Memorial Day Camping, 2016

Usually the school year ends on the Thursday before Memorial Day. We head off camping the very next day. This year, however, we had an entire week off before camping. The kids were so excited. They were counting down the days. We went to the same campground as always in Williams, AZ. It's called Dogtown Lake. Dakri reserves the group campsite every year and it's always so much fun.

Before we hit the 4 mile dirt road that heads to the campground, we hit the Dairy Queen.  Nothing like starting the trip with a blizzard.

Speaking of which, last year, it was hailing when we got to the campground.  It was so cold that weekend.  This year, we were looking for perfect weather, high around 70, low in the high 30's.

We were the first people to get there.

Emily did what she does...handstands.

Noah started collecting firewood for his fire.  This kid loves fire.  I told him he should be a fireman one day.  He told me that he likes to start fires, not put them out.  Oh, um, well not sure there is a job for that.

Ben did what he does, run in the woods.

David and I got our camp all set up.

Then, it was time to relax...

That's Lucy, the Sutton's dog.  

She loves David.  And she loves David's chair!

This is Savannah.  We are good friends with their family.  Usually we'll see each other at the pool and Noah doesn't have a lot to do with her or her sister who is 8.  Noah is smack dab in age between the two.  But out here camping, they had time to bond.  It was cute.  Noah would get shy whenever I'd try to take a picture.

Noah found this huge piece of wood and dragged it back for the fire.

It weighed more than him.

The first night, there were gnats.  We didn't have any mosquitos, no ants, no bees, but these gnats were pesky.  They kept landing in our food and I couldn't tell what was pepper and what was a gnat.  So, David and I ate in our car.  It was perfect.  Luckily, the gnats were gone the next morning.  Do you like how I have a plate and my husband has a frying pan.  :)

Here's Noah with Clara and Savannah.

Josh brought a friend, Isaac, who made the best fire.  He's hired!

My pretty girl...

It looks like it's the middle of the afternoon, but it was already about 7 and we wanted smores!

Did you notice the plug in coffee pot on our table?  Ok, this is one of my biggest gripes about camping.  Bad coffee.  We've tried everything.  It's either too strong, too weak, has grinds in it, etc.  So, the past few times, we'd brew enough coffee here and take it in an empty milk jug and reheat it.  It was better than nothing.  The other problem is David would make coffee when he got up.  By the time I got up, it was cold.  Then, the kids would trickle out of the tent later.  It was a never ending problem.  

Then, I was at a yard sale and saw this coffepot with a pot that is insulated and stays hot for 4 hours.  Hmmm...I got the idea to buy an AC adapter that plugs into the car and we could make coffee.  So, I got the adapter and bought the coffeepot.  Only problem, the AC adapter can only handle 350 watts.  A coffeepot pulls over 1,000.  Ugh.  Then, David and I put our brains together.  We heat the water with our camp stove, pour it in the coffee grind part, close it and it drips into the pot like it normally would.  You don't need any electricity.  It worked brilliantly!  The pot kept the coffee hot and when the kids woke up, we'd just pour them a cup.  Everyone was so happy to not have yucky coffee!

See...Ben looks very happy, right?

Noah heading off to find his friends.  :)

We went shooting that afternoon.

Ben borrowed a pellet gun.

David teaching Noah how to use our new Red Ryder! 

And nobody shot their eye out!

We walked down to the lake.

The Sutton's brought an inflatable boat, so the girls went in.

We did sparklers at night and smores every night.

Ben was dying to hear a ghost story, so Isaac had one to share.

It was a huge fire.  Then, the girls all threw pineneedles on it and up it went!

The kids played some game called spoons.

And that was it in a nutshell.  We got home and we were exhausted and had so much stuff to do.  It's always so much work to go camping and then so much work when you get home.  It's a good thing we pretty much do nothing for the 3 days we are there!

Music Camp

Em had music/piano camp this week. Her teacher doesn't do lessons and the girls all go for 3 days in the morning for some crafts, learning about different music and Emily's favorite part, snacks.

Monday was Mexico Day. We try not to buy anything and just gather what we have.  She's a pretty senorita.

Tuesday was Hawaii.  I did buy the lei and grass skirt from the dollar store.  

Today was Texas.  We got the cowboy hat for a quarter at a yard sale.

She had a fun time!

Chores and enrichment hour has officially begun this week.  The kids are doing pretty well.  They've done so well that there really isn't a ton to do today.  I'll have to give them their "bigger chore" like baseboards.  That will make everyone happy.  :)

We leave for camping in a few days and the kids are super excited.  I, on the other hand, am running around like a crazy person with 1,000 things to do.  The great thing about camping is there is nothing to do.   Well, there's plenty to do, but nothing that feels like work or chores.  Just fun stuff like hiking, shooting BB guns and roasting marshmallows.  I like that! 

