Playing in the rain!

Today the kids had soccer games which are played outdoors at Omni. Adriana's game was first and surprisingly in all the rain the girls still played. I had to get a picture of the troopers playing in the rain. Not the best picture because it was taken with my camera phone. Adriana wasn't in the picture either because she was playing goalie at the time.

Luckily Andrew's game got cancelled by the other teams coach. It was pouring hard by then. But Andrew was going to be a trooper too and was ready to play in the rain as well!

Pretty rainbow!

I forgot to add this post. It was raining a couple of weeks ago when we went into gymnastics and when we came out we saw this.......a double rainbow. It was really pretty!

This picture was taken with my camera phone so its not the best.

Building bird feeders!

We have been working on teaching the kids a lot about respecting the Earth and being more green. This week we have worked on building our own garden and talked a lot about recycling. Today we went to Lowe's and built bird feeders. I didn't get any pictures while they were making them because it was hard enough keeping up with the three of them armed with hammers. But I did get some after pictures.
A close up of the bird feeders.

A picture of Adriana and Andrew holding up the bird feeders after they have been hard at work coloring them. Joey was taking his nap so was unavailable for this picture.

We are also working on making our own compost. Stay tuned for more on our compost.

Adriana helping out with Mass!

Today was the Adriana's kindergarden's class time to help out with Mass at Church. We've known about this for the past two weeks and Adriana was so excited. Each child in Adriana's class had a certain job to do. Adriana and Scartlette's job was to bring down the gifts. So we packed up the family and headed to Church to watch Adriana's special day. The pictures aren't the best because we can't use a flash during Mass.
Adriana and Scarlette walking down the aisle.

Trying to figure out what to do now.

Picking up the gifts to bring to Father Don.

After wards the kids all sat on the steps so all the parents could come up and say hi.

It was so neat to see Adriana helping out with Mass. I look forward to many more days of watching her grow with her spirituality with Church. I'm so happy she is able to be a part of this!

Andrew's school!

I keep forgetting my camera every time I get to be parent helper at Andrew's school, but this time I remembered it! Andrew's loves it when I get to come and hang out with him at school and looks so forward to it!
Here is Andrew holding the flag while we say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Andrew putting the date up on the calendar. He is so smart to know which one belongs!

Doing his craft......this is very serious!

Now playing with some sand at the sesory table.

We had such a great time together and I love this one on one time so much with him! He is growing up so fast!

Another trip to the Zoo!

If I haven't mentioned it before, we LOVE going to the Zoo! We get a zoo membership every year and definitely put it to good use. This time we went again with my friend Debbie and her kids Chase and Reece. I'm a little behind on blogging so I'm not positive on the date, but I know it was the week after Easter when Adriana was on spring break. It was a great day to go. The weather was perfect and the zoo was not busy at all. I didn't take as many pictures of the kids this time as I usually do.
The kids wanted to go to build a bear while we were there and I told them they would have to use their money to buy one. So the brought the money that they got for Easter so they would be able to go.
Joey picked a panda bear and named him bear bear. He has been carrying this stuffed animal every where since we went. Here he is giving it a bath.

Adriana chose a tiger and named it Tiely.

Andrew picked out a fox. I can't remember what he named it though. Here he is getting it dressed. Oh and I have to mention this too since it melts my heart. They boys only had enough money to buy their animal and not any clothes so Adriana shared her money and let them buy any outfit they wanted. It was so sweet! Andrew chose a Blues hockey outfit. Adriana did say no to the shoes but told him he could get the hockey stick and puck. She really is the best sister ever!!!!

A picture of the kids with Chase after making their stuffed animals.

The kids all looking at the ground hogs.

Ahhhh.....a cute and cuddly bear! I just want to give him a big hug!

The kids trying to climb into one of the animals spots. Do you think if I left them in there anyone would mind.....hehehe!

Adriana and Joey posing with some pretty flowers.

It was such a great day! We already can't wait to go back again!

April showers brings my kids warm hearts!

