potty time!

Well, it's that time again. Potty training time! My baby will be the fifth child I have potty trained. He is 18 months, which may sound a little early for potty training, but my middle child was done being potty trained shortly after 18 months. It takes oodles of patience, but it can be done! :) Today we are out of our one little pack of "big boy" undies so I left a diaper on him thinking that this was not going to work so well. However, he has surprised me by twice running to the potty and trying to climb on! His diaper was already wet, but at least I know he's making the connection. He especially enjoys the two m&ms he gets for trying on the potty! That's what he's studying in the picture below. :)

edible playdough

It has been soo hot lately that we haven't really gotten to go outside all that much so today I decided we needed a new activity. I have an awesome book filled with really simple games and activities for children and pulled it out to find the edible playdough recipe. It was a definite hit! It seriously tastes like peanut butter fudge! I made it at Kathryn Kamp this summer and I made it the first summer I had my girls, but they were so little then that they didn't remember that it was edible and played for a long time before I finally told them to taste it. On the other hand, it took the baby about 2 minutes to stick it in his mouth! :) Here are a few pics from the experience.

My baby is very in to saying "cheeeeeeeese!!" when we take his picture these days! :) He loved the experience of getting to squish the playdough between his fingers...as well as the taste! :)

My oldest. Ever the firstborn, this is how her area of the counter looked pretty much the entire time they were playing.

Aaaand my middle child! :) Her area was even worse than this by the end! :}

Here's the recipe if you want the playdough experience....or if you just want to eat some peanut butter "fudge"! :)

1 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups powedered sugar

1 (12oz) can vanilla frosting

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and knead until it becomes the right consistency. (Sometimes I add a bit more powdered sugar to help thicken it a bit.)

one more camp highlight

The last Friday of camp, my dear friend, Rebekah, drove up to see me. In the past, I have driven down to meet her, however, since I wasn't sure how many kids I would have that Friday and I also wasn't sure if I would have Uncle Mike to help drive everyone, and since she was not 8 1/2 months pregnant this summer, :) Rebekah kindly agreed to make the trip up to Adams. It was so good to see her and her precious girls even just for a couple hours! I have few friends whose point of view and opinions of parenting, discipline, life, faith, scrapbooking & stamping, etc. :) are so similar to mine. It is always encouraging to share stories with eachother and discuss parenting books that we've read. Her girls are so cute and very well behaved for a two and a half year old and an almost-one-year old. Here are a couple pictures from our lunch at the DQ Grill and Chill.

Anna Walton very much loved her vanilla ice cream cone with sprinkles!! :)

Uncle Mike did end up coming with us, even though he was exauhsted from his week at camp. I only had three of the Brown kids by lunch time, so it was a "small" crowd. :) Olivia thought Michael was absolutely wonderful and had a blast making funny faces and sounds with him. Olivia will turn one in just a couple days but I know she's having her birthday party tonight. Rebekah, I hope y'all have a fun party and I can't wait to hear all about it! :) Happy Birthday, Olivia!!

kidz fun kutz

Yesterday I got to take my baby to get his first "real" haircut! Mommy has trimmed his hair a couple of times but he hadn't had an official "first" haircut. Lauren was with me and we took the kids to Kidz Fun Kutz. It is a neat place, although you pay a little extra for the atmosphere. :) The layout inside is open and colorful, with several different play stations for waiting siblings, including compter games and coloring stations. My girls, however, opted to simply sit quietly and look at books! :) Here are a few pictures of how the whole process went:

The girls enjoyed just sitting and enjoying some new books and were very quiet the entire time.

The baby wasn't quite sure of this whole thing and burst into tears when I set him down in the cool fire engine chair. The three year old boy behind him screaming didn't help anything....

There were little TV's at each station playing the movie "Cars" that helped distract him. He also loved the SpongeBob clock on the wall at our station.

Our haircutting friend let him hold the yellow comb, which evidently brought great comfort to him as he held it/chewed on it the whole time. :)


The song from the pull-ups commercial is playing through my head: "I'm a big kid now!" (And yes, that is a tattoo on his arm. Both Mommy and Kiki think it's funny to give him fake tattoos...) :)

Finally, at the very end, he felt comfortable enough in his little fire engine to reach forward and ring the little bell. He's getting so big! And have I ever mentioned that I love little boys in overalls?? :)

little man

Why is it sometimes so surprising that life has continued even when we leave? Things are supposed to be exactly the same when we get back, right?? :) Ok, maybe not... My baby sure didn't stay the same over the two weeks I was gone! He is saying quite a few more words now including, "choo-choo!", "let's see", "all done!", "that's all", "where's dada at?", and last but most certainly not least..... "Kiki"!!!!! :)

Today his sisters are at preschool so it's just the piano tuning guy, me, and the baby at the house. I brought him a surprise of Crayola's new Tadoodles Easy Stampers and we tried them out. As you can see, he loves them! He got very frustrated that I wouldn't let him get down and carry them around with him. (I can just see the walls now with little cow, chick, and pig stamps all over them at about 2 feet off the floor! Ha!) :)

kathryn kamp 2008

Some of you already know that I go to a camp just above Nashville for two weeks every July, but many of you may not know exactly why or what I do there or how the whole thing got started. Here is a brief history of how what I do became known as "Kathryn Kamp." :)

In 1980, Joe Goodman, who lives in Adams, TN, which is about 30 minutes north of Nashville, started a Christian camp called Coldstream Christian Camp. He originally wanted it to be a relaxing place for pastors and missionaries but eventually the use of it broadened to other areas including two weeks of childrens' camp each summer.


