How we celebrated the first month of Summer Break

Hard to believe that the kids have been out of school a whole month already. I've tried my best to keep them entertained. I finally had to put my foot down and declare 1 day a week as chore day. That's usually on a Monday if we don't have plans. So in other words, Monday's end up in fighting and arguing. What should take the kids a couple hours to do literally takes them all day long. 

Our first day of summer break was full of Dr appointments. The kids were super bummed that we had to get up so early on our first day off of school. 

Josiah was scheduled for a hearing test and to see his ENT specialist. There were concerns with his hearing due to frequent ear infections. I had warned him that if he passed he was in trouble for ignoring me all the time. The verdict was he did pass, but his DR said when he has fluid in his ears he truly can't hear me very well so I had to let him off the hook. 

We went to programs at the library and went to several parks the next couple weeks. We also spent a lot of time in our swimming pool we got last year. It took forever to clear up the water, but we finally did. Here's a few random pics. 

What it looked like when we first started on it. It's clear now with good chemical levels. I need to get a better picture to compare how it looks now. 

It was still clearing up here. 

Here's some park pictures. I took my kids and 2 boys I babysit to Levi Jackson park to play and feed the ducks. 

Took them all to a nice restaraunt for pizza. I had ages 2,4,6,8, and 10. It actually went well and with only one spill. 

Here's some library pictures.....

We also were invited to a lady's house that has a 5ft pool so we were all about that. 

We spent all afternoon at her house. We had Oreos and goldfish for lunch. I think that's acceptable in the summer, right?

My kids also went to 2 Vacation bible schools. 

The first one was Liberty Pentecostal. It was a 3 day VBS. My kiddos love going to VBS there. 

I mean any chance to pie someone in the face is a good time. 

They also went to a small country church VBS nearby us. They only got to go 3 nights, but they still enjoyed it. 

Let's zoom in on Amelia's craft shall we???

I was speechless as she showed me her piggy lamp. She is indeed the proudest girl ever of her craft. I was dying on the inside. This has to be the most ugliest VBS craft ever known to man. I could never tell her that though. Ha ha. It is currently on her dresser. I told her it wasn't safe to plug in. I mean the cord, ya'll!!  It literally is up the piggy's rear!  

After the last night of VBS, we decided to camp out for Father's day weekend. It was a perfect camping weather day. Our tent we had was too small so we got Maynard a new tent for Father's Day and gave it to him early so we could use it. 

This was one of the best camping trips we ever had. We stayed in the backyard of our property we will be moving to this year. It's also where our pool is. 

 

The tent said it fit 6. There were 5 of us and we were all pretty cozy. 

After we got everything set up we did some late night swimming. 

We never could get a good picture with the lighting. I promise our pool is not this color. 

We swam until about midnight and then We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. 

I also picked up some Sparklers for them to play with. 

Finally, we decided everyone needed to go to bed. It took a little while for them to settle down, but they finally did. 

About 5:30 in the morning all local 500 roosters started crowing. Everyone started waking up and stirring about. Me and Amelia went back to bed and left the boys up. 

Guard patrol!!

It's nearly impossible to keep these 2 boys out of the fire. 

We spent the rest of the morning watching the kids play. 

Amelia got back in the pool and then decided she wanted her training wheels off of her bike. 

Maynard took them off. He told her what to do and gave her a shove. Off she took. It only took a few tries and she had it. 

http://youtu.be/uMidgfzJaP8

She also learned how to float on her back so she said she was a good learner that day. Ha ha 

We ran a few errands and came back and swam some more and then packed up for home. 

This week was more relaxed. We swam a few times and done work around the house. I took the kids to Mr Gaittis for lunch. Our fun day was today. I took them to a water park in Barbourville. 

It was free admission with a free sack lunch from 11-3 so I figured why not. My kids LOVED it!  It was definitely kid oriented and not for adults. Like I was too big to ride any of the slides but it was perfect for them. 

I can't believe Amelia kept going on this slide. 

There was 2 water slides and a lazy river. Josiah and Titus stayed together and Amelia  practically lived on the blue slide. I love how she has overcome her fears this year. 

We're home now and sunburned, but it was so fun.  

I'll check in later. We have lots more planned. 

