First Camping Trip.

This past summer, I got an itch to go camping.

  

As I reflect on my childhood, many of my my dearest, funniest, (and best remembered) memories are from camping.  I didn't go with my mom and dad-they're not the camping sorts-but with my Grandpa and Grandma Garner, and usually a few aunts and uncles and several cousins.  It's been twenty years (eeks), but even now as adults when we get together a camping memory usually weaves itself into the conversation.

I was wanting this for my children.  They should experience camping, and make memories.  They should be surrounded by nature and cook dinner over a fire and sleep on the hard ground (that's important, right?)  

I mentioned my desire to go camping to some good friends of our, Jim and Megan.  Jim takes his kids camping regularly, and it was really him who got the ball rolling.   It went from "I think we should go camping" to "Ok then, here's the link, go make your reservation".

So, we set out to go camping with our friends the first weekend after school started.  Immediately after making the reservation online, fear set it.  What was I doing?  Matt and I have never been camping together.  We have children that are afraid of the dark!  Nathan and Ella slept in the tent one time, two years ago, and they woke up at 6 a.m. because they were frightened by the shadow of a bug.  I suddenly realized all the things that could go wrong!

But, we pressed on...and I'm so thankful we did.

(I should mention that we did have the foresight to choose a state park within 30 minutes from home, we were only going to be gone for about 24 hours, and I had a bail-out plan.)

We loaded up the mini and managed to strategically fit everything.  The kids were a little surprised at how much "stuff" we were taking...sleeping bags, tent, cooler, folding chairs, blankets...it was a little different than an over-nighter at Papa's.

After a quick drive and setting up our tent, we went for a hike.  The weather was near perfect.  Not hot, not cold, not humid, not windy.  Just sunny and nice.  It was fun to go out on trails that I hiked as a girl.  Most of it felt very familiar.

 The first twenty minutes was more like speed hiking...very loud speed hiking.

But once the kids got running and screaming out of their system, we settled to a pace more conducive for nature exploration.  We found many amazing spiderwebs and had several conversations about moss. :)

 I love this group of kids!

 
This is the final stretch of the hike.

This photo is blurry (because I took it while walking), but I thought these two looked sweet.  It turns out Matt picked Evs up because she had to go potty.  Shortly after this, Evelyn got her first peeing in the woods experience...


Nathan found this leaf suspended in a spider web.  Even in person the web was extremely difficult to see, so he had the idea to take this photo.  He's using "the force" to hold the leaf in the air.

Once back to the site, it was time for dinner prep.  We went with a camping staple:hobo dinners!

(meat and veggies wrapped in foil)

While dinner cooked the dads took some kids fishing.  Many of the girls stayed back with me.  They played at a park while I read a book by the fire...total bliss.
(It was also a good call to go camping with older, responsible kids.)

Then it was time to eat.  I'm guessing not every crew would go through the trouble of setting the table while camping, but these are not ordinary girls!

It was great to watch them put such joy and detail into getting the table ready.

Evelyn, who loves most of God's small creatures, was very excited to find a woolly bear!

After dinner, the boys went fishing again and I got to hang out with the girls!

We read some more and talked some girly talk in our jammies.

 

 After a while, they got impatient and started making "smacos".  

Our night ended sitting around the campfire eating s'mores.  Evelyn fell asleep in my arms, and everyone else went to bed, with no issues, at about 10:30.  Spending the day outside makes one tired, which is good because at 34 the ground was a little harder than I remembered it.  It was also forecasted to be chilly during the night (about 48 degrees), but we planned accordingly and even that wasn't a big deal.

We woke up bright and early and made some french toast and coffee over the fire while listening to Rend Collective.  We then did some more exploring and fishing, packed up, and called it a day.  

Everything went so smoothly, it makes me think it couldn't happen so well again.

The first camping trip is under our belts, and we can't wait to go out again next summer!

Ella's Garden Party.

Perhaps this post should be titled Another Birthday Party!

