Camp Spalding

                                         

Best place on earth, truly. I went to camp this year without expectation. I went without expectation because last year was so great that I did not think this year could measure up. Some of the key friends that were there last year were not coming this year so I had my doubts about the fun scale.

In previous years and vacations we would try to incorporate a God theme, moment, or lesson. It would be forced. Other vacations we the same. For me, we would go and come home with similar souvenirs, experiences, and memories. The money we would blow was extensive for food, fun and accomodations. I often came home exhausted, at wits end with children, and ready for C to go back to work. Truly, we had enough family time.

Do you know what it is like to be able to just cut the surface level crap with people and be real? There is an immediate sense of unity because every person there has set aside some of their time and treasure to be at Camp Spalding. Every person there loves Jesus. There are few times that I have felt like career, number of children, status, income, home, background didnt matter. This camp reiterates that" the ground is level at the foot of the cross."

We were skeptical when we heard that we would be in cabins lthis year. Skeptical because last year we stayed in the lodge (pictured above) which is a rustic hotel with great attention to detail in the rooms. Our room slept 6, had a balcony with an incredible view of Davis Lake. The cabin we stayed in this year could have slept 10 and often did during the summer camp. They bring in a king bed for mom and dad, three cush twins and any other bedding needed is on bunks that can fold out of the wall. The bonus to this room was that the bathroom was ginormous with two toilets, two showers and two sinks. Any mother with girls knows the importance of this. It was perfect for our family and we loved staying in the Ponderosa Cabins.

One of the great things about this camp is the staff. They all love the Lord and are truly serving Him in serving our family while there. A person that made a huge impression on us the first year was a college senior named Teagan. She introduced herself the first night and made sure that Charlee would be comfortable. She told us that she would be spending a lot of time with Charlee and she did. The staff to baby ratio was usually 1 adult per baby, sometimes two babies. When I say baby I mean 0-3years. During our first meeting by the fire that night she asked if she could take Charlee for us while we sang with the other girls. Huge blessing. Her love for Charlee meant so much to us and we were completely at ease with her caring for our baby.

The morning schedule looks something like this:
6:30 Mountain biking, running (for those who want)
7:45 Morning kayak, breakfast cruises (again if you sign up) Trading Post also open at this  time where Starbucks coffee is served for a fee, or you can get coffee, cocoa, or apple cider upstairs anytime for free
8:30 Breakfast served for everyone. Here you recieve the schedule for the day.
9:20 Everyone meets fireside to send kids (4years-1st grade)(2-4th grade)(5th and 6th grade) (junior high) (high school) with approprite leaders for their activities. Some of these activities include rock climbing, boating, ropes course, crafts, mountain biking, sports, water games, reading the word, singing praise music. They have the kids until noon. The junior high and high school join the adults for worship first.
9:30 Worship music and message in Lakeside. A truly beautiful room highliting Gods creation with a view of the lake. Here we sing, partake in some guided prayer/scripture study, listen to an amazing speaker(s), speak as a large group and work in small groups.
12- we pick up kids from their various activities
12:30 Lunch which is always amazing food that I didnt have to make or clean up. This year our girls were constantly bringing friends to our table. We may have missed out sitting with other adults that are amazing, but we loved being the table that kids sat at!
1:30-5:30ish was free time. We had choices each day of what activities to do. Chris and I would switch off on who would sit with Charlee while sleeping and who would go with the bigs. The camp offered childcare if we both wanted to go with the bigs, someone would come and sit with Charlee while she napped, but we wanted to rest or read during that time so it was perfect for us to split. The girls and I spent tons of time at the lake. We went paddle boarding, kayaking, tons of swimming, jumping on the water trampoline, watching people do the "blob", had some staff make bracelets for us, and played in the sand. Fun fun fun. Did I mention it was all included in the price? Wowza. Incredible. Dani and I also did the high ropes course one day. She had done it before and totally impressed me. I was so shaky and nervous. As many friends know a local girl recently fell at a camp on a swing. Well, to get off of the high ropes you have to take the swing. I was scared to say the least. But the staff was thorough, patient and loving to me. The checked and rechecked my equipment and made sure I was comfortable before I dove off the platform. It was exhilrating. However I will say, a horrible shrieking noise came out of me during the pendulum of the swing. I couldnt control that noise. I later apologized for such and awful noise that I uncontrolably made. The staff said it was the sound of joy....ok. Pictured below is not me on the swing but an amazing staffer coined K Shay. Another great part of "free time" is that I could sit on the beach watching Charlee build/wreck a sand castle and be in deep conversation with another woman. I loved the richness and wisdom that these women offered. They had been there, done that and knew some of the aches of my heart. They promised to pray for me. It was a very rich time for me to glean from these women.

