June 16, 2014

(click here for today's pictures)

First Day of Camp!

• Our alarm clocks rang early this morning.  I was still in bed when I heard Graham say to Anderson "I think we have overslept." Soon, Anderson was speaking into the monitor asking if they could get up.  I let them and soon there were 3 patters of feet down the hallway.  In walked Graham, Anderson and Campbell-she wasn't the one that I wanted up that early.  It should have been Reagan and not Campbell so soon I had to sneak back upstairs to wake Reagan up.  She did wake up easier than usual and soon they all were dressed and pulling out of the driveway.
• Campbell and I went back to my bed and read a few books while we waited for the others to wake up.  We actually ended up waking Keaton and Whitman up at 7:30 because she just couldn't wait any longer.  We had already read 2 books (one of those we even read twice) and I rubbed her back for the longest (secretly hoping that she would fall back asleep).  
• During breakfast is when I realized just how quiet it was around here-while the 3 leftover kids ate I organized my tupperware.  Then Keaton and Campbell helped unload the dishes and then they went off to play.  Most of the morning was spent with them playing "teacher."  Campbell would drop her baby (Whitman) off with the Sunday school teacher (Keaton).  This would often not work out so well because the baby Whitman didn't really want to be left with Keaton-he wanted to follow me and really do anything but what Campbell wanted him to do.  
• I eventually turned on a movie hoping that would distract Whitman so Campbell could feel like he was playing with her or that the movie would distract Campbell and she would forget about playing with Whitman.  That kind of worked but the snack that I passed out later did work.  I even put Whitman in the exersaucer and ran (yes, ran) around the house trying to get things cleaned up a bit.
• Before we left for the pool, Campbell and Keaton helped me cut the velveeta for our chicken spaghetti and then we were off.  We made it before Graham, Lilly and Grannymom arrived.  My Graham had a fun morning at VBS.  He told me about singing in a big group, playing a game with marshmallows, a man falling down (I believe on purpose in a skit), someone looking for a bug, seeing Lilly during snack (yogurt and fruit juice possibly), raising money for water for people in India and tomorrow being silly day.  I felt like I gleamed a fair amount of information from him about his day.
• The kids swam for a while and had a quick lunch.  Since Grannymom watched Whitman, I did get in the big pool with Campbell and she worked hard at swimming today.  She swam from the slide to the ladder and also from the ladder to the steps so that is really big for her.  Whitman of course loved the water and even wanted me to hold him in the deep water.  And Keaton is starting to feel more comfortable in her floatees but does not like to get her face under the water - at all!
• After a bit of swimming, Graham asked when we were going home and I told him in one and a half kid swims.  He asked if we could go home right then-Graham more than any of the other kids is the one who gets tired and needs some down time.  I was able to convince him to stay one more hour before we did leave.
• At home, Campbell and Graham watched tv while Keaton and Whitman slept.  I had thought that Robby was going to come home after picking up the camp kids but I was wrong, he was coming home to pick us up before getting them.  So when he called to say that he was on his way, I went scrambling.  We were all ready in time so that was good.
• We were at the church right at 5:30 and the buses were already there and the kids were already inside waiting on us.  Actually, we were towards the end of the folks picking up kids but ours didn't seem to mind.  Cash, especially, looked tired when I walked in to gather the crew.  But once they were in the van, they talked the entire way back to Cash's house.
• Reagan and/or Anderson did all of this today: petting zoo, sling shot, sandcastle building, archery, paddle boat, canoeing, fishing, ziplining, big slide and "churchy stuff."  All in all they had a wonderful day.  They kept talking about camp and Graham continued to get more and more disappointed that he wasn't at camp.  He did have fun today but that was some pretty big stuff they did today-I am even a bit disappointed that I am not at camp!  Robby couldn't get over that Anderson and Cash got in a canoe and were able to make it go and then make the canoe come back without dropping their paddles.  He kept asking them how they knew how to do this. 
• We dropped off Cash and then went to eat at the "peanut place" (Texas Roadhouse)  This is Reagan's favorite place to eat and eat my kids did.  They all had 2+ rolls and zillions of peanuts. Robby ordered cheese fries and after that we could have just left and everyone would have been full.  Then each kid had a 5th of a hamburger, corn, beans, fries and mac and cheese.  They sat still and quiet through all of the meal (seriously)-they were so tired and their tummys were so full they could hardly move!
• Once at home, every one was given not just a shower but a scrub down.  We watched a quick Bible story movie and then it was bedtime for my sleep crew.  Campbell even fell asleep before we finished reading the Bible story.