Loving Moments With The Boys

Playing games on dad's phone while laying on his back.

Shaving with dad.

He hates posing for pictures!

Can you tell?

Mommy using the camera to entertain Dan.

Hugs with dad.

Summer Slave Driver

School is out!!

Summer is starting for our family,

much to my dismay.

I kind of feel guilty for not enjoying

this time with my kids...

but what can I say.

It's a hard.

And completely wears on my patience.

So to keep some control on my 5 rowdy kids

I give you...

(drum roll please)

SUMMER JOBS!!

Each child, no matter their age which ranges from

10-2 in our house,

they have a job.

If they want to leave the house and do something

fun this summer, then this is the bare minimum

that has to be done.

(but don't you fret, there is a scheduled school time after lunch

to keep up on those math skills)

But there are also times when the kids get a little

out of hand.

And at that point they have to pick a "naughty stick".

These are BIG chores that take some time.

Hopefully it takes enough time and energy to behave.

This year is the first year I am instituting the journal writing.

A few of my kids have had a tough time with spelling

and being creative.

So hopefully this will inspire them.

And after hunting through a few websites these are the

journal prompts I am using.

What benefits do you receive when you help someone else?

If you could set a world record, what would it be for?  Why?

What is the best way to make new friends?

What is your favorite sport?  Are you good at it?

Create your own holiday.  What would you celebrate?  How could you get others to join in the fun?

Would you rather hang out by yourself after school or with friends?

If you could end any one problem in the world, what would it be?  Why?

What does it feel like to be wrong?

Imagine taking a trip on a hot air balloon.  Where would you go?

Who was the first friend you ever made?  Why do you two get along?

What would be the worst job to have?  Why?

What is your greatest wish?  Do you think it will ever come true?

Write about a person whom you’d like to be like someday.  What is special about this person?

If you were in the circus, what role would you have?

If you were a toy, what kind would you be?  Why?

How is your life different today than when your parents were kids?

What is the most valuable thing you own?  Why is it so special?

What is the most important quality for the President of the United States to have?

What is the coolest family trip you ever went on?  What was the most memorable part?

Are you good at remembering to do your chores and your homework?  How do you remember things?

Write about a time when you were afraid of something.  How did you conquer your fear?

Write about your grandparents.

Do you believe time travel is possible?

What is the coolest type of technological device available today?  What do you like about it?

Write about your bedroom.  What’s in it?  

What is it that makes you happy?

Would you rather dance or sing?  What type of performances do you like to give?

Write about a time when you were trusted to do something important.  How did you handle it?

What is the best party you ever went to?  What made it so special?

What is the hardest thing you’ve ever had to do?  How did you accomplish it?

Do you have a hobby?

What do you like about school? What don't you like about school?

If you could live on any planet, what would you pick?

What nicknames does your family have for you? Where did they come from?

Have you ever been blamed for something you didn't do?

List 5 things that make you happy.

Do you have a favorite place? Tell me about it.

If you could live any where in the world, where would you pick?

Who is your best friend? What do you like about them?

If you could meet any character from a book, who would it be?

What do you like to day dream about?

What is your favorite season of the year?

What was your first day of school like this past year?

What is the silliest thing you've ever done?

Did you have a special toy when you were a baby? Tell about it.

Would you like to play a musical instrument? Which one?

What would be your favorite meal of all time?

What kind of job would you like when you grow up?

What is the bravest thing you have ever done?

If someone gave you a million dollars, what would you do with it?

Who has been your favorite teacher and why?

What is your favorite game to play and why?

What is your favorite song?

Write about something that makes you crazy?

What are the rules in your family? What happens when you break one?

What has been the happiest day in your life so far?

What has been the sadest day in your life so far?

Write down your testimony of the gospel.

Tell about your dads job.

What does your mom do for you?

Tell about your brothers and sisters.

Would you like to be an only child?

If you could have a pet, what would it be?

List 5 things you would like to do this year.

List 5 things you would like to do as an adult.

If you could make the best dessert in the world, what would it be?

Where is your favorite place to eat out?

What is your favorite and least favorite veggietable?

Have you ever dones service for someone else?

Tell about a family tradition.

What is your favorite holiday? Why?

What is your favoirte sport to play?

Who is your hero?

Have you ever been sick or in the hospital? What happened?

What is your favoirte book? Who wrote it? What is it about?

What state do you live in? What is cool about it?

Name 3 special things about yourself.

What are your favoirte things to do during the summer?

What are your favoirte things to do during the winter?

Who do you look most like in your family?

Could you live without a tv in your house?

What kinds of games do you play with your friends?

Homemade Laundry Soap Recipe

After 4 years of using the recipe for making homemade laundry detergent that I got from the Duggar Family and sharing it with many friends, I realized the full recipe was NOT on my blog!!  Shameful!!  So here it is...

Great for cheap laundry soap and for skin allergies.

Ingredients:

5 gallon painters bucket with lid

very long spoon

Fels-Naptha laundry bar soap (change to ivory bar soap for extra sensitive skin)

Borax (or oxy-clean)

Arm&Hammer Washing Soda  (not baking soda)

(optional: If you want a scent, add drops of essential oils)

 

Fill pot with about 6 cups of water and bring to boil.  Then drop to medium heat.  Using a cheese grader or food processor and grade the laundry bar.  

