First Day of School Pics

We have a tradition on the first day of school. Take a picture with a sign that says what grade your in and teacher. The kids love it and I don't have to remember which picture is fromt he first day! Some years they make it on their own, but this year the first day snuck up on us and I made then quick the night before.

It has been 2 weeks now, and they all like their teachers and schedules. Andrew's football has started, but soccer for the other 3 hasn't yet. We are enjoying some time together on the weekends, before soccer craziness begins.

Joe takes each of the kids out for breakfast wherever they want to go- date like. Joe loves a big breakfast- me, not so much. Ask my brother, I used to sneak Chocolate ice cream for breakfast. mmm, that sounds good right now!

Random happenings....

-We give our neighbor tomatoes, he gives us fresh fried bacon. hmm at 9 oclock at night. After getting home from work late, I just have a BLT right then. (Amy made dinner tonight- grilled cheese with tomato soup)



-Organic tomato soup tastes nothing like Campbells. It actually tastes like tomatoes and my kids didn't like it.



- Joe and I did not eat dinner. The kids ate a whole loaf of bread for grilled cheese- none left for us! Lots of soup left though.



-School started= sick kids. Coincidence, I think not.



- I put the "Mad about You" tv series on my netflix que. I cant wait for it to come. Helen Hunt cracks me up.



- We installed my birthday gift last night- Clearplay DVD. It filters out bad language etc. from dvd's. I think we will really like it and feel better about the kids watching movies.

- At football practice this week I saw Andrew run off into the cattails. I later asked whatt he was doing. "peeing" great.

- Did you know that if you listen to the radio for 1.5 hours during football practice in the rain your battery will be dead? I didn't either, and had to have another Dad jump the van. Thanks Ryan.

-I am really enjoying having all of the kids in school and me NOT in school. I can get a lot done and I am so much more relaxed. Maybe God is trying to tell me something-hmmm.

-I start out my day with such high hopes for my better, healthier eating. I eat oatmeal at home with fruit. I then proceed to work and find Texas sheet cake. It was from the devil, I tell you. I ate 2 pieces, it was delicious.

That is enough for now- happy Monday!

Bumper Crop

We are having a bumper crop of tomatoes this year in our garden.

A couple of factors:

1. Great weather

2. Compost Bin (really helped our soil)

3. Raised garden beds (Tia's mothers day gift)

I love tomatoes so much I ate 8 yesterday with some bacon and already have had 3 today.

yummmmy!

JB

The Family Room

I subscribe to a new online magazine called "The Family Room". You can find it here . (still can't figure out the linky thing) Anyway, very good ideas on teaching children about compassion this month- its first issue.

I would add to her ideas some things we do.

-Take young adolescent kids on a mission trip. I once heard a quote that said something like this "no one returns from a mission trip unchanged" I heartily agree. Seeing extreme poverty up close is life changing. As for the adolescent- she reminds me everyday that she wants to go back. I hope we have planted seeds, that God will grow later.

-After our trip and seeing such poverty, we now only buy fair trade coffee from the area we were at in Costa Rica. Coffee fields surround the area and are on every mountain side. cafe britt- tres Rios, www.cafebritt.com. It continues to tie us to the region and we know we are giving those farmers a fair price. (Starbucks sells a coffee from Tres Rios as well- more expensive for the name!)

- We take a bag of groceries to church each week for the food bank. When we were without a job a few years ago, I noticed some things we couldn't get help with buying: Cleaning products and toiletries. I now use coupons and sales to get these things, along with food of course, to send in. All purpose sprays, toothpaste and brushes, shampoo, feminine hygiene products etc. These things can be expensive and when all of your money (rightfully so) goes to feed your family, you are left with little extra for these items. I feel it helps keep your dignity, if you can have a clean house and kids too.

-Taking meals to those who need it. This is true even if we just have a couple extra servings of dinner left over. Elderly folks don't make big dinners anymore, its hard to cook for one or two. When working with our former church, we had Senior Lunches. We invited senior citizens in for lunch (I also took their Blood pressure). They loved the company and the food. We packaged the extras up for them to take home and delivered some of the extras to shut ins. They so appreciated it. I still get letters from some of them and it has been 8-10 years ago! Believe me, my friend(Cheryl) and I were blessed way more than the seniors!

- Being conscience of needs elsewhere and talking about it with your kids. I am the type that would rather bury my head than see the hurting all over the world. It hurts too much. Our pastor has really convicted me to take notice of these hurts. To care about the things God cares about, and teach our children about them. We sponsor a child through WorldVision.com and pray for her every night. We just got a picture of her yesterday and we all marveled at how big she has gotten, she is from Mali. We picked one that is Annie's age and her name is Ami- all easy for us to remember. Her picture hangs in our kitchen, a constant reminder to pray for her and of how good we have it here.

Long post, I know, I got on my soapbox.
I can't wait for next month-Joy. Good job Kristen!

While the boys are away.....

The girls and I have been busy. Joe and Aaron are at Notre Dame basketball camp, and Andrew talked Grandpa into keeping him for the week to fish.

We have painted Amy's new room. The girls are splitting up for the first time since Amy was quite little. Ann will be moving into the office and the office is moving into the living room/piano room. We got a great deal on a roll top desk and moved it in the room and will be putting in doors so Dad can have some privacy. Since we are moving furniture around we decided to have a garage sale with all of our extra "stuff". Nothing motivates my kids to get rid of stuff like selling it. We are using the money for a Kings Island trip next week.

School starts on Augsut 11 this year, so we don't have a lot of time left. Amazing how fast the summer just flies by.

We have something going on everyday up until then. School clothes are bought- just got the girls one new outfit and nothing for the boys. I will buy cool weather clothes later, so they don't grow out of them first. School supplies are bought. Book rental is NOT paid for. Over $500. for this brood! ughh.

baseball

Aaron's travel team of which I am the coach has finally finished their season. We were 26-16. We started in December with one night a week indoor practice until March then we started outside... First game was in April and last was July 20th.

Long season but very productive.... I think they love baseball more and they improved.

onto soccer(coaching Annie this fall), basketball(notre dame camp this week) etc...

jb

More Pictures

Amy had the hardest time getting up on the wake board and knee board, her legs were too long. Andrew and Ann hopped right up, they have such good balance. Andrew even went no handed on the wake board. No smiles from the boys while they were on them, it was all business. The girls smiled ear to ear when they had success! Thanks Schraders and Gudemans for a fun weekend we won't forget.