Game Night, Date Night, or Just A Way of Life

Rushing, Rushing, Rushing.

We are always in a hurry. Ever since I was involved in a Random Acts of Kindness Scavenger Hunt a couple weeks ago, I've been more aware of this. Just watch the people around you as you run your errands. Everyone is in such a hurry that they barely have time to look at someone and smile.

My girlfriend came up with this idea for our small group to do. She came up with most of the ideas herself but said she did find a few on Pinterest.

We had an hour and 15 minutes to complete as many Acts of Kindness as we could. Of course we had to have photo documentation, which probably was the worst part. It kind of takes away from the kindness when you do something nice for someone and someone is snapping pictures while you do it.

That's why I thought this would also be a great idea for a date night with your husband or maybe even one of your kids or a whole family outing! Or just think how great it would be if in your daily life you were slowing down, aware of the people around you and being kind! Ever since doing this with our friends, I have definitely been more aware and have been trying not to be in such a rush everywhere I go.

Here is the list my friend made up but really the list could be endless. I did change a few things just because she had a lot of specific places to go.

1. Help someone bag their groceries at Aldi.
2. Hand out flowers to random people at the store.
3. Place Christmas cards and invites to our church's Christmas Eve service on cars in a parking lot.
4. Go through drive thru and pay for the person behind you.
5. Buy coffee for a Salvation Army bell ringer.
6. Leave quarters for someone at the Laundromat.
7. Leave coloring books and crayons in a waiting room.
8. Tape quarters to a vending machine.
9. Buy a gift card at a store and give it to the person behind you.
10. Buy a bottle of water and gum for a clerk at the grocery store.
11. Hand out balloons to kids shopping with their parents at the grocery store.
12. Push carts back inside at a store.
13. Give coupon to a table at a restaurant.
14. Drop coins at a playground for kids to find.
15. Send a text to someone you think needs a lift. Tell them that you will be praying for the throughout the week and include scripture.

Like I said, the possibilities are endless. Just stop and look around you when you are out and I'm sure you will find many things to add to this list to bless those around you.

Here are some more that I thought of:

Give someone your cart at Aldi and DON'T take their quarter. (I actually love doing this!)
Take some one's cart from them after they load their car and bring the cart back for them.
Pick up garbage that you see lying around.
Help an elderly person.
Smile at people and say "Hi!"
Let others go first.
Hold the door for someone.

Another way our family has been blessed this month is through an assignment Alex, Amanda, and Joshua were given at school. Their teacher gave each student in their class $5 to bless someone. We had a lot of fun thinking of ideas and bringing gifts to others.

Joshua brought Football cards to a little boy that has been going through intensive treatments for cancer. We have been praying for this boy for months now and they were so excited to go and meet him.

Alex wanted to bring flowers to a woman that we have also been praying for that has cancer. We were able to bring her the flowers and sit down and have a cup of tea with her.

Amanda really wanted to buy gifts for kids at the hospital but was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to give the gifts to the kids herself. She then decided to buy a Poinsettia plant for our neighbor and we brought them some cookies too. They are new neighbors of ours and he has been in and out of the hospital this fall.

It's been a huge blessing to our family to take time out of our busy schedules to think about others, take the time to go and sit with them for a little while. I definitely want to add this to the things we do every year at Christmas time and even throughout the year.

As you go through the busyness of this season, remember to take time out for others around you and show them the Love of Christ.

"For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another."

1 John 3:11

I Think It's Finally Safe To Say......

The Flu Bug is gone.

I hope.

It was Saturday evening, November 3, that it entered our home. I remember every little detail.

Just kidding. That was a long time ago. I remember it was a Saturday night and I remember it was Joshua. Other than that, it's all a blur.

We finally got him back to school the following Wednesday.

Then BAM! Thursday night at 10:15, it was Alex.

It's weird to say but even a child's personality shines through in their ability to vomit. In an effort to not be so graphic, I will just say one word, "Everywhere." You name it, it was on it.

