Jack's Actual Birthday / Owen, Ella & Zeke's Baptism!

On Jack's actual birthday we had busy afternoon. 

Recently our church started having a church service on the first Wednesday of every month. This particular month they were also having a baptism during that service. Owen, Ella and Zeke have all wanted to be baptized since they saw Jack get baptized last June. All of the kids had already asked Jesus to come into their hearts and forgive them of their sins, but Jack was the only one that wasn't scared to get baptized. Once the other kids saw that it wasn't a big deal they wanted to be baptized as well. 

There was baptism last October, but I was away at a Women's Ministry Leadership Retreat so we couldn't be a part of that one. This time it fell on Jack's birthday. Thankfully he didn't mind sharing his special day with his siblings as this also became a very special day in their spiritual journey. The kids had to attend a class prior to baptism so we had to be at church by 5:30pm, but first we celebrated Jack. 

Another present that was too big for a gift bag! 

Jack opened the present and immediately had no idea what it was. Of course he was hoping that it was something BeyBlades, but he gets enough of those. Since he's my kiddos with the birthday closest to summer I thought it would be fun to get him something that he could enjoy in the sunshine. 

It's basically an above ground dunk tank, but instead of getting dunked you sit under this frame and there is a place that you can throw balls at and if you hit it the person sitting there will have a bucket of water dumped on them. 

This face cracks me up! He was NOT impressed at all! He was so disappointed that it wasn't a BeyBlade stadium. Thankfully I didn't get offended! :) I knew that he would like it and have fun with it...he just needed a minute to be sad that it wasn't what he was hoping it was. 

When we got home later that night he told me he did like it and he can't wait to try it out. The next day he pooled all his money that he got from his birthday and money that he'd saved up and he was able to buy the BeyBlade Stadium that he's been wanting for months. Now that makes 3 or 4 stadiums and yes he uses them all! :) 

We were on such a tight schedule we had to leave right after he opened his present. 

Jack decided he wanted MCD's for dinner. If we get MCD's we usually go through the drive thru and eat it at home. This time we ate in the restaurant. 

Jackson got his normal meal...two cheeseburgers. I ordered them without onions, but I didn't say no pickles. He was able to take them off and then I put them on my cheeseburgers....yay for extra pickles! 

We ate pretty quickly and then we are off to church. There were 4 kids getting baptized that night. The kids attended their class which is where they talk about what baptism is and why we take part in it. Here's what is says on our church's website...

Jesus committed to the Church two sacraments: **Baptism and Communion**. Through Baptism, every follower of Jesus publicly demonstrates their faith in Christ's death and resurrection by being baptized in water. It is through Communion that we remember the suffering and death of Jesus and proclaim his death and resurrection until he returns.

Baptism is NOT a requirement to being saved!!!  It is a public proclamation that you are a follower of Christ and it's a symbol of what Christ did for us. He died for our sins and then he was raised to life and conquered sin once and for all. When you are baptized you go down in the water...."dying to your sins" and then you come out of the water "being raised to life in Christ". 

My children were already saved because they called on the name of Jesus to come into their life and save them from their sins. Baptism is a command by Jesus, but if you aren't baptized that doesn't mean you won't go to heaven. Think about the thief on the cross...Jesus told him this..."Surely I tell you today you will be with me in paradise". He didn't say..."Hang on guys can you let us get down from the cross so I can baptize my new friend here so he can go to heaven?"

In their suits and ready to go! 

Oh...the water is nice and warm! 

We have talked about baptism with the kids for years, but once they decided that they wanted to take part in it we did act it out at home so they would know what was going to happen. They also did this in their class just prior to the baptism so it would be fresh in their heads. 

Pastor Brian was the one baptizing the kids. He also baptized Jack last June. 

Zeke was so short I had to stand up so I could see him in the tank. 

Yay Zeke Man! 

So proud of my 7 year old. Zeke is almost the same age I was when I got baptized! I was just a few months away from being 8 years old, but I have no doubt that he knows exactly what he was doing and he came to this decision on his own. 

Ella's turn! 

Yay Ella Grace!!! 

 Ella was going to be baptized with Jack last year, but then she got cold feet. So proud of my Ella Grace! 

Owen's turn...he was nervous! He doesn't like attention. 

Yay Owen Michael! 

All my sweet babies have been baptized!!!! I could not be more proud. My kids are absolutely my mission field. I have loved leading them and guiding them in their spiritual journeys. We have read the Bible to them in many different forms....Jesus Storybook Bible, LEGO Bible, Focus on the Family Devotionals and now we have been listening to the Daily Audio Bible for Kids. We have talked to them time and time again about the lessons we can learn from the Bible that correspond with our lives today. The Bible is most definitely NOT boring! 

