Happy Birthday Lauren

Seven! I cannot believe Lauren is seven! I really did blink and she grew up. 

So much has happened in her seven years and I am so thankful to God that I was given the opportunity to watch this amazing little girl grow. She is funny, sweet, loving, and kind. The list could go on...brave, calm, compassionate, imaginative, generous, energetic, easygoing, shy, warmhearted...oookay I'll stop. But the one word that describes Lauren in full is awesome. She. Is. Just. Awesome.

Lauren is very selfless and teaches me daily how to be a better person. She would give you the food off her plate or her favorite toy...all you have to do is ask. Actually, most times you wouldn't have even have to do that. Her smile and laugh will instantly make my day brighter. I am blessed to get to spend my days with her.

She loves swimming, playing Barbies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, running, brushing her hair, spaghetti, going to church, listening to music, jumping on the trampoline and painting. She hates all bugs, cantaloupe, big dogs, windows rolled down, large crowds, and the dark. 

She loves her brother and sister and would do anything to make them happy. Dallas will tell you she is his best friend. Always looking out for him and making sure he is happy. (Hmmm...I wonder why he is so spoiled). While I can't believe it has been seven years, I am looking forward to watching her grow into the amazing woman I know she will become. 

Happy Birthday Lauren! We love you!

Camping

I am not an outdoors person and really surprised myself when I agreed to this little trip called camping. I had obviously temporarily lost my mind. I mean, who really wants to spend a weekend feeling homeless?

When I think about camping, I think about the movie, The Parent Trap. They had nice cabins. So, when I  found out we would be in cabins, I was a bit relieved. Until...dun dun dun...I got to the cabin and it looked like this.

Something straight out of a horror movie. Just give me a tent, please. It also came complete with a mouse and cockroaches. I think Paul tried to sabotage my camping trip, since I saw this on the table.

Now, if the outside wasn't bad enough, this is what the inside looked like. 

I'm just going to say, if I had to build a cabin in the woods, it would NOT look like this. At all. Even if I were on a budget. Apparently, according to the campers of the group, these were nice cabins. If so, I would hate to see the not so nice cabins. I kinda picture them being similar to an outhouse. I can't believe people actually pay money to spend a weekend like this. 

The dining hall was a little better. I didn't feel like a serial killer was going to come and kill us all, but it was oh so hot. 

The girls played a lot of games while camping. It was kind of like Survivor. Luckily they picked the same color bandana and were on the same team, Takoda. They had to decorate a team flag. 

Kristen and Lauren had some really sweet girls on their team.

The downfall to homeschooling is organized games. Not that my kids have never played games, but they just kinda do their own thing and are new to the whole relay thing. Kristen had no problem adapting.

Lauren, however, wasn't a fan of all the game playing. Who am I kidding. Lauren wasn't a fan of camping in general and I don't blame her one bit. She did enjoy playing in the mulch though.

The best thing about the trip was that the parents got to play the games too. At least I wasn't having to just sit there and think about how hot it was, counting down the hours until I was home in my air conditioned, bug free home and all the outdoorsy dirt scrubbed away. 

The highlight of the trip for the girls...the part of the trip they found the most exciting was doing the dishes. What? We don't have to go camping to do dishes.

You dip your plate, cup, bowl, utensils (along with everyone else's) in a bucket of soapy water, then bleach water and then rinse water. The crazy clean, I see germs everywhere, lady inside me had a real problem with this. I had to wash them. These buckets just weren't cutting it.

Then we hung them out to dry in our little mesh bags on the clothes line. Now, I am all for this drying method though. If only I could find bags big enough to for my pots and pans. 

The girls went on a scavenger hunt and collected beads to do macrame necklaces. Who knew tying little knots would be so complicated. Our macrame still sits in a bag and will remain there until I declutter. I have watched Youtube videos, but it's way too complicated. Maybe if I had some Burkenstocks...

They also decorated and made little seats out of 5 gallon buckets. 

At first I thought that this was a waste of a completely good bucket. I really couldn't see Paul carrying around a bucket decorated with Frozen duct tape. I had no idea what I was going to do with these decorated buckets, but they look kind of cute in their room. And they are able to store things in them and use them as chairs. Pretty nifty.