OK, never mind. I'll be graphic. Walls, sheets, comforter, pillow pet, another kid, the bathroom, down the stairs, in her hair. You get the idea.

At this point I forgot how long it took for one kid to get better and the next one to get sick. I want to say it was the following Tuesday night that Isaac came down with it.

Amanda insisted she had a force field around her and I was being a germ-a-phobe (how do you spell that?) I cleaned it all up and washed a million sheets but tried to stay far away from all my children. Everyone was under strict instructions to not touch anyone else's cup or food regardless of who had it already.

We thought we were going to be in the clear for Thanksgiving but there was one person that I don't think was as much of a germ-a-phobe as I was.

Yep, Tuesday night before Thanksgiving Brad got it. And he got it the worst! He had a vacation day all planned but spent it in bed. Once again, I stayed far away! He spent his Thanksgiving Day laying on the couch recovering after a day and a half of pure torture!

Well, now it's been a week and a half and neither Amanda or I have come down with it. We both had small touches of not feeling good but we never came down with the full fledged flu.

Now that you've had that fun fascinating details of our sicknesses, here is what else has been happening.

A little boy lost his first 2 teeth. It's hard to tell because his new ones had already come in behind but he lost both of his bottom teeth. Unfortunately the tooth fairy forgot to come when he lost the first one but the second one, she was all over that and made it on the first night but almost got caught!

When I look at his teeth, I think one word......BRACES! Can't wait for that!

They've been a little suspicious if the tooth fairy is real or not ever since a friend told them it's their mom. They've asked me several times and I make sure that I don't lie to them. I simply ask them what they think and they decide she is real. After all she gives them money.

Then there is this little boy. He keeps losing teeth but they never seem to want to come in. He lost both of his front teeth last January and the 2nd one finally popped through about a week ago. He currently has another one loose.

Can you tell he wasn't too happy about having his picture taken? This was the best I could get.

I Really Do Have The Best Kids

They got off the bus so excited! The next day was going to be my birthday and they were all set to make sure it was special.

Up to the girls bedroom they went..............armed with markers, crayons, and paper.

When I came up to my bedroom, I found this. These are actually wrapped presents filled with drawings and books that the kids made for me.

And signs were posted everywhere.

 

 
Then they treated me to a little play of their pets singing "Happy Birthday!" They had a special chair for me to sit in with a little carpet leading to the chair.

They definitely made me feel very special! So special, that I almost forgot I was turning another year older.

Camping Fun

It's amazing what you'll find when you download pictures from your camera.

We went camping over Labor Day and I had forgotten that I had taken a few pictures.

It was a little hot that weekend, so one afternoon we headed to the Nature Center to get a little relief. Yes, there was air conditioning there. They had a coloring contest and some crafts the kids could do. Amanda won the contest and won a bird book.

All the boys are getting older and now love building their own fires. Another big thing this year was riding their bikes to the creek to try and catch whatever animals they could find.



The two Isaac's and Jack always have a good time together, as you can see.

The kids had a blast and as they get older, surprisingly enough, camping gets a little more relaxing for Brad and I. Well, relaxing after all the packing and setting up. But after all that is done, you can often find us parked in a lawn chair.

We were actually supposed to go camping again this past weekend but ended up cancelling due to cold temps. This family does not camp in winter coats. We like our furnace!

Off to School Again

School has officially started. Today Alex, Amanda, and Joshua began 2nd grade and Isaac began 1st grade.

 

If you are Facebook friend of mine you probably saw our crying picture. (For those of you who aren't, sorry, I will not repost me with an ugly crying face.)  I was asked several times if I'm really sad.

 

Honestly, I would rather a lazy day at home with my family rather than doing anything else. I enjoy having my kids at home but yes, I do look forward to running errands by myself.

 

They all had a good day and have decided that they do want to be back at school. We'll see how long that will last!

 

Don't they look so old?

 

This is what happens when you try to take too many pictures.

