a near crash

Tonight I nearly crashed the car as my 5 year old Annagrace tells me that she is attracted to the neighbor boy Joshua. We were driving home and that comment just came out of nowhere. Luckily I thought to ask her what she meant by that and was relieved when she told me that it just means she likes being his friend. PHEW, I wasn't ready for those words to come out of her mouth. I think we have at least 10 more years before she really means "attracted" in the way it was intended to be used. So after a little vocabulary lesson, I think we are on the same page. Thank goodness! But just so you can see who she is talking about, here he is. He is a very handsome boy!

I love love love the toothless grin. One of the cutest stages of growing up is when kids are missing their two front teeth. And then it all changes when they get those big ole permanent front teeth and their heads have to grow into their new teeth. Don't get me wrong, kids are cute I just find them much cuter before their sponge Bob teeth grow in.

This picture cracks me up, I asked them to look at me and they both looked anywhere but at me. Silly kids! Actually, when these two get together it's safe to say they bring out the worse in each other. They are both very stubborn and they really butt heads. Usually the playdates are short lived but things have gotten better the older they get. Josh just lives two doors down, so they do see a lot of each other.

Jadon has a standing playdate with his friend every Wednesday afternoon. Lance and Jadon have been friends since 2nd grade (they are now in 5th) and we go to the same church as Lance's family. So when Lance gets out of school on Wednesdays he comes over to hang out with Jadon for the afternoon and then they go to youth group together. I don't know if you are supposed to play favorites when it comes to your kid's friends but I have to say Lance is one of my favorites when it comes to Jadon's friends. He is a very polite, well mannered, well grounded kid. And Jadon and him get along really well.

Lance is an amazing football player and taught the Ray boys some tricks today.

Notice Camden's tongue, I guess it helps make the ball go farther. 

And they even let Anna in on some football action....

But most of the time she sat on the sidelines, on top of the trash bin, just watching. But it didn't bother her as you can see from the picture.

A day at the zoo with Grandma!

This week is our Sabbath week for homeschool. We have worked hard for six weeks so we are enjoying a week of rest. We have a few fun things planned this week and today was going to the zoo with Grandma. We had a great time despite the record breaking heat. Have I mentioned it is the end of September and today it was 104. It was a hot one!

Over the weekend, we made this fall festive treat. Apple nachos. Apples with caramel and melted marshmallows drizzled on top, mini chocolate chips and sprinkles on top. It was so yummy!

Fall is in the air, at least our house

It is September 21st and I am more than ready for Fall. I decided I've had enough summer and this is the day that Fall comes into our home. I don't care what's going on outside, it is officially Fall inside the Ray household.

I got this cute little guy at Goodwill two years ago, there are two others and I find them very cute.

Welcome! After taking this picture I see that our front door needs a scrubbing.

I love Hobby Lobby and got this two years ago for really cheap.

I love leaves, reminds me of Oregon.

I wish all my blog reading friends a very happy Harvest!

Tonight the kids had one request that after we were done eating dinner Michael and I would come sit outside and watch them play games in the front yard. So that is what we did. The pictures aren't great but as you can see they had a lot of fun!

I love the look on Anna's face, they were playing freeze tag.

A little gymnastics

Right in the middle of a game Camden sat down to meditate? I have no idea where he learned that but I had to snap a picture because I found it quite funny. Oh, and right before we went outside he told me he was "growing out" his 6 pack, I guess having strong abs is kind of like growing out your hair, at least I wish that was true because I totally would do it. And fyi, I think I need to invest in pajama bottoms for this kid. About 6 p.m. every night, Camden changes into his pajama bottoms. I think he would live in jammies if I let him.

Discussing what game to play next.

Red light/Green light was the winner. For some reason Anna always seems to be "it". I'm waiting for the day when she realizes she has the bad end of the deal or maybe she just likes being the boss and telling her brothers what to do. She is very good at giving orders.

Praise the Lord!!!!!!

