Parker's 7!

This past Monday was Parker's 7th birthday. Our tradition on your birthday is that you get to pick your meals...only one of which can be eating out. Parker chose cinnamon and sugar toast with strawberries for breakfast, Friendly's for lunch, and Ravioli for dinner. We also let him open his presents from us which was a new guitar case for his guitar, sand toys, a new webkin, a velcro ball game and a movie. I thought it was funny that when I asked him what his favorite thing we got him was, he said his guitar case. That kid just loves his guitar!

We had his birthday party today(Sunday) with friends and family. It was a Transformers themed birthday so when all 10 children were here, I divided them up in two teams. The Autobots against the Decepticons. From there I gave them missions. The first was a battle. The Autobots (red balloons) had to try to defeat the Decepticons (blue balloons) by stomping on the balloons tied around their ankles.


Next mission was broken up into two parts. The Auto bots were sent to the sandbox to try to find the allspark before the Decepticons could track their location. The Decepticons were allowed to go to the sandbox and find the allspark if they were able to cover the Autobot symbol on a poster with their Decepticon symbol....while blindfolded.



After everyone had an allspark we had another battle (waterballons)

Followed by..... Get Eric he is Megatron...LOL!


They ended the games with a pinata and cake and presents.

Every year the kids pick a ministry to give to instead of getting presents from their friends. Many of our friends come from large families and just cannot spend money on birthday after birthday party. So we encourage people NOT to buy gifts but that if they feel led to they may contribute to the ministry we have selected. This year Parker decided to collect loose change in baby bottles for Care Net Pregnancy Center. They are a ministry that tries to lead people away from the choice of abortion by many different ways and lead people to Christ in the process. With the help of our guests, Parker was able to raise just under $50.00.

One of those weeks

Have you ever had one of those weeks where nothing seems to go right? This week was one of those weeks. It started by me not having a washer and dryer for several days, on top of me being really sick Monday and Tuesday, my van breaking down not once but twice leaving me stuck in Lebanon and late to pick up my daughter. My daughter having such a severe cough she would throw up. And the finale was Blake having to go to the ER on Saturday night with a blood infection. On Thursday he had fallen and gotten a scrape on the tops of both his feet. Saturday night after he got out of the bath, I went to put new more medicine and new bandaids on it when I noticed this red line going from the wound and up his leg. I knew what it was but didn't know if it was something that could wait until the morning and go to a walk in clinic.......so I called my Dad who is a R.N and asked him. Unfortunately it was not something that could wait. So off we went to the ER and got some antibiotics for the next 10 days. He has permanant marker on his leg where they marked it and told us it it goes above this line, we need to bring him back to the ER immediately. So far so good. I just hope next week is a better one.

Standing on the promises of God

Standing on the promises of Christ my King, through eternal ages let his praises ring; glory in the highest, I will shout and sing, standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail, when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God I shall prevail, standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, bound to him eternally by love's strong cord, overcoming daily with the Spirit's sword, standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall, listening every moment to the Spirit's call, resting in my Savior as my all in all, standing on the promises of God.

I just love the hymn 'Standing On the Promises of God'. Sometimes in life when a curve ball is thrown at you that is all you can do. I have been thrown several since coming to the Lord and He has always been faithful. Tonight the kids and I were playing Monopoly. I sent Parker upstairs to brush his teeth when I heard..."Mom you gotta go look outside!" We all followed him out to the front lawn to look at what was waiting for us just over the garage. It was the biggest most vibrant rainbow I think I have ever seen. It just warms my heart when I see them, knowing that God just wanted to remind me how much He loves me. I get all teary eyed just thinking about it. Well my picture doesn't do it justice....but here it is.

Summer School

Summer School has begun here at the Franklin Hill School. I know, I know kids are supposed to have the summer off, right? Well we have tried that here and it doesn't work. I have found it is better to keep some what of a schedule, keep in mind a more relaxed one, but still a schedule so this is what my children wake to find.

On this chart they have 4 daily tasks they must complete. 1) Do their quiet time. 2) Practice their instrument. 3) Read for 20 minutes. 4) Put away any laundry I have folded and put outside their door. Then they go to the day of the week we are on. This past Thursday they had to play store for school. We got a bunch of items out and put them on a bureau. Then we made price tags for all of them. We got out our little cash register and filled it with real change and monopoly money for 1 and 5 dollar bills. Then each of the kids took turns being the cashier. They boys were able to work on counting exact change and also figuring out what to do if they did not have exact change. It was great for Kaleigh to work on the skill of giving change which was hard for her at first but by the end of like an hour she was getting it. It was an enjoyable activity and they didn't even know they were doing school! HAHA!

Father's Day Surprise

On Father's Day we surprised Eric with a new mountain bike. He was the only one in the family who did not have a bike. Last year he was left all by himself when the kids and I would take a bike ride around the campsite during our annual camping vacation. This year I thought we would present him with his bike and take a bike ride on a super bike trail that I know of and have a picnic lunch. Well my plans didn't work out quite like I wanted them to, but we did get a late night bike ride in. To top it off Blake decided that day that he no longer needed his training wheels....and this is what we have.........

Notice the attire...hard to tell it's the end of June!

The Rythm is gonna get you!

Sorry this video is a bit shaky at times...it was laughing so hard I was crying. Parker and his pal Zach doing the Dance Dance Revolution was hysterical.

PA Pals

This week my friend Karen came to CT from PA with 4 of her 6 kids. On
Tuesday, we went to Mystic Aquarium. They enjoyed looking at all the animals and watching the sea lion show. The stingray touch pool was a big hit too. I coaxed Karen into petting a sting ray. I laughed so hard when she jumped and said "Ewwww, they are slimy!" It was priceless. Here were our 6 children ages 4-11 diving in with no fear and she's being a big
chicken! LOL!

On Wednesday we headed to Rocky Neck Beach. We were joined by another friend of mine, Nicole, and her two kids. The kids spent about 2 hours crabbing. It was so funny to hear them catch what seemed to be their 30th crab, but act as if it were the 1st one they caught. After about two hours we brought our 3 buckets full back to the beach for a little crab racing.












On Thursday, we had a rainy day....what do you do with 7 kids on a rainy day??? Well, we played hide and seek for a hour or so. Then we baked chocolate chip cookies. While the cookies cooled, we made cards. Ashley, Karen's almost 19 year old, showed me how to make these really cool cards. You put shaving cream in a plate, drop food coloring on top and mix it with a toothpick. Then you fold your cardstock in half two times. You place the card on top of the shaving cream, pick it up and wipe the shaving cream off. You are left with these beautiful designs.

And this is what your table and kids look like

Men and Women from a six year old

This was the conversation during lunch today.............

Blake was climbing on the counter to get some chocolate chips to add to his yogurt.
Me: Blake get down, you are going to fall and get hurt.
Parker: Men can do anything they want.
Me: Oh really? Why do you say that?
Parker: Cause they are older.
Me: Well I'm older than daddy, can I do anything I want.
Parker: Nope
Me: Why not?
Parker: Cause women have to do what men tell them.


Lord, help him before he gets married! LOL!