Our kids came home this afternoon, windblown and sun-kissed, taller and more adorable than ever! We gave them an assignment before they left: they were given a point & shoot camera and had to document their time at the lake with photos. So here we go, a peek into camping life through the eyes of four and five year old boys.

Markus catches Wyatt running for the playground.

Cool clouds.

The floor of the camper. Important detail. Right along with…

…the curtains!

Gramma, contemplating something. Perhaps admiring that floor?

Markus tells me that Grampa snapped this “terrible picture” of him eating a roasted marshmallow, which he did not at all like the taste of.

Uncle Henry pulls up with his truck, boat, and camper.

The fateful creek that swallowed up little Wyatt’s flip flop.

Bailey, on her way to the beach. Didn’t Wyatt do an amazing job with this shot?

Bailey, mid-stride. Grampa, talking on his cell phone.

Self portrait. Hi, Wyatt!

A view of the beach and lake. The water is really high this year! See how the bridge is actually surrounded by water?

Cool vehicle playground on the beach.

A stop at Gramma and Grampa’s before they came home.

Thanks for taking them, Mom and Dad, they had a blast! Next time we will try to come up for a day as well so we can join in on the fun!

I had a lovely breakfast with this little cutie this morning. He was thrilled with his strawberries and blueberries!

The rest of the day involved running around getting errands done with only one child along, since the rest of the kids are camping for the weekend with my mom and dad. It is amazing how much I can get done, quickly, when I have only one kid with me! And it’s amazing how I thought life was so complicated when Markus was our only child!

Clay and I also had a lunch date at Souleio. Yum! The food was good too.

I bought Bailey’s birthday present, dropped stuff off at Value Village, and ran around to a bunch of garden centres, trying to find the necessary components for my square foot gardening soil. Peavey Mart came through! Add that to yesterday’s trips to Ten Thousand Villages, Dollarama, and Costco, and this has been a busy shopping weekend!

I enjoy my time off when the kids are busy with Gramma and Grampa, and I sure do look forward to them coming home. When they’re away and their constant 6 year-old-and-under neediness is not glaringly obvious, I find myself remembering how cool they are and I can’t wait to spend time with them again. It’s recharge time for all of us. The kids get fresh love from their amazing grandparents, and we get some time to refresh to give them fresh love when they come home.

Marmalade. For the first 27 years of my life, the idea of spreading orange peel jam on my toast disgusted me.

Then I grew up.

I had marmalade when Clay and I had our anniversary staycation last year and realized I’ve been missing out! So marmalade joins the list of things I was once convinced would never pass my lips. Already moved into my good books are onions and olives. There may be others, but that’s all I can remember at the moment. I wonder what’s next?

(As for the photo, Clay was having fun with long exposures and playing with light. We played with the external flash while moving around, and this is what we got.)

Star Wars

Having been playing Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Wii since his birthday in March, Markus was thrilled to be told he could finally watch the movies. We borrowed Episodes 4-6 from friends, and tonight we watched Episode 4. Both the boys were absolutely thrilled. Markus made sure to wear his Lego Star Wars shirt, Clay wore his as well (it’s a PJ shirt, and the kids think it is “supah cool”), and Wyatt was happy to wear his robot shirt – I guess it’s close enough to being a droid.

Big thanks to Bailey and Deacon, who went to bed early.

Peek

Hello, cuties!

Rainy Day

This might go down in history as my most boring 365 photo ever. On second thought, I think I have a similar one that is equally boring. No matter.

I trekked out in the rain this evening with Deacon. I had a meeting to be at, and I don’t go far from my little man for any extended period of time yet.


This afternoon we got out of the city for some fresh country air. A trip to the farm was in order. I wasn’t sure how my city crew would fare. Not to fear! They had an amazing time!

Markus was giving the chickens a run for their money. All the kids were. Check out their delighted faces!

And that, my friends, is a free range chicken.

A trip into the chicken coop to see where our eggs come from.

Markus was so proud to have picked an egg.

Such a beautiful bird.

The poults (baby turkeys – had to google that one!) are only 10 days old. The kids were a little apprehensive at first, but after petting one they were eager to get into the pen and get a closer look.

Markus made himself busy picking these tiny birds up and moving them around, and giving them a higher view.

He would have stayed for hours more if I’d have let him.

City kids. This country-raised girl never thought she’d have a brood of city kids under her wing. I think there’s a lot of country hiding under their shells though.

Given the fact that our kids are all still so little, I often forget the fact that I can’t protect them and save them from all the pain and hurt in this world. Of course I don’t want to shelter them in the sense that they are naive and have no idea of the struggles and suffering around them. No, I want them to be deeply sympathetic to others’ hurts, I want them to love deeply as they have been loved deeply by God. I just wish they didn’t have to feel pain and hurt for themselves.

Of course that’s impossible.

Still, I hate having to console my beautiful daughter when her friends exclude her. Her precious face, cast in a shadow of sadness. In that moment I am transported back to my childhood, drying my own tears because my friends cruelly abandoned me. It is so hard to quietly comfort and console her, rather than stand up like a mama bear and fight. It is a battle I cannot win. I can only pray that she can learn to love when she is not shown love. To forgive rather than harbor bitterness. And pray that I can do the same.

Oh Lord, I have so much to learn.

I had a vague memory of seeing Mary Poppins once when I was a kid, and when Clay told the boys about Mary flying around with an umbrella, they were pretty excited to see what it was all about. So yesterday we had a family movie night with Mary Poppins. It of course had some tunes that were recognizable, and had moments of entertainment. I just couldn’t shake how irritating she was. Does anyone else find her irritating? “Just as I thought: Mary Poppins, perfect in almost every way.”

Are there any hardcore Mary Poppins fans out there? What do you love about the movie? What am I missing?!

We used to always make pizza on Fridays. I don’t know how we departed from that, but I’d like to make it a more regular thing again. Homemade pizza is so easy, and so delicious no matter what you put on it.

Tonight we used naan bread for the crust, topped with olive oil, thinly sliced tomatoes, green peppers, onions, chicken, cheddar and goat cheeses. Yum!