My Faith and Joy… and Boys!

Is it just me, or is my little man getting so grown up?!?

Lately, the girls enjoy pretending that they are each other’s mothers.  It’s very cute, even when it gets confusing when someone cries “Mommy” and I’m not sure if she’s referring to me or her sister!  Tonight, it was Becky’s turn to be the mommy, and they jointly decided it was Susie’s bedtime.  So Susie curled up on the couch with a blanket and requested a bedtime story.  There was a stack of books nearby, so Becky began reading to her sister.  She was occasionally interrupted by Jimmy, who completely ignores all books except when he can rip them out of someone’s hands.  By the time I started snapping pictures, Jimmy had moved on to other pursuits, most notably chewing paper.

Here’s an overly long video clip of the sisterly storytime, complete wth baby brother interludes (you may notice that the first book they look at is a Berenstain Bear Easter story, so if you listen long enough, you’ll hear Becky make some questionable theological leaps, such as the “soldiers” putting Jesus into a “stone castle” and then Jesus turning into an “angel”!):

We took our R.V. out for our first family camping trip on Friday night, and we all had a great time.  You know you had a successful trip when the kids don’t want to go back home! (Then again, maybe they just didn’t want to give up all the junk food, late bedtimes, and creative sleeping arrangement we enjoyed!). 

Packing for the one-night trip involved a lot of preparation, mostly because I’m a pack-rat and can’t stand to leave anything behind.  And because I wanted to take several changes of clothes for everyone because I knew dirt and grime were going to be our likely companions.  So I guess it’s not surprising that I brought enough food and clothing to keep us content and clean for a week:

The girls were very enthusiastic packers (they inherited my grab-everything-you-could-possibly-need-and-then-some gene):

We chose a state park campground that wasn’t too far from our house, but that still offered us a change of scenery.  It was within walking distance to the beach, which was definitely a selling point. 

We found a spot big enough to park our beast of an R.V. and got busy exploring and eating:

The girls were especially impressed with any campsite that boasted a blazing fire pit, so we promised the girls we’d make a fire on our next trip.  I think they’ll enjoy their s’mores much more that way; they were rather unimpressed with my microwaved version!

Sleeping in the R.V. was a bit of an adventure, since Jimmy made a racket in the middle of the night and then the girls were bright-eyed and beach-ready at 5:45 am (which is SUPER early for them, since they are normally bleary and weary at 8 am!).  But I couldn’t blame them for their enthusiasm.  Once I realized they weren’t going back to sleep, we ate breakfast and headed off to the beach for a walk.  Oh, and we also ate a few donuts before departing.  Here are the girls loudly proclaiming their love for sugary goodness:

I warned the girls that the Connecticut shoreline isn’t the same as the New Jersey or Florida beaches they’ve seen before, but I needn’t have worried they’d be disappointed.  They were just excited to walk barefoot in the sand:

Jimmy was just excited to eat the sand, barefoot or not:

The girls also loved squishing the watery mud between their toes:

And Jimmy took in the scenery from a less muddy perspective, thanks to some parental intervention:

So I’d say the trip was a very successful first R.V. camp out, and we’re all eager to go back for another visit.  I’ll hopefully remember to stock the R.V. kitchen a bit more, so I’m not trying to stir the macaroni and cheese with a plastic knife or serve our french toast without syrup, but I guess that’s what camping is all about – a bit of flexibility, a touch of improvisation, and a lot of go-with-the-flow! 

Here is Jimmy in his favorite spot, demonstrating that the best part about camping is just hanging out and enjoying the scenery with your family!

Jimmy: “You mean I’m allowed to hold crayons as long as I don’t eat them?  Just like the big kids?  Seriously?!”    

Last Friday was the girls’ last day of preschool.  It wasn’t an official preschool; they only had about ten classes over a two-month period, and it was taught by high-schoolers as part of their childhood education curriculum.  But for the girls’ first taste of formal schooling, it was a great success!   They looked forward to it every time, and always greeted me afterwards with jubilant smiles and arms stuffed with art projects. 

I usually sent the girls with only a small snack, but on the last day of class, their teachers had requested that we send them with sack lunches to go along with their picnic theme.  So I obliged, getting ready a little early to give myself time in the morning to make them each a brown bag lunch.  Boy, did that bring back memories of watching my mom prepare my lunches growing up!  I even made the girls the same thing my mom would make me – a bagel with cream cheese.  However, I didn’t go the extra mile and enclose a little encouraging note like she always would.  I met my creative limit just writing the girls’ names on the bags!

When Jim, Jimmy and I got to the class for the “graduation” ceremony, the kids and teachers treated us to a taste of what their days had been like.

They gathered in a circle and sang songs:

They showed us how they practiced writing their names with marker:

And in the sand:

Then they lined up to receive their certificates:

I was so proud of my little (squirmy) graduates!

And of course, I had to treat them to some sort of celebratory lunch.  So off we went to McDonald’s!  Nothing says “congratulations” like French Fries and Chocolate Shakes!

Here’s a video of the girls getting their certificates: