Vacation

This is my youngest son on the way home from vacation! I accidentally posted the pics backwards! oops!

This is "Miles the Monster"....he lives at the race track in Dover, De....known as the "Monster Mile". It is a mile long track, and they race at pretty high speeds. The race was so awesome! We were even on tv! The people and fans were so incredible...they were appropriate and considerate of our large family. LOTS of people were looking out for the kids and made kind comments. One lady even said she was sorry for swearing in front of the kids! Another lady came up and gave them all bags of chips cause they were being so good...and the man behind us told them all he couldn't believe how well behaved they were during the 5 hour race. The guy beside us was even hanging out with colton and was letting him lean on him during the race....great people. We had awesome weather...our guy stunk~ LOL

Ryan Newman's car on pit road....Go #39~~

We took them to the beach...it was chilly...but it was their first time....amazing!

And the campground where we stayed....Jellystone Park! So super cool and fun! Our cabin was right next to Yogi the Bear's cabin! How lucky for us!! We went on hayrides with Yogi, exercised with Yogi, played basketball with Yogi and much more! The kids had a blast at the park and made new friends! We did too! It was a great vacation! God protected us and provided for us....couldn't ask for more! I could go on and on with "funny stories" about silly stuff the kids did...but I would be here all day....we had that much fun!

Frugal & From the Heart

Mother's Day and Rob's birthday fall on the same day this year... :0) I have been really working hard at making things MUCH more simple and frugal around here, so I thought of some frugal gifts that come from the heart to give on these special days...

Rob's B-day:
* kids will write and sing him a song
* We will make him a chocolate mayo cake w/ peanut butter icing...his FAVORITE!
* kids will make him cards
* I will clean his car
* we will make a video having each person state reasons why we love and appreciate him...we will watch it on the computer together, saving the money on a dvd...
* we will have a cook out for mother's day and his b-day together!

Mother's Day for my mom & my MIL
* kids will make cards
* I am going to paint a small flower pot (we have it) and have kids put their fingerprints around the rim in bright colors...we will create a Mother's Day poem and put it in the pot.
* the kids will bake something
* I will take a picture of all the kids together and print, laminate and put a magnet on the back
* I am going to put scrapbook paper in a frame and print some scripture to add to it.

For my Mother's Day
( Yes, I am planing my own day as my husband has a lot on his plate right now...and it's not his "thing"...he would spend money, and I don't want anything...just my family...but the kids will want to do something...my oldest daughter will head all of this up)
*kids make cards
*clean my can
*go for a nice drive to look for deer
*make fuse-a-bead crafts
* and the cook-out

All of these things INVOLVE the kids DOING things...not just going to the store with money and picking something out. These gifts will cost us nothing...but love and thoughtfulness :0)
I am looking forward to gearing our lives toward a more simple way of living...not everything needs to come from a store to be special!