Camp Runamucca

"We are going to Boone soon, we are going to Boone," I heard the kids singing as we woke up last Monday morning.  We still had to finish packing and straightening the house, but the excitement level in the house was at a max and it was only 7 am.  :)  Thankfully our vacation to Boone was a huge success and a lot of fun and before it was even over, the kids were requesting a repeat!

We had a beautiful 3 hour drive to Boone with only one bathroom stop.  On a side note, it's funny that successful drives are measured by the number of bathroom stops.  We were the first ones in the house by 8 minutes, which means that the kids hurriedly scoped out the whole house, hid to scare cousins, and then busted out the front door as soon as they saw the truck pull up, way too excited to actually wait for the planned scaring.  We met up with 5 cousins, an aunt and uncle, and the grandparents.  Baba Z and the dads planned Scout Camp adventures and learning activities for the week, including daily room inspections, chores and other assignments for each patrol to complete.  And of course, each patrol had a name: Tough Girls (the 6 girls) and Dragon's Breath (the 4 boys).

We had such a gorgeous view from our room!

We hit the ground running on Tuesday morning with flag ceremony.  Abby got to lead out :)

The boys set the table for breakfast and the girls cleaned up afterward.  The kids were amazing about contributing and offering to help, which earned them points for the week and also taught us that they can contribute more than we ask them to at home.  Unfortunately for them, we are now going to be having more help from our kids after this successful week of seeing them work hard and do it happily :)

After our morning preparations and having each kid pack a lunch, we hiked to Otter Falls.  It was a great hike and the view was gorgeous!  The kids did a scavenger hunt during the hike and the determined Dragon's Breath Patrol beat the girls by 5 points.

This was the sunset that night.  So gorgeous!  Sam declared that we had to get this picture printed and displayed in our home to remember Boone

I have to just brag on this awesome, sweet Nora for a minute.  We dragged this little one around and completely disrupted her schedule and she was still so amazing.  She didn't want to be held by others for too long, but she was mostly happy.  Besides, I don't mind holding her and soaking in the love.  There's something amazing about being able to have someone calm down just by seeing you and being held by you that builds confidence and brings me happiness.  

And of course we had to end the evening with a campfire.  There were skits, stories, and songs and so much laughter!

Day two began with another hike, but this time we were smart and hiked up on the way to our destination.  Baba Z taught the oldest kids about how to use a compass and then tested their navigational skills.  I loved this idea!  Not only was it hilarious to watch paper bags walk around, but it forced the kids to stop and think about what they were doing and really apply what they had learned a few minutes earlier.  

Stay tuned for the second half of the week!

The Stuff of Summer

We kicked off our summer this week and it's been great so far!  The kids are happy to be home, we've tackled some fairly daunting home projects, and enjoyed being able to create our own schedule.  We've done some fun adventures so far and have even more on our list.  This week, we went to the mall, which would have completely intimidated me a few years ago.  The kids were awesome and everyone wanted to go into the store they were interested in.  And of course we had to pose for "what I would look like as a unicorn" pictures :)

I'm a really mean mom and make my kids write in their journal in the morning, do workbooks in the afternoon, and do some learning games online throughout the day.  We've actually done it for so long that when it's Winter Break or Spring Break, the kids expect to do it then too :)  This year, I added journal prompts to each page of their notebook.  Lydia's response to the question of her favorite person on the planet melted me :)

We have done a ton of planting this year!  It's been SO much fun for all of us.  Sam is growing sunflower for Cub Scouts in this cup, but it hasn't started yet.  This cup of dirt is just so representative of how we have spent many hours this spring and summer.  We have tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, watermelon, cantaloupe, strawberries, carrots, potatoes, peas, blueberries, lettuce, apples, plums, peppers, corn, and so many flowers and shrubs that we have put in this year.  We are learning a lot and already making plans on how we can improve and revamp and expand our garden for next year.  While we don't have plans to go crazy on gardening, it is so satisfying to be able to eat what we have grown.  I don't think I have ever eaten a better blueberry than the one that we grew!

On a morning-of whim, we decided to go to the Durham Life & Science Museum last week and had a blast.  It wasn't too busy, Nora was awesome and patient, and the big kids had a blast.  Sam got to see a giant yellow snake so this went up on the list as one of the greatest days of his life.  It always feels good to get mom points that are unplanned!

This is a paper airplane exhibit.  There are instructions on a couple ways to fold a paper airplane, you add your airplane to the launcher, and then experiment with ways to fold or tear it to make it fly differently.  Lydia really wanted to try it and got frustrated because her first airplane was a complete dud.  She was angry and came over to ask for help (I was feeding Nora on the nearby couch) and then said, "Never mind, Mom.  I got this."  She marched back over as determined as ever, which is such a Lydia thing, and started again, carefully following the instructions.  I could tell that she was frustrated again and then I saw her stop, take a big breath, and then fold her arms, bow her head and start mouthing a prayer.  As soon as she finished her prayer, she looked back at the instructions, made some adjustments to her first couple of folds, and made a decent airplane.  There was a part of me that wanted her new airplane to be perfect, to answer that prayer in an almost miraculous way.  That didn't happen, but the airplane did fly this time, which was an improvement.  She was able to fold it exactly right.  The miracle was that she used prayer as an aid during a frustrating time.  I'm so grateful that she turned to her Heavenly Father when she needed help and I'm so thankful that I could see that moment that was a small thing to her, but was profound to me.

