May 2013

May 1- hung out at Laura's until lunch, rainy/dreary day, car school, homeschool store, got the light hung in the dining room, Home Depot where ephram was LOVING all the wood and using his 'home made' tinkertoy hammer on it, organized, braden felt better, and early bedtimes for testing tomorrow.

May 2-preschool for e, testing for the big kiddos all morning/early afternoon, FREE day the rest of the day to relax and play, home depot with brian to get a new fan/ and new paint for cailey's room.

May 3- kinsey's gotcha day!! a little school, met the keel's at arby's for lunch, painted cailey's bed wall, science class, painted the bulletin board with ephram, made a frame for cailey's room, brian took all the stuff down from the attic so we spent all night playing keep/sell/donate, completely organized cailey's room and closet, and the boys room before falling into bed.

May 4- early soccer game, big kids had choir rehearsal all day, ephram played and 'helped' brian and I organize the downstairs/ ALL the toys, errands, completely re-did the craft cabinet/math drawers/desks/closets, etc., picked up excited kiddos who helped finish, and crashed late after a long day of cleaning.

May 5- church, packed for a big trip to MD with crazy changing weather, laundry, organized ALL the girls clothes, cleaned, kids had their choir spring concert, hung out with leslie, and packed more!

May 6- drove to MD with the kiddos for the week, (car school) took a nap, hung out with mom, played with kiddos, rainy rainy, and kids played with nonny.

May 7- rainy day in MD, library with mom and the kids, errands, five guys for lunch in the pouring rain, FUN time of bowling a couple games (kinsey won both!), school, games with nonny, play doh, and caught up on blogging during bedtime (while hanging out with mom)

May 8- school, listened to lots of piano, went to a farm with lots o' animals, kiddos made their own pottery plates then painted them, SUNSHINE came out before thunderstorms which meant time to play outside, games with nonny, read to the kiddos a lot (especially e), danced together, cailey went on a walk with poppy, and tickled to bed.

May 9- went to the aquarium in Baltimore with dad and the kids while nonny watched ephram (and spoiled him with lunch out/errands/games), came home and kiddos played, lots of reading and snuggles from ephram, hung out with mom, and crashed.

May 10- rio with mom and the kids, playground, barnes and noble for fun reading time, kiddos played outside with big bouncy balls in the hot hot sun all afternoon, took turns walking the dogs with poppy, and played games with nonny.

May 11- library book sale with mom and the kids:), trash or treat with poppy, played lots of games with nonny, rainy rainy off and on, beading with nonny, a little school (finished country papers), kids made pizza with mom...then a cake!

May 12- mother's day, ran errands with the kids, tried unsuccessfully to find snap dragons for mom, stayed outside in the cool/windy sunshine all day while the kids played, was given a gorgeous handmade necklace from ephram/earrings from mom, and a bracelet from cailey, hung out with mom, lots of hide n seek, and sent tuckered kiddos to bed early.

May 13- ran errands with mom, (glass place/costco/plant place), went to the castle park with the kiddos and had a blast running around playing with them there, healthy fish dinner, kiddos played outside, went to bed early b/c I didn't feel good.

May 14- walked around the lake with nonny and the kids, played games, packed up, watched the kiddos play outside together, ephram got bit on the face by buddy, went to CFA kids night and talked for a long time (signed) with a deaf lady and her son..where cailey now desires to take sign language.

May 15- got up early and drove home, unpacked everything, cleaned up, kiddos played outside while I organized...and then we all crashed when daddy came home! SO happy to be back together!

May 16- preschool for ephram (he got to bring frank),  NLC for the three oldest, filled more picture frames for brian to hang, played with the kiddos, had a nice family night together after a yummy taco dinner, played outside together, and got lots of snuggles.

May 17- piano lessons, a little school, baked, gretchen came over to talk about the kitchen, lots of playing outside (in the HOT sun), tried to teach ephram how to ride a bike, played games with the kids all afternoon, and went to the kids piano recital.

May 18- scout event/camping that brian took the boys to, had a girls day of shopping/mall/lunch out/movie, braden to playdate with matthew, caroline and charlotte's birthday, and keels came over to look at the desk while the kiddos played outside.

May 19- had a really great family day going to the Got to be NC festival together, rides, treats, snacks, naps at home, ran through a downpour, animals, family.

