CHUBBY BUNNY

We had a few marshmallows left over from our camping trip so Nate challenged the kids to see how many chubby bunnies they could do. (For those who don't know: see how many marshmallows you can stick into your mouth and still say 'chubby bunny'.) Aspen only got 2. Isaac got 4. This is a pic of him with 5 in his mouth. I think if we shared the little tricks, he might be able to do more. Toby, unfortunately didn't get a chance to try. We ran out of marshmallows. But we're going camping again this weekend, so he'll still have a chance! (Just trying to kill time till dinner!)

10 Things I Learned About Camping With Kids

We went on a family campout with the cub scouts last weekend. It was a good dress rehearsal for our 3 day family campout coming up this weekend. Camping is fun, but a lot of work. Still, we go anyway.

1: Kids want to play with the fire all the time. They also wanted to swing around burning sticks.

2: Start dinner as soon as you get to the camp site. It always takes long than you think it will and if you start early, it might be done before dark. If it isn't, you will be sharing it with all the bugs that come out at night and are attracted to your lantern that you are using to see your dinner in order to eat it!

3: When camping with a baby, take 2 cars to accomodate all the stuff as well as the kids.

4: A wagon is a necessary piece of equipment to get all the stuff from the car to the campsite. Make only 3 trips with the wagon, instead of 25 with just your arms.

5: A wagon also helps to carry the 23 pound baby that doesn't yet walk and keeps her from eating all the treasures she finds in the wild! (Bring lots of binkies, preferably with attached cords and clips: she will drop as many of them as she can in the dirt.)

6: A family of 6 needs an 11 man tent. That ensures there is enough room for the air mattress, the pack and play, all the food and garbage that you can't leave out at night or the racoons, skunks, and/or possums will get into, and 3 children who constantly will complain that someone is touching them while they are trying to go to bed at midnight. Also, bring flashlights that work so that you can see who's where in the middle of the night when you are trying to get out of the tent to use the bathroom and are tripping over everything trying to find the tent door.

7: S'more's are the best part of dinner. It is usually more fun to just burn the marshmallows to a crisp and then get a new one to do it again, than to actually roast them golden and eat them. (That only happens with the first one.)



8: The most important part about breakfast is the hot chocolate so you can warm your cold hands. Food comes second and is usually not eaten all the way because someone always spills their juice because they set it down in the wrong place on the lumpy table top. (Happened twice.)



9: You have to get the fire going early in the morning to warm up the children that didn't bring warm pants and jackets, even though you told them to pack them because it was going to be cold. (They won't believe you because it is currently 85 degrees when you tell them to pack.)



10: Just count on everyone being as dirty as possible and that everything that you took on the trip, whether you used it or not, will have to be washed.

Annual Bluebonnet pictures

Best bluebonnet photo from yesterday! I'll just have to keep trying.

Isaac Visits with Frog and Toad*

Isaac was outside playing and found our resident reptiles. There is a crawdad hole in our lawn that is usually full of water and there are a couple of toads that live there. They are pretty big. The third toad is much smaller. Isaac had fun playing with them. I don't know how much fun the toads had...

*(Actually, the reptiles are three toads, but I liked this title better.)

Karl visits

Karl was in town for a friend's wedding and came to visit. We had a great time. And, lucky for Karl, Maddy was here too. So it was a great mini family reunion.

Gut-buster

We went to see Ice Age 2: The Meltdown with the kids. There were a ton of families there, especially since it was opening night. It was a great movie! The kids loved it. I think that Toby will be quoting lines from the movie for the next month! There were parts that I was dying laughing in. So if you get a chance, take the kids and see this movie. Great for kids and adults!

But these are the only shoes I brought!

Nate has been wearing his boots a lot to break them in. I was reminded of this picture of Jacob from a couple of years ago at the beach. He only brought one pair of shoes, which didn't coordinate well with the swim trunks and sun starved legs. It is one of my favorite pictures!