Tball season

In the spring the boys participated in their first organized sport, soccer. That was a ton of fun. Now they are participating in tball. Each week you can see their progress as the grasp the ends and outs of the sport.

Friday family fun day

I mentioned before that the boys had vacation Bible school. On Friday, their last day of vbs, Jeff took a half day. Our plan was for Jeff to go with me to pick the boys up, take them to the park for a picnic, out for ice cream and then the library. The boys had no idea. The whole day was a surprise. They didn't even know Jeff was going to be there to pick them up. It worked out that their Mamaw, Papaw and cousin would be able to join us at the park too. It was a great day.Jackson with his ice cream. Jacob making a huge mess with his.

The girls playing at the playground.

Jacob

The day ended up being a huge success. The boys were so excited that Daddy picked them up from church. We had lots of fun at the park. We were there forever. The kids were super sticky by the time we got to the library. But it was fun regardless. We signed the kids up for the summer reading program. I have been reading to them so much lately. I have started reading my Bible to them. I have always read their children's Bible to them. I think just hearing me reading the stories to them is great for them. Plus, it helps me have time to do my reading too.

VBS

I am a little behind on my blogging. I know I haven't maintained my blog for months. But there has been so much fun stuff going on lately. I really want to make sure and document it. A couple Fridays ago Jeff and I had a last minute date night. I say 'last minute' because we had no idea our kids would all be gone to Mamaw's house. My in-laws stopped by and my kids begged to stay over. When they left I told Jeff, "well, I am going to clean the kitchen and do some other cleaning. We can have leftovers for dinner." Jeff said, "No way! Go get in the shower we are going out!" We went out for dinner and a movie. Total bliss! Last week our kiddos had vacation Bible school. They totally loved it. I am so sad it is only a week long. They learned so much. This was on our way to vbs.

Juliet is too young to attend vbs. I was trying to save fuel so I stayed in the area everyday during vbs. Juliet and I had to find some things to do during the few hours the boys were at church. We went to the park everyday and hung out.

Homemade bagels

I am continuing the 100 days of summer. But I am mixing it up a bit. I am not doing them in the exact same order. The other day I tried homemade slushies. I didn't have a blender. I went out and bought one. I have wanted a really good blender for a long time. I bought a ninja. It was $37 and I had a $5 off coupon. I didn't think that was too bad. My first experience with the ninja was great. The slushies were awesome! Day 5 is homemade bagels. This sounded like more than I could tackle. As soon as I saw this for day 5 I was disappointed. The recipe called for a bread maker. I didn't have a bread maker. Unlike the blender, I was not going to invest in one. My hubbie mentioned his mom has one that I could borrow. They brought it to me the next day. Awesome!

I LOVE the bread maker. You throw all the ingredients in. Turn it on and that is it. Except for bagels, they require more work. Okay, I put everything into the bread maker. Set it on dough setting. When it is done, remove dough and shape into bagels.

Then drop the bagels into boiling water for a minute. Btw, that is the caramel sauce I made the other night in the pic next to it. Loved the caramel sauce.

Then bake for 20 minutes. I made cinnamon sugar bagels. Amazing. Definitely better than Einstein, not better than Panera. Panera can make a pretty good bagel. But I thought these were out of this world. A hot bagel right out of the oven with cream cheese. My family loved them. So, I will be making these often.

100 days

I stumbled across this blog the other day. The blog included 100 days of fun summer activities. Now I have a new obsession. My goal is to attempt most of the activities. Day 1 Make homemade sea-salted caramel. I made that last night. I was super good. However, next time I would like to tweak it a little. I used margarine. Next time I would like to use real butter and half the salt the calls for. I ended up tossing the caramel out. I want to make this again in the next couple of days for the kids with vanilla ice cream or apples. Day 2 is to make pizza on the grill. I grilled the pizza on Friday. It was a huge success. However, I want to make it again soon. I used store bought already prepared pizza crust. The recipe on the blog actually calls for flour tortillas. I didn't think that sounded very good. Next time I would like to make the pizza crust from scratch. I also want to experiment with more toppings. Friday night I used tomato sauce, pepperoni, mushrooms and mozzarella. I really want to make a pesto feta pizza, bbq chicken or Hawaiian pizza. Yummy.

Balance and Grace

My biggest struggle right now is with balance, especially in regards to time management. Everything has a time, I just can't figure out when it is. Time to play with the kids. Time to exercise. Time to clean and organize the house. Time with Jeff (I can't remember the last time we had time together without kids). Time to myself. Right now I need time to tan. That may sound silly but when it is 90 degrees out I really want to wear shorts. Last night I did something horrible. I finished making dinner and was baking cookies. The sun pours into our kitchen that time of day. It was 82 degrees in the kitchen! I was so hot. I told Jeff I just need to go cool off. I laid across my bed and woke up this morning!! Next thing I knew Jeff was telling it was 5am and time to get up. I feel so out of sorts this morning. I don't like that. I didn't finish cleaning the kitchen. The back door was left unlocked. I left my van windows down all night. I didn't kiss the kids good night. I didn't lay clothes out for today. I hate waking up and feeling behind. I am reminded this morning that God is good and offers lots of grace. My unfinished to do list from yesterday is not important. We will manage. The day will move forward. But what is important is God and his Grace. I can't remember the last time I went to bed so early. I must have needed the rest. He must have known that. Today even though I feel a little behind. I also feel refreshed and ready to tackle my day. I feel blessed that I was up at 5am. Starting my day early is the best way to start. I have been blessed with alone time this morning to prepare for the day. It is so comforting to know that God is always with us, He knows what our needs are (even when we may not know) and that we don't have to be perfect!

Monday is Laundry Day!

About 2 months ago a friend at Mops recommended reading 'Large Family Logistics.' I went online to purchase it. It was $20. Ugh, that is kinda a lot. I was patient and a couple weeks later it was on sale for $10. I love this book. It has helped me a lot. It is kinda funny. MSM (moneysavingmom.com) recently did a review of the book. I really love msm and follow her blog. I felt like I was on the same page as her when I saw she was reading it too. Anyhow, one of the many things I have learned from this book is to schedule your days. Monday is laundry day. Tuesday is kitchen day. Wednesday is office day. I generally try to stick with a plan for each day. It is hit and miss with the days. Except for Mondays. I have really committed myself to laundry on Mondays. Two months ago when I started my first official Monday I had between 18-20 loads of laundry. I did not finish it in a day. Today I had four! Only four loads of laundry! Every sock, every blanket, every towel, every shirt in the house is clean! WooHoo! I have only one basket left to put away. I have even been doing ironing on my laundry days. I will still do laundry throughout the week. But generally only one to two loads between Mondays.