 

As the kids head off to school, I have high hopes of getting many projects done.

A few weeks ago I found my list from last year. Four things crossed off, Nine still there. The four things crossed off all need to go back on this years list. I guess I wasn't too successful!

All I can do is try again this year!

First on my list is the lawn. It needs A LOT of TLC.

Next is cleaning vehicles and then we have the Spring cleaning the house which never got done. If I do it in the Fall, does that count for last spring and next spring?

And of course, organizing pictures and working on the kids baby books are on the list for the 3rd year now.

Now you understand why I don't want the kids to go back to school. I have work to do......lots and lots of work to do!

How We've Been Spending Some of Our Summer Days

We have been spending our Monday afternoons at the bowling alley watching Isaac bowl. He had lots of fun and can't wait to do it again next year.

Then on Tuesdays we spent an hour watching Alex and Amanda at gymnastics. They've learned a lot and also loved going!

We have also spent a lot of time making trips to and from the Library and reading like crazy to earn prizes. They have gotten Free Kids Meals at Boston's and Applebees plus free Ice Cream at Culvers and McDonalds. So now we will spend the rest of the summer going around and eating our free food.

Chore Charts + Lemonade Stand = Backpacks

Last year our family became involved with an organization called The Children's Hunger Fund. After volunteering at their warehouse just one time, we fell in love with their mission.

If you remember last year we hosted our first Lemonade Stand to raise funds for their Back to School Paks.

This year the kids made a goal to raise more money.

They had chore charts and were busy doing chores from January through June with all the money they were paid going towards the Backpacks.

In June we once again hosted a Lemonade Stand. Jim Callow from the Children's Hunger Fund came out and helped us set up and joined us for a while. We had many friends and family who came out to support the cause. Over $500 was raised from the Lemonade Stand alone.

For every $10 that is donated to CHF, One Backpack is packed with school supplies and given to a child in need.

But you can also pack your own backpacks and donate them as well. We will be donating most of the money to CHF but we also like to pack our own backpacks too. We went out and bought 20 backpacks and all the supplies to fill them. By shopping some sales we were able to pack each of those backpacks for $8.12.

After all of this, 99 backpacks have been donated to CHF!

We are so excited that 99 children in our community and in need will now receive a backpack with school supplies this year. Our prayer is that these backpacks will open the door for many families to hear the gospel and that many will come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior.

We are so thankful to many of you who have so generously donated and for your prayers.

But most of all we are so thankful that God has blessed our efforts and we give Him all the glory!

My Blogging Problems and the End of the School Year

Last week I tried showing you all the fun I had at the Derby in May but apparently none of my pictures decided to show up. They were there when I posted but gone after I posted. I've been having a few technical difficulties if you can't tell. I'll share a little of my dilemma and maybe someone out there has some advice for me. If you don't care about my dilemma (which I don't blame you) you can just skip the beginning of this post and move on a little further down.

Blogger is really slow at uploading pictures. So, when I post I try to only post a few pictures at a time otherwise it takes forever to upload. Even with a few pictures it can take me over a half an hour for one post. So, I decided to go my old route of posting my pictures to my blog from Picasa. Basically I send the pictures through Picasa to Blogger and then I can type my post through Blogger. Well, you can see how all that turned out last week. When I was posting my pictures looked horrible but you couldn't tell that because they decided to not show up at all. (If you are looking for the post, I removed it.)

It was then suggested to me by a friend to use Windows Live Writer. So I tried that out. Redid the whole post but when I was trying to post it from Windows Live Writer to my blog it gave me a 403 forbidden error. I've determined it is only when I post with pictures. If I send a post with just text it goes right through. I've spent hours trying to get it to work but it won't. I've enlisted a couple people to help but I haven't had any luck. The 2nd person is a computer expert but I haven't been able to connect with him by phone yet, so he might still be able to help me. If you have any knowledge on how to solve this problem, please......help a sister out!

