Camp 1811

Last week, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and I were transported back to 1811 at Pioneer Camp. And while we had a fabulous time, there are some things that I just would not have enjoyed about 1811. I definitely could do without making my own candles and grinding my own cornmeal. (I suppose I do grind my own cornmeal, I just use a fancy machine that takes minutes.)
And while we're on the subject of household chores I could do without, let's add building that house. This was a grueling job that would have been hard in any weather, but imagining this task in a harsh winter like those we have, just sounds unbearable. The girls liked trying their hands at it, though. (I love the concentrating-tongue-hanging-out look Snow White has!)We can't forget the important chore of building ladders and bridges. While the girls did a superb job with their classmates in tying knots, I'll just say that I am extremely glad the suspension bridge above the water we crossed over six times was made by professionals, and not schoolchildren. Theirs held up well, though. Besides all of these thrilling jobs, they attended school (where Sleeping Beauty led us in our number rhyme), took care of animals on the farm, learned Indian sign Language, did some Huck Finn fishing, and followed a pioneer nature trail. It was a fabulous time. And, even with no sleep to speak of, we think that we'd go back to 1811 Camp if they let us!
Want even more pictures and videos from camp? Check out our other blog for an overload.

It's Off To Camp We Go

Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are gearing up for their 4th/5th grade camp. Their school has chosen a "Pioneer Heritage" YMCA camp to go to. I went two years ago with Cinderella, so I, unfortunately, know that my night's rest will not be worth the $100 dollars I had to fork over for my girls and I to attend. The girls cannot wait. I am cautiously optimistic about the experience. Last time I went, it rained the entire time. This time, the forecast calls for sunny skies and 8o degree weather, so at least the weather looks promising. Another thing in our favor is that we're going in the corporation's newest bus. Last time I went on an overnight field trip, the bus broke down and threw us off schedule.

Since it has been a fairly mild September around here, we have yet to break out the winter clothes bin. But, since the requirement for camp is long pants and tennis shoes, we pulled the bin down and set to sorting through the treasures.

Sleeping Beauty was not at all amused when she found that she only fit into one pair of jeans. She did not like the option of wearing her other long pants for one of the days of camp. She protested, "I have to have jeans. Mr. S. said 'You have to wear jeans, don't bring shorts or capris, you can't wear shorts at camp.' So I am not wearing those brown pants. It has to be jeans."

"Sleeping Beauty, it can be any long pants. He said jeans because children recognize jeans as long pants. You just need to wear something long so that the mosquitoes won't bite you. These brown pants will be fine."

"No," she insisted, "I need new jeans."

"You do need new jeans for school, but I will not buy new jeans for camp. They will get filthy. So it's either those brown pants or your underwear, you decide."

She decided to go with the brown pants, but says if Mr. S. gets mad, then it's my fault. I might be wrong, but I'm almost positive that Mr. S. has bigger things to worry about than the color of Sleeping Beauty's long pants. Now we just have to pray that, after a lousy night of sleep on a two inch foam mattress, Sleeping Beauty will have her wits about her early Friday morning and still choose the brown pants. I better pack her best undies, just in case.

Weekend News

This past weekend, I went shopping with a few friends. We had a fabulous time and spent much more time shopping than we ever thought we could. Each of us bought only a few things but somehow we filled the entire trunk with our packages. Next time, we'll have to invite more people because it was such fun. But, then we'd really need to rent a U-haul or something for the packages.

In other news, Cinderella has completed all of her Faith in God requirements. She is excited to be ready to head off to the Young Women program now and begin working on her Personal Progress. It has been so fun to see her learn and grow in the gospel and in developing her testimony of our Savior. The Faith in God is truly an inspired program. We promised a celebration of her achievement, so I'm thinking of what yummy treat I can make. ...mmmmm...

Also, on Sunday, I was lucky to survive substituting in the nursery with the 18-month to 3-year-old children. I usually love this, but for some reason it felt a bit chaotic yesterday. Maybe it was that I had a pretty bad headache, or maybe it was that I was peed on by a very sweet and repentant little guy..."Oops, I'm so sorry I got a little pee-pee on your skirt. Just a little bit, though." Yes, just a wee bit. But, somehow, enough.

Egg-citing

One of our friends went to Germany, and King arranged for him to bring home a surprise for the girls. They were so excited, because they had heard of these "secret eggs" from daddy. They are pretty cool--a hollow chocolate egg, with a little toy inside. They loved them.

Comfortably

Last night, King had a little shin-dig for work. Drinks and hors d'oeuvres, mixing and mingling, welcoming the new faculty. The instructions said 'dress comfortably'. I really wanted that to mean that I could leave on my sweats and t-shirt I did laundry in all day. But, sadly, I knew that this meant I should take the wardrobe up a notch from my normal. I dressed in some slacks and chose my shirt to match my limited jewelry collection. And then forgot to put jewelry on at all. I always do that.

