Worst Camping Trip Ever

When a couple of my loves were sick Monday, I was looking at the bright side.  To me, if we're gonna get sick, Monday's the day to do it.  It's a weekday, so it results in Jess being home with us when he would normally be at work, and it's as far from the weekend as you can get, so I assumed we'd be healthy and able to enjoy the weekend.  But instead on Friday Neely was stuffed up and coughing, so I had to cancel the barbecue we'd planned with Danny and Jenni and their girls.  :(

The worst part is we all felt okay enough to have enjoyed it, I just figured Neely must be contagious.  :(  Paige seemed okay Saturday, so she still got to play t-ball.  She caught for part of the game.  :)

A coach and one of her teammates helped her get ready.


I love watching her interact with her teammates.  She can be so shy, but once she gets with all the boys on her team I'll see her smiling and laughing and making jokes with them.  All the boys are super nice to her too. 

She wants NO attention from her fans.  We usually get in trouble if we so much as clap for her.  But this time when she staggered out in her catcher's gear, Grampa and I were taking pictures, and she DID shoo us away, saying "NONONONONO!", but we got a smile.

Cason was good to go, so he spent the game with Aunt Mollie again.
 
Poor Neely had to be semiquarantined with her runny nose, so she hung out with Jess and me.
 

At first that was fine, since she was giving Mollie suspicious looks.  But after a bit she was warming up, sneaking little sweet looks at her like this one:

After the game Paige wanted to hurry home to fly her new $1.00 kite from Target.

Of course that was the one day there was no wind in our windy town.

She was disappointed.  Cason wasn't.


We've been telling the kids we'd go camping soon.  We figured this would be a good time, since everyone was feeling fine, despite possibly still being contagious.  We'd still have fun without being in close contact with anybody and getting them sick.

So we(Jess) got us ready to go.  Grampa found them a kids camping set at a yard sale a while back, and they couldn't wait to use it.  They tried putting their tent together themselves, while Neely set up their chair, trying out many different spots.

 I ended up "helping".  :)

As you can see in that last picture, the kids from the next campsite kept coming over.  So much for not being around people while Neely was sick.  The kids were VERY nice.  We liked them.  BUT they really spent a lot of time with us.  Like hours.

They also constantly asked if we had all kinds of things, and if we didn't, they went and asked their parents for it.  Hot chocolate, something to heat water in for the hot chocolate, sticks for toasting marshmallows, dog food and treats for Gia(We had our own dog food and the kid still insisted that we take his huge ziploc bag full of dog food), bandaids, etc.  I'm sure their parents thought we were total camping mooches, even though we had no desire/need for any of it.  Well, we did forget bandaids, and needed that one.

The only time we got a little space was when we went for a hike to find firewood.

I like this guy's pose and smile:

 Then we came back and Jess made us burgers. The kids played in their tent a bit.

But then the kids returned.  It might be cool when our kids are older if they make friends while camping.  But this time it was just stressful.  The oldest boy was constantly talking to us, while Neely was constantly sprinting up and down rocks, or falling out of her camping chair onto her head.

She also tripped 7-10 times in the dirt, scraping her little knees.  Then she went running with her little plastic binoculars, which landed upright in the dirt and she landed on top of them with her forehead, which ended up with dark purple indents from where she landed on the binoculars, HARD.

Meanwhile the kids are still hanging around, chatting and playing while I try to comfort Neely.  Then Paige tells me she's going to get something from the picnic table, starts running FULL speed in that direction BEFORE turning her head to see where she's going, and instantly catches her foot on Gia's leash, trips and FLIES into the picnic table and smashes her knee into the ground.  By this point it was getting to where I had at least as much anger at them as I did sympathy FOR them.  I never used to understand why parents seemed mad at their kids when they were hurt.  I understand now.  It's like how you would be mad at a random kid if they did something ridiculous that resulted in your kid getting hurt.  Well MY kids were doing ridiculous things that resulted in them hurting THEMSELVES, so I was getting mad.  Ha.  That probably sounds quite mean, but seriously.  So while I comforted Paige, I told Jess "Next time someone does something like this we're out of here."  So 30 seconds later, literally, because Paige wasn't even done crying, Cason told me he was going to play, and STARTED RUNNING AS FAST AS HE COULD WHILE LOOKING BACK OVER HIS SHOULDER AT ME.  And weird, he caught HIS foot on Gia's leash, and ate it.  They both of course blamed Gia for their injuries. 

