yard

The Boys' Blessed Birthday Bonanza!

| Stacy



The boys chose Life at the Pond as their theme for their party. Only a handful of guests had heard of this wonderful Christian radio program, but that didn’t phase the boys.
We had allowed the boys to invite all their friends and we were delighted that all but one family was able to join us for the party. I think we had 52 people… but I did lose count!

We started at Methuselah’s Paint Station. We painted rocks. This wonderful idea came from a friend at church on Sunday afternoon as I shared how much Beau wanted a “painting party.”






On to Bill the Duck’s Obstacle Course.

My kids have such wonderful friends. Really. Not once was I thinking, “Oy! That kid is a piece of work.” In fact, what I was thinking over and over again was, “Wow, these are great kids. We are so blessed!!”
I was imagining it from my sons’ points of view.
Here they are with almost 100% of their friends in their yard playing with them.
That has to be one of a kid’s dreams come true.
Can you imagine looking around and everyone you see is someone you love?

Time for the pinata. We failed to name this “attraction.”
Five and under got to hit it without the blindfold.
Six and over wore the blindfold.
But it seemed a lot of them had impeccible aim and a stiff neck.
[They were peeking!]
At the end, we let Champ and Beau take a few extra swings to try to get the job done!

After presents we headed back to the WATER PARK. 😉

Everyone was so patient while they waited their turns down the waterslide and slip and slide.
I just love all these kids so much!


Hamming it up a bit for the cupcakes.


Angel was there, too. But she was busy dragging Poppy around by his fingers. I think his left arm is longer than his right one, now.

The Boys’ Blessed Birthday Bonanza!

| Stacy



The boys chose Life at the Pond as their theme for their party. Only a handful of guests had heard of this wonderful Christian radio program, but that didn’t phase the boys.
We had allowed the boys to invite all their friends and we were delighted that all but one family was able to join us for the party. I think we had 52 people… but I did lose count!

We started at Methuselah’s Paint Station. We painted rocks. This wonderful idea came from a friend at church on Sunday afternoon as I shared how much Beau wanted a “painting party.”






On to Bill the Duck’s Obstacle Course.

My kids have such wonderful friends. Really. Not once was I thinking, “Oy! That kid is a piece of work.” In fact, what I was thinking over and over again was, “Wow, these are great kids. We are so blessed!!”
I was imagining it from my sons’ points of view.
Here they are with almost 100% of their friends in their yard playing with them.
That has to be one of a kid’s dreams come true.
Can you imagine looking around and everyone you see is someone you love?

Time for the pinata. We failed to name this “attraction.”
Five and under got to hit it without the blindfold.
Six and over wore the blindfold.
But it seemed a lot of them had impeccible aim and a stiff neck.
[They were peeking!]
At the end, we let Champ and Beau take a few extra swings to try to get the job done!

After presents we headed back to the WATER PARK. 😉

Everyone was so patient while they waited their turns down the waterslide and slip and slide.
I just love all these kids so much!

Hamming it up a bit for the cupcakes.

Angel was there, too. But she was busy dragging Poppy around by his fingers. I think his left arm is longer than his right one, now.

The life-cycle of a blackberry.

| Stacy







The girls went without because they didn’t eat their supper.
And here’s a good story to go with the pie…

I am outside taking the photos and singing as I do it to keep the groundhogs at bay.
I turn around and about 20 feet to my left are two baby deer. They were RIGHT out in the open of the yard. I mean RIGHT there!!
Being the stealth nature photographer than I am… I screamed. And they about-faced-it right back into the pines. Now – I actually HAD my camera. I actually HAD it on. And *sigh* I still have no photo.

We shall try again!

| Stacy

Going to try this blog again! Now that life is a bit quieter [for the moment!]

Last week was a fun one. We had NO outside commitments and we enjoyed our days at home. Well, there was a bit of cabin fever by the end of the week, I think.

For Beau’s school we read Ephesians 6 and then our curriculum suggesting making armor of God for our stuffed animals. The three older ones all chose to dress up Maow. Since Skeezix’s was left at a friend, she confiscated Angel’s for the modeling job.

I think they look wonderful.

On Friday night, Skeezix and I went to Home Depot for marigolds. I allowed her to pick them out and she was very proud. She was also able to carry them! And she even helped me plant them.

Angel is doing so-so with the potty-training. She is a solid 8 weeks into this and it isn’t “done” yet and I am going wacky. I do not like potty-training. I have only been a mom 8 years and by far potty-training is the WORST part of the first 8 years of a child’s life. I loathe it. Diapers – you change them on YOUR timing. “Oh! Pee Mom. Pee!” means I have to drop everything and RUN to the bathroom. Still, I can’t throw in the towel and go back. It would feel like the time we’ve invested was for nothing. Like not using frequent flier miles before they expired. Potty-training. It is what will keep me from having more kids!

The weekend brought manual labor and landscaping. DH worked in the rain and got the side of the house by the garage done. It looks amazing. He’d have never finished in time had he not had help from his buddy, Champ. Champ not only kept Daddy company and talked with him for hours at a time IN THE RAIN, but he also got into the labor.

On a serious note, I told the boys about the earthquakes in China and the cyclone in Myanmar and the enormous loss of lives. Since we have been reading, Missionary Stories with the Millers, the boys associate these countries with their need to hear the Gospel. Champ said, “Mom! They don’t know Jesus there. That means those people who died didn’t go to Heaven, right?” Beau wondered what the people still alive would do. We decided to pray for them. Last night I heard them playing talking while they played with their play-doh. They were pretending that the characters they were using were telling other characters about Jesus. Boy, I hope THAT sticks with them.