28 Hour Camping Adventure

Friday evening Mom and Dad spontaneously decided to take the kids tent camping for the first time. The kids have camped a lot, but Mom has always insisted on a cabin or RV rental with children.

Mom decided Friday night that she should stick with her convictions :-) Saturday morning she made the statement that Friday night was the most miserable night of her life. The combination of sleeping on an air mattress in the last trimester of pregnancy with a one-year old (who refused to sleep in her sleeping bag.. insisting on the air mattress instead), an allergic reaction to something around the campsite which lead to among other things burning eyes, and her inability to deal with the cold weather led to complete misery and and no sleep. The kids slept like rocks around her with no problems at all. Dad tried to console her by reminding her of a night traveling with a newborn who screamed in a hotel room for four hours that she has had worse nights.

Saturday was great for everyone. We had a busy day. We went to the zoo for the morning. We then went to the beach on Lake Erie at the Campground. It was too cold for swimming, but the kids enjoyed playing in the sand and wading in the water. We also let the kids play on the playground and went to an ice cream social at the campground. We cooked our dinner over the campfire. It was lots of fun. The kids absolutely loved it. We decided to pack up by bedtime and drive home instead of enduring another night in the tent.

(We noticed that Seth and the tent matched.)

(The kids trying out their sleeping bags. Mounds of blankets were added to keep warm.)

Awards Night

"The Dress" would probably be a more accurate title of this post. Lydia made all "A's" this year, and Mom had promised to take her shopping for a dress if she got invited to the awards banquet. Lydia loved dress shopping. She looked at four stores and tried on a lot of dresses before finally finding the dress she wanted. Of course, she didn't have shoes to match so she then got to enjoy shoe shopping. She had fun dressing up and going to get her trophy.

Slip 'N" Slidin'

Nice Weather

We're having a stretch of warm, rain-free weather. The kids love it. The tire swing on the playset is a big hit with them. Morgan is in a stage of not wanting to wear shoes or clothes. Notice she had lost the shoes by picture one, and the dress was gone by picture two. Lydia spent time this evening weeding and watering her garden.

Seth and Lydia's Day Out

Today we decided to take Lydia and Seth each somewhere alone with a parent. Morgan still has a cold and isn't much into going anywhere.

Seth and Dad went golfing this morning. Seth had never gone golfing before. He had a great time. He liked riding in the golf cart and hitting balls. He was also excited at the end with he went to the clubhouse and his friend from next door was there with his Dad.

Mom and Lydia went shopping this evening. Lydia made all A's in first grade and gets to go to an awards night this week. Lydia picked out a new dress for it. We'll post pictures after she dresses up on Thursday. Mom also offered to take Lydia to dinner after shopping. Lydia loves Red Lobster and wanted to go there. Mom knew when she offered that a happy meal wouldn't be Lydia's choice for the night.

Planting

We worked on planting flowers in front of the house and vegetables in the garden this evening.

What Mom Didn't Expect About A Little Boy

When you tell someone you're having or you have a little boy, you tend to hear stories of hyperactivity, playing in the dirt, and a general hate of being clean. That's why Seth's surprised her a little with his obsession with his teeth. He insists on brushing his teeth regularly. He's happy to explain to anyone that he has to keep his teeth clean or he'll get a cavity. He's also obsessive about using his mouthwash. He likes it so much the Easter Bunny even brought him a new bottle for Easter. Mom kept thinking this is a phase, but he's stayed interested for a long time now.

Mom and Dad are the last to know...

When Mom picked up Seth from preschool yesterday, he was literally jumping up and down saying, "tomorrow is my birthday." Mom tried to quietly explain to him that his birthday isn't until June. He grabbed Mom's arm and dragged her to the class calendar shouting, "LOOK AT THE CALENDAR MOM!" Sure enough, a big picture of Seth's head was stuck to May 8 with velcro. His teacher interceded for him and explained that tomorrow is his unbirthday at school. Since he has a summer birthday, he gets to celebrate tomorrow.

Mom thought that sounded good and they left. As they drove down the road, Seth asked, "what kind of cake did you make for me to take to my friends tomorrow Mom?" He didn't get the fact that Mom found out ten minutes ago it was his birthday. We went to Walmart and got the supplies to make Diego cupcakes.

Today he's at preschool. As he describes, "I get to wear a crown with my picture on the front but not tell anybody what to do, eat cupcakes, get a prize from the birthday box, and give my friends treats." Life couldn't be any more exciting than that.

We need Dad back....

Dad has been on a work trip this week, but he returns today. The rest of us have hit some rough spots without him.

Lydia and Seth each bring home readers each day from school. Normally, it's not a problem doing the reading. Mom and whoever is reading go to another room, and Dad hangs out with the other two. However, when Dad's at work during homework time, things get challenging. Mom had Morgan and Seth watercoloring (obviously a bad idea) while Lydia did yesterday's reading. Mom thought Morgan looked cute painting and snapped a couple pictures before she went to Lydia's room with Lydia.

In the time it took Lydia to read one book, Morgan changed into Lydia's camp rock pajama top, Seth's Spiderman underwear, removed her hairbow, painted herself head to toe, spilled her water an the floor and blinds, and moved everything on the table.

As if this wasn't bad enough, Mom still had one more kid to read with. Of course the paint was gone for this one, but it still didn't go well. Morgan went to her little potty which Mom thought was a good thing, but since Mom wasn't with her, she decided to pour out the contents herself. We won't post pictures of how that turned out.

Lydia's Gymnastics Finale

Tonight was the final gymnastics class for the spring term. They did a show for the family and friends. Lydia did a good job.

Since Dad had to work, Mom took the little kids by herself to the show. This picture shows Morgan and Seth on their very best behavior after being lectured all the way there. Other than using his loud whisper at least 14 times to say, "Mom, did you know this is really boring," Seth maintained his good behavior. Morgan did OK, but she was inspired a couple times to stand up and demonstrate her gymnastics abilities.

Waiting For His Feet To Shrink

Conversation between Mom and Seth

M: Seth, you'll be 4 soon. Isn't that great.
S (Looking at his feet): My feet will be littler when I turn 4.
M: You mean bigger.
S: No Littler
(Repeat last two lines about 3 times)
M: Why are you saying your feet will be smaller?
S: Because (he names every person he knows who is 4) have littler feet than I do. My feet will have to get smaller to be the same size as 4 year old feet.

Weekend in Cincinnati

We spent the weekend in Cincinnati with Nana, Michael, and Dessa. We had a great time. Here are some pictures from the Cincinnati zoo.