I need a vacation from my summer vacation!

It was another busy week around here!

Monday had me planning for next year's school year for a senior, a sophomore and an 8th and a 6th grader and balancing our check book.

Tuesday I did nothing but sleep off a 24 hr. stomach flu bug! Blahh!

Wednesday had me doing leftover 'school' with my high-schoolers, making BBQ pizza (thanks Pioneer Woman) that left my boys just about speechless. Next, it was taking them to worship band practice. That night I helped in Youth and the praise and worship was incredible! Then it was off to the movies with the whole group to see Despicable Me. I got a kick out of hearing all the girls in the theater say "AWWW!" at all the cute parts. I ate a very pricey box of Reese's Pieces (because the dollar store was closed) and that reminded me I just got over the flu...not good.

Thursday I taxied the boys back to church to work on a spoof they are writing for a Youth video and then Zac had drama practice. He also had a doctor's appointment for a beastly cough that has spread to all our boys. At some point I know I went grocery shopping because we have food in our house! ; )

Friday morning I cleaned like crazy and then had company. Zac had a friend over to help him organize the paper work for getting his Gold Medal of Achievement. At the same time, I had the former treasure of our homeschool group over and the future treasure over for a training meeting. We worked on teaching the new treasurer the ends and outs. The group will be in awesome hands. Then Joy and I raced out the door to do some babysitting for a friend. -It was fun to have a break from teens and hang with the pre-K crowd for awhile! LOL But I was quickly reminded that that crowd wears you out quick. : ) Joy and I headed to Sonic afterwards!

Saturday has had me shopping, doing lots of laundry and more shopping...because Zac's FINE ARTS team is headed to Nationals in Detroit at 4:30 AM tomorrow! Hubby has been doing some home projects and is about to make us all go outside in the heat and play some family whiffle ball. (I love that guy!) -Oh, he's calling us! Gotta go do some sweating and then... more shopping. And hopefully a date night with that guy later, because I could use a vacation from my summer vacation! : )

~Becky

Week of fun!

As I mentioned, my best friend and her kids came to visit last week and here is a list of some of the fun things we did:

-VBS every night. All of us were workers except Andrew and Joel. It had a Toy Story theme and the costumes were amazing!!! I have to repeat that! The costumes were amazing!

-Whiffle ball in the park and a visit to a landmark ice cream stand (but I'm not so sure it was worth the price)

-Fun on the trampoline with ice, bubble bath and the hose

-The beach!!!!

We take a picture in this spot every time they visit. Someday, I'll be able to make an album of these photos and see all the fun changes in the kids as they've grown up

-A drive-in movie at 11:00 pm. My hubby didn't join us because 4:45 am comes really early! (my kids tell me I'm more adventurous when she comes to visit and I'd say this proves it. lol) -We ended up being the only ones there! Lots of fun!

-Slept in! Due to that movie that didn't end until 1:00 am!!! : )

-Some window shopping in downtown and candy buying.




-A river walk in downtown but it was too beastly hot. -I obviously thought of that idea while sitting in the a/c. : )

-Made those yummy mozzarella sticks

-And then before we knew it, it was time to say good-bye!

I have one very, sweet, brave friend and I feel very blessed that she and her kiddos came all that way to see us! : ) Have I mentioned she drove was 18 hours without her hubby!!! I'm seriously not that adventurous. But I wish I was. Her hubby was ministering at a camp all week and so he wasn't with them.

Our next visit will be at their house in just a couple weeks!!! Yippee!

~Becky

Guys and Home Depot

It has been a quiet day around our house after a crazy, fun week of company and VBS!
My hubby and I decided to run errands together today since we didn't see each other much. (he only came to the last night of VBS) So, it was not exactly a date, but still fun to be together.

One of our stops was the Home Depot. Apparently, my hubby likes it in there because after we got our items, I was totally ready to head to the check out. (those guys in the plumbing aisle were in need of a shower!)

He said:
"You are ready to go?! But this is Home Depot, Babe! It is like Borders to a guy!"
LOL!
I guess he wanted to linger awhile longer. : )

~Becky

Real men

We have a house full of company! My best friend and her kids (who drove 18 hrs. at the spur of the moment) are here visiting us and we are having a great time together as always.