                                                                           


6:30 Rendezvous- we would all meet downstairs watch a staff themed skit. Last year the theme was "cops" which made it all the more funny for us. This year the theme was Critter Scouts. There were a couple of staff who would dress up, make a flashy entrance that thrilled the kids, and then take us all as families to play some games. We played with our kids. We played hard with our kids. Kids of all ages were included in the games and were loved by all. It amazed me. You might think that high school kids would think they were too cool to participate in some of these crazy games but they werent. We were divided by families up into four teams. We had a cheer, we participated in relay races, we laughed. Fun!
Last year we had a family Bingo night where the end product is for all the kids to end up with a prize. This year they had carnival games set up and the kids could choose the prize or choose to dunk their parents. Alli held out for a while clenching her tickets. After she realized that everyone would get a prize she quickly paid to get Chris dumped on with water. She was thrilled to see this happen. He was a good sport. 
7:30ish we would all head to the fireside and sing fun camp worship songs complete with motions. The staff would sweep littles into the Rendezvous if you wanted to focus on the message the speaker was presenting. It was light, funny and usually involved family. The camp director is pictured below.

   
8:30ish we would head upstairs to the dining hall for a "snack". During this time we had a lot of fun connecting with other adults. Charlee could run freely usually finding a friend to play hide and seek and we would chat with adults. The middles were usually running around with friends, having a staff hosted dance party downstairs, watching a family movie (last night) or hanging with us. For those of you who know us, you know it is huge for us to let kids run around camp with friends. Yes, it is that safe. Yes it is that supervised. Immeasurable time and planning go into making this camp what it is. The older kids are eligible for "night games" usually involving a small amount of danger, glow sticks and lots of laughing. We played cards during this time, caught up with friends from last year and truly shared our hearts. The speakers, Jerry and David Sittser engaged us, played hide and seek with Charlee and loved on our family. Jerry (who has been featured on family life radio, written several best sellers and is a professor at Whitworth) made a point to tell us that he had been watching our family and he thought that we were parenting well and that our children were secure. David his son played with Charlee and her friend Nora for what seemed like hours. Needless to say, our kids slept great and so did we.

The final night of camp is a lot of fun. It starts off with the staff taking all the kids (0-12th grade) away, decorating the dining hall and giving the parents a date. Chris and I got to sit with three other couples and get to know them better over steak, rice, rolls, pasta, and chocolate gooeyness. Does it get any better than this?AFter this we have our final "fireside " time and get ready for the family talent show. Last year we were unaware that something like this would happen but you better believe the girls were prepared for this year. We were the first act to go and we did the "cups" song with glowing cups and matching shirts. Charlee even sat on stage with us and played with a cup. I had a friend on standby just in case she started stealing cups like she had in practice. It was so great and many people came up to us afterward and complimented our efforts. It was all the girls, they had to teach us. We would practice while Charlee slept and we did it over and over again. Dani had plans of singing the song but we were all on the tail end of a cold and her voice couldnt handle it so we just played the version with words.
I wish we would have taken video of the skits. Some staff men did a hilarious bit about guys with shirts on their heads. Other staffers did a wordless piano bit that my girls loved. One family ate peanut butter from one anothers arm pit......guess you had to be there.

