Bible Camp!

Speaking of September, I have some major summer highlights that I have failed to post.  Sadly, this one goes all the way back to JULY!

Ok, so when K and I were just kids, summer camp was a big.huge.deal.  We spent our very early years attending the Nazarene Church and they even had a bible camp of their very own.  I remember hearing about it when I was 8 and begging and begging my mom to let me go, and thinking in the very last minute she was gonna surprise me with a packed bag and a ticket straight to Fun!  Now that I'm a mother, I can see why she did not.  First of all, I was eight!  As a kid, "eight" means you should stay up late and walk to Modern Way by yourself.  As a parent, "eight" means you are barely out of diapers and I need to hold your hand the moment we head out in public.  So I was nine when I finally got to go to bible camp and I have some pretty awesome memories from that time.  Even certain summer smells will remind me of hiking to the top of the little ridge for bible time in the outdoor amphitheater.  I even loved the first night tuna casserole they served to scare us into actually loving cafeteria food.  I had millions of stories to tell my kids of those days....but I was just a little terrified to send them out on their own.

We went to Alacca Bible Camp in Grangeville.  It's a cute little spot right on the river and the directors are devoted individuals.  I did a little research and hesitantly signed Kayte up.  She was psyched!  She read every book that had the word "camp" in the title that she could get her hands on.  Ava was gonna come, so she'd have a friend.  Then our friends, the Sanford twins, said they were on board, so Will got pretty excited and I signed him up too!  (This is a bit of a shocker from my Will.  He is a timid individual and he doesn't intend to take any grand leaps into the unknown.  This was a big.deal.) 

Three days before we took them down, I was getting anxious.  I'm a master at worse-case scenario and worry gripped me.  Leaving my little people for three whole nights with no communication?  So this was a great exercise for me too.  When I was an adventurous kid, back in the day, I loved heights and speed and adrenaline and the unknown.  And my parents let me always go.  Even when they were worried, and even if all their friends were worried, they let me go.  They prepped me as well as they could for danger and did due-diligence and then left my crazy self to God.  So now it was my turn. 

I've lost a lot of my crazy, sadly, and I totally blame becoming a parent on that one.  But my cautious self did a lot of soul-searching and realized the things I'm most afraid of (i.e., all of it) God was absolutely in control of.  So I followed some of my favorite advice, "Trust God, and keep the gunpowder dry."  We prepped the kids the best we could and sent them on their way!

And my prayers were completely answered.  They had a great time.  They met a bunch of good wholesome kids and some enthusiastic church leaders, and they got to mix it up with some different Christian culture, which can be kind of a rarity!  And I discovered that while dropping my kids off at summer camp is hard, potty training still nabs top-billing for "Most Difficult Parental Duties".

 

My buddy!  I can't believe he is getting so brave and independent!

Kayte!  She didn't even cringe when I took her pic :)

So proud of my kids! 

A clean slate.

You know that feeling when you clean out a closet or your refrigerator and you just can't stop looking at it and admiring all your hard work?  I had Ben home sick today, and so I got to totally clear my schedule and hunker down at home, so I decided to finally clear out my email inbox.  It's been hanging over my head for over a year, and, can you believe it?  I had 4000+ emails.  Ick.

It took me several hours (yes, hours!) but I did it!  I have only 7 left.  And I just can't stop staring at it!  People keep emailing me so I have to reply and delete and organize quickly or it will get all messy again! 

Ahh....life was simpler in 1986.  Which reminds me, you should check this out :)

Slow as molasses.

I have a lot of phrases that I throw at the kids on a regular basis.  Such as, "hustle yer buns!" or "buckle your buns" or "get yer buns down here."  That sort of thing....all in the way of buns, of course.

The other day, Will was trying to help me round up all the kiddies, and I hear him yelling up the stairs, "Move yer molasses!" 

You can realize my shock when I missed the "mol".

The first day of September....

Doing dishes in September.

September is our very very very favorite month of the year, me & Joe.  We breathe it in and live it up!  And it just always flies by way.too.fast.

