Mother of the Year!

Yes, that's exactly how I feel this week. We were so excited to get to the last week of school. I kept telling myself over and over, "Get through the week!" The last day of school was our awards day. I sat with my family taking pictures of the two oldest boys. They both got awards for having honor roll all year long. (so proud!)I noticed that Ethan's hair was a little different. He never has forehead showing with his cute little haircut. (Brendan is the lucky child that inherited my cowlick;)) After awards were over I noticed that a huge chunk of his hair was missing! I fixed his hair for school and never noticed it. Does this give you an idea of how alert I am in the morning??!! My child cut his hair the night before!!! We found scissors and hair in his bed. Why?? Why would my seven year old do this??? All the scissors have been confiscated and I am aware that I have to wake up earlier in the am and have coffee before I fix hair!

If its not working.....try something else!

This is one of the important ideas that I want to teach my kids. Keep trying!!! I have to admit that most of the time they get so frustrated when something doesnt' work. I hear.."I just can't do it" more often than I would like. Yesterday, the oldest two boys were given the task of letting a fish out of the live well in Daddy's boat, putting it in the pond, and draining the live well. We were a little concerned as to why it was taking them so long to do the task. Brendan came in and said that they simply could not catch the fish. It kept swimming away from them. Thad was about to go and do the job when they informed him that the fish was already in the pond. We were quite confused until they told us that they had figured out another way to catch him. (I would have loved to been out there to see whose idea this was!) They baited a hook and caught him with their pole. Then took him to the pond and let him go.

I have to admit, that was one of my proud moments!!!

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes

Wanna Spend the Night in a Teepee???

Let me assure you that if you are over say 15, you don't! We decided to go on a little "fieldtrip" to the diamond mine in Arkansas. We had a great time digging for diamonds in the huge crater. We didn't find any diamonds, but we found quartz and some really pretty rocks. The teepee is where we spent the night. It is not at the state park but just down the road. You can check out the accomodations at www.diamondjohns.com The video is so relaxing to watch and a perfect place for kids to roam. Well, it actually was very misleading. The whole area was covered in duck and goose poop. The giant sand pile for the kids to play in was no exception. The yard was grown up and the tents were musty with mildew on the plastic--stinky. There was an air conditioner that kept it cool so there was less musty smell. The sheets (where I found someone else's hair) were not clean! So inspite of my state of disgust, I kept it to myself and the kids had a great time. I don't think they even noticed that I was ready to go at first light to wait at the park until it opened;)








Aaron took pictures while I was texting Thad about the accomodations.






Aaron playing with the flashlight and loving how it looked at the top of the teepee.









Lauren headed out the door of the teepee.