The Family That Camps Together.....

Sunday of Labor Day weekend we decided to camp in the woods on Den's parents land. We did this with all his siblings, and a cousin and all their kids (minus 2 babies). Everyone made the same comment when they arrived, "all this stuff for just one night!" But if it was more than one night, the only thing we would have brought more of was food. Overall it was a success and we might just do it again.

Right away the boys were off looking for creatures and building them habitats in buckets. This was a salamander that was trying to escape before his photo shoot.

While Uncle Dave was searching under a rock for a hidden key to his trailer, Aunt Gina spotted this copperhead snake and saved his life. He took care of it and brought it to show the kids.

V stayed with mom mom overnight but hung out for a bit around the fire.

Of course there was campfire singing!

As much as I tried Den would not take his shirt off while chopping wood. He's so uncooperative.

Den and others LOVED when I blinded them with the flash of my camera. They'll thank me later.

The morning after.

That morning we went back to Den's mom's and celebrated her bday at lunch.

Just V

Now that school has begun it's going to be just me and the litte guy in the am, until I pick E up just in time for lunch. I'm so glad to be able to have the one on one time. He really does play so well on his own for the most part. I will have to be more intentional about playing with him and not just getting things checked off my to do list.


He loves being sneaky when we are outside and climbing onto the lawn mower. He does really well at making the "vroom" noises.




















He's been into wearing our shoes around the house. Why is this so stinkin' cute?

He was staring at his reflection of the cupboard handle and talking to himself.

This was a super long day, and he hung in there with only one 30min. nap in the car, until 9pm when we finally climbed in the car to go home.

First Day of School

Also in other firsts, I finally cut E's hair. First time ever. Don't gasp, this picture is just for records, I did not cut it like this, i just couldn't hold the comb straight and the scissors and take the picture. I got some tips from a hairdresser and just trimmed it a bit. I don't know if anyone would even notice.

My husband gets up early and works so hard for us. He has a Master's degree but he chooses to dig in dirt and do hard labor to provide for his family. So, when he gets up at 5am and checks on his children before he leaves, it should just add to my feelings of gratuity...right? Most of the time it does. But this morning at 5:45am I heard the shouts of a 19mo old and I had to dig deep for those feelings. I know he didn't wake him up. V was sitting up when he peeked in, but V saw him and that was the end of it. He (V) has been in a rare mood ever since. So far he thrown several tantrums, hit, and unrolled the entire roll of toilet paper. Here's a peek of his morning.

Just to be fair, here he is Saturday night having a snack and in the best of moods.

*for some reason I don't see a comment option after I post this! how sad as I love comments....you can always email me :)

Last minute prep

School starts Monday and so I decided I'd better do some of that school stuff that I was going to do all summer to prepare the kids today. Oh, we did some here and there, but not as much I as meant to.

While the kids were doing some writing, (J some sentences, E her ABC's)...

V was doing some reading on his own.

E got a chance a couple weeks ago to meet her kindergarten teacher and take a ride on a school bus. She loved every minute of it.

OH my. My girl is going to school.

My girl who loves to look pretty in a dress...

and play in the dirt.

I'm excited for her but I'm going to miss her too.

Even her moody days like this.

Thirsty

Made this water bottle tote* for J. He had a mini golf birthday party to go to last Saturday and it had been hot. I need to keep my boy hydrated! He loves it and asked if he could wear it around the house to play.
* basically winged it and made it from an old pair of pants that had ripped, but inspired two differnt crafters. Here and Here

Back from Bermuda

Yes we are back and yes we had a great time and yes we missed the kids. I think leaving V this young was the hardest part. The older ones understood we'd be back, but he did not. I know they did great with my mom who was so generous with her time and flew out to stay with them. But I still missed my babies. With that said, Bermuda is beautiful. Everyone should go at least once. The water was amazing, and the houses are all pretty bright or pastel colors.

I'm not going to post all 200+ pictures that I took, but I'll send them out on shutterfly if you are interested. Email or leave a comment if you want to see them all. Some of you will get them whether you asked for it or not, and I'm warning you there are mostly sunset and beach pics. (the above pic was taken by a timer at Turtle Beach, only a few locals there, on our first afternoon on the island)

1)getting on the boat; 2)last look at land while we wait to leave; 3)nest at the docks; 4)chicken that smelled amazing but we had just taken out the sibs that gave us a ride to Cheesecake factory so we were stuffed.

Our room, fun towel animals...albeit slightly creepy, and mints on our pillow.

It was important that Dennis felt safe.

First sunset on the boat.

First meal. Den had the better appetizer, but i had the better main dish. Mahi Mahi on a bed of sun dried tomato polenta, topped with roasted fennel. Den also had the better dessert, chocolate amaretto mousse.

Church Bay is where we snorkeled. We swam out and around those rocks where there was a huge reef.

enjoying the midnight chocoholic buffet

We got up early on our last morning and hiked to a beach to watch the sunrise. Aren't we romantic?

Unfinished Church.

Last sunset on the boat.

back where we belong



*as i finish this I can think of other pics I meant to put on here, but I'm too tired. So I'll probably put one up here and there throughout the next few days or weeks.

Assignment

1. Pray for my kiddos and my mom while we are away.

2. Pray for our travels and that we won't spend the entire time missing our kids.

3. Try not to be jealous.

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Look at these kids. Aren't they cute? I know the girl is thinking, "Did I really just marry my best friend?" She did, and she's glad of it.

cousins and summer