Football Camp

The boys were able to attend Football Camp this year. Every year the HS Football team (Coaches and players) teach kids K-8 the techniques for playing. They boys really enjoyed it. Little Miss and I would drop them off and then pick them back up. They slept really good the next few nights. They played on the field and in the indoor commons area. Outside on the field, they had 6 stations set up that everyone rotated through. So they learned the positions, and what each one does. They had many, many drills for agility and speed. Each kids got to try kicking and throwing. Inside, they had an obstacle course that they boys enjoyed. You had to run, jump, do sit-ups and push-ups. They kept saying their legs and stomach hurt :) I told them it was building muscles, so they lived through it. Enjoy some of the pictures from Camp. :)

Short Update

Not much going on here. My oldest is with his grandparents, and we have a friend staying the weekend with us. I haven't taken any pictures so there is not much to post. I will try to get some here soon, and get them posted for you. I do have pictures from football camp that the boys attended.

I am also thinking of making this blog private. the more I think about it the more I am certain I would like to do that. I will let you know when I decide. :)

Do you ever wonder?

Have you ever wondered what God is trying to teach you at certain stages in your life? There is a ton going on here, and I am wondering what I am being taught. Patience is one, I know. Trust in Him is another. I am trying to learn more about Him and the kind of mom he has planned for me to be. I am learning a lot, but at times feel a little overwhelmed about it all. But then I realize, that is where He is teaching me to lean on him and trust him- fully. Amazing how I keep having to re-learn this lesson. I keep pulling back the reigns of my life and trying to control it. Maybe this time I will learn it for good, and not try to take it all over.

Ian's first game of the season (FINALLY!)

As you all know, Ian broke his arm at the beginning of the season, so he has missed a lot of games. We were not sure if he would be able to play at all, but one they took the cast off we decided to let him play. He has played about 3-4 games now and even got a game ball at his last one on Sunday. He is super proud of that one and LOVES to play!! I think we are going to move him up to the pitching machine next year. He hits it off the t really hard and he already can hit it when it is pitched. I think that will be a good level for him.

Kindergarten Celebration 2009

Wow! This year has flown by for Caleb. Seems like it was just yesterday, when we were dropping him off for his first day of school! His excitement has not waned. He is still loving school and enjoys every min of it. We attended the first ever Kindergarten Celebration at EPE. At EPE, they use Covey's 7 Habits as a leadership model. It has been so neat to see how what Caleb has learned at school transfers to life in general. Mrs. Koehn, Caleb's teacher, read a poem that made all the mom's cry, and then as I watched my first born walk up to shake her hand and get his award, I realized, that I need to toughen up for his senior year!!!! I was all teary eyed and trying to to cry. She has been an amazing teacher and I pray that Ian has her next year. All the K teachers put together a binder that has work from the entire year. It is amazing to look at how he has grown and how much he has learned. Saturday we get his work binder along with his report card. I know he is excited about going to 1st grade. My baby's first year of school is completed. Way to go Caleb!

Pre-K Graduation 2009

The Learning Center where Ian and Riley go, held their Awards/Graduation ceremony Thursday evening. It was so neat to see them up there singing and showing us all they had learned that year. Ian received the awards of "Lost in Space" and "Little Devil". The lost in space was in reference to his daydreaming and to the fact that he will replay a whole Star Wars scene in his head while he is supposed to be listening. He received the little Devil award as LHS's mascot is the blue devil. Riley aptly received the Most Outgoing award and Drama Queen reward- no explanation needed. :) We had great time celebrating their year!

Just keep scrolling .....

I did a few (5) posts this evening. I have more that I know the grandparents are eagerly anticipating, so I will get them posted tomorrow. I have to get the pictures in a slide show, since there are so many of them. after tomorrow, I will be caught up on all the action here in our home. :) Long time coming on that one! The boys both have games tomorrow and starting Tuesday, Caleb will be in tourney mode, so we play every night till elimination. So, may be quite till next weekend and we are all done with games and school!

Look Who's Five!

