Camping, Dirt & Water

There are some parenting styles where they don’t tell their kids the fun things they are about to do until they are moments away from doing the fun thing.  However, I’m still learning this.  The reason the parents don’t mention the fun things to their kids is because the kids will ask over and over and over and over and over and over if it is time for the fun thing!

Well I told the kids earlier in the week that we were camping.  Apparently I under estimated their love for camping.  They were beyond thrilled to go camping!  They couldn’t wait!  They asked every day “is this the day?” 

But I think watching the joy of when they asked “is this the day?” and our response was YES!  Today we go camping!  Totally out weighs all the asking the days before. 

Max asked “Is this the day?”  When Jesse told him yes.  He literally yelled “Mallory!!  This is the day!!” and ran to her and hugged her.  They were so excited!! 

They were so excited that they insisted on helping pack the camper.  Mallory kept asking what she could do and was such a great help.  Maxwell kept sneaking out toys and books and stuffed animals.  He may have created more work because every time I went out there I found a pile of stuff I had to bring back into the house. 

We went camping up to my parents cottage.  We arrived to the cottage early Friday afternoon and we went to sit by the fire pit – but there was no fire yet.  When the campfire was finally lit – Max exclaimed “this is the best day ever”.  To him it wasn’t camping until that campfire was lit.

Saturday morning sitting by the river.

Sticks and water can keep kids entertained for a while. 

One of the big reasons we came to the cottage was because they had a rzr ride planned.  Saturday afternoon everyone loaded up their four wheelers and dirt bikes and the rzr and headed out for the first ride of the season. 

Except for my little buddy Junior, Frenchie and me!  We were told we needed to hold down the camp!  We started out eating chicken in a biscuit crackers and drinking iced coffee. 

I have never been left alone with Junior.  I wasn’t scared.  He is a super easy baby!  It is almost unbelievable how easy he is.  He is such a different boy when spent one on one.  He babbles (typically he is pretty quiet).  He wants me to hold him and has to see me at all times.  We spent the rest of the afternoon taking walks, riding his little four wheeler, eating, napping, and sitting outside. 

While Junior and I are having a pretty uneventful afternoon – the rest of the crew is battling dust and mud and broken down four wheelers and wardens!

These two kids were made for this!  They love riding in the rzr! 

Dust and mud don’t bother them.  Well… mud bothers Max.  He doesn’t much like to get muddy. 

Kids can sleep anywhere!

When they got back I was sitting outside with Junior and Mallory came running down the hill to me… looking like this!!  She can go from playing Princess to off-roading in a snap.

Then came Max and Jesse!!!  Max in his underwear and water boots!!

The story is that they let the kids play in the puddles at the end and Max completely fell in.  He is so not a fan of wet clothes – so they took them off.

Sunday they were going back out riding.  Both kids wanted to go again – however this trip was going to be a bit more adventurous and I wanted them to stay back from this trip.  Jesse agreed with me – so it wasn’t just protective Mommy!  We took them out on the pontoon boat for the afternoon.

 

Mallory remembered driving last year and was excited to get back into the driver seat this time.

She was so good at driving they just let her be captain for a bit.

Actually the pontoon was having a bit of motor trouble so our real captain (Uncle Bill) had to go check on it. 

It was a great weekend and the first camping trip of the season.  Hopefully many more to come… as long as Frenchie loves it as much as the rest of us.  : ) 

Belly Update–33 Weeks!

33 Weeks!  So that puts me at about 6-7 weeks left!  *scream*  Do you know how fast that is going to go!!  Oh kind of puts me in a panic.  But excited.  But some panic!

Panic as in – I feel like I have a lot to do before Frenchie can come.  We started remodeling the kids bedroom.  We have to finish up some painting, trim work, closets, move the dresser back in, put the crib back together…

We have to get all the baby gear and clothes down from the garage!

I started buying all the baby supplies today!  I have a few more essentials to get.