Around Our House

When I pick up Emily at her violin class, her teacher leaves the door open for me and I just go in. I usually just have a seat on her sofa and wait for them to finish up. When I went in on Thursday, Mrs. Kim was playing and she had her daughter, Ellie, playing too with Emily. Ellie plays the cello. Ellie played harmony and Kim and Emily played melody. It sounded so great. Em is coming along so fast since she can already read music. I'm so proud of her.



Emily wanted to kick off the summer with a slumber party. At first she wanted them to sleep in a tent in the backyard, but I didn't want to bother putting it up. Plus, the neighbors across the street found a huge snake the other day. So, they slept inside. They did water balloons and Just Dance on the Wii and had fun. Just what tween girls like to do.

We had Mom's night out and I met the mom's there. I dropped the kids off with David and he took them to Costco to get pizza. I ran a few errands, but finished up 20 minutes early. I went into Chili's early and got started with a margarita. And because I was in the bar and it was happy hour it was only $5!

Today, David and I went yard saling. He was looking for a saw to redo the wooden slates in our fence. In the community next to ours, they were having a big yard sale, so we circled around there. I could tell, David wasn't thrilled with the idea at first, but after a couple, he was like, oh this is kind of fun. Then, he tells me that he doesn't ever remember going to a yard sale. Like ever. What? We found just what he was looking for and several other things too. He was thrilled. Then, we went to the Swap Meet and they had tons of tools there too. Then, we went to Chipotle and Home Depot. It was a date day! At one point, I told him we should get the kids and make them come with us.  We left them at home with chores of cleaning windows and dusting.  He said, he'd rather just be with me.  We had fun just being together. And oh my gosh, Chipotle is so good. I could eat it every day. Maybe I should try some diet where I only eat Chipotle twice a day and I'll loose like 20 pounds. No rice or tortillas, I'll just get their salads. I could totally do that. Then I could become a Chipotle spokesperson and get a lifetime supply of Chipotle for free. I have big goals!

We also ran into Sprouts for a couple of things and let me just say how thankful we are that our weekends don't consist of having to shop. It's a madhouse in stores. So many people. I have the luxury of going every week on Wednesday morning and the stores are about 20% as full as they were today. I couldn't believe it.

We are also thankful that I get to stay home and work and go grocery shopping when I want and be there for our kids all summer long. We have lots of fun things planned and I'm determined to make the kids step up a little this year and learn some stuff. I got all organized with chores and things that they need to do every day. They weren't too happy, but whatever. The way I look at it if they do all this stuff daily, it shouldn't take more than 2 1/2 to 3 hours. The other 11 hours a day, they can do what they want which probably means putting their face in an electronic device.

I really don't think it's asking too much of them, 1 hour of learning, 30 minutes of getting off your ass, and an hour(ish) of something to contribute to this house. David and I do way too much for them. Have I mentioned at Emily's age, I had a job I went to every weekend, made donuts, waited on customers, cleaned bathrooms, swept and mopped.

I already had them doing chores yesterday and today. I did give them the weekend off before we start enrichment hour on Monday.

I'm sweet like that!

Home and Awards Galore!

My girl is HOME!!! Yippee. David and I were in the gym for the end of the year assembly and she walked in. I walked right over and gave her about 10 kisses. I didn't even care if I embarrassed her. Luckily, she wasn't too mortified.

I gave her kisses and rubbed her cheeks and told her I loved and missed her. And then I said, "Did you not wear sunscreen?" That's a Mom for ya!

Her assembly was great. She got perfect attendance for the 4th quarter and Principal's List, which is all A's.

Doesn't she look cute.  They had color coded bandanas for what group they were in.



She loved camp!  She had a great time.  She did fun things like owl pellets, panning for gold, hikes, night hikes.  She said it was a blast.  I'm so happy that she had such a great time.  Oh and one of the camp counselors was a walker on Walking Dead!  Awesome!

David and I were there for Ben's assembly too.  Ben cleaned up at the assembly.  He got Principal's List (all A's) for the 4th quarter.  He also got all A's for the entire year.  Then, they pick a kid to win a Harkins movie gift pack, and his name was drawn.  Yea!

Then, he got perfect attendance for 4th quarter.  And, he also got perfect attendance for the entire YEAR!  He did not miss a single minute in 181 days of school.  The Principal called down the handful of kids who accomplished this and they all got Kindle Fire tablets!  Ben was super happy about that.

Then, he got called down as they all drew pictures for this farming thing they do every year.  It's not through the school, it's done through the county.  They picked some winners from all the schools and Ben got third!  So, they put his drawing on a shirt.  You can't see it very well, but it says, "Some fruits and veggies you don't want to share" and it's a bunny and person (Ben) playing tug of war with a carrot.  He got 2 Harkins gift cards for that too!

Poor Noah, the kids all came home and we were going on about all their stuff and he just felt left out.  They don't do assemblies until 3rd grade.  I told him, he could get a tablet too, but he wouldn't be able to fake it and stay home from school!  But, he had a great report card with almost all Outstanding and just a couple Satisfactory +.

