Camping at Daisy State Park

Neil decided that he wanted to go camping for Father's Day.  I loved camping as a kid!  The boys were so excited!  Rebecca and Daniel kept Sarah Kathryn for us and I am so glad they did!  She would have not enjoyed camping in a pop-up with no A/C and no place to crawl around.  Thanks, Rebecca and Daniel!

We drove up to Arkansas on Friday afternoon.  It was an easy drive and we made it in a couple hours.  We stopped at Nadine's for dinner.  We noticed that all the restaurants in the small Arkansas towns were named after someone.  We got to camp and Neil started setting up the camper while I occupied the boys.  We checked out the bath house and our camping neighbors.  The next camp site over had a 9 year old boy from  Bossier and 2 down from us was Lee Sims, a teacher I taught with at CSHS!  Small world!  Can't get away from anyone!  The boys stayed up and played until 10.  Neil took Henry for a shower and we all went to bed. 

We got up the next morning feeling sticky and hot!  Neil and Bennett went to Darlene's restaurant to get coffee and then came back and made breakfast.  Mmmmmmm..nothing like breakfast at camp.  Those are my aunt's words...not mine!  It was delish.

Camp Chef...he is good-looking and a good cook.

We were up and at 'em by 9am.  Our neighbors weren't even awake when we left for our day of adventure!  We stopped for a quick picture and then headed to the Crater of Diamonds state park.

We didn't know that the Crater of Diamonds was having their annual Gemboree this weekend!  There were lots of people, games, and prizes.  The first game was "Diamond Toss" which was really just bean bag toss.  They had different age groups and the Lewis brothers both won their age groups!  Lewis brothers sweeping the competition!!!!

Henry won first place in 3-5 year olds and won that sweet water gun.  Here he is with the park ranger.

Bennett won 2nd in the 6-10 year olds.  He won some water grenades.

Off to dig for diamonds!  We didn't find anything.  We were very unprepared.  We brought some beach toys and a sand sifter and no.  Just no.  I guess diamond digging isn't for us!

We hung up our shovels and had a picnic lunch while we waited for the pool to open.  After a hot morning, this is just what we needed!  The little water park had slides, waterfalls, and rocks.  So fun!  Except they told the boys they couldn't play with their toys that they won there.  Hmmm.. weird.  There was some great people watching, too!

Our next stop was Dino Dig.  It was a pawn store that had a room with sand in it with buried rocks.  It was a delight!  The a/c was blasting and it was heaven.  It was so clean too.  We had a family competition to see who could find the most rocks.  I think they dug for 2 hours.  I fell asleep in the chair at one point because it was so quiet because we were the only ones there.  Delightful!

After digging and swimming...this 3 year old needed a nap.  We let him nap in the running car for 2 hours.

We got back to camp and it was the perfect time to break out my sweet scavenger hunt bags.  I printed off a list, taped it to a bag, and added a pencil.  I thought they were pretty sweet!  We even had one for the next door kid. 

After nap sleepy boy.

Water gun fun.

We met another little boy from up the street.  He was 8 and I don't remember his name,  What I do remember is that we never saw his parents and the kid was always around us.  I guess I am just paranoid, but I like the know where my babies are at all times.

S'more.  mmmmmm.

This boy loves marshmallows!

The next time I go camping I would like a camper with A/C or maybe just a different time of year.  It was nice not wearing make-up for a couple days!

Sarah Kathryn's "First" Bath

After the boys were bathed, I said "let's give Satah Kathryn her first bath!" Bennett said "mom, don't you mean SECOND bath?" Oops...I guess I do because she did have one in the hospital!

The boys loved gettin the water ready. They really just watched me sponges her off and seemed to enjoy just being there.

Sarah Kathryn did not love her little sponge bath! She screamed through the whole thing. I don't think I would have liked it either! But, until her cord falls off this is how we have to do get it done.

Big Brothers

Nana and Granddad brought the boys home on Friday. We had gotten home Wednesday afternoon so we got to have 2 full days and nights with Sarah Kathryn. It was nice, but we missed our boys!  They were so excited to be at home with her.  They were also pretty excited about their big brother presents. Bennett will play with his toys and say "my sister gave me this." Sweet!

Bennett got all dressed up for us t-ball game and still made time to hold his sister. He is so sweet with her.

Sister started crying so the boys ran and got her 2 toys...a football and a bear and have them to her. They both love giving her the pacifier! Henry especially loves the paci. He likes to stick his finger in the middle of it and shove it in her mouth. We are working in being gentle.

Henry loves to check on his sister in the mornings. He says "where is my baby sister? Or "what he doing?" He likes to hold her, but not when she's crying! He wants to pass her off immediately if she cries! Can't blame him for that!

Henry sits on the Boppy to hold her because he likes to actually hold her with both hands. 

I am so thankful for these three babies! My heart is full.

Tackle Box, Books, and Brothers

 After Bennett was so thrilled with fishing, Pops took him to Bass Pro after school to get his very own tackle bow and lures.  Talk about exciting!

They had lots of fun!

He picked out all his worms and lures.

 After bath time, we decided to read a couple books.  While I was sitting on the couch this moment happened!  Oh, how sweet!  It only lasted about 2 minutes, but I cherished it!

Breakfast

We had a Professional Development Day this week and I didn't have to be at school until 8:30.  I thought "let's go do a family breakfast!"  We went to McDonald's and made some memories.  Bennett found an "H" for H week and asked if we could take the picture to Mrs. Elgin!

I got to take Bennett to school and when I pulled up...it was See you at the Pole day! ha!  The principal ran out and asked me to turn around.  All I can do is laugh at my 1 day to walk Bennett in to his class!

Loving parfaits!

Sidewalk Chalk Paint

After seeing the beautiful designs people make with sidewalk chalk paint, I thought we needed some.  I picked up some corn starch and we whipped it up.  I saw this post that got me excited about this project! The recipe was easy enough with just corn starch and water and food coloring for extra fun.  We made it with 1 cup corn starch and 2 cups water.  I made it in a big bowl and then spooned it into the muffin pan.  Wrong idea.  I should have made it in EACH muffin cup.  It was hard to spoon in due to the stiffening nature of corn starch.

The boys had a blast making it.  It was a huge mess, but I am trying to let me OCD tendencies go for the sake of fun.  Bennett kept trying to color everything with blue food coloring because BLUE is superior in his eyes!  Henry kept trying to get on the chair to help and Bennett kept pushing him down.  Oh, the memories this will bring.

So, we finally whipped up our colorful concoctions and headed out to paint.  The only problem was I have NO paintbrushes!  I found a face painting brush and a sponge that were going to have to work.

Our pretty colors BEFORE.

Henry was extra excited. He would dunk his ENTIRE hand in the chalk.

Beautiful creations

Our chalk palate AFTER.

Henry sat right in the wet chalk.

He also touch everything!

I moved us straight to the back yard for sprinkler and lunch.  We even had popsicles after!

We love our chicken nuggets from Ella Grace and Emery!

Bennett was less thrilled that H was taking his seat.  Brothers!