Sprint Triathlon 2013

(Ok, I was gonna start this post by saying how amazing Google was and how it is so super-easy now to upload multiple photos at one time.  But Google knew what I was thinking, smiled his patronizing smile, and handed me a migraine.  You'd think this would've dampened my determination to upload millions of photos, but alas, it did not.)

The kids have been talking about this year's Palouse Sprint Triathlon since oh, about 30 seconds after they wrapped up last year's.  This summer, Sara learned how to swim, so we let her compete too!  She was beyond thrilled.

 

Game day faces.  Will's bite is much stronger than his bark.

The shade was chilly, but the sun was oh so hot!

Ben's the super-cowboy mascot for the day.  What a trooper!

Will and Kayte were in the same division this year, although the girls got a head start.  Sara's group's race was slightly shorter.

Getting psyched up!

Oh yeah, word spread, and we had quite the fan base show up for our little group!  So fun!  I think we're gonna have some new competition next year!

Ava was rocking it with some real-live butterfly strokes.  That girl can swim!

She caught her breath between poolside and the bike.  Ready to roll!

Ran back to see Will already halfway through his swim...

 

 

And off he goes to chase the girls down...

Sara.  Couldn't even leave the kiddie pool at the beginning of the summer.  She barely lost air in her swim.

Baby girl.  Focused.

 

My little super-athlete!  So proud of her!

Jack!

Will cruised in, no problem...

Kayte's legs have been bothering her the last two weeks...her run was tough.  But she left it all out on the course and finished strong!

They did it!  Wickedly proud of these kids!  Competent, competitive, and tough!

Ben, helmet-head, super-fan!

Little Anthony even made the course!  Rockin' it!

Signing the kids up for some more swim lessons next year, then they're gonna slay it!  Woohoo!

Ben:

"...and he said the boy was beautiful." says he, with horror.  "Boys are not beautiful..... They're awwwesome!"  Duh.

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!

We woke up to the most gorgeous sunrise, leapt out of bed thinking we were all on time all morning...but the first day of school almost guarantees that everything will take longer than you thought. 

First, I'd promised the girls that I would do french braids for them.  I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say, french braids qualify as a craft.  Yes, they do.  It requires dexterity and patience, two of my least favorite things.  I know that many of you out there think that's a bit of an exaggeration, but that may be because you have girls with American Girl Doll hair.  Even I can french braid on an American Girl Doll.  But I'm gritting my teeth and holding my breath and the girls sit as still as statues cause they know I'm one hair away from bursting into tears...ok, that's a little much, but really truly, it's hard!

I think we pulled it off, the girls seemed pleased anyway and then we sat down to a feast of donuts and bacon, with a side of milk (cause I need at least one good-mom moment today).

Oh, they look so cute!!!

My 5th grader.  So grown up!

My 2nd grader, who not-so-secretly wishes that I was much more pinterest-y.  She's gonna rock 1st day for her kids, I can tell!

(Sadly, she ran off to school and forgot all about changing into her new earrings!  I guess that's what second day is for!)

My sassy kindergartener. 

My 4th grader!  He almost got out of the house without his glasses...nice try, little guy!  :)

 

My favorite little people!  I'm really gonna miss them!

Arrived at school with 20 minutes to spare, but this cutie took some time to say good-bye to, cause he's such a sweetie!

Sits next to his cuz, Hudson.

Sara's class was super-busy by the time we got there, so we squeezed in one quick-pic!

Will didn't give me too much trouble when I took his pic.  I think it's cause he was looking so killer, he just couldn't care!

We popped into 5th grade at 8:28.  Apparently, 5th grade starts promptly at 8:30.  I didn't have a chance to take a good pic, so I just rubberneck-flashed on my way out the door.  Kayte was pretending she could see through me, cause she was already on high-alert.  That girl is so studious!

The morning flew by, of course, and then I headed back to pick this cherub up at school.  He had an AWESOME day!  And he got a sucker!  I feel like we were just here, celebrating the first day of preschool...how time does fly!

