Our Busy Week

Wow, where did this week go? We had such a special week!! It was the first special thing for this summer and we were all excited for this week to come. Our church held a vbs for preschool kids during the morning on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The kids were so excited for Camp Bear Hugs! But to make our week even more special, our best buddies the Hersheys came to stay with us for the week during Camp Bear Hugs! We had 7 kids under the age of 6 in our house for 3 days!! Heather and I were not so sure how things would go, but we had a great time. It seems like each time we get together, things get a little easier. I must say I was quite proud of our abilities to get everyone ready, fed (I even made waffles and pancake 2 of the mornings) and at church by 9:15 each morning!!!!

The kids had a great time at Camp Bear Hugs. It was a lot of fun to be able to help with the vbs. I was in charge of games, which is right up my alley, but boy did the 3 year old group keep me guessing each day! I had my camera ready on the last day while everyone was wearing their super cute bear visors that they made, turned on the camera and didn't have the camera card- UGH!! So you'll have to look at our church's blog for some pics from the camp.

Below are some pictures of the fun times we had together after camp each day!

Everyone lined up and watching Duke.

Of course we had to get some swimming time in!

Bryson being silly as always!

Even Paige enjoyed the water some!

Addie had some technical wardrobe malfunctions while at the pool. We had to throw away this suit because the elastic was shot.

It's really hard to believe that Tanyon is only 4 when you watch him on his bike!

Adam and I thought Regan looked like a movie star this night! Aren't her curls amazing?!

Addie chowing down on her hot dog.

Tanyon also enjoying his meal around the campfire. Can you believe that I burnt 2 packs of hotdogs that night?! I'm talking BURNT!!! Guess that's what happens when you try to cook and manage 7 kids. :)

Most of the gang around the campfire.

Bryson entertaining the girls!

Boy can this girl eat!!

Ellie also enjoying her hot dog.

Mr. Adam even got out the sparklers for us!!

Have I mentioned that Bryson's a goof ball. :) Mr. Adam found his hands full trying to keep 6 kids stocked with sparklers.

By Thursday afternoon the week started catching up with the kids and we started to have some drama, but I honestly was blown away by how great the week was. I'm amazed at how well the kids play together! We hate to see the Hershey's leave. It honestly makes my heart very sad! Heather and I thought that since we had a chunk of time together we wouldn't have to stay up late- WRONG! So Friday was spent trying to recover a little bit. I thank God for this special week!

Go Figure

Tanyon refused to sleep all winter long with pajamas on. Now that it's hot (and we haven't used the ac yet), he wants pj's on every night. Hmmm?! I don't understand.

A Surprise Package

We received a surprise package in the mail the other morning and boy did it bring joy to our house! There were squeals, yelling and paper flying everywhere! My kitchen floor looked like a bomb went off in a matter of seconds!

The kids loved their presents!


Addie showing me one of her presents. This wrapped present brought quite the mess to our house. Check below!


Here's the boys with their new faces and shirts.

I'm lovin' this picture and those glasses. When nobody is watching, I think I'm stashing those glasses away. They are screaming sunday school prop to me.

Addie wasn't so sure of her new hair.

Silly string was in that present of Addie's.

The boys had tons of fun spraying it at each other.

And the plants!

And all over Miss Addie! What abuse she takes from those bigger brothers! :)

So then Mommy thought she would be funny and go get Uncle Craig. I thought he would yell and the boys would think it was hysterical! Well Uncle Craig pulled a fast one on me and stole Bryson's silly string and sprayed it EVERYWHERE!

Uncle Craig kept spraying and spraying and wouldn't stop. Serves me right I guess for trying to pick on him.

The kids all got kites too! And Mommy was quite proud that she helped them fly their kites. Although Dad was quick to inform her after looking at the pictures, that something was wrong with the kite because he had their old kites much higher than that last year. Oh well, I tried. :)

Right before this kite got stuck in the tree.

