Camping at Fall Creek Falls

The weekend before Easter, Lolli and Pop were headed up to Fall Creek Falls to serve food for the High School Youth Camping trip. The kids and I decided to join them, Crickett and Huck for the weekend to enjoy the outdoors, the hiking and just hanging out worshiping with the high schoolers.

We were not so fortunate with the weather, as it rained a lot of the time. However, that didn't seem to slow the kids down. They enjoyed playing on the playground that was just behind our campsite and even Ella kept begging to "play" as she would often come and ask me while pointing to the playground. Ella couldn't go by herself because she was bound and determined to hang from the bar each time before going down the slide and I was petrified she would just slip and hit her head on the way down. Catherine was cute with how many "new friends" she met playing on the playground while Lydia napped.

You can see that Ella enjoyed her time hanging out near the camper and helping to get Huck's milk cup. He kept throwing it and she kept insisting he needed it! She and Lydia also enjoyed making him play ring-around-the-rosie. Even though they practically dragged him around in the circle, he seemed to laugh and giggle and like it as much as they did.

The Falls there are beautiful and although the kids and I didn't tackle the long hike with the high schoolers, we did take a short hike while Ella napped with Lolli back at the camper. We were able to get some beautiful pictures of the waterfall and had some great family time hiking for about a mile. The kids were all about running through the trails and just seeing how far they could get. When we got to see the falls, I said "Wow...can you believe that God could make something so beautiful like this? Do you think you could do that?" Catherine quickly responded by matter-of-factly saying "Well, not that straight." HAHA!!!!

I also got to show my risk-taking side and try out the tightrope that a few of the highschoolers had set up. Ultimately it was a tie-down strap that was wrapped around two trees about 1.5 feet off the ground, but it was so challenging!! I think the record for the weekend was 4 unassisted steps. I took 0 unassisted steps, but managed to walk a little ways just touching someone's shoulder. Once that strap started to wiggle a little, it was so hard to stay on. Catherine tried it multiple times- she never got the courage to go solo, but personally I think she could have done it unassisted. She was awesome at it. I guess all that gymnastics is paying off.

Well stay tuned for more blog posts as the week slows down and I have more time to write about the last month or so. The mom.

Edible Art

Each year at our homeschool coop they have an art contest. Well, for those of you who know me, I am crafty but "art" is not really my area of expertise and although I would love for my children to gain a love and appreciation for it, I have never really encouraged them to enter the contest. However, after they presented the awards for last year's art contest, Catherine asked me why she didn't get to enter. So, I promised her that this year she could enter.

Of course, this year's theme had to be something more difficult- Edible Art. The artwork was supposed to be made of food, about food, used with food or a pic or something related to food. Harbin decided on his own to make his Monkey/Bear Pancake (there is discrepency over what it looks like. Catherine's project was my idea, but she completely executed it on her own. She madea a Butterfly Mosaic with dyed egg shells. We also got to try our hand at painting with celery. Lydia made a very pretty celery flower (you cut the bundle of celery and use it like a stamp to make what looks like a rose). I don't have a pic of it because she then decided to just paint and the whole page kind of ended up covered in mixed paint (mostly brown).

They entered the contest and competed against some really creative projects. In addition to Best in Show, Best in Edible Art, and Children's Choice (this was voted on by other coop kids), they had 4 categories: Photography (this was Harbin's category), Sculpture, Art Format (this was Catherine's category) and Best Artist to Be (this was for 1st graders and below which included both Harbin and Catherine).

I am so proud of both of them for trying so hard on this project. Harbin followed his heart and stood fast to his ideas. He created his design, made it and had a great time entering the contest. Catherine worked diligently for 3 hours carefully gluing each broken eggshell mosaic down. Even after I tried to convince her to just leave part of the butterfly white, she insisted on finishing it up. Catherine ended up getting 1st place in the Best Artist to Be and her category- Art Format. She beat out ALL age groups for her category which is pretty impressive for a 5 year old!!! She was so excited and I was so happy for her. She is definitely a detailed and talented artist who earned her awards that night.

The mom.

Toothless

Ok, well he is not toothless yet, but he is down one. Harbin lost his very first tooth. The same little tooth that we waited for 16.5 months to come in...so sad. It has been super wiggly, which I am grossed out by. Everyone kept telling him they'd pull it for him. We were at church and I dropped Harbin off upstairs with the Children's Pastor's wife. I told her about the tooth and joking said that Pastor Jeff should just sock him in the face and make it come out. Fortunately, Pastor Jeff did NOT sock him in the face, however, he did tell Harbin to close his eyes so he could punch the tooth out and my little obedient child just closed his eyes and waited- HaHa! Pastor Jeff told him to open his eyes and twist the tooth a little and when he did it popped right out. They brought him down to me moments later to present me with his very first LOST tooth.

Harbin was super excited to show his sisters when church was over and he was very proud of the hole where the tooth once was. He was also very excited about the tooth fairy getting to visit our house for the first time.

The-very-sad-to-see-the-first-tooth-go-mom.