More family camp

I knew when I was writing my last post that there was more to family camp than what I could recall.  I found my digital camera and then I remembered.  A really fun part of family camp is "field games."  It's basically a time when families are formed into groups for different relay games.  It includes running down and around a cone inside an inner tube, chariots race, spinning around a baseball bat etc.  The finale is throwing shaving cream and soaked horse food at one another...who knew the two combined would be that much fun?  Josie cried when Jeremiah barely dabbed her cheek with shaving cream.  Jamon and Brady got right into it.  I do think Jeremiah, Ryan and Victoria had the most fun.  It was a great time together with our family and good family friends. 

Look at these cute kids!  They are ready to go play some field games.

Washington Family Ranch Family Camp

First of all, we are still here...we have been really busy!  The month of May was a whirlwind.  It seemed like after Mother's Day time just flew by.  I had every intention of blogging more frequently to prevent the flood of posts but time got away from me and here I am.  Oh well.  So, after Mother's Day was Jeremiah's Grandma Jo's birthday, then my birthday and then Memorial Day weekend.  In between those two weeks Jeremiah built me two huge raised beds for our garden (more on this to come), and I celebrated the last year in my twenties by purchasing some anti-wrinkle cream.  I have to  mention that Jamon woke me up on my birthday by saying:  "Good morning mom.  Happy Birthday, I will love you forever." That made my day. 

Anyway, after the celebrations were through, we made our way to Antelope, Oregon for Young Life's Family Camp.  Washington Family Ranch is impressive.  It's in the desert and there is an appeal to leaving the daily busyness and finding solitude with your family.  There were approximately 700 people at this camp from all over Oregon and SW Washington.  We were fortunate enough to go with the Michel's and in our cabin were four adults and five small children.  Much to my surprise, the kids slept so well!  It was a great vacation.  It was so fun to be around families who were dealing with the same daily issues of nap times, cleaning high chairs, telling your kids no more treats before dinner, and all the other little fires we put out everyday.  We really enjoyed having the Michel family and the Jarvis family with us.

I think the highlight for me was the last night, the carnival night.  It literally ended with a large firework display!  It was so sweet to hear Jolie point to the fireworks and say:  "liiiight."  Jamon commented on every firework and Josie stood there with her fingers in each ear because she was scared.  In two and a half days of camp, the kids enjoyed horseback riding, club, skits, the pool, ice cream cones, hikes, indoor rec center, obstacle courses with a foam pit, more ice cream, a carnival and sno cones!  It was a good time had by all. 

Both times Josie ordered the pink ice cream which meant strawberry. 

Jolie LOVED rainbow sherbet!  Who can blame her? 

Jamon will always choose mint chocolate chip!  

 

 

 

This is carnival night!  Look at that sky! 

It all began in a garden

Last year was our first year at a garden.  A real vegetable garden.  This year, we decided to move our garden because it was too shaded and we had some deer trample through it a few times.  In the middle of May Jeremiah built two huge raised beds.  One is dedicated solely to pole beans.  The other is a variety of lettuce starts, lettuce seeds, broccoli, carrot seeds, three tomato plants, and a zucchini at the end.  I actually just enjoyed the first harvest of my lettuce for lunch a few days ago.

In an attempt to keep cats out of our beds, I have been advised to put water jugs or plastic jugs filled half way or so with water in the corners.  I'm not sure if its the reflection of the water that the cats don't like, but whatever it is it's working.

I'm excited to enjoy the fruit of our labor and the kids love watering!  Our garden and flowers never go thirsty with Jamon & Josie around.  I know that I was not meant to live sixty years ago, I could never make it "living off the land."  This is our small way of sustainable living and teaching our kids some valuable life lessons....

If you don't win, who wins?

I realized today that my original goal for this blog was to post twice a month.  I'm barely meeting that goal.  I was reflecting on the month of April and the first thing that came to my mind was rain! The rain kept us indoors which lead us to board games.  And that lead us to this next post.

The past couple of months we have noticed a more competitive side of Jamon.  We've always described him as easy going and maybe even a little cautious compared to other 4 year old boys.  However, when it comes to playing board games or any little race of any sort a very competitive side appears.  A couple of weeks ago, Jamon was setting up a game and asked Jeremiah:  "If you don't win, who wins?"  Jeremiah responded:  "you would win."  Jamon smiled.

Jeremiah and I think competition is a great thing.  Competition is what drives a person to improve, to work hard, to overcome obstacles.  Not everyone is competitive.  It's a great characteristic when its controlled. There is an obvious down side in being too competitive.  Being a sore loser.  Jamon actually ended in tears a few times over Chutes & Ladders, Guess Who, Memory and Candyland.  We've had to seriously talk to him about self-control, rejoicing for the other person when they win, and explaining that you cannot always win but you can always try your best.  If the circumstance was not based on a pre-school board game, I would have taken this as an opportunity to talk about "practicing."  But really, can you "practice" these board games?

