7/2 The Morning After

The morning after Jonah's birthday party.

The kids were getting bored and Victor wanted to wash the car.  The boys were all over it.  We did not force them to help.  They were excited to help.

When all was said and done and the kids were gone

this is what remained.

One lone shoe.

I had no idea who it belonged to.

7/1 Happy Late Birthday

Jonah's Birthday party - only 3 months late

We had two boys come over for pizza, swimming and slumber party.  Instead of a cake, we did ice cream cupcakes from Maggie Moo's.

After all that - they tried a game of Twister

Eventually, they sacked out on the couch to watch a movie.

6/30 Swim Lessons

Swim Lessons

Way back there is Jonah.

I know its hard to tell, but this is William

June 28 Kevin Butler!!

This is Kevin.  Kevin and I have been friends since my freshman year of college.  If you ever wanted to get all the dirt on my wild days - this is the guy to ask.  He was with me just about every time.  Funny story, he and I have even hitch-hiked home from Brinkley.  We thought we were invincible back then.

Anyway, Kevin is a computer guy.  He actually built our computer.  Sadly, I had to take our computer to Kevin because we have a virus.  I cannot even log on the internet.  So here we are in Kevin's office dropping it off.

 and learning that four computer screens at once is way cool.

June 23 Happy Birthday Victor

Victor's Birthday!

The man I married

A great father

So strong and dependable

And knows me better than anyone!

June 18 Happy Birthday William

William had his birthday party.  We were only three months late!

We went to River City Gymnastics.  We were so fortunate to have Nick and Ms. Fields as our party directors.  I had requested Nick because the boys love him.  I say Ms. Fields instead of Coach Jamie, as she is known at River City, because she was Jonah's first grade teacher.

June 19 Father's Day

Father's Day

I asked Victor what he wanted for Father's Day and he said a new grill.  I asked him if we could make that his birthday and Father's Day gift?  And could he buy it himself so that I do not get wrong kind?

This is what he bought:

6/16 Trophy

William had his team party at Larry's Pizza tonight.  Everyone seemed to have a good time.  This is the trophy that Victor picked out for the kids.

6/14 Chores

The older boys are still attending the basketball camp.  William and his friend went to VBS and then we headed to Chic Fil A.

My mom gave us her hedge trimmers and Victor could not wait to get started.

Meanwhile, I had the boys unload the dishwasher.

6/13 MCD

This is the first year that William has been able to participate in a VBS.  I was really excited for him.  They are always lots of fun. All three are going this week from 9-12.  The older boys are also attending a basketball camp after VBS.  William was too young to participate in the camp. Instead, we went to MCD.

6/12 Sprinklers

Sprinklers!!

I know that I already posted for June 12th, but these were really cute.

Sun 6/12 Communion

When we  arrived at church today we were asked to help serve communion. This is completely out of my comfort zone! I was so glad I had actually taken the time to fix my hair and put on makeup - otherwise I would have tried to weasel out of it.  As it was, I was already trying to think of a reason why I couldn't do it - or what female I could get to do it in my place. How bad would that look if Victor was up there with another woman instead of me? Really? Not too bad right?  Maybe I hurt my foot and couldn't stand that long? I don't really like being in front of an audience. Yes, shocking, I know.

Have you ever served communion? It affects you. Typically our church either passes plates down the aisle or sets them up in the back and you serve yourself. 

Today, we were at the front of the congregation and people came up to be served. I had the bread so I had to say, "The body of Christ, which was broken for you." to everyone who came to take communion.

It was so powerful to look into the eyes of each person in line knowing that Christ died for this person and this person and that person and this child.  It was impossible not to think about the sacrifice that was made on our behalf. It was impossible not to want each person to feel the weight of the sacrifice as much as I did at that moment.  As I looked into people's eyes and told them, it choked me up.



"And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me" Luke 22:19


I am glad Victor said we would do it.

Sat 6/11 Party

William and Jonah both had their last baseball games. Afterwards, we went immediately to a birthday party. Then we had a sleepover.

The party was a Jump Zone.  These hats were party favors. Cute idea.

Fri 6/10 Zoo Days

I took all three of my kids plus two more to the zoo. One was a baby and the other is three. I really thought it would not be that hard. I was wrong.