This picture may not mean much to some just by looking at it, but there is so much meaning behind it for me that it brings tears to my eyes. This week God answered an ongoing prayer request that I (and many others) have brought to His feet for two years now. Let me explain...... For 5 weeks now I have been implimenting a pretty intense reading program with Camden. This started after months of praying for the right program to help Camden read. God lead us to an amazing program and here we are 5 weeks into it and I am beginning to see the fruits of our labor. On Wednesday I was driving and Camden was in the car with me when all of a sudden he says: 

"MOM! I can read those signs!" and he began to read one sign after another. He read Speed Hump, Speed Limit, Wing Street, Sprint, Pizza Hut, and Bubble Yum (he was holding a pack of gum). In Camden's 9 years, I have never heard those words come out of his mouth, "MOM! I can read!" The SMILE on his face was one I have never seen, it was a smile of success. I could hardly contain my excitement as we drove home, he just kept reading sign after sign. After we got home, I went into my room and cried and cried, tears of JOY of course. I couldn't help it! There have been few moments in my life where I have been overcome with such a feeling of reward , and this time it was off the charts!

And to top it all off, I "caught" Camden reading before bed tonight. He was reading because he wanted to! That has never happened before either. All I have to say is:

GOD IS SO GOOD!

I GIVE HIM ALL THE PRAISE!

THANK YOU JESUS FOR BEGINNING TO OPEN UP CAMDEN'S BLOCKED LEARNING GATE AND ALLOWING HIM TO SEE THAT HE CAN IN FACT READ!

I can't imagine what it will be like after implimenting this program all year long. Maybe one of these days I'll find his nose buried in a chapter book. I just may faint when that happens. 

noise

Our house will never be quiet again. What am I saying, our house is never quiet so let's just say we moved up a notch on the noise meter. And this would be why.

We have signed the boy up for electric guitar lessons. And we also signed the girl up for piano lessons. Both of them are so very excited! So the hills will be alive with the sound of music!!!!! Wait a minute, what hills? I almost forgot we live in the valley where there are no hills.

And I found this picture when I downloaded the above pictures, this is what I see every night as I eat dinner. He knows who to beg from, I'm the softy and he knows if he smiles at me long enough I might just drop some food. :)

I have the best husband...

...for me. I know that most women think they are married to the best husband there is, or at least I hope they would think they were. I believe with all my heart that God gave me the best husband for me. God is so awesome that way! However, in all honesty if there were a contest handing out the best husband award, I'm pretty sure my husband would win especially after this weekend. He worked hard all week and then spent the weekend with the kids while I went to the women's conference at my church. Before I left for the conference yesterday afternoon, I read this post on my husband's facebook page:

Friday, what a nice day to have at the end of the week. sending Korri off to the Women's Conference at church and planning a fun night with the kids....

How did that speak to me? Well I translated it this way: I am sending my wife off to the women's conference with my blessing, I'm excited for her to go and I hope she can go off and have a great time without thinking about anything with the kids because I have it covered and I'm not just going to sit around and do nothing with the kids, I'm going to take them out for some fun and spend some quality time with them. 

Yep, I got all that from his facebook status update. I think most mom's would agree that it's much easier to go off for an extended amount of time and not feel any guilt about it when your husband sends you with his blessing and you know the kids are going to enjoy every minute of the time you are away. Speaking of the kids, you know what I witnessed? I came home late last night after part one of the conference. It wasn't an overnight thing, just Friday night and most of the day Saturday. So I got home and the kids were already in bed so I went in to say goodnight and they had their clothes laid out next to their bed. I only see them lay their clothes out when they are REALLY excited about something going on the next day. We see this when we are leaving on vacation, or when we have a field trip planned, but the kids were so excited about spending the day with their daddy that it ranked right up there with these big events. I found that very special! They weren't quite asleep yet when I said goodnight, but it was very apparent that their love tanks were already full and they were as content as could be. That warmed my heart!

So back to yesterday, I wasn't planning on leaving for the conference until 5 but my hubby came home from work early and said he would pick the kids up from school (remember, they go to school every Friday) and that I could leave to do whatever I wanted before the conference started. So I didn't think twice and headed out the door to the Goodwill, it didn't take me long to figure that one out.  You can read all about my Goodwill trip in the previous post but to sum it up, that outing was delightful! 

