Camping recap

I spent quite a bit of time preparing for our 4-day camping trip at San Elijo State Beach, as demonstrated by my partial list:



The wives (6 of us) got together several weeks before the trip to plan meals and equipment. We borrowed a great camping stove, and each of us was responsible for bringing and cooking one meal (I made a pancake-and-sausage breakfast). We did a few take-out meals (pizza one night, donuts and coffee one morning, etc.) and did packable lunches (sandwiches, snacks) for the beach each day.

Jon and Scott figuring out our tent



Lots of beach time










The "baby pools" were a big hit.



Lucy learning from Kim





We learned to "just make it work" for babies' nap time (Hailey on Lissa and Mallory in a little pop-up tent):




Everyone loved marshmallows, of course.





Dirt time and tree time were also a hit.




The kids told me their 3 favorite things about camping. Nate: 1) marshmallows, 2) playing in the water, and 3) sleeping in the tent. Lucy: 1) going over to DJ's campsite, 2) eating s'mores, and 3) playing with the glow sticks Daddy brought. We had a lot of dirt, a lot of sand, a lot of marshmallows, and a lot of fun. I'm glad we went, and the kids loved it!




Some videos:

The differences between boys and girls in the water:



Lucy having fun:

Camping sneak peek

We just got back this afternoon from camping. I'll post more tomorrow, but here are a few pictures right away. :)

More Levi words

"Blip blop" = Flip flops
"Bli-blane" = Airplane
"Guck" = Truck
"Gah-guck" = Garbage truck
"Boo-bo-bo" = Bulldozer

(What a boy! Although "Bee-bell," or Tinkerbell, is also in his vocabulary.)

He picked up one of the pull-ups we have (for Lucy) and said, "Ee-ee, bopper!" (Translation: Lucy, diaper!)

He's in such a cute stage.



And here are the kids all ready in their new chairs for our camping adventure, which begins tomorrow after church!

Sewing basics

Here are the pages from the handout I made for the MOPS sewing night. We all did the yo-yos, one wrist cuff, and the pants hemming (well, no one hemmed pants, but I showed everyone how). Also, although the instructions I used in the handout for hemming pants talk about measuring, I usually just try the pants on, pin, try them on again to be sure, and sew.

Levi's words

Here is Levi today. He finally started attempting to say Lucy's name this week. It comes out "Ee-ee." In this video, he also says, "Cheese," "Nate," "Mama," and "Love you too" (my favorite one).

Nateism

Nate took a fall riding his bike this afternoon (he's fine), getting the wind knocked out of him. When I later explained that that is what happened, he asked, "But now the wind got back in?"

Sewing night

I'm leading a "sewing basics night" for MOPS tonight, and I'm excited! It feels silly that I'm doing this, since I'm not a professional by any means. But I do think it's going to be a lot of fun, and the ladies will learn a couple of easy techniques they can use at home.

Silly kids

Here are Nate and Lucy this morning before church. Lucy decided to put her pajama pants on her head and then a hat on top of that.

Circus

We went to the circus today. Nate hated it at first (too close to the lights, loud stuff, and elephants--for some reason he had decided he didn't want to see elephants), but once Jon took him up to the highest level, he liked it. Lucy and Levi were in awe.




Lucy says her favorite part was the tigers (and her unspoken, obvious favorite: cotton candy). Nate liked the elephants best (go figure). The motor bikes inside a sphere were pretty cool too.

Happy day

Happy birthday to my husband! His good friend Scott came and surprised him at 6:30 this morning to take him to breakfast (Jon's favorite meal of the day), and we'll have some cake later. I love this man!

P.S. The kids and I also drove up around lunch time and surprised Jon at work with a balloon. I didn't include that on the original post, which I posted before we went, in case he read it. :)

The Levi Swagger

Levi has this precious way of swinging just one arm when he walks. We've taken to calling it the Levi Swagger.

Update

First, I should update everyone on Jon's mom in case you aren't on Jon's Facebook. One week ago, Colleen went to the hospital because she had been coughing blood (this has been going on for several months, and the doctors couldn't figure out the cause; last week was worse than usual). They admitted her to the cardiac ICU, where she spent 5 days while they ran tests and tried to figure out what was wrong. They identified the issue (a fungal infection in her lungs caused by one of a possible 200 molds), began treating that, and continued monitoring her. While they did find a possible thyroid issue, they still were able to release Colleen from ICU to a regular room on Wednesday, and then they released her from the hospital to go home on Thursday. I haven't seen her since she went home, but in the hospital she did look stronger and better each day. We're all praying the medication for the infection does the trick and she'll be fully healed!

Today is Nate's last day of school at La Tierra. I'm excited to say he's finished with special ed forever! :)

He will go for two weeks of Living Word's Monday-Wednesday-Friday summer session beginning next week. I think it'll be good for him to meet the teachers and be with some of the other kids before starting "real" school on August 30.

The kids and I had a fun day playing with friends yesterday. They were entertained for a long time with a kiddie pool in a back yard and homemade ice cream sandwiches. I love summer!

Pictures for my Etsy shop

I have been so excited to receive these pictures. Several weeks ago, I contacted Katie Moss at Peekaboo Photos (if you visit the blog you might just spend an hour looking at her gorgeous newborn pictures!) to ask if she wanted to do a trade. She was so nice about it. I made one of each of my patterns and sent them to her for her daughters, and she photographed them. She sent me the pictures last night. Now I have pretty professional pictures for my little shop!

A new recipe: GFCFSF peanut butter fudge

I saw this recipe and could barely wait to try it. I made some alterations so that it is now GFCFSF! Coconut oil in its solid form can be used as a straight substitution for butter, and it's also extremely healthy. And instead of milk, I used almond milk, which I thought would work OK since this is a nut butter recipe anyway. (Oh, and I definitely can't take credit for the picture. It's from Julie at Joy's Hope.)

The verdict after we all tried the fudge tonight after dinner: it's a little too coconutty. If I make it again, I'll cut the coconut oil (maybe to 4 T) and add more peanut butter, and hopefully that won't mess up the consistency too much.

Ingredients
3-½ cups powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons coconut oil
2 cups brown sugar
½ cup almond milk
¾ cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pour the powdered sugar into a large bowl & set aside.

Melt coconut oil in saucepan over medium-high heat.

Add in brown sugar and almond milk; stir to combine.

Bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring the whole time.

Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter & vanilla extract.

Pour the hot, peanut butter mixture over the powdered sugar.

Beat until smooth.

Pour into an 8×8″ dish and put in the fridge for at least 5 minutes to firm.

Once it's cool, cut it into squares. Enjoy!

Here's Nate with the beater:

Nate's swimming lessons

Nate was so excited to start his swim lessons last week (2 weeks of lessons, 4 days a week). I was surprised at how afraid he was during his first lesson. He usually loves the water, but then I realized he loves the water only when he can touch the bottom.

Here he is at his first lesson:



After the first two days, though, he got more comfortable and now is able to back float alone and jump in and float. He still has trouble doing a forward "glide," but I figure I can work with him on that--he just needs to keep his face down and kick.

Today was the last lesson. They have the kids come with clothes on to the last lesson so they can practice jumping/"falling" in and floating on their backs with clothes on.



Pictures from today and one more video:

Levi "jumping"

Going for a ride

Fun for the whole family

It's the little, random things that end up being the most fun.