My friend met us up there with two of her three kids. I thought this would make it easier.  So now we have one baby, two strollers and six boys.  It was crazy.  Mostly because William prides himself in getting to every exhibit first, so he runs ahead.  The three year old was more interested in really enjoying every exhibit.  So we had to divide to conquer.

The little boy got his finger smashed in a door by one of my children.  It was a really bad smash.  He cried and I thought kept pointing to his torso.  I had pulled up his shirt to see what was hurting.  It took me forever to realize it was his finger.  We went to the front of the zoo to get a bandaid.  This seemed to help.  (about a week later his fingernail fell off)

When we got to the bears, I was really starting to wear down.  My friend was the one who noticed that we were missing somebody. I will give you one guess who it was. William was halfway around the circle of the bear exhibit by the time I caught up to him. I kept going from exhibit to exhibit thinking, he'll be at this one.  It was getting to the point that I thought, maybe he wasn't in the circle anymore.  The zoo was not full that day and I actually knew quite a few people.  However, you know how it is when your child runs off and it starts taking a long time to find him, you start to worry.

All of my kids ran off when they were little.   William is just the last one and I think he is too old for it.  He is five.  He can stay with me.  I have a hard time letting people watch William because he is so hard to keep up with.  I tell people - now you know he runs off, right?  My close friends, who I trust with William, know that I am not exaggerating and what they are getting into when they watch him.

Anyway, I found William.  He had almost gone completely around the circle to where he would have met up with us.  I was frazzled by the time I got to Chic Fil A for lunch.  I was on my own with four boys and a baby in a car seat.  The people at Chic Fil A are so sweet.  I am sure they recognize me as someone who comes in a lot, but they also recognized that I was a woman on the edge.  The manager brought me all of my food, drinks, napkins, ketchup, straws, napkins. everything.  I just love that place!

Here are some pictures that I managed to take before the madness.  I am sure that you are not really supposed to climb on the gorilla, but trust me everybody does, not just my kids.

Wed 6/8 Indoor Slide

We are beginning Day 2 of no school.  We spent two hours in the grocery store.  I was exhausted when it was all done.

The boys' new favorite thing to do is ride down the stairs with the long cushion off the love seat.

I figured that eventually they would get hurt and I would have to make them stop anyway, so why not let them have all the fun they can until then?  I chose not to be the bad guy.
Sure enough, it got out of hand and someone got mildly hurt. But I wasn't the bad guy, just the safety guy.

Tues 6/7 Decorating

First day of no school.  We went to GSFBC to electronically sign in the boys for VBS next week.  Robbie was so tired from yesterday that he fell asleep on the floor watching baseball. 

After work, Victor and Jeff moved furniture around.  We bought a couch and chair.  We moved the furniture in the living room to the den and the furniture in the den was split between giving it away and moving it upstairs to the play room.

The end result:

Monday 6/6 Robbie's Graduation

Robbie's graduation:

The stage was set thanks to Tina Worley's decorating

Here is a picture of a bunch of the boys from 5th grade.  There are only two kids in the entire school taller than Robbie.  One is Saad, who is standing by Robbie and the other is a girl, Katera.  She is actually taller than me in heels.

Here is Matthew, a friend from birth.  Literally.  His mom and I were friends before we had kids and Robbie and he are four months apart.

Some good friends Willie and Jared.

This is where I broke down.  I had seen in the program that they were going to recognize "Honored Guests".  I thought maybe school board members?  No.
All at once all of the children in the 5th grade stood up and took something from under their chair and started walking around in the audience.  Each student gave one to their parents. 

Man -did I start crying.  I was sitting next to Cynthia who held me really tight.  Victor made Jonah move so he could also try to comfort me.  Then the ladies sitting behind me started patting my back.  I could hear them talking to each other - "Poor thing.  She has all boys.  You know how it is with a mama and her boys."

Anyway, I pulled myself together eventually.  Robbie won the President's Academic Achievement Award.  It was something that he had been talking about all week long.  The teachers had told the kids about it and the qualifications, but left it a surprise as to who was getting it.  Robbie really wanted to get it.  I was relieved when they called his name.  And proud.

Then it was time for the big event!

Here is Robbie about to walk up and get his "diploma".

After graduation we went out to eat

and then Robbie went to the "after party".  It was a swim party.