our weekend project

We got the itch to give Kade his own room last week. He has been upset a couple of times recently because he keeps getting lumped in with his younger brothers for not picking toys up or cleaning their room. He does end up being the one that ends up doing a lot of the work many times when we ask them to clean up their messes, so we thought this seemed like a good time to let him have a little space of his own.

I put out a call for a twin bed/mattress once we made the decision and almost immediately had this bed and mattress donated (HUGE BLESSINGS from my friends, Alison and Heather!). Alison even sent a gallon of blue paint which worked perfectly with the lime green paint that was already on two of the walls in the room we had been using for our playroom. So - pretty much after painting two walls, putting the bed together and moving the other furniture, Kade had a new room and Kale got to officially move from the toddler mattress on the floor to the bottom bunk that Kade used to occupy. Kale looks a little too excited that Kade is out of their room now ;-).


I had to include this pic below because it was taken the morning after the first night in his own room - I love that they all end up in the same bed to start their morning off. It's a sweet bond that these four siblings have - I pray that bond remains strong all through their lives.
My project that I'm hoping to finish this next weekend: refinishing our buffet. So far, I've sanded and primed it. All that's left is the turquoise paint!

the ten commandments

I don't brag about my husband near as I ought to when it comes to how he communicates God's Word. He is hand's down my favorite pastor and teacher - and I am 99.9999% sure I would say that even if he wasn't my husband. He is so passionate about people having a solid theology - not only that but his passion is contagious and makes those around him want to know God better.
He kicked off a new series at church this past Sunday called Words From the Fire. He introduced the Ten Commandments and talked about the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me." I've never been more excited about studying the Ten Commandments as I was when I left church. If you're in need of a fresh love for God's Word and His commands - click on the link above. You can also print out a study guide to go with it if you like to take notes like me.

we're going on a heart hunt

OK, so as of 11 p.m. last night, I did not have one thing planned for Valentine's Day for the kids - I know, horrible mom. I've been too busy going on dates with my man ;-) We just wrapped up a four night stint of getting to go on dates every night. I have no idea how that happened, and I'm almost certain it probably won't ever happen again - or at least for the next 18 years. But, it has been so fun and refreshing to get to spend so much quality time with Keith and be reminded that he is the absolute love of my life. We just have so much fun together and even after four nights of getting to hang out, I'm already ready for our next date - just can't get enough of Ferguson!
I have also been reminded how wonderful my mom is to be available four nights in a row for us! She didn't move here until I was pregnant with #4, so I know I was able to manage without having her here, but I'm so thankful that she is here now to spoil us. We were pretty creative back then in finding ways to get our weekly date in - trading off date nights and utilizing the monthly "Family Night" at the YMCA - but I do have to admit that having mom here makes things easier and I love that the kids get to have such special memories with her.
Back to the title of my post though :-)
I came up with this idea this morning and it was so easy to quickly implement. I know that Valentine's is over, but the idea could be used for birthday's, Easter or "just because."
Now for the idea:
Write a poem.
Put each word on a separate heart.

Hide the hearts.

Let the kids find them.

Make the kids figure out the order of the words to make the poem - SO THAT - they can find a little something special for them.

I had random things waiting for them: tennis balls, fruit snacks, one can of play-doh and a couple of books (one of the books was "Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl." Kamden thinks the Fly Guy books are the funniest - don't know about that, but I love that he enjoys reading them.)

This involved team work, reading and puzzle-solving skills, so I totally counted it as school-time too ;-) They really liked that part!

mail from mama e.

Keith's mom, or Mama E., as the kids know her, is so good about sending mail addressed to each child on a regular basis. I'm hoping that by the time I have grandkids, I have developed the skill of mailing cards to people on regular basis - so far, it has proved to be a skill I'm definitely lacking in my life.

We stopped by the mailbox on the way home from our Valentine's Chuck E. Cheese party and found Valentine's cards for each of the kids and for Keith and I. I think we get just as excited as they do to find one of her cards in the mail!

Thanks, E., for being so thoughtful! You made our day :-)

school time

We decided to homeschool Kade, Kamden, and Kale this semester. We are finishing up Week 6 tomorrow and I can still say that I am loving it. I had my doubts because it definitely keeps me inside more than what is normal for me. But...that is actually a beautiful thing. Because I am very social and because the nature of Keith's profession keeps us going all the time, it has been wonderful to have an "excuse" to totally focus on the kids. Plus, I have always had a hidden desire to teach, so the lesson prep stuff actually energizes me instead of being draining. Our home seems more peaceful because we're not loading and unloading in and out of the car all the time - which for those of you with large families, you know that is a BEAST and can make the most pleasant day go bad very quickly. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure we'll be back in the public schools at some point. We've been blessed to have had an awesome experience with our elementary school. We just simply wanted more time with the kids and wanted to be able to engage them in their educational process more than we were finding the opportunity to while they were at public school. Today was such a good day where they all stayed on task that I had to capture a couple of pictures.


Keith has been taking the boys through this book the past couple of weeks. Don't be fooled by the fact that Kale is asleep and Kamden is very close to being asleep - they really do love the book and the special time with their daddy.

daddy's girl

Here are pics from Bryn's first Daddy/Daughter Dance. She sang "I'm going on a date with dada, I'm going on a date with dada...," the whole way to the salon to get her hair done. She is pretty smitten with her daddy and I'm noticing that her daddy is pretty smitten with her too.

Jada and I, along with Mary and Tomi, spent the evening looking at Shock photo albums while our hubbies were away with our daughters. All I can say is this pic of Nick and Keith below is much better than a couple of the photos we unearthed from ten years ago - before these girls had joined our families :-) It was so fun to be reminded of the precious friendship our two families have enjoyed for almost 12 years now.

Now, Keith might be smitten with his daughter, but I still have his heart ;-)

what she does while we're sick...

I talk a lot about how Brynlee likes to keep busy and how many times that leads to messes in our home. Well, she got to enjoy two days this past week of unfiltered fun because neither Keith nor I felt like going to find her everytime she disappeared - but I did manage to grab a picture or two of her "busywork."

First, she took every cup from the kid shelf in the kitchen and moved them to our bathtub.

Next, she got the cornbread muffins that I was saving for a friend to pick up later that day and stuck a sour gummy worm right in the center of each one....I struggled to get upset with her for this though because it was so creative. And, I have modeled this for her. The kids love for me to hide a gummy worm somewhere on their plates - they think it's the best thing ever. So, I guess she was just wanting to provide the same fun for the Magee kids :-)

It's been so long since I've blogged...I feel like I need to introduce myself again. I can't promise that I'm going to ever be regular, but it does feel good to blog again!