A Day at the Beach!!

My attempt at getting a picture of the kids - it didn't go so well!

Wednesday some friends invited us to go to the beach for the day. They had rented a house for the week and let us use their home as a base. It was a great day to go as here it was HOT and HUMID!!! Two words I am extremely tired of hearing!!! But the beach was beautiful!!! A wonderful breeze blowing and clear sunny skies!!! At times it almost felt a little chilly! But I wasn't complaining!!!!!

The kids LOVE the beach! My husband enjoys the beach. Me, not so much!!! I am a red-head and I BURN!!! I have found only one sunscreen that actually protects me - and I forgot it!!! I used what works for the kids, but found out by that afternoon - it wasn't working as well for me. So I am a little crispified - but nothing serious and nothing that will blister. Just a bit of tender skin for awhile. My poor boy, Daniel, is also a burner. My husband screened him up, but somehow some of the sunscreen was either rubbed of by the ocean and sand or never really took to his skin. He is a bit blotchy and looking quite a mess. Thankfully, it wasn't a bad burn, just a bit more pink than I like. But he sure had a blast! He loves the beach more than any kid I know! He loves the water, the sand, the boardwalk - everything!!! He was one tired little boy!

Matt and Sarah enjoyed their day too. Mostly because they didn't have to do school - but they really enjoyed the people we went to see. Everyone slept in today. I think Sarah finally got out of bed sometime around 11:00 am!!! In her defense, though, we didn't get home until midnight! So we were all pretty worn out!! But it was great to spend some time with great friends and enjoying God's creation!! Thanks friends!!!

Drew did pretty well for his first trip to the beach. He mostly just sat with Andy or I and played or slept off and on. Toward the end of our time on the beach we did dip his feet into the ocean. He didn't think too much of it!!! I'll have to figure out how to upload the video we took. He was pretty funny!! He kept pulling his feet up as high as he could to avoid the water! I wonder if he'll end up liking the beach or hating it! Only time will tell!

Firsts

LOVE the chubb!!!

This week is a week of firsts. First Drew turned six months old this past Sunday! Incredible! I can't believe half a year has already gone by!! He is such an indescribable blessing! And a real cutie!!! He is now rolling all over, sporting two teeth and eating food!! We introduced his first food this past Friday. He is SO happy! He eats like a real champ! No pushing out with his tongue or having to trick him into opening his mouth. He is like a little bird. He sees that spoon and automatically opens his mouth. He is a riot! He looks at me like "Where has THIS been all my life?!?!" We started with carrots and so far he loves them. On Wednesday we'll go on to squash. He is growing so fast!!! Tonight he started pushing off the floor with his feet and scooching. I gave him a stern talking to about the fact that NONE of my other children crawled before 11 months and I was NOT prepared to have one start earlier! Of course he just smiled sweetly (well, maybe with a little evil grin thrown in there!!!). I imagine he is going to be moving a lot sooner than the others. I'll need to start investigating play yards to contain the little mover!Today was also our first day of our new school year!!! Daniel was THRILLED!!! He couldn't wait to start Kindergarten! He was up at the crack of dawn wanting to get started. Matt and Sarah - not so much, though they did pretty well for the first day. Matt, who is starting 8th grade, was a bit grumpy and Sarah, who is starting 6th grade, was in tears before 9:30 am. But Sarah may have had an excuse as tonight while we were in Target she got sick to her stomach - poor girl. She's been looking a little death warmed over since we brought her home from camp - so I guess she had an excuse. Hopefully she'll start feeling better and eating again. She has hardly eaten anything since coming home from camp. She finished her work for the day but was not terribly focused or into it. Maybe when this illness passes she'll perk up and be more into her school year. Matt also finished, though it took him all day to do half a days work. I am just letting him take it at his own pace. He knows what he has to do and that he needs to get it done if he wants to go to God Squad or Teen Club. He made it tonight - though we still need to add in Math, Grammar and Spanish. So we'll see! I have decided not to nag this year - and caught myself several times :-)!!! He needs to own his school work and live with his decisions. It could be an interesting year!

Drew just hung around while I worked with different kids. I wonder if he'll be reading by the time he's two!!!

Tooth #2!!!

Yup! The second tooth has already pooped through - and this one gave me a huge scare the other night! Drew was cheerfully playing in his bouncy seat when I walked out to the kitchen and came back to find blood trickling down his chin! He was still calm and cheerful - until I whooped him up in a panic to find out where the blood was coming from!! He must have been chewing on his toy at the tender part of the gum and you know how gums bleed!! He was fine - mom was just having a heart attack!He is growing so quickly! He can now roll from his belly to his back and looks at us all so strangely when we clap and make a big deal out of it!! He's also learning to sit up by himself - though his bog ol' head tends to cause him to lean forward - he'll get it soon enough!!! He is once again sleeping through the night (Praise God!) and waking up cheerful and pleasant! I had to take him to the doctor on Wednesday as his rash under his chin had returned and the original medicine they gave me for it was no longer taking care of it. While there they weighed him - he now weighs.......17.6 pounds!!! I thought this was shocking so I went back to see what the other kids weighed at his age. Sarah only weighed 13 pounds at four months!!!! She didn't weigh 17 pounds until she was one year old!!! The boys, however, were different. I didn't remember them being big - but apparently Drew is right on par for a Schultz boy. At five months Matt also weighed 17.6 pounds! At six months Daniel weighed 18.4 pounds - so not a whole lot of difference!!! How come Drew just seems so much bigger? I don't know - but he is the cutest thing on this earth and I love all his chunk!!! Here are some cute pics I took this morning of my cute chunk!!!I am always amazed we can go from this.....to this.... (good shot of the teeth, though!!!)to this.....in a matter of 6 seconds!!! He is a riot!!!

