Have not blogged in a while

So I have not blogged much over the summer. That is when things are suppose to be easier at our house, but we had a busy summer. All the kids are doing well. Cody goes into 5th grade this year. I cannot believe that this is his last year in Elem school. Ethan is going into 3rd grade and Megan 2nd grade. And I think I am going to attempt to do some preschool work with Emma. The last few weeks have really been focused on starting the Upward sports program at our church. The boys are really excited to play football and Megan and Emma are going to cheer. We are going to start back school next week even though I do not have all the curriculum yet. We should have it by mid Sept, but I will use some of what I have and stuff I find online for a few weeks so we can get back in the swing of school. Kevin starts back next week also going to Liberty University online to get his Masters in Divinity. Another major accomplishment for the Fletcher house is that Ethan's fear of dogs has gotten ALOT better. He is really not scared of Amelia at all. (Only when she acts hyper he gets a little nervous) and with that said he is also doing better with other dogs. That was our hope in getting a dog and it took alot longer then I thought it would. For those of you who have seen Ethan around dogs or lack there of you know how big this is for him. I hope everyone else has had a GREAT summer also!

Potty Training Twins

So I have potty trained 4 kids by now and have done it pretty quickly. I kind of say it is like potty training boot camp. We let them run around the house naked. (This does not work to well if you have carpet) And I keep the little potty chair in the main room with us and reward them for going in the potty and get onto them when they don't go in the potty. It is pretty simple, but time consuming. We generally don't go anywhere when we do this, but with the twins it took more then a couple days like the others, so I had to break my rule about not going anywhere till it is done. It took just a little over a week to train the twins and now they are going GREAT! No more diapers... I don't know what I will do I have been buying diapers pretty much constantly for 10 years.

Camp '09

Just wanted to share a little something. So I left my kids for 6 days when I went to camp with our youth. We went to Centrifuge in Ridegcrest N Carolina. God was so awesome in it all. In the 6 days our youth grew closer together. We grew closer to them and most importantly we grew closer to God! It was so awesome!! And I made it 6 days without my kids. This is really big for me. I have never ever left my kids for more then just a night or 2. God was so good to give me peace about it and the kids did fine. They were really excited to see us though. And for the next couple days after we got back they were very clingy, but all back to normal now!

BEACH TRIP!!

So we went on our yearly beach trip this year. This was our 11th year going and Kevins family has been all going close to 15 years. We had a blast... like we always do. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel though with this trip getting easier and easier as the kids get older and older. We started off the week with ALOT of swimming in the pool and then some in the ocean. They like the pool better b/c no burning salt water in the eyes. The 3 little girls discovered how much they liked to play in the sand with buckets and shovels. The boys had a good time fishing with their dad. One day we all went fishing and Megan got to catch a fish. So to give you a little overview of how we our days went. We woke up and went to the pool pretty much right when we got ready... Stayed there for a couple hours and then went back to the hotel to eat lunch. Then I would lay the babies down for a nap and Papa watched them while they napped. This gave Kevin and I time to spend with the older kids. One day Kevin took the boys fishing and Megan and I had the pool to ourselves. There was no one else there, so it was nice. Then after nap we got the girls ready to swim again for a little bit... or we would go somewhere. We went to coldstone creamery, saw the movie Up and ate out at Applebees with the whole family! Then there is dinnertime. This is no ordinary dinnertime. There is generally about 40 of us that gather for dinner nightly and 1 person has 1 night to cook. Then you are off for the rest of the week. After dinner we would sometimes go watch the sunset while the kids buried each other and played in the sand and then most nights we went back to the pool after the sunset! It is amazing how much you can fit in a weeks time. So if you did not already know how much fun we have every year... Now ya do! :-)

Homemade Play dough

So it has been about a week since we made it, but it is taking me some time to get on here and post this! :-) Last week we made homemade play dough and the kids have had a blast with it. It was so easy to make and cheap. Also another bonus... the kids left it out and it did not dry up too much. I just mushed it a little bit and it was like new. So we got out our plastic knives and the kids had a blast. Hannah and Avery ate a little bit of it, but I am thinking that it did not taste too well! Here is the recipe for anyone who would like to try it. 1 cup flour 1 tbsp veg oil 1 pkg kool aid 1/4 cup salt
2tbsp cream of tartar
1 cup water. Mix all dry ingredients together in pot then add water and oil on Med heat for 3 to 5 min. Then knead it for a few min and walaaa it is play dough! :-)

Another trip to Lakeland...

We have been to Lakeland alot more recently since we live closer. This past weekend was my brothers (Bob) wedding, so that was the main reason for the trip. So we left Fri morning. The plan was to leave Thursday, but Kevin has started back in school and had a paper to write before we went. Kevin is going to Liberty University to get his Masters in Divinity. I do not know where he is going to find the time, but this is something we really feel God is leading him to do.

