G is 11!!

I can hardly believe that our little girl is 11?!!! I still remember the raw emotion of hearing the doctor say,"It's a girl" and the utter joy to be experiencing pink bows and lace in the midst of our Tonka trucks and mud!! G is becoming a young lady and I feel so blessed to be her mom. We hosted a "Minute to Win It" themed party for G---what a blast it was! Mimi also hosted a gathering at her home and Grandmom and Pop-Pop B joined us...what a fun day we had together. So thankful to be a mom to this brood :)

G with her 2 sets of godly grandparents...how blessed we are!

Mimi and G with her piano cake creation~

G had such fun picking out party favors, and Mimi surprised her with handmade 'snap purses' for each of the girls

Dizzy Mummy game~The girls had to wrap themselves in a roll of toilet paper without ripping it...harder than it sounds!

"Face the Cookie" This game is a hoot...the girls have to get the cookie to their mouth without use of any other body parts...they have to move their heads and facial muscles to get the cookie into their mouth...some girls got close but no one was quite able to do it ...the best part? eating the cookie of course!

"Junk in the trunk"--the girls had to bounce 8 ping pong balls out of the tissue box attached to their waist.

"Hanky Panky" Each girl had to empty a tissue box as fast as they could with one hand...the dust was amazing especially when after the boxes were emptied, they tossed the mess of tissues into the air!

It killed me to waste all these tissues so I saved them in a trash bag and have been shoving handfuls of mangled tissues in our tissue boxes around the house for over a month now with no end in sight! My wise hubby told me to put the bag in the garage...he'll use them for clean up with oil changes. We are all relieved to have neat tissue boxes again :)

It was a fun night...I'm so grateful G is growing up with so many sweet friends!

Just after this picture was taken, the majority of the girls piled into our huge van and I taxied them all home...believe me the party continued until the last girl was dropped home!

Celebrating Daddy's birthday

In March we celebrated my hubby's birthday with a visit from Grandmom and Pop-Pop B. I am so grateful for my husband's diligent example in our home, for how faithfully provides for us, and for his commitment to raising our children in godliness. I am a blessed woman!

Everyone got in on the preparations...peeling 10# of potatoes...to go along with the meatloaf I prepared and froze earlier in the month....the meatloaf that I thought was fully defrosted but took hours to cook all the way through! Thankfully, I have understanding inlaws who don't judge me by my cooking blunders ...it tasted great-finally!

The floor and cabinets were covered in potato peels but these guys were a huge help in getting the job done!!

Pop Pop has taught Odesco how to play a mean game of checkers.... they always have a match during their visits and Pop-Pop usually wins:)

Mercy had the grand idea to get Daddy a new shredder-yeah, I know, sort of like getting a vacuum as an anniversary gift BUT, my hubby truly appreciates these kinds of gifts...we use shredded paper to start our wood burning stove and our old one bit the dust. She was so proud of her practical and useful gift idea!

Mercy and Odesco in their glory... singing "The Red River Valley" as G accompanied on the piano...

Even Pop-Pop got into the song...it was hysterical listening to them all!

Let's just say, they (Mercy and Odesco) could use a little practice--Daddy and Pop-Pop sounded pretty good! :) P and C seriously wear these headphones throughout the day in order to get their schoolwork done in peace (well, maybe not peace but at least the decibel level is dimmed a bit! )

The gang :)

Catching up...

We have been changing things around on our computer and until yesterday, I was unable to access any of my photos. Since this is a family archive that I hope to print out for everyone one day (in my spare time :), I need to play catch up and post a ton of happenings. These are a conglomeration of pictures taken at various times...

PEACE :)
We were studying the 60's movement and I convinced some of the kiddos to dress up for a coop I was teaching to the older students. Mercy certainly looked authentic, don't you think? They came into the class handing out flowers and peace necklaces ...

G actually made this skirt with Mimi...cool, huh?

Mod Squad flashbacks?

Odesco sure looks like a cool dude...but he bailed on me at the last minute and did not dress up for the class~ I can't blame him...there were other kids there playing ball outside!

Then there was the bin of costumes loaned to us for our annual Summation event...can you guess who Scooby Doo is??

These 2 were hysterical in these costumes!

The theme for this year's Summation/youth-parent banquet was Disney...
C is surely secure in his manliness and came as Piglet!!

Hundred Acre Wood Buddies....Mimi rescued us once again with costume help after we hit the thriftstores!

My handsome man in the mirror!

Mimi created my costume as well!

Totally unplanned, my old college buddy showed up as the evil witch!
I was awed at the creativity displayed at this event...the decorations, the themed food, the creative skits and the costumes were just amazing!!

Thanks for checking in on this very delinquent blogger!!!

Love,
Mama B