Family Camping

 

We went camping for the first time since having kids, and it isn't NEARLY as relaxing as it was prior to kids.  I love to sit and soak up God's beautiful creation, take a couple hikes, etc, but that is very hard to do with a 12 month and 36 month old!  We still had a great time though.  My whole family was there as well as Zac's mom, sister, and Curryn.  It worked out well because some of the folks got a cabin that was about 100 yards away so we were able to use that bathroom and store a lot of the food in the fridge.  Paxton also stayed in the cabin - I didn't think he'd do well in a tent quite yet.  Mason absolutely loved it all - the tent, throwing rocks in the water, rafting, hanging out with family, you name it.  Our campsites were right by the water which was perfect because the kids played in the rocks and water a LOT!

Saturday we had eggs, sausage, and muffins.  Then hung out by the fire drinking coffee for an hour or two.  It was a beautiful morning!

 Mid morning we left for our 6 mile rafting trip down the Illinois River.  About 3/4 of a mile into it our boat (with the kids!) ran into a jagged limb in the water and busted!  (see pic below).  It was pretty freaky, but thankfully there was a sandbar nearby that we got to.  Zac and Wes then hiked through the woods to get back to where we started and get a new boat.  I was glad we weren't farther into the trip! 

 Now we're ready!  :)

Present time!  Mason stayed wet most of the weekend.  I need to get this kid in swim lessons.

Mason is showing off his tub of worms.  We took fishing stuff, but the water was moving too fast to fish.  Worked out well for me because I put the worms in my compost pile when we got home.

 

 You can't have a camp out without smores.  I got the enormous marshmallows and they were a bit much!

Sunday Stephanie and Wes made bacon and pancakes before we packed up and headed home.  Definitely came home more tired than when we left, but it was a great weekend with the family!  Look forward to doing it again.

Birthday boys

It's hard to believe my "babies" are now 1 and 3!  There are occasionally days when they can drive me crazy, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

 

There are times when I literally have to pry Paxton off of me and run away in order to get something done because he would just assume be in my arms most of the day.  It makes it hard to get things done around the house, but then I have to remind myself it won't be long when he won't want me to hold him.  I do love the sleep snuggles!

We had his 1st birthday party with family at Kayla's house.

He was not a fan of the cupcake!

 

Mason is always sleeping in the weirdest places and ways. One night it took us awhile to figure out where he was because he fell asleep against is bedroom wall with a large pillow laying on top of him.  Another night we couldn't find him, but it was because he had crawled in our bed and fell asleep without us knowing.

 

 

Mason's birthday was on Sunday so Zac took him to pick out a donut for breakfast.  We didn't realize that he had never been to a donut shop.  He was super excited!

 

We decided to do a simple party for him which still somehow required more work on my part than I would have liked, but oh well I suppose he's worth it.  :)  So we had some church friends come over this morning and play.  We wanted to do a cheap party because this weekend we are taking him on his first camping trip.  I can't wait to see how he likes it!

 

 

I hate to wish time away but I am looking forward to less craziness than it has been for the past couple months.  It's the busiest 2 months I remember having in the past couple years.  Most of it has been good things - 6 baby showers-big baby boom at church (there was one point I had a shower each week for 4 straight weeks), both my boys' birthdays within 5 days of each other, our huge church spaghetti adoption fundraiser, adoption paperwork, stomach bugs, ear infection, and then your everyday life.  Zac's had to work more than usual because he started a new position at work and another supervisor has been out twice for heart surgery.  I'm a pretty organized person but I have been pretty absentminded here lately...

We got some exciting adoption news last week that we cant wait to share!  :)

Loving Spring

I love spring!  We are outdoorsy people so I'm always anxious for it to start warming up.  I started working in the gardens a couple weeks ago.  In the fall Zac built row covers to extend our growing season once it got cold.  I planned to also grow more cool weather crops like Kale and swiss chard throught winter but never got around to it.  If anything it kept many of my herbs alive - I took them out of the pots and planted them in the ground once it got to freezing temps.  I had lots of helpers getting the beds ready again.   :)

 

adding compost to the beds

The covers are off now and most of our veggies are planted, but I'll have to post that pic another day.  There is nothing better than home grown veggies! This year planted two thorn less blackberry bushes in one of our flower beds so I'm looking forward to growing fruit this year too.    Here are some more pictures of the boys playing outside.

 

Yes, Mason is peeing on the tree.  His daddy taught him that!  :)

 We went to my parents' house for Easter and Mason always loves to run wild out there.  I don't think he wore shoes the whole weekend besides church on Sunday.

 Mom knows this 90 year old man, Rollie, who has been raising bees since he was a kid with his dad.  He is also helping my mom to get her hive going.  We stopped by to visit, and I had a great time visiting him and his daughter.  He took Mason for a ride and showed him his bee hive.  I forgot to take a picture of him with the bees!  We left with a large jar of raw honey...yum!  I'd love to go back there again sometime.