull. We laugh a lot and wouldn't have it any other way. I love all the fantastic things that my kids say...I just hope I remember to blog about them or write them down so I don't forget. :)

Peanut...in a nut shell

So, our little peanut is probably the sweetest, most lovable, most ornery, rotten, fantastic, pain in the rear end child I have ever met. She is all of these things at the same time, not to mention she is super funny. There are times when I want to rip out all my hair and give up, and other times when all I want to do is cuddle with her and love on her. Those times usually come within minutes of each other.

Her "school skills" like reading, math and writing are fantastic, but her common sense skills and ability to take direction are well, not. I am blogging about this not to bad mouth my child but to reach out for some advice from other mothers of "strong-willed" children. Peanut is determined and smart. She will be successful in life because she has the competitive drive needed to move her forward. But I know that right now if I don't help her figure some things out, she will be successful for the wrong reasons. I know, some of you are thinking she is ONLY 5, but I need to nip this thing now, other wise neither of us will make through her teenage years.

Peanut is my middle child. I don't want her to be the "typical" middle child. I want more for her. I love her so much and I am excited to see who she will become, I just want to guide her on the path God has for her. If you have any advice for raising a strong willed child please let me know:) thanks