This morning we helped Adriana's girlscout troop pick up the bags for April showers. These are bags that the girlscouts dropped off last Saturday and people filled up with personal hygiene products and left on their front porches for the girls to pick up. Well since Chris was working today, I also brought the boys along. After picking up all the bags, the girls sorted through all the items, crossed out the bar codes so they could not be returned, then organized them into separate boxes. Boy was that a lot of work! After that we brought them up to the New Hope Food Pantry. While the adults were unloading all of the heavy boxes, the girls got to go on a tour of the food pantry. The woman working there told the kids about several stories of families coming in and really needing food and personal supplies. This must have really effected my older two because they immediately wanted to go home and clean out our pantries and bring some food up to the pantry. I said that was a great idea since we were going all organic anyway. So we empties out a lot of our pantry. This included a lot of boxed meals, some homemade gourmet things I had left, and lots of other food items. We ended up with FIVE bags of food! Wow! We even brought several frozen items as well.
Here is a picture of the kids with all the bags of food.

Here is a peak into all the food bags.

The kids trying to help bring the bags out to the car.

And a picture of the kids after dropping off all of the bags at the food pantry. I'm not sure why none of them are smiling......maybe tired from all the carrying they just did. You can kind of see the food pantry lady in the back and she was very excited about all the food we just brought in!

I'm so glad my kids get to hear the stories about how we can help others. I want them to know how fortunate we really are and how good it can feel to help others in need. Maybe we will have to keep doing this every few months to help out!!!!

The Weber's are going Organic!

I knew I was making a mistake when I borrowed the movie "Food Inc." from a friend a couple of weeks ago. This is one of the reasons I try to avoid movies like that because it effects me so much. This show was very disturbing to me and my children that I seriously can't eat regular food especially feeding my kids with it. So we have decided (and luckily Chris was all for it after also watching the movie) to go fully organic. Yes, it is raising our grocery bill up a bit from $50 a week to $75 a week. For me, spending that extra money is soooooo worth it for me. We just received our yearly quarter of a cow from Chris' cousin. These cows are completly free range, grass eating cows so I love getting this meat. It is a hefty up from cost, usually around $300 for 150 lbs of meat. But it makes life so easy and after we started eating this meat, it really makes it hard to eat the meat from the grocery store. Believe it or not you can really tell a difference. We have our garden started and should be producing some fresh veggies for us soon. And with Chris coming from a very big farming family, we do often get fresh veggies from them as well. Whole foods has now become my best friend for my chicken. Until I can figure out somewhere else maybe a little cheaper to buy it from, we now just stick with Whole Foods. Surprisingly as much as I dislike Walmart, they are starting to carry a lot of organic foods that I use at a cheaper cost than Whole Foods.
All of my meals are now homemade, made from scratch meals. I am home during the day just about everyday outside of a few days I am now working day shift, so I devote an hour to preparing my foods. I also make as many meals as I can in bulk to freeze up for a quick grab. It has been amazing how much better I feel and how much more energy I have. I have done away with drinking soda and rely mostly on my healthy foods to give me the added energy I need. The kids have been doing great with trying all the new foods and I even have them liking the foods I make with Tofu in them. If you know anything about my kids you know they have to be the worlds pickest eaters! I find a couple of new recipes each week and give them a try. My husband loves it and when he walks into the house he says it reminds him of his grandma's house.
Keep posted on how we are doing over the next several weeks. I might even make a separate blog on the recipes I have found if anyone would like to see it.
Oh, I have to also add that I just watched the movie "Super Size Me". I guess there goes my fast food eating as well.....I really have to stop watching these. I should have learned after watching a 20/20 show on hotels and now I have a fear of hotel rooms......now we have our camper because of that show. Geesh!!!!!!

Fishing with Daddy!

So since Andrew and Joey got their new fishing poles for Easter, they could NOT wait to go and give them a try. Lucky for us we have a stocked pond right in our backyard. So we headed down to the pond with Daddy and gave the fishing poles a try.
Here is Andrew.....he was so excited to shoot his new fishing pole and thought it was the best thing ever!

