Scout Camp

This has been one tough week. Swimming lessons in the morning and Scout camp at night. I signed Jonathon up for camp and Jackson and Madi had the option of doing a little Jr. camper program, too. They have been out at camp until 10pm every night. Last night Madi walked in the house, crawled into my lap and fell asleep. They have loved every second of camp.

Thats the 'Tot Lot' cabin that Madi and Jackson go to. The leaders there have had some really great activities for them to do. But when I got there today, no one was there yet. So I took them around with our den.

That is Madi shooting a bow and arrow.

There is Jackson learning how, too. Jonathon actually knew what he was doing. He hit the target a couple of times. Then it was on to the rock wall.

There is Madi climbing the rock wall. She loved it.

Jackson loves the rock wall. I think I want one in my house so he will stop climbing on everything else and focus his energy on that.

Jonathon really does well on the rock wall. Maybe it's because he is so thin but he just moves around like a pro up there.
With all those kids having so much fun up there it was really hard to resist the urge to get up there and climb it myself. You're thinking, ' Oh, but Amanda, I'm so glad you didn't. That could have been really embarrassing for you.'

It wasn't too embarrassing until one of the scouts grabbed my camera and took this. Now, I'm suddenly not feeling as good about it as I did.

Then it was on to swimming.


That's Jonathon throwing himself around up there in the water. He loves the swimming, too.

Back at the Tot Lot Jackson and Madi were having fun in their own little pool. Wonder what the maximum occupancy on that tiny pool is? Whatever it is, I think they have definately exceeded it.
Then there's the bounce house. I didn't feel any urge to get in that one.

All of that and we were only an hour and a half into it. They were going to be shooting bb guns, making crafts and doing all sorts of crazy things. I'm really thankful someone had to come home and watch Emma Mae. I'm tired.

Last night, after I left, Jonathon earned the JR USA Shooting Team badge by scoring 42 on his target test. Each scout shoots 5 BB's and each hit gets a certain amount of points. If they get over 35 points in their 5 shots they get the badge.

Can you see there where Jonathon hit the bullseye, twice??? (I know that sounded really boastful but we were so excited for him)

Outer Banks

I know that it has been a while but I swear that I have not abandoned my blog. I still heart my blog very much. It has just been one crazy summer. I think that was a movie starring John Cusak. How much do I love John Cusak? Isn't he just the best? Anyway, sorry it has been so long. I know that everyone has been anxiously awaiting my vacation post. But now that school is out I am constantly trying to entertain 4 kids so that I don't go totally crazy. It's not working. I'm going totally crazy, anyway. So, back to the vacation. Did I mention it was fabulous?

Our first night there, we couldn't wait to get to the beach. The whole group headed on down. That's Emma Mae with Grandma Pat. I said the whole group, but Corey and Karen Pittman and their kids weren't there yet. They are not technically related but they are very close to our family. And Farrel (FIL) didn't come down, either. I don't know if he even saw the beach.
This is just a picture of everyone checking out the beach. The sand was clean and beautiful. I was very surprised by how big the waves were and how strong the current was. The small kids really avoided getting in the water at all. But the older kids loved the boogie boarding and body surfing.
There are our handsome men. Looks like a motley crew, huh? It looks like they could get in some real trouble if it weren't for those silly babies.

The next night we went out for ice cream. The calories didn't count since we had to walk a mile and a half to get there. The kids were so tired and hot and sweaty by the time we got there that they really didn't even want anything.

Breakfast of champions. Yoohoo and chocolate covered donuts. Only on vacation is that sort of craziness allowed.

We checked out the Wright Brothers Memorial. I thought it was pretty amazing to be there where the first flight took place. I must say that I was a little touched by the whole experience.

Then we had to walk all the way up to it. After our walk for ice cream this was nothing. Not really. It was huge. That hill to get up there was crazy steep and we were going through a heat wave that made it feel like it was 112 degrees outside. By the time I got there I thought my calves were going to fall right off my body.

Apparently, Bethany thought it was pretty rough, too.

If you look past the kung fu boys you will see the path that Orville and Wilbur took on their first flight. I don't know if the kids soaked it in as much as I did.

We had had such a tough day. We deserved a little something to treat ourselves.

Look at all those flavors of soft serve. Wow, who knew that you could get all those flavors? I don't really care for soft serve but Echo was seriously excited.

So was Chris Rauscher.

And Farrel. (In one of his only vacation appearences)

Chris Kirkland was, too.

So, now we're off to see this great museum on Okaroke Island. Okaroke was my most favorite place on our trip. You had to take a ferry to get to this 13 mile island that is famous only for being the place that Blackbeard met his demise. We decided to check out this museum we saw in a tourist book. This museum was a one hour car ride and 45 minute ferry ride a way.

This is the museum we came all that way to see. Oh, you can't really see it? That's because with all of us in it, it was full. That's how small and sort of sad it was. But the trip on the ferry was well worth the Blackbeard disappointment.

That's Emma Mae trying to escape me on the ferry. (And I wondered it on the ferry so I will share it now. How long do you think that woman has had those jeans? And I feel like that has got to be painful, right? Oh, the chafing.)