And there we were, 20 minutes later, driving home with 3 sleeping children and 1 sleeping dog.

We had one of those weird conversations on the drive home that had us laughing hysterically even though we were really tired and still feeling that weird combo of worry/sympathy/frustration.

And then we were home, and grateful.

I love camping, but now I remember that it's much harder with children who are between the ages of 6 months and 3 years.

Speaking of children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years, a pic of Neely with her filthy, indented forehead.

She Knows Because She's Scientific

We'd made it over a quarter of the way through the year without messing up our New Years Resolution.  We went outside for 15 minutes EVERY day, no matter what.  We had the flu?  We went out and sat in the rocking chair or to lie down on the bench for our outdoor time.  We forgot until 9 pm?  We all bundled up and cuddled on the porch swing for exactly 15 minutes, and then ran in to the warm house.  We planted new grass outside and weren't supposed to walk on it?  We watched the kids and Gia closely, making sure they didn't walk on the new "baby grass" during outside time.  And then about a week and a half ago, I suddenly realized I couldn't remember playing outside the day before.  I freaked out, trying to remember.  I finally realized I'd been running errands all day and was distracted, and we NEVER DID IT.  I was SO mad.  

I'm kind of an all or nothing kind of girl, so now that I have failed at doing it every single day this year, I'm WAY more tempted to skip it on the really hot days, or if I just have a lot to do inside.  Now I have to really talk myself into making it happen, remembering I love to be outside, and it makes me way happier once I'm out there.  Like exercise, hard to start, but feels really good once you do it.

                                                          Especially with these cuties.

 

 This is unrelated, but today we were picking Jess up from work, and when we pulled in to the parking lot I called Jess to tell him we were there.  He said he needed three minutes.  When I hung up, Paige asked if they could get out of their seats and play in the car while we waited.  I said "No, not this time.  He'll be out in three minutes."  She goes "No, he won't be.  I KNOW it."  I laughed and said "Oh, you know it huh?"  She nodded, trying to look upset and not smile.  So I asked how she knew, and she said "Because.  I'm....sci...ent..ific..."  Haha.  She was shooting for "psychic", and knew "scientific" wasn't it, but struggled through anyway.

Just Statues

 Now that I'm awful at blogging regularly, it feels like I'm missing lots of things the kids have been doing and saying.  I know a few I've wanted to post about are these:
 
Some of Neely's first sentences.  Lately she has been putting words together more.  She's done it for quite a while, technically, but it was always words she'd heard us use together.  So I don't think she was thinking of them as separate words, and then decided to put them together.  Like "Howyoudoin?"  She'd always say it like it was one long word, although she knew how to use it properly.  But lately she takes words I've heard her use on their own, and then she puts them together herself.  Like last week, when Jess was gone she stood on the couch, looking out the window and said "Daddy?  Come home?" 

I also heard her say "I drumming." while hitting her hands against a bucket.

And then a couple of my favorites.  Last night they were racing across the living room to hug me.  She'd count to three and they'd run.  But then they started to cheat a little, she'd say "1, 2," and then run while yelling "3!"  Pretty soon she'd count to one and start running.  Ha.  I laughed and told them they were cheating.  So soon she said "1,2,3, CHEATING!"  Ha. 

She also wore Caso's wings from his Buzz Lightyear costume last night and thought she was a member of the Superhero Squad.  She said "I SOOPEE QUAT!"

Speaking of "Soopee Quat", she brought me Caso's Captain America costume this morning for me to put it on her. 

Any time she's trying to tell me what she wants, if I take a guess at what it is she gives me an emphatic nod and a happy "mmmmmmmmmHMMMM!"

One recent quote I liked from Paige, too.  She wanted to skip her t-ball game last week so we could go pick Jess up at the airport sooner, but I wouldn't let her.  She said "Okay, let's get it over with.  The sooner you do something you don't want to do, the later you don't have to do it."  Haha. 

And this morning I told Paige I had to throw away one of her toys.  I started with "Paige, I have some bad news."  Cason was listening, and said "So what's the good news?"  I had to disappoint him by telling him I didn't really have any.  Ha.  He goes "Oh yeah, the good news is I wuv Meewee."  Don't we all?

 Almost every day when Jess gets off work the kids make me play their favorite joke on him.  I tell him "Oh, sorry, I lost Paige and Cason today."  Then they either hide...

