Please Help!!!

Did you ever go to summer camp? Did you have fun while you were there? Well Camp Awana is in the running for a 30k makeover from Sears. We are currently in 2nd place. This camp has been around for a very long time and is mainly run by volunteers. My husband grew up going to this camp. It was be a great help to the camp to have this 30k makeover. Even if our kids don't go to this camp other kids are going there and hearing about God. Just think about how you voting for this camp could help impact the lives of those kids attending the camp in future years. So here is the deal. The voting last until July 31st. You can vote one time per email address each day, so if you have more than one email address you can vote more than once a day for the next 2 weeks. Go here and vote for SCOTT LONGMIRE from Algonquin, IL. Remember to vote EVERYDAY and help Camp Awana win a makeover!!!

Seriously?!?

Wednesday nights Jeff is usually gone working with our junior high group at church. Most Wednesday nights I have friends lined up to come over and hang out while he is gone. For some reason I had a complete mental block that he was leaving last night so I didn't have anyone here to keep me company. Instead of being upset I decided that the kids and I would take a bike ride to the park. They wanted to go to the old neighborhood first and see some friends. Since we left right after dinner we had plenty of time to do both. We got the our old block and NO ONE was home, at first. Then Patti came out and we talked to her for a short time because she had a softball game she needed to get too. She just recently bought a trampoline and told me that the kids could jump on it. After she left I let the kids jump for a good amount of time. Then we were getting ready to go to the park. Monkey rode down to our old house, he wanted to climb the front tree. I went to get him and the guy who bought Jack's old house (our grandparent-like neighbors who passed away not too long ago) came home. I had heard he did a lot of updating to the house. I asked if I could see all that he had done. He isn't living there yet because the house still has more work to be done on it. As we walked to the door, GG found one of Marilyn's decorated rocks. She picked it up and just started bawling. The guy let her keep the rock, which made her day. The door that we went in is right next to our old swingset. The kids of course ran to it. Even though I told them not to. With in 30 seconds Monkey was screaming and crying because he got stung by a wasp. I told the kids not to play on it. What do you know, my little strong-willed stubborn Peanut didn't listen. Next thing I know she is screaming and crying. I run over to her and pick her up. I'm so surprised I didn't get stung. She had a wasp hanging from her arm. I shook it off. I saw 2 stings right away and I iced them. Once I got her somewhat calmed down I put her on the ground and looked the rest of her body over. She had 2 more stings on the other side of her arm. We were on bikes and I didn't bring my cell because I figured we probably won't need it but good ole Murphy's Law went into effect. The fire department isn't too far from the old house so we rode over there and had the Paramedics take a look at both the kids. We now know that neither one of them are allergic to bee stings. What a junky way to find that out! I think Peanut will be scared of any flying bugs for a very long time. I just still can't believe she didn't listen to me right after her brother got stung. I should of just picked her up and brought her into the house and not given her a choice. But I didn't and maybe this will be the life lesson that teaches her that "um maybe I should obey mom, she's got my back"

As I type this Red walks into my room on a day that is suppose to be 91 with a long sleeve shirt asking if he can wear it because he is really cold. Yeah, I have the air set at 78, it's NOT cold in here.

Other than that I have been bad at writing out our menus for the time we have lived in this house. I have made 3 new recipes. Fire roasted Chicken Salad (Everyone LOVED), Stuffed Acorn Squash, (it was ok) and last night I made Rolled Eggplant, Jeff LOVED it, I thought it was pretty good, the kids did not like it one bit, it was a little too spicy for me but not too bad.

No more summer crazies...

Now that this is the 5th week of summer break the kids summer crazies have settled down and we are getting into a routine again. This week we started "school" hour. The kids got all the workbooks from the year from school and instead of throwing them away I thought lets finish them. This is the second day and the kids are LOVING it. Even Peanut is getting in to it. After breakfast we clean up the table and the kids do the work I have planned for the morning. They haven't asked if they can go outside to play instead which means they are really enjoying it. They love to be outside with the neighbor kids but they would rather have school time with mom then be outside with them. I am loving the one on one time I am able to have with each of the kids. I'm not really teach them new stuff I am having them continue with the things they have already learned to help them retain them for next year. Speaking of next year, I am really excited for Monkey to have the teacher that GG has had for the last 2 years. I think he is going to grow leaps and bounds with her as his teacher she is just THAT good. Other than that Monkey had an eye appointment last week and was told he needs glasses for school. Neither J or I wear glasses so I had a really hard time hearing that. I kept asking is there anything we can do to help his eye sight. The doctor kept telling me no. Well she said it to quickly and without much thought that I decided to do a little research of my own. I can across a method for restoring eyesight. It is called the Bates Method. It has been recommend by a doctor that I completely trust, here is the site. He used it on his own eyesight. There is a video and then an article about the method. I am so excited to start using this with him and see if his sight improves!!!

