My Boys' Best Friend

When I get to heaven and see Jesus face to face, I'm sure I'll be overwhelmed by His glory, His goodness, His brightness. I will have one question though. Why do dogs have such a short life span? Our sweet Lucy of 12 years, in our childlike minds, is with Jesus:)

Every pet owner brags about their pet, how sweet or smart she may be. Lucy was definitely that. But not every dog would put their pride aside like this clown.

You know it's love when your 2-year-old wants to be your dog for Halloween.

Or when she follows her little man around everywhere.

She was the sister he didn't have, and still doesn't, I guess. ;)

Again, the pride.

About 2 years ago, in the middle of all the craziness of the adoption, Lucy freaked. She knew something was happening. For about 3 months, she chewed blinds, ate carpet, broke her own teeth trying to get out of her cage. Santa even had to leave her a warning.

But after the little boys came, all was well in her world again.

My goal in life is to be as good of a person as my dog already thinks I am. ~Unknown

Off to school

Today was Ben's first day of school. Bittersweet. Even though we were sad when Jack left for kindergarten, we had 5 years with him in preparation for that moment. Only having one year with Ben definitely made us realize how short our time has been with him. It's hard to remember what life was like before them. :)

Jack's first day was last Tuesday. I'm so thankful for his excitement and passion to go to school every day. He absolutely loves it. :)

Lazy Saturday

We had a whole lot of nothing to do today, so this is what we came up with.

It's all fun and games until the competition gets the best of everyone. ;)

Faithful

"The more we know of God, the more we realize that when He permits us to pass through deep and dark waters, it is not because He is powerless to deliver us, but because a beneficent and eternal purpose is being worked out in that process. And what is more, we discover that God is not interested merely in working out His purposes in us, but in imparting to us a richer sense of His presence." -Selwyn Hughes

"You have made me rejoice in this, LORD, by what You have done." Psalm 92:4

I love this.

Week in review

Finishing up swimming lessons.

Springbrook Sprint Triathlon

Swimming

A few pictures from lessons today...

The littles playing rock, paper, scissors while they wait for Jack to finish his lesson.

My sweet swimmer.

Does it get any cuter than this?

This is Eli's class. He's supposed to be right in between these two. And he is. He's just sitting on the bottom of the pool. I noticed today they had an extra lifeguard in the pool today right behind Eli's class. Coincidence?

Ben swimming on his back. Great swimmer, but sinks like a rock when he tries to float. I'm sure he'll get it by the end of the week.

Today's Masterpiece

Masterpiece Monday consisted of many events, most of which were not part of the masterpiece. But the boys started swimming lessons today, and they'll have lessons every day for the next two weeks. These kids are crazy good swimmers. :)

After a quick lunch and earlier-than-normal quiet rest time, we made a newspaper fort, which actually turned out to be a pirate ship. Nevertheless, it's something they can play in for a little while and then destroy, which is always good.

One more picture...

The boys went to Chick-fil-a's Family Night last week with some friends. They left as the Tyner boys and came home as the Wolf Pack. :)

Theme Dinner: Superheroes

 Super Suds the Laundry Woman

 Captain Clean Bathroom

SUPERFOOD on the menu:

Grilled Salmon

Sweet Potatoes with cinnamon

Spinach salad with blackberries, strawberries, and pecans

Cheese (superfood for kids)

Raspberry Frozen (Greek) Yogurt with Dark Chocolate Syrup 

(made with dark chocolate, honey, and coffee)

Camp Big Mama, Part 1

Packing day for Camp Big Mama also happened to be Movie Tuesday, so instead of going to the movie theater, we opted for an iTunes rental of The Princess and the Frog. (From inside the star wars tent already sporting their Braves shirts.)

We all met in Atlanta, one of our favorite meeting spots, for a Braves game, 4th of July festivities, hanging out with Aunt Polly, and of course, handing kids over. Here are a few snapshots from the Braves game.

I think if I had fabulous plans for the week, I'd not be missing them so much. But this week will be used for cleaning out closets, matching DVD's with their actual cases, cleaning the garage, and maybe a pedicure and shopping thrown in there somewhere. :)

It's Baaaack

Dr. Seuss Theme Dinner

 Excuse the no-costumes. We just walked in the door from baseball.

On the menu:

GREEN EGGS AND HAM, of course

Ham & Cheese Sliders

Green Deviled Eggs

Watermelon Pops

Thing 1 and Thing 2 Cupcakes

Monday Monday Monday

Yesterday was Masterpiece Monday, and we've been wanting to make the egg with the disappearing shell. So we did.

But because it takes 24-48 hours for the shell to totally dissolve, and for a little more instant gratification, something we could actually enjoy on Monday, we made frozen chocolate banana treats.

I also forgot to post our verse from last week. With a little added flair.

And we met the vacationing cousins at Dollywood. Silly face picture of course.

Summer Fun

Earlier this week, we rode along with Jon to Lynchburg, VA. He was doing a little teaching at Liberty University, and since the boys are all out of school, we were thrilled to be able to go with him. The kids and I stayed busy at the hotel pool, the movies, and at the awesome Lynchburg Children's Museum. This is a picture of the boys in the music studio. They LOVED it! Of course, they thought they knew exactly what they were doing since they're around it all time time!

Since we missed our masterpiece Monday, we had to make up for it today. We made bubbles and attempted to make the life-size bubbles with the rope wand, and it actually worked.

I'm pretty sure popsicle time was their favorite.

Summer Routine

If you remember from several posts ago, I'm not a creature of habit nor do I like too much routine. But, I think it's best for my kiddos to keep a few things consistent over the summer without boring the mama to death. :)

So we started a summer routine which has worked really well. They each have a journal that they write in every morning. This is to keep Jack in the habit of writing, to start Ben writing a little, and to encourage free-spirit Eli to actually hold a pencil. So far, it's worked really well, and they remember without me even reminding them. This is my favorite entry of Jack's journal so far.

To keep routine light-hearted and fun, we've come up with creative names for the days, thanks to Pinterest. :)

Masterpiece Monday

Movie Tuesday

Wet Wednesday

Trip Thursday

Play Friday (since Jon is home)

We have a chore chart for every day of the week and a Bible verse they have to learn by Friday in order to get their allowance. The verse this week was Phil. 2:3, "Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself."

Though the days may be long right now, I'm so thankful for the chance to stay home with my kids. I can't even imagine how difficult it would be to work full-time and be a mommy full-time. Hats off to you working moms. :)

Movie Tuesday

Love the $1 summer movies. Today we saw Dolphin Tales. :)