...or just hold perfectly still and I am supposed to tell Jess that they're just statues I bought to keep the place of our kids until we find them again.  Haha.  Such weirdos.  Usually Jess acts upset for a minute about them being gone, and then moves on to saying something like "Oh well...if they're gone I guess we should just throw away all these toys..." or something similar.  About that time Cason busts out of his hiding place with a "SURPRISE!"

Sweet Tea Party

I think we're on the mend over here.  Paige wanted to have a tea party.  It was snack time anyway, so the kids are having their snack of crackers and cheese along with some iced sweet tea on Paige's quilt in the living room.  So cute.  Since the teapot holds approximately 1/2 cup of sweet tea at a time, I'm constantly being summoned:  "BUTLER!!  Can you refill the tea for us, please?"

"GOTCHA!"

Last night, about an hour after going to sleep, Neely woke up crying, all hot and sweaty.  We tried comforting her for quite a while, but it didn't help much.  Eventually she went back to sleep, but was clearly uncomfortable.  We were pretty tired this morning, and she still wasn't herself, but was less hot and sweaty, and eventually worked her way up to playing with her brother and sister.  Jess said he felt weird at lunch, and he ended up staying home.  He said maybe we could trade off taking naps, and he let me go first since I was up more with Neely.  I napped maybe 20 minutes and when I came out I knew immediately he was sick.  He had his dark circles under his eyes, like he always gets, and I quickly traded him so he could nap.
 Miraculously he never actually threw up and even got up and showered a couple of hours later and spent the evening out amongst the living.

Neely would go back and forth all day seeming fine and then like she didn't feel too well.  I was changing her diaper one time and she was feeling a little more playful.  I felt her suddenly grab my forearm and she yelled "GOTCHA!"  Ha.  Sweet one.

Oops, Been a While Again

Jess left us for a few days last week to do some work in Oklahoma City.  We took him to the airport and then came home without him.  We really missed him.  Paige and Cason would tell me out of nowhere they couldn't wait for him to get back, and then ask me exactly how much time was left before we could go get him.  Neely would walk around the house saying "Daddy?  DAAAADDY?"

I not only missed him, but I realized I'm a pretty big wuss.  We had lots of stuff to do in the evenings while he was gone, like softball games.  So we'd get home after dark, and I was really pretty scared walking up to the door in the dark, trying to unlock it and get everyone in as quickly as possible while planning how best to protect all three of them if someone DID jump out of the bushes.  Ha.  I never even realize when Jess IS home that I'd be nervous if he wasn't.

We did okay the rest of the time though.  Played mostly.  I like this picture of Neely peering through the dollhouse window.

 Cason spent some time playing his beloved Superhero Squad game, with his sidekick cheering him on. 

 We also did some crafts.  We're on a hot air balloon kick over here.

Paige had t-ball while he was gone too.  I love when she gets down and ready like this.(She's the 2nd baseman)

We picked him up Friday night, and he got to see Paige play on Saturday.  Neely slept through it.

Caso ignored the game too, WAY more interested in Aunt Mollie and the games on her phone.

On Easter Paige told us it felt better to throw with her right hand.  She ALWAYS draws/writes/eats with her left, so I automatically bought her a leftie glove.  Well, we watched and her coach watched, and she obviously throws harder and more easily with her right arm.  Weird.  So back to the store we went, and got her a glove for a rightie.  She's clearly more comfortable that way. 

We spent the rest of our weekend working more on our yard.  Paige wanted to do this pose with our new flowers.

Running in the sprinklers, since it was almost 100 degrees today.

Going for walks...

...being scolded during the walk for going too far ahead AND fighting with each other about who is "winning" and who is "losing".

 ...and watching our sweet little people play out front together.

"Again"

Neely likes reading more than ever lately. Her favorite books these last few days have been Robot Zot and How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight. A few nights ago she outlasted both of her siblings at bedtime and just wanted to keep reading forever.

I think we truly read How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight between 20 and 30 times in a row. She'd point out things in the pictures and talk about them, and every time we got to the page where it says "Does he fall on the top of his covers and cry?" she'd want to linger there, touching his tears with her finger and saying "Dragon crying." She pronounces it "Dagon kying" though. Then on the last page she'd talk about how he "Hugs" and when we closed the book she'd say "AGAIN!? MORE MORE MORE" and start frantically doing the sign for "more" to be SURE we knew she really wanted to hear it again.
Then suddenly we read the last page and she was finally done and didn't ask for more.

The next day she wanted to read some more books. I like how it looks like my legs are hers in this pic. Ha.