Another Busy Week

This afternoon I am headed to Delaware to stay with my parents for the week. I will be teaching the 2's and 3's at their church's Daily Vacation Bible School--pray for me! :) I don't know how often I will post this week, but I'll do my best! I have some photos from this past Thursday night when we took Benjamin to see his first movie to share with you when I get a chance. Jonathan and Sabastian both had good weeks at their respective places...I'll try to share more on that later as well. Happy rest of the weekend to all!

Dutch Wonderland

As promised, here are some of my favorite photos from Tuesday's trip to Dutch Wonderland. It was a HOT day, but there was a slight breeze and the park has lots of shady areas so it wasn't too bad. There is a whole other water park section to the park that we didn't even get to...maybe next time! Benjamin loved all of the rides that he went on, and surprised me by wanting to ride the small coaster and the flume ride, among other things! Many of the rides are only for children, and he didn't hesitate to go on by himself--what a big, brave boy! We had a lot of fun!

Duke's Dozers was a big hit with my "Bob the Builder" boy!

Benjamin never misses a chance to "bam" the enemy...you can tell he has big brothers!

This was a self-propelled little ride that he enjoyed several times!

Here he is all smiles on the sky ride...I was a bit nervous way up there, but he did fine!

Oh, Happy Day!

Today, in the words of my three year old, was a "happy day". He and I and my mom went to Dutch Wonderland for the day. My older boys are away for the week, and I got a sitter for the baby, so it was just "Mommy, Mom-mom, and me" time with Benjamin. It was a great day, and long overdue. I will post photos soon!

My First Blog Award!

Thanks to my dear friend Beth, at Red Yarn, I have been nominated for my first blog award, and fittingly, it is in Spanish! Here are the rules for this award:


1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated.
6. Write an acceptance speech in the style of the Academy Awards, thanking everybody's mother, father, sister, brother, aunties and uncles and kitchen staff at your favorite restaurant!



So, here is my Academy Awards style award acceptance speech (you'll have to imagine the tears of happiness and gorgeous gown!)...

A year or so ago, I barely knew what a blog was, but thanks to my youngest sister, Steph, and my dear friend, Beth, I was quickly bit by the blogging bug and began to read various blogs quite faithfully. It wasn't until this past January that I decided to write a blog as a personal journaling venue--and now I'm hooked! I wish to thank my dear husband, Dave, for working second shift so that I have nothing better to do late at night than read and write blogs...just kidding (well, sort of!)...and for supporting me on this endeavor. I would thank my kids, but I don't think they have a clue about this blog...maybe I should thank them for that! And I wish to thank my faithful blog readers, many of whom are now new friends via cyberspace because of this blog and the blogs of others. You encourage me and inspire me in so many ways--thank you for being there--wherever there is!

And now for my nominations for the Brillante Weblog Award...may I have the envelope please?
(I'm afraid I won't have seven, though...I don't know that many other bloggers who haven't already been nominated!)


My sister, Stephanie, at Garcias2Chile...for a glimpse of life with three small children in a foreign country, check out her blog! She's also adopting two babies from Haiti...you can see that blog here.

My long time friend, Ricardo, at Sudaca Americano...we go way back to my high school days in Chile, and he is just starting his blog after some encouragement as a way to keep in touch with family and friends in the US and Chile. I hope my nomination encourages him to keep going with his blog!

A friend and homeschooling mother of (almost!) eight, Lisa, at A Second Generation of Homeschooling...her ability to juggle teacher, mom, and wife amazes me!

Another homeschooling mom of seven, Laura, at Laura Williams' Musings...she has great money saving tips, links to contests, and just glimpses into her family's life that are neat to read!

A fellow adoptive mom and blogger, Angie, at The Downtown Boutique...her blog has information on all kinds of goodies, but I especially like how she highlights various Etsy shops and also has giveaways each week for homemade items!

And now the orchestra is playing and I'm supposed to stop talking...have a great week everyone!

Back to Work!

Tomorrow morning I will be leaving the house bright and early to start a week of graduate school teaching. I'm looking forward to the intellectual stimulation, but not the early mornings--although, I must say, the solitary hour-long drive is not such a bad deal when you have four kids! I am very grateful that my mom will be coming up from Delaware and staying for the week in order to cover the hours that I'm teaching and Dave's working. Thanks, Mom! We are hoping to hear from our adoption agency this week, so I'll keep you posted on that. I hope everyone has a great week!

