7.29.10 - pretty picture

l.m. giggles is very into drawing pictures in her cool notebook this week. she drew this for lauren and asked me to take a picture of herself with it to send to lauren in a text message. this is what her message said:

"i drew this for you and it's three girls playing monkey in the middle and come see us soon and i love you and bye!" :)

7.28.10 - fairy houses

my kids have played with these fairy houses all week. we tend to forget about them and then periodically remember them and it's like a new toy each time! they are books that unfold to make beautiful scenes with paper doll fairies. sometime i will get back into the habit of actually bringing my "real" camera down with me everyday and will try to get a better picture of these - they are so pretty! :) (oh, and there are even quite a few little boy elves that mr. happy plays with! :)

7.27.10 - lol

ok, so this very blurry pic is mostly for my brother. i thought this license plate was great!

the car is an audi...the license says "haudi"...haha. clever. :)

7.26.10 - back.

i'm always sad to come home after camp and leave all the friends i get to be around and the beautiful, peaceful country... but i'm always happy to see my kiddos again! :)

7.25.10 - toooo hoooot!!!

ew.

7.24.10 - on the way home

this is a rare sight. we drove by opry mills on the way home...and the entire parking lot was empty. it's closed due to the recent flooding. they're taking the time to do some renovations and it should be open in time for Christmas. in the meantime...it's kinda weird to drive by!

photo by LNB

7.23.10 - caleb

yes, yes, a rare picture of me...and obviously i did not take it. lauren did. but look who i got to meet today!!! this is one very prayed for and loved little boy! he is the reason i started my etsy shop. :) i am so thankful i got to see him in person and snuggle him and kiss his wonderfully chubby little cheeks and touch is so so so soft curly hair and smell his sweet baby smell! i didn't want to say goodbye since it likely could be an entire year before i get to see him again and by that time he may be clinging to his mama and not want me to hold him again! :} he is the answer to a lot of prayers...the end to a long wait...and worth every minute of it!

thanks for coming to see me while i was up at camp and letting me meet sweet caleb, rebekah! it was so good to see you and the girls too, of course! :)

7.22.10 - thursday night

this is what my campers work towards all week - movie nite!

the camper with the most points at the end gets to choose a treat to share with everyone. kaitlynd chose mike & ikes...which i didn't think much about until she mentioned later that she had chosen something not chocolatey on purpose so that our littlest camper, who is allergic to milk, could enjoy the treat with the rest of everyone!! aww!! so thoughtful!! :)

7.21.10 - campers!

these are my 12 campers. i love them and they are growing up waay too quickly. :) they dressed up as cleopatra today...thus the makeup. they are wearing their k.kamp shirts. i reeeeally wanted to get tie dyed shirts (just ask m...) to go with the whole joseph theme (coat of many colors...) but they were just too expensive. sigh. so then m suggested just a bunch of different colors...which was a great idea!

7.20.10 - cornfield

waiting for lauren and abby to hide for a game of "capture the flag"...only lauren and abby were the "flags"!

7.19.10 - name tag tattoos

leah needed help learning so many new names...my camp girls love to draw on themselves...so we had them write their names on their legs! only two problems with this idea...1) several of them chose to write their names in hieroglyphics, which didn't really help leah any...and b) we used washable markers so it would wash off easily...but since it was swelteringly humid outside...we realized they were just going to rub off on everything! soo, we took the opportunity to hose everyone off outside! :)

7.18.10 - littlest camper

today leah and aiden came up to camp to help me out for the week! i love being at camp and i love having 12 kiddos around me and i love getting to do my own thing...but i also miss getting to work with everyone down at camp! so it was so good to have another adult friend around all day and in the evenings! however, chasing a toddler while you're pregnant and not feeling well isn't all that great of a combo...so leah left first thing wednesday morning. :( but i enjoyed the help while she was there! :)

7.17.10 - love it here

7.16.10 - gorgeous

this is abby. she's gorgeous. she even let lauren put makeup on her today. but she's gorgeous without it anyways. :)

7.15.10 - flying

waiting in line to try floating and bouncing like an astronaut at the awesome science center we went to today.