So, until I get it fixed you won't get to see the Derby pictures or any other post that will contain a lot of pictures. I do have a lot of posts though that only need to contain a few pictures, so until then, that is what you will get.

It will just continue to be a source of frustration in my life, along with my pool that doesn't like me very much either.

Now on to the rest of my post.

(I couldn't think of a clever way to transition.)

The kids have been out of school now for 2 weeks. After a very busy May, I was looking forward to June and the kids being home. Relaxation. Staying home. Never leaving.

I've since determined that I think those days are over in my life. I remember the good ole days when the kids were little and I would have to leave the house midweek for groceries and I'd realize that I hadn't left the house since Sunday. I was looking forward to days that I never have to get in the car.

Yesterday was that day. I had nothing on the calendar that required me to leave the house, even though I had a couple errands I could have ran, I refused!

Now that the kids are getting older they have activities. Sports. We need to go to the Library. I have errands. Appointments.

So, if you are one of those mom's that feels stuck at home with little kids. All I have to say is "Enjoy!" Those days will be gone before you know it and you'll be wishing you could stay home!

With that I want to share a few pictures from the end of the school year.

Amanda, Alexandra, and Joshua all had to dress up as their favorite book character.

Amanda is Laura Ingalls. Alex is her sister Mary. Joshua is a baseball player (just in case you couldn't figure that one out.)

Isaac had Letter Character Dress-up day. He is Super Socks!

We got their report cards this week and I'm happy to say they all get to move up to the next grade. Actually they did very well this year and it's amazing how much they've learned. I'm proud of all 4 of them!

I Won the Legoland Lottery

Joshua, Alex, and Amanda's class went on a field trip to Legoland last Friday. They needed one extra mom to go on the trip with them. So, what's the best way to pick that mom?

Put all the mom's names (that said they could go) in an envelope and pick one out.

And who was the winner?

Yesiree Bob......It was me!

Now that is a great thing considering my kids still want me to hang out with them. In first grade it's cool to have your mom with. Also, last fall Alex was crying because I had never gone on a field trip with her but I had been on a couple for Isaac.

I learned that when on a bus with 22 - 1st graders and 27 - 2nd graders, the noise is at a level that I am just not accustomed to. Even Amanda told me it was way too noisy. Also, be prepared to experience some unpleasant smells.

For some reason, even though I have had 4 kids following me around for many years now, I often get nervous when given other people's children to be in charge of. Why do they think I am responsible enough to keep track of 6 First graders.....even if 3 of them are mine. Thankfully they were very good and they stuck to me like glue. Even my own kids did, which NEVER happens!

Here are the six children that I had the pleasure of spending the day with.

Sorry for the bad quality of pictures. Ever since I've had my new computer I haven't had a good way to download my pictures to my blog. I might have to break down and do it the way I used to. Just another one of those things to add to my list to figure out.

Date Nights

Since Brad went back to working the day shift the beginning of April we have been able to reinstate Date Nights with the kids. Brad told the girls in February that as soon as he was on days he wanted to take them each out separately for dinner.

When asked where they wanted to go, I think they both chose McDonald's. They obviously have expensive taste just like their mom. Brad told them he was thinking somewhere NOT fast food.

Amanda chose Texas Roadhouse and Alex chose Chili's. They both were very excited on the day of their date and came home wanting me to help them pick out a dress and do their hair. When Amanda came home she told me that it was such a fun night and she didn't want it to end. Brad asked me if that is how I felt when I was dating him.  I told him I still feel that way every day I'm with him. I don't think he was buying it!

Anyway, I can't tell you much more about their dates because I wasn't there. Just that they had a great time, the girls had big smiles before they left and when they came home and I was told that Daddy was quite the gentleman.

