What's for dinner?

The boys and I harvested some of our goodies this morning, and we ended up with red potatoes, white potatoes, tomatoes, okra, corn, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, and two pumpkins!!

So dinner will be fried zucchini, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and cucumber roll ups!!
ALL STRAIGHT FROM THE GARDEN TODAY!

Levi decided to start a carrot pile on our couch pillows.

Half of a Bag of Chocolate Chips and a Path of Destruction Later

A view from above



What am I talking about??  LEVI!!!! He is officially my little tornado this week.  The big boys were in VBS from 9-1.  Levi didn't know what to do with himself, so he decided to pull the house down with his bare hands. 

For example this morning only,  I needed to write a couple of emails.  While I was doing that, this is what Levi was doing:

• grabbed my mouse and clicked send to an email that should not have been sent out (for the second time this week), 
• broke some decorations, 
• pulled out every single item from the kitchen cabinets, 
• ran with scissors, 
• ate glue, 
• got on top of the kitchen table 20 plus times,
•  stuck a spoon in the printer, 
• poured a box of cereal on the floor and crushed the cereal with his feet,
•  pulled out all the paper from the printer and scattered it across the house, 
• yanked and ran with all my important documents,
• poured water on the floor, fell, and hit his head
• threw all the dirty dishes and toys into the sink (I expect to find broken glasses and plates later)
• ate a half a bag of chocolate chips AFTER ALL THE ABOVE FUN!!!! I stepped away to go to the bathroom and run upstairs for something, and I came back to an empty bag of chocolate chips and a  Levi grinning ear to chocolate covered ear

I can't even imagine what the afternoon will hold with all that sugar and caffeine in his system.  


Life with boys is full of joys!!!



Can I come to your house next??? 

The Best June of My Life!

That's a pretty bold statement I know, but I have to be honest and say I have never been more blessed than today!  I have so much to praise God for.  Here's some pictures of my blessings in the month of June!!

 

My boys love playing together.  Here's Levi trying to get on the action too!  15 months and nothing stops him.  His favorite activity: dancing on top of the kitchen table when no one is looking. Oh and eating everything on the table while dancing!

 

 My Joel: independent, exploring, helping, so sweet!

 Here are the two big ones working together.  Clark and Joel have a very special relationship so far!  I pray Levi will be included that in tight bond.  I know he'll push his way in if he must. 

 

 Mister Smiley!!

Levi taking the bribe

 We are now on the homeschooling journey!!  We started year round school this month.  So Clark is officially a kindergartener!!  We take it very seriously as you can see with Clark learning at the table without his clothes!!  :-)  Levi loves to help by taking  Clark's papers, scissors, crayons, etc and running away with them.  I try to bribe Levi with food to give us some time to work.   

 Joel wants to be part of the fun too!!

I love the serious concentration!!

My Surprise Pumpkin Patch!

I don't know how, but we had pumpkin plants spring up in our backyard this growing season.

And we love it. They have taken over the yard and are loaded with pumpkins big and small.

Here's Clark watering our little pumpkin patch.

Our one and only apple!

Our little crazy garden!

What Is Success?? And a few cute photos

I love finding good quotes.  Here's one that I found a long time ago.  Warning: It is a little radical which I love.

Taken from Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson page 105

" If we teach our children through our actions or instruction, even subtly that being successful in this world is somehow a measure of their importance and success, then we will miss the point of all the Lord's teachings.  We are given one chance to live on earth, and the one true measure of our success will be our faith, our faithfulness, and our obedience.  If they live with eternity in their eyes, they can live with hope no matter what happens in this life."

I hope that I am able to teach this truth to my boys and build them up in the strength of the Lord. 
Pray for me. 

My boys and their affinity to things with wheels!

13 Years of Blessed Ups and Downs and Counting

We recently celebrated our 13th anniversary.  I have to say it has only gotten better and better as the years roll by.   I love looking back at my life and seeing how much we have grown closer and deeper in love.  Yes we still have conflict and times that I think, "how in the world are we going to get through this."  But I am so glad that we have stood together and created this beautiful life together.

This is right before we started the journey of parenthood over five years ago!

Starting the Tennessee Adventure!

What adventure will today hold??

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Father's Day 2012

I saw the idea to take pictures with letters on Pinterest, so I went to Hobby Lobby and borrowed their letters for some cute shots.  I bought a cute frame, and I put the pictures in the frame.

 With the extra photos, I made a super simple card for dad!

Again this is another idea from Pinterest, but I modified.

This is so meaningful to me as it captures our little family's hands touching each others.

I might be a little overkilling it, but I do have my children's dad and my extra babysitting buddy's dad plus granddads to love on this Father's Day. So for extra fun, we made lion cards that says,

 "I am full of pride that you are my Daddy.  You are my "mane" man."

I cut the card so the mouth pops out when open. 

 The boys finger painted their cards and put on the googly eyes. 

I have plans for some serious cooking and eating this weekend per Michael's request. 

I hope he feels very loved and appreciated. 

He is such a great father, leader, and husband.

Happy Father's Day to all you dads!!