Memorial Day

The title of this blog post was originally "Happy Memorial Day"...upon reflection, the word "Happy" doesn't seem appropriate, does it? On this day, we remember those who paid the ultimate price for the freedoms that we enjoy in our country. However, the families of those soldiers don't need a special day of remembrance...they remember their fallen loved ones daily. Amidst the cookouts, ballgames, and pool parties that so many of us have planned for this day off from work, let's make sure we pause to remember the fallen AND pray for the families that are missing a son, father, or friend!

In family news, we had a great weekend! First, we traveled Back Home to celebrate some birthdays with our family. Then, a wonderful church service yesterday morning and small groups last night. Today, eldest is traveling with the youth choir to an Atlanta Braves baseball game--with some forced choir practice in the bus! LOL

Speaking of eldest, she is following in her mom's bloggy footsteps! Last night, she created her own blog and did an introductory post--check it out at www.lifesong-onering.blogspot.com! She's sure to be posting lots of her wonderful photographs & giving a slightly different perspective on life at our house :).

Later Days!
Kelly

Daybook for: Wednesday, May 26

FOR TODAY
Outside my window...
Beautiful sunlight!

I am thinking...
That our school year is dragging on waaaay too long

I am thankful for...
Wonderful friends and family to celebrate good times with

From the learning rooms...
I'm ready to make my "shopping list" of next year's schoolbooks, but I don't want to finish THIS year's school!

From the kitchen...
Hubby and I are really trying to watch what we eat--more salads, less sweets

I am wearing...
Still in pjs

I am creating...
Nothing at the moment, except the scrapbook I keep in my head!

I am going...
To Bible Study tonight--keeping nursery

I am reading...
Between books, but open to suggestions

I am hoping...
That my eldest feels better today than she did yesterday

I am hearing...
Dora the Explorer, the cat snoring, the dog sighing

Around the house...
I'm in a summery mood so I'd like to rearrange things

One of my favorite things...
Watching my youngest dress, feed, and put to bed his favorite stuffed animal, Kermit. He just fixed "fork chops" in his play kitchen for Kermit's breakfast :).

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Heading Back Home this weekend to celebrate my birthday and my brother's birthday!!!

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...


This glimpse into the days of "mommy bloggers" is the idea of Simple Woman at
http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ . Please visit her site if you're interested in participating!

The Dr. is in....

This morning, Dr. M. dressed in his scrubs and "operated" on our model dissection frog.



I'm sorry to say that the frog did not pull through.

Later Days!
Kelly

P.S. Don't worry grandparents, it was only plastic, though it had "lifelike gooey guts." lol

Lewis's blog

May 13, 2010
Dear diary: Today is day 3,650 of my captivity among the bipeds and things have not improved since day 1. I am still fed that strange squishy stuff out of a can for rations and I am still banned from the dining chamber which is hardly fair since my bipedal captors eat good food at a large table! On top of that the bipeds have hired a new guard to watch me. They call her "Annie" . This wolf like creature is
disgusting and...well.... annoying. How dare the creature eat my... er.... icky stuff in the bowl. She even attempts to amuse herself by playing with me as though I were nothing but a kitten! This "Annie" has gained the favor of the bipeds by following them everywhere and acting cute... Almost 2 years ago now the bipeds moved to a new high security prison no doubt to keep me under better guard. I have tried numerous escape plans and they have all failed. Before long I shall have to send an S.O.S to my allies...Well I suppose things could be worse. Maybe I should talk to my agent instead.

Later Days!
Lewis

P.S. This guest post was completely written by my 13yo & 9yo children. The views expressed in this post are not necessarily those of the creator of Leap Of Faith :).

A Boy and His...Frog?

Some of you may remember little M. making a special friend at Build-a-Bear for his 4th bday in February. I guess most of you reading this have actually met Kermit the Frog (NOT a bear), since he always brings it on our trips Back Home. If you've met Kermit, you know that he's a well-dressed frog...mainly because M. has me changing Kermit's clothes several times a day!

What you may not know is that Kermit has acquired a "little brother" who happens to be a stuffed dog. This brother, for reasons passed understanding, is called Tambourine. Apparently, it isn't necessary for Tambourine to wear any clothes at all BUT he is often swaddled by being stuffed into a winter hat :).

M. takes very good care of Kermit and Tambourine by tucking them in for naps and bedtime and by preparing wonderful meals for them from his play kitchen.

Yesterday, I snapped a photo of M. and his babies having lunch in front of the fireplace.


Then, M. took closeups of his pals :).


I'll try to keep my readers posted on further adventures of Kermit and Tambourine!
Later Days!
Kelly

Happy Mother's Day!

I am grateful to God for the privilege of being a mother! My four children are such a gift.

I am also grateful for my own mother, who has always been a loving, supportive, godly example to me.



On top of that, I'm thankful for my mother-in-law, who raised up my husband to be the fine Christian man that he is.

These women are now godly, loving examples to my children as the most wonderful grandmothers anyone could imagine!

Happy Mother's Day to all!
Later Days,
Kelly

Cinco de Mayo

Hi I am N.! You might ask what my real name is but I'm afraid that's classified information. As you may know yesterday was the day of our church's Cinco de Mayo festival and I'll tell you right off the bat that yesterday was the most bouncing- centric day that ever was or ever will be. There was a large bouncing castle at the festival and as you know bouncing is an activity that transcends all social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Everybody was on the bouncing castle! I understand there was also a pinata but luckily there were no real A.F.V moments! Whew! That's a relief! The one thing missing was a performance of the dance of the cucumber which I would have done except that Spanish is not the best ever... *All in all though it was a great church event and I think God has and will do many great things through events like it! Since I've already wasted enough of your time I better be off!

Later days!
N.

*By way of explanation, I must tell you that the Dance of the Cucumber refers to a VeggieTales silly song, performed by Larry the Cucumber, translated from Spanish to English by Bob the Tomato. If you require further explanation, I suggest you take a Tylenol and a nap and forget about it.

Happy 9th Birthday, K.!

I'm a bit late posting this, since her birthday was April 24th, but rest assured, we partied HARD :).

Since K.'s birthday fell on a weekend, we were able to travel Back Home to celebrate with our extended family. In addition, it was my sister-in-law Michelle's birthday, so we got to celebrate for her AS WELL AS "catching up" by celebrating E.'s birthday with the part of the family that didn't get to come see us on HER birthday! Yes, this was a three-for-one deal on birthday parties.

Not only did we get to have fun with a family party, the birthday girl also enjoyed a sleepover with the girl cousins plus some friends that we haven't seen in quite a long time!



You understand, I'm using the term "sleepover" very loosely, right? Very little sleep was had that night, but the girls enjoyed painting their nails, watching movies, giggling, and eating :). I loved being able to see them having girly fun together--it took me right back to my younger days!

No sleepover would be complete without lots of food! K.requested tacos for her bday meal--mmmmm. She also designed her own birthday cake--she drew a self-portrait that the bakery scanned and put on the cake. We had plenty of ice cream and toppings for the crowd to make sundaes.


On Saturday afternoon, Hubby and I headed home without the kids. You read that right. The kids stayed all week with the grandparents, enjoying some "spoiling time" and making memories. Meanwhile, I got to do some much-needed cleaning and de-junking at home! Plus, Hubby and I got to spend some much-needed time together. I'd call that a win-win situation.

Later Days!
Kelly

p.s. My cousin over at Living at Loud posted some pics from our time Back Home. It was great seeing her and her family! Our kids just picked right up where they had left off and so did we :).

p.p.s. More pics to come!