The first of many {Camping}

Well folks, we survived.

Last weekend we went camping with our Life Group (our small group from church).  It was our first venture out into the wild with our three boys.

I'm not really a "camping" kind of girl, so we originally planned to only go for one night while the rest of our group was going for two.  Not to mention, we have a 1 year old who has no fear and needs to be watched like a hawk every second.  However, Paul came home early on Friday.  I basically had all the packing finished and the house was clean (I would probably need counseling if I had to go out of town with a messy house). So we started throwing around the idea of heading out on Friday night.  As soon as the boys caught wind of this, there was no turning back!  I told Paul that as soon as I took one last shower we could head 'em up and move 'em out!

The verdict...

it was a great weekend!

It was a beautiful, warm spot in Eastern Washington.  The boys rode quads while I got tan.  We had great food, fun times hanging out together, and the boys will remember this forever.  Did I mention that our air mattress went flat after 5 minutes AND we forgot pillows?  In the middle of the night Paul rolled over and mumbled "the mattress went flat".  Um...no duh, I'm sleeping on pure rock, but thanks.  Also, there wasn't a drop of running water in site.  Just 12 adults and 14 kids with one trusty little outhouse.  Yep, fun times.  

No, but really, it was all worth it to make this memory for my family.

My hubby cooked me breakfast out of the back of our car.  Does it get more romantic?

When the quads weren't in use, Isaac was sitting on them.  

He liked to make engine noises and pretend that he was feeling the breeze...

One of the big highlights for the kids was watching the movie Cars projected onto the side of a trailer while the grown-ups sat around the campfire.  

I have a feeling that with three boys, this will just be the first of many camping trips...and the biggest surprise of all is I'm o.k. with that!!!!

5 Random Things...

1.  We recently bought a new grill, so instead of throwing the box out right away, I made a "boat" for the boys to play in.  I love how Isaac is copying his big bros. here.

They are goof balls!

2.  We made S'mores Seattle style, which means inside on our gas stove because the weather here is absolutely ridiculous.  Speaking of which, I MAY have started throwing 2-year-old style tantrums every cloudy morning and yelling muttering things like "I hate living here!" or "I'm buying plane tickets to somewhere sunny, I don't care how much it costs!" or "we need to MOVE!!!".  Just maybe.

3.  Isaac is completely obsessed with being outside.  He gets dirty from head to toe and he loves every second of it.

4.  Apparently all of my whining about the weather has paid off :) The sun has actually been shining for the past few days so I took Weston and Isaac to a nearby trail for a little "hike".  They loved the adventure and I loved the vitamin D.  Good times.

5.  I don't know this boy.  He just showed up here and he is very, very strange.  He claims to be a Ninja master.  He keeps offering to give me Ninja lessons and anytime I can't do something, it's because I'm not a trained Ninja.

The End!

Caleb {totally epic}

My newborn baby is getting older.  I know he's 7 now, but sometimes, when the light is just right, and he looks at me in that certain way, and perhaps I'm feeling a bit nostalgic, I still see this.

But time marches on.

Now he squirms away when I try to hug him and his favorite word is "epic".  

Everything is "epic", "totally epic", or sometimes even "epically epic".

He's growing up before my eyes.  And that's exactly why I'm o.k. with it.  I get to watch God's plans for him unfold as the years go by.  I have a front row seat and I feel so blessed to be a part of this boy's life.  He's pretty amazing and I could not be more proud of him!

The past couple of weeks have held some big events for Caleb.  

The first was his Spring concert at school.  After we watched the show, we got to tour his classroom and see all of the fine arts projects that he's been working on.  My favorite was this letter that he wrote to Jesus. 

Yes, he called Jesus epic and thanked him for Subway (his favorite restaurant).  Nice.  I did think it was sweet that he thought of his new little cousin!

Looks like we'll be working on penmanship.  The crazy kid is testing years ahead of his grade level, but he's lazy about handwriting.  Sigh...we'll get there. 

 I'm pretty sure his second grade teacher will require VERY nice handwriting....

since it will be ME! 

Most of you have probably already heard, but we are planning to start homeschooling next year.  

For a few different reasons, but mainly because as I mentioned above, we have a smart little cookie on our hands (definitely got those genes from Paul) and he wasn't being challenged at his current school (which we love, but if we're going to pay that much for private school, it needs to be pretty perfect).

SO...a new adventure begins!  He's really excited and so am I.  I'm sure you'll be hearing all about it when the new school year rolls around.  This summer we will be redoing our office to make it our classroom, so I'll be sure to post pics!

He will continue to be in lots of extracurricular activities, like CUB SCOUTS!

He just finished his first year and he loved every minute of it.

We got to go to a BBQ celebration where he "graduated" to the next level.

He's into Star Wars, ninjas, baseball, reading, biking, Legos, and outdoor survival among many other things. :)

And while he may pretend that he doesn't like my hugs, he will sometimes put his arm around me or lean his head on my shoulder completely out of the blue.  I of course play it cool, but on the inside I'm shouting "YES!" and my heart bursts.  He still loves me, he still thinks I'm epic.