What happens when I say, "Do a crazy pose!"

Of course we had to visit the Butterfly Pavillion during the time they release brand new butterflies.  That is always a highlight of our day!

This is how much we all weigh on the farm animal scale.  That number is in kilograms, not pounds, by the way.  It freaked me out for a second to see 1875.  Haha!

Sidewalk chalk and rolling down hills.  That is the stuff of summer!

My Daddy is My Favorite Pal

 Every year for Father's Day, we update a picture frame for Roy with the kids.  It's been fun to see the evolution of just having the word Dad, upgrading to Daddy when Andrew was on the way and having the kids all holding a D, and now having each kid with their own letter for Daddy.  This year, we also made him a poster to hang up in his office with these pictures.  I'm grateful for the good, attentive, happy dad Roy is and for the adoration the kids have for him.

Duke Gardens

Our Week

We had a fun week of seeing friends perform in shows and recitals, hiding from the rain, planting our starters, and getting a Wednesday off of school for the teacher rally.  I'm really grateful that Nora adjusts to being carted around because that's basically her option--live with it or live with it.  She doesn't love the car ride, but we are learning some little tricks so that she isn't screaming for the entire drive (just a lot of it).  I maintain that there is nothing quite as stressful as driving safely at the speed limit with a screaming baby and at least one other kid in the car loudly asking how many minutes before the baby will be done screaming and how long until we get home and can we please switch to a new song and please will you turn it up louder (no! My ears can't handle any more volume!) and I want to tell you a story or a joke or ask you my new crazy question.  So now our drives begin with a prayer for patience and safety and also gratitude that the screaming baby every car ride has only been happening for a few weeks and not her whole life.  But since that's the only complaint I have about Nora, I am truly and eternally grateful.  This baby has been a dream come true in many ways and her calm demeanor is an incredible blessing.

The girls got to do some bedtime snuggles this week.  They've been waiting for the day she would cuddle with them so we had to document it!  Nora has been talking a lot lately and she made sure to favor both sisters with a little bedtime message :)

Lydia gave me a Mother's Day book with some special pictures and thoughts about me.  This page just cracked us all up.  I don't believe I've ever said these words in my life before last week...but we did say them several times this week :)

Andrew and I walk down to the bus stop together every day.  He looked so grown up and confident and I realized he and I just have one more year of doing this before kindergarten.  Yay and boo at the same time!  I'll miss my little buddy.  He's always full of stories and questions.  My favorite thing lately is that he will give me math questions and then spices it up every few minutes with something like, "What's green plus 3?" just to see if I'm really listening.  And yes, if you're wondering, the answer is "a green 3", not "a 3-eyed alien" or "a 3-headed dragon".  No, we are quite literal still.

Despite what her face looks like here, Nora does like sitting up for a few minutes at a time.  She's a strong girl and loves to look out and see what's happening all around her.

She Got a Golden Ticket!

I am so incredibly proud of Abby!  She was Charlie in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Kids and she was confident, animated, sounded gorgeous, and owned the stage.  I wish we could have filmed the whole show so she could see it.  It was phenomenal!

So Blessed!

This was a fantastically busy week where I got no errands done because we had fun kid stuff going...and with a new baby in the house, I only like to completely blow up her schedule so many times in a day.  But as busy and crazy as it was, there were some purely wonderful moments too.  I'm really proud of our kids and the good people they are!

Sam got us laughing out loud the other night when he came down like this.  He cut out the baby head from a diaper box.  His creative and silly side just cracks me up :)

We tried Nora's tummy time with siblings and a show on Roy's phone one night.  It took some effort, but she also ended up rolling over that night.  In the background, you can see the diaper box that Sam used for his baby face above.

This was Teacher Appreciation Week and I volunteered to pick up the 36 balloons from the store for the non-teaching staff at school.  It was hilarious to try to wrangle the balloons into the trunk on a day with some wind gusts.  Yet another time I wish I were an octopus.  But the good news is that we only lost one balloon that day.  I'd call that a win!

The kids and I made candy grams for their classroom teachers and the teachers who teach their Specials classes.  I think they turned out really cute and Abby and Sam were especially excited to be able to use the hot glue gun and organize the candy and words their own way.

The kids had their Fun Run at school this week so we went to cheer them on.  It was a warm morning, but these kids were motivated and each did more than the 35 laps that they were challenged to get.  I didn't get a picture of Sam in his Fun Run shirt, but did catch him after he'd changed (into an inside-out shirt :)

Abby's class earned Crazy Hair Day and Crazy Sock Day and decided to celebrate both on the day of the Fun Run.  Abby decided that in order to truly combine them, she should put crazy socks in her hair :)  All year, she has worn crazy socks every day.  She always wears mismatched socks and prefers them to be knee-highs.  It's her thing and she loves it.  

Look at this sweet Nora Grace!  She's the best baby and such a blessing!