Let the games begin!

The 2nd Annual Cousin Camp has officially began! Wahhoo!

Aunt Jo Anne just got back from the beach (everyone stop and give her an evil eye for not inviting us, okay good) and called us up this morning to see if we were still doing cousin camp. Why, yes as a matter of fact, sounds like a good idea. We started off by making tie dyed t-shirts for all. Me being the over paranoid, spastic art teacher that I am completely covered my kitchen counter in trash bags and gave the kids all a "how to not get dye everywhere" lecture before we started (mind you, there is a 3 year old and a very spacey 8 year old involved here). My attention to overbearing details paid off though, I don't think we got dye anywhere but on the shirts. They are in trash bags on top of the washer now, I can't wait until tomorrow when I get to reveal! Now that I am thinking, I really shouldn't get too excited about a dye free counter until the shirts have been washed a couple times, huh. The kids were very excited to get to help with their shirts and I think it won't really matter to them if they turn out looking like tie dyed shirts that should have been riding the short bus to summer camp... but we shall see, we shall see.

After the shirts and some playtime, all the big kids went back to stay with Aunt Jo Anne at the fun house... that is how I think of her house. There's stairs, and a fun loving atmosphere, and a pool, and horses, and stairs, and a snack drawer. Her house is so fun.  My house is Aunt Brenda's house. It has a Wii, and a backyard, and a hallway, and well, you get the point.

This Sweet Baby is NOT happy to be left here alone. She sat in front of the door and cried for her brothers until I picked her up, she stopped of course, so I put her down in front of the pantry where I was digging around. She sat in front of that pantry and cried for her brothers until I fixed her a bottle. Sleep and formula seem to be the only things that can erase the pain from her memory. Poor, over dramatic soul. I'd like to go to Hobby Lobby for more Cousin Camp supplies, but the poor thing has tuckered herself out.

Tomorrow will be the pool, followed by other fun filled plans we will bring to you one blog at a time. If I ever find the time to blog this week. Please send the adults good thoughts and hope that I have enough caffeine to see us through. :)

She'll do anything for an animal cracker

The Sweet Baby is learning, slowly but surely, how to walk. Adam has been coaxing her with Animal Crackers-- he's tricky, that Daddy. She takes one from his hand, gets a nibble, then sways in mid air as she decides-- cracker or balance-- most of the time she sways long enough to get a few bites in then plops herself down. In the last few days though, her standing has gotten longer and longer, and more often.

Yesterday she walked 3 steps for one of the precious cookies, very quick and decisive steps too. Today she was holding onto the hallway wall, walking her way down to her bedroom where I was calling to her. When she got just far enough, she took one tiny step to me without clinging to the wall or to my hand. This afternoon she has taken 2 steps, and I don't even think there was a treat involved, LOL.

She's hard enough to keep track off crawling. These big kids are going to be in trouble when she is fully mobile!

Awwwl, Sweet Baby hearts her blankies.

Sweet Baby is under my feet (mothers everywhere gasp at the thought of a small child being under my feet, right?) chatting away with herself about whatever things are exciting to a 10 almost 11 month old girl. She is also toting a small blanket back and forth with her from underneath my feet at the table, to the chair on the other side of the table, to the front door, and back to my feet.

She has a new thing with blankets. She's always loved 2 blankets the best: her hot pink fleece blanket because it means nap time with Mommy and her blankie NiNi crocheted the edge around for her, it is very soft and made from bamboo fleece.

Here she uses the beloved pink blankie to entertain herself while avoiding nap time.

Now blankets can also be used as toys, to be drug around the house and flung at unsuspecting victims. One could also use them to help ease the pain of teething. I'm just waiting on her to chew a whole right through one. And now, she has learned she can comfort herself with them too. She takes the blankie, flings it out as far as her little hands can reach, positions herself up on her knees, and face-plants herself right in the middle of its softness. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you will hear the sweetest "awwwl" as she rubs her hands on the softness.

Because some days in the summer are just good for having a rest.

This weekend the boys went to stay the night at my sister's house (but not Sweet Baby, her mother is not ready for overnight trips at the current time). They had a blast as always, I think G would move in with them if all the grownups would go for it. This time though, something magically happened. Their cousin acutally stayed the night with us! She tried this last year and she was not ready for overnight trips at that current time but now she is good to go! This was her first time spending the night with anyone other than NiNi (my mom). We watched movies, played in the pool, and had pancakes with blueberries, strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast.