They used their new seats around the camp fire while making s'mores. 

We almost had a little emergency when Kristen was given an almond. We don't know for certain that she is allergic to almonds, but were told to avoid ALL tree nuts since she is allergic to cashews. Well, some weirdo makes s'mores Hershey's with almonds. I know, right. Anyways, she came to me and told me her chocolate had an almond in it. Immediately her voice started getting weird. Luckily I had Benadryl and gave her a double dose. Emergency avoided. Mommy 1. Almond 0.

I am pretty sure I will never camp again...EVER. But I could temporarily go loco again. Good thing I have this blog post to remind me of just how horrible camping is...although I really don't think I will forget.

County Fair

We have lived in Powhatan since 2012 and had never been to the county fair...until this year. 

My kids love the fair. It's one of the highlights of their year, and seeing their smiling faces just melts my heart. 

Dallas was a little timid and really only wanted to ride the construction cars. If the operators started talking to him while he was in line, he wanted no parts of that ride. He did ride the elephants several times and went in the fun house. He had a death grip on the slide at the end and they had to pry his fingers off and let him go. He looked terrified. 

Because of the fun house slide, he didn't really want to go down the big slide, BUT Papaw can pretty much talk him into anything.

Speaking of the fun house, poor Lauren. Never try to run in a fun house. Never. Ever. Ever. That's exactly what she tried to do because she wanted to catch up to Kristen and ran right into the glass. Her 35 pound self made the loudest boom and shook the whole trailer. Everyone outside the fun house literally gasped. But she's a tough girl and it didn't keep her down long. 

The girls loved the fair and rode pretty much everything they could go on.

This was their first year on a ride this fast.

They loved it...and I love my dad's face. Poor Papaw...he's getting to relive his youth whether he wants to or not.

Kristen loved jumping on the trampoline. We couldn't convince the others, but she would have stayed on it the whole time. ❤️

The Case of the Missing Tooth

What happens when you go back and read old posts in your family blog? It makes you realize there are a lot of memories passing.  And let's face it, if I don't write them down, I will forget them. 

So, in the famous words of Michelle Harris...I'm back. For today.

What better memory to post about than Lauren loosing a tooth...LITERALLY. 

You probably remember this...

She was so unhappy when I confirmed that yes, her tooth was loose and her big tooth was already coming in. I really wasn't prepared for the tears, I thought she would be happy, but she wanted to keep all her baby teeth. I didn't really blame her. I was pretty attached to her baby teeth too. 

After she realized it was loose, she kept wiggling it and telling me she wanted it to fall out on its own. She did NOT want me to pull it! At the rate she was wiggling it, I thought it would definitely fall out on its own. Then, while she was spending the night at Aunt Kelly's house, she pulled it out. All by herself!

She was happy when she first started telling me over the phone. Then she started crying. Turns out loosing teeth is quite emotional. The tooth made it back to our house so the tooth fairy could come. One would think this would be the hard part. It was not. Aunt Kelly took very good care of the tooth. When it was time for bed, we brought out the plastic bag. The tooth was in there, we made sure it was zipped and we put it under her pillow. This would be the last time the tooth was seen.

I reminded her it needed to stay under her pillow (which is the stupidest place to put a tooth) in order for the tooth fairy to come. Easy. Simple. Just lay your head down and go to sleep. Right.

Since Lauren is in the top bunk, the tooth fairy had to enlist the help of her taller, less fairy like sidekick. After searching and searching...and searching some more...the tooth fairy was informed there was no plastic bag with a tooth under the pillow. What? So, the tooth fairy did what every fairy would do and went and got a flashlight. They searched under the covers, under the pillow...again, in Kristen's bed, and under the bed for the tooth. It was nowhere to be found. I was beginning to think the tooth fairy did exist and she was getting us back for all those times we stole the tooth before she came for the night. And really, why are we still putting teeth under pillows that someone is sleeping on. You would think I would have learned my lesson by now.

This fairy, in search to find the missing tooth, even woke her sleeping daughter up to ask her about the tooth. I know, I am not going to win any fairy of the year awards. She said it was there, but there was nothing under her pillow...nothing. 