We left camp wanting more time. Wishing that it was longer, but that is how it should be. It is just right. I am filled up physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I thank God for provision in going to this camp as a family and for our girls individually. Our oldest two also went to week long camps here at different points in the summer and they too would tell you that it made a huge impact for their realtionship with Christ. It was safe there amongst other believers who helped me to recharge after a somewhat draining year. Thank you God for the attendees, staff and facilities of Camp Spalding. My family drove away blessed. If you are wanting more out of vacation look into this.
https://www.campspalding.org/

I lied and I may again

So my last post was in may....it was my return....not. Since then I have packed up a house, rented a house, moved my family, become a transportations system, started school(s) for kids and managed to do it all with flair. Why, because that's how I roll. We have been so busy that I looked forward to today for the last two weeks. Saturday is special because C is working, there is no school, and there is no scheduled running for the day. It is 11am and I am still in jammies. Might just stay this way and save on laundry. That's my contribution to going green.
I dont know where to start.
Dani is in 7th grade this year and she has fallen right in stop with homeschool. She is taking more core classes at MCP this year thus freeing up some time at home. She has also started volleyball with a public middle school and is loving it. I went to a game last week and it was so neat to see her in her element. She was confident and sure of herself. So much more than I was at her age.
Allison has a teacher this year that Dani did not and we are loving her. Allison too seems to be gaining confidence in her reading and math as this teacher is incredibly complimentary and is great to build Allison up. She is not involved in sports right now as I am not sure I could handle anything else transportation wise.
Leilani is an real-life Fancy Nancy. She has read and memorized every book we own and everytime we go to the library you better believe that at least one Fancy Nancy book will be coming home with her. She prefers to wear a dress everyday and is often put out when I force her to wear plain tights or leggings.
Charlee, my baby, is walking. She is very girly too. Makes sense. She often drapes wii controllers around her wrist or a phone charger around the back of her neck as if trying to accesorize. Last night she was complete with a purse. It was so cute to see her toddling down the hall with her little purse in the crook of her arm. Be still my heart. I am weaning the cute little monkey. It may be silly but this is a really difficult emotional thing for me. Knowing that this is the last baby I will nurse is sad and gratifying. With a weaned baby comes freedom, YES!
I have an end date (for nursing) of 9/28 as I will be out of town without her next weekend. I had a scheduling conflict with the womens retreat that my church is putting on. After the life-changing week at Camp Spalding ( I will do a seperate post on that) I started looking into their womens retreat. As it turns out, next weekend it is and I will be babyless and sleeping on my stomach for the first time in almost two years. Im super excited.

The Return

Hopefully this is my comeback to blogging, but like most things it could very easily get pushed to the back again. Big Blue needs me ya know. Anywho. What is new? Well we bought a house, rented out a house, re-homed our dog and are getting ready for a yard sale next weekend. Now, I wrote all of these in past tense but most are still on the docket to occur, but on the docket none the less. Charlee is sleeping once again and I am loving. She is on a two nap a day schedule and it rocks! We move the end of June, have renters moving in the beginning of July, woosh lots cooking.

My bigs are getting excited as the school year is slowly winding down. It has been especially busy these last few weeks and we are all looking forward to summer. As you may have noticed with many of my posts, I really dont care about correct paragraphization. I have no clue when to stop or start them so I just do it when I want to.

It is gonna take me a few blogs to get my groove back, so here is a list of current likes:
my hubby and the stache
my girls and they songs they sing....well not all the songs they sing
Pinterest
my new backyard we are getting!
sleep
mango beachwood candles
hot dogs on the grill
a fresh sheeted bed
the smell of my fabric softener
steak
Twigs mezza
gorgonzola sauce on pizza
real parmesan
my niece Harper
the weather
group power and ride
licorice
The Hunger Games movie
The Red Tent book

Where did the time go?