We also went bowling, cousin Ben and his momma met us at the alley. Everone had a blast! I think Ben is hooked, he was a natural! He used a handy dandy ramp to help him get the ball rolling. He'd give it a push, then watch very still has his ball rolled down, if he happened to knock over any pins he'd say, "BOOM-BA" and throw his little hands in the air. If he didn't get any pins, he'd srug his shoulders and turn around. G actually got a very high score for us, I think a 99- wow!

If Only Life Had Bumpers

We ventured out on our first summer bowling trip for the summer. I believe we went Monday... yes, that's right. Monday the pool is closed so we have to find other means to keep ourselves entertained. The first game we didn't use bumpers...

Score without bumpers

Then the owner came by, took pity upon us, and asked if I knew how to set up bumpers. "Why, do the scores look like we need them?" hahah, so...


Score with bumpers

 Skywalker got both of the only strikes scored, one with and one without bumpers. The Sweet Baby had fun watching as long as I kept the Animal Crackers coming.

Today the boys have been helping Adam move logs from a tree he cut down in the front yard. They say it was hard work that took them all afternoon and now they would like to just play. I agree, I'd like to just play too.

Baby Steps

Another day at the pool. The Sweet Baby is ready for a bottle and the boys are in the middle of a Star Wars marathon (I am sure just the first one of our summer).

The baby's favorite possession for the past few months is a pink baby brush, she'll settle for the white one but prefers the somewhat soft handle of the pink one. Usually she just shoves it on her mouth to chew, but tonight, she flicked her left wrist in the air, looked at the brush, and jammed it into the side of her head! She was brushing her own hair, awww big girl. :)

...So, about that bottle?

Finally Really Summer

It is officially summer now! Wahoo! So far summer for the kids has consisted of staying with NiNi and Poppy while I finished in-service days, hanging out with the cousins while I got the oil changed in the Mazda, and today we finally visited the pool. My sister and her kids came with us, and we all had a blast. The boys enjoyed having Makenna with them and had lots of fun. They didn't get worn out like the did before after a day at the pool, but the baby and I did! After we got home, they watched Jurassic Park for the 15 millionth time while the baby and I  took a nap in the living room. I think she slept for almost 3 hours!

She is saying "uh-ohhhhh" now, almost every time she drops something. She is still pointing to things she wants, in fact I let her try just a bit of cotton candy tonight, then I cleaned her up and was sitting with her while the boys finished their's. She raised herself up to standing in my lap and pointed her little demanding finger across the table to Skywalker as if she was saying, "Give me all your good stuff Brother, NOW". She loved the water today, loved, loved, loved it. And made many friends who loved her pink tutu swim suit.

I plan on taking the kids back to the pool tomorrow. Next week seems pretty busy already, so we may not get much of a chance to go. Monday the pool is closed, drats. Tuesday the boys have their first dentist appointment, double drats. Wednesday I have my last in-service day, drats again. Thursday Adam should be in, not a drats but may keep us from the pool anyway. I would also like to get them involved in the summer library program, so maybe we will check in on that tomorrow too. I hear a baby starting to stir, better finish this up.

And We're Back

This is the more detailed update for the cabin weekend...
We started out like any other Thursday. I had the car packed and ready to go as soon as were were done with school. Due to 2 accidents during the day, we were already down 2 changes of clothes for the boys.

We had to stay in town for The Diva's graduation so I helped get things set up after school then we had dinner at Sonic and that's where the trouble started. The stomach bug had been going around at preschool, and on our way out that afternoon someone had said, "I hope she doesn't get this, it is pretty bad stuff." Oh but we did. Adam was the first victim of The Sweet Baby and her wrath. I was on my way back from helping The Diva change for her graduation ceremony when he brought me a soaking wet baby with stomach bug germs all over her. (Set #3 of change of clothes). We made it to the ceremony where the kids did a mean rendition of Eric Carle's popular Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Not a dry eye in the house as their dear, sweet teacher read a poem to her first set of little darlings to move on to big school. We were so proud to watch as The Diva accepted her certificate in her cap and gown, and man was she excited. Then The Carrier picked her next victim. I was on my way out of the door with her and her bag and the camera bag. I glanced over my shoulder to see if any big kids were following me and there is was, the cough all mothers know will be followed by a large amount of barf. I froze. I don't believe I've ever been covered in so much barf in public, and at such a fast rate. Luckily, one of the teachers saw me and guided me into the bathroom where she prompted me to put the baby over the sink because she wasn't done yet. (Set #4 and #5 of change of clothes). After a brief state of panic on my part and some discussion about staying or going, we were off to the cabins.

