Summer fun at the Fair....

Kaleb and Roman in the bumper cars Roman had a blast riding with Kaleb!

Roman pretending to drive the bobcat like daddy does.

Getting a lift from big brother!

Roman and his friend in the big tractor tire I just love this picture!

4th of July

On the 4th this year we went to a friends house the boys tried water skiing for the first time, they got to go tubing, fishing and swim. Ben waterskied as well and we both tubed, played volleyball and just had an awesome fun relaxing day.

Here is Ben water skiing.

Roman with a sparkler

Roman fishing

Lucas and an awesome hair do

The boys tubing

Lucas water skiing he got up the first time and then couldn't get it again. He can't wait to try again.

Kaleb with the fish he caught this kid is great at catching big fish. I was impressed at least.

Boating

We finally got out our boat last weekend and used it a lot since it's up for sale. We took a nice ride and then anchored for the kids to swim for awhile. Funny thing is I didn't realize how disgusting the water was until I looked at these pic's..yuck..anyway the boys survived and didn't come out with any weird rashes or anything. Although note to self if boat doesn't sell don't take it on that lake again!

Lucas and Kaleb swimming in the lake.

Kaleb swimming they were jumping off the top of the boat into the water same thing we did as kids brought back memories.

Roman just being Roman nuff said :)

Roman driving the boat. Ben let Lucas and Kaleb each drive it by themselves and they both did great. Roman sat on his lap to drive and all were thrilled at the chance to. Since it's technically not legal for them to Ben doesn't usually let them but sometimes rules have to be broken right:)


Such concentration!

Summer time fun..

Since it's been a month since I last posted I thought I'd post some of the fun the kids and I have been having so far this summer. The boys and I went down to festival all the kid things were so busy and you had to wait in line. We ended up just doing the hat tent each of the boys got to make a hat. Above you can see Roman creating his hat.

Here is Kaleb showing his hat I just love his big smile in this pic. And all three of them together with their finished hats.

The boys also ran a 5K a month ago. Here is Lucas finishing.


Kaleb also ran this was his second one. He has taken up running with his mama and is doing very well at it. So good in fact he kicks my butt. He ran this 5K is 23:45 which for those of you who don't run is pretty awesome. Considering he's only 9 it's just plain good for anyone really. He plans on doing another 5K sometime this summer.

A few things from Roman

This is a picture that Roman drew and told me it was Mickey Mouse the letters across the top spell Mickey Mouse he said. I thought it actually resembled Mickey after he told me that.



This is Romans new found favorite thing to do. He learned to ride a without his training wheels about a month ago. We've been taking lots of bike rides to the park, ice cream store, and around the neighborhood. He's getting quite good on it. He loves being able to go fast now like his big brothers.

Roman sayings:

Tonight while biking with Roman he says:
"mom, why are you riding next to me"
I said "so I can protect you if a car comes".
He says "God will protect me"..I just love it!

Lot's happening..

Since a friend so kindly pointed out the other day "it's been almost a month since you last posted" I thought I better get back on the blog horse and post some pic's. April was really busy two birthday's in our family etc. etc. The above picture is a bouquet my sweet husband brought home for my on my birthday. He bought me 33 roses for that's how many I turned this year. Their was equal of red, pink and white they were just gorgeous!!


We also had Kaleb's birthday he turned 9 hard to believe quite often I think he's a year older so the fact he's actually a year younger is nice:) He picked death by chocolate as his "cake" this year. I didn't put any candles in for fear they'd melt but he enjoyed his dessert thoroughly.


Sheer delight at the gift he recieved from us and my parents. He's waited a year to get it was a Nintendo DS I kept telling him he wasn't getting one etc.. He was very pleasantly surprised to recieve one. That one tooth smile tells it all! Love you buddy!

Lastly, we had the awards ceremony for basketball. Lucas is the kid in black pants standing on the left of the giant.. That kid is only 13 just 13 and taller than Ben..crazy ..anyway it was a very nice night. Ben is in the blue on the left talking about each child and his brother David is on the right he was the asst. coach. A very nice evening to wrap up the basketball season.

Great Fun!!

If you haven't already done so you might want to run..jog..walk...to here to win pace salsa. It's a nifty sweepstakes game you can play and win 10 coupons to print for $4.00/1 jar of pace salsa. It so fun seriously...I mean 10 $4.00 coupons..now you do have to play every day to up your chances of winning. I've been playing it for two weeks and have won twice. I just won again today. Most stores like Meijer and Target have the largest jars on sale for around $2.89 so you get overage towards your other groceries...see lots of fun!!

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the
secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Psalm 27: 1,4,5

Basketball

Just a few pic's from our basketball season this year. This was Lucas' last year on the elementary team next year it's onto the JR. high team. We only won two games this year but had a fun year. Lucas played well and I was very proud of him. Good job buddy!

