T'rrific Times!

The letter "T" can pretty much sum up this past weekend:

Teepee - It started with a playdate with some of our favorite friends, the Ericksons. On the way to Playworks, I had to show LTD a real teepee located on the grounds of Mystic Lake Casino. LTD were fascinated to learn more about how they were made and what they were used for. SO fascinated that when we got home on Friday, they immediately went to work to make their own version of a teepee so they could sleep in it for the weekend. Dad helped construct it to make sure it was structurally sound for a weekend slumber party. It held up for two nights straight. Unfortunately, a tornado hit today and the slumber party is officially over :)

Camp Clark's version of the Teepee

Teeth & the Tooth Fairy - In addition to lessons about Native Americans and their teepees, we had 2 visits from the Tooth Fairy since Lindsey lost 2 teeth; the same bottom teeth that Taylor lost about 2 months ago. L was pretty excited about the extra money she collected.

Tooth Fairy snags 2 Teeth

Time with Friends - Mom cashed in on her Valentine's Day gift from Dad and enjoyed some relaxing time at the spa and lunch afterwards with Annie. It was perfect and SO overdue. In the meantime, Dave took the children on a date to the Children's Museum. They had so much fun, they closed the place down.

Tire Swing Park - Today was such a beautiful day so after church, we headed outdoors to two different parks: the Tire Swing park and The Easter Bunny park. Unfortunately, we didn't have our camera with to capture the fun so we opted for a photo from this summer.

Tire Swing is always a blast!

Tricks - LTD brought their scooters along and had fun showing us all their new tricks (speeding down hills and around sharp corners, acrobats, stunts, cruising thru a lake of water in the ice rink, aka scooter skiing).

TV - After dinner tonight, we snuggled in for our weekly family ritual: an episode of Little House on the Prairie on TV (actually VHS tapes). We all love Ma, Pa, Mary, Laura, Carrie and the incredibly inspiring stories of faith in God, love, hardship, gratefulness, thankfulness and perseverance.

Tithing - LTD have been going above and beyond to earn extra money to give to Haiti through a program in Sunday School (Building Haiti one Brick at a Time). Dave and I are always inspired by the generous hearts of our children but tonight we were especially humbled. After we gave them their weekly allowance (for living by the Camp Clark rules), we watched as they chose how much to put in their ABC banks: Letter A bin (tithing); Letter B bin (saving); Letter C bin (spending). They each chose to donate HALF of their allowance to A and split the other half between B and C (spending and saving). They said, "we don't need as much as the people in Haiti do". Not only are they volunteering to do extra things around the house to earn additional money to give to Haiti, but they are giving half their allowance on top of that. We love their compassion!

Uncle Bruce brings the Sun

Unce Bruce came to visit Minneapolis this past weekend for an Army Reserve project!! We were SO excited to see him and shared some great fun and lots of loud laughter. If you know our family, Bruce and I have always been known to be a "bit" loud, especially when we laugh. The kiddos had a blast being swung around the room like airplanes. What are uncles for, but a little rough play!

We had some of our favorite friends over Friday night for a pizza party and to welcome Bruce. He didn't seem to mind the "volume factor" of having 13 kids running around the house being kids and singing "Happy Birthday" at the top of their lungs (the Boland children turned 6!). I guess that's because we come from the "Loud Family" and are immune to it.

We love our Uncle Bruce and didn't want him to leave. In fact, LTD were hanging on his legs as he was TRYING to walk out the door to get back home to Arkansas. We will miss him and pray we get to see him again this year; maybe even twice!

In the meantime, Spring hit Minnesota early so we spent Sunday and Monday outdoors. How refreshing and just what we needed! Lots of time at the parks and scooting. Dad had to make sure to put the baskets on the girls' scooters for their "children". Lindsey likes to do ballet moves (one leg straight back) on her scooter and is very graceful in doing so. Dylan is our Speed Demon and thrives on cruising down hills full blast. Taylor has really improved this year and is right behind Dylan on the hills; the only difference is she uses her brakes from time to time; not Dylan! Let's hope we can avoid the ER this year :)

Unanswered Prayers

One of my all-time favorite songs is by Garth Brooks, "Unanswered Prayers" (click on below to listen). I love Garth as an artist and this particular song really hit home for me; it still continues to do so. In the past, I have questioned as some of us do at times "why isn't God answering my prayers or why isn't He listening?"

In BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) this week, the answer to this question was so gracefully revealed to me. This year, we are studying the Gospel of John and this week we studied the Epistle 1 John. The lesson notes stated: "true faith results in assurance of salvation and CONFIDENCE in answered prayers. Prayer is not a convenient device for imposing OUR will on God or bending His will to ours.....It is in prayer that we see God's will, align with it, and rest in it. If we pray according to HIS will, the certainty of answers is IMMEDIATE although the actuality may be in the future.....not every prayer gets a positive answer although they are ALL answered."

How incredibly true!! I am SO guilty of praying for things according to my will, the results I want, rather than trust in the Lord completely and know that He is listening and will answer in His own brilliant way according to His plan for us.

This concept really came crashing down on me many years ago when I prayed continuously for God to bless me with a child. My prayers were lifted daily, sometimes numerous times throughout the day but to no avail. I was devastated that He wasn't answering my prayers (or so I thought). As in Garth's song, "just because He doesn't answer, doesn't mean He don't care....some of Gods greatest gifts are unanswered prayers". They may not be answered according to our will, our timeline, our expectations....but they are all answered.

Indeed God was listening and my prayers were answered......in His time, according to His plan; thank goodness for that! Not only has he blessed me with a loving and faithful husband whom I adore, but He has entrusted Dave and me together to love and raise THREE beautiful angels on loan from Heaven. As LTD say alot, "God is good!" Actually, He is the "Best"! :)

It's "Unofficial"

The good news is........we received a fair offer on our home after only 2-1/2 weeks on the market!!! The not-so-good news is that Dave and I have decided to decline the offer and take our house off the market.

WHAT??? Yep, we are totally insane. Seriously, it's the right thing to do at this juncture. I will spare the details but bottom line, we are not ready to just go out a buy a "house". We are looking for our next "HOME" for the next 13-15 years of our lives and right now we are not finding it, at least not in our current price range. The timing is just not right and something is telling us, "not now". We believe that inner voice would be God leading us where He wants us to be. I really don't think He wants us out on the streets without a home, wandering like nomads, renting and having to move more than once. It's not in the best interest of our children and that's why we are moving in the first place.

SO, we plan to hunker down, sell SlimGym (it will be done!!), rekindle our careers (or at least one of us), and buy a sugar shack on Lake Minnetonka :) One more year in this home is not all that bad to get things in the best financial order possible. But come next February, you can be sure to see another FOR SALE sign in the yard.

Camp Clark Conversations

It's time for another round of Camp Clark Conversations :) Never a dull moment and always loads of laugher. These conversations are just a fraction of their endless, hysterical chatter. Enjoy!

Lindsey is "Star of the Day" - Pajama Day at School

"Tayloooor! You had us worried sick you little stinker!" (after we lost T in JCP while shopping; she was MIA for about 5 minutes)

"Dylan, you better tell the doctor you can skip, whistle and snap!" (at the doctor's office)

"Taylor & Dylan (pause) I love you! You're special to me. Do you know that?"

"Oh honey. You need to look both ways before you cross (the aisle). You might get run over by a cart." (to Taylor while shopping inside Target)

"Well Dylan, that's just how God made your hand.....he made everything on your body you know." (as Dylan is showing us how long his fingers are and how well he can snap)

Dad asks if she had any baby accidents today (dribble in underwear). She gives him a dirty look and says "Taylor's over there!" (as in, wrong girl Dad!)

"Dylan and Daddy are nocturnal.........they like to sleep during the day." (they sure do like sleeping in)

Princess Taylor - always dressing up

"Mommy, can I buy some boobies today?" (in Target, as she walks up to me holding a girls size bra)

"We gotta get that fart outa here!" (at bedtime after Dad cuts one loose, quietly walks out and leaves their bedroom smelling so fresh)

Dad tells LTD we are going to Chili's for dinner. Taylor asks, "are we gonna get cold in there?"

Mom tells LTD that President's Day is tomorrow and asks "what do you know about our President?" Dylan shouts "he's a loser!" Lindsey says "he's a liberal". Taylor smiles and says, "God is more powerful!" (AMEN)

"I just HAVE to perform my dance for ALL my children. I just HAVE to!" (as I ask her to clean up the 100+ stuffed animals lined up against the wall)

Talking to Dylan about a potential upcoming tonsil surgery for him "Don't worry, Dylan. You can be just like me. It doesn't hurt....you just have to be patient. AND you get lots of popsicles and a ride in a wagon. You'll love it, you really will."

