Household helpers.....

I found a book awhile ago titled "the Naturally Clean Home". It is filled with formulas for making green cleaning products. I decided I would share a few every week. Let me know how they work!

Toilet Bowl Cleaner:
1/2 cup baking soda
1/4 cup white vinegar
10 drops tea tree essential oil
** Combine all ingredients.  Just add to the bowl, swipe with a brush, and you're done.

Fabric Softener:
1 gallon vinegar
20 drops lavender essential oil
** Add the lavendar oil to the vinegar right in the container and you're done!  Shake well before using.  For a large load, add 1 cup during the rinse cycle; use 1/2 cup for smaller loads.

Hope these work for you.  Not only are they "green", but they're "cheap" to make as well......

Whew!!

Well, the first round of progress reports came out yesterday and as you can probably imagine nerves were high.  Ok well really MY nerves were high because you know I really didn't feel like laying the smack-down on anyone.  Luckily for me (or the teens your choice) everyone had a pretty great report.  The only one that I'm not sure of is Day-Day aka Damien since he assures me that his teacher was having technical difficulities in printing out reports.  I told him I would let him have a 24-hour reprieve!  So far the grade count is 9 A's and 8 B's.  Overall a great tally for four teenagers!  Oh and Adam I believe has a lot of S's across the board in his VPK class!  Great job everyone!

Splish splash I was taking a bath......

Tonight Adam decided without any prodding from Mom to hop into the bathtub and get a bath.  What I didn't realize was that he was planning on dumping the rest of his Lightning McQueen bubble bath in there with him!  Two hundred gallons of bubbles later he was having the time of his life blowing bubbles all over the bathroom when from behind me I could hear the pitter patter of little feet running across the floor and I don't mean one of his siblings.  It seems Bindi had found a halfway closed door and took advantage of it and the next thing Adam knew he had a blue heeler puppy making a flying leap into the middle of his bubble mountain!  I don't know who was more shocked, Adam because he ended up with a canine companion or Bindi because I don't think she was counting on a bathtub full of bubbles!

Sunday Sermons

     Lately our Pastor has been preaching from the book of Matthew on Sunday mornings. He has really been hitting home runs with his sermons lately or as my Husband says, "Shucking the corn".
     Today he preached out of Matthew chapter 9 verses 13-17. Some good points that he made are the fact that we need to stop being casual Christians and come to Church expecting a movement from God. Too often we don't expect that because the Churches are becoming more of a social get together. He talked about Preachers needing to preach the word of God without worrying whether or not Mrs. Smith in the back pew is going to get perturbed because it's 12:05 and her pot roast will be done in 10 minutes!
     What would happen if we stopped being satisfied with following our order of service printed every morning in the bulletin? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we just let God move and have his way? I want to get up on Sunday morning energized to get to Church not because of being able to chat and catch up with friends about their week but because I am excited to get into the worship and being fed spiritually and hopefully being an encouragement to others.  Let's stop being religious and get back to what God saved us for in the first place - a relationship with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.  Let's be real! 

Hey Dad Remember When?

Have you ever thought that when you were having a conversation with your young child that they either weren't listening or just didn't get the conversation in general?  Well the other day Ana was having a conversation with Adam about school.  They were talking about the High School and how right now Adam's 3 older siblings go there.  Ana then told Adam that not too far down the road the High School would be his school and he would go there.  She then even went one step further trying to make sure that she truly brought the conversation down to a level he could understand when she told him that "Even Daddy used to go to that school.....".  If she had any doubts about whether he was listening I think his response confirmed to her that he was.  Without missing a beat he responded, "You mean when my Daddy still had hair?". 

Blue Springs

Another trip we did this summer was a family picnic at Blue Springs located in Lee, Florida.  This was something that my Mother-In-Law had been wanting to plan since we did the same a few years ago.  A lot of family on both sides was able to attend including several from out of state and it made for a great day out.  If you have ever been there you know that there is about a 15 foot jump off of a wooden ledge into the springhead below.  Would you believe that little 4 year old Adam took a flying leap right off the edge into the water below without a moment's hesitation!  Overall it was a great day even when a thunderstorm decided to end everyone's swimming early for the day.  Kudos to Papaw, Uncle Steve, and Pop for the grilling and for everyone bringing all the good yummies to go along with the great burgers and hot dogs!  We can't wait until next year!

Beach trip.....

Well, I know I'm several months late but I wanted to share some photos from our beach trip this summer to St. Augustine.  Having a family of seven you just can't pack up and spend several days at a hotel and expect to have a very economical vacation.  So, this past Spring we decided to take the plunge and purchase a camper.  For our first real outing, we decided to try the North Beach Camp Resort located in St. Augustine.  It's a great campground located directly across A1A from the beach and nestled right in between the Atlantic to the east, and the Intracoastal waterway to the west.  Everyone especially enjoyed the 5 minute walk to the ocean everyday!  We bought a couple of wave boards and everyone had a blast including Adam.  I think the girls thought the most exciting part was that they got to watch 3 weddings right on the beach!  I think Damien and Adam might have agreed that the trip to CiCi's pizza was tops.  Overall our first real outing was a blast.  The only downside was that Jacob decided to stay behind so he was truly missed!

Carpenter in training......

Recently Adam has discovered a wonderful program held on Saturdays at Lowe's.  It's called the Build and Grow program and it's great for a morning out for Dad's and their little guys or gals or if you're like me Mom's have fun too!  Last week Adam went and the girls and I tagged along.  He had a great time building a school bus complete with a secret compartment to hide those little trinkets that only a 4 year old could find priceless.  Adam was proud to leave not only with his finished project, but also his very own Build and Grow apron.  Well of course this past Saturday Adam had lined up his Dad to take him this time.  Yes, of course I tagged along as well!  Unfortunately, Adam was disappointed that they were not having the clinic that day but perked up when Dad bought him his very own Build and Grow kit to take home!  So, I got the distinct pleasure of watching a very private building class going on in our living room and decided to take a few pics.  Of course Adam thought the finished project needed a little "sprucing" up with his markers and I have to agree it made it a one of a kind racecar!

What a line.....

It's entertaining enough living in the house with 5 kids but it makes it even more interesting when one is 10 years younger than the next oldest.  Of course I'm talking about none other than my little guy Adam. 
     John and I were laying in bed the other night watching t.v. when I noticed that the door to our bathroom opened and there stood Adam looking absolutely adorable in his tighty whities.  Now mind you, this sight alone was just too adorable for words but what happened next just fast-forwarded the moment to hilarious.  The next thing I knew, he was standing there holding up both hands and promptly announced, "It's OK!".  Well, of course I IMMEDIATELY sat upright.  I mean really, when a 4 year old comes into your room and makes that announcement wouldn't you go from calm to panic in an instant?!  Being the Mom I asked, "What happened?!", to which again he stated, "It's OK!" with this "I've got this covered" look on his face.  I noticed that he was kind of standing on only one foot with the other one just touching the floor with his toes.  Well, it was at that moment that I noticed that trail of white foot-prints leading out my bathroom and into the breakfast room.  Adam must have read the look on my face and he immediately explained to me that somehow he managed to knock the gallon of Kilz primer over and the top came off.  Luckily it was latex and not oil and was a pretty easy clean up.  Ah the joys of parenthood!  Did I mention that it's the most rewarding job a person could ever have?

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