Awards, Graduation service, and suprise party

The last week of school finally had arrived. It was filled with field trips and parties. Unfortunately, Amelia caught Hand, Foot, and Mouth. She felt OK, but was contagious and missed her last week of school. She was heart broken about missing all her fun activities and field trips. I asked for prayer that she would be able to make it to her Awards service and her graduation. 

I spoiled her with candy and her own special cup to keep her mind off of things. Like especially, a missed field trip to the Party Palace. 

Come Friday, we had the go ahead that she could go back to school. She was so excited!!

She won a trophy for scripture memorization, medallion for honor roll, Academic award for Phonics, reading challenge pin, character award was for kindness. She also was measured the first of the school year and the last day of school and she was 49" at the beginning of the year and 52" at the end. She grew 3" in 10 months. She was so much taller than the rest of her classmates. 

Titus also got lots of awards. He got a trophy for scripture memorization. He had to memorize 1st John. He got a trophy for the reading challenge, medallion for the honor roll, perfect attendance award, Academic award was for Phonics, and his character award was  for a Servant's Heart. 

Josiah got a trophy for scripture memorization also, academic awards were for Math and Language, his character award was for Boldness, medallion for the honor roll,  he got a pin for a reading challenge, and a bible award for reading Psalms and proverbs. 

After the awards service they got to collect their things and leave early. It's always a bittersweet day. They're happy to move on to a higher grade, but will miss their teachers. 

I took them to Golden Corrall to award them for all their hard work that year. 

Their poor uniforms were in terrible shape by now. This is what Josiah's pants looked like the day before. 

They wear their uniforms out, but I love that they have to wear uniforms.  It takes them longer to get dressed when they have casual clothes days than what it does on a regular school day. 

That night it was time for Amelia's graduation. We couldn't take any outside pictures because of all the rain. 

Picture with Mrs. Bowman except missing one student. 

Here they are all together right before they march in. 

Silly pose

A picture with her besties.  She picked out a dog for her friends to sign just like her brothers had. She found a pink one which made her happy. 

After graduation we went to Dairy Queen and the celebration continued. 

The only downside to Amelia's day was that Mamaw and Papaw couldn't make it to her graduation. She fretted and pouted about it for days. Mamaw promised to make it up to her. 

That next weekend we went home for memorial weekend and had her a suprise graduation party. She was thrilled. 

Aunt Angela made her delicious cake. 

Her favorite part was that she got gifts too. 

A gown for her and a matching gown for her doll by Aunt Christy even though Aunt Melissa took full credit. 

Mamaw got her a Baby Alive which she had been asking for the last couple months. She was so surprised. 

She also got  money from Uncle Todd. She already spent that on a pool float and candy. 

I found her a Barbie doll that matched her graduation gown perfectly. 

 

This was one happy girl indeed. I'm pretty sure Mamaw is no longer on the naughty list. 

The boys acted jealous of her party, but I reminded them that Mamaw and Papaw was at their graduation.  

I am proud of my kids and their hard work at school. They rarely complain when  it's time to wake up for school and they get mad at me when they have to miss for Dr appointments. 

I am thankful for Christian school. It is definitely a blessing. 

Now on to summer vacation. 

Library fun, Allergy testing, and Mother's Day

We love our library and love all the programs they have. They have recently remodeled and now have an amazing building. 

We recently took the kids to Comic Con. They went last year as well and loved it. 

Then we went back for life sized games. 

Candy land. 

Tic Tac Toe

Hoola Hoop fun. 

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Allergy Testing

I am so thankful that Amelia has outgrown all her food allergies. She can eat anything now and doesn't have to have any allergy medicine. 

Titus has been having issues the last few years so they are watching him closely. He was due for more allergy testing so I took him this past week. 

#6 was dust. I dust quite often, but I just seem to have a dusty house. Drives me nuts. 

He also had a bad allergy to shrimp and cabbage. Now what's sad is he decided he loved shrimp and coleslaw in the past couple of months. Why is that you can't be allergic to things you hate?!?!

During the test I told him his #6 was really bad. He said it was probably humans and teachers that he was allergic too. Ha ha 

Josiah is under the care of a Ears, Nose, and Throat specialist. His ears always have fluid in them and we were checking to see if he needed tubes or getting his tonsils removed. The ENT suggested him seeing an allergy DR before they made any decisions about his care. 

The allergist took one look at Josiah and pointed to his eyes. He said he already knew that Josiah had bad allergies from the dark circles under his eyes. 

