Fourth Of July Fun

I am slowly going through months of photos and found this one of Isaac.

We are not ones to spend money on fireworks but $2 sparklers I will 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 Babies

Eight years ago we brought 3 babies home and put them in a crib together.

Eight years later I walked in a room to find this. My three babies sleeping in one bed together again.

It made this mom's heart glad.

No Party Is Complete Without A.......

Pinterest idea or two.

Yep, it's another birthday post. I promise this will be the last one.

And since I'm not much of a party planner, you can be assured that you won't have to see another post about a party for a VERY long time!

Well, until next summer when Brad turns the big 4-0! So that may be a long time to you or maybe it's a short time. Anyway.......

This #8 was made by cutting the 8 out of a cardboard box. I then glued coffee filters to it. Then I folded coffee filters up and glued them in making it look more full. Then you spray paint.

I taped it to the garage door along with a bunch of Happy Birthday signs and as kids showed up this was our photo booth. Each child was able to put some funny hats, glasses, necklaces, or whatever they could find in my dress-up bin and have their picture taken with the birthday girls or boy.

I am currently waiting for these pictures to arrive on my doorstep and I will attach them to a card to send out as a Thank You. Here are a few of the pictures that I took.

More Birthday Fun

Last week I shared with you that every year the first week of July is a week full of memories for me. But it's not only that, it is a week full of birthdays as well. This makes it a little stressful for me. I feel like I need to make each and every person in my family feel special on their birthday. Growing up there was always one person who made me feel special on my birthday and that was my mom. Even as I got older, if there is one person who remembers your birthday, it is the person who gave birth to you. Whether it was planning a birthday party, making a cake, bringing balloons to me at school for my 16th birthday or taking me for lunch during my lunch hour at work, she was always the one who remembered and did something for me.

While on July 8 we celebrate 3 birthdays at our house, we have one birthday before that. Brad celebrates his birthday on the 4th of July. He is not my child but I still like to do something for him and make him feel loved because he does so much for our family. Honestly, since the kids came around, he does kind of get left out on his birthday. I have to make 3 cakes a few days later so I don't generally feel like making him one. So I try to just make some good food for him. We celebrated his day by starting out with homemade cinnamon rolls. I also made some homemade ice cream sandwiches and we had a traditional 4th of July meal of Chicken dumplings. Honestly, we are so sick of hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, we opted for something a little different. We also spent a little time in the extreme heat by going to a local 4th of July parade in the middle of the afternoon. We will do anything for some free candy!

Then a few days later it was time to celebrate Alexandra, Amanda, and Joshua's Golden Birthday! We celebrated by having a big pool party with all their friends. We rented a bounce house, filled the pool with 27 kids, played some games, opened presents, and enjoyed some snacks and cupcakes.

We had sack races.

A water balloon toss which turned into a water balloon fight with all the extra water balloons. The kids all attacked my sister!

Delicious cupcakes!!!!!

If you know me, you know that I like order and not chaos. I have still to determine the best way to have present opening time with order and not chaos. If you have multiples and have figured it out, please let me know. I guess the chaos is way more fun for the kids and I don't want to be a joy killer. All the kids huddled around as close as they could to see what everyone got. It was definitely mass chaos and I gave up!

Our home has been invaded by Squinkies!

My three beautiful children are now 8 years old! It's been a lot of fun the past 8 years and I couldn't be more proud of them!

After all the kids left, we decided to continue the party so we could enjoy the day a little longer and of course the bounce house too. So, we invited family over and had some more fun. We were all really tired after 7 hours of partying!

Birthday Fun

Yesterday was Alexandra, Amanda, and Joshua's 8th Birthday! (Their Golden Birthday!)

On Saturday we had a big party with many of their friends over. Pictures will be coming soon. (I seem to be saying that a lot lately!)

Although I get a little sad that my children are growing up so fast, I love all the fun things we can do as they get older!

For Alex and Amanda's gift this year we had a girl outing. Tonight we went and got pedicures.

Then we headed over to the jewelry store so they could get their ears pierced.

And now they look even older!

Joshua is really into two things lately. He loves baseball and he loves learning about the states. This spring at school he was the first kid to make it through learning about each state. It was something that kids in his class could do in their spare time and on their own. He recently found the isle at the library with books about each state and has been busy reading about them.

When we went to a local market a few weeks ago he saw a wood worker that had made state plates. That is what he wanted for his birthday. So, he got the wood plate along with a new baseball bat.

We are very proud of all three of them and have really enjoyed watching them grow! We are excited to continue to watch them grow and see how God continues to shape their lives.