I, on the other hand, had the pleasure of spending my date nights with two of the most handsome little boys I know.  My first date was with Isaac. If any of you know Isaac and how he likes to dress, you know that he pretty much likes to wear comfy shorts/pants along with the most comfortable t-shirt he can find. Which means it usually has lots of stains, the shirt is usually navy and so are his shorts/pants. Not on date night. He wanted to wear his favorite "nice" shirt along with a pair of jeans that had no holes in them. We went bowling and then for ice cream at Dairy Queen. We had a lot of fun bowling, except for when he wasn't taking it that well that I was beating him. Since the bumpers were up it was kind of hard to just throw the ball in the gutter. I did try to aim for the side but ended up bowling my best game ever and even had a Turkey.  We had a lot of laughs and I love chatting with my "baby".

Joshua and I also went bowling but then hit Culver's for some ice cream afterwards. It still amazes me how completely different my kids are and especially Joshua and Isaac. While Isaac talks my ear off, Joshua is perfectly content to just spend time with me and not talk. In between his turn bowling he was often watching the Sox/Cubs game that was playing on the TV. Joshua says that he did beat me one game and he kind of did. We paid by the hour, so that means it just shuts off the lane when your time is up. He had finished bowling his 9th frame and I was in the middle of the 9th frame when it shut off so my score wasn't added yet. So the numbers on the board at the time were higher than mine.

If you don't do date nights with your kids, I recommend starting them. The joy and excitement of your kids when they get to enjoy a little one on one time with you is priceless. When you have multiple children they are always competing for attention, they love a little time of you just focusing on them. We try to give them a couple options of things to do so that they get to pick something they enjoy. We also like to switch it up by alternating between each child getting a turn with mom and dad and we also do group dates like Girls and Mom or Boys and Dad and then we like to throw in a big family date as well.

It doesn't have to be anything expensive. We've done big dates like Bulls games and Disney on Ice but we've also done small cheap dates that cost little to nothing. We've gone to the store and walked around the toy aisle, gone to Best Buy and checked out the video gaming systems and played them. We've gone to the park, gone to McDonald's for breakfast, ice cream, miniature golfing. You could even do something as simple as a walk around the block or going in a different room and just playing a game with one child and not letting anyone interrupt that time.

I often find coupons to make it even cheaper. Our bowling dates I had coupons for an hour of free bowling, so all we had to pay for was shoes. Take them out to eat on a Kids Eat Free night. Get creative and have fun but most of all just enjoy a little time with your children. Your children will treasure the memories for years to come and just like my children do.....they will be asking whose turn is next and where do they get to go!

Do you do date nights? If so, where do you like to go?

It's Finally Out

Alex's first tooth has finally come out. It's true she has had 2 others come out but they had to be pulled by the dentist.

She was so excited to have one finally come out the natural way. And by natural way I mean that I pulled it. Once I pulled it out, I'm not so sure she liked it.

The second one has been hanging there but I think she is scared to have me pull it out. Any day now!

Of course, you all know that we have a really bad tooth fairy. Her track record is not so good. She is definitely consistent in her forgetfulness and her absentmindedness struck again.

I felt so bad. She came wandering into my room that morning and told me that the tooth fairy didn't come. I tried to play it off that maybe the money fell and was plotting a way to go grab a dollar and start searching and then magically find it. But Alex pointed out that the tooth was still there.

Thankfully the tooth fairy remembered on night 2.

Catching Up With the Kids

A couple weeks ago, Alexandra, Amanda, and Joshua were in a musical at school called E-I E-I Oops. 

They performed it 3 times. Once in the evening, then again for the school, and then a third time for Grandparents Day.

I was able to get a picture of all three together during their performance.......along with the back of a bunch of heads.

Spring Break In a Nutshell

Last week was spring break over here and I had planned a couple days of activities and hoped to have a nice relaxing fun week with my kids.

Well.......that didn't really happen.

Brad was supposed to move to the day shift last week for the next 4 months. Well.....it was decided that he would stay on the afternoon shift for one more week. No, it was not his decision!

Since Joshua was starting Little League practice this week as well, this change in schedule meant that I would be taking care of baseball practice.

