Camping with Oma and Opa

At beginning of every summer the kids start begging to go camping, this summer we told them that we would go when Oma and Opa came to visit for Claire's blessing. We went the last week of June (when it tends to be nice and dry) We figured it'd be easier with 2 extra adults, and we know that Opa likes to camp but Oma doesn't, so they never go camping. (we didn't tell Oma before they came -heehee) Actually, the original plan was to have the men sleep at the campsite with the kids while the women and Claire went back to the house to sleep - but the place we wanted to camp was too far to drive back for the night. So, we all stuck it out and did one night. We ended up going to the part of the campground with electric sites because the spots were much bigger and nicer. Turns out it is a lot quieter too, because the old people go back into their RVs at 8 :) Here are some pictures of the adventure:

This is Roy doing his "everyone just go away and let
me set the tent up by myself" dance

We always forget to bring a hammer!

The campground was nicer than our backyard!

Make-shift changing table

Just hanging out by the fire

Smores for dessert (of course!)

There were cicadas everywhere!

Thank goodness Oma was there to keep Claire happy!
They went on lots and lots of walks!

The next morning we did some exploring around the lake nearby.
They are looking for snakes.

We camped outside this little historic town called "Arrow Rock", so in the morning we
went into town to explore. The kids were exhausted and it was hot, so we didn't
enjoy ourselves very much.

Ended it all with some lunch and ice cream on the way home. Whew.

Family Pictures

I really hate that I am so behind on blogging. Most of my pictures are on the computer upstairs, and I rarely get a chance to use that one since Claire is usually napping in my room. I have about 20 other excuses, but I'll spare you :) Goal is to write one blog a night... seriously this time.

When we were in Charlotte my sister took us out to an empty field and took pictures of our family. They turned out great and I'm so glad she was willing to do it. It was hot, the kids were not very cooperative and we are horrible posers, so she had her work cut out for her. Here are some of my favorites:

Is it just me or does Claire look like a doll in this picture?
(Don't worry, Roy was right there to catch her when she started to lean too far!)

We got Blaise to smile by making some jokes that Chad had been making all week
"Hey Blaise, are you driving yet? You're like, 16 now, right?"

Yes, Roy completely edited this one - took the best of all of us and put it into one picture for my mom and his mom to have on their wall. I love having a husband that can photo shop :)

We didn't get a very good one of Isaac, but we have lots of other good ones of him from other occasions, so someday when I get around to it I can get prints of all of these and get them on my walls, but maybe not - I don't have any other pictures hanging and we'll probably be moving next year, so I may never hang any. That's the trouble with renting - very little motivation to hang stuff up when you know you'll be packing it up again soon! Roy has these all hanging in his office - so at least they are getting some use! Thanks again Katie!

My baby is 7!

We celebrated Rae's birthday while we were in Charlotte. Her actual birthday was on Sunday, so on Saturday we had the whole family over for swimming, pizza and cake. Rae was in heaven! Her cousins and aunts and uncles were really generous and she got some awesome gifts. She didn't look very excited while opening her presents, but I think she was just tired.

A few weeks ago I saw this cake and knew it would be perfect for Rae's party. It was a little tricky getting it right, but man oh man it was delicious. And now that I've made it once it'll be easy to make again (uh oh!) It was definitely the perfect cake for Rae - she's a huge fan of peanut butter and Reeses. Mmm mmm good!




I made extra of the frosting and made some cupcakes too. The hope was that most of the kids would go for the cupcakes and us grownups could have the good stuff. It worked - Rae and maybe or two other kids asked for cake but the rest were happy with cupcakes, and all of the adults got a slice of heaven :)


I can't believe she is 7! Seems like just yesterday I was up all night with my sweet little newborn Rae. She's such an awesome little girl - she's super helpful, loves to learn and is just so full of energy and excitement! I love my sweet Rae!