Even Adriana had a fun time fishing. She actually caught the first fish!

Joey fishing with his new spiderman fishing pole.

Now this is some serious fishing going on here!

Joey and Adriana being silly together!

Like father like son!!!!

We had a really great time together. I'm sure there will be so many for fishing days to come!

Look Mom!

The other day I was cooking dinner and was letting the kids play outside. They are usually really good and just playing soccer or playing on the swingset. I keep the window open so I can hear while they are outside, but I can't see them when they are on the ground because of the deck. I went outside to check on them after not seeing them for a few minutes and this is what I found....

Well being the good mother that I am, I yelled at them to get out of the tree. But before I did of course I had to say hold on let me get a picture of this.....hehe! Adriana did inform me that it was alright because she was with the boys and she had everything undercontrol. Now that makes me feel so much better!

Easter at MawMaw and PawPaw's house!

Our last stop for Easter was at MawMaw and PawPaw's house. The kids were so excited to see their other set of cousins.
First was present opening. Adriana was so excited to get the Kit American Girl. She has been wanting her since we read all the books and was so happy to finally have her!

Andrew has been wanting this shooting fishing pole for probably almost a year and was super excited to finally get it!

And yes, there was another Easter egg hunt! You would think the kids would be so bored with them by now, but they still get excited even if this is the 5th Easter egg hunt this week.
Andrew reaching up high to grab one.

Joey picking up some eggs.

I had to get this picture of Jacob and his purple rabbit basket......hehehe!

PawPaw helping Adriana find the last of the eggs.

After the Easter egg hunt the kids all decided to play a game of baseball. They had so much fun and laughed so hard playing together! They are still talking about how much fun they had!
Adriana trying to tag out Jacob.

Adriana and Andrew trying to get Jacob out.

Andrew making a run for home.

Adriana and her big cousin Kaitlyn that she loves so much!!!!!!!

Well that finally ends our busy Easter day! We had so much fun and want to thank everyone for all the hard work they did to put together such a great day. It was full of great gifts, lots of laughter and mouth watering food. What a great way to celebrate Christ!!!!!

Easter at Great Grandma Weber's house!

For our second Easter trip we went to visit with Great Grandma. The kids all love coming down to visit, but this has been our first trip since Great Grandpa passed away. It was hard for the kids at first and they kept expecting to see Great Grandpa anytime. After explaining to the kids about Great Grandpa being in heaven they finally understood and although were still sad about it, they still enjoyed visiting with Great Grandma. I think she really enjoyed being surounded by all her great grandkids as well!
After visiting inside for awhile the kids all decided they wanted to go outside and play around on the farm. One of the barn cats made his presence and all the kids had to love on him for awhile, that is until he ran back into the barn for safety from all the kids!

I have pictures of the boys in this tire from each visit we have made to the farm. Its neat to see how much they grow from each visit. Here is Joey almost too big to stand in it anymore.

Gabe, Mike, and Andrew all getting a picture in the tire together.

Here is the cat safe and sound and trying to hide from all the kiddos.

Adriana and Great Grandma! Her middle name is from Great Grandma....Rose Weber....and she loves this. She always tells everyone that her middle name is from her Great Grandma!

All the kids with Great Grandma!

I'm so glad we were all able to make it down to see her this year! I think she really enjoyed seeing everyone and being loved on by all her great grandkids!

Easter at MeMaw and PePaw's house!

Our first Easter celebration was at MeMaw and PePaw's house. The kids have so much fun coming over and playing with all their cousins.......which end up being 6 kids between the ages of 6 and 2!
So here are some of the pictures I got from our first stop.
Mike and Joey playing on the tricycle.

Andrew picking up Easter eggs

Joey picking up some Easter eggs.

Andrew, Joey, Gabe, and Angeline all hunting for eggs together.

Adriana finding some eggs.

Gabe and Andrew being silly together.

All the kids after they were done hunting the eggs.

We had a great time! Thank you so much again MeMaw and PePaw for everything! You always overdue everything and the kids have so much fun!!!!!