Thankful Day 1 and 2

Well, as usual, I am a little late, but that doesn't mean I won't catch up! This month is November which  means Thanksgiving. I have decided to do a thankful tree this year with the kids. Hopefully everyday I will ask each of them what they are thankful for. We will write it on a leaf and tape it to the wall on our "tree". (3 pieces of brown construction paper...) I love the reminder of all God has done for us. I love the oppurtunity to teach my kiddos how to give thanks for our blessings. It has provided some good learning times already. I am looking forward to hearing more of what is in their heads.

Today I am thankful for the sun shine outside, a warm cup of coffee, a comfortable hoodie, and the home that God has given our family.
Isaac is thankful for animals.
Asher is thankful for God and presidents.
Levi is thankful for God.
Balen is thankful for his family.

I'm hoping that each day we will get the chance to share what we are thankful for. I am trying to teach the boys that we can be thankful for even the small things in our lives. Hopefully,each day we will continue to remember the ultimate blessing of the Gospel.

What are you thankful for today?

Crazy

I am not an athlete. I have always hated running. But I admire runners. I want to be one of those people who get up every morning and put on a cute running outfit and enjoy a long run. Unfortunately, this is not the gift I was born with.

I do have running a 5k on my bucket list though. It is, after all, only 3 miles and change. I can do that, right? So, I decided to sign up for a local race. It is one I have wanted to run the past few years, but an excuse always came up. This year there is no excuse. I am signed up. I payed my money. I am committed.

So call me crazy. I am getting up most mornings and working on my goal. But when I roll my chubby butt out of bed it is not nearly as pretty as the runner on the Nike commercials. Nope, I throw on some sweats and put on my ipod and clumsily trot down my street. I'm sure the neighbors are laughing.

countdown

We are in countdown mode, people! We have 5, count them, 5 days until we leave for vacation. I am really excited. I have our bags almost completely packed. I have our food in a bin ready to go (or in an area of the fridge set aside for vacation goodies). I have fun travel stuff ready. I have a really long word document with details for the trip. I am super duper stoked!

I feel like a kid at Christmas. The only difference is that I am plenty exhausted so I do sleep. I have been working on preparing early for this trip. Most of the stuff we will need while there is pretty much packed. That is the easy part. The part that I have to really organize is the travel. With three busy boys we find it easier, more fun, and less expensive to drive. We really do enjoy road trips and so do our kids. Thanks to modern technology even when boredom strikes we can pull the last resort of a movie or video game.

I started my planning a few weeks ago by scheduling out activity and snack times for the trip down. While this may seem like over kill it has been super helpful in packing. I always pack too much...by a lot. This way I am able to see exactly how much food I need, what activities to bring, and feel like I know when and how they are being used. I will of course bring extra food just in case. My motto on trips is "Just keep eating". I have a bag of new fun goodies to whip out in case of shear melt downs.

So in case you were curious what our trip could look like. Here is our plan:
Driving plan
4:30am On the road. Abby driving.
    Coffee!!!!!
    Jonathan park or Mark Driscoll
8:00 Border of KY and TN  (25 mins or less)
Gas stop, potty break hand out breakfast.
    Breakfast-sandwiches, Peanut Butter balls, cereal, yogurt, banana, oj
    Travel games, school work- coloring and workbooks
10:00 Snacks in the car
    Lunch bags with cliff bar, grapes, string cheese, and fruit snacks
    Color, Tag books, car bingo, games
    DS
1:00 Atlanta (1 hour)
Stop at a park for lunch
    Chicken salad/PBJ, chips, string cheese, carrot sticks, cookies
    potty
    play football, bubbles
    Naps
    quiet work
4:00 Snack in the car
    crackers and cheese, apple
    DS, leappad, leapster
    read, color, jonathan park or kid’s music
6:00 Dinner
    Chick Fil A or Chipotle
    Movie
8:00 arrive at Hotel
    yogurt, granola
9:00 bed

Monday
6:00 Breakfast
7:00 on the road
9:00 arrive at Disney
    Check in
    PBJ, cheese stick, apple

We shall see how that goes. :)  I did buy each kid their own headphones to plug into their annoying noisy little games. That should help my sanity. I am also hoping to keep the car candy free as much as possible. I will have a bag of suckers if things get sticky (get it... sticky).

I'm sure I will post more as we continue to get ready. Did I mention I'm excited!

Oh so happy

Today I am Oh so happy because...

 even though it is crazy stressful I am blessed to stay home and teach my kids.

even though I had to buy new glasses (3rd pair) for Little man, this kid is so adorable in them. 

my hubby came home tonight with a pumpkin spice latte for me. He knows my love language. 

as of today we have enough saved to pay cash for our Disney vacation!

my kiddos first night of Awana is tonight. They love it so, and I love what they are learning. 