It has been a pleasure to introduce them to Jesus and I'm excited for the years that are to come where they will start to be more in the driver seat of their relationship with Christ. I've always told them that I wanted to show them MY Jesus, but they would need to find THEIR Jesus when they got older. It's the same Jesus, but they need to have a personal and intimate relationship with Him! 

I love all my children and I a so thrilled with their decision to follow Jesus. I have prayed and prayed for them and I'm still going to continue to pray that they will follow Him all the days of their life. 

Shopping Date With Ella!

After taking Zeke to get his pictures on Sunday June 2nd, it was time for Ella and I to go on a shopping date. Ella really needed new summer clothes. So many of her shorts are WAY TOO short. Plus I'm tired of picking out her clothes and then she hates them. This time she was going to pick them out, but there would be parameters! 

What kind of started this was that the boys are going to Awanas Camp in August. When I was signing them up for this I had to read the dress code to them. When I got to the girls portion of the dress code I realized that Ella would not be able to go to camp. You can not wear skin tight clothes to Awanas camp and that includes leggings or jean leggings. This is all Ella wears!!! 

I have tried time and time again to get her to wear jeans, but she hates them. I told Ella that she is going into 3rd grade next year...she's going to be on the older side of the school so it's time that she started dressing older. Sure she can still wear leggings with dresses over them, but we are going to make sure that all her shirts go below her bottom. As she gets older her body is going to be changing and we need to make sure she is being modest. I told her right before school starts we are going to try on a bunch of different jeans until we find a pair that she likes. This time around we were just focused on summer clothes though. 

Of course she had to model all her clothes for Daddy when we got home. 

The hat is not new, but her shirt and her shorts are. These are sporty shorts with butterflies on them. She loves shirts that sparkle and are ombre colored! Her shirt says. Dream Believe Achieve Repeat

This was my favorite outfit. I think Ella looks so cute in Capri leggings. She loves the tank top because there were these fun straps in the back. 

Here she is with a new pair of shorts with stars on them. 

Another sporty short outfit. 

This one also had fun straps in the back. 

At Zeke and Jack's party Ella's friend Anna wore these cute Bermuda shorts and I loved them. Ella tried them on and decided she would wear them. When we got home I reminded her that she had a shirt that would match the pretty lace accents that were on the bottom of the shorts and in the pockets. She tried it on with that shirt and loved it. 

I had so much fun with my girl and we only spent $54 at War-Mart for 4 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of Capri leggings and 3 tank tops.

Zeke's 7 Year Old Pictures!

While Michael was at home finishing up in the garden area, Zeke and I were on our way to JCP's for his birthday pictures. Zeke's pictures were originally schedule for May 25th the same day as our Date Night with Lance and Rachael. I decided to reschedule his pictures since Michael and I wanted to go to Lowe's to order all the lumber to rebuild our deck. My parents were watching the kids so I needed to get them down to their house and then get back so we'd have enough time to shop and get cleaned up for our date. 

The lady that ended up taking Zeke's pictures was actually the twin sister of the lady that took Jack's pictures the day before. The only reason I could tell them apart was because one has short hair and the other has long hair. They were both really sweet ladies. 

Zeke decided to bring his fox with him. He's such a handsome guy!! I just noticed his green socks! :) It's so funny how different my boys are. Owen likes long white socks, Jack likes short white socks and Zeke likes long colored socks. It sure makes it easy to sort the socks though! 

If this is accurate he's almost 4 ft tall. He's having his well check-up soon so we'll know for sure then. 

7 Years Old...how can it be?? Love this sweet boy of mine!! 

Ella Paints Penelope!

When Ella and I were working in the front yard she saw how faded Penelope had become and she asked if she could paint her. I told her that the first thing she needed to do was clean her. Penelope was gross...like disgusting gross...like slimy, moldy gross. Ella and Zeke worked together to spray and scrub her clean. Then we let her dry overnight. 

Very next day Ella wanted to paint her. I didn't buy any paints we just used whatever acrylic paint I had on hand. At first I was thinking that I wanted to try to paint Penelope all pretty with contrasting colors like she was painted before, but then I just decided that I wanted Ella to paint her and for it to be her own. 

Poor faded Penelope!!! 

Ella first painted the top flower pink. 

We chose to paint the flower where the water comes out orange. 

While that was drying Ella painted the base black. 

Living her best life!!! 

A couple days later Ella painted Penelope green and she was finished. 

Penelope hadn't worked last summer so Michael had to put her back together and he got her pump to work. Ella was so proud of her work. 