Thanks Aunt Heide for this special bday package! I kind of like that it was seperated from all the bday hype. They loved this unexpected package and it kept us busy all morning!

Not Me Monday

I have gotten a lot of chuckles over McMamma's Not Me Monday posts and have often thought I should to a post like that some time. Since a had a not me Monday today I decided I would take the plunge and do a post.

I most certainly did not take my kids to the bathroom of McDonald's today and discover that one boy was missing his underwear while the other boy still had his PJ bottoms on under his short!

I most certainly did not allow my daughter to wear her winter hat with her bathing suit to go swimming yesterday.

And I most definitely did not cook mac-n-cheese noodles last week using mayonnaise and water when I realized that we were out of milk. And the kids did not gobble down every bite of it and ask for more! :)

So I may not be as funny as McMamma, but these were a couple Not Me's that I remembered from this week. Oh I'm sure there were plenty more if my memory wasn't so limited.

Irresistible !

My girl looked TOO cute in her new swimsuit that I couldn't resist taking a picture! She refused to wear the straps the right way on her new mary jane crocs and she also refused to take the swim skirt off at the pool. Thanks Jen for this super cute suit. I love it!





I might have to do another post on here with her other suits too. They're cute also, but this one I just couldn't resist. :)

A Night of Catching Up!

Friday evening we had the opportunity for one of my childhood friends and her family to come for supper. The Poarch family is home on furlough from Indonesia! Nicky and I went to church and played softball together for many years but over time lost contact. With the help of Facebook (see Adam there is positive to FB), we were able to reconnect and arrange a time to get together while they were here. The kids had so much fun playing together and I really enjoyed getting caught up with Nicky as best as you can with all the kids around. :) Adam and James (Nicky's husband) quickly realized that they shared a love for creation and spent the rest of the night talking about creation topics! It was really neat for me to show Bryson the Poarch's scrapbook and explain that they lived in the jungle and in order to get to their house in Indonesia they had to ride 3 hours in a boat! We saw their house and some of the things that they eat. Bryson is really good at remembering to pray for our other missionary friends, so I knew he was soaking in all the things I was showing him and that they would be remembered as we pray for the Poarch's.

This was the whole gang together.

Emily being silly.

Bryson learning how to play the GameBoy. Don't these 2 look like best of buds?! We got together the last time the Poarch's were in the U.S. but the boys were 1 1/2 years old!

Tanyon also thought the GameBoy was super cool!

Bryson and Emily playing Hullabaloo. A very fun game by the way!

Still playing with the GameBoys.

Bible Stories with Daddy

I started this post over a month ago and it got lost. Opps. The pictures were to special to be overlooked. These were just some pics I took during our bedtime routine.

Reading our Bible story for the night.

Addie so proud to be sitting with her Daddy!

Strawberry Picking

This morning we attempted strawberry picking for the 1st time. I really went with very low expectations so I was okay with the outcome. The primary motive was to get together with our friends and to have something special to do. The boys were interested for a little and then wanted nothing to picking strawberries. Uncle Craig was so impressed he decided to sit in the car the whole time. :)


Bryson on the search for big red strawberries. I think it was too much work for Bryson. He wanted big red strawberries right in front of him.


Tanyon at work with our friend Christian.

Tanyon found a small bird's nest in the ground. The boys were checking out the eggs.

Addie spent most of her time hanging out with McKenna. Forget the strawberries, there was a "baby" much more important. :)

Addie's picking percentage was 50%. One red and one green. I'm glad she didn't pick too many berries.

Tanyon decided he should sit on his bucket while working.

Tanyon really wasn't a very happy picker.

Bryson trying to patiently wait until we were done.

Right before we left Addie decided to start eating the strawberries. Everytime I looked down she had another berry! I didn't get a good picture of her shirt and face with red all over them!

We've got a nice bowl of sliced strawberries in the frig for dessert, some fresh berries for our cereal and we passed the rest of our berries onto Oma to make jelly. Mommy would rate the morning relatively successful!