This Week's Highlights

It's been a busy week in the Fisher household. In fact, today was the first day someone in the family didn't need to be somewhere in the morning before lunch, so we took the opportunity to clean the house in anticipation of weekend guests. That aside, it's been our yearly Daily Vacation Bible School at church, and all of us but Dave, who works second shift, were involved in some way, shape, or form. Jonathan and I were volunteers--he helped where needed, and I taught the Bible story four times each night to the four groups that rotated around to my room. The curriculum we used was quite interactive, and I found myself on my feet all night mustering a high level of energy to draw the kids in to the lesson each night. It was an amazing week, with many children coming to know Jesus as their personal Saviour. I know God gave me the strength I needed to do just what I needed to do, because when I got home each night, I pretty much collapsed! Sabastian and Benjamin attended their respective classes and really had a lot of fun, while Nathaniel was pretty much a perfect angel in the nursery--praise God! He was my real concern since he usually goes to bed between 7-8 p.m. and VBS wasn't over until 9 p.m.--he was a real trooper!

Besides VBS, we picked our first tomatoes of the season this week. They are tiny, and we haven't eaten them yet to find out if they are any good, but here they are in all their glory:

These came from the plant Sabastian has been caring for, so technically, they are his tomatoes. We'll see how many more we are able to harvest yet this summer, along with some peppers which are looking pretty promising. Salsa, anyone?

Product Review - Teddy Grahams Trail Mix

As I've mentioned before, I am a Bzz Agent. You can find out more about what that entails here. I just recently received my first invitation to a Bzzcampaign which means that I was invited to try out a product and review it. When I heard what the product was, I couldn't refuse...Teddy Grahams Trail Mix! A few days after accepting the invitation, I was sent two boxes of Nabisco's Teddy Grahams Trail Mix in the mail. There is what I would call a sweet variety (Bears & Bees) and a savory/salty variety (Bears & Cheese), and I received a box of each. It was hard to convince my kids to hold off on opening the boxes right away, but I got them to wait until I had a moment to actually let them try the snack and give me some feedback. All I can say is that this new, healthy snack was a hit! We already really like the regular Teddy Grahams, but this trail mix has added in a variety of textures and flavors that are sure to please even the most discerning palette. My three year old loved the yogurt covered raisins in the sweet variety as much as the little cookies! And he never realized that what he was eating was actually good for him! It's also a great snack for little ones because of it's size...perfect for little hands to pick up and eat. My older sons enjoyed the mix as well, commenting on how tasty it was. I intend to test this new snack on a few of my friend's kids over the weekend...if there's any left by then! If you have kids, or just want to try a low-fat (only 3.5 grams of saturated fat per serving!), healthier snack yourself, check for this new product in your local grocery store. Also, if you have preschoolers in your life, check out the companion Scholastic website here for all kinds of educational fun and games. Let me know if you like it!

Unplanned Blogging Break Explained

I'm baaack! Sorry it's been a few days since I've blogged or commented here or there. We have been pretty busy with the 4th of July and the weekend and Vacation Bible School, but those are not the real reasons I have been MIA in WWW. land--my dear husband decided that my computer needed to be defragmented (whatever that means) and it took over THREE DAYS! I guess that means my computer had issues, but all I know is that I missed getting on-line and checking my blogs and e-mail. Now my DH says I need a new hard drive...I hope that is a shorter process than the defragmenting! More soon!

The Fort

Today my two middle sons, ages 10 and 3, decided to build a fort in the living room.


The older of the two did most of the work, but they both enjoyed playing in it once it was completed.


I thought they were quite creative in their use of household items from all over the house as building materials. They even had a back door as shown in the two photos below.

The little dog, Roxy, was well taken care of in the fort as well. She had her own little corner where she could sleep and eat. The fort provided a good hour or so of play time before it had to be dismantled for lunch--we needed the dining room chairs back! I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

My Fall From Grace

On Tuesdays I watch a 13 year old boy in order to help his grandparents (whom he lives with) to continue with their counseling ministry. This young man and my oldest son have a unique relationship, but usually are friends. (If you are the parent of an adolescent, then you know what I mean!) Today my two older boys and this young man got a bit rowdy in our little pool, and I had to take away their cache of water balloons. Mind you, they had been warned MANY times over the last few weeks about these balloons and how, where, and when they were to be used. It must have come as a surprise to this boy that I would really throw away the remainder of the balloons, because my 10 year old informed me tonight that his comment was "I thought your mom was cool" after I took them away and disposed of them. Oh well. The truth had to come out sooner or later!

(On a bright note...my 13 year old son handled the whole thing very maturely...much to my surprise and delight!)