Motivation

Today I was needing some motivation to get things done mainly my coupons. Ever just feel burnt out my "couponing"? I sure did today. I was looking at the mounds and stacks of coupons to cut and sort and was having a very hard time getting started. I decided to update my savings for the month and total them up. Still I was feeling unmotivated by the daunting task of my coupons. Then I decided why not total up for the year the amount of coupons I've "cashed" in so to speak. After calculating I hit on this number $924.98 say what! Yup you got it that is the number in cash dollars I've used in coupons. I'm now motivated to cut out those coupons and organize them all and counting til I hit $1,000.00...WOOHOOOOO!

Park Day

Oh how could you ever resist those baby blues I just love this picture of Roman!

Roman on the slide all smiles and giggles.


They were so not impressed I wanted one pic of them together..

Kaleb giving little brother an under dog.

Roman fishing we didn't catch anything today it was to windy. But the boys had fun trying still.


Oh the sad woe begone look on a fisherman's face after a days work and not one catch.

Last but not least looking for fossils they found a couple.

A great way to spend the first 70 degree day this spring..

Basketball weekend..

This past weekend we went away for a basketball tournament for Lucas' basketball team. With games on both Friday and Saturday we decided to stay the night in a hotel with four other homeschooling families. It was a two hour drive one way and with a four year old that made the most sense. Anyway we had a great time here are some highlights of the little getaway.

Roman in the car drawing he loves to color and draw so this kept him entertained for awhile.

Roman at the pool he kept trying to "sneak" the boys goggles from them..:)

Little Kaleb we called him the bench warmer this year. He was going to be on the team since Ben was the coach but he technically wasn't old enough. Two other boys joined late so he got bumped Ben let him go to practice a lot and sit on the bench during games. Next year he'll be on it for sure he's very excited! He looks thrilled I took his picture doesn't he?


Lucas is number three in the middle jumping for the ball this was his last game on elementary. Next year he moves up to Jr. High which terrifies me those kids are huge compared to Lucas. I hope he grows a lot this year. He played really good in his games this weekend we were very proud of him.

The team slapping hands we won this game by 30 points which was awesome because we only won 2 out of 24 games this year. The boys were pumped we won and by so much.

Baking Day: Whole Wheat Bread, Banana muffins & peanut butter cookies

I Started out baking day making this 100% whole wheat bread...so yummy here's the recipe:

Whole Wheat Bread

2 Cups warm water
1/4 C canola or olive oil
1/4 C. honey
1 tbs salt
6 Cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbs vital wheat gluten
2 1/2 tps. yeast

I put everything in my bread machine on the dough cycle. When that's done I put it in my own pans and let rise until double and then bake at 350 for 30 min. When done I spread a small amount of butter over the top of the bread. This makes two loaves of bread.


I also made some peanut butter cookies the best recipe ever from Ben's great grandma here it is:

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 C. brown sugar
1 C. White sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter softened
2 C. flour
1 1/2 tsp. soda
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 C. peanut butter

Mix all ingredients together. Drop on cookie sheet and then push down with a fork and bake at 350 for 10-11 min.

Lastly I had some rotten banana's to use up so the kids and I made some chocolate chip banana muffins from Tammy's recipes.com. Very moist and yummy these are my kids favorite.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
3 ripe bananas (the riper the better!!)
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. In large bowl, combine dry flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

2. In medium sized bowl, beat egg. Add banana and mash thoroughly, using a potato masher. Stir in Miracle Whip. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

3. Fill paper-lined muffin tins 3/4 full; sprinkle tops with chocolate chips. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until muffin tests done with toothpick. Allow muffins to cool 5 minutes in the pan, and then remove to wire racks to finish cooling. Store loosely covered to help prevent stickyness! :)

To get pic's of these and more reviews go here.

Also, head on over to money saving mom for more great recipes and to see what others made.

Pictures of the kids...

This pictures are actually a few months old just haven't unloaded my camera for awhile. The above picture is a b-ball tournament Lucas did with three of his buddies. They won first place so they all got a trophy. Don't the kids look thrilled us moms wanted pictures:)

Kaleb after I highlighted his hair. I didn't do the greatest job and fixed some of it the next day but he thought it was the best. I had a left over highlight kit in my cupboard for years so I decided to use it on the boys just for fun.

Here's Roman showing off his airplane he made with lego's. It's his new favorite toy to play with not the "baby" ones he tells me but the big boy ones. It actually resembled an airplane and he played with it for hours. He might have that artistic gene that skipped Ben and I:)

The below picture is a mask that Lucas made for Roman one night when he was babysitting. I found it on my camera I'm not sure who took it but that's why it's so blurry. I thought the mask was really cute it's Roman's favorite costume. Watch out for those biggggg muscles!!