It had been a long day.

"Oh, I see where we are." Seriously, her words. Notice how she's holding it the wrong way.

While we were there we also partook of some dolphin watching. I think Emma Mae loved it the most.

Not really. She hated it. Most every minute of it.

But everyone else loved it. Or maybe they just loved the first mate.

I came back from vacation more tired than I was before I left. I was proud because I tried to keep up with my SLFP by taking the stairs in our three story house rather than the elevator. And all that walking had to help me shed a few pounds. But the donuts probably cancelled out all the walking.

Anyway, guys I'm back. I will be updating much more often, so keep checking in.

A Letter for Madi

Mambi Cat,

When you were born, I was so excited to finally get to buy sweet baby girl dresses. I had no idea how different it would be to have a girl. From the beginning, your personality was completely opposite of the boys. You would smile and just lay back and watch everything. I was, obviously, not the only one completely in love with you. Jackson wanted to do everything for you. As I was looking through my pictures it reminded me that on more than one occasion I had to get him out of your crib. He would climb in just to look at you and play with you.

You always seemed so happy just to be in the family. You were the most laid back baby I had ever met. (And I needed that after Jackson)

We love you Madi girl and we feel so happy to have you in our lives. Happy Birthday, sugar bugar!!

Proxy Mother Daughter Dance

Here it is. The long awaited picture of us together the night of the dance. I have glitter all over my face. In the picture it just looks like sweat. The glitter was provided by my other dancing diva neice, Lynsey.

Here is how it all went down. A couple of weeks ago, Echo called and told me that Bethany wanted to do the mother daughter dance at her recital. Echo was not able to do the dance. She was having surgery the day before and wasn't sure she would be up to moving around on the stage the day after. Echo said that when she asked Bethany who she wanted to do the dance with, Bethany said, 'Aunt Amanda'. How can you resist that? Echo thought the dance would be fairly easy and no problemo. Just a few turns around the stage and done.

Not so much.

I have no dance history whatsoever. We had a whole coreographed routine that most people might consider very easy. At all of the practices, I stumbled through it. I wasn't turning at the right time or in the same direction as everyone else. I actually grew very anxious about the whole thing.

Finally, the night of the recital came and when I got there I realized that we were one of the last few numbers. I hoped that meant that lots of people would be gone by the time I got up there to work my magic. Bethany and Lynsey did their other numbers perfectly. I was so proud of them. They had the biggest smiles and the most personality on the stage.

The time came for my big moment and as we were walking up to the stage I said, "I think I'm going to vomit." Bethany said, "It's okay, just don't think about all the people out there. Just do it for yourself, you'll be fine." It felt very good to be comforted by my 6 year old neice. Nothing brings you back to reality like the sweet words of a child, right?

And I was fine. I actually got all of the steps right, I think. Now, I'm sure that I wasn't doing them exactly the way they should be done but I turned and twisted the right way at the right times. And of course Bethany was a little superstar up there with me. About half way through the dance, I realized it was almost over and couldn't believe I had spent so much time so worried about a very brief (about 3 min) dance.

Thank you, Bethany and Echo. I was honored to be a part of this with you gals. Love you.



I did have a date to the dance recital.

We shared a kit kat out in the lobby during a break.



Side note about Madi. She had her very first sleepover last night. I only cried for a minute. I'll bet they had so much fun. As a matter of fact, if you wanted to see how much fun, check out Christon's blog.

Side note about Echo. She is fine and the surgery went well. Maybe if she gets back to the blog one day, she will tell you all about it.

Family Vacation

I believe everyone has been formally introduced to Pat. Otherwise known as my fabulous mother in law. But have you met her better half? I can't remember, so here you go. Farrel, Bloggers, Bloggers, Farrel.


(Yes, Emma Mae is trying to figure out how to nurse with him in that shot) Anyway, for the past few years our Christmas present from them has been a family vacation. They rent the house (large enough for our giant family) and our only obligation is to cook one dinner per family while we are there. These trips have been some of the most fun times of my adult life. I love my family in law and feel very lucky to have them.

Somehow Emma Mae and I missed out on our family shot. (Probably because I took it and she was home trying to nurse Farrel)

That's Josh's brother and his wife Echo. All of Chris' kids were not available for the picture but here are a few of them. I'm not sure if I have mentioned Echo...just kidding. By now, you should all know that we are BFF.

This is Josh's sister Courtney and her husband Christopher. She has been very pregnant on the last two vacations and I am sure she is very ready for a vacation where she will be able to get comfortable and relax. Except for chasing after the two babies under two, of course.

We all have such a blast on Family Vacation and I am so excited to go. We will leave on Friday to head for Outer Banks, North Carolina. It is such a great time to just relax at the beach and hang out.

This will be our first vacation without Laura. I'm sure that we will all think of her and miss her a lot. But our family really needs this trip and we are all determined to have the best time possible.

Try not to miss me Bloggy Friends. I'll be back. And maybe I'll even try to post while I am gone. Maybe.