He was horribly allergic to dust and cats. He started bawling because we have an outside cat and he thought we had to get rid of it. The DR assured him it was fine, but just to keep the cat outside. 

Josiah is terrified of needles and I promised him that it was just gonna be little pricks and not actual needles. 

I had to eat my words. He actually got 24 pokes in his back and 13 actual shots in his arm. 

He done really good, but couldn't help the tears from dripping down his face. 

He is going to have to start allergy shots here in a few weeks. They said he will feel so much better once he starts taking those. I just hope he takes them good. He is terrified of shots and he's suppose to get them 3 times a week. 

He's also scheduled for a hearing test in a couple weeks to make sure his hearing hasn't been affected by all the fluid. 

I took him to lunch after his appointment to reward him for doing so good. 

He chose Frisches and we discussed politics almost the whole time. 

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Mother's Day 2016

Maynard went out of his way this year to try to show me how much I was appreciated. Friday night before Mother's day he told me to choose where I wanted to eat because Sunday would be too crazy. For some reason I had been craving Cracker Barrell, so that's where we headed. 

So on Saturday Maynard and the kids all helped me clean the house. I didn't want a dirty house all weekend and with all their help we had it looking pretty good in no time. 

I didn't have groceries in the house and by 11:00 we were all starving so we got dressed and headed out. Maynard asked me again where I wanted to eat for Mother's Day. I didn't remind him we had already celebrated once. Ha ha

Somehow we ended up at Applebee's and it was so amazing. I ordered ribs. I never eat ribs. They were so so good. We ended up going to several yard sales and then Maynard wanted to take the kids shopping for me. So I got to stay home all by myself in a clean house for about 2 1/2 hours. I wanted a nap, but felt like that would be wasting my precious time. 

They all got back and Titus was begging to go to the park and play catch with his new glove he got at a yardsale. About the time we decided to leave, it started storming. It was a bad storm. Electric was off at places and signs were destroyed. Titus started bawling. We have had aLOT of rain lately and he was so disappointed. I told him I would go to the store and make them a special dessert and buy popcorn. Bad thing about it was the electric was off at all of the grocery stores in London. So we finally found a Family Dollar and got him some popcorn. Poor kid. His evening just didn't get any better. It continued to storm all night long. It was horrible. 

Sunday morning the kids couldn't wait to give me my gifts. They had bought me roses, M&M's (tradition), skirt, cup, dish towels, and a new kitchen garbage can. I ain't ashamed I got a trash can. I asked for it and the dish towels. I wear everything I own out. I had that ugly white trash can for 10 years or more and had the dish towels since our wedding shower 17 years ago. Ha ha. I promise. 

I got so many dish towels at our shower that I saved them all. These were the last ones and were filled with holes. It hurt my heart when I threw them away.   The trash can has the foot pedal so maybe that will make it easier than having to lift the lid for the kids to get their trash in the can. 

I also got goodies from the kids from school and church. 

These are definitely treasures to me. 

Sunday service was nice. All the Mother's were honored. I'm not sure why, but I had the giggles all day. Everyone was supposed to pray with a mother and no one was around me except Maynard so he had to pray with me. I don't know why. I laughed all the way trough it. I have a history of doing that though. It sure didn't help when I heard him ask the Lord to give me money and riches. Ha ha 

After church we had our normal lunch at our favorite Mexican restaraunt and then home for a nap. 

Amelia and I were twinning for Mother's Day. 

We ate at White Castles. Yes, we ate out all weekend. That was part of my gift. 

Amelia LOVES White Castles. We eat ther maybe twice a year. I lost count how many hamburgers she ate. It was more than I or Maynard ate. I know that. So to finish off my Mother's Day weekend, she was up at midnight crying with a bellyache. It seemed like this has happened before on Mother's Day to me before. Oh well #momlife

Amelia and I also attended a Mommy and Me tea party at the library this past weekend. We try to go every year. She always  looks forward to it. Someone gave her a princess dress at a yardsale and that's what she said she was wearing. Nothing was gonna change her mind. So, I let her. This was her special day. 

She ate lots of colorful goodies, made crafts, and got a treat bag including books. 

I'll be so sad when she outgrows this stage. 

I'm thankful for my kids who have made me a Mom. I'm also thankful that I have a good Mom who helped teach me how to be a good one.