Did you know that all back roads to Hot Springs are curvy? Very Curvy. And did you know that The Diva gets car sick? Very Car sick. And I bet you didn't know that as a graduation treat, she got candy. Lots of candy (Set #6 and we had barely left the zip code yet, with 4 days still untouched on the trip). As we finally got out of the car my greeting was, "Nice to see you, but do. Not. Hug. Anyone." And that was Thursday night.

Friday we woke up in a good mood. There was fishing, boating, and swimming. Adam caught some fish so the boys could see them close up. They fished with Papa too, which G had been talking about since I had tried to convince him I was NOT the on that should take him fishing. I just am not. Granny Mary took all the big kids swimming later that day. It looked like so much fun, I had to take the baby. She had a blast in her little pink tutu suit, or bathing soup as we call it here. After I took her out of the lake, she was pointing at the water every time we passed it. She is apparently a water baby. Then Friday night, The Carrier picked her next victim. Ad felt the wrath most of the night, and although I did not feel like death, I too was impacted by the plague.

Saturday everyone else woke up feeling ready to go, except for the baby, Adam, and myself. It didn't take long though until Granny Mary was down. Then Papa. They were dropping like flies! Before long, that Sweet Baby had taken out 2 cabins worth of adults! Skywalker got a little sick Saturday, but G and The Diva are still untouched. Such a small, innocent looking baby. Squishy even. Dang can she take some grown men out. They thought they were dying.

By Sunday, everyone was beginning to feel normal, but we were tired and most of us were out of sets of clothes. So we packed up and went home. While I was getting everything packed, the Sweet Baby finally went to Granny Mary without crying for me. "Finally! That's the baby in the pictures," they all said. Yep, she's a pretty cool kid when she doesn't feel like she is dying. And Charlie thought she was cute sick, imagine if she had felt good the whole time.

All and all, we had a blast. Hard for even me to believe, but true. The kids loved spending time with their family and enjoyed every minute of the lake. The dinosaur dig kits Granny Mary brought were a big hit, they are still trying to find all the missing pieces of their fossils. They painted sun catchers too, and those turned out beautifully. I must remember to buy some hangers for those. And Uncle Charlie insisted that the boys had to watch Jurassic Park. In fact, Adam was scolded for not sharing this little cinema gem with them at this point in their short lives. Good Ole Uncle Charlie made sure they came home with a copy, plus the next 2 in the trilogy. I do believe they have watched each one at least 2 or 3 times each this week alone. Good call Charlie, good call.

Today I finally blew up the kiddie pool I bought upon our return home. I just couldn't wait to get in the water again. They had a blast in about 2 feet of water. You would have thought I had dug them an Olympic size pool the way they splashed and played. The baby walked 3 times around the rim of the pool, holding onto the side and splashing all the way around. She came in demanding a bottle and pink blankie. She's asleep on the couch with NiNi right now.

But the havoc was so wide spread for such a small carrier...

It has been brought to my attention lately that I should blog more often. I couldn't agree more! I won't try to catch you up in one afternoon, so I'll just fill you in on what is going on right this moment.

We're home from school early today due to 1:00 days at the end of the school year and a sickly baby. The boys have one more day of school left and then they are off for the summer. The Diva had graduation last week and is super excited about going to see her mom for the summer.

We had a camping trip over the weekend to a nearby lake, complete with cabins and fishing! There was a lot of fun, but also a lot of stomach bug thanks to "The Carrier", as she was lovingly nicknamed after taking down 2 cabins worth of extended family. Oh man was it rough. And a 1/2 week later I thought we could be in the clear, turns out not. We came home early today with a sick baby all over again. I'm not feeling so well myself so I thought I'd munch on some Saltines, but The Sweet Baby just yanked one right out of my mouth. She is happily chewing away at it right now.

She's into pointing to what she wants right now. Yesterday morning she pointed to the playground when I got her out of the car at preschool. She pointed to bananas at the store. As a matter of fact, she just pointed to the other half Saltine sitting on the table. Poor thing.

I'll give you more on the camping trip another afternoon, don't worry.