VBS (vacation bible school)

Today was a very exciting day, because VBS was today! All of us had a great time, and I even got to be a helper for Blaise's group. Benedict was a good boy and slept in the stroller almost the whole time. The 4 year olds shared a room with the 5 year olds, and the groups got to wear special colored T-shirts. The theme was Surfin' with the Holy Spirit, and the Saint of the day was Saint John the Baptist! All the kids learned about baptism and we made a dove for the craft. I loved helping out with the little kids and even made a few 4 year old buddies! All of us wonder what we'll be doing tomorrow.... By Julia !

A Good Helper

Last night I was doing math and Benedict wanted to watch me. I put his high chair next to the table and he tore up some note book paper and ate Cheerios while I worked. That's a good example of what a good helper he is. If you show him how to put toys in the bin, he will copy you and think its so funny. When we do school, Benedict carries school books around the room and gives them to us. Sometimes he even shares his baby food when I'm trying to feed it to him! Benedict is a very sweet baby and even when he can be loud or always getting into things, I still love him a lot!!!!

The Storm

Last night I heard the storm.It was loud.I was up all night. It sounded like angels bowling. I like storms it makes me feel happy that the plants are being watered. Even though storms are loud I feel calm. God is powerful and the only one that can make such a storm!
By Emerson

Our Newspaper

Emerson and I are starting a newspaper called The Lightning Bug Blast. Like any newspaper, it is filled with articles, coupons, even a funny page with our own comics inside. The name was mostly random, but we found it catchy and easy to remember. The easiest way to make a newspaper is to glue pieces of paper onto a real newspaper, then, fold it up. The first news report was about the baby birds under the deck, and Emerson added tips about making a fairy garden. It was very messy during the process, but we finished it, and hope to create some more!!

Activity sticks

Hi my name is Emerson. We home school. We made activity sticks. This is how you do it: get Popsicle sticks then get a pen or marker and write activities on the sticks, put them in a bowl or jar. When you have to wait your turn in school, or wait for help you can choose an activity stick and do what it says. My favorite stick is play with your pet.

Starting School

It's me, Julia, and I have some exciting news to tell you. Every day this school year we'll all take turns to write our own entry for the day. Tomorrow Emerson will do one and then Blaise. Anyway, we have started school and I get to try out my new school-books and such. My science book looks fun, and even my math book seems very interesting and maybe a little fun. Blaise has officially started a real lesson plan. Benedict likes to watch us work but I think he wishes he had something to do like his siblings. This school year is starting well, and it looks like I'm learning a lot!!

Passing it on to the Next Generation

Ok, so it's almost been a whole year of my constant blogging and documentation of my life here with my little army of Tuta's as we call ourselves.  I contemplated stopping this whole blog thing..I went from no cell phone to an iPhone, blog, Facebook, twitter, Pinterest, and still my little army of soldiers to teach and raise...In the last two months we lost two special people out of our family and every day began to speak to me...this could be your last day...it could..we don't know the end of our life. Only God knows this.  I started to readjust my thinking.  My husband has gone thru a monumental change in last year...He is stronger in faith, more willing to take a risk and desiring more personal relationships with people.  I have begun a fasting from certain activities that have led me away from my family and faith and I have begun to see what is really important.  Next week we start school..it has been a long break for us, not always fun, but it was a break..Time to get back to our routine and our schedule.  I have decided to let the kids take over the blog.  It will be a great lesson in writing, expression, and creativity.  They are thrilled...I am scared...I gave them one rule...Do not be afraid to be YOU! I was so afraid in the beginning..people reading about my life, boring as it may be..it was my life..not for judgement or critique..I want the kids to experience the support and encouragement all of you loyal readers have provided for me..Be prepared..you will be surprised what a 10, 7, and 4 year old find fascinating..I will stick in little snippets of my now toddler baby and what he is up too..which is a lot these days..but mostly this is for the kids now..they have a lot of things they find important and wish to document.  So with that I hand this blog over to my children...Enjoy folks!