May 20- piano practice, rainy rainy day, botany, special hang out time with ephram, school, lots of books together, and cailey tried out for the competitive kicking for the cross team (but didn't make it).

May 21- produce shopping (again:), school, went to ephram's preschool luau party, welch's came..yay!, caught up with laura while kiddos played, lots of outside time, cailey and rebecca LOVED being in cailey's room alone, and had a 31 party.

May 22- brownies for breakfast (w/ welch kiddos),  morning of playing outside, met kelly and molly at cfa for lunch, said goodbye to my boys and laura as she took them home with her, met with janet for school stuff next year, kitchen lady (MaryAnne) came over for remodel, girls played all afternoon, then went to Christian Olympics.

May 23- packed for the conference, book fair with brian, sessions with b and the girls, more book fair, met up with the keels for sessions then dinner at mellow mushroom, took all the girls swimming while brian and pam went to the keynote, lots of laughing/splashing/racing/etc.

May 24- girls went to kids conference and had a BLAST, split up and went to a ton of sessions, met up with the girls for lunch, another session, bookfair, met up with kelly, etc. there, picked the girls up and went out to dinner before another night of swimming for hours.

May 25- went to a session, girls went to kids conference, book fair with brian, throat started hurting, drove home, unpacked TONS o' new books, girlies played outside in the awesomely cool weather, and kinsey went to caroline's sleepover.

May 26- brian picked up kinsey and went to church, i was very sick (sore throat/achy) and spent all day in bed, brian took the girls for a walk around the neighborhood, games, sweet lovey put cool rags on my head, cailey prayed for me, and brian made them waffles for dinner.

May 27- brunch with brian and the girls, bought an unfinished bookcase and painted it with brian while the girls spent the entire day playing outside with friends, organized books, and crashed.

May 28- went to laura's!, got to snuggle my boys who I hadn't seen in a day shy of a WHOLE week!, chatted, got more snuggles:), kids played, and hung out.

May 29- drove home early, went to brian's work so he could see the boys, unpacked, relaxed with the kiddos, read lots of books, got a ton more snuggles, three oldest went to bayleaf for Christian olympics, took Ephram out for his birthday dinner to (his choice) Golden Corral, and read a ton more books to him when we got home.
*baby seal that night:(

May 30- summit field day..super fun but hot, ran errands for ephram's party, decorated and party prepped with the kiddos, cleaned, laundry, and party planned with cailey.

May 31- first pool day with the kiddos, watched alex, decorated e's cake, botany, hung out with cheryl while party prepping, met storybook safari ladies at goodberry's, ephram's birthday party with super hero boys, a visit from batman, chex mix, LOVED time with brian, great one on one time with cailey.

Little Pool Time!

 This weekend was the perfect time to set up the pool!  ALL the kids were super excited about it which makes me so happy:).  I didn't expect this little pool to last as long as it has and I thought Cailey would be tired of it but she's not.  We have gotten many years of joy from our yard sale freebie!

They also LOVE these water squirters.  These kiddos were outside in the pool for almost eight hours!

Preschool Luau

Ephram had a good year at preschool and looked forward to going towards the end of the year. He missed quite a bit because of our traveling but the main reason for him going was for school time with the older kiddos (so Ephram could get attention during this time). 

They had an end of the year luau and he was thrilled that I came to celebrate with him!  Here he is with mama and his teacher, Ms Lauren.

a boy and his trains

Ephram loves playing with trains but has always loved building his own tracks even more. He asked me if he could take them off the table to build a giant one and has been doing it ever since. We sold the train table (sniff sniff) but he's still been having a blast with building his own designs all over the downstairs. He says it's fun if the trains can go all different ways.

Chef Cailey

Cailey has been cooking quite a bit around here and constantly looking for new recipes to try. She asked if she could make cheese sticks and I told her yes. She wanted to make them completely by herself and they turned out great!  They were a BIG hit!

A week later she made pizza dough from scratch (with daddy assisting her) and made a half shrimp/half pepperoni pizza.

My sweet girl wants to cook something once a week!

party in the park

Cailey and the birthday girl!  We were celebrating Charlotte's 1st birthday and Caroline's 6th birthday.

