third & fourth of july fun!

ok, this post has some very sweet things & then so not sweet things (thanks for showing them to us, brandon!:) & is very loong!
saturday, we got to celebrate the fourth a day early!  &oh we did! 

aunt jane & uncle rocky's was the first festivity. that gorgeous flower garden is one of many around their home.

it was great to see family that we don't get to see nearly often enough. 

& to explore all over the land!

(we went for quite a hike!)

ben made quick buddies with luke, they were inseperable most of the day.

gracie made quick buddies with great-great uncle (i think) carrol. 

she had the best time with a little help from her partner almost beating daddio at checkers (the boys came & messed up the board a bit before the game was over).

the kiddos also had funs with all of their other cousins & friends there.  there were so many, i hate that i didn't get a group shot!

& oh yeah, i was once again on the winning scavenger hunt team (honestly no thanks to me- those boys are super duper smart!  thanks for letting me be a part of your team, men! the 2nd year in a row champions (not that i'm braggin or anything :) )  auntie jen, next year if you & mike can make it up we'll let you join our team!

here's malaki finding the final clue.

after the hunt, daddio & i headed over to the marcums to hang out with friends.  ben & gracie could have cared less.  "see ya"  i think was what we got.  ben looved the fireworks this year, cheering & yelling i guess.  grace, still not to sure about the loudness of it all. 

that night was almost like a date night for daddio & i just hanging out, listening to music & driving together to beth & brandon's.  so nice.   we always have fun hanging out with daddio's elementary school buddies.  i feel so blessed that he has such great guy friends his whole life & all their wives are just as equally awesome.  

the halls with their little sweetie pie.

our lovely host family.

miss embry, you just crack me up.  i could play "this little piggy" with you all night. 

after the little gals went to bed, brandon had to show us some of the silliest you tube videos.

here they are (they are not x-rated, but NOT KID FRIENDLY at all, if you catch my drift)

this first one is for butt drugstore (a real store in corydon, indiana)

the next is the count from sesame street censored (every time he says count, it's bleeped out)

sunday, on the fourth we were worn out!  i didn't want to get out of bed honestly. but we went to sheryl & jd's church for the god & country service.  she should have warned me to bring some kleenex.  i was a wreck!  what a beautiful service it was & i am so glad we went.  thanks sheryl for thinking to invite us!  it made me realize how lucky i am to live in a country with the freedom i have & the price so many have & are paying for that.  it was very moving, to say the least.  here's the video that was shown during the service.  these are all local folks & an in house video.

next stop, aunt donna & uncle toms for some yummy food & fun.  the kiddos of course had to play in the pool.  

& splash their mom

& play with chalk

snap some photos with harmonica's (as ben used to call her, now it is monica) camara

give her harmonica some lovin (gracie loves to rub arms to show affection, so sweet i think).

the brother & sisters enjoying each others' company. good times for sure.

we had such fun, but didn't make it to any fireworks that night.  toooo tired. we watched some on tv though

on a more serious note, thank you to all that have served our country to protect our freedom.  we are so lucky to live in the country we do.  god bless america!  as you all know, i'm not too good with words, but i did love this video below

ben's angels

there are 3 extra special "grills" (girls in benglish) in ben & gracie's lives. ben calls them his "grillfriends," never mind the fact they are related to him. ash, aub & al are his cousins (3rd or 4th, i'm not technically sure). these girls are so special to all of us. they are our go to gals when in need of a babysitter, a shopping buddy, or some teenage wisdom.


i remember their mom being pregnant with each one of them & anxiously awaiting their arrivals. there were all like my little sisters & i am so thankful i got to help in their care growing up.

we were in florida when ash was born & i wanted to leave vacation just to see my baby! lori was so awesome about letting me hold her & "help" take care of ash. ash was always a laid back little girl. she'd sit & let me fix her hair oh so pretty & play with me for hours on end. i think she might of thought i was cool too (but not as cool as she was). now she's on her way to being a kick butt nurse with a beautiful singing voice! she's so caring & will serve so well.

miss aub had nothing to do with me as a child.. screaming for 2 hours straight while i babysat her during bible school. she had her favorite people & i wasn't one of the chosen few. thank goodness she outgrew that & now loves me. she's one of the sweetest young ladies i know. she is a black belt, so don't mess with her!