To say I have been crazy busy lately would be a vast understatement. I am currently enjoying spring break with my ladies and cannot wait for summer to be here. The daily routines that define us during the week are on break as we are and I love. Summer here we come. I cannot fathom that a whole school year is almost over since I started homeschooling, since I had Charlee. Craziness. I have been blessed fo sho'.
My husband is being honored as the Latino Officer of the Year. BAHAHAHAHAH! Although he wishes he were Latino, he is not. Truly, he served the Latino community a great deal during his time in dics. So, this is a huge honor to him and just continues to show me that my husband is a rock star.
What else is new.....oh, i lost 13 pounds since I started my post baby endeavor. Still working on the last couple but am really pleased with the progress so far. I have never maximized on the caloric burn during the nursing stage but I was determined to this final time. I actually get to eat almost anything I want. Loving, I may never stop nursing. Well, I may stop nursing so we can go to Vegas later this year....um yah!
Charlee was sleeping through the night. It was recently brought to my attention that she might be a bit spoiled....ahem AMY..... so we have cut her third nap of the day out and things are working a little more smoothly. She is getting about 11 hours a night for the last 3 nights and I hope that keeps up.
C and I had the uncommon pleasure of going out to dinner with his brother and sister and in -laws Monday night, it was super fun. We went to Twigs, dare say I am addicted? The conversation was fun and we arrived driving the new truck we brought!
It is kind of funny to say "new" b/c it was actually used. Even funnier, I had recently told my bestie that we dont buy used b/c we arent handy and cannot fix car stuff.....enter us buying a used truck a couple months later. The difference for us was that it was C's dad's truck so we knew the only owner and it had really low mileage. C had been dying to get a man card back after trading his last truck for a mini-van. He deserved and loves!

Food!

This is what has been on my brain lately. The deep dish salted cookie pie. Wowza. It looks amazing. First on the agenda, I need a cast iron skillet. Secondly, all the ingredients. Ah, who am I kidding? Im not going to make this I just want to continue drooling over it. My bestie makes these rice krispie treats on steriods....they are amazing. She adds peanut butter to them, melts chocolate chips on top of them. Oh my. I think I just gained weight thinking about it. Enough about food.

We had several snow days this week which made for cabin fever. Poor Dani, being homeschooled does not get snow days like the other kids. It seemed agonizing for her but she pressed on. We got tons of work done and plenty of play time as well. I was telling C that his "weekends" dont really feel like time off lately because we are so busy getting things accomplished. With all the snow this week, it actually felt like a weekend. We are getting lots of time. Love

My girls are at each other. Anyone else having a similar problem? Cabin Fever! They have gone outside and all, but until last night really hadnt been out. We have made cookies, messed, laundry, meals and watched movies. I am beat just thinking about it. Snow go away so my kids can go back to school again.

Twigs

C and I have tried for weeks to get into this swanky new restaurant in town and have been unsuccessful. However, I called a couple days in advance for a reservation and viola( I sound like Fancy Nancy, good grief), we went last night. Mom kept the bigs for an over nighter so we only had Charlee on the date with us. The atmosphere was fun. It is labeled a bistro and martini bar. Food was delish, decor was beautiful. We got a dessert called the "sticky cookie". Oh my, that was something to write home about. It was a delectable three scoops of ice cream with a half baked cookie over the top. Wowza! We shared an entree and it was plenty for us.

My only criticism was that it was not very child friendly. From what I understand you can take a baby anywhere as long as they are on the tit, love that movie! By not very child friendly I mean:

1. Th tables did not allow much room for nursing. I could not push it away from me to have enough room to nurse. So I had to sit in a chair without arms and risk my side being exposed to all who waited for a table at the joint.

2. There was no changing table in the bathroom. So the only alternative to changing my baby on the floor was to change her on the bathroom counter. Not the most ideal situation as there was water all over the counter.

So, all this to say, I know that kids were allowed. They had high chairs for goodness sake. I did not trust the uptrned high chair to support her carseat so her seat sat on the floor and we held her. All in all we did have a great experience and will definitely be going back again. I would give the restaurant an A. C and I are going to be food bloggers for a while. Fun excuse to go out and eat.

Good Crop

So the title of this blog comes about because my new SIL told my brother that one of the reasons she chose him was because he looked like he would "produce good crop". Hilarious! Cant say I disagree I mean we do come from an incredible yet undefined gene pool. Anyhow the reason for the post is I wanted to brag on my "good crop." Ya know how you always hope for your kids to make wise and selfless choices, but grit your teeth when they are faced with a decision (that might not be easy for them) that could go either way?

