This week Josh was on vacation and we went to Kalahari, an indoor water park resort.  We had a BLAST!  (Even though Josh was still sore from his accident and worried about his heart.)  We got to the resort around 11:oo am on Monday.  We were lucky and was able to check in to the room right away.  We ate some of the food that I had packed for us then got into our suites to head to the water park.  We played in there for awhile then decided to check out the rest of the resort.  We let the boy’s play in the arcade and Tree Top area.  We painted some pottery pieces.  Then we had dinner at one of the  restaurants in the resort.  The food was AMAZING!  Josh was really tired by this point so we headed back to the room to wind down for the night.  It was 8:30 by now and Andrew and Brayden were ready for bed too.  Well, I thought Brayden was ready for bed, but at 10:00 he was still up (while Josh and Andrew were sound asleep) so I took Caleb and Brayden down to the lobby and we got a sweet treat from the Candy Hut.  :o)

The next morning we got an early start and spent most of the day at the water park.  The Wave Pool and Cheetah Race were our favorite things.  But we also enjoyed the outside park and the Lazy River.  We had lunch outside where we ate pizza and chili cheese fries.  Also VERY good.  And played some more in the water.  For dinner we used a coupon that they gave us when we first check in.  We all shared a few appetizers this night.  Great food with a fun presentation.  I didn’t have my camera this time around and missed taking a picture of our smoking volcano in the middle of the plate and the pineapple top that had skews of shrimp and chicken strips stuck in it.  SO COOL!!!  By 9:00 pm this night we were all ready for bed.  :o)

Wednesday everyone but me sleep until after 9:00 am.  I was up and showered and packing up to leave when they started to wake up.  LOL!!!  We checked out and then went back to the water park.  We stayed there for about 2 hours and Andrew was crying while he was playing on the side, we decided it was time to wrap things up.  LOL!  We picked up our pottery, cashed in our tickets from the arcade and had a caricature of the boys done.  We got the van and drove one last time around the resort, which is HUGE!

We all had a great time and can’t seem to figure out how our time went so fast.  We are already talking about going back!!!!!

Here is a slide show of are trip…

This one is just for you Molly! 

The Child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:20

It was the activity that Caleb had been waiting for…BioColor Paint!!!

Discount School Supply sent us 7 fun colors of BioColor Paint, BioColor BioPutty Solution, and BioColor Bubble Powder that we were able to play with last night!  And play we did!!!

A little about BioColor Paint:

“BioColor^® does it all! It’s so versatile - use with fingers, brush, spatula or our paint accessories. It spreads and adheres easily to paper, plastic, wood, metal, cardboard. It shines brilliantly when dry and won’t crack or fade with age! Use for fabric painting, finger painting, sticker art and marbling projects, or make multi-colored putty! Set of 13 original colors (black, blue, brown, green, magenta, orange, red, turquoise, violet, white and yellow) plus gold and silver available (Gold and silver also sold individually and as a pair.) Fluorescent colors also available in: blue, green, magenta, orange, pink, purple, red, turquoise and yellow (sold individually or as a set) Washes off skin with ease. Sold individually or as a set. 100% safe and non-toxic. Bottles are recyclable.”

What I loved about BioColor Paint:

Again, as a mom, I have to start with the ease of clean up.  It washed off the table, the boys and the cups we used to blow the bubbles in so quickly.  Andrew had the stuff up to his arm pits and with just a little soap and water he was clean!  While blowing the bubbles Caleb had some of the Gold paint speckle his glasses, but it washed off easily as well.

This paint is so versatile!  With the same paint bottles we have done so many FUN crafts.  By just adding one more product each we have made BioPutty & Bubble Paint.  Discount School Supply also has a BioColor^® Fabric Medium, just add this medium to the paint and you can now paint on t-shirts and other fabrics!

Click here for a link to some video clips of craft ideas from DSS.

Would you like the opportunity to play with some of the GREAT products from Discount School Supply that I have been talking about during Countdown to Christmas?

Discount School Supply has offered to provide for one giveaway of some of the same art products that I have been reviewing the last few days!  They will ship directly to you a box full of goodies from them.  (Sorry, no PO Boxes)

1. Just head over to Discount School Supply web site and take a look around.  Come back and leave a comment telling me about a product {other then the ones I have reviewed} that you like.  Don’t just say “pick me” or I will have to delete your comment.  Sorry!
2. You can get a second entry if you Twitter about this giveaway!  Just leave me the link in the comments!