I get a date night this weekend with Prince Charming (aka my hubby)

Even though it feels like a Tuesday it is already Wednesday. 

did I mention the latte? Seriously, these things are like crack!

we knocked out some serious school today. Nailed it!

God is my joy and my strength.

 

Birthday boy...a month late

In all the craziness of making memories. I have neglected to document said memories. So today is my catch up day. One very important day I haven't blogged about is Little Man's birthday. He is not so little anymore. He just turned 3! How did that happen. He is my baby!

On his actual Bday our good friends were at our house. We made a huge breakfast and planned to play all day. However, poor Little Man woke up feeling yucky so the day didn't quite look as planned.

 Every one at the table ready to sing.

 We brought out breakfast, but he was not up for it.

 Then we attempted to bring it to him. That didn't work either.

 His good buddy brought him a card.

He was happy to have a card. 

 He felt a little better in time for some presents.

 and ice cream sundaes

YUM

 Then we did a little playdate party at a park. Thomas was the requested theme.

 Happy Birthday boy

 Isaac made it all the way across the monkey bars.

 Blowing out the candles

We had such a fun time with our friends. Happy birthday, Little Man.

where you be?

So, I have been on a long no blogging track lately. I have been blogging a little more on our adoption blog, but this blog has been neglected this summer. But we are getting back into the routine of school. Hopefully I will be making more time to get over here and say 'what up'.

So, here is another quick refresher of what we have been up to in the month and change since I last posted.

We've been to a wedding for some friends

Hiked at Cox Arboretum a few times

I had my 10 year high school reunion (yep I am old).

I learned how to use instagram. 

While in my hometown we stopped for the best hot chocolate in the WORLD. Kid you not. You want some of this stuff!

And of course some random goofy fun. 

It has been a very fun busy summer coming into an even busier fall. We are praying this fall brings us a new addition and our daughter will be home from Ethiopia. We have also officially started school. I love that! Plus, we have the most amazing special vacation planned for our fam soon. I will share more on that soon. Hope you all had a great end of summer. Here's to an awesome fall.

Chick Fil A appreciation day

It is no secret around here that I love Chick Fil A. They are my absolute hands down fave fast food restaurant. I love the food, the customer service is phenomenal, and the company is based on a Christian foundation. I feel like this shows throughout all they do.

I wanted to pass on this event to every one. Aug 1 is Chick Fil A appreciation day. Feel free to check out the info. We will be going to our local CFA in support and because we love us some chicken!

Summer break

I haven't been blogging nearly as much lately. We have been busy enjoying summer break. I wanted to share a few pictures since I didn't have time to do full posts on all our happenings.

Memorial Day weekend our friend Melissa showed off her mad face painting skills. It was crazy hot and the paint was starting to melt, but we at least got a picture to document the fun.

 My Kindergarten graduate. He is so big and handsome.

Brotherly love.

 Mommy and Bubba

 Little man getting big

Being silly

 Isaac played upward soccer this year, and Daddy coached his team.

Staying hydrated

Me and my boys at my baby sister (in law)'s wedding.

 My brother in law, Tim and I

 Bible Bearer

Mommy and Little Man

 The happy couple cutting the cake.

We also got to meet my beautiful niece. Seriously. Prettiest. Baby. EVER. She is so sweet and I hate that we live so far away. I love, love, love her. It was great to see her parents, too.  :)

Bubba was using his skills with the ladies. He was the ring bearer and he was bound and determined to kiss the pretty little flower girl. :)

Some of our best friends came to visit. We had to get in our picture with all our kiddos. I love this group. I mean, seriously, I have gorgeous friends, and they have gorgeous kids. It was so fun to all be together again. 

Dan and I got the chance to go to camp for senior night this year. We love camp! We weren't able to go for the whole week, but we were able to hop down for senior night. I am so proud of this group. I love them all, and I am so excited to see what all God has for them. 

 We went to MI to visit family for the fourth of July. My Aunt and Uncle have a horse farm on the property my grandparents used to own. I love taking my boys to the farm. It is where I grew up going most weekends. They love seeing the animals.

 My uncle took the boys for a ride, let them help with the chickens, and see the baby calves. They loved it.

 My parents rented a lake cottage so there was lots of swimming. Isaac loved the water. He was in the lake most of the day each day.

 Bubba was a little more nervous of the water. He tried to find other ways to stay cool.

 Building sandcastles

 I babysat Miss Olivia when she was a newborn! Now she is playing with my kiddos.

 Levi with my mom

 They slept well after all the hard playing.

 Catching fish

They loved fishing. 

We've been going to parks. 

Spending time with friends.

Sleeping in and spending a full day in our PJs

We've gone to Cosi

 Had ice cream dates with the boys

We've gone to the drive in

We've caught fireflies

We've run through the sprinkler

We've had lots and lots of fun. 

 

I hope everyone is enjoying summer break. There is only a bit of it left. Have fun!