Camp Photo Shoot

All camped out???

Almost, but not yet!

Tomorrow's our last full day, and this momma's about wiped out! It's been a while since I've spent every waking moment of every day with all three kids. I mean, even when we're home they're all doing different things in different rooms. It really has made their personalities stand out to me even more this week.

SETH ~

He is our thinker. He has such a grasp on the realities of life at such an early age. Here are a few conversations from the past few days...

In the golf cart...

Kallie: If we hit that squirrel we'll have to take it to the veterinarian.
Seth: You don't take wild animals to the veterinarian.
Kallie: Why?
Seth: They just die.

Later on in our cabin the conversation continued...

Seth: (to Kallie) Life is never perfect. Life is never the same. You have to deal with how it goes. Mom, maybe Kallie will understand that when she's five??

He also spent a while yesterday telling me what a great mom I am. He said that I'm the only mom he'll ever have and he's glad it's me. He gushed like that for most of the day. So sweet. I let him sleep in my bed that night. I know, I'm a sucker.

He is such a good big brother to Luke. He really watches out for him. Here they are in their matching pajamas.



KALLIE~

She is our social butterfly. She met a little girl named Ella here at camp who is her age. Kallie's primary concern each day is what Ella is doing. They are instant best friends. At dinner tonight they declared that since they both have blonde hair and blue eyes, they are sisters.

Kallie is my easy child. She is LOW maintenance. She is happy to go with the flow. Unlike Seth, she really has no grasp on reality, but that's okay. She's happy in her world. In her world you take the "runned over squirrel" to the veterinarian to make him all better. Who wouldn't want to live in a world like that?



LUKE~

He is non-stop energy. Luke goes full speed ahead from the moment he wakes up until the moment he goes to bed. I literally cannot take my eyes off him for 5 seconds, or he would be gone. He runs away as fast as he can and never looks back. He jumps and skips everywhere & plays in every dirt pile he can find.

He is a total maniac in the pool. Several times today he jumped in before I was ready & went straight under. He loved it.

He sleeps as hard as he plays. It has been amazing to me how easily and happily he goes to sleep here. We're all in the same room, and he goes right to sleep in his pack-and-play while the kids are still up and the lights are still on. He gets tired and says, "Want night-night...rock you." It is the sweetest. I think it's especially sweet to rock him because he never stops once during the day. I love being the one he finally stops for.

This was at the late-night dodgeball tournamant after he'd played in the dirt a while. He picked up a piece of grass and posed for the camera.

I've got lots of cute videos to post, but the internet connection here moves about as fast as the cafeteria line, so I think I'll just wait to upload those once we're home.

Happy Birthday Nana!!!

You may be wondering why Nana's birthday message was filmed inside the car. That's because we were on hour 6 of our trying-to-get-to-youth-camp adventure! And let me tell you, there were highs and lows.

A few of the lows...

-Packing for a whole family for a week at camp took HOURS. I found the kids all sitting in their seats in the van (that was still parked in the garage) as I was about halfway finished packing.

-Meltdown #1 occured when Seth realized he'd lost his charger for his PlayStation Portable.

-This required a trip to Walmart.

-While we were at Walmart Luke lost one of his crocs. (Okay, they were $7 Target fakes, but they were new.)

-We all traipsed back through Walmart looking for it, which made everyone even crankier & sweatier.

-Walmart, of course, didn't carry the charger we needed, so we had to go to Fry's. More whining & sweating. Luke went in barefoot.

-Meltdown #2 occured when Seth dropped half of the food off his tray in the camp cafeteria line. Although I think this meltdown had been brewing for several minutes as Seth inventoried the food on his tray that didn't quite meet his standards.

-And finally, meltdown #3 occured when an under-napped Luke realized his new crocs had given him blisters.

And a few of the highs...

-Since the kids were so excited to leave for camp, I decided to drive through McDonald's, get them all kids meals, and then park the van back in the garage while they ate & I finished packing. Don't worry, the van was off. They enjoyed their van/garage picnic.

-As we walked out of Walmart for the second time, sweaty and defeated, Kallie spotted the missing croc underneath the van. Woo-hoo!!!

-We highly enjoyed our first mini-road trip in our NEW VAN! We are sooooo excited to have a van with rear air & power side doors. The kids are no longer roasting in the back seat.

-The camp food was actually really yummy. (I happen to love camp food. Hey, it's a hot meal & I don't have to cook it or wash the dishes afterwards.)

-Seeing Luke & Kallie snuggled up in bed together watching Elmo & eating apples was pretty cute. They were so content.

-I got to rock Luke to sleep on the front porch of our cabin as we listened to the crickets and watched the full moon.

-And right now, I'm watching all three of my kids sleeping at once. It's been a long time since they've been asleep in the same room.

MORE EXCITING CAMP ADVENTURES TO COME!

No cute pictures...just some thoughts from today...

Well, I have decided to follow Melissa's lead and brag on my husband for a minute.

Today was our graduation service at church. Shane always preaches for graduation Sunday, and it is always such a sweet service. Today was no exception. In fact, Shane didn't just preach, he BROUGHT IT. It is such a privilege to be married to man who doesn't care at all what anyone thinks of him compared to what His God thinks of him.

He asked me early on in the week to begin praying for the Lord to show him exactly what he should say. It was so important to him to make sure that they weren't just his words and his thoughts, but that they were God's.

I, personally, know that he'd much rather be hanging out with a bunch of teenagers than preaching to a bunch of adults, but I really don't think you'd ever know it just listening to him preach.

In the fall he will begin his 11th year of youth work at this church. As I sat there today, I was amazed at what an honor it is to be able to actually see the fruit from this season of ministry. The average time for youth pastors to stay in one place right now is around 18 months. The group that graduated today is the fifth group of students that he's had the opportunity to work with from 7th grade all the way through 12th.

That really is amazing. And it's amazing the difference it makes for those students. It's such an investment in their lives. It's the opportunity for the parents to build a relationship with Shane long before their child enters junior high. It's the chance to help build a foundation in these students that will carry them straight into a life that is fully surrendered to Christ.

I really, truly am so proud of him. I'll be sure to post the link to his sermon once it's up on the website. I love you, Shane!