I hurt.  My back hurts – every day, all day long.  My legs hurt.  My feet hurt.  I try so hard to not complain about it – but I don’t think they realize the amount of pain I actually have!  Or I’m really wimpy this time around.  But honestly on really bad days – Tylenol can’t even touch it and the thought of standing or moving makes me want to cry!  I had pain with Max, I remember – but I don’t remember this kind of pain.  The good news – it all goes away once baby comes!!  At least it did with Max… fingers crossed the same happens this time!

My energy levels come and go.  I’ll have days where I can go go go and I feel like something has come over me… and then the next day it is everything in me to hold my eyes open. 

I can still ride a bike.  It is not pretty!  But I’ve been doing it. 

It isn’t that hot here yet – on a good day about 60s.  But wow!  I’m feeling it!  I’m not sure it is legal to wear short shorts at this stage in pregnancy…

but I’m too hot!  I need them!  Don’t worry – I haven’t left home in them (yet)… but I did just show you all a picture!  *shaking my head*

Some of the responses I get from strangers… points at my belly and says “that’s a boy!”  Nope.  Not a boy.  Looks at me in disbelief and says “but you are so out front I thought for sure it was a boy.” 

“When are you due?”  July 1st.  “Oh wow!  You are so low already.”

Even kids come up to me and ask “Are you going to have a baby?” 

I still get a lot of shocked looks when I tell people I’m not due until July 1st.  I try to break the ice by just telling them that apparently your third baby is bigger.  : )   

Apparently one of my mid-wife thinks I’m pretty big too – because she told me that I need to slow down on the weight gain!  Yup!  I came home and cried… and emotionally ate that night!! 

Hopefully at my next check in – we will have a crib and clothing washed and baby items ready to go!!!  This is getting real!! 

Maxwell Turns Three!!

Right now Max is very much into hunting and guns.  He talks about it all the time.  He was constantly asking for different types of guns and bow and arrows for his birthday.  So… I had a nerf gun party!

Max also is not a cake kid.  He loves donuts!  So we did a donut tower for his cake! 

Opening his presents.  Could not resist his toes!

If you wanted to speak Max’s love language – you bought him a gun! 

The amount of guns he was gifted is unbelievable!  I’m pretty sure we could open the first kid gun shop. 

Then it was donut time!  He has the best expressions – so I kind of went over board on the candle pictures.

One left!!

Auntie Steph blew out his last candle and this is the look he gave her.

All the cousins! 

Everyone was a fan of the donuts!

It was a successful party and nerf bullets were flying the rest of the night!  By kids and the adults! 

Also in case you are wondering Max is an adult now that he turned three.  I like to inform him that adults get dressed by themselves and can get their own shoes on.  He tells me when he turns four he’ll be able to do that.  An age three “adult” means that he is just tough and not scared. 

Examples of an age three adult:

He picks out a Ninja Turtle book at the library and I tell him “That looks a little scary Max.”  He tells me “I’m an adult now it is not scary for me.”

Just tonight I was coming out of my room and I didn’t see him standing in the hallway and I plowed right over top of him and stepped on his foot.  Right now he is the perfect height that I can’t see him over my belly.  I felt horrible and I started apologizing to him and make sure he is okay.  He says “It’s okay Mommy.  I’m an adult it didn’t hurt.” 

There was Easter

I am so far behind on my blogging it makes me sad.  I am sure it is only going to get worse as soon as little baby girl gets here… but I’m in denial with that.  I love looking back and reading the stories of the kids because I forget so much!!  Just the other night I wanted to know something, can’t remember what, and I was way back in the blog and I was watching a video of little bitty Mallory.  I’m not kidding – I was crying!!  Oh my goodness!  It is such a treasure to have these memories recorded and written down!!

Back on track.

We really did have Easter.  This year I decided that just hiding eggs and a basket wasn’t fun enough.  So I made a scavenger hunt.  I think it might be my new tradition.  However, I need to work on my clue giving skills.  I wanted 10 clues and it took me a full hour (of full on concentration – kids were in bed, it was quiet, no tv, no music, full concentration) to come up with 5 clues!  Jesse walks in and I tell him I need 5 more clues and he rattles them off in 10 minutes!!  So we had our 10 clues… and next year I won’t try to do it alone, I’ll make him do it with me from the very beginning! 