• It is VERY IMPORTANT that you leave a valid e-mail address so I can reach you if you win.

• All entries must be in by December 23rd.

• I will post the winners here on my blog on December 24th, Christmas Eve and send out quick e-mails to the winners.

• I know with the holidays we will all be busy.  I will give all winners until January 3 to respond and if I don’t hear from you I will pick a new winner.

• I can only ship items within the US.  Sorry!

***Have you added a post to your blog with you and your kids doing a fun Christmas activity together?  If you have and you add your link to my Mister Linky here, you will be entered for a chance to pick any prize from my giveaway list.  WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???***

First off how did Halloween become a week long celebration?  Oh, well it has been a fun week, busy, but fun!

Monday Mom and I took the boys uptown to be a part of the Halloween Parade.  Before the parade we stopped by my Mamaw’s so they could see the boys all dressed up.

Mamaw Gran with the boys

It was really cold out that night and we waited in line for the parade to start longer then the parade lasted…lol!  The parade lead into the old football field where there was a costume contest.  Afterward we had donuts and apple cider.  It was fun!

Mamaw with the Brayden & Andrew

Caleb is the scary one in black with his cousin Denny and Denny’s step brother Ehren.  Must be something with the age and wanting to be scary!

Wednesday after I got back from taking Andrew to the doctor in Toledo (all is fine with his feet by the way) we carved our pumpkin!

Thursday was a very busy day.  The boys didn’t have school (due to the funeral of Caleb’s teacher) and I had to baby-sit.  So, I had four kids underfoot while I was putting the finishing touches on costumes, making cookies to take to Brayden’s class party, and decorating the trunk for trunk or treat.

Brayden helping me make witch hat cookies

I some how got it all done and we all enjoyed ourselves at church during the big event.  (As you notice, Caleb is in a different costume each night.  He wore is scary one to the parade and his (my favorite one) Scarecrow to church.)

Today we were able to wind down the Halloween celebration with Brayden’s Classroom party.   I was the room mom for this one, so I had been busy working on it for awhile.  The other parents were great help as well and I loved being able to spend sometime with Brayden at school.  It was nice.

Brayden playing musical chairs with his classmates

Brayden with his teachers

Happy Halloween to everyone and have a great week-end!

 Another Summer has raced by!  I hope that the boys will have fond memories of the Summer of ‘08.  Here is a look back at our Summer Vacation.

Summer started with Caleb’s baseball games.

The cool weather made it feel more like football season then baseball season at those first few games.

With the sad loss of my great aunt Nellie; my uncle Glen, Brayden and I headed to WV to the funeral.  While it was not a pleasure trip, we did get some down time and Brayden enjoyed a swimming in the pool.

 and I enjoyed visiting with my family!

Strawberries came in and they were some of the best ever!

 I made strawberry jam, strawberry pies, and strawberry short cake!

  We had a VERY wet June,

  and the boys played in the puddles…

  but since then we have had very little rain.

We all had a fun week at church during VBS.

Caleb, Brayden and Andrew spent a lot of time playing in the backyard!

 July Fourth was celebrated with a picnic at the park…

 playing at the park…

 And watching fireworks!

 We took our trip to Port Clinton where we went to a water park and an African  safari park.  Here is a FUN slide show that I have been saving!

The fair kept us busy for a few days.

Margie’s visit…

and our trip to Cleveland ended our summer with a bang!

:o)

Now that you have read about our summer vacation head on over to “We are THAT Family” to read about other families summer fun and be sure to join in on the fun!

I am happy to say that I won…

Prize #8. Travel Disney Scene It: To Go ($15 value)

Thank-You Kristen!

As I said in the last post the boys and I went to VBS last week. I volunteered to be a preschool leader. It was so nice to get a bit more involved at our new church! I meet a lot of new people and I feel a bit more a part of it all now. The children raised $1000.30 to build a well in Hatti and brought in 500 food items for the churches food pantry! ~~WOW~~ There are some really wonderful things going on at that church, and I feel so blessed to be even a tiny part of it!!! Here is a short slide show from the week. Since I was the preschool leader I took more pictures of Brayden during the week. And at the little musical I took more of Caleb since Brayden had a bit stage fright and ran to us as soon as he found us in the crowd…lol!! And I was able to get some great shots of all three boys at the carnival afterward.   Click on the thumbnail below to see some more pictures of our week at VBS.

VBS 2008

OK, I am a bit behind with the whole week-end update but as I continue with all of the happenings you will see why.

