Exciting Photo Opportunity!

Just Sharing a great photo of Crystal and Joey that Grandma and her good friend Jane took today. Some of which may be used for an advertisement in the Tampa FL area. We shall see!!

Abigail eagerly waiting and listening to help

Weekend ReCap

What a Weekend.

All 3 kids had Friday off due to Rodeo Day, Crystal was able to go along with a group of her friends and their Grandmother. The other 2 youngest stayed home with us, Abby was over at a friends playing and Tank was staying busy. Then we had 2 of Crystals friends staying over and they stayed up late watching every scary movie they could that was not rated R on Netflicks. I tried to watch one of the movies but I simply got tired..plus I found the movie boring.

Saturday we started the day off with Chocolate pancakes that Richard made, he makes the best pancakes! We all stayed busy doing things around the house but really just relaxed. The 2 girls went home and we ended the night with the new movie "Turkeys". It was a cute movie, the 2 youngest really liked it.

Sunday, today, was a crazy day as Crystal's 2 friends came back over to work on schoolwork and eat dinner with us. I'll not say too much here but I'm saddened by the state of some families out there. Today has opened my eyes to how lucky my family is even though we are still struggling in so many ways. We will continue to do whatever we can for Crystal's friends. Thank goodness I have continued to coupon and stockpile, these girls can eat! We made homemade pizza tonight and Abigail loved helping out so much, I will def. keep her interest up in the kitchen and show her how to bake cookies next weekend!

Life is such a Journey!

Daddies and Legos

While we are soaking up the last 2 weeks of Summer we are staying up late playing and watching movies. Crystal is on the mend slowly and sleeping very late into the morning. ALL of this will of course change in 1 week, I will make everyone start going to bed on a set schedule and then I will be an Evil Mommy again..lol..

Tonight we watched an Atlas Rocket launch, It was so neat to watch and the kids were so full of questions for Daddy to answer. I miss the Shuttles, we used to watch them in school on the TV and step outside to watch it enter the atmosphere, Richard and I were just saying how we miss the huge "KABOOMS" twice and it entered/exited our atmosphere.

The night ended with Richard playing LEGOS with lil Richard. They came out of the bedroom and showed me the case for his little FM radio kit that they had put together. 

See the little guy on top holding the antenna..That's so cool!

Today I won a $25.00 gift card to a great lil boutique store here in town and I'll post pics of what Crystal and I picked out tomorrow. It was a fun Mom/Daughter outing!

Summer Time Fun!

School is out and so far no one has started to complain about how bored they are.

We had fun the other night with a Red Colander, a Flashlight and our ceiling in the living room. It was Abigail's idea and we danced!

So that's what we are doing so far, having fun and trying to enjoy this Summer while working full time, not an easy feat considering how tired I am when I get home.

This wekend was a good one, haven't had such a nice relaxing weekend in many months. I puttered and organized and have a huge pile to drop off at Goodwill. Richard was on-call so we could't travel far from the house which turned out to ne a Blessing since I got alot done. The kids played and had friends over and we had a small bonfire with S'mores...It was so hot outside but fun.

Still searching for another House but I'm decorating and organizing this one to make it more Cozy while we are still here, who knows at this point we might stay.

Have a Great week my Friends!

Wrapping Up...

We are busy wrapping up the last 2 days of school here.

Crystal has received 2 awards, 

most improved in MATH

most improved in ENGLISH

It was a complete surprise since we knew she was struggling so much and we had many a late night working with her on these subjects.

We are so Proud of her!!

The other 2 kids sadly have to be retained due to low Reading scores, My Husband and I blame it on the FL FCAT tests and am looking for school options for next year. If we can help it they will not be going back to that school next year. It has been a weekly struggle with both their teachers this year.

We are excited for Summer and fresh starts next year!

Dog Days of Summer or Don't Give Your Camera to a Bored 12 YR Old and a Video

My bored daughter took my camera for a few days and this is what I found when I downloaded the pics!

Here is a short video of Crystal playing with Coffee last Sat. night...

Hope your staying Cool in your area! July sure has flown by for us!

The Fresh Air Fund~ Can You Help?

1. Most of you know that we live on 6 acres and have a Horse, 2 dogs, and a few cats...A lil spring fed stream tht runs in the Spring/Summer and we sometimes see a stray Amish horse trot down the road.

My 3 kids run allover and explore! It's great out here and even if one day we have to move then they have great memories of our lil plot of land but to think that there are some kids that don't have this freedom, I simply can't imagine.
 Kids that have lived in the city their whole life need to enjoy this just once!

I was contacted by The Fresh Air Fund  to bring awareness to this.

I had no idea that there was a program like this and I'm so excited for these children!

Please read about this great program, Maybe we can spread cheer this Winter!

FYI~ I was asked to bring awareness to this program from Sara Wilson,
freshair.org

Practice for Real Life

This Summer Crystal was busy with 4H and volunteered at Scholl's Veterinary Clinic, Her best friend's Mom owns the office and agreed to let Crystal shadow her.

Here they are, 2 best friends ready to help in Surgery...Crystal did watch some kitties getting Spayed and it never bothered her and asked many a good question from I have been told.

Here's a lil Hamster that she is trying to bring home...UuMMM...not going to happen!!

It's been a great Summer and she learned some Science plus it has spurred her on to study hard this new year so she can do it again next Summer!