Just to give a little background on the subject we give our girls 3 gifts each Christmas (not including the little things we put in their stocking). We give them a want, a need and a surprise. Now one gift might include a couple things. Last year we got Dani a braclet maker and the string that she would need to make the bracelets. So there is an example of "one gift".

The other night we started talking with the kids about ways in which we could share with people that dont have as much as we do. Some of the items we decided on were; donating canned foods to a food bank, donating some of our things to Goodwill and last but not least "shopping" the Compassion catalog. If you are not familiar to Compassion, it is an organization where you can sponsor a child but this year they sent out a catalog and had different items you could donate to people in need (in Africa). This spoke to our heart because a little boy we have been sponsoring for the last 9 years lives in Tanzania, Africa. As a family we went through and decided on some things we would purchase and then we challenged the kids. C and I usually spend about $100 on each other and this year we decided it would be $70ish and we would put the remaining money towards something else in the Compassion catalog. We asked the kids if they wanted to give up one of their three gifts and give something to someone who has less than they do. I thought for sure Leilani would be the hold out, but I was wrong. She and Dani jumped right on board. Alli on the other hand said, " Can I think about this for a while." Of course. We really wanted this to be their decision. So we were fully prepared for her to answer "no" but I really hoped they would choose to give.

After much consideration Alli chose to give up one of her gifts. I cant tell you how proud I was of all of them. I wanted them to feel a certain amount of discord so that this was truly a sacrifice to them. Dani chose to give money towards a playground. Leilani chose a blanket and a tarp. Allison chose formula for a baby for a month. I am so humbled by their hearts. Oh, this makes mommas heart proud and is proof I am raising "good crop".

Ineffable

I know this doesnt sound like a real word, but it is. I even sound borderline bad. Do you know what this means? Impossible to describe. I was homeschooling Dani this morning and this was a vocabulary word that we were touching on during the reading/composition section of our workbook. Loved. Im bad!

I have had my head in the clouds lately. Dreaming of taking the kids to Hawaii. I think it would be so magical to see their little faces as they frollicked on the white sand and waded in the crystal blue water. warm water even. The sun would bleach out their hair, tan their skin and bring out the fraction of Hawaiian that they are. I thought about taking them to Kauai, renting boogie boards and lounging out there as long as possible. My only fear is that we would never want to come home. But oy vey, it was spendy last time. A gallon of milk was $7. C would need a huge pay increase and all our family is here. Oh to dream, as I sit here in 20 degree weather freezing my hiney off.

Baby girl is rolling over in the crib and usually not happy about it. Very funny. And as I type I hear her stirring, so more later.

Jaimie

Smile Bug

I will have to find my pic of Lou. She was a pink cowgirl. My daughters looked so adorable. Alli was a super model, Dani a blushing bride, Charlee a butterfly. C took 2/4 of the girls around the neighborhood while Dani, mom, Charlee and I answered the door to 349 kids. It was fun and the count was great. I absolutely loved answering the door and chatting with mom. Love these memories. I also love the after halloween pillaging that I do at Walmart to prepare for the following year. The girls really wanted some "spider webs" on our shurbs out front and I got some for next year. Love!

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin on her belly!

Reason #214 of why being a Stay At Home Mother rocks.......I get to witness all my baby's firsts. No one else is telling me what she did today, what I missed, I get to see it all. Praise God for teaching C and I early on to live on one income. So incredibly thankful. Two days ago Charlee rolled herself over and then didnt like it. It was precious. I went to her last night and she had turned over on her belly and again was not happy about it. This morning when I took her out of her crib she was on her belly completely turned a different way then I put her in the crib. She is so happy in the morning to be rescued, changed and fed. I absolutely love going to get her smiling face. Love, love, love.

Costa Yucko!

