Mid-May Daybook

Outside My Window... the sun is shining beautifully, another gorgeous day. We're looking forward to enjoying it.

I'm Listening to... Diego and the chatter of my youngest three as they eat breakfast.

I'm Wearing... pink dingy t-shirt, yoga pants and my hair is pulled back into a pony tail (it is finally long enough and I sport this do often).

I'm Grateful for... the sunshine after a rainy weekend and our small group friends.

I'm Pondering...

"I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

--Psalm 16:8

Just this verse may have to be another blog post.

I'm Reading...

Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman (so good, I highly recommend it. Its one of the best parenting books I have read.)

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns (I'm rereading this one with a group of friends. We are doing a book club on it over Facebook. It is pretty neat since we are all spread out across the world.)

I'm Thinking... Thursday should be fun as Steve has taken the day off to stain our deck. My mom will be here and so I will probably help him. Redoing our deck has been a huge project for Steve. He has already spent around 13 hours on it. It will be so nice when it is finally done. Hopefully we can knock it out with two of us working on it.

I'm Creating... a plan/schedule for the summer since the kid's last day is next Wednesday. I know I have to have plan so they don't get bored and pester each other therefore driving me crazy.

Hoping and Praying... for our good friends who lost their mother (in-law) yesterday. They are in our thoughts and prayers continually.

Around the House... a bit of spring cleaning here and there. We are getting an egress window put into our basement so we can move the two oldest boys to the basement bedroom. This should give all of the boys a bit more space.

From the Kitchen... menu...done, groceries...done. Now I just have to do something with the brown/black bananas sitting in my fruit bowl.

Weekly Menu...

Sunday - Egg burritos

Monday - Roast, mashed potatoes, peas and crusty bread

Tuesday - Chicken Fajitas with fresh, homemade guacomole

Wednesday - Grilled Pork Chops, Cheesy Potatoes and brocoli

Thursday - Brats, chips and fresh fruit

Friday - Homemade Pizza or Pasties my mom is bringing

Saturday - Hot Dogs

One of my favorite things... my cup of coffee in the morning, especially when I get to drink it all.

A Few Plans for the rest of the week... all about the deck. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, we will have it mostly completed. My mom is coming tomorrow. Leah's kindergarten graduation is on Thursday as is Andrew's last Chorus concert. It is going to be a busy night.

Picture thoughts...

This is the water slide the kids came up with on a hot day last week.

Bedtime

Look what we found when we went up to bed the other night...

Apparently, Nate thought this was a better place to sleep than in his bed.

Pillows

I found this fabric at the fabric store a couple of weeks ago and I fell in love with it. When I bought it, I didn't have any idea what I would use it for. I just knew I wanted it for something. The other day, I was out walking and I noticed a couple of houses had benches on their front porches and they had decorative pillows on them. It then occurred to me, my answer was PILLOWS, for the chairs on my porch. And since I'm not the best at sewing yet, pillows would be something easy for me to do.

That afternoon, I got to work. I measured, cut and pinned. Once the kids were done with homework, I sat down at the sewing machine to do the sewing. Just as I started, Cason showed up and asked if he could help. He reminded me that grandma told him he was a better sewer than I was. How could I say no to someone with such claims. Let me say that he did an excellent job. That night I ran to the store to get the stuffing. I stuffed them that night and sewed them up tight yesterday.

This is what my porch looks like now. A bit more decorative for summer, I think. Thanks for your help, Cason. We make a great team.

St. Louis

St. Louis, Here we come!! Two vans full of us. We decided to take a road trip to St. Louis at the end of the kids Spring Break. We invited Grandma, Papa and Uncle Mark to come along. The more the merrier and a merry time we did have.

Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals play

Since it wasn't raining and the weather was perfect, our first stop was the St. Louis Zoo. We've been wanting to visit this zoo for a while now. We have heard it was really nice. It is also FREE which is a HUGE plus when you are paying for nine people wherever you go. We had a great time there and spent until dinnertime exploring and viewing all of the animals. Did I say the weather was gorgeous?

For dinner we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. It was yummy, but would have been better if one of the kids didn't get sick as we were sitting waiting for our food. :( That evening we took the kids swimming for a while. I'm sure they would all say that was their favorite part of the whole trip. Funny how kids are.

The SEVEN of them

Zoe

Taking a wee rest

Checking out of the hotel. Mind you, we only went for one night and this is what luggage looks like for nine!

After we checked out of the hotel, we did a bit of shopping at a mall close by. We had a birthday present to buy for daddy at the Apple store, his birthday was that day. We ate lunch at the mall and then headed down to the St. Louis Arch (aka The Jefferson National Monument Memorial).

We left St. Louis around five to head home. Thankfully, we beat the storms and tornados. About an hour and a half after we left, tornados hit St. Louis pretty badly. God was watching over us and we didn't run into any storms on the drive home. We all had a great time and it was fun to do the trip with Grandma, Papa and Uncle Mark.

Dad, Leah, Tristan, Anna, Grandma and Uncle Mark were the only ones brave enough to travel to the top of the Arch.

Daddy and his brown eyed girl