Whew.  Next year, I'm booking a massage for this day, haha!

I caught a BIG one!

...and I even have a picture to prove it!

The kids were spending the night at the grandparents on Friday, so Joe and I decided to take advantage of our freedom by getting out on the river Saturday morning.  It takes a little wooing to talk me into a 4:30 am wake-up call for anything but a trip to Paris, but I was actually looking forward to a quiet morning on the water with my favorite person, so I ironed my big-girl pants and we hit the road:

It's just so strange to watch the sun rise.  It feels a little like the world is rotating backwards...but then, I've never been a morning person.

Joe told me to make sure I hooked the fish good, so the first time a fish tapped my line, I gave it a good yank.  Apparently, you need the fish to sniff it out first and then yank.  Fortunately, I got a second chance:

Me, fighting the fish.  Check out that form, ladies.  Really truly....I fish like a girl.

SEE!!!!  I did it!!!

The fish leapt into the air twice, and I was really scared I was gonna lose it before I could get it to Joe's waiting net.  Don't ask me why, but it felt distinctly like labor.  I was scared that it would leap out of the boat before we got a proper pic.  Which is why the poor fish's head is unsupported.  We had to put it back in the water cause it was wild, but I felt better about that anyway.  I didn't want to kill the first catch ever!  Way too much love was exchanged in that fight.  (I would've loved to eat it, just not kill it.  I shop at Winco for a reason.)

Ahh, the jitters!  So fun!!!

Joe tried to forgive me when my line got all messy and I couldn't hook the last nudge of the day.  But I think he's almost over it.  If he got to eat fish that night, it might've been an easier loss.... :)

A little bit of an anniversary...

So Joe & I were cleaning out closets the other day and came across his box of annuals from school.  We dug them out and flipped through them, and in the 1993/94 book, we found this little gem:

I'm not sure who we were chaperoning (likely K & E) and you have to have some deep respect for the circles over all my "i"s.  That skill takes effort. 

But what I love the most was the note's total obliviousness to the fact that someday I was gonna rush down the aisle on this guy's arm and have lots of babies with him and grow old(ish) together.  I was a snobby-superior senior headed off to college and Joe a super-young sophomore, little bro to my BFF.  Romantic inclinations towards each other were non-existent.

So I think God had a good chuckle when He wrote our story.  He let us grow up together, and gave us loads of close memories and let us keep some of them.  And He watched as we passed each other in the hall all those years, and when my bed-headed self sat across from Joe at a breakfast table with his family some morning, and when we took off together for Youth Leg. in Boise one spring. 

Six years after I wrote this flirty little note, and thirteen years ago today, Joe popped the question and our story together began.

Happy {engagement} Anniversary Joe, I'm so glad you picked me!

Last official day of summer...

...and God played it well with a big old monstrous 360 degree thunderstorm, just late enough in the evening to keep the kids up past bedtime.  It was perfect.

I can tell all the kids are getting excited to head back, even Will (Mr. Nonchalant) can't actually deny it.  Kayte said she felt it's a little like Christmas Eve, her tummy was flip-flopping.  Sara's pretty excited cause I promised her I'd let her take her studs out and pick out some earrings for the first day.  And she insisted on matching my exact nail colors.

But my little Ben, I caught him testing himself out to be sure he was ready:

My mom, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire, says that by kindergarten a child should be able to reach over the top of his head and touch the tip of his ear.  Toddlers' arms aren't long enough to do this, so it is the ultimate big-kid skill.  They are certain to try this out the first day in mom's class, and Ben was sure to be ready...my little babe in kindergarten, it'll kill you if you let it.

But even harder to take, might be my oldest baby, headed to Mr. Kohl's 5th grade tomorrow.  (Mr. Kohl was Joe's 5th grade teacher and we are beyond thrilled that we are completing the cycle!)

But tonight, I got this text from Kayte as I was settling in the living room:

 



So anyway, I'm packing extra tissues in my purse for tomorrow....