So, for our date night this week we tried the infamous Costa Vida. Needless to say, I had carried their coupon in my purse for weeks and then when we finally got to the front of the line I didnt have it anymore. Oh well I thought. Here were my issues:

#1
The gal who took our order kept touching her face with everything but her gloved hands. Seriously, if you are gonna make my food dont mess with your face.
#2
The amount of meat in the taco was sad. Seriously? For $8 I would expect more.
#3
Chips and salsa cost extra. Someone didnt tell Costa Yucko that those are just supposed to come with the meal along with an all access pass to a salsa bar. Sheesh!
#4
Evidently the people working are frazzled and the staff and customers could not hear the questions being asked b/c they messed up order after order in front of us. "Do you want tortilla chips on that salad?" "No" Que tossing on tortilla chips on the salad top.
#5
The cost $19.99 for C and I to eat. No thank you. Next time we will go somewhere where they wait on us, we get free access to the salsa bar, and the staff can pass a hearing/ health food safety test.

Anywho, if you were thinking of going, save your money. Im just sayin', this is completely random review from no one important.

Another birthday come and gone

So in love, as I should be! So much gonig on here. I have not updated in a while but surely have bunches going on. I turned 29......again. Love. Especially love all of the people who play along with me to celebrate. This was probably one of my most special birthdays because I enjoyed the date I got after the family party. C and I went to dinner, attempted the rollerderby and then some live music at Cheese Louise. Conversation was directed to future fun and quite frankly I enjoyed staring at the wonderful man I married holding our youngest and conversing with strangers. He is the social on of the two of us you know.

Oh I get excited thinking about the future. Every time I watch the movie "Soul Surfer" I look at C and ask, " Is there anything you can do that would make enough money for us to move to Kauai and live at the beach?" Unfortunately his answer is still "No". I get nostalgic thinking that I have 4 blonde beauties that could be bleach blonde surfer girls.....never mind the potential shark attacks. Oh well, I guess the Tri will have to be our little piece of paradise for now and dont get me wrong, it is.

We are going on a cruise in a couple of years and I get excited thinking about that too. Part of me holds back though and thinks, "should you really look forward to two years from now for something that will only be a week of your life?" Idk, looking forward none the less. We would ideally like to do one of those KLove cruises with the Christian artists and people on board. That would be the ultimate.

So, eventhough our date the other night did not work out the way we had planned, it was more enjoyable than imagined. My cup overfloweth!

How Long Will She Go?

So, the baby hasn't pooped in a few days. Poor little monkey. Each day I tell her that she should poop today but to no avail. If she doesnt go by Monday I will call the doc. Why do I feel like a first time mom all over again? Nervous, scared, worried, sheesh. She is not fussy or having trouble sleeping so for now I think that everything will be ok. She is an incredibly easy baby averaging 12 hours of sleep each night, ocassionally 13. Dream baby!

I am in season 5 of 24. Loving! Every minute I can steal away to watch it I do. Currently I am in season 5 episode 18.

For our 15 year anniversary we are taking a Caribbean cruise. That is plenty of time to save, plan and dream. Ideally we would do a Mediterranean cruise but I think that would be way too much moolah. So excited to one day see all the places on my bucket list. I think a Mediterranean cruise would help to cross off a lot of those. I figure that by 2013 my baby will be fine without me for a few days. Our last big vacay away was to Kauai for our 10 year. Uh-mazing! The day we returned home my daughter turned 5 and my grandfather died. Lots of highs and lows for the day.

Homeschooling is going great. I am loving our schedule. Dani asked to work ahead the other night so that our Friday would be chill. I had dreamed of doing stuff like that, but wouldnt suggest it. Her idea so I was obliged to do Friday schooling on Thursday night.

Lemonade Mouth

Ok, so I dont know how to post video on here but I love Lemonade Mouth. This is a movie on Netflix that the girls watched, many times, so C and I caught bits and pieces of it here and there. We have been singing the songs over the last couple weeks. Silly songs about a highschool band and whatnot but fun. Our girls really grab onto musicals and enjoy the songs.

Charlee slept from 9:30-5:30 last night. I did have to plug her once in the night, so maybe that doesnt count but 8 hours between feedings in the night is amazing! Love! And, C let me sleep in this morning and did breakfast with the girls so I am feeling pretty good. Praise God for a baby that is on a schedule. I would be a zombie without it.

Headaches have been bad lately. I am beginning to wonder if it has something to do with the way I am holding the baby. I noticed my shoulders were incredibly tight last night which makes my neck hurt and provokes a headache. I think I need some medically prescribed massage. Just sayin'. I will schedule after this week so I can get a feel of what life is going to be like with Dani going to MCP two days a week. Really excited for her to get to be doing this. She is excited too.