And then the icing on the cake as far as why I think my husband is the best there is. I came home today from the conference and Jadon hands me a box and says it's from dad. I opened the box and guess what was inside? It was a pair of rain boots, you've probably been wondering why there was a picture of boots at the top of this post. You see, I told my husband the other day how I would love a pair of boots to wear when I go out to the chicken coop. Now I sound like a farmer :). I thought it would be kinda fun to have a pair of boots to wear to the coop where I could just spray them off when I'm done and that way I don't mess up any of my nice pairs of shoes. If you haven't heard, chickens poop a lot and it's kind of hard to avoid stepping in it. Well, my husband listened to that request and got me the most darling pair of boots you've ever seen. And, they were on clearance (I like a thrifty purchase because it's nice on the checking account), he got me the perfect size, and they are just my style. He really does know me well, yes he does. 

So now you can see why I do in fact have the best husband.......for me. I'm very in love. 

Thank you Goodwill!

I had one of my best shopping trips to the Goodwill yesterday. I spent two hours looking through every rack of women's clothing in search of jeans, shirts, and a skirt. I was lost in my own little world and I loved every minute of it. I probably had a smile on my face the whole time, except when a creepy guy was in the same isle as me then I didn't act so happy, but rather alert of my surroundings. But once he moved on, I went back to happyville and continued in search of cute clothes in the right size and in good shape. It actually can be found at Goodwill as long as you have plenty of time and are willing to search the racks. I had just gone through my closet a few weeks back and donated almost every pair of jeans I own because they were old, or ripped, or too tight, or I was simply tired of them. I wasn't too optimistic of finding a good pair of jeans at the Goodwill but much to my surprise and excitement, I found three pair and they are all a perfect fit and namebrand too! J.Crew, The Gap, and Arizona Jean Co. I also found 5 short sleeve shirts (most namebrand), 3 long sleeve shirts (I can't wait to wear them), and one really cute skirt that I plan on wearing to church tomorrow. After spending most of the time in the women's section, I then headed to the boys section and got Camden a really nice pair of camo pants with lots of pockets that look like they have never been worn, and then to top it all off I got some namebrand ski pants for the boys. They will be able to use them when we go up north and play in the snow this winter. They should last a few winters. You can't beat $3 for a pair of really nice ski pants! So I walked out of there with a new wardrobe for myself, it doesn't take much to make me happy and simplicity is really what I'm all about. And I got the boys outfitted for the snow, at least their bottom half. Any guesses on how much I spent? Before I tell you let me show you some of what I got. Here are some of my finds, all washed and smelling fresh, not including Camden's army pants or ski pants because Camden wore the army pants today and they are back in the hamper and the ski pants, I couldn't get a good picture of, they are black and boring and the picture just looks really dull so I left it out!

Shirts! I wore the mint colored one today with jeans. I think it's my favorite.

I can't wait to wear this flannel shirt. It is so soft and comfortable. Now all I need is a cold day, I wonder how many months away that will be? I actually probably won't wear it until we head up north.

This is the only Abercrombie and Fitch shirt I own, compliments of goodwill. It is so soft and comfy and I'm thinking it might become a jammie shirt and not a wear in public shirt.

Cute skirt, I love the colors and print.

I do love a good pair of jeans and now I have three "new to me" pairs to choose from!

Here is one of the Body Glove Ski pants, aren't they great! I have no idea what they retail for but I got them for $3 and I'm sure that's a whole lot less than what I could get at a regular store. Oh, and they have never been worn!

So, what do you think I spent? Any guesses? OK, well you deserve to know if you read this whole thing. My total was $80.23. Not bad huh!

the first egg

The time has finally come, Puff Ball laid the first egg yesterday. Who would have thought that our smallest chicken would be the first one to lay an egg, but she did. This is what it looked like. It was pretty small but had a hard shell and bright yellow yoke. It was very yummy! Tonight for dinner we had breakfast. Another egg was laid today so we got to feast on two fresh eggs! That left each of us with about a 1 tablespoon bite and then we feasted on these other breakfast goodies. That 1 tablespoon bite was delicious! This dinner was a huge hit with the kids. I guess I'll have to do it more often. If only I could get them to eat like this for breakfast! 

Anna actually dropped this egg right before we cracked it and it stayed intact, that goes to show how strong the shell is. 

Check out the bright yokes!

Scrambled!

Yummy red strawberries

Plump green grapes

Bagels and cream cheese

You can't have a breakfast feast without some of these.

Homemade french toast with cinnamon and sugar, YUMMY!

Bacon and Sausage, so delicious

Hashbrowns, are you hungry yet?