My friend's son, Joel (10) and our son, Andrew (11) have come up with 'real men challenges' for themselves. If they complete them, then they will be 'real men.' They say they have to complete 10 of them to "become GENTLEMEN!" : )

How cute is that!?

Their list of challenges so far:

1. Fast for 24 hrs so they can eat the Baconator value meal at W*ndys! (that fasting part, only lasted about 15 min) LOL! They happily completed that challenge last night.

2. Do 10 things they don't want to do that will bless someone else. (Amen!)
-Joel's sister has volunteered to let him do all her chores when they get home. ; )

3. Wear pink to a party
They crack us up. LOL!

Numberes 4-10 have yet to be thought of. : )
I'll keep you posted though.

~Becky

A unexpected blessing!

Yesterday, my dearest friend called from Chicago. She is there visiting her mom. Guess what? She decided to drive 18 hours down to FL to spend a few days with us!!!! Hooray!!!
She's so brave. She hasn't slept a wink since she called and has been driving all night. (I could never do that!)
She and her kids will be here any minute now!
AND, I also get to see her in CA in a couple of weeks too. Yay!
What a blessing! I'm so excited!
They were here for VBS last year, and now they'll be here to enjoy all the crazy fun again!

~Becky

A couple of my favorite things...

Somebody loves me!!!



~Becky

Evening devotions

So, at our house, evening devotions have been hard to pull off.

~Unless it is Christmastime when our devos include snacks on china plates by candle light, then we have lots of happy participants...the rest of the year it is not so easy.

My hubby came up with a new plan and it includes doing the devos right after dinner since we are already together which is much easier than trying to round everybody up again around 9:00 pm like we used to try and do.

And the new plan has the kids giving the devotions from now on!

My hubby came up with 5 topics that they can do them on. They choose one topic out of a hat at the beginning of each week. Each of the kids is assigned a certain night of the week to give their devo. (and we skip Sun, Wed and Sat)

The devos can be anywhere from 2 minutes to 15 minutes and must include at least one scripture. (Dad is easy to please)

The topics are:

Jesus, (using scripture taken from a gospel)

Wisdom, (scripture from one of the Proverbs)

Theology (Answering a question like one of these: What is the sovereignty of God? Why did God create man? If God is love why is there so much suffering in the world?)

Doctrine (Lord's supper,, giving, elders, deacons, covetousness, salvation etc)

or there is what Dad calls 'the Wild Card option', (hubby loves options)

which is sharing with us something that God is showing them in their own personal time with Him.

It is has been a pleasure for us to hear their hearts and to see what God is leading them to share. I love the new plan. No major complaints from the kiddos either and if you have teens you know that is pretty amazing. Must be a God thing! : )

~Becky

Random summer news

So far our summer looks a lot like our school year...Our high school students are still finishing up some subjects and so some sort of 'school' is going on around here every day.

We are excited for our Teen Bible Quiz friends. The national competition was held last week in MI and Nathan's former teammates became the national champions! Whoo-hoo! An amazing accomplishment for a three year old team. Those girls are amazing! Nathan and I had fun streaming the winning match online.

We went to a quinceanera last night for one of Zac's best friends. I have no idea how to spell it or say it but it is a birthday party for a 15 yr. old Spanish girl and in that culture it is a big deal! Think wedding! Kind of glad for my budget's sake that we aren't Spanish! : ) We had lots of fun. -Love those kids in our youth group!

We have VBS next week. Just thinking about it makes me sure I need a nap. LOL It is sure to be extremely fun and exhausting. : ) Always love all the fellowship!

The week after VBS, Zac's fine arts drama team leaves for their national competition in Detroit for a week. And all the parents say "Detroit?!?!" Yes, we know. Lots of crime! Not sure why it is being held there but it is going to be awesome and I wish I was going. Last year's nationals was held in Orlando, (lucky for us) and it was an incredible experience.

A couple days after Zac gets back we will take our trip to California to see our family and friends and we can't wait!!! That will be the highlight of the summer! We are making plans and getting excited. My hubby has to stay home and work. Which would make me sad except for the fact that having work, when you are in the new construction business in Florida right now, is a miracle. So, I'm going to be thankful instead.
Four days after we get back, school will start. Wow!!! Hard to believe it is right around the corner.