Those other kids

Here's what Rae, Blaise and Isaac have been up to:

Being cute around the house

It's supermouse!

These two have been getting along pretty well lately and it's nice to see Blaise get a chance to be the "big sibling" occasionally when Rae isn't busy bossing them all around.

Babies holding babies


Just relaxing outside

Our city had a free fishing day for kids - they provided the poles and worms and lunch, so we took advantage of the opportunity. Unfortunately it was a super hot day and we only lasted about 45 minutes before we gave up and went home.

"When am I going to catch something?!"Rae decided the worms were more fun

When we got home we let them play in the water to cool off.

They love to wear these matching shirts to bed. Rae got the black one two years ago when she entered a cupcake contest, and then Rae and Blaise got the blue ones last year when they did the same contest. It says "Hi. I'm drug free. Bye. I hope you are too"

Claire's blessing

Our family and Oma and Opa
(Roy's mom and her husband visiting from Las Vegas)

Claire was still asleep when it was time to go home and I felt bad for her and didn't want to put her in her car seat, so Roy carried her home - isn't he sweet? The boys wanted to walk home too. Aren't they adorable? I love living a block away from the church!

When we got home we did a little photo shoot - using the afghan Roy's mom made for Claire

In case you didn't know, this dress was also my blessing dress. I think it's fun that it was purple and now purple is my favorite color. Rae's blessing dress was purple too. It was pretty special to have Claire wear it. (Don't worry, Rae's dress is special too because my mom made it for her) Hmmm, I wonder who made this dress - anyone know?

Ouch

It was hot hot hot today, but at around 4 today some clouds rolled in and cooled things off just enough to play outside a little bit. Rae was taking water out of the pool and pouring it on some flowers and bees. I told her that if she messed around with the bees they might sting her, so she left them alone. It got sunny again and I was ready to make the kids go back in because Claire was getting super hot, but then it started raining (I LOVE it when it rains when it is sunny) so we stayed out and played in the rain.

After a while I put a towel over Claire and I was busy making sure she wasn't getting too wet and all of a sudden Rae started screaming. She ran over to me, swatting at her face, yelling that she had been stung! She tends to exaggerate about everything, so I tried to get her to calm down and figured she'd be fine. Well, she kept crying, saying it really hurt, so we headed inside and I gave her a cold washcloth. In just a few minutes her lip started to swell and I started to freak out a bit. I gave her a popscicle and called Roy to tell him to come home(He was already on his way though) - I was totally scared it'd swell up and she wouldn't be able to breathe or something.

Roy got home and took Claire (who was super fussy at this point) for me so I could call the doctor's office. By then the swelling had pretty much stopped and Rae said it wasn't hurting anymore, so I wasn't too worried. The nurse said to give her some Benadryl and just keep an eye on it. Within an hour so of giving it to her the swelling had gone a lot.

This was about 10 minutes after the sting.
It got just a little more swollen than this but not much more.

Rae said she's a little scared to go outside now -I'm sure she'll be a lot more cautious around bees and wasps. She said she was looking into the gutter drain and something flew out and stung her. It was probably a wasp - we have a lot around our house. We told her that the chances of being stung again are pretty slim, so I think she'll be okay going outside. I'm just glad it wasn't Claire or Isaac - that would have been much harder to deal with!

Fun with Granny

We were SO blessed to have my mom come and help out when Claire was born. She arrived on Monday the 25th. Then she spent most of Tuesday sick - poor thing! But by Wednesday she was back to her busy, productive self! It was so nice to know she was home with the kids Wednesday night when I went to the hosptial - even Isaac loved her by the second day she was here. She was so great about taking them for walks when she could see them getting antsy and bored. She did my dishes, folded my laundry and swept my floors! She is an amazing mom and granny! Thanks for coming mom - we really appreciated it! Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!





She gave Isaac this GeoTrax train for his birthday. He loves it! He still talks about granny giving it to him.

He's saying "chooo chooo!"