The food was yummy. The drinks were alcoholic, so we didn't have any. The mixing and mingling was nice, we talked to three whole people. And we didn't ever figure out who the new faculty was. The good thing is, I don't think anyone noticed I was sans jewelry. I wish I had just worn my sweats.

p.s. For those of you that care, there is a video up on my Chaos blog. It's boring, but it's there. It doesn't have me or my sweats in it. You're welcome.

Isn't this a bad sign?

I drove past the gas station and was actually excited that gas had gone down to $4.14 a gallon. Sad.

Favorites

Last night, we had a "get to know you" activity for our church ladies group. We were asked to bring one of our "favorite things" as a way to share something about ourselves. On the way home from church, I asked the girls if they could think of anything I should take.

"You should take me!" said Sleeping Beauty.

"Actually, I'm the oldest so I've been your favorite for the longest, so I should go, " said Cinderella.

"I was really her first favorite," said the King, "so if anyone should go, it should be me. And besides, Cinderella, you haven't been the favorite for the longest. You were the favorite for about two and a half years and then you were replaced by someone else."

"Yeah, by me!" exclaimed Snow White. "Ha!"

"Ruuuuude." said Cinderella.

"Yes," said the King, "then Snow White was our favorite for twelve minutes, then she was replaced."

"Yes! I'm the youngest--I told you I was the favorite," boasted Sleeping Beauty.

In the end, I took mint M&Ms as my favorite thing. The truth is, the girls and the King, are all my favorites. But, mint M&Ms never disappoint. And it was a chance to get out of the house alone. And M&Ms fit nicely into my purse. And it was only a little embarrassing to admit I have 10 month old candy hiding in my drawer because I just need a little chocolate sometimes to have a happy day with all of my darling favorite things.

Super Substitute

Yesterday was Grandparent's Day at the twins' school. Since their grandparents live 1800 and 2400 miles away, we had to call in a substitute. Gratefully, we have a super neighbor, Kenna, who was more than happy to attend. She had a good time, and so did the girls. After school, we went to visit Kenna's dogs, Daisy and Lacy, but the dogs didn't want to sit still for the picture.

Politician

Now, Snow White says she wants to be a vet or an artist when she grows up, but I think she's well on her way to becoming a politician. Yesterday, she was complaining about some things at her school, and was telling me what she means to do about them.

"Mom, do you know we never sing the National Anthem in our new school? Well, except for in choir once in a while. But never in the morning like at our old school."

"Really?" I said, "That's too bad."

"Yeah, I'm going to talk to Mr. S [the principal] about it and ask him if we can at least sing it on Monday Morning Meetings."

"That's a good idea," I replied, "Talk to him about it."

"He'll probably make me lead it, but I don't care, because we should be singing it, especially on a day like today." [September 11th]

"Well, good for you. That's a great plan."

She's passionate about it and wants to make a change. She also thinks there should be more rungs on the ladder on the playground so the little kids can get up easier and thinks they should have hat day every once in a while. Just for fun, because the other kids would think it was great too.

So, this zeal, and the conversation we had next, make me think she's well on her way to the politician's life.

"Snow White, what homework do you have tonight?"

"Mom, my backpack is so light when I don't bring homework books home. Do you want to feel it?"

"You don't have any homework?"

"It's crazy my backpack is so light!"

"It is light. Wow. Okay, go get your ballet clothes on."

Two hours later....

"Snow White, you need to hop in the shower."

"But, Mom," she whined, "I have to do my homework first!"

"What? I thought you didn't have any homework. You said you didn't have any."

"No," she calmly explained, "I didn't say I didn't have any. I said my backpack is light when I don't have books in it. I only have paper homework, and I didn't want to do it earlier."

Way to evade the issues. The little stinker. :)

Remember

Here is a really neat website in memory of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.

Innocent

Don't you just love those mornings before school when things actually go smoothly? It doesn't happen a lot at our house, but today was one of those days. (Well, unless you count the fact that Cinderella skipped the shower she was supposed to take, and one of the princesses left without brushing her teeth. Still, it was a smooth, quiet morning.)

On these days, when I watch the girls climbing onto the bus, they just look so tiny and innocent. I want them to stay home with me and hang out, away from the worldly pressures and influences that bombard them all day long. And speaking of worldly pressures...

Every other month at our middle school, they have a Friday evening dance. Ridiculous. Why does an eleven-year-old need to be pressured to dance with someone? Why? I don't understand who thought this was a good idea and then actually put it into action. The school says they open up the gym about halfway through the dance, and all of the boys disappear to play basketball. Then, since there is no one to dance with, the girls follow. If this is what the kids really want to do, why don't we let them do this? Open up the gym for a night and have a game/sports night and forget all of the dancing junk. Anyway...