My how time flies, and how quickly my children grow! What a blessing this little man is to our family. He keeps us on our toes, rolling on the floor and learning new disciplinary techniques. :) He will be starting Kindergarten in the fall and he is so excited! God blessed me with many smiles and hugs from my now big boy. I asked him if he would still be my baby the other day. His response? "No, Mom. I'm a big boy, but I will always love you- even when you are old."
Gotta love that boy!

Well, I decided to test my cooking abilities and try to make pizza dough. It turned out good, but I think I rolled it a little to thin. It was like a think crust pizza, but really good. The kids really enjoyed it and so did Matt and I. I am going to be attempting to make bread here soon, but thought I had better wait till school was out to attempt that feat! I may need a whole day to get it right!

Birthdays and Easter

We were blessed to be able to spend Easter up with our family in Indiana. We were able to celebrate Linda's birthday as well as Jake turning one! The kids had a blast and we enjoyed the time spent with family. At Jake's birthday party, since it was the weekend of Easter, Heather put together an egg hunt for all the kids. They had such a great time and so did we!

The Rays

Caleb is on the Rays this season, and these were pictures of his first game. The night before, his bike had slid out from under him, so he looked like he had been in a fight. They did really good and he was so excited. He is with several of the same kids that he was with in the fall. so that made it even better. Ian had broken his wrist the evening before, so he got to watch brother instead of playing in his game.

Playing Catch up

It has been so long since i blogged that I don't even know where to start! This time of year is insane, as school is almost out. I have gobbs of end-of-the-year paperwork and finishing up any IEP's (aka- Individual Education Plan for non- special ed people! :) ) for the next school year and the incoming Freshman IEP's, so I am pretty busy at the moment. But this is our last week!!!! I am PUMPED!
I applied for a transfer to Mt Juliet area schools since that is closer to us. I have an interview at an elementary school for a possible resource job. They are not positive that they will get it, but she wanted to go ahead and start interviewing. It is not where the kids will be going, but is only about 5-10 min away, so it is doable. I have lots of pictures to show, but am going to start with another post for those. Thanks for hanging with me as I get back into the blogging thing! :)

Yes.....We are still alive!

So it is the end of the school year and I am super busy! Plus make up baseball games from all the rain, school programs, field trips, birthdays, and so on.....I am WORN OUT!!!! I haven't uploaded pictures from Easter yet.... But I will work on it. Check back in 2 weeks when school is out! :) j/k- I will at least try to get Ian's birthday pictures up here.

For those of you who still check- thanks for not giving up on me. :)

To all the AMAZING mom's out there...

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!


no one ever told us that our hearts would be living outside out bodies, walking around- breathing. No one ever told us how much joy and pride we would feel, and how much hurt we could feel. But it is the greatest gift our Father could give us. he gave us the gift that would teach us more than we could ever teach them. Hug on your babies (young and old) and know that you are blessed!!

For all the mom's I have had the pleasure of knowing, and who have helped me in the early years, to now- thank you!! You are forever treasured in my heart...

Yea......it's been a while

Man....Time sure does fly! Sorry for the long silence- We have been busy and going at top speed. I also had left my camera at Lee and Lindas on our last trip so, that also snagged me from posting. But I will be doing several this week, as the baseball fields are closed till the water receeds. :) We have already missed so many games, that we will be making them up well into June, or we will have games 3-4 times a week till the end of the season.

We are all alive, and well. I have only 3 more weeks till the end of school (YIPPEEE!!!!) and that cannot come fast enough. :)

Check back tomorrow or Monday for some new posts about the kids and all the fun we are having with life!

Yummy Recipe

I recently discovered a new recipe (thanks to the Neal fam) that we LOVE!!! They are easy and way more healthy than the store bought ones I think!! I have been trying to make more things from scratch and I am going to be doing more baking this week (I am going to try making bread). It should be very interesting. I am excited to try! I am also very thankful that my children and my wonderful husband allow me to try new things and give me honest feedback.
Here is the recipe:



Home Made Granola Bars

2 1/2 cups quick oats (I use rolled and they turn out fine)
*For some reason- yet to be known- they didn't stick together this time- I think the butter was too soft (a little melted)
1/2 cup rice krispies (I use puffed wheat)
1/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients (I use my hands to mix) and press into an 8x8 pan. Bake at 350 for 18-20 min. When pulled out, score top to form bars. Let cool completely and then cut into bars.

