Happy Father's Day

Our Fearless Leader....



Full of Fun...



Not afraid to be silly...


A Man of Many Talents....



Our Daddy!




We love you! Thanks for making our lives so much richer!

Love, Mommy, Tera, Daniel and Michael"Your Four Musketeers"

Volunteering

Teaching our kids to volunteer and to serve others is high on our list of priorities. It's only been recently that we have found opportunities to do this in ways that fit our lifestyle and our kids' personalities.

We were invited to help at a nursing home hymn sing once a month. We've only attended once so far but our kids really enjoyed it. Tera was working the room, sitting with different people so they wouldn't be alone at their table. Mostly they sang, but it was a great experience. Tera has even started to talk about how she could use her talent of drawing pictures as a way to reach out more. She wants to draw pictures and take them with her next time to give out. Also, the person in charge asked us about bringing some of our many percussion instruments for participants to use. There were 3 teenagers there that impressed the socks off of us-so loving and caring. Definitely great role models for our children. We can't wait until next month.

Earlier this week, Tera and I volunteered at the public library helping shelve books. It was a great experience for her. It was something we did alone while her brothers had some time with their Dad eating ice cream. When you have 3 kids, time alone with each one becomes more difficult so we are trying to work those times into our schedule more. This year we are going to try to go once every 2 weeks to the library. It was great to see the accomplished and confident air Tera had after completing a job for others well.

Now we need a volunteer experience for her 7 year old brother. Shelving books would definitely not be his thing. Any idea for volunteer opportunities for boys?

Simple Joys of Summer- Playing Card Scavenger Hunt

Take a deck of playing cards and hide them around your house. Some easy, some hard places. Have each child pick a suit or two of cards.Then let them go.Our only rules: If it wasn't one of your cards, leave it where you found it. Don't tell, if you found someone else's card.

What's Growing?

Hummingbird Nest in the window outside my kitchen.


Beautiful Flowers


Giant Squash, Corn and Rainbow Carrots




Healthy, Dirty Kids

Simple Joys of Summer- Reading

We love to read in this house. Daniel has been flying through the Chronicles of Narnia series this summer. The kids pooled their money and earned the rest through our summer ticket program and odd jobs to buy the Focus on the Family audio dramas. 22 hours of Chronicles of Narnia dramatized. They listen every night at bed and have already made it through once. Now they are picking their favorites and going back through.

Some of Tera's favorites are:Geronimo StiltonAmerican GirlChristy seriesNancy Drew NotebooksLots of the Illustrated Classics: Little Women, Robin Hood, Oliver Twist, etc. Any non-fiction animal books

Daniel's favorites are:Young Indiana JonesBooks by Gilbert Morris- Christian themed Sci-FiGeronimo StiltonCul-de-Sac KidsGross Animal booksChronicles of Narnia


Michael's Favorites:Moo Baa La La LaGood Night, GorillaAny other book that makes a ripping sound when he tears the pages out.

Simple Joys of Summer- Crafts (kids can do alone)

My kids were being really quiet and I found them doing fuse bead crafts together. Any craft kit that kids can do independently are great ideas for hot summer days.



Then after a trip to Hobby Lobby, we are weaving and learning how to knit. I'm making Friendship Bracelets...I always wanted to do that as a kid and never learned. It's very easy I'm finding. I hope to teach Tera later next week or at least get her interested.
(my first finished bracelet and the kids practicing knots)