Her first fish!!!

The story of camping with three

This is the story of a couple who wanted to go on a family adventure. They chose to take their three children under the age of five camping. What an adventure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Sunday afternoon they packed up the family vehicle until they almost couldn't shut the doors, loaded the canoe on top and the young'ns in the back, and set off for Pine Lake State Park in Eldora, IA. It was a very nice park as far as Iowa campgrounds go. The sites were a little close together, but there weren't many people there because it was Sunday.
They set up camp which went pretty smoothly with the help of the two boys and enjoyed a nice evening meal of spaghetti and garlic toast.

After the meal the boys went on a canoe ride and caught a couple of fish while the girls chatted in the tent, took nature walks, and watched the fireflies frolic and play in the nearby woods. They tried to settle down for a relaxing evening of rest, but were kept awake by a lively game of hide-and-seek played by some fellow campers. The rest was short as the mama was awakened by the beautiful songs of the birds around 5:00am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The kids awoke around 6:15. They enjoyed a wonderful meal of scrambled eggs and pancakes and got ready for a canoeing adventure.
They packed all 5 of them into the canoe with the father at the paddling controls in the middle. There was a little fishing, but mostly fishing the snagged bobbers off of the fallen logs. They ended up fishing on shore for the rest of the morning and the littlest one caught her first fish.

There was a small trail right next to their campsite which was a thrill for the children as they observed many different kinds of leaves, bugs, and butterflies.
Keeper of the food!They enjoyed an hour at the beach and then it was time to end the adventure. By the time they got back home, all three children were sound asleep. A good time was had by most (the mama will be wearing earplugs to bed the next time they go!!!).

THE END!!!!

Playing house

All three kids have started to love to play house together. Carson is usually the grandpa, Connor the brother, and Kaelynn the sister or mommy. Last night I thought I would get in on the adventure. I got to be the neighbor who was invited over for dinner. Boy was I glad it was a pretend dinner! I was served chicken noodle soup salad with marshmallows, bread, cheese, grapes, and chips. After dinner the boys went off to work (church) while Kaelynn and I went back to our house and cooked some more food. Earlier in the day all three had attended a dog show where Maggie (Connor's beloved stuffed dog) won first prize. It gives me great joy to see their imaginations come to life. Swimming lessons have gone well this week. The boys started bringing their goggles and now they are putting their heads all the way under the water. Yeah!!! It looks like they will move to the next level next summer. The boys helped me put together invitations to send to their friends for their birthday party in a couple of weeks. They did a great job telling me what to write and what pictures to put on it. We were all very pleased with the finished product.

Look mom, no wheels!!!

Carson is training wheel free!!! He took his first ride without training wheels this weekend. It took only one time of us helping him stay steady and he was on his own. Lest you think he is wonderboy.... His bike had been missing one training wheel for a few weeks and before that one fell off they both were pretty bent, so he had quite a bit of practice keeping himself steady before we decided to just take them off. He was obviously ready though. He loves zipping around now and thinks he is Mr. Invincible and can go as fast as he wants.

Connor is not quite ready to have his taken off. We tried, but his training wheels have been very steady and he hasn't learned to not be so dependent on them. We put them back on but adjusted them so he would learn to steady himself a bit more. Maybe by the end of the summer he'll be ready too :)

We have another week of swimming lessons and the goal by the end of the week is to get them to put their whole heads under the water. So far they've gotten up to their noses.

Kaelynn still lives in a pink world. She wants a pink cat and dog and she wants to ride on a pink horse. She never misses an opportunity to let us know that "my favorite color is pink". Her newest phrase to repeat over and over again is "I'm just teasing mommy!!"

swimming lessons

Connor and Carson started their second year of swimming lessons this week. They are in level 1 and are still trying to learn to put their full heads under the water. They do a lot of jumping in and blowing bubbles. They have done some front and back floating and they love to play the games. Grandma from ND was able to be here for the first two days and they were so excited to show her how they love the water.

Carson with one of his teachers.
On the first day when Connor finished one of the tasks, he turned around and gave us a thumbs up or a wave.
I mentioned Grandma was here. That's because Andy and I were able to travel to Denver, CO for our friend Tyson's wedding over the weekend. On Friday before the wedding activities began we were able to drive up into the mountains for a morning hike. It was a little harder than I thought it would be, but it was very much worth it. We saw 8-9 deer at very close ranges, a red fox, a grouse, a blue jay, several beautiful butterflies, and purple mountains majesty. It was really fun even though I was sore for days afterward.
It was a beautiful wedding and we were so honored to be a part of it. The kids and I are getting more quality time together with Andy out of town again this week. We are already very much looking forward to him being home on Friday.

Variety is the spice of life

I titled this blog "variety is the spice of life" because I have quite the variety of topics to blog today. Maybe it would be best to break it down into girl and boys. Girl- Kaelynn's favorite color right now is pink. Eveything in her world revolves around that color so why shouldn't it be? In the last couple of days she has told me that she wants a pink doctor, pink Kool-Aid, a pink birthday, and her answer for how much daddy loves her is "Pink." We were sitting at the lunch table having a very nice conversation, when Carson says, "Kaelynn's going to have a baby when she gets older." Kaelynn proudly exclaims, "I'm going to have a pink baby." And then she turns to Connor and says," And Connor's going to have a chocolate baby!!!" This is one of those moments where a mom wants to encourage creativity without trying to laugh hysterically and make the child feel self-conscious. I proceeded to explain (without too much detail) that it was possible that Connor could have a chocolate baby someday, but more than likely he will probably have a white baby. Grandma Jan likes to say that Kaelynn has personality plus- she definetly is taking to that phrase more and more. When she was told no that she couldn't have any more milk before bedtime last night, she gasped and in a very dramatic fashion said, "She said no???" Broadway here she comes. A positive thing about her independent nature is that she is taking the initiative to potty train herself. It's going well so far- it might take a little longer than the boys as everything needs to be in her timing, but that's okay!!! Boys- Boys will be boys best describes their activities this week. They found a frog and a painter turtle in the yard this week. They were enamored by both of them and had it in their minds that they were going to be the new family pets. Mommy put an end to that thought pretty quickly and they both went back to their homes in the "snake creek", as it is affectionately named. They have had a great time playing outside this week (when it hasn't rained). And have made some new friends who live two houses down, Calvin and Kaden. A new topic of conversation in our house is healthy foods. Our family has made some significant changes in the things we eat and the boys have embraced it well. The question, "Is (fill in a food) healthy for our bodies?" comes up quite a few times a day. They are making wise choices in the snacks they eat (of course their always up for a treat too). We are very proud of Andy as he has lost over 20 pounds already. Way to go honey!!! This gives you a little taste of our week. Hope your's has gone well! We are continuing to pray for you, Paul and Krisanne as you grieve the loss of your grandpa! We love you all!

What was that?????

Our wonderful Carson has quite the imagination. He can play for hours with his toys making anything come alive. Sometimes he makes up quite the stories. Tonight we went for a bike ride and at one point I was riding next to him. Here's how the conversation went: Carson: "There's a spider-fly on my toe." Mommy: "I didn't know there was such a thing as a spider-fly." Carson: "It's on my usical toe." Mommy: "What was that? What's a usical toe?" Carson: "It's my usical toe!! I don't want him to eat my toe." Mommy: "I've never known a bug to eat a whole toe before." Carson: "He'll only half of it." How does he come up with these things?????????