The odd thing is Noah missed 10 days of school.  Emily missed 5 and Ben missed 0.  I don't even know how that's possible in the same household.  Well, Ben washes his hands so well that they will sometimes bleed in the winter, so I guess that's how.  And Noah won't quit picking his nose.  So, there you have it!

We are happy that Emily is home and our kids are doing so well.

Tomorrow is the last day of school!  The excitement is through the roof around here.

Dear Emily...

I told you to keep a journal while you were away at camp and write about this new experience and everything going on; what you are doing, what you are eating, funny stories, if you're sad, if you're happy.  Oh, I hope you are happy.

But, I feel like I should write you a letter too.  Because your time away is a new experience for me.  Sure, you've had a sleepover at a friends house a few blocks away and Dad and I have gone away for our anniversary a few times for a couple days. But, I've never been at home, in our routine, but missing our girl.  You've always just been a phone call or text away.  But, I'm in the dark now.  I can't hear your voice or send you silly emojis.  It feels like 1980, and I don't like it.

I called your Dad after he dropped you off at school to see how it went.  He said he fought back the tears as you seemed confident and he didn't want to ruin that.  I  missed you all day.  Everything felt off, making one less lunch, not making you an afternoon cup of coffee, waiting to pick you guys up after school and not seeing your pretty face come around the corner.

Then, Dad came home from work and his eyes looked red.  He said he had a hole in his heart because he missed you.  I felt the same.  Dinner was different without you.  You and Noah are the two that sometimes fight, so without you, I thought it would be quiet.  But, go figure, Ben and Noah got into it a few times.  Your ipad sat untouched.  Your spot on the sofa and at the dinner table empty.

I made dinners you don't like as much, orange chicken and meatloaf, so you wouldn't miss anything special.  Dakri invited us to the pool last night, and I didn't want to go without you.  It somehow felt wrong to do things that I knew you'd enjoy.  We did loving as usual and the bed had way too much space in it.  We needed your little body to make us whole.  We couldn't decide on what TV show to watch.  We needed our tie breaker.

Noah said grace and prayed that you were having a nice time and that you weren't sad.  I know you are having fun, but I still miss you.  We all miss you.  Always know that you are loved and you fill a special place in our family.  Without you, we're not the same.

I just got the boys from school and thought tomorrow everything will be back to normal.  I'll walk out of the school with all three of my kids.  The fights will start before we even reach the car and I'll yell and everything will be perfectly imperfect.  I can hardly wait.

Love,
Mom

My Girl, Violin and Noah's Confession

I've been meaning to share this video of my girl and her violin teacher for a few days.

She's had five lessons.  I think she's doing great for 5 lessons.  We are hoping she sticks with it. She's not the best at practicing, but I'm going to threaten encourage her this summer.

My girl left today for a 3 day, 2 night camp with her sixth grade class.  

I only cried a little.  

David wanted to cry, but held it together for Em's sake.

Emily was fine.

Whatever.

I know she will have a blast.  I just wish she could call me or email me or something.

But, we will all survive and she will be home soon with some great memories.

It was so weird today only picking up one kid.  Why one?  Well, Noah stayed home from school today.  He got a cold Saturday night and was running a low fever and coughing a lot yesterday.  He woke up today and David said he could here him coughing a lot in his room.  He came out and said he didn't feel good.  We believed him.  SUCKERS!!!

I knew he was fine about 9:30, but figured it was fine.  I didn't want to change out of my pj's to take him to school, and grades are already in.  This week is just a fun week.  He finally came clean about his faking it on the way home from school.

My girl will be back in 44 hours.  I got this!

End of the Year Wrap Up

The last few weeks of school are always chaos.

I had Muffins with Mom last week in Noah's class.


They are having donuts with Dad today, but David has to miss it.  He rearranged going out of town for work this week to be there for their music concerts and then the donuts came up and he couldn't postpone it.  So, he promised to take Noah to Fry's on Saturday and have donuts.  Noah was cool with that.

Their music concerts were this week.  Noah's was on Tuesday.  Emily and Ben on Wednesday.

Here's Em and one of her friends, Cynthia.

This was Emily's last concert at this school.  That makes me sad.  She's growing up too quickly.  Here are their videos:

Noah sang Sesame Street, You are my Sunshine/Keep on the Sunny Side and Ooby Dooby


Ben sang Beauty in the World, Summertime and I Want You Back


Emily sang You Be Illin' and One Day.


Ben looked scared to death for some reason.  He said that it was so hot up there from the lights that he wanted to pass out.  Guess he's not made for the bright lights of stardom!

I'm so thankful for their school and their awesome music teacher, Mr. Johnson.  He teaches them such diverse music and opens them up to music they may normally have never been exposed to.

The kids have 5 days left of school and Emily is going to a camp next week for 3 of those days.  She'll be spending two nights away from home.  She's never done that.  It's a little scary for all of us, but we know she'll do fine and she'll have a great time.  Summer is almost here and with that, I already have chore charts and workbooks ready!  Bring it on!