I wonder why if it is summer and I'm suppose to have so much more free time, why I don't have time to clean my house! It is a mystery... : )

We have a new plan for evening family devotionals that my hubby came up with that is blessing our socks off. The kids are giving the devos! I'll share more on that another day.

Hope you are having a great summer!

~Becky

This weekend I....

-watched too much LOST

-stayed inside because it hasn't stopped raining for days

-enjoyed an awesome worship service

-went to a fun 4th of July party and ate too much

-watched all the kids shoot off fireworks and did my share of praying for safety

-enjoyed a nice breakfast made by my hubby and Andrew

-helped my hubby unveil our new plan for nightly devotions with our kids (who will lead them now)

-watched more LOST

-went for a drive to the beach and walked around the shops at the pier

-made pizza dough for everyone and they made their own pizzas for dinner

Join the fun and post about your weekend with Becky at The Keys to the Cottage!

~Becky

The day finally came!

After saving up:
part of his Christmas money, all of his birthday money, dog-sitting for a neighbor AND selling his DS Lite with 5 games on Craig's list...

Andrew was able to buy a new ELECTRIC GUITAR today!

Hooray! Six months of waiting and saving isn't easy for a guy who is 11 and it is quite an accomplishment! I'd say he's a real musician! : )

I don't know a thing about electric or acoustic guitars but I know that Andrew and Dad have been talking about humbuckers, and HSS's, Fender Strats, Mexican Strats, sunbursts and a whole lot of other things in earnest for hours almost daily. They are really cute. I just smile and nod.
And I'm not sure who is MORE excited today, Andrew or Dad.

-Have I mentioned my hubby's motto? It is 'You can never own too many guitars' and thanks to my parents he has the t-shirt to prove it. LOL (in this room alone, I can see 5 of them)


So, there are two happy guitarists around here who are going to jam all weekend, I'm sure.


~Proud of you, Andrew! That took a lot of self control and patience. So, glad the Lord blessed you with a great deal and a beautiful guitar! : ) Love ya!

Becky

The absentee blogger returns!

We spent last week missing our 2nd oldest son who was at camp in TX. It was a great experience for him and he had a lot of fun. I worried the entire day that he was flying home, since we couldn't reach him by cell phone during either of his two lay-overs.
So, I was one happy, relieved, teary-eyed mom when he got off the airport tram and gave me a big hug. : )

We found Joy a nice, real wood, roll top desk at a yard sale. My hubby refinished the ladder back chair that came with it and once we polished the desk, it looked great. (only $15.00 and she chipped in part of that!)

We've been playing lots of Scrabble.

Our kids have discovered Leave it to Beaver! Too funny! They LOVE it.
(I guess they could've discovered it sooner but we don't have cable)
I always get a kick out of June as she even wears a dress and jewelry to clean. She and I had the same vacuum, until recently. LOL!!!

I taught Joy and Andrew how to make the mozzarella sticks. I wasn't around when they made them for the first time but I heard A LOT about how they didn't turn out right and melted into cheesy puddles of grease. Then they watched me make them again and decided that it was all because they left out the parsley! -LOL! That is our new family joke, anyway. : )

I had another couponing lesson with two very sweet ladies who are fun to hang out with. And my new favorite word is "overage." Yes, indeed. Those are just too much fun! They mapped out a plan for me and gave me some more coupons and I gave it a try today. I got 9 things of dental floss for free and the had an overage of 3 cents each. (= 27 cents) I bought a dog collar for a dog I don't happen to own and had an overage of $2.00 that helped pay for something else in my cart that I didn't have a coupon for. (and I can give the collar to my neighbor) I also stocked up on hot dogs which turned out to be good brand for only be a dollar a pack and nice toothbrushes that were not even close to a dollar a piece. -I promise not to bore you with my future deals but this was my first time and I'm just a little bit EXCITED!!! Couponing here I come!

My boys are enjoying being in the worship band in our church's youth group. Last night was amazing!!! -I love my drummer and my synth player. I'm so glad that they get to experience the presence of the Lord as He touches and changes teens lives.

I'm off to make brownies...
Have a wonderful holiday weekend!
~Becky