"FREE WEEK"...

Well, here is the re-cap from last week. We are officially into the "free summer play" now...The month of June with All-Stars, beach trip and Utah trip just about broke the bank for our family, so we are on restriction now! It is still awesome though to wake up and have fun activities to enjoy together without spending money.

Giddy Up James Daniel..riding Dakota..Becky bought this horse for Claire 9 years ago and he has survived five rounds of toddlers...




Ice-cream cone Ellie earned at gymnastics and willingly shared with her sister and brothers.



Playing at Aunt Jill's house, waterslide and snowcones...FREE FUN



Playing in the basement...Sisters of Avonlee, deserted without a mom or dad, searching for shelter, escaping the wild bandits that want to rob them of their magic hair....FREE FUN (and very entertaining I must say)


Movie at The Rave...FREE (and we even brought our own yummy Cheetos packs)


Painting old boxes I had planned to toss, until Ellie reminded me that "those boxes would make perfect castle houses for their dolls...SOOOOOO, they painted them for a good hour....FREE FUN



Popsicles in the driveway after playing outside for a few hours!



John David heard me say, "Okay kiddos, let's get ready to GO..." and sure enough he flipped his "toddler meltdown switch" on and shared his feelings with all the onlookers....:)


Sonic playground. Claire used her birthday gift card to buy everyone a treat during "happy hour"...:)


James sliding


Ball Park..watching Daddy play Church Softball.

Definitely takes a great deal of discipline to not spend a single dime ALL WEEK...I mean we seriously ate lunch at home every single day, took picnic lunch with us a few days, didn't even get a popcorn to share at the FREE movie. There were a few moments though, that a mom just savors...


I told the girls we would go to the free movie, but we couldn't spend any money on snacks there so they needed to choose a snack to take with them. Jenna started to whine about it, and Ellie said, "Jenna we need to just be thankful we get to go to the movies and not worry about the popcorn stuff"...

Ellie was given a "free ice-cream cone" ticket from gymnastics and begged me to take her to DQ to get her cone. I told Jenna we would have some Moose Tracks ice-cream once we arrived home, but this special treat was just for Ellie, and surprisingly she was okay with it. Once Ellie had her MEGA cone, she noticed her brothers and Jenna watching her take it from the front of the van to the back seat and said, "Mommy I just have to let them have a teeny bit, it is just so amazing and I feel bad for them"....WOW, what a moment to cherish when your children learn the virtues of selflessness...I didn't say a word, just smiled in my rear view mirror.


Claire used her birthday gift card to buy her brothers and sisters ice-cream from Sonic one day. I told her she didn't need to do that, we would wait and have ice-cream at home, and she needed to spend her birthday money on herself..she said, "But momma I want to share with them so they will learn to do the same when they have the chance like me"....WOW, what a special young lady.


And you know what, I don't remember anyone complaining to much about our "free week" either. I am so grateful for such great kids. There are some things money just can't buy....life lessons about caring, sharing and loving each other in all you do...and folks, that is just priceless.

We are choosing to have another "free week" of fun. Starting tomorrow morning with donations we've gathered up to give to the Foundry (a rescue mission and recovery center in B'ham)...

And can I just say, it means more to me as a mom that my children learn life lessons of virtue and value, service and sacrifice, and learn to appreciate the simple things in life, to learn that money will NOT ever satisfy them, STUFF is just STUFF, and if we live by Jesus' life commands we live a life of joy and contentment that is honorable and pleasing to God.



Last picture...James on the left, John David on the right..19 months old TODAY!

Boys LOVE Elmo and they will sit and look at any Elmo book and point to Elmo on each page. When they say Elmo though, it sounds more like "Melmo"...too cute. Here James is pointing to Elmo and John David is saying "no" to him...