Lego Creations

This is just a post of the creations Kris has made with his legos.  Some he has created and recreated...or upgraded as he says.  Enjoy!!

Gardening

This summer we embarked on a garden journey once again.  Not knowing how fertile the ground here was we makde sure to use organic compost and planted some tomatoes and grape tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and carrots, oh and a watermelon plant. Well the zucchini hasn't done as well here as it did in IL but we have harvested a few.  It was the first time we have ever planted carrot seeds so we were all excited to see how many would come up.  Well we planted a lot but only a harvested a few.  But they sure where good! We also have a few sunflower plants growing and soon will harvest those seeds as well.  We have harvested a few grape tomatoes and one pepper.  The grape tomato plant has over 120 tomatoes that are all starting to turn red ... YAY!  My other tomato plants have 4 green ones that are still growing, they are about the size of a tennis ball right now.  I can't wait to start eating fresh organic home grown tomatoes!  My favorite!!!  :-)

Sara and I pulled her carrots.  Now we wish we had planted more.  Had no idea this is all that would come up.  Next year we will plant the whole package of seeds!

 

 

 We had a few mutant carrots but they sure did taste good!

New Tastes

So this summer has been the summer of new tastes for one of our children.  Kristofer has had oral and texture struggles since he was little.  Certain foods, tastes, smells, textures, and even the way those foods look could send him into major gagging and even at times vomiting.  Some foods I would have to cook while he was out side or at school such as hamburger.  The smell of it cooking would send him into major meltdowns.
  This summer I told him I wanted him to try something new every week. It actually started earlier but I have pushed a few things this summer I didn't think I would get him to try.  But it has paid off!  Here are just a few things he has tried this summer:

 Chocolate covered bananas with nuts.  He wasn't fan of this at all.

 Nutella on graham crackers.  LOVES IT!!!  In fact this is a huge step for him. To put something like Nutella or even peanutbutter on something other than a spoon and eat it together was a forbidden task till this summer.  He has fallen in love with it.  I am so happy about this because Nutella although has cocoa in it is made from hazelnuts and I have found a way that he can have a "sandwich" for lunch at school now.  It also made this week's picnic at the lake enjoyable for him and the other kids. :)  YAY for Nutella!

 Peaches!  His first try was tonight and he LOVED them.  The ones we had were a little bruised so that upset him but the parts I was able to cut off with no bruises he LOVED!  Oh and something about fruit you have to understand, any fruit with skin on it such as apples he always has to have the skin taken off.  So when I explained you eat the skin on peaches he was a little dismayed due to them being fuzzy but we washed them and took the fuzzies off and they were good to go.   YAY! 

Plums...NO WAY! TOO GROSS!  Just not a favorite of his but he did try it as well!  The fact that he is willing to try the new fruits is remarkable.  I am excite because everything he has tried has new and different textures, tastes and smells...very big deal!

Ah yes can not forget the pineapple.  THANK YOU SPONGE BOB!  Kris loves Sponge Bob.  Has since he was super little.  I told him if he was going to be a Sponge Bob fan then he had to try pineapple.  I know what was I thinking?!  But he tried and wasn't so sure about it.  He said he wants to try it again so that's another big step.  Now if I could only get him to eat something other than chicken strips or tenders.  Just another meat source other than chicken or bacon.  Those are literally the only two mean sources he eats.  Anyone else out there with picky eaters have some helpful suggestions?

God's Dresses

Our Bubble Princess!
This blog entry is about our princess and her prayers!

Lately I have been hearing, "Mommy I want...." a lot around our house. I have just about had enough of the diaperheads asking for all kinds of things, mostly toys but my daughter Sara has been asking for a new dress.Wanting the kids to learn something about prayer I have started telling my kids take their needs and desires to God in prayer. They are all old enough to pray and ask the Lord to supply their needs and wants according to His will. So a few days ago when Sara asked me for a new dress I told her she needed to pray that God would bless her with dresses she likes. Well she prayed :) and God supplied! God heard her prayers and blessed my daughter with 12 beautiful dresses and a beautiful winter dress coat! Not only those items, but some other wonderful things such as new shirts, ponchos, fall and winter jackets to name a few. I hung the dresses up around her room to remind her that God didn't just bless her with ONE dress but with TWELVE beautiful dresses! She was so excited! So was I! She tried each of them on and modeled for her Daddy and I!Isn't just like God to not only answer His child's prayer but do it abundantly!!! I can't thank God enough for how He has made Himself real to her but also me once again. :) His word tells us,

"And my God will supply all your needs according
to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
Phil 4:19

Last Adventures.....