Our little girly-girl was bent on having a girly friend birthday party.  The weekend after her birthday she invited a few friends over for a "garden-Springtime" party.  Since it had a garden theme, I decided a morning party would be best (I may have also not wanted the party to consume our entire day...maybe).  My main goal was to keep it simple.  Ella's main goal was to hang out with her friends.  So considering, I think it was a smashing success!

We started our morning decorating terra cotta pots.  I had a couple of different options in mind, but decided that morning that everyone was just going to paint their pot (per the "keep it simple" plan).

 

Of the five friends she invited, three were able to attend, and one friend was able to bring her little sister, much to Addie's delight!   

Nathan originally wanted nothing to do with this gathering, but ended up joining in and enjoying himself (he's used to girls).

Nathan hijacked the camera for a few moments.  He managed to take a couple of nice photos, including this one of our neighbor Kenna.

While the paint was drying, we had a snack of berries, orange juice, and cupcakes.

I'd like to think it was sort of like a "high tea" only with orange juice and in the morning...

(bonus: the flowers from the previous weekend still looked good,  thank you $5 Hy-Vee bouquet!)

I let the girls (and Nathan) finish their fruit first, then it was on to cupcake time.  I've discovered that little girls really like to decorate cupcakes, and it saves me a bunch of time.  So, I just baked the cupcakes, made different colors of frosting, and put the frosting into decorator bags with an assortment of tips.

The girls usually put on way more frosting than I would have, but that's part of the fun.

Evelyn didn' really participate in the party much until the fruit and cupcakes were brought out!

Here's everyone with their finished cupcakes!

Following cupcakes, Ella opened her gifts.  She got some great things: a fashion design notebook, modeling clay, and Beados.  She was very busy that afternoon!

With the remaining minutes of the party, we took the finished pots onto the back deck and planted some zinnia seeds.  Five days later Ella, Nathan, and Addie all had some sprouts!  The stories I've heard from others have sounded as successful! :)

It was a fun morning; Ella loved it, and overall it didn't require much time or effort.  I'm so glad we were able to do this for her, and look forward to more girly parties in the future!

Small group Christmas.

Our first chance to celebrate Christmas with others was with our small group from church.  I don't have a lot of photos from this event, but I thought this would give me a chance to express how much I love these people.

Our leader's family hosted and provided the pizza.  The rest of us brought side items (we brought dessert).  I believe there are 6 families in our small group (5 of whom were present at the party)...a total of 12 adults and 18 children!

 

The night was casual with plenty to eat, followed by a white elephant gift exchange.  (The kids spent a lot of the night playing in the basement).

We're so thankful to have such good friends, not only for us but for our children as well.  When we started going to our church, these are the people that invited us into our homes.  Everyone in our age group is busy with their small children and work schedules, but somehow these are the people who noticed we were new and took time to befriend us.  These are the kids our kids play with.  These are the people I call when I need help with childcare during the day.  These are the people who see me cry the most.  These are the people I ask for prayer.  These are the people who challenge my faith  (with their strong witness I cannot remain "warm and comfortable").  These are the people who came to my mom's visitation though they never met her, and then gave us  meals big enough to not just feed my family but my sister's family as well.  I could go on and one...I love these people.  

 (There are other awesome people in our church...but they can't all be in our small group.)

This night was about Christ, fellowship, and fun!  

It's funny how "white elephant" was a challenge for our group.  We had to discuss it privately, as to what does it mean.  No one wanted to bring a gift that wasn't "nice", but then go home with a nice gift.  So, gifts

ranged from disposable storage containers to "poo-pourri" to cereal.  One member of our group, Kaya, had extra yarn around and so decided to crochet it together for a blanket as her white elephant gift.  I could not just whip this up. If I ever completed it, it would likely have to be a cherished family heirloom of something mom made.  

 We didn't get to bring it home, but Matt had to try it out.

We did however get to bring home the Ulu knife.  Matt was very pleased with this, and if he needs to cut something in the kitchen this is now his go-to knife.  I cannot say the same however.

So, thanks awesome church family! 

When we moved to Sioux Falls, I prayed for some good friends (since it felt like we were starting over in the friendship department).  I'm so thankful for how God has answered those prayers.