Needless to say, Cinderella wasn't going to the dance. Not only was she not allowed, she really didn't have much of a desire. She had a couple of friends over for pizza and games on Friday instead. They had a great time and want to do it every dance night. They are trying to recruit more sixth-graders to join them next time. Maybe the girls can influence others to engage in age-appropriate activities. It's best to keep them innocent as long as possible. They grow up so fast without adults pushing them to!

Pre-teen

Cinderella's twelfth birthday is speedily approaching. She's counting down the days. Not only does this birthday fall on a year when she gets a "friend" party instead of just a "family" part, her big number twelve has many other important things attached to it.

In our church, when you turn twelve, you become part of the Young Women program. She's excited for the activities where she can learn and grow, and increase her testimony in Jesus Christ. It will be a great experience for her, and one that I loved when I was a girl. I'm really excited for her.

Some of the "twelfth birthday" things, though, I am a little sad I agreed to. But, when she was eight it just sort of seemed that it would be forever until she turned twelve. So, I have agreed to let her wear make up and get her ears pierced. She cannot wait.

Yesterday, she was asking about getting her ears pierced. Where would we go? when would we go? how long would it take? And then she asked the question that I thought just might get me out of this one: "Mom, does it hurt very much to get your ears pierced?"

"Oh, yeah. It hurts quite a bit. You know, you don't have to do it, just because we said a long time ago this was when you could get them pierced."

"I know," she said, "But how bad does it hurt? Like you hit your head, or scraped your knee, or what?"

"Well," I exaggerated, "It sort of hurts like someone is poking a gigantic hole into your body with a super big pin. It hurts a lot. But, not for too long. It just kind of stings for a couple of weeks until it heals. It's pretty yucky, though. Worse than braces." I thought that could persuade her. I know I'm a mean mom, but it's not like she needs her ears pierced. It won't hurt her to wait a while more.

She looked at me with a grimace on her face. "That's terrible," she said.

Yes! I did it! I think I persuaded her! "Yep, it's pretty bad."

"Well," she says thoughtfully, "Beauty is pain. I guess I'll just have to handle it!"

Darn. So much for thinking she's not willing to sacrifice for her looks. I guess that's why they call these the pre-teen years. The adolescent mindset is settling in pretty quickly after all.

Baby Steps at WalMart

This past weekend, I made the mistake of heading to WalMart on a Saturday. Living in a college town, this isn't such a grave mistake from June to August. But, once the students are back, it's best to stay away.

I needed some mascara, so I headed to the cosmetic aisles. I smiled at the cute group of middle school girls oohing and aahing over lip gloss and proceeded to make my mascara choice, wondering where their mothers were. As I debated, I overheard one of them say, "Man, this stuff is expensive, I'm letting my mom buy it next time she visits. Hey, do you guys think we should get more toilet paper for our bathroom while we are here?"

What? These are college students?! When did they start looking so young? I was feeling very old. At least I actually had make up on and was dressed decently, since I had just come from a church meeting. I was looking pretty good. But, even so, I wasn't looking as young and hip as I hoped.

I headed over to grab Cinderella some allergy meds. As I bent down to make my choice, a few unruly college boys were trying to impress their co-eds, and sped around the corner with their cart. "Watch out for that lady!" said one, as he showed off his muscles wielding the cart through the isle quickly. Lady? Lady? Sigh.

I decided that it wasn't a big mistake to come to WalMart after all, because it had afforded me to take the opportunity to reinvent myself. I will concentrate more on how I appear and help myself look young and adorable. In vogue and trendy. And I'd start with the sunglasses I needed to buy.

I looked at my options while surreptitiously peeking at the young ladies passing in their sunglasses. I tried on the "Hollywood" style glasses and decided this was a good start at my overhaul. They looked good. And hid the crows feet. So, I would buy them. Until I looked at the price tag. 27 dollars? For glasses that I throw into my purse with my keys and sit on almost every day? I don't think so. I settled on a five dollar pair that looked okay, and I would feel a whole lot better about abusing. Besides, they looked a little like the specs the petite brunette looking at the watches was wearing. And, since she was wearing hardly any other clothing, I surmised that she was "in the know" on these fashion things. All the co-eds wear mini-shorts and tanks if it's over 60 degrees and she looked like the rest of them. If the glasses were good for her, they were good for me.

I made my purchases and was feeling pretty great about buying hip sunglasses at a fabulous price. They weren't the best, but I had gone with more fashionable ones than I normally would have. You know, to turn over a new fashion leaf. Baby steps.

It was sunny outside, though. And I didn't have scissors to cut the tag off. So, I put them on and let the tag hang free down my nose. Real cool like. And I'm pretty sure as I left the parking lot, an adorable nineteen-year-old boy did a double take and checked me out. I think I'm making actual fashion strides.

