Teen Service

The teens put on their last service until the fall.  I was able to record a few things before my camera died.   They always have great messages and work so hard.  I am grateful that my daughter enjoys participating in church events so much.

A Day at the Pond

Yesterday, May 16th, Blake begged me to take him fishing after he finished his schoolwork.  I agreed and he packed everything in the car all by himself.  He is very much like his father in that he pays attention to detail.  He packed a chair for everyone, a cooler with water bottles and snacks for everyone, and of course his pole and plenty of worms.  It was fun to see him so excited about going.  He does need some more practice casting, however.  He got his line tangled many times and eventually ended up casting his hook into a tree.  All in all, everyone had fun, including the dog!

Parker's Solo Debut

Last night we attended the 4th and 5th grade concert at the school.  They performed many different songs that gave us an example of the different things they were learning about in music class.  I was thrilled to learn from Parker's music teacher that he would be singing a solo.  When I asked Parker why he never told me about the news, he said because he wanted it to be a surprise.  And it was!  I didn't know my son had such a lovely voice.

Little did I know, he had a bet going with a buddy of his that his mom would cry over the event.  You can see the moment in the video where they realize the bet had been won.  LOL!  Yup I had a teary-eyed proud mama moment.

Thankful

Every week, I go to pick up my little friend at preschool.  The teacher is a very sweet woman who is swelling in the midsection with her third child.   Her eldest is a student in her class and the middle man (maybe around 19 months old) stays with her mother while she works. Her mother comes and picks up her oldest boy after preschool and takes him home.  This morning as we were picking up, Mom went to pick up her little toddler as the grandmother went into the classroom.  He began to cry and reach out for his grandmother.  He clearly wanted her and his mother was unable to console him.  My heart went out to this poor young mother, the hurt in her eyes was so evident. Her little boy didn't want her, he wanted his grandmother.  I began to praise God with such a gratitude that I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home and raise my babies myself.  Thankful for a husband who thought raising babies was an important job.  Thankful that God provided for our needs. When we made the decision for me to quit teaching, Eric had just started a new job.  He wasn't making very much, in fact he wasn't sure that he would be making enough to pay all the bills.  We prayed about it and felt it was the move God wanted us to make.  Was it scary?  Absolutely!  But God blessed our obedience and Eric quickly began to make double what we were making with the both of us working.  In the beginning, there were many times we went without.  I went without a car for about four months.  I went without new clothes.  We went without cable television.  We went without the latest and greatest new cell phone.  We went without eating out on a weekly basis.  But I never considered myself poor or even cared about what I didn't have because I had the most precious gift in the world, the opportunity to raise my babies.  To the Lord and to Eric, I am forever thankful for that gift.

May 2013-Part 1

May 3rd - Kaleigh and I went over to help Loree put together the raffle baskets for the Hike and this is what I saw when I came outside.  The girl can't stand not being on top of a horse. :)

May 4th - Playing Four Square at 9pm

May 10th- Caught Blake using Mac as a pillow. So sweet!

May 11th- I was taking advantage of the rainy day to clean my room, when my boys showed up in the doorway with their bathing suits on holding a towel.  "Mom can we go outside and play in the rain?"  I can assure you that I have mellowed out a GREAT deal in the overprotective parenting department because years ago I would have never said yes, being barely 60 degrees outside.  But I did say yes and I had two thrilled...and WET boys!

May 12- My Mother's Day bouquet picked by my kiddos.

May 13th -Mem and Kaleigh snuggling watching Judge Judy.

May 14th - Blake rocking Xavier to sleep.  He held him for an hour!

Hike, Ride or Bike For Honduras

This year, Loree Osowski joined me in planning the fundraiser for our two missionary families in Honduras.  There is a great deal of work to be done at the camp, and unfortunately that work requires money.  Loree had a great idea of moving the hike to Pachaug State Forest and opening it up to horseback riders too.  So we began the process of finding a date, which was harder than it sounds due to the full calendar of the church and all the other horsey events going on in the state.  We finally settled  on May 5th following the services.

 I made flyers and sign up sheets and ran sign ups at the church for three weeks, while Loree called her horsey contacts to try to get them involved.  I got hurt about a week before the event so Loree, Todd, Kaleigh,  and Susan spent ALL day Saturday marking trails, while I made signs at home and got the last minute totals and things ready.  Jeanette Fox and Todd handled all the food detail and prep.  What food donations we did not get, Jeanette and Jay Laplume took care of and purchased themselves.

The morning of the event, we headed out around 8:30 am to get things set up.  By 10am our first horsey people were pulling in.  We had 100 people sign up for the event, but only 75 showed up.  All in all it was a great day with great food, great fellowship, 14 horses, and just under $1700.00 was raised for Honduras.  I can safely say that this event would not have happened without the crew who worked so hard to get things done.  Thank you Todd, Loree, Jay, Jeanette, Kaleigh and Susan for all your hard work!!!!

Bird Watching

Eric decided he wanted to see some birds, so he broke down and bought two bird feeders and seed.  A great deal of our day is wasted watching these birds during the school hours :(  But my son can now identify each bird just by it's call now.  I am looking for ways to make this whole experience as educational as I can.  For now, here are a few birds that come by daily to see us.

                                                                   Tufted Titmouse

                                                             Mr. House Finch and Mrs. House Finch

                                                                    (Blake took)

                                                           Mr. Cardinal (Blake took)

                                                            Lots of Chickadees

                                                        White- Breasted Nuthatch

                                                Blake got a picture of Ms. Robin

We have also had a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, but I didn't get a picture of her.

April 2013 -Part 2

April 17th  -Our district was on vacation this week, but Willimantic was not, so we took advantage of an almost empty playground.

April 18th- Parker had a friend over and the kids played Four Square in the driveway.

April 19th- Parker used some of his vacation time to work on a big project that was due on the 24th.

April 22nd- I had Blake and Kaleigh work on double a recipe for banana bread that we would later bring to a friend laid up in rehab after a knee replacement.

April 23rd- Parker's finished product!

April 24th- My water bottles for my event I am doing at church came in...now let's pray I get to give all 100 of these away.

April 25th-  A visit to the ER after getting trampled by my horse.  Praise God four stitches seem to the the worst of it.  Although I feel like I literally got run over by a truck.  Every muscle in my back, neck and stomach hurts!   I'm not looking forward to getting this bill :(

April 27th- Relaxing...can't seem to do much else.  The swelling has gone down a great deal.

April 29th- My dear sweet boy picked me these flowers from the yard and wrote me this card.