Secret Clubs

Today we made good on a long overdue play date with one of Julia's friends. So I took the gang to Silver Lake until the heat index about melted us. Upon coming home there were whispers of secret meetings that would be held in Julia's room with no boys allowed! Oh yes we've hit that stage! So all afternoon Blaise curiously paced back and forth the locked door...they didn't budge and the door never opened. Then Blaise produced a piece of paper and I KNEW what I had to blog about today... It made me smile!
He did ask me how to spell nicely and the word club, but I am impressed that he did the rest on his own!
As an honorary member I have been told I get to eat candy every meeting as long as I play nicely and share toys!

Trail Blazers

For the last three months now kids and I have been checking out the Grand Blanc library once a week. Every week I get asked the SAME question by Blaise: "mommy can we go on that trail?".
It isn't what you would call a paved trail but an overgrown section of weeds in my opinion. Today Tony was home, he wanted to spend a family day with kids before heading back to office. When Blaise mentioned that Mondays we always goto the library and their was a forbidden trail....well Mr. Fun guy was up for the challenge. He printed out the map for each child of the trail and he told them how much his stepdad enjoyed maps and geography. So off we were to the trail. I wanted to sit in van with baby, but something told me to tag along and document the discoveries. Boy was I glad I did! We saw raspberry bushes, fallen trees, a creaky bridge and even Poison Ivy trail! Yes there was a path called that! It was fun sneaking thru the woods and I know I was worried at first about getting bug bites, poison ivy or even lost! But a little voice reminded me of this: "you only live once...live it well!"

Highlights

Home Sweet Home!
That's about all I can say! Tony has asked I remain positive in this blog and not cloud it up with too much negativity or Debbie downer like attitudes so here goes: I really enjoyed the howling and woofing of said black dog staying at our hotel last night... It sounded like a music to my ears as the thunder claps in between the woofing scared the bejeebers out of my kids. But just think it only makes them stronger right?!? I also loved the fact that I forgot to pack myself enough clothes to wear home so my dirty pants and top really made me feel like we had just gone camping for a week and didn't shower. Speaking of showers, I forgot to pack shampoo!
and so my hair had that "hotel shampoo" kind of feel to it all the way home! How lucky for me to come home to a working washing machine so I could do four loads of laundry But my ultimate favorite highlight of our hotel stay was the fact that in spite of cramming six people on two small beds we all managed to wake up with smiles!!
Truth be told, I loved seeing my husband's family and watch the kids play and listen to the laughter... It was a celebration during a sad time.
Side note: Tony had ordered a special St Benedict medal to give to his stepdad to wear but it never came in time, when we got home it was in the mail today and we figured Blaise could have it after using his big boy muscles to help daddy and the other men act as pallbearers! :)

The Suit

Many know by now that Tony's dad passed away... It was his stepdad but Tony always thought of him as dad.. The guy that raised him, the guy that taught him about sports and protected and cared for his mother. So this is a sad time and a delicate time for the kids. With so much loss in our life I worried what this would do to Blaise! He is a worrier and one that doesn't express himself too much. We went shopping today for funeral clothes and Blaise was NOT into it at all, everything I showed him exhibited a whine or a do I have to wear that? I gave up on it and was about to leave when he shouted "wait, look!" I don't know how to explain this but in the larger boy section was this mini me version of a suit Tony has. I was hesitant to look hopeful, would it fit? We put the blazer on and I wanted to cry! He looked so dapper and proud! I know Grandpa would be proud to see his little Blaise!

Disgruntled Customer

Tony has his office and I have mine...today I was met with a disgruntled customer so to speak..we will call him Mr. B to save face. He was complaining about the following: too many vegetables on the dinner plate, not enough playtime, other customers getting more face time with the boss, and fringe benefits unequally being distributed! Now I told Mr. B I was so sorry for his unhappiness today but sometimes that is just life. He responded with life is not fair and oh isn't that true... Shall I ask for a transfer or promotion and dump this minimum wage gig?!? Naw I wouldn't think of it, although I am tempted to send Mr. B a bill for all services rendered.

Blessing in Disguise?!?