I double this recipe and they last us about a week. The kids love them. I am going to be adventurous soon and attempt peanut butter ones and other variations. I'll try to remember to let you know how it goes!

An Evening of "Firsts"

My brave little man
Didn't effect him that much!
having to cut his shirt off to get it over the cast
Caleb's lips and chin
the good looking one
The morning after- looks like he got in a fight!
Ian's x-ray- smooshed bone is at top of wrist where it looks wide
Special breakfast that I made this morning for my hurtin' boys



Well, as you can tell from the pictures, we had a very busy Friday evening. We started out playing outside- Matt mowing, I'm weeding, Caleb riding his bike and Ian and Riley are playing together. Well, Caleb rode through a puddle and when he turned quickly, the tires skidded out from under him and he went face first into the driveway. His lip started swelling immediately, and there was a ton of blood and we were unsure what damage there was. We all came inside, got the bleeding to stop and tried to reduce the swelling. I called the on-call nurses and they called back and told us unless he showed signs of a concussion or if his teeth went through the outside of his lip. Fortunately they didn't, but the inside is pretty messed up. Well, while I am on the phone with the nurse, all of a sudden Ian starts screaming and Riley is yelling for help. Matt takes off running as the nurse asks me is everyone is ok. I told her my husband was checking and she told us to call back if we needed to. Well, all we can get out of Ian is that his arm is hurting. Matt told me then that he thought that it might be broken. Once we got him down stairs we saw it was swelling and he was not calming down, so we decided to take him to the ER. In between getting him downstairs and heading to the ER, we found out that he was climbing the ladder to the bunk beds and slipped, fell backwards and tried to catch himself. So he landed pretty hard on his wrist. All the way to the ER he is crying and I cannot comfort him, I can't hold his hand since the one that is broken is the only one I can reach. I was fighting not crying, just because there was nothing I could do. But I am so thankful that we are close to an amazing ER! Not kidding- once we got there we were in and out with in a hour. They were so nice and the x-ray tech let Ian see his x-rays and even got to take print outs home with us. The kind of break he has is common for his age- since the bones are still soft, they just squished down. It still hurts but there is less healing time and it heals well. So we are so thankful for that. He will have to wear the splint/cast for 4 weeks and then we will see from there. He is pretty sad that he can't play baseball, but I am just thankful it wasn't more serious. Caleb is still playing- in fact we are leaving for a game right now!

Little Miss

I had the opportunity to get some shots of Riley one Saturday. I think it was the weekend before we returned to school. Matt had taken one of the boys to practice and Riley was standing by the wondow watching them leave. She was playing,dancing and just enjoying her moment. I got caught near the end taking pictures, and was asked to stop. :) Here are the photos I got. There are a few that the heater is blowing her hair and it looks so neat. She is growing so fast- 3 going on 16.

Fun Visit!

We had a WONDERFUL visit from the Noel Family as they were traveling to Kentucky. We are so blessed that we are a stopping point for them and we get to see them fairly often (although not often enough in my opinion!). They came in Saturday afternoon and spent the night. The kids had a blast and enjoyed every moment of their stay. Matt and I did too! We were able to catch up and just enjoy all the discussions and laughs. We got to meet "ears", errrr, Bella and give she and Jakie some scratching lovin! We so enjoyed our time and we miss them already! We know they enjoyed their time with family, but we cannot wait for the next trip our way! Miss you guys!!

Over our spring break we had the opportunity to have a blast- these pictures were when they were playing with play doh. My kids love to create and they had a blast with the monster parts and with the molds. I had found 2 kits at Target that had a bunch of molds, toys and fun stuff, so we splurged and replaced our almost non-existent set. I love watching them make things and share with each other!