4th of July Holiday

It is one of my favorites but also one of my least. It is my favorite because we are busy for a whole week doing fun activities but my least because I single parent it that whole week. This year I didn't take any pictures of the kids on the rides mainly because most of the rides that Peanut could go on I had to go with her which makes picture taking hard. I do feel bad for not getting the joy on their faces captured in pictures but it is etched in my memory for life. Also this is the first year we went to the Fest that I didn't have another adult with me. It actually wasn't too bad. I told the kids we all had to stay together and do the rides together. Of course, GG wanted to go on rides that only her and Monkey were big enough for and Monkey didn't want to go so the 4 of us watched her go on them a few times. It wasn't too bad. Next year I'm thinking will probably be a lot harder because GG will be too big for all the little kid rides. Anyways, one day of the Fest we got an elephant ear and a funnel cake to share and another day we got blizzards for a little treat. We saw a lot of kids from school which was fun. Last night was the last day so we stayed til it closed. About an hour before it closed I noticed my phone was missing. So we looked for it and didn't find it. I am hoping someone turns it in but I'm not holding my breath. Then I realized that I was wearing the same shorts that I had on at Disney when I lost my phone there. I am thinking these shorts don't hold my phone very well especially when I sit down. At least I didn't drop my phone in the toilet filled with urine like my hubby did! The only reason I write that is because he put it on facebook :)

The rest of this week is going to be getting back to our normal sleep hours. The kids have been going to bed at 11ish to midnight and getting up around 10ish in the morning. This morning Peanut didn't wake up until 10:30 but she did wake up at 4 something in the morning and came in my room. I took her to the bathroom and snuggled her in my bed but she was too restless and was waking J up so I took her to her bed and laid with her in there for awhile. No nap for her today and hopefully she will go to bed around 7:30 tonight. I need to reset the sleep patterns closer to school so that in 9 weeks when school starts does start it isn't so hard on all of us.

Been Awhile...

Today is the 4th of July and I am sitting in bed at 9:40am. I am the only adult home and extremely exhausted from yesterdays activities. We got up at 7am to pick our oldest up from camp, I missed her so much, then we went to "The Fest" until 11 something and got home around 11:45 last night and I'm tired! J is already at work and he won't be getting home until late again tonight. The kids and I always enjoy "The Fest" but the biggest down part is that J is there but working so he can't go on rides with us or anything else. We do stop in and see him about every hour or so. Last night was really fun. At about 6:30pm some friends (Beth and Matt R) met us there and we went on rides with them. Then they left to go watch the fireworks and our other group of friends came. I say group because it was Jason and Kristy with their 4, Amanda and her daughter, Aaron (Kristy and Amanda's brother) and his girlfriend and Sue, the grandma. You put all of them with us 5 and you got a BIG group of people. It was fun Aaron took GG on some of the bigger rides I can't do with her because I have the other kids. When we weren't on rides Aaron was being the "ride" himself for the kids and throwing them all over the place. Which of course, made all the kids jump on him for more. In the end his shorts got ripped. Still not sure how but the funniest part was that he was underwear-less. His naked butt cheek was hanging out of his pants. He only realized it when he noticed one of the carnival workers laughing at him. We went over to J's booth and repaired his shorts with a police badge and stickers. It was so funny because with the shiny badge holding the shorts together it drew more attention to that area!!!

Other then the Holiday activities we have been busy doing work outside in the yard. I have pictures of before and after that I will hopefully get up soon. We got some new neighbors who moved in to the house that is kitty corner to us with 3 kids. 7 yr old boy, 5 yr old boy, and 3 yr old girl. The only thing that would make it prefect is if they had an older girl for GG :) The kids have been hoping the fence and having a good ole time playing with each other. Almost everyday this week they have gotten to play together. I do think it is quite funny that the neighbor kids stand at the gate when we aren't outside and yell "DO YOU WANT TO PLAY?" over and over until someone comes out to play with them. And we are outside A LOT so it happens usually when we are eating.