Boys Camp - "Go and make disciples"

The Community of St John led yet another amazing boys camp this past weekend.  Neil helped organize and chaperone it and our two oldest sons were blessed enough to participate in it.  A wonderful time was had by all!! 

They created a picture slideshow on YouTube of the weekend.  Click here to get to it.  (somehow I couldn't include on my page....)  It gives a great perspective of the great fun and faith they celebrated together! 

++Thank you God for the Brothers of St John and their generosity in reaching out to the community to share their great faith and love for You.  Thank you for all the boys, dads, chaperones, and helpers who helped make the weekend possible.  Please continue to lead them all closer to You.++

My puzzle kings

A couple weeks ago, when Neil and the four big kids were at TKD, I put my list away of things that "needed" to be done and got out a bunch of puzzles to do with the little boys.  Max and Pookey did such a good job working together and had a great time.  They have taken over the title from their older siblings as the "puzzle kings" now.  Way to go boys!! 

++ Thank you God for this special time with my little boys while my big kids were punching and kicking away at TKD with Daddy.  ++

Welcome our new additions....

We received this little guy when he was just a teeny tiny egg.  After he hatched, we fed him milk weed leaves one after another until his transformation into a chrysalis today.  We've done this for multiple summers now, but it's so neat to see how new it is for the youngest in our crew.  Our 3 year old, Pookey, is just amazed at the changes and is now counting down the days til our little caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly!  Hopefully two weeks from today, we'll have a butterfly (if we can keep the jar still and safe from curious little hands!).

And, onto our other additions....
We have a mom and dad barn swallow who have nested above our garage light. 

Neil has tried deter them in the past because of the mess they make....

(and this was only after a day or two because I hosed it all down a couple days ago)

The babies hatched last week and we got our first peek then, but they have grown so much in such a short time.  The nest almost looks too small now for them...

And one of my favorite things is that the mom and dad are such good parents and stay so close to them.  They even swoop down at us when we are out front.  It scares poor Melody so much!  But what a great teaching moment on how much parents love and protect their young. 

++ Thank you God for school made easy and teachable moments like this right outside our front door, and for the beautiful additions that you have blessed our family with right now!!  They are precious!!! ++

A big congrats to our 1st Degree Black Belts!!!

 

Early June, Neil and our older boys, Fone and Mario, received their first degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do.  It seems like yesterday that they were testing for their temp black belts.  We are so proud of them and the 3 years of hard work, determination, and practice of their TKD tenets....

We had a small gathering today in celebration of their accomplishment, including laser tag and then lunch/ cake with some friends and family, along with their Master, his wife (Mrs. Master) and one of their sons (also a black belt).  A great time was had by all!!! 

Isn't this cake great?!!!!  Olde Towne Bakery did a fabulous job with the TKD theme! 

We cannot recommend their TKD school enough!  Great teachers, fair price, very flexible schedule, and fellow classmates/teachers who become part of the "family".  What a blessing they are!! 

A productive afternoon

A huge thank you goes out to my sweet nephew and oldest son, Fone, for all their hard work this morning.  They weeded and sweat and raked and sweat and spread mulch and sweat some more!  I wish I would have taken "before" pictures, but didn't even think of it.  But, here's a look at the wonderful job they did - after a few hours of hard work and 27 bags of mulch....

++  Thank you, God, for boys who aren't afraid to do a little hard work, get dirty and for the fruits of their labor!!  ++

8 months baby!

Eight months ago, I gave birth to this sweet little girl.  She was 5 weeks early and 2 tenths of an ounce shy of 7 pounds.  She is our delight of a daughter - Rose!

Although the first month was rough since her little mouth couldn't latch well for nursing, I hung in there despite the struggles.  I continued "practicing" nursing, pumped, and fed her a bottle for EVERY feeding in hopes that her teeny mouth would grow enough to get a good latch.  Well, it did!  When she hit her due date, 5 weeks after birth, it was almost INSTANT!  She could latch and has been nursing perfectly since.  Lots of prayer and grace got me through those hard times.  But, it was SO worth it!  And, look at her now.  Can you tell our chunky girl was a preemie?  Can you tell that she had nursing struggles and lost some weight that first month.  Not really!  Thank you, God, for your grace and strength!

She is such a smiley, giggly, happy, squealy, chunky, pinchable, lovable, adorable little girl!  How blessed we are!!!  Love you, Rose!  Happy 8 months today, dear!  :)

++Thank you, God, for our sweet Rose, who has brought so much JOY to our family these last 8 months.  Please continue to bless her and bless us as we strive to model the Holy Family.++

A fun night with Daniel Tiger

We have a great local public tv station and thanks to my in-laws who donate generously every year, we get invited to a party with one of the PBS kids characters.  This year, the kids got to meet Daniel Tiger, whom Pookey just adores!!  And, one of the best parts about the evening is that their young cousins came as well - so there were 13 out of the 16 young kids together.  It was so sweet! 

First, we started out with some yummy food...

Hanging out and waiting our turn to get to make some really fun balloon creations...

Two proud daddies with their babies...

We played a couple games - "Daniel says" and a fishing game....

Made a commercial - we're FAMOUS!  I wanted to link it up, but I'm having a hard time finding it on the website.  However, I did find a commercial that our kids were in from a couple years ago (do you notice the kids in the video wearing those cool tie-dye Sacred Heart shirts??)...

And, last but not least, a photo of the 13 young cousins before leaving....

++Thank you, God, for the fun night we had!!++