Happy Blog Birthday

One year ago today, I started a blog. Since then, I have created this blog as a more "public" version of ourselves. This makes it easier for people to check up on the goings-on of our family. Occasionally, just to alert close family or friends, I will mention that I have put up video, or pictures on my private blog. Because, really, most of you don't need to see "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in four varieties or the same ballet dance three times on different stages. But, grandmas kind of like that, so I have a place they can enjoy them. Please be patient when I mention these things.

As far as my Blog Birthday goes, we had a great celebration. We even had cake. But, not really because of my "birthday." That was sort of a coincidence. We had cake because it is a family tradition of ours to do this on the first Sunday of every month. While Daddy takes each of the princesses aside to "interview" them about their stresses, hopes, dreams, goals, faith, everything under the sun, Mommy and the other two make a treat. Usually a pie. but today we went for the super-easy but still satisfying "Pastel Pound Cake." And it actually wasn't too bad, considering I used a cake mix that expired six months ago. Happy Blog Birthday to me!

Tidbits

I love the marquee signs at the churches I pass during my days. Where I grew up, if the churches had marquee signs, they said "Visitors Welcome" or "Visit Sunday 9:00 or 11:00 a.m.". While nice and informative, they lack the character and warmth of the little tidbits we get around our little town.

Today, I drove past a new quote on a marquee that said, "Let Jesus Save You From Eternal Overheating". I like it. Clever. I think you could also say, "Let Jesus Save You From Mortal Overheating", as in, overworked, worn-out by the things of the world. You really can only get the proper perspective of life by turning to Christ.

Another one up now is "The Bible is the Breakfast of Champions. What Did You Have?" Now, that's food for thought.

One of the recent ones that made me smile is "Dusty Bibles Lead to Dirty Lives". Too true.

But my very favorite? It has to be this one: "Don't Give Up, Moses Was Once a Basket Case". It's hilarious. Even though it should probably read "Moses was once IN a basket case." But, still, very funny.

Traits

You know when you realize the thing about your offspring that drives you batty is the thing that you gave them? A trait given them without your consent. Case in point: I really am an organized person, you just can't really tell if you come to my house. Or Cinderella's room either.

I like things to be done right. So, often I'll wait until I have time to do things perfectly before I start on a project. Which means that sometimes a pile of bills and junk mail sits on the end of my table or counter for days. If I don't have time to file things in the correct way, I'll wait until I do have time. When really, if I threw away the junk mail and newspapers in the pile, then all that would be left is a tiny handful of paper that would take up much less space and look ten times better. I know this, I just have a hard time really doing it.

This is only one example of my hidden compulsion to have things perfect. And my great skill of procrastination. (Now, I should say that both of these traits have some use and can even be positive, if you use them right. The problem is, it takes time and effort to get them done right, and, frankly, that doesn't really bode well for the procrastinating perfectionist. Darn.) There are many more examples, but I've humiliated myself enough already. Now it's time to turn to the innocent children who have inherited my traits.

Yesterday, Cinderella was given an assignment to clean her room for thirty minutes. It didn't have to be perfect when she was done, but I wanted to see marked improvement. After a few false starts which ended in me taking away her Series of Unfortunate Events book and saying, 'you better get to work or you'll have a series of unfortunate events happening to you this very day!'-she got busy. And her inheritance of my procrastination and perfectionism reared it's ugly head. It is the reason her room still looks like this:(image blurred on purpose--it's scarier clear)

Yet, her bookshelf looks like this: All of her scrapbooking supplies are immaculately organized also. As well as the clothes hanging in her closet and folded in her drawers. She just didn't have time to get to the rest. And she really was working the full thirty minutes, I checked on her. Not being one to go back on my word, I let her play games with us, which was the reward for cleaning hard for thirty minutes. But, I will tell you, I did it begrudgingly, because, really, I just wanted her floor to be clean. I don't really care about her closet, bookshelf, or drawer. Sigh. I should have made it more clear in the first place. Oh well.

When we were finished playing the games, it was time to clean up. I left them to cleaning up the last game and hurried to start dinner. When I came back five minutes later, the game was still not put away!

"What are you doing, girls? I told you to put that game away. It should have been done four minutes ago!"

"We are. We're trying to get it organized," said Snow White, quite impatiently.

"Organized?! Just throw it all in the drawstring bag. How does that need organizing?"

"No, mom," Sleeping Beauty explained, "Cinderella got them all arranged according to color and size and we're putting the cards in order from easiest to hardest. Then we have to slide it in the bag carefully so it won't tip over and get all messed up."

Seriously?! Aaaah! I couldn't really even get mad, because, I know this comes straight from me. And, I have to admit that I like the way it looks put away like that too. So I helped them slide it carefully in the bag so next time we play we can just dump them all out into a pile to begin. Oh, why can't you pick the traits you give to your children?