Two steps forward.....two steps back

I know I have no grounds for complaint but, this is my blog so its gonna happen. Charlee has been waking up once per night after about 7 hours of sleep. Amazing I know. I have gotten used to this routine. So when I have nights like last night.....where she gets up twice.....I feel gyped. Not justified I know. So she went down around 9:45, started making noise at 1:30. I plugged her and sat burping her for a while and she went back to sleep until 4:45. I got back up, fed and put her back to sleep. Then she was up again at 7:30. OUch! I had full intentions of sleeping until at least 8:30. Oh well, C did let me go back to sleep after he got up. And shes up again, it is now 9:30. Bleh

In other news, Dani starts at MCP next week and we are both incredibly excited about this truth. Yeah! She will be getting to switch classes just like they do in public middle school and have the opportunities that they dont have in middle school, like Spanish and piano class.

We watched the movie, "The Beaver" last night with Mel Gibson. Disturbing. It was interesting to me that the beaver looked more and more evil as the movie went on. Anyway, I would not watch this flick again......and I want two hours of my life back.

I am anxious for my fav. show Parenthood to start on hulu again. I think it premiers on Tuesday so I might get to watch it Wednesday night on Hulu. I love being cheap. We no longer have cable, just netflix and hulu. Loving saving money.

Hampster Leash

This morning I was reminded (by one of my girls) that I once made a leash for my hampster Amazon. She was named this because she used to hang on the bars of her cage and she them like crazy.....much like an Amazon. So creative, I know. Anyhow, I was clever and made a harness leash for my hampster and would take her for a walk to the corner and back. I made a harness so that I would not choke her and so that I could gently lift her off the ground if she was not keeping up with me. It wasnt hilarious to me back then, but it totally is now. A leash for a hampster....seriously?! Her little legs would scurry, scurry, scurry. I cant imagine what her little hapster brain was thinking. C did not refer to it as a leash when he heard the story..... but rather a noose. I am a genius


In other news, the baby is doing fabulous! She has been waking once in the night and going back to bed until about 8. Loving. What I do not love is when another girl wakes up with a bad dream, wakes the baby and then my whole schedule is off. I wake up in a bad mood and refuse to get out of bed. C refers to me as his , " ray of sunshine" mockingly and that is just funny stuff. So I get out, ready my ladies for school, get them to the bus, and commence the home learnin'. Yeehaw. Dani is doing great! She is usually done by lunchtime and I have no doubt that she is going to be way ahead of her peers. Bright girl!

Horray Chirps Charlee!

Praise the Lord for 7 hours between feedings. This presents another problem for the nursing mother, but I will take it for that many hours of sleep. I can hardly believe that my little muffin is 6 weeks old today. Has it really been that long? On one hand it seems like she has always been with us and I couldnt remember life without her. On the other hand she is so new and little, how has 6 weeks passed? I think this is God's was of helping us forget about the sleep deprived nights (honestly she has been amazing about this, so we are really blessed on this topic), the engorged tata's, and the projectile poo. Girl has some skillz, that's all Im sayin.

The title for this blog comes about from a book that we used to read to Leilani. On each page it would say, " Horray chirps Charlie when he's out, I really love to get about." I think of it each time I applaud her. So cute. I even love getting up with her in the night because her little face says, " thank you" in the wee hours. Love love!

We went to the fair the other day as a family. Holy hotness batman! We lasted for about 3 hours as a family and then I had to get out of the heat. Charlee kept cool as we kept fanning her and getting her hair wet with cold water. She was just chillin along for the ride, not really caring what was happening. The big girls took their own money and paid to get in these big bubble things that float on water. They saw them at the fair last year and wanted to get in there this year. They loved and it looked like a human hampster ball, hilarious! Fair food was good, not great. The highlight for me was the elephant ear. We could not finish one as a family, it was ginormous. Oh, the piggly wiggly fries get an honorable mention too.