Mini Me - Guitar Heroes

"Dad, feel how hard I am (making a double biceps pose).........I'm rock solid!"

Mom was reading the story of Job and explained "Satan dislikes everybody including God, Job, all of us........he's our enemy." Dylan has a puzzled look on his face and asks "like the government?"

Dylan comes downstairs for breakfast, whistling with a big smile on his face and says "Good morning mom! I have the joy of the Lord in my heart today!"

"Mom, LOOK............CHILDREN!" (as we round the corner on our street........oh my goodness, they DO exist!)

"Get on the gas, woman!!" (to the woman in front of us at a light that just turned green - gee, wonder where he gets that from, Dave?)

As LTD are playing together and running around, Dylan shouts out "Stand up for the Lord, don't run away!" (good advice!)

We are at Target and Dylan shouts out to 3 different shoppers (3 seperate times), "Hi, I'm Dylan. I can snap, whistle and skip at the same time. Wanna see? (of course, he shows them and they all laugh)

We are out and about and Dylan tells a man we don't know, "Hi, I'm Dylan. I play basketball. I'm REALLY good!" (the man smiled at us and said "great attitude little fella")

Kindergarten Bound

Oh the stress of sending our children to Kindergarten. As parents, many of us struggle with the best option for our children as they embark on their education journey. Do we have them partake in full day, half day, private Christian school, charter school, public school, which school district, do we have them take the bus, walk to school, or carpool, etc? It's all so overwhelming!! Bottom line, we all do what's best for each of our families.

We were pleasantly surprised to find out this week that LTD won the lottery for being accepted into a small charter school in Prior Lake known as Aspen Academy. Since a private Christian education is out of our budget, Aspen was our second choice since it focuses on the CORE cirriculum and features small class sizes and your choice of AM, PM or full day. We chose PM half day which is perfect for us since we still have the mornings to do things together or just sleep in and enjoy some quality morning time together. Dave and I figure they have the next 12 years to go to school full time; we want to keep them with us as much as possible for just one more year. Aspen appears to be a good transition from what they have learned at St. Michael's Preschool this year as well as what they have learned at Camp Clark Academy the last year and a half. Big bonus, the school requires school uniforms - yeah!!! The less we have to deal with any fashion drama, the better.

Sob sob sob..........the 3 amigos are growing up before our eyes. Kindergarten in the fall already; it seems like just yesterday they were toddling around tearing up the house, squelching loudly and dancing to blaring polka music with the biggest smiles on their faces. I recently ran across this photo of the day they graduated from Camp Clark Academy and proudly wore their graduation hats :)

The 3 Amigos - Graduation Day from Camp Clark Academy

Look out Aspen Academy...............here we come!!!!!

It's Official!

The walls are freshly painted and fingerprints removed, the artwork proudly displayed on the refrigerator has been taken down, the family photos have been taken off the walls and shelves, the toys have been moved to the lower level play area, and the house is sparkling clean. Yes, it's official........our house is on the market as of Wednesday this week! Whew!!!!

Now the trick is to keep the house presentable and ready to vacate at a moment's notice with 3 varmints in tow. I am told anything is possible.

We are still working out the "quirks" of getting our house presented properly online. In order to save some cash, we listed it with a flat-fee broker for just under $500 versus paying a realtor 2.5 - 3% of the selling price. Dave has agreed to host our open houses and deal with all the legalities and paperwork - not my cup of tea. Feel free to check out our destination website at:

www.buyself.com/8836

We had our first showing yesterday so we grabbed the kiddos and went sledding and out for dinner afterwards. Taylor's new food of choice is crab (ever since our trip to Florida) so we treated them to dinner at Red Lobster. I have typically boycotted Red Lobster since they buy much of their seafood from Canada, home of the "seal slaughter". But I gave in for Taylor and must admit it was a real treat. Crab legs were flying! Our waitress was so sweet and she even took a live lobster out of the tank and let LTD touch it. They LOVED it!!

Today is the first day of the rest of our lives. We pray our home sells at a fair price, that we find a new home in a family-friendly neighborhood, within a reasonable amount of time. It would be a miracle if the timing works out just perfect for selling ours, buying a new one and closing by June 30 to take advantage of the tax credit (thanks taxpayers - don't even get me started). But then again, anything is possible, right? With God, we know it is!