7.14.10 - pharaoh, pharaoh!

since we're talking about egypt this week, i had the boys dress up like a pharaoh today. they made their own collars - and worked really hard on them! this was their reaction when they saw themselves for the first time. ha! i convinced them to go down to camp to show the moms on the condition that we go down at the time when all the girl campers would be resting in their cabins (like they had been the day before). so of course we get down there and ALL the campers are right out in front playing games!! i promised them they wouldn't have to walk over to where the moms would be and the boys hid on the far side of my car and i went to get the moms so wouldn't be seen by the whole world (i thought they would think this whole idea was a little cooler than they thought it was...). after the moms (and a couple counselors...including ev's big sis) got to check out their awesome costumes, someone decided they should have their picture taken with all the egyptian decorations in the main building and before i could say anything, abby had picked up evan and was running him to the building - in front of everyone! oops. sorry ev. :} they survived though...

7.13.10 - two

this week i just have two boys during the day while little sister is at day camp. she comes up in the evenings and spends the nights with us. our theme this year is joseph's journey from prison to palace...and today's topic is God gives us special abilities (like how joseph could interpret dreams). sometimes we might not yet know what those abilities are - like those little sponge capsules...you don't know what shape is inside them...but when God is ready, He will show you - kinda like the water made the sponges break out of the capsules into cool animal shapes! :)

7.12.10 - girls' camp!

every monday morning of camp for the past few years, it has somehow become my job to french braid everyone's hair! thankfully, this year, i had a little help from one of the girls. see reegan in the pink? this was her first year to go to camp...she was very excited! :)

7.11.10 - hi!

emily saying hi to miss leah while we were waiting at sonic for 1/2 price slushies...ahh, yum! :) jodi, remember when we used to go get those at bryan??

7.10.10 - calvin

technically, kirsten (who you'll see in later pics, i'm sure) took this pic on my camera. this is calvin, melissa's dog. and this is his elvis impersonation. pretty good, don't you think?? :}

7.9.10 - cutie cutie!

i didn't actually take this picture...but this little doll's mommy sent it to me so i could see her in her fourth of july outfit - including a tutu from my shop! so cool to get to see it on! :)

7.8.10 - tiara in the tub

ok...terrible cell phone picture... sorry.

but she is just so into this play tiara this week! :) i think she's worn it every day. even in the bathtub. because don't you wish you could wear a sparkly pink tiara while you take your bath to?? :)

7.7.10 - caught

look who i caught actually swimming in the pool...and going down the slide!! :) she doesn't usually like the pool...to many clothes changes involved.... ;) i say the water is worth it! not to mention my kids LOVE when a grown up actually gets in with them!

7.6.10 - silly outfits

just seeing what silly outfits they can come up with from the dress up box. :) and playing "beach" on the couch pillows on the floor in the background.

7.5.10 - playdough tortilla

my kiddos (and i...only not together) recently saw the movie toy story 3 and one of our favorite parts is when mr. potato head has to use a tortilla for his body for a little while - it's hilarious! :) so lms made a tortilla out of playdough today. :}

7.4.10 - 4th

found this cute hat idea here. i didn't have fun foam...so we just used construction paper and it worked just fine. :)

happy 4th of july!!

7.3.10 - how do you like to go up in a swing?

new swings! next to the cool new tree house. it's not finished yet...it's going to be a ship...with a steering wheel and a telescope and all. :)

7.2.10 - 2nd tooth!

l.m. giggles here lost her second tooth last night! she looks so stinkin' cute! i love the no teeth stage! lol :)

oh. and how did this tooth come out? her brother punched her in the mouth. yup. they were wrestling together and he semi-accidently punched her in the mouth. she couldn't be too mad at him once she saw the tooth in her hand though! :}

7.1.10 - carousel

perfect day for a trip to the zoo today. the weather was not humid. warm, but not swelteringly hot. the only down side was an enormous group of kids from a summer program who invaded the kids' play area all at once! bleck. so we rode the carousel instead. which my kids thought was simply fabulous!