Outdoor Day

RVA offered an outdoor day at Camp Forest Springs.  The kids had gone to camp over the summer and loved it so I knew we had to sign up and go to this event.  Jesse told us we had to do the bog walk and so we hit up that event first.  

It was a half mile hike into the bog.  Did I mention we had two 3-year olds with us!!  Oh and we had to wake them at an insane hour and be out of the house at 7:15 am to get here at 8:30am!!  We are homeschoolers!!  We don't do this get out of the house in the crazy hour of the morning stuff!!  Well I thought everything was going super well for our morning.  I packed the night before and so I thought I was on top of my game!  Until I got 10 minutes out and realized I had forgotten our lunches!!!  Turn around!!  Well we ended up late!  Surprise!!!  Homeschoolers don't do mornings!!  So we now have these two 3-year olds that we had to wake up to leave and well now they have to walk a half mile and it is only 9am!!  They were pokey and cranky and whiny!!  

But we made it to the bog!!!   And it is fascinating!!  

You could take your socks and shoes off and walk on the bog!  It is 20ft deep below this floating floor!  Does that freak anyone out besides me?  Melanie stepped out on the floating floor!!  The kids kept running far away and I so desperately wanted to yell for them to come back in case they fell in.  Thankfully no one did!!  

The 3 girls.  Max was off exploring.

The kids loved the bog!  Then we only got to pick one more adventure and I really wanted the kids to rock climb.  They are really into American Ninja Warrior and I thought this would be right up their sleeve.  Sure enough.  They loved it.  Mallory went to the top so quickly.  I think she was to the top within a minute or two.  Super quick.

Rang the bell and came back down!!

Max let his nerves and excitement get the best of him in the beginning.  

He pulled it together and made it to the top, rang the bell and came back down.

We had beautiful weather... super humid and hot... but for an outdoor day it was great!!  This might be one of the kids favorite field trips.  

Haircuts!!

One day I looked at the girls and I just wanted them to get their hair cut!  I called and got them in right that afternoon!!  I took some before pictures

Melanie has never had her haircut.  So this was her first hair cut at 3 years old!!  Mallory went first and did great.  She has had just a few haircuts.  She does not want short hair at all.  Like over lunch she was in tears (real tears) because she thought I wanted to cut it all off.  No no no no!!  I did not know, until that moment, that she was so attached to her hair.  She also tells me that Tangled is her favorite movie... so maybe she is going for that kind of length.  Not sure.  

Melanie gets in the chair and oh my gosh.  She was a hoot.  Even the stylist was giggling and asking if she could keep Melanie.  She was just making faces in the mirror and just being her funny little self.  Then an older lady walked in and Melanie could see her in the mirror and she says, "Why do I see a Grandma wearing pajamas?"  We lost it!  Giggles came!  Thankfully the lady didn't hear us or had no idea what she said.  The lady was not wearing pajamas... she was just wearing patterned pants.

Cut the bed head right off these girls!!!  Mallory wanted the curls and braids and Melanie wanted nothing.  Don't curl it.  Don't braid it.  But the stylist couldn't resist a few curls and a pony!!  

Books I Am Reading

I love it when I read blogs and they list the books they have read or are currently reading.  I am trying really hard to get back into reading.  I always am reading a self-help, faith growing type book, but I am trying to branch into a more fun easy read book also.  

Here is my stack at this very moment.

Crazy Rich Asians... is the fun book.  Ha.  I saw it on another blog and requested it at the library and it has not disappointed.  It is light and funny and I just wish I had more time for fun reading.  By the end of the day I sometimes just can't will my brain or eyes to read.  It is much easier to watch The Office and fall asleep within 5 minutes.  Literally.  Jesse gets so mad that I can't stay awake and watch TV (or movies) with him.  Please don't go and request it from the library just yet because I need about 3 more renewals before I will be ready to give it back.  And if you request it they will make me give it back!!  

desperate... oh moms!!  I did this book with 2 of my homeschooling moms this summer as kind of a book club of sorts.  There was only 3 of us so not sure that is a book club.  This book!!  Spoke right to my heart and soul.  I have so many things underlined!!  Shall I just share a few?  Okay!!

Anger and resentment were living just under my skin.  Exhausted, out of my mind, and still hormonal, every day felt like a fight.  Feelings of desperation were like an ever-present shadow over the good in my life.  Experiencing hope in Jesus felt like chasing gold at the end of a rainbow... getting to it was always out of reach.  Motherhood was something I planned for, something I wanted, so why was living it out so drastically different from my expectations?

..."good" motherliness has nothing to do with how God sees me.  Nothing.  I am pleasing to Him on my good days and my bad days.  His love for me never wavers... and never will.  Because I am His.

We can approach the throne of grace with confidence; can your children approach you with confidence, knowing they will be loved no matter what?  Let them know that you are on their team; that you are for them and not against them; that you will forgive, always, just as the Father forgives.

Good nuggets!!!  I already want to read it again and soak up more!!  Parenting is hard stuff!!  Homeschooling is hard stuff!!  I need these kind of books to put me back on the right path of why I do what I do!!  This book goes back and forth between a young mom who is drowning in her role and an older wiser mom who encourages her (and us) to keep fighting.

For the Love... is a book I just got and I am only 3 chapters in, but I can tell already it is going to be a good one!!  It is how to handle and love and give grace to ALL the people in our lives.