Lou Louisms

This is the biggest gap we have had between children....5 years. Leilani was the baby for all that time and she loved. When Charlee came into the picture Lou wanted to make sure that she could still be "mama's baby". It broke her heart when I got big with Charlee and I could no longer pick her up and hold her. I recently was able to pick her up again and she was in 7th heaven. Here is a conversation that happened in the car the other day: Leilani (L), C (C):

L: Dad, if you had to choose for me or Charlee to die, who would you choose?

C: I would never choose that honey. I serve a big God that would never make me choose that.

L: Yah Dad, but if you HAD to choose, who would you pick?

C: I wouldnt pick babe, I would tell them to take my life, not my girls life.

L: (frustrated) Ok

This short and disturbing conversation was very revealing. She wanted to know where she stood in the pecking order of things. Broke my heart to hear her ask this question. C does such a great job of fielding these questions. When she first asked it, I said, "what?" because I was sure that I heard her wrong. Nope, I heard right. I hope and pray that we make Lou feel valued and secure.

On another side note, homeschooling will start next week. Nervous and excited for this to be happening. Please pray for us that we will not mess this up and that our daughter will come out of 8th grade well rounded and more secure in our relationship after having 3 years together.

Above are a couple pictures of Charlee getting rid of hiccupps. My dad puts a piece of newspaper on their forehead. This was her first time but we subjected all the other girls to this. C thought it was some Hawaiian voodoo thing until he realized that it is just put there to take the baby's mind off hiccupps and put their attention on something sticking to their forehead. Love. I wish the pic of Charlee smiling would have come out better but she moved.

Busy Summer Days

Yesterday was a fabulous day. We enjoyed the farmers market in the morning, hit up Costco, went to the Splash Down Cove, got to see my mom while C took the bigs for a bike ride, and ended the evening going on a date provided by the TCCC. Love! We went to The Country Gentlemen and had dinner with a co-worker of C's. Of course Charlee was with us, she needs me ya know.

I have been enjoying reading, thinking about the "Titus 2 Woman". C and I watched a youtube video on Mark and Grace Driscoll answering questions live via text. I never get sick of watching those two. These questions are off the cuff and bibilcally answered. One question was about "stay at home dads." **sidebar. The thing I love about pastor Mark and Mars HIll is that he preaches it and it may be offensive, but it is the word of God, so deal" They referenced 2 Timothy to answer the question. It was fabulous. His answer to questions a lot of the time is, "there are exceptions to the rule, you are not it." Basically, if you are having to ask the question b/c you think you might be in the wrong, you probably are. Love. check it out if you get a chance.

Crossview bought the 509 fitness building and will hopefully start having services in it soon. I got to see it last night and was really impressed. Overwhelmed, but impressed. Gobs of work to be done. The vision and dreams for the building are exciting.

Self-Soothe

This is a tough one for me. Beings that I had five years between babies I am struggling to let little Charlee "cry it out". She just started crying as I started typing so we will see just how long I last. Very soon here I will need her to get to the point where she can get herself to sleep....not a binky.....not someone holding her.

It was a fabulous night last night for us. She slept from 10:30-2. Then from 2-6ish. C picked her up and brought her to me around 6:30am. It was a great night of sleep for me. Broken sleep, but sleep. ****ok, I have gone to her three times. She has been quiet now for 7 minutes (fingers crossed) this is good!

My big girls have been reading and journaling all summer. We set goals for them to reach if they get all their minutes each day, then we will reward them at the end of the month with a prize. Last month they went to Yoplicity and had fro yo with anything they wanted on it. They were in heaven. This month we are considering surprising them with a trip to Silverwood (2/3 of them have already earned passes) and a night at the raptor reef. Fun times. They will love.

I often refer to myself as a cow, for many reasons. The most obvious being the fact that I am a creamery for Charlee. My motto in nursing has always been "suck it off me, put it onto you." I am truly relishing the time I have with her. She is so stinkin cute! I will say that this baby goes through more diapers than any other baby i Have ever had. Probably 15/day. That is a bit excessive. I started wondering if I was changing her too soon but the fact is that I am not sure a single diaper could hold much more. ***We are at 10 minutes, yeah!***