Saturday is a Special Day

Yes, oh yes, Saturday is a special day, indeed. We all sleep in a little, have breakfast together, and get to work on the Saturday chores. We have a new plan where we make a list Friday night of everything we want to accomplish Saturday. First and foremost the children need to clean their rooms, sweep and vacuum the rooms as well. We always take out the garbage, and refill all the paper towels and toilet paper. So, today was like all the other Saturdays except Macie was wanting to have a lemonade stand with her friend Kyla. All chores have to be done before any privileges can happen. The lemonade stand started around 11:30 and took a break for 1/2 hour while the girls went to Kyla's tennis lesson. It resumed around 2:40 and went until 3:30. Each girl walked away with $9.25 (they made a killing). They paid Thomas 50 cents to clean up the mess, and I paid their helper Julia, who they didn't think was all that helpful. :)
Tom worked with Thomas and the others (if you can call it help) to put in the garden. We now have tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, beets, onions, beans and some herbs. We are going with plants and seeds this year. I hope we will get some good things because last year time ran out on us and we never did put in our garden.
I did a huge amount of laundry today, and cleaned up in the house. I love going to bed on Saturday night knowing that all is well in the house, and that the gang is bathed and happily sleeping in their beds. I also like being ready for Sunday.
Macie, Kyla and Julia putting in an honest day's work.

Our 2009 garden. Tom, you rock!

Henry and Matthew also had a great day!
Matthew, you are looking good. Who dressed you? :)

Today was such a beautiful day. Tom stayed home from work because we were attending a funeral for a friend's mother. This woman loved the outdoors and her service was a graveside service. The grass was green and the flowers were blooming. The sky was blue and the air was still. Many wonderful words were spoken and another friend played the violin. I so enjoyed hearing about Jennie's life and how she touched many people.
I also took Julia to the eye specialists office. Julia sees many specialists to keep her disorder in check. Poor little thing she fell asleep on the way home and woke with a crook in her neck.
I sure liked having Tom home on such a nice day. He played outside with the boys. Henry sure loves being outside. Even as I write this at 7:45 p.m. there are 3 children still playing out in the almost dark. I remember this time of year as a kid. It was so exciting playing out on a Friday night. I remember thinking how great the weekend was going to be. Now, of course I still think that, but it is because I get some help doing the chores. :)
Being a mom to this gang is fun and full of adventure. I never know what to expect minute to minute. After going to the funeral today I have a renewed desire to be the best momma a gang could have. I hope one day my children will stand before their families and friends and remember life with Tom and me as happy and fun. I also desire to raise my children to be respectful, loving, happy, spriitual, life long learners, and prepared to be parents themselves. This is our responsibility and we take it seriously.

Finally a new post!!

Hey, all you Hay Gang fans I am finally getting around to posting. I didn't realize that I hadn't blogged in over a month. Many things have happened to us in this last month. Where to begin. Well Tom and I served our little gang a beautiful candlelight Valentine's Day dinner. The children loved it. Then we were onto the cub scout Blue and Gold dinner. Thomas and Tom had to prepare a father/son cake. The theme was All American. Our pack chose to have each boy focus on a state. Thomas chose Tennessee because that's where Elvis and Antsy McClain come from. The cake was a guitar. It turned out great and won the Most Creative cake. As the month wore on we went to the ER 2 times. One time was for Henry to have stitches in his nose due to a backyard fall (push) off the picnic table. The other time was Matthew being rushed there because he was found unresponsive in his classroom. It appears as if he has had an absence seizure. We keep a very close eye on him. Macie has had to write the 4th grade mission report and project. She also got to sing the national anthem with her school choir at the opening day of Little League yesterday. We also celebrated Thomas' 9th birthday yesterday with his favorite dinner, steak. March brought us another pinewood derby and Thomas built a motor home car. It was a bit bulky and did not win. The motor home won Most Detailed car and Thomas showed great sportsmanship that night. Here are some pictures of the things that we have done this last month. I love them, I hope you will too.
Also, I ran into one of my dearest and oldest friends this last week. This post is for her. She mentioned that I haven't posted in a while, so, Ter here you go. It was great seeing you and I miss all the fun and adventures we used to have. :)