...with Kaelyn and Grampy Mac took place this week. They packed up and headed back to Florida yesterday. It was a sad day for the kids and I! We have greatly enjoyed having our family here in KY. I took the kids and spent three days this week hanging out with them. Took the kids to the lake and they had a great time swimming and then headed to the house.

I hope the memories the kids made playing with their Grampy Mac will last a life time! Grampy Mac teaching Eli how to make hand birds.Whistling with Grampy Mac.

The next day we went searching for barn quilts .......and found some fun places to take pictures as well.Kids at the Memorial Park in W Liberty Ky. They loved checking out the real tank. Then we stopped in a field that had this very large boulder that the kids wanted to take pictures on. It was a very fun afternoon!

I have a bunch more pictures that I want to share here on my blog. I will be posting more as the days go by. I believe this has been one of the best summers for the kids and for me. We have had such a great time. Summer is almost over :( 3 weeks left and our new adventures will begin.

Summer Adventures

This summer has just about flown by. I can not believe that we are now in the count down till school starts. For our family this year it will be filled with all kinds of changes. Not only has our oldest, Jaron completed elementary school he is now considered a pre-teen, middle school age student. He is in those middle years where it is hard not only for him but for us. This school year we are onto a new adventure! HOME SCHOOL! Yes home school. Wow did I just really say that? Oh my word what am I thinking?! Seriously though, I have wanted to home school my kids since Jaron was a toddler. With the younger ones being so close in age it just was never something I felt I could accomplish to the best of my abilities so this year we are starting with Jaron. Although I have full confidence in the school system here we want to have a stronger influence in his life during these young preteen years. So 3 of them will be heading off to elementary school and Jaron will be home with Sean and I. But I get ahead of myself don't I!

I mean this post was suppose to be about our summer adventures...My parents, brother Ron and 3 of his kids, as well as another niece Kaelyn came up for a couple of weeks from Florida. Kaelyn stayed here in KY with my Dad as he continues to work on his wonderful cabin. Last week we were blessed to have Kaelyn come and stay with us for five days. I use to watch Kaelyn when she was younger, she was like a big sister to the kids from the time Jaron was born till we moved to IL in 2006. So having her with us was a real treat (smile)!! They all got along really well and for that I am grateful. Sara was in heaven having her older "girl" cousin here to spend time with.Yesterday we took a detour before heading out to the cabin. Along the way I found a bunch of the barn quilts but only stopped this time to take a few pictures. I do plan to head back to take pictures of the ones we missed along the way. We headed to Broken Leg Falls in Menifee Co, Ky. What a beautiful place.Kaelyn and Sara on the way down the trail to see the falls.

Sadly my camera batteries died while there so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted but here are a few I did get as well as some of the barn quilts I found along the way:Right along that line of concrete directly under that rock ledge there is a dirt path that you can walk along all the way around the falls. It wasn't moving very fast just a gentle stream that day but all the rock walls were definitely wet and slimy. The kids LOVED walking under that ledge!
My diaperheads...and Kaelyn was once part of the crew, a little older but most definitely like a daughter to me. I love this picture of them because of how the sun rests on Kristofer. He was so excited about being there. Part of the adventure of going to places like this is Kristofer's excitement. He wants to see everything as fast as he can and it doesn't matter if what and how he wants to see it is dangerous or not. This picture was taken after he had gone to look at every aspect of the area with Sean or I after him to keep him safe. The picture almost looks like an angel is sitting next to him or he is sitting on the angels lap. I know he keeps his guardian angel on guard at all times. I am thankful that God "places His angels in charge of him...us"!
This was our favorite find I believe. Kristofer and Eli were amazed that in that little hole was a small pool of water that was flowing down the rock wall. They as well as Sean and I had to put our hand in and feel the water and look inside. Had the camera batteries not died I would have figured out how to take a picture of the inside just to see if we could see where they water was coming in. The water was very cold, clear and refreshing to wipe your forehead with. The kids naturally wanted to taste it but we said, "NO WAY!"