Carter and Ephram

Kinsey and Caroline

caden and braden

Ephram and Scarlett were super sweet and wanted to hold hands everywhere they went:).  They played in the sandbox together, the swings, and the slides. At one point Carter was upset because they were holding hands so he tried to pull them apart but ephram held his ground and won in the end...lol!

Got To Be NC

 We went to the Got to Be NC Festival and each of the kiddos got a wrist band to wear so they could ride as many times as they wanted to. There was NO waiting in lines and the crowd was low because we went as soon as it opened..and it was an overcast day.

 Brian and I were super psyched that they were old enough to go on by themselves so we didn't have to go on scary ones with them:). 

 driving a car!

 kinsey's favorite ride was the swings and she rode them over and over again!

 they loved taking ephram on rides

 riding the strawberry together

 daddy rode the carousel with the kiddos

 the super slick slide

 mommy got brave because ephram wanted to go down and needed an adult to go with him.

 sweet boys

 ephram liked trying out the tractors

 cotton candy!

 sweet sissies waiting for a ride

 these ducklings were SO very cute!  they were floating in this tub and walked up stairs before going down a slide. we watched them all go down several times. they were all so patient about waiting their turns:)

 This man taught the kids how to carve with tools that were used before electricity. Cailey was able to demonstrate it for everyone.

We had a really fun family day together at the Got to Be NC Festival!  This is our 'fair' that we go to every year! It's much cheaper, less crowded, same rides, same animals, much more fun:)

Spring Piano Recital

 Cailey and Braden had their piano recital right after the roses bloomed.

 Braden played 'Jack o Lantern Jamboree'

Cailey played 'Best Friends'

They played a duet of 'Porcupine Polka' and it was such a fun song! They did a great job:).

Scout Camporee

 Brian took the boys to the spring scout camporee and they had a blast!  Braden played kickball for the first time.

 They both went fishing and caught a fish but it got away as soon as they pulled it out of the water.

 the highlight of the weekend was shooting off bottle rockets!  ephram was happy that he got a turn too:)

 blastoff!

Awana Awards

The kids did AWANAS at Bayleaf this year. Cailey had finished her books last year but we wanted her to complete one more year. Her leader asked her to memorize 1 John 1.  Well she was very consistent and ended up learning ALL of 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, AND Jude. It was very hard but she accomplished her goal and has them hidden in her heart for sure. We can say a reference and she can spout out the verse with no problem....it's awesomely amazing to see.

She was asked to carry the flag for the final ceremony this year and was psyched. 

I mean...the cuteness!! My little cubbie bear finished his first year!

 Kinsey did a great job too and finished her book, the review, and her flight plan. Way to go, Kins!

Braden completed his first year of TnT and did an awesome job, as usual!  He finished the first book (including gold and silver) and got most way through his second book. 

 Great job, Kiddos!

So crazy to think this was Cailey's last year!  She started Awana at Open Door, then Providence, Mt. Vernon, and finally Bayleaf. Next year she wants to be a cubbie helper.

dog bite

While we were in Maryland Ephram was attached to the dogs (as usual) and though they are sweet, Buddy has been known to bite occasionally. We told Ephram to be careful around him but he would just say, "Buddy won't bite! See! He loves me rubbing him!"  Of course in his sweet little voice.

He came running to me after petting Buddy and told said, "That's okay if Buddy bit me mommy. It didn't hurt. I'm okay" He was SUPER nervous. I could tell he was upset..and I couldn't believe it!  His cheek puffed up all around from the bite even though his skin wasn't broken through. This is the same reaction Cailey had when she was two whenever she'd be licked by a dog. (Raised red bumps) She ended up being allergic to dogs after that so I'm guessing he is too.

He was ok...just really clingy afterwards. I'm beyond thankful he was ok and super thankful that I was able to text with our favorite, Dr. Walker!

Castle Park

 The weather was cool and NICE so one day we headed to the castle park for a couple hours of Vitamin D from the best source!

 we had so much fun together!

 sitting on the throne

 i can fly!

 this reminded me so much of a Flintstones car!

 GREAT giggles

 so glad i caught ephram doing nosies with this seal:)

We LOVED that we had the park to ourselves since everyone else was in school. Usually when we go it's over a holiday or weekend and pretty crowded.  Definitely perks to going in early May!