In 1993-ish, the middle of Joe's three daughters, Melissa, married David Brown and after finishing college, the new couple moved back to Adams to eventually build a house on the Goodmans' land.

Most people who know me also know the Brown family and know that I have known David since I was three, that I grew up across the street from his family, and that his younger brother, Michael, is one of my two best friends.

In highschool, I went to be a counselor up at CCC a couple summers in a row. I had a blast each time but then college came and my summers got busy with work. Finally, the first summer after graduating from college, I was free and able to go back to help out at camp. This time, instead of being a counselor, I somehow landed the "cushy" job of staying up in Melissa's beautiful, *air conditioned* house, taking care of her four children, who were, at the time, too young to go to camp. It seems that each year that I have gone for the past 5 years, more children have been added to my list and somewhere between the second and third summers, the children started referring to my babysitting them as "Kathryn Kamp." Somehow that name stuck. Now I officially do a "camp" every summer for two weeks and usually follow the same theme that "big kid camp" uses.

This years' theme was Amazon Expedition and for the first week, I had three kiddos.....


Kailey, Tug, and Evan in our jungle room. We used a VBS program from the Creation Science Museum and learned about the 7 C's of creation: Creation, Corruption (Adam and Eve eating the fruit), Catastrophe (the flood), Confusion (the tower of Babel), Christ, Cross, and Consumation (when Jesus returns and makes all things good and new again).

This way cool slide was a huge hit during both weeks of camp! It brought some much-needed relief to the afternoon heat!

On Thursday, the last full day of camp, I usually plan a special activity. For the first week when I just have the smaller children, a trip to Chucky Cheese works well. They earn pompoms all week (those little fuzzy balls...) for doing chores, not complaining, being kind to one another, etc. and however many pompoms they have by Thursday afternoon is how many tokens they get to spend at Chucky Cheese.

Kailey, Tug, and Evan all loved this blue screen - you could see yourself on the TV screen! :)



The second week of camp I had all the girls who had been down at "big kid kamp" the week before, bringing my total to 11 kiddos! :) I actually LOVE having that many kids around - there is always someone to play with, always someone to help with a chore, always a bigger kid to run get a band-aid for a little kid's scraped knee.

Many people who know me well have heard me say that I would love to have twelve children. Well, here's a glimpse of what my dinner table would look like if I did! Only mine would have to be even bigger than this! :)

This is me and Abby. Abby is David and Melissa's oldest and is 12. She is always a great camper, but this year I decided to make her my "Jr. Counselor." :) She was very excited and I was a little afraid that some of the other kids who are not that much younger than her might be a little jealous. But I decided to leave their heart attitudes in God's hands, and He, of course, was faithful and took care of them. Everyone noticed when Abby's name was not on the list of clean up teams and when I explained the reason why, the entire group clapped and cheered for her! :)


And now, let me introduce you to my "campers":

Kaitlynd and Jax

Bethanie and Evan

Claire and Claudia

Laurel and Emily

(For those of you who know the Brown family...can you tell which of these are Brown kids?? :)

Ok, this was one of the coolest parts of camp this year! This chinook helicopter from Ft. Campbell came so that the campers could talk to some of the soldiers and see the inside of it. Being there to watch it land was an incredible experience! It kicked up a dust storm that made it's way across the field towards us, snapping the flagpole, blowing the baby pools (used for games) up against the building that I am standing in, shaking the cars, and even blowing the back window out of one guy's van!

After camp was over, Michael and I stayed for the weekend to spend more time with David and Melissa and kids. Saturday afternoon we went for a swim in the lake. Well, let's rephrase that...the kids went for a swim. I did not. I like to see the bottom of what I'm swimming in! :} (Yes, I'm a pool snob now...) :)

Three of the boys who came to Boys' Camp were friends of Kailey and Tug's family and when asked what one boy's birthday wish would be he said he would wish to spend one more week with K and T's family...and so his wish was granted. :) A couple of them had been at camp last summer when Michael and David had helped them all make fishing poles out of bamboo and the boys came back and told Michael they had used them all year long and would he take them fishing again? Fishing being one of Michael's favorite activities, he was happy to take them so while the little kids were swimming, we went around to the other side of the lake to fish. Malik (not sure if that's the correct spelling...), the boy in the blue shorts, caught 18 little fish that afternoon! I loved watching Michael interacting with these boys. He was so patient and kind in helping them bait their hooks and taking the fish off, even though it took away from his own fishing time. I definitely believe he has chosen the right profession (being a teacher), no matter what other people tell him!