Add laundry bar slivers into hot water on stove.  Stir until soap is completely dissolved.  It takes about 5 mins.  Stir every once in awhile.

While soap is melting, add 1/2 a bucket full with HOT tap water.  Add 1 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of Borax.  Stir until dissolved.

Add pot of water with dissolved laundry bar soap into bucket.  Stir.  Add more HOT tap water until about an inch or so from the top of the bucket.  Stir.  Add lid.  Let sit for 24hrs.

Soap will be a thick geletin consistancy.  Stir with long spoon until loosened.  Stir occasionally before using.

Spring Is Here

It's not spring until my mantle says it's spring!

I finally got around to making the mantle

 "JUST PERFECT" for the new season.

  I spruced up a jar with some paint to make the

 perfect colored vase for the flowers. 

And used Sydney's beautiful present from Mother's Day

 with the Family Rules plaque.  

Then I traced and painted our own

 family "R" to balance it out!

And it's not spring until soccer season is over

and we can finally do our traditional

6 month carpet cleaning!

Don't laugh!

With 5 kids cleaning the carpets every

6 months is a serious MUST!!

Ben Writes About Mom

Ben came home from school

with some special notes written

about Rachel.

Translation:

Why I Love My Mom, Rachel

1.  She is nice.

2.  She is cool.

3.  She sits on me.

4.  She takes me to Sweet Frog.

5.  She is a good party maker.

6.  She is a good driver.

7.  She is great.

8.  She helps me.

9.  She is awesome.

Translation:

"Brainstorm- My Mom"

My moms name is Rachel.  She is weird.

She has brown hair.  Her skin color is peach.

She play soccer when she was a teenager.

Nothing better in life then seeing yourself through

the eyes of your 6 year old!

My 10th Mother's Day

My mother's day was filled with love, presents, food

and family!

Daddy and the kids brought me eggs and toast in bed.

Then brought me a bucket full of goodies.

Like candles, lotion, bubbles, frame, cards, pictures, etc..

A bless Larry for taking of the kids and me all day long!

Dinner of carnitas & cole slaw with

blue bell butter pecan was to DIE FOR!

Couples Group Date

Do you remember these books?

Where you could pick how the book would go?

We are lucky to have some fun couples that love to 

different things for date nights and found

this great idea from a "couples group dating"

website called Dating Divas.

So one Saturday night 3 couples got

together to Choose Our Own Adventure!

Larry and I

Spencer and Tammy

Alfer and Camille

To start the men were handed envelopes with poems in them.

They had to solve the poem that was a clue to different

restaurants to eat at.

Then they chose "sCRUMBScious" as our dinner for the night.

Tammy handed out more slips of paper to each of us.

They told us funny things to do while we drove in the car.

Like honk and wave to a stranger.

Find a out of state license and shout at them

"welcome to TEXAS ya'll"!!

During dinner there were more slips telling us different 

experiences to share or funny things to say or do.

Larry had to do 1 verse of the hokey pokey.

I had to answer the waiter when asked if I liked

my meal..."this is the best night of my life!"

After dinner the girls were give envelopes

with poems that gave us clues to our next stop.

We choose playing "walmart bingo".

We split into 2 groups Boys vs. Girls.

And to prove that we found one of the squares

a picture had to be taken with one of the

players in it.

THE GIRLS FOUND...

Someone with sunglasses on?

CHECK! 

A person wearing camo?

CHECK 

A kid playing in the toy aisle?

CHECK

A couple flirting?

CHECK

THE BOYS FOUND....

A child playing with toys?

CHECK

A couple wearing matching shirts?

CHECK

Someone wearing overalls?

CHECK

We had such a fun night.

We were laughing so hard at all the pictures,

we ended up calling it a night

before we got in trouble!! 

The Pool Is Open

As of May 1st our community pool opened!

And with the days getting warmer

the kids were DESPERATE

to go.

I tried to tell them that the pool would

still be cool but...there was no stopping them!

Dan

Keira

Emma

Sydney

Ben

Me

Finally the kids are all old enough to wear 

the safety gear without my help!!

Inspired Relief Society Lesson

I was recently sent a link to this clip from youtube from a famous mormon singer and motivational speaker Hilary Weeks.  She speaks about how our positive and negative thoughts can affect us in our daily lives.  I used this clip during a lesson on Sunday during church to all the women and then spoke about the importance of letting positive things rule our thoughts and let the Lord help with those negative things that weigh us down.

RS Birthday Party

With Rachel's calling at church she is in

charge of the activities for the women.

For march she helped organize and

performed in a contemporary rendition

of the 10 virgins!

Happy Birthday Relief Society

Boy Baby Shower

Rachel loves to host parties.

This time it was a baby shower for a boy.

She couldn't pass up making the mantel

into a showcase!

No Kids Allowed Vacation

Where did mom and dad go?

San Antonio!

We found a sitter for the kids and left for 3 days!

It was bliss.

Larry had a CLE to attend so we took

advantage of the "reimbursement"

and ran off by ourselves!

We spent evenings walking the riverwalk

and eating some delicious food.

I spent many hours "resting"

in our fabulous hotel room.

It was under construction

which gave a great discount!

Rachel's Breakfast!

At lunch Rachel would wait in the lobby

for Larry to sneak off for 

some time together before he

had to be back.