Also, since the change in schedule and since Brad's parents were coming back from Florida and needed their car back, we decided it was probably a good week to really step up the car search.

On Monday we spent the morning driving to every local dealership and had absolutely no luck. Even though I had been searching for a month for a vehicle online, we now knew that we were going to have to drive a little farther to get a car.

At night we went to Texas Roadhouse for supper. Brad had taken half the day off so that he could take Joshua to his first Little League practice. This dinner was a celebration of good report cards and was supposed to be the celebration of Brad going to days, so that was just a little premature. Then it was time to start Little League.

Tuesday, I took the kids to Lincoln Park Zoo with some friends.

Wednesday was a day to actually be home and prepare for what was to happen on Thursday. Then another baseball practice and Burger King in the car on our way to church for our last AWANA night. Alex told me that this was the best supper ever. Why do I even try?

On Thursday, we headed out to Wheeling, IL to test drive a Ford Expedition that I had found online. We were pretty sure we were going to buy it, so I had to have everything in order so that we could make the trip as quick as possible and bring the vehicle home with us. We left at 7:30 am and got home about 45 minutes before Brad had to leave for work. (There will be more on the car in another post.)

Friday morning was spent at my sister's house so that the kids could play and then the afternoon was spent at a friend's house so the kids could play.

Saturday was a day spent grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning to prepare for our Easter guests, Brad's family. Unfortunately in the morning as I was sending an email, my computer screen went blank and I noticed a small flame and smoke.

Yep, that was the end of my computer.

I am very thankful for my Kindle Fire since all but one of my recipes was saved on Pinterest, otherwise I'm not sure what my guests would have eaten on Sunday.

Monday the kids still had off but I spent my morning computer shopping. I do now have a new computer but I am still in the process of adding all of my programs to it. I had edited all of my photos from the zoo the day before the computer died. So as soon as I get Photoshop back on my computer I will have some more interesting posts about our week. Or who knows, maybe they won't be interesting. But at least they will have pretty pictures.

Now that I'm done typing all about our week, I feel that it looks very boring but believe me....it was anything but boring. I enjoyed having the kids home all week and they enjoyed being home but we are glad to be back into the swing of things and back to our school schedule.

It's Hard to Say Goodbye

Actually.........it wasn't that hard.

We knew this day was coming.

Last spring we got a bad diagnosis on our van and we knew it was just a matter of time. 

But last week she just wasn't running quite right. I brought her to the mechanic and we got the bad news that she needed a new transmission. Between that and the fact that the engine could blow at anytime, we figured it wasn't worth fixing.

Thankfully we were able to drive her over to the junkyard. 

This is the only vehicle that my kids have ever know. We bought it less than a week after Alex, Amanda, and Joshua were born. 

Now it is time to look for her replacement. Hopefully the next one will be as good to us as this one was.

Three times Two plus One

In January I received a message from a girl named Melissa. She has triplet boys that are 6 months old. 

Not only is her name Melissa but she also has the same maiden name as me.

Strange. Don't you think? 

We thought so too.

We also thought it would be fun to get together so we could meet and so could our triplets.

So we did just that a couple weeks ago.

As I looked into my past and she looked into her future, we exchanged stories. She then mentioned that she hadn't had her boys pictures taken in a while. Since I had my camera with I told her that I could snap some for her.

This is what I got.

Since that wasn't working out, I figured we could show her that someday it will be much easier to photograph your kids.

As you can see, that didn't work out so well either.

Then we added Isaac.

Whenever I tell the kids about another family that has triplets we usually have a little conversation that goes something like this:

Kids: "But they don't have an Isaac do they?"

Me: "Nope they don't have an Isaac."

Kids: "They need an Isaac."

My triplets are definitely a blessing but so glad we have our Isaac too!

We were only able to stay a short time but it was great to meet Melissa and her 3 little boys. Can't wait to go back and visit again. And next time we will have to get a picture of the two Melissa's as well!