Josh had the week leading up to the long week-end off from work due to a plant shutdown. They have had a week shutdown now every month since March and have two more planned in June and July. Thank goodness for income tax returns, to help cushion unemployment checks. :o)

Saturday was a beautiful day and we took the boys to Defiance for lunch at Captain D’s and ice cream at ColdStone.

After lunch Josh and I split up. Andrew and I went on the hunt for chain that was cut by the foot since he has learned how to open the gate and escape the fenced in backyard! The backyard is full of toys, a swing set, a sand box, a sand and water table and a child sized glider. But the front yard, right next to the road with speeding cars and no toys seemed to be more fun here lately. KIDS! Well, we have put a stop to that with 2 foot chains and pad locks!! (No, we haven’t chained him to the fence…lol, we chained the gates closed!) Now I pray he doesn’t figure out the baby gate that we have up between the garage and house…

While I was working on baby proofing the gates, Josh took Caleb and Brayden to ride Go Carts. Brayden was happy that he and Daddy came in 3rd place. Caleb complained that he had a bad car, that is why he didn’t do better…lol!!!

When we got home Josh mowed the lawn and I did some weeding. Afterwards I grilled out stakes for supper. By bedtime I was feeling pretty yucky! Fresh cut grass sometimes causes me to have an allergy attack. I woke up Sunday feeling like CRAP!!! We didn’t even go to Church! I barely made it off of the couch Sunday. We had plans of going to Josh’s uncles for a cook-out but that didn’t happen. Andrew and I were both sound asleep when we should of been there.

Monday I wasn’t much better but my mom has been sick to with bronchitis and a slight case of pneumonia. So I made dinner for all of us and took it over to my parents.

That was the extent of our Memorial Day 2008!

But last night Caleb started his baseball season. He is on the Phillies this year. He hit two singles, scored one run, and stole a base. Not bad for his first game!!!

After everyone left Saturday evening we headed out for Margie’s. We had a pretty smooth trip down with the exception of Andrew getting car sick once. We never travel that someone doesn’t throw up at least once. When we got to Margie’s we ate pizza and all turned in for the night. I was soooo tired.Sunday we went to the Newport Aquarium and had a ball with the fishes!!! We watched a live diving show where the divers were swimming with sharks. The boys even got to touch sharks. We then went to GameWorks and had a great dinner and the boys played video games. Josh took on the $10.00 Game Card challenge. He had to eat a one pound cheeseburger and fries and if he could finish it off he would get free tokens. He did!!! :o)

After dinner we took Josh to Don’s place and he spent the rest of the time with him. The boys and I went back to Margie’s and got the boys in bed.

Monday we went shopping to find the boys some summer sandals. Afterwards we went to the Dollar Tree, where Margie gave each boy five dollars to spend. Then we went to the park to let them play with their new toys.

After a quick trip home to clean up a bit, Margie took us to the Montgomery Inn Boat House, for the BEST ribs I have ever eaten!!! I have often teased Margie that I was the only one that visits her that hasn’t been there. Of course the reason is because I have THREE BOYS. But this time around we braved it and took them. But really they weren’t that bad, well they could of been worse…lol!!!

When we got back from the Boat House we had a Movie Night in. We watched The Ugly Dachshund (an old Disney flick) and had popcorn and candy. Brayden calls the movie The Funny Dachshund…he laughed so much during the movie. They all really enjoyed it, so did I!!!

Andrew had a very restless night and I didn’t get much sleep that night. He is struggling with his allergies right now. So with little sleep and three very tired boys I headed out at about noon yesterday to meet up with Josh. We stopped for supper and made our way home yesterday evening.

Josh has the rest of the week off and we just plan on trying to rest up after our busy week and week end. Thank you to Margie and Don for showing us such a wonderful time! We really had fun!!!! Here are the pictures to prove…

We are home, we are tired and our house is a mess!!! But we have made memories that will last a lifetime! We had a great time with family here to celebrate Mamaw’s birthday. My house was full as we had 8 children and 6 adults staying here at night, but really we had no problems. As my cousin Danny pointed out, we did good to have that many kids together and no one get hurt…lol! My Mamaw really enjoyed having her family all together. She was either smiling or crying tears of joy every time I looked at her those four days.

Take a look at this slide show, I will let the pictures tell the story…

***And the weather…well it was perfect EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! It was sunny and in the upper 70’s. Prayer does work!!!!