Michael, after a long, hard week of camp, ready to go home and crash...and prepare for another trip down to florida later this week! But that's another story...

I love being at camp, even though most of the time I am up at Mel's house running my own "kamp". I believe in the ministry that Mr. Joe started the year I was born and I love to see where God takes it year by year. I would not want to be anywhere else during those two weeks of summer! The people who work there are awesome and have a heart for the children who come to camp, many of whom are from broken homes and need a little extra love and fun during their summers. Some moments are stressful (just ask Michael...he can tell the stories better than I can since he was with the campers all week) and things don't ever turn out like any of us had envisioned, but I know everyone would say all the stress and frustration of those moments is worth the lives of the two girls who asked Jesus into their hearts, or any other seeds that got planted.

I will enjoy whatever this next year brings, but I will be looking forward to next July when I will again drive down the country road off of Exit 19 that will take me back to Coldstream Christian Camp for two (possibly four??) more weeks.

waiting

Gee, this doesn't make me miss my baby at all! :-p Sniff, sniff. Wendy sent me this picture of my baby looking out the window. I'll put her caption below...

"Is Kiki here yet?????"

first tooth!!

So, I am currently away at camp for two weeks, which I will explain and put up pictures of sometime later. However, I got a picture in my email today and just had to put it on here. Evidentally, my oldest went to preschool yesterday morning a totally normal 5 year old....and came home yesterday afternoon with her very first, very loose tooth! And this morning that tooth decided to pop out!! I am still very sad that I missed the Big Event. I will also miss being there in the morning to hear all about the tooth fairy coming! It's another one of those situations where I am so excited about her reaching a new milestone in her little life...and yet sad that she's already that big!! Aren't kids supposed to loose their first teeth in first grade?? She hasn't even started kindergarten yet!! And she is also not supposed to grow, change, or do anything new and exciting while I am gone! Guess she didn't get that memo..... :}

TA DA!!

a "family" reunion :)

The fourth of July was a great day and brought a "family"reunion of sorts. Two families of friends of mine from highschool were in town for the holiday and so we all met for lunch at Panera.

This is the "Burch Bunch"...or at least part of them. Terry, Mike, Sarah, and Matt. I have known them since my homeschool days, rode with them to youth group many times, hung out at their house, took a trip with Terry and her other son, Daniel, and babysat and changed Sarah's diaper! (Ha! She'll love knowing I put that on here!) They are an awesome family and I miss having them just down the street.

Sarah enjoys a cold drink on the hot day. :) I can't believe how old she is!

Rusty is another friend from highschool. I actually met him through Matt Burch (in the first picture) and then his wife, Rachel and I wrote letters to each other when she an Rusty were in college together so that when he brought her down to TN to meet his family for the first time, she would at least have one friend already down here! :) I even had the privilege of being in their beautiful wedding up in Maine, where Rachel is from. (The trip I took with Terry Burch and her son Daniel!) Being with these two families brings back so many fun memories!! :) The time we had was way too short and the time in between visits is always waaaay too long.

Anna and Corban

Baby Joel. He is 17 days older than my baby but a bit tinier and at least on that day, was a lot more quiet! :}

This is 3 year old RJ. I think all of Rusty and Rachel's kids are adorable and sweet, but RJ is just wonderful! He eyes have soo much sparkle in them and he has so much personality. He is defiitely all boy and his little impish grin makes it seem like he is dreaming up some fantastic way to get dirty or get in trouble! :}

ever feel...

...like you are losing your mind?? I have had lots of friends say that once you become pregnant for the first time, your brain and memory is never the same. :} Well, I've never been pregnant...but I think having three kiddos all day every day has had generally the same effect on me. And I enjoy knowing that I'm not the only one who does dumb things sometimes, or forgets things other times, etc. So because I figure I'm not the only one who appreciates hearing about those moments...I will share this one with you.

I leave this Saturday for two weeks and so this week is very busy with getting camp crafts planned and supplies bought, as well as packing, cleaning the house, still making time to spend with friends, and all this after being with my kids all day. So the other day as I was in a hurry to get out to the store, yet again, for more craft supplies, I quickly slipped on my favorite of all shoes - flipflops! - and went to find my shopping list, purse, cell phone, keys, etc. After about five minutes of searching for the assortment of items needed just to leave the house (and this with no kids to take with me!), I finally stepped out the door onto my deck, which is when I realized that something did not feel quite right. I looked down and, well, .... see for yourself...

I can't tell you how thankful I am that I didn't make it all the way to the store like this! Although, then I would have had an excuse to buy another pair of flipflops....! :)