Box Day!!!

For homeschooling this year I have decided to return to Sonligh Curriculum. It was getting difficult to do things without a plan already done for me and with adding another child to the group of people I need to attend to I needed to have the help that Sonlight gives - a well thought out plan for history and reading and all the thinking done for me!!! Honestly, I kind of regret leaving Sonlight for the past few years - but we have learned a lot and are all excited to be back!!

Lucy really enjoyed box day!!! She just plopped right down in the middle of all the wrapping!!

Sonlight calls the day you get your order "Box Day"! They send an e-mail and make a big deal of when to expect your package and get you all excited about the things that you will be receiving!!! I was already excited - but when the actual box arrived today - YIPPEE!!! I have to say I feel such a relief in knowing what we are going to be doing and being able to plan. I am going to start cleaning the schoolroom tomorrow and then organize all the materials on Thursday. We have a school start date of July 26th! It will be here before I know it and I am praying that I will be ready mentally, physically and spiritually!!!! More than that I am praying that Matt and Sarah (and Daniel, too!) will be ready to start a fresh new school year and have good attitudes throughout the year! Thanks for praying for us as we begin another school year!

FIVE years old!!

How did this happen??? My sweet Daniel (who at times ISN'T so sweet as of late, but par for the course of a five year old!) is now FIVE!!! Unbelievable!!! I am amazed at the changes in this little guy over the past few months. He can now write his name, knows all his letters by sight, can count pretty high, is asking quite a few (hard) questions about God, and has become a VERY committed big brother! He LOVES Drew and can't wait to teach him all kinds of things and play with him all the fun things he enjoys playing. Daniel has also become pretty good at the Wii - getting less frustrated while playing with a sibling. Of course there are still things that are the same - like his big smile from ear to ear, his laughter, his constant curiosity about EVERYTHING!!! and his tender spirit towards his family members and God. Since this kid has entered my life he has been a blessing and source of great joy!!! He was our "unexpected" miracle child and definitely one God desired to have on this earth!!! I am so blessed and privileged to be his mother. Thank you God for such an indescribable gift in Daniel!!!

Daniel was quite pleased with his cake! He had been WAITING for a whole day as we didn't get to one on his actual birthday!!Daniel with PopPop and Grammy!

The Grands with the crew!!! Drew is crying because we sang Happy Birthday too loud again! Poor boy - he is SO in the wrong family if he doesn't like loud noise!!Daniel LOVES his sister!! The two middles!!

ANOTHER PROJECT!!!

There are days I am extremely thankful that my husband has the gift of putting things together. After all we went through with the bed bugs and demolition on our house it would have cost us thousands of dollars to do what he did if we would have had to contract out the work. On the other hand - my husband is always coming up with new ideas of what he would like to do to our house. This project was brought up several years ago and tabled because of more pressing needs. But when a friend of ours built his project - it spurred Andy into pursuing his project. What is that project you might ask?

A deck.

Off the schoolroom.

I am not sure how I feel about this project as of yet. (Andy knows all of this as we have discussed it at length!) I am REALLY tired of projects. Especially those that don't get done all the way. I am worried that this project may take longer than projected - especially because he has to take one of the windows OUT of the school room and make it into a door. That means my schoolroom may be a mess for several weeks - to a few months. I hate a mess when I am trying to teach school. It clutters my mind and I am unable to focus on the important things. I also worry about the easy access people may have to the back of the house. It is off Sarah's room and I really don't like that. But Andy is all for this project and seems to believe it will expand our living space. I really can't imagine using it all that much - but then I have never had a deck before either. So, I will continue to pray for the safety of our house and children and pray that this was a wise use of both time and money. And pray that the next project will be to complete the alarm system that was put in about six years ago!

Friday Fun!

This past Friday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a. We LOVE this activity!!! This was our third year participating. If you dress up like a cow you get a free meal!!! I am a HUGE Chick-fil-a fan and eat there any chance I get - so if it's free you KNOW I'm going to be there! All five of us got a free meal - Drew will have to wait another year!!! Here are some pictures of our fun!

I love how this picture looks like it says I (heart) Drew!!! My herd!!! Aren't they a cute bunch!!!

Daniel was VERY excited about Cow Appreciation Day!!Drew was more into eating his mask than wearing it!!!Friends from Cornerstone! We had such a blast eating with them!!!

Can't wait until next year!!! I'm going to make better costumes for next year since this seems to be a yearly activity!

Birthday Bash!!

Today we celebrated the kids birthdays. My first three kids are all summer babies - June and July. My sister's son is a July baby as well. (Drew is the odd man out - but we have already decided we will be celebrating his half birthday next year!) So rather than have an individual party for mine and hers we combine them and today was the day. We met at my mom's house - she always puts on an incredible spread - fruit, salad, stuffed shells, shredded roast beef sandwiches! It's incredible! My Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Doug as well as my mom's friends Marie and Jim all joined in the fun. We had a great time and the kids really enjoyed celebrating their day. Here are a few shots of the fun!

Each kid got their own little cake. Matt and Daniel ripped into theirs pretty quick so I didn't get a shot of theirs - but Sarah was savouring hers!Daniel enjoyed his cake!!!
My mom made a giant cupcake for the rest of us and for the kids to blow out candles. Each candles flame burned the color of the candle! It was pretty cool!Daniel got a new bike for his gift from my parents. He was pretty excited!My family from left to right - my sister Lisa, nephew Sam, Bruce, Mom, Daniel, Sarah, Drew, me, Andy and Matt.My parents with the grands!!!
It was a great day!!!