I'm feeling sentimental here...I just had an amazing conversation with my sister in law and I had this aha moment. Last month my dear sweet gram passed away and this month we have just begun to deal with idea that Tony's stepdad is not going to live much longer. He is such a sweetheart like my grandmother, taking this all in stride, worrying about making his own funeral preparations, telling Tony about how to handle certain finances and even cracking little jokes here and there...an acquaintance of mine mentioned how scary it must be for him to know his time is near?!? Sad yes! Scary? No! You see he knows where he's going...sure we will pray for the repose of his soul but there is no fear in his final destination. Few of us will be given the gift to say goodbye before we depart this earth. All his children and friends that have been able to are coming to see him, letters have been written, hugs given, tears shed...but it is a blessing in disguise you see. I have never felt more closer to my in laws as we ban together to update each other and encourage each other, I have had the pleasure to witness as my girlfriend Karen put it "in sickness and in health in action!", I love that picture in my mind. My mother in law has not STOPPED loving and serving her husband once, with not one bit of complaining, or self pity.
So for now, we are in limbo, waiting for "the call" as we have dubbed it. It is bittersweet of course, but we still feel blessed to have had our day with John. Now I pray for his daughters as they come to say their goodbyes, I can't imagine how hard it must be for them.

Happy Birthday Benedict!

My initial goal in starting a blog was for my family...especially Benedict. Being number four he doesn't get a lot of ME so I wanted to have something special so that someday he could say "gee mom cared so much about me, she made me a blog:)!
I have tried to honestly document every milestone and moment in his first year of life and I have joyfully snapped tons of pictures...and here we are first birthday time. I thought about all the amazing things my boy has done in the last year, but what I really want to recall is what he has taught me:
Laying on the carpet and looking at carpet fibers is the most interesting thing in the world, walking around with breast milk spit up on your shirt is a badge of honor, witnessing every first moment is a gift that was saved for mommy's eyes, dumping Cheerios in the grocery store aisle not once but thrice...great lesson in tolerance, midnight loads of laundry while honing my singing voice to the tune of "Jesus loves me", smiling at me when I feel my tiredest and ugliest made me feel like a queen, discovering that a clean house and perfect order of things did not compare to laying on the grass and watching the birds, and my favorite lesson he has taught me: I may not be the youngest, prettiest, smartest, or most adventurous mommy but man he loves me! I love him too! Happy Birthday Benedict! Toddlerhood here we come fourth time around and I am sooo much wiser about what's really important!

Heat

Too hot to play outside
Too hot to play inside
Too hot to do anything
It must be the heat that caused my baby boy to crawl over here and just lay his head down to sleep, I dare not move him else he awakes!!!!!

Truth Wraps

I never fully understood how the kindness of one stranger could touch and affect so many until today! Yes, it is me again..twice in one day...blogging about my life! Awhile back a girlfriend of mine turned me on to following staceydaze.blogspot.com
and she had a giveaway for truth wraps! They are beautifully made wraps that she lovingly makes and I know contain many of her prayers. Imagine my surprise when I was the lucky winner and thus recipient of one. Here's where I am doubly blessed: she found out I intended upon giving my "truth wrap" to my husband's stepfather in hospice and instead of ONE she sent two of them. A beautiful handsome one for John and a feminine one for me. Yet the blessings keep coming... My oldest daughter recently was given an appliance/retainer to wear, on top of her vitiligo ( skin disease) and now appliance she has been less than eager to be the subject of my blogging or photo ops! In fact she has become sullen! Until the truth wraps arrived and when she read the card provided by Stacey about being brave, well she actually asked me if she could have the second wrap! I know Stacey won't mind as she is all about us girls living bravely in the truth.
I can say I have been "touched by a stranger".

Daisy

One box of Organic Carrot Cake Mix
One Cup of finely chopped carrots
Two cups unsweetened applesauce
Olive oil
Water
Love

These are the ingredients Julia used to make Daisy her birthday cake. Daisy is three today! Although it seems like yesterday we were driving all over to find the PERFECT bunny for Julia, three years later we have a full grown ball of white fluff.
This child adores her bunny, as any pet owner does. She plays with her, grooms her, walks her and I would venture to say Daisy speaks the language of tween hood and can relate to Julia's life better than I can at times. She is a great listener I am told, cuddler, lover, friend and very patient!
Happy Birthday Daisy!