& miss allie, oh miss allie. such a gentle spirit who keeps us all in line. if you need to know anyone's schedule, go to her. she's on top of it all! she is a talented dancer who cracks up every time i try to bust out some of my roger rabbit moves or some that don't even have names yet. hopefully she can help out my kiddos in that department so they don't make fools of themselves.


these girls are almost all grown up & are now taking care of my kiddos & what a fine job they do (so much better than i ever did)! i couldn't ask for better babysitters, the kiddos have a blast the entire time.

i am so proud of these girls. they are each wonderful in their own way & have many talents to share with the world. they have such a love for christ, and share that with all. i am so thankful for my kiddos to have their "grills" to look up to & help teach them right from wrong. thanks girls! i'm keeping this post short & sweet because i can't express my love & admiration for you.

you girls rock!!

flowers for me

anytime gracie spots something outside that resembles a flower, she picks it.
"here mommy," she yells with so much pride. here's my latest bouquet..
these are the most beautiful flowers to a momma.

halloween costumes

someone last week mentioned halloween & i realized the kids & i haven't even talked about costumes yet. so last night we started looking & talking. we received a magazine in the the mail just for the occasion. ben had several he wanted to be; a dinosaur, a bakugan man (he doesn't even know what these are!), a ninja. we then remembered daddio brought him & gracie home some gowns homes from japan last winter. costume solved for ben! i asked him to pose for a picture & this is what he came up with. he's balancing on a bilibo to show his expert samuri/ninja skills. i'm lovin it!


miss gracie has her heart set on being a choo-choo - just like this. i don't think anything else will do at this point.

a clue, a clue!

oh, how we love blue's clues. when mr. ben was around 2, he could not get enough of blue's clues. we all loved watching that show! i don't know what we would have done without blue's clues at that time. it was when gracie was a newborn & we were struggling for some sanity in our household. steve & blue seemed to make everything better with their songs, clues & advice that we could do anything that we want to do.

for halloween that year, we dressed up as the blue's clues bunch.
ben was less than thrilled about wearing his costume that year.
sadly, after ben's 2nd birthday he moved on from blue's clues & on to big boy shows. right now, phineas & ferb is his favorite. i think that's the engineering blood in him.

we have had a revival of blue around the house. miss gracie has discovered the love for "buu buu" as she calls it. ben has been a great big brother & finding some fun in the old shows now too. he will notice things like steve & his daddio have the same belt, or will crack up at a joke or something now. i think i have all the episodes memorized now, but it is keeping everyone happy here & distracting them from daddio's crazy work hours (from 10am to 1 am for example).

we also now have gracie's 2nd birthday planned out, reusing the blue's clues theme from ben's 2nd birthday.

these are a few of my favorite things....

in my free time, i love to surf the web. i have found a few things that i absolutely love.

charlie's soap. our clothes just come out of the wash better, softer. why, i don't know. but i love it.

funk butter. this stuff really works & it doesn't have any of that bad junk in it. the funk butter even works on daddio's funk, but he doesn't think the scent is manly enough. i also love their whipped pudding & whipped shea butter. i love to slather my kids up in both. they smell so good, you wanna eat em!

sophie the giraffe. i ordered one of these for cecee to chew on instead of the plastic phthalate, bpa containing toys. i think everyone thought she was chewing on a dog toy. it is so sweet looking & i think felt good on her gums during the teething. i for the life of me, can't find a picture of her chewing on it, but it was in her mouth constantly for several months!

california baby. it's free of all the nasty chemicals they put in the baby soap (numbing agents for tear free?). it's pricey, but we put it lasts a long time & we put it in a foamer to make it last longer. we switch between this & dr. bronner's mild soap for bathtime.

homemade all purpose cleaner. i discovered the wonders of vinegar on the web. i usually now mix together a concotion of dr. bronner's, vinegar, some lavender eo & tea tree oil for lots of our cleaning.


deal sites.. i love fishing for deals, baby bargains & slick deals. they are too addicting. i don't know how much $$ we really have "saved", but santa did get the favorite christmas gift for $25 instead of $89

etsy. handmade stuff. you name it, someone makes it. luuuv it!

sortfloorbooks. a great cheap book website. this is why our home is overflowing with reading material & a lot of friends get books as presents! free shipping on $15 of books.