So like i said we left on Fri morning and we got to Lakeland mid day and Kevin's dad took us to Chuckee Cheese. Then we went straight from there to that really cool park I have mentioned before. Kevin did not get to see the park last time because he was in a conference and he agrees it is like the coolest park ever. We met some of the cousins there so they could get a chance to play with them. Then we left there and all the boys and their boy cousins went to see Monster Vs Aliens. Me and the mom of the cousins went back to her house and let the girls all play together. It was nice to catch up and relax for a little bit!
Then Saturday we got up and had to go to Orlando to pick up the tux. We had some time to kill in between getting the tux and rehearsal dinner so we took a drive and showed the kids the house that I grew up in and Kevin grew up in. And the parks we usto play at when we were kids. We stopped at one and let the kids play. Then we headed over to the rehearsal dinner.

Then on Sunday was the wedding. We got there a little early and the kids ran around and played. That is the beauty of an outdoor wedding... they got to get all their energy out before they had to be still for the wedding. Kevin was a groomsman and Emma was the flower girl. One of the really neat things about the wedding was we got to see friends that we knew in high school that we have not seen in years. Kevin and I met through my brother and his friends. And they were there so that was really neat to catch up with them. Also my dad from New York was there and we never really get to see him so it was good catching up with him also. Emma did a great job. I know that I am biased, but I think she was a hit! She was so adorable.
So now we are back home trying to play catch up, but we had a great time.

A Trip to Lakeland

Kevin had a youth pastor conference in Orlando, so we decided to pack up the car and all of us go to Lakeland for a short visit. We did ALOT while we were there for a short time. We went to a park that is new in Lakeland. I do not know the name of it, but it is really cool. The kids had a great time. Some of the things it had there was an astro turf hill the kids could slide down. They had a rock climbing area. They had lots of different things that you normally don't see at a park. So we got some pizza and went to the park and had a blast. Then on Tuesday Kevin played hookie from the conference and went to the Central Florida Zoo with us. So the whole family got to go along with Kevin's dad, mom, and nephew. It was a fun trip. Then that night we ate at the Rainforest Cafe in downtown disney. Our plan was to play around there after we ate, but it was really really cold when we got out, so we just headed to our car as fast as we could! Then the next day we were leaving, but I took the kids for one last trip to the cool park while the babies were napping. Then we headed back home. We had a great time for such a short trip. We get to go back in a few weeks for my brothers wedding. Kevin is a groomsman and Emma is going to be the flower girl. I know I am biased, but I think they couldn't have picked a better flower girl, she will be so adorable! So that is it for now.

Lowes Build and Grow

Because we live so close to a Lowe's we decided to check out their free kids clinics they have every other Saturday. So Saturday Kevin took the 4 oldest and they made a race car. In 2 weeks they are making a tabletop basketball thingy! They had so much fun. They got a pair of goggles this week and then will get their aprons next time They get a badge for every project they do and can put them on their aprons! How exciting! :-)

A Day at the Suwannee River State Park

Today we went to the Suwannee River State Park and had a wonderful time. Kevin unexpectedly had the day off because his kids at school had a field trip to go on and Kevin did not go. So we got to spend a much needed day with him! :-) We were going with the intention of going on a picnic and really did not know what else to expect when we got there. So we packed a lunch, 6 kids, and a dog and headed out! We ended up spending most of the day there. We got there and ate lunch and then the kids played on the playground. Then we starting walking and found a boat ramp and Kevin wanted to see if Amelia (our dog for those of you that don't know we have a dog) liked to swim. So he threw her in and she LOVED it. I would have thought it would have been too cold, but I think she was so hot by this time it did not matter. So then we starting going on a hiking trail. I thought we were crazy we had the babies in the stroller which they hate being in by the way. There were a few times that Kevin and I had to lift the stroller over very bumpy areas, but for the most part it was not too bad. The trail says it is suppose to take 20 min, but we stopped at EVERY stop point and I think that we made some of our own. The kids had a GREAT time. We had a GREAT time and so did Amelia. All this trip cost was $4 by the way. You can't beat that! There are other things to do at the park,.. We can fish, rent a canoe, and even camp. I am not sure about camping with the twins quite yet, but maybe in time I will be brave enough!

Kevin and My Getaway!!!

So for those of you that know me real well you know I do not leave my kids that often and overnight almost never... but with all the stress of moving and our new hectic schedule we really were needing a break. So we went away for 24 hours... yes overnight. I think I am preparing myself to go to camp this summer with the youth. :-) We went to Amelia Island which is in the Jacksonville area. We stayed at a really nice B&B. We went bike riding to the beach and we ate at a really nice Spanish/Portuguese place. I tried a Paella. Me I tried something that was not chicken and fries! :-) It was not that bad actually. All in all we had a really good trip. We were greeted by 6 happy kids to see their mommy and daddy. And we were really glad to see them! We did not get a bunch of pics, but I have posted a few.