Celebrating 4 with 12 kids!

Last year we went camping to celebrate Matthew's birthday with 11 kids. This year we had 12! We went to the Lazy River at Granville with the Masts, Mabrys, and Brubakers again. We love this campground since it backs up to a little creek with rocks and fish. This creek occupied the kids for hours. They ended up muddy and dirty and wet but they had a great time.

Friends

All the kids

 We camped from Thursday - Sunday and had a fun, relaxing time. We now have 12 kids with us since Duane and Joy added baby Lucas. He is 4 months old and was a sweet little baby.

Friday morning Duane cooked us all pancakes and bacon using his new chuck box he made. The Masts got a new camper which looked amazing yet I managed to forget to get a picture. It had two slide outs which really made a difference inside. It didn't seem cramped at all.

Playing in the creek

 Friday night we celebrated Matthew's birthday. His request was white cupcakes with white frosting. I asked him what flavor and he kept saying "white". Finally the girls gave him a list of flavors and he picked lemon. He got several presents like tractors, trains, and a fire truck. He loved them all!

Happy Birthday Matthew

Duane and his chuck box

 On Saturday the campground had ziplining. Jenna watched the zipliners for awhile then decided she wanted to do it. She had a blast and apparently is not afraid of heights. She also said she wanted to do it again!

Jenna gearing up to do the zip line

An action shot

When we got home, we gave Matthew the rest of his presents. He got several new train tracks and the Thomas Roundhouse. This is a little house for the trains. He also got the Henry and James trains from Thomas. He will spend hours building track across our living room.

Matthew's new train tracks

We had a wonderful time camping for Matthew's birthday and being with friends all weekend. I hope we can continue this tradition every year. Happy 4th birthday Matthew!

Erik is a skinny flash

We always love camping at Buckeye Lake. There are so many things to do there and they always have extra activities. We went camping with two families with girls in Jenna and Sarah's brownie troops. They had never been to Buckeye lake but we all had a great time.

Jumping Pillow

 The kids played in the pool, played at the playground, mined for gems, jumped on the jumping pillow, rode on top of a fire truck, played games, and ate smores. They stayed in cabins next to our camper. It's wonderful to sit by the fire and relax at night hoping the children are actually sleeping.

Gem Mining -  no Matthew is not drinking the water

Girls having fun

In other news:

• Erik reached his goal! He now weighs 199. This is the lowest he has been in probably 10-15 years. Congratulations Erik! To celebrate we are going hiking and then out to dinner. We already have a babysitter lined up.
• Since Erik has had so much success with running, he is now thinking of doing a half marathon with Tricia. He is like the flash! Only less fast and orange.
• When I reach my weight loss goal I'm going to get a pedicure. Or maybe I'll get one anyway - we will see. My nails really need some loving! 
• I finished the Divergent series. I liked the first two books. The last one was a disappointment. But that's how these series go I guess. I do want to watch the movie.
• Jenna sped through the last Harry Potter book. She really loved the series and said she wasn't scared. I guess she is all grown up. I think I'll give her the Malazan book of the fallen series next...
• Not only are we babysitting Theo, Matt and Sunshine's massively fat cat, we are also babysitting their kids for 2 days while they are in Hawaii. We are giving the Grandma a break. So now we have 5 kids here. Yikes!

Roscoe Village - back in time

Jenna, Matthew, Grace, Regan, Sarah, and John

Last week we went to the pool every day. Every day!! In the morning they do 3 chores and a page in their summer workbooks (I just read to Matthew) so they can buy something at the snack stand at the pool. This has worked well as incentive to doing chores and their workbooks.

 Then on Friday we went to Roscoe Village with Jenna's friend Grace (and her brother John and sister Regan). Roscoe village is a town preserved from the 1830s. They have a scavenger hunt where you go to different buildings and pick up a little trinket and get a signature from one of the people working there (in period costume). 

At the old school house

It's a fun place to go and since Jenna and Grace just had Pioneer day, it is something we thought they would enjoy. We had a great time there.

Another view of the schoolhouse

At home we are cat-sitting our friends' cat. We have him until June 18th. He is a pure-bred Ragamuffin cat and is beautiful. He is soft and silver colored and FAT. I love fat cats. Scruff was always a little chunky and Theo makes Scruffles look anorexic. I hope you can see from the picture - he is almost the same size as Sarah.

Sarah and Theo (aka "fatso")

In other news:

1. While Amanda was brushing Sarah's hair she found a huge tick. I'm not sure how long this tick had been there but it was engorged. Yuck. Poor Sarah. She is afraid to go outside now for fear she will get another tick.
2. Erik has lost so much weight. He started at 223 and is now at 201. He is so close to his goal - I'm excited for him. He is sticking with his funky coffee breakfast now.
3. I read Divergent, Insurgent, and now am in the middle of Allegiant all by Veronica Roth. These books go fast and have a lot of action. I'd like to see the movie at some point. 
4. Jenna has begged, and begged, and begged to read the 7th Harry Potter book. So I finally relented. She is now reading it. I hope it is not too scary for her. 
5. Silk brand Dark Chocolate Almond Milk is pretty amazing. 
6. 52 points on quiddler today