What's a tooth fairy to do, but leave the money with a note.

A very tiny note. When the girls woke the next morning they were so excited about the note...not so much the money. We all went to go find the missing tooth. We found the bag...opened and under the bed. No tooth inside. I asked Lauren if she had kept her tooth under her pillow and the answer. No. Why would she. She played with it, but said she put it back in the bag before she went to sleep. Kristen was very concerned because the note specifically said to put the tooth in a box so she could pick it up the next night. This caused Kristen to panic. We had to write her a note explaining what happened, she said. What if we never find the tooth! I informed her this was a good possibility and went to make pancakes. Lauren wasn't concerned at all. She was busy crumbling up her money and stuffing it in her stuffed rabbits outfit.

Does this look like the face of someone concerned about a missing tooth?

And you probably guessed it. Tonight we were searching for the missing money. 

Happy Birthday Dallas

Ever since this little boy entered the world my life has been forever changed. Who knew parenting boys could be so exhausting and difficult, while at the same time bring so much happiness and be so rewarding. There are times when I want to pull my hair out in frustration and the next second he has me smiling because he's just so darn cute and loves me so much. He definitely keeps me on my toes. 

Dallas keeps us smiling, when he's not unhappy that is. He loves looking at books and playing with his cars and trucks. He often times pretends to be driving when walking around the house. He is a very picky eater and would rather drink than eat. He loves lining up his toys and talking on his cell phone.

Dallas had a "Mickey Mouse party. He wanted a Jake and the Neverland, Diego, Paw Patrol and "Mickey Nouse" party. We had to choose one, so we went with Mickey Mouse. 

It is so hard to believe my little boy is three. Happy 3rd birthday Dallas! We love you.

She's Eight

Today, eight years ago, Kristen decided to enter our lives. Who knew eight years would go by so fast! It is hard to remember her as the little 7 pound baby that she was.

I can't even begin to describe how much joy she brings to our lives. She is such a big helper to me and she wants to make others happy. She likes drawing, doodling and coloring. Doing crafts is her favorite part of school. She loves being outside and gardening and she knows a lot more about it than I do. Her favorite subject in school is writing. She's very smart and picks up on things easily. She likes learning about animals and her favorite show is Wild Kratts. 

Here is a picture of her at her party with her Wild Kratts cake.

I love this little big girl so much. She is such a blessing. Happy 8th birthday Kristen. 

A Week (or two) in Pictures

Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks...in no particular order. The highlights...

I have been wanting to make these patchwork acorn crafts.  I thought they would be pretty decorations for the fall. The kids had painted card stock with fall colors, but we kept putting it off. In the end Kristen and I were the only ones who wanted to do it. I guess that's what happens when you procrastinate. 

The kids decorated pumpkins with Memaw. I love them, especially Lauren's. In case you can't guess which one is hers...it's the one with all the foam pieces stacked on top of each other. And that's how she rolls folks!

The girls baked pies with Meme. Lauren baked a delicious apple pie and Kristen baked a scrumptiously tart lemon meringue. They did a wonderful job and were so proud of their finished product.

A couple weeks ago our bible lesson was on Abraham, so the kids made and decorated some stars. 

We also made rock pets, which didn't turn out as well as I had envisioned. It is just too hard to find that perfect rock and rocks are never semetrical enough for my OCD self.

We celebrated Meme's birthday with a dinner and cake. 

We've been getting our first green eggs. We think Kristen's chicken, Cuddles, is the green egg layer...but we can't be certain. They are so pretty. Some have speckles. We are getting about five eggs a day. We have about nine chickens that aren't laying yet. We will have eggs galore.

This picture is blurry, but Kristen really does love reading to her siblings. I am so proud of all the progress she has made. I put our verse up for next week and she read it all by herself. There were a couple big words too. 

And oh this boy. It makes my heart happy when I am making dinner and he comes in with the stool and says, "I wanna help you Mommy." He mostly just wants to be with me and sit on the counter watching. He doesn't really care if he's helping or not. 

My silly kids...my heart overflows with love for them. I am so very blessed.