Jump Creek Falls, Princess Dance Camp

Princess CAMP! The little girls were following the calendar for a couple weeks counting down the days until Monday evening. I signed the girls up for a fun little dance camp with a Princess theme. The girls could come all dressed up as their favorite Princesses and dance their little hearts away. Evelyn was so ready for camp, she spent a good while on her make up and outfit...then she spent another good while getting Josie ready! Lately those two are playing and playing together, warms my heart to see them interact positively. The girls had 5 evenings of dance as Cinderella, Ariel, Elsa, and some repeats. I quite enjoyed watching the girls dance. During the first session the instructor asked the girls to put their noses near their toes...Josie took that literally and planted her toes on her nose. Wednesday Josie was too tired to dance so she spent half the lesson with me watching the girls. Evelyn has natural flair and grace that will carry her far. It's time again for dedicated lessons once things calm down. I got information at the rec center for home-schooling PE (yes! Mia moaned at that thought) and gymnastics.

Our Monday crafts were a dismal failure. I took the kids to the Dollar Store to get cheap art supplies. We stocked up on paper doilies, shaving cream, glue, color books, toothpaste, shells, paint, and other such items. Everett kindly bought Phillip a present, and Phillip returned the favor. The boys even spent their own money to get the girls a little treat. Mia lead the pack making several failed batches of slime, toothpaste slime, glue slime (the glue was terrible), and some other form of slime. Bummer. I spent the evening cleaning the clutter upstairs and in my bathroom. Justin is not happy about our later bedtime. He was miffed we had scripture devotional yet again at 9:50 pm. As a family we made a goal to hold devotional at 9 pm instead. Let's do it!

Tuesday morning we left at 8:15 to head over to the Palmer's home. Esther was out painting the last few coats on the trim for the morning. I painted the garage trim, the porch, and door trim white. Esther was up on the roof burning her legs as she tried to paint the roof trim. We had fun listening/singing to music and talking. The kids kept amused watching a bit of TV, swimming, and playing in the yard. I worked until noon then headed home to clean my own house. Thankfully, we did a family clean session so most of the cleaning was just the mommy stuff like mopping the floor, deep cleaning bathrooms and the kitchen. The kids did an excellent job cleaning up the yard clutter with Justin after dinner. John, Courtenay, and kids stayed the night with us on their way to Oregon for a family reunion. We quite enjoyed their short stay! Had a moment to show off our new home, learn how to do twisty ponytails, and get some exclusive cousin time. I ended up with a 3-day migraine, kicked my booty to the moon and back. My Great-Uncle Mel passed away early Wednesday morning with his family surrounding him at home. I teared up over the flag display the Boy Scouts put in Aunt Mary's yard. I will never forget his candy handshakes and kind words.

Thursday we beat boredom by swimming for a couple hours at Lincoln pool with Ambree and a new friend for Evelyn, Scarlet. Her friend Ellie was gone so I walked to another neighbor with a girl near Evelyn's age, knocked on the door and asked if we could take Scarlet swimming! I'm grateful her mother said sure and lent me Scarlet for the afternoon. Mia and cousin Clare stayed home doing whatever teens do for fun: reading, slime making, bracelet making, music listening, and gotcha life art. The kids and I got a little crispy at the pool! We went at noon instead of 3 pm plus I ran out of sunblock. Josie and I were a bit pink, the boys just under their eyes. Most of my kids have achieved summer skin so don't burn much anymore, just pale Josie needs extra sunblock. It felt great to reach out to an unknown neighbor! We both needed our kids entertained outside.

Friday we headed to Jump Creek for the day. I miscommunicated the time to Sarah Ostler earlier in the week. She said afternoon was better but I said morning was better, she literally meant the water was warmer in the afternoon since the sun passes over the pool area after noon. We went in the morning. Esther and kids met us up at the pool as well. We hiked in with a picnic lunch and drinks. The water was chilly! Did that stop the boys? Nope! The boys literally jumped right in whooping and hollering all the while. Mia and Evelyn eventually got wet. Josie and I were content to wet our feet in the frigid pool. Josie and Eli made piles of rocks and sand. Josie was moving huge rocks half of her body weight! There was a fun little rock perch next to the waterfall, everyone present vied for that exclusive spot. Evelyn scraped herself a couple times while we played Floor is Lava. She earned a nasty scrape on her thigh. I was surprised Evelyn was brave enough to swim out to the waterfall, the water was quite deep out there. Esther and I captured a couple crayfish much to the kid's disgust or delight. Mia insisted the sand made her skin glow stick glowing! Justin and I went on a little date for pizza! That was nice to get out.

Saturday we were all tired, it was a busy week. Dog Vader peed and pooped inside the house several more times this past week. So, I put up an ultimatum: dog door or the dog goes. I ordered a dog door and found someone to install it next week. Guess he gets to stay. Evelyn bugged me for a week to update our 74 hour kits. She was thrilled I finally got out the packs. The kids are in love with the stuffies inside their packs: Aurora kitty, derpy cheetah, Sir-Hops-a-Lot, and White Dog Vader. My main objective was to update the clothes since a couple years had passed. Basically Phillip's pack is Everett's now, and Evelyn's is Josie's. We made a trip to Goodwill for clothes to fit Mia, Phillip, and Evelyn. I wanted to check out an Army Supply store. There was one in downtown Nampa area we went to check out. Turns out it was an Apocalypse themed gun store. We were all impressed with the inventory of Trump hand guns and America is Great themed guns. The only surplus items carried were a few boxes of MREs. The kids each picked out 2 meals and warmers for their packs. So fun. Our living room area is cluttered with stuff as I figure out the best way to update our emergency preparedness. The older kids all need larger packs, more food, and more supplies. The evening project time table is now looking like a longer project. Most of the SOS bars will expire next year, some expired a couple years ago, so those need replacing as well. Let's get this project finished! Everett had a spiritual experience connected with the 72-hour kits. He prayed about what we were doing and felt like we will need the packs in the near future. Today he prayed again today and felt like April 7th (year unknown) will be the date in question! He wrote down his experience in his devotional journal. He was thrilled to finally have an experience with the Holy Ghost. He was quite emotional and very sincere...who knows? Regardless of the date we will be ready. 

The boys and I are reading book 2 of Fablehaven. Last night we read about the revenant with the thorn in his neck and Seth getting swallowed by the demon glutton. As I was leaving their room Phillip started discussing how revenants got their nails. He supposed maybe there is a cursed nail gun popping random people into zombies. Ha ha ha. Those two boys stay up past 11 pm most night chatting away in the dark.