I didn’t get any picture of the kids running on their scavenger hunt.  I just got a few pictures of them at the end finding their “baskets”.

In the dryer of course!

I never do traditional Easter baskets either.  This year they were in need of new helmets for the RZR – the kids had picked out helmets months ago with Jesse when he ran across a sale online.  However, they forgot about it and we had them hiding – to be used as Easter baskets. 

Inside their helmets they got a pair of riding goggles (for the RZR), flip flops, sunglasses, and a movie.

Mallory got… you guessed it… Frozen.  She was beyond thrilled!!  That movie has just gotten into her and she loves every thing about it!  She was a huge Anna fan, but has recently moved onto Elsa!  She now runs around pretending to freeze things.

Max got the movie Barnyard.  When we were “living” in our camper last spring (and all it did was rain) I let the kids pick movies from the library.  Barnyard was the first movie they grabbed.  I never heard of it.  Max really likes this movie.  He can tell you all about it.  He can even quote lines from the movie.  My favorite is when Max will randomly say “Salt lick”.  Sends me into giggles.  It’s a super funny movie.

So the helmets we got them.  Lets talk about that experience!!  Up until now the kids have been too little for real helmets.  When we would go riding we would put bike helmets on them (they are required to have a helmet by law).  This year we thought they were ready for the real helmets.  Jesse measured their heads… Max has a bigger head then Mallory!  We let the kids pick out the one they wanted.  We ordered them.  They don’t like helmets (especially Max) so we were trying to keep it as light and as fun as possible.

We go to put Mallory’s on on Easter morning.  We get it on, but she says it is too tight.  We take it off and she really didn’t like that.  It tugged on her ears when we took it off.  We had to talk her into trying on Max’s because his was bigger to see if that one fit her so we knew what size to get her.  We get it on – she says much better.

We go to put Max’s helmet on him.  We get it on.  He doesn’t like it – wants it off.  It is too tight (which we should of known since it fit Mallory, but that never crossed our minds).  We go to take it off.  Cant get it off!  Stuck!  On his head!  He freaks out!  Cries!  Jesse is pulling!  It is so stuck on his head that when Jesse is pulling it off – Max is about to be lifted off the ground by this blasted helmet!  It is not coming off!  Max is in full on panic mode now!  We did get the helmet off!  And we traumatized Max!!  Not what we wanted!  We haven’t talked about it since with him.

We spent the rest of the day going to church and seeing family.

Button Reward–Bowling!

Mally & Max are still working hard and doing their jobs earning buttons almost every night.  Mally totally gets the buttons and her favorite thing to do is cash them in to watch a movie.  Max doesn’t spend his!!  He likes to mooch off his sister – she was the one always paying for the movie… we finally caught on though and he had to buy the snacks.

Otherwise they are little savers of their buttons!  They had so many buttons I was just about out of buttons to pay them!  I came up with a new reward – bowling!  It would cost each of them 120 buttons.  They both had enough (with plenty extra).  To the bowling alley we went!

I’m really trying hard to let go and just let Mallory wear what she wants.  It is so hard for me!  Especially if we are going to be in public.  I practiced this day.  We were going to a family event + the bowling alley… but I let her express her style.

Maybe I did this to myself!  See I totally remember dressing her in crazy outfits when she was wee tiny.  Strips, animal print & flowers.

Yup!  I did it to myself! 

Mally would toss her ball down the isle and then slowly walk backwards watching her ball knock down pins.

The ball was almost bigger then Max.  But he was in a do-it-himself kind of mood.  And when that happens (which is super rare) we just let him do it!

He would either stand with hands on his hips and watch or…

… he would come back here and stand with hands behind his back and watch.

I didn’t realize how often Max puts his hands behind his back until one of my Uncle’s saw him do it last summer.  Apparently my Great Grandpa often had his hands behind his back… which would be Max’s Great Great Grandpa. 

The kids did great bowling.  And it was a great reward for working so hard on their jobs each day.