The next day I was sitting on my bench in the front yard reading a book when a couple neighbors walked by and they noticed that she had been painted. I told them that my 9 year old painted her and I loved how she turned out. The lady said to tell Ella and she did a terrific job!!! I certainly think so too! 

Garden Beds Makeovers!

On Memorial Day while Michael and the boys had a fun time mini golfing, Ella and I had some girl fun buying flowers. At first when Ella asked what we were going to do she was not impressed, but once we got to Lowe's and started picking out flowers for our yard she was enjoying herself. She told me later that when I said we were going to get flowers she thought we were going to take a basket around our neighborhood and pick flowers from other peoples yard. She's so silly! 

My main concern for the day that I wanted to address was this front garden bed. It's always been difficult. For one it's got less than 6 inches of dirt before you hit either concrete or rock. We have planted bulbs in here and none of them came up. We also got this ground cover plant that I wanted to just go crazy and fill in the whole bed, but what it actually does is thrive for a bit and then dies and moves on to the newer growth area. That's mainly what all that green stuff is. 

This is the pile of plants we bought. Ella had so much fun helping me pick them out all the while riding on the flatbed cart. 

I tried to find kid gloves for Ella, but all they had were toddler gloves. She just had to deal with wearing Dad's 811 gloves instead. Honestly I was super surprised that she even wanted to help. She normally doesn't like to do this sort of thing, but she really did stay with me and help. 

First we worked together and cleared the whole bed. Ella enjoyed getting to use a small rake to scrap out some of the harder weeds. We did stop at 7-Eleven for a slurpee on our way home as a treat for all the hardwork we were going to do. She was so cute...she'd work a little bit and have to take a break to drink her Slurpee. She did ask me why I didn't have to take as many breaks. :) 

That's a full wheelbarrow of weeds! 

Here is our finished work! 

I bought 10 of bags of mulch since they were on sale and I really wanted to put down new mulch in all the garden beds. The pavers I got from our backyard...I had to use a dolly to get them up to the front they were so heavy. My parents had just recently given me these nice pots to use in this area. 

We've had these pots up near the fence for a years, but they've been annoying me because they were crooked. The first thing Ella and I had to do was transplant the plant that's in the middle because it was in one of the darker pots. Ella and I bought the purple bushes and we wanted those to be in matching pots. After that we got to work using a level so we could get the pots to look nice. I'm really happy with how they turned out. 

We had a few extra petunias so we planted them in the ground by some lilies. 

We had actually bought too many flowers so I went looking for more pots in the basement. I ended up finding two of these shallow pots. But I needed more potting soil so back to the store Ella and I went. 

We ended up with these two pots with marigolds in them. Ella decided to put this pot next to Penelope. 

This is also when she asked if she could paint Penelope since she's been so faded from the sun....post to follow! 

Once we were finished with our work we sat out in the yard and enjoyed the beauty. I'm so thankful for all the men and women that serve our country so we have the freedom to do things like plant flowers in our gardens and play mini golf with our kids. We are truly a blessed nation! 

Fast forward to Sunday, June 2nd and we decided to go buy a few more plants this time at Carpinito Brothers. The only vegetable that I want to plant this year is tomatoes and the plants that were at Lowe's were not good. We had also been talking about redoing the vegetable area in the backyard. It's never been something that Michael's liked so we decided to make it over. 

We ended up buying 20 plants and 4 bags of topsoil. 

Michael is laying out the plants to see where everything should go. 

This garden bed was something we worked on a few years ago and we put a lot of bulbs in here, but during the winter months there's nothing there since everything dies. We really wanted to try to make there be a mixture of plants that are there around all year and those fun plants that come up in the spring and summer. 

In order to make the vegetable garden look less like a vegetable garden Michael removed the first row of blocks so the pavers are now at the same level as the yard. That made it so he could sculpt the soil so there would be a slope and we wouldn't have to add any soil to the garden to make it mound up. 

When Michael was planning where to put the plants I noticed that we had a couple branches that were hanging pretty low and they were blocking the sun from some of the garden space. Michael cut the first one and then the second one almost all the way until he let Owen finish cutting it. 

By this point it was time for Zeke and I to head out to get his birthday pictures taken so we came home to everything finished. 

Here's the new garden space all planted. Everything in here is a regular plant except for my 4 tomato plants. 

When Zeke and I were on our way home from getting his pictures taken we stopped at Lowe's to get 15 more bags of mulch. The very next day while the kids were at school and Michael was at work I went to work putting mulch down in this garden bed. I still have to put down mulch in the other areas of the backyard, but it's almost finished and it's looking pretty good!