two more

...of Charlotte. Because Emily has been patiently waiting for them. :)

charlotte

Like I said at the end of my last post, I had a couple friends come to see me during the first week of camp. Jodi was my close friend and roommate in college for my Jr and Sr years. She is one of the few friends from college who you know is a friend for life. We still keep in touch...although a little less frequently now that she's a mom to three kiddos! :} I was excited to meet her newest addition, Charlotte, and of course had to get in a few pics.

(And, Mrs. T., as I was taking them, I kept remembering the last little Charlotte I got to hold when she was about this same age...three hours of pure bliss while that little Charlotte snuggled against my chest! Now she's a big kid...sniff, sniff...)

Lol, this one is actually probably my favorite! I love her chubby little cheeks! She looks so worried here. :) But she was smiling before too long...

Hey, Em, thanks for letting me use your sheet as a backdrop! It was a perfect match for her outfit...hmm...maybe I should get sheets like that.... :)

Snug as a bug. :}

Jodi, it was great to see you! Come see me in the near future...you have to bring my cri-cut back anyways sooner or later! :)

k.kamp 2011 ~ boyz week

I'm back. From spending two weeks at my favorite spot on earth. It is always a busy couple of weeks but I love being there in the country at camp. Every worry seems to fall away as you get off the exit and enter another world as you turn onto the gravel road that leads to Coldstream. Lauren has gone with me the past four years and it is our tradition now to play Lady Antebellum as we take that exit. The music just fits somehow. :)

We started the first week of camp with a small church service on Sunday morning, followed by a baptism down at the lake. Personally, I think we should start every year that way! Tom had accepted Christ at an earlier age but wanted to be baptized again. He has spent this summer working with Jon (in the green shirt) around camp and has his own blog. He is one of a group that comes from Indiana. They have been coming now for quite a few years to help out. During the first week, the girls are counselors and the guys help Jon around camp, then they switch for the second week. Tom and a couple of the others have become good friends of Lauren's in the past year.

This first week, I had four boys, ages 8, 8, 10, and 12. Plus a 3 year old. Plus Sophie for part of the time. Plus two little sisters who are too young for overnight camp but were at day camp during the day until about 4pm. However, no boys that age want to be stuck at the house with little kids and a grown up girl, so Jon came and grabbed them every day and let them go work with the Indiana guys, which they loved. And I'm glad they got to do it! Especially when one afternoon they came back to the house after working all day and I realized it was very quiet in Evan's room. With four boys, that doesn't happen very often! I about died when I opened the door and found this:

Tug doing Clayton's hair while Clayton sits and flips through a magazine?!?! I took a pic and text it to Michael down at camp saying "proof that they boys need to be with Jon this week!!" Ha! I promise I had NOTHING to do with this!!!

Evan (right) was also working on Jackson's hair but I didn't get that pic. I won't mention that they might have proceeded into the bathroom to try out the girls' curling iron/hair straighteners..... oh wait. :}

In the evenings, Jackson's older brother, Tyler, who I used to have with me but is also too old, would come up to hang out with the guys. One day he came in the house and went upstairs, I assumed to find the other boys. A few minutes later I realized all the boys were outside, not upstairs, but I didn't remember seeing Tyler come back down. I went up to investigate and found this:

Tyler, on the floor with both my evening girls, letting them climb all over him! Sheesh! Melt my heart! :) He was obviously loving every minute of it until I snuck back with my camera and he heard the 'click'. At that point he immediately sat up and told me he would do chores for me if I would delete the picture...and where was the kitten that had found it's way inside anyways? He needed to take it back outside....! (Sorry, Ty! No was was I deleting that picture!!) :}

This was K's first year with me. She's hilarious.

This is a different K. She has been with me for several years now. Every time I saw the two K's playing, they were giggling, arm in arm, cuddling with the kittens kind of playing. I later discovered they also had a knock-down drag-out fight and didn't always get along so well!!

I had two friends come and visit during this week as well...one of whom has a 9 week old little girl. Pics of her coming next. :)

sophia

I will write a post about camp later...but for now Michael and I stole away to SB for a few minutes for some internet time since I have been itching to edit these photos! This little girl is the daughter of my friend Jewel. Jewel and I were co-counselors at camp waaay back in highschool! Now she pretty much runs camp! :} I kept Sophie for a couple days and enjoyed getting to try a couple different shots of her. Here are my favorites...

Jewel, I enjoyed getting to hang out with you a little bit while you were up at the house this week. Thanks for trusting me with Sophie - I loved getting to have a baby at camp again!! :)

Ok...back to my favorite spot on earth I go...after one more WalMart run.... :) More later!

motorcycle ride

My kids dad just sold one of his motorcycles, but before he did, he took the kids on a ride up and down the driveway. They loved it! Makes me nervous! But at least it was just the driveway! Lol!

Ha! Love this look!

This week and next week I am at my favorite spot on earth doing this... with little internet access. So if it's quiet around here...that's why. :)

etsying :)

Recently, in my lack of blogging, I have been busy making some new items for my etsy shop!

Leah figured out how to make these super cute paci clips and I might be a little obsessed with all the cute ribbon options now! :)

Small hair bows. Decided to put solid colors on first but i have more exciting ones coming soon.

And some cute wall signs! Leah had asked me to make a sign with this quote on it for her new laundry room at the house they recently bought. Seemed like a good thing to stick on etsy. One more coming soon...as soon as Lauren sends me the picture... :)

All the sales of items in my etsy shop go directly to a family pursuing an adoption.