Speaking of practicing.....Jamon has been practicing.  He practices basketball, dribbling, shooting hoops, tackling, recovering the fumble.  He practices the games that he plays at AWANA's.  He practices playing Chutes & Ladders with his firemen at the fire station.  He practices anything that can possibly be practiced.  It's going to be very interesting to see if this personality trait will stay through adolescence or if its just a stage.  Jamon is a great kid.  He is an intelligent and kind kid too.  He also just wants to win....

A day on the beach....

Spring break in Springfield usually isn't very eventful due to weather.  It's hard to believe that just last year I was coming home from the hospital with little Jolie.  This year, we were forced indoors due to the rain.  However, we did catch a break.  On Wednesday, we went to Florence for the day with the Michel family.  It was surprisingly not windy or rainy, which is a big surprise for this time of year on the Oregon coast.  We went straight to the beach and spent a good two hours digging in the sand, running around barefoot, flying kites, jumping & rolling off and down sand dunes.  Good memories.

It's hard to believe that our family is to the point of actually doing "fun" family trips.  I remember when Jamon was little I used to wish he was older so we could go to the park, go for bike ride, play in the sand, do fun family activities.  I feel like I blinked my eyes and suddenly we are that family.  Fast forward a few years and now we are a family of five.  It was so enjoyable to watch Jamon and Brady play with shovels and buckets, make a sandcastle, take turns with the kites.  Josie and Ellice loved the kite and burying each other's feet in the sand.  Jolie enjoyed being in the safety of the Ergo carrier.  Near the end I let her sit in the sand and of course what do all babies do their first time in the sand?  She tried eating it. It was a great day at the beach.

That is one good looking sandcastle. 

We are celebrating 7 years of marriage this July and Ryan & Victoria just celebrated 6! 

I'm not sure who had more fun on the dunes?  Maybe Victoria?  Maybe Jeremiah?  The kids loved it too!

Jamon & Brady have been friends since they first met in the hospital-they are 11 days apart! 

It really wasn't warm outside.  I turned my head for a minute and saw Josie was wearing her undies. 

The kids had so much fun!  And the parents enjoyed watching them every minute.

Korean Dol Party

It's a Korean tradition to have a huge celebration when a baby turns one.  In the past, infant mortality rates were very high so if a baby could make it past the first year then they would hopefully continue to have long life.  For Jamon & Josie I didn't know very much about the Dol party-and looking back I wish I would have done my research.  Jolie wore a habok, which we borrowed from Kiana Roper, and its a beautiful dress in bright pink, green, yellow, blue and red.  It's beautiful.  A big part of the Dol party is the doljabi game.  We placed four traditional items on a tray and let Jolie choose.  The tradition is whichever item the child choose & picks up first is their life path.  We chose yarn (symbolizes long life), dollar bill (wealth), paintbrush (artist/the arts), and a book (scholar).  I made a little board that read:  What Will Jolie Choose? We had people raise their hands to guess which one they thought she'd pick up first.  The book and the dollar bill were tied with four votes each.  Guess which one she chose?

Jolie chose $ or as Jamon and Josie said:  "Jolie chose George Washington!" Uncle Josh claims he knew it all along....

Great Grandma Jo hand sews each grandchild & great-grandchild a Raggedy Ann or Raggedy Andy doll.  They are hand embroidered with the child's name and an "I love you."  An heirloom gift.

Jolie turns 1!

*More pictures to come......

  

Jolie turned 1 on March 19th and it was bittersweet.  It was fun because I decided to do a traditional Korean Dol party.  She wore a beautiful habok from Kiana Roper, and we even had her do a doljabi game.  The sad part for me was to reflect on how fast time goes.  

The following week was Spring Break and I took her in to Tom's for a little photo shoot.  This is a little fairy dress that Josie also wore at her 1 yr photo shoot.  I thought I would devote this post to capture Jolie at this fun age. At age 1, Jolie says:  "mama, dada, der (there), baby, hi and bye."  She signs:  thank you, more, all done, dog and the occasional please.  She is not walking at 12 1/2 months-she still prefers to be carried.  And I have to admit that I still love it.  She loves waving hello & goodbye , blowing kisses and giving high fives.  Jolie sleeps from 8pm-7:30am at night and takes almost a 3 hr nap in the afternoon with her brother & sister.  I dropped her morning nap before the others did so that all 3 would be down at the same time. 

Jolie your personality is sweet and generally easy-going, except we have seen a more feisty side the past few weeks.  I love the way you pat your baby dolls and how you bobble side to side when you hear a song you like.  It melts my heart when you fold your hands to pray.  We also love how you like to play in your crib.  When I walk in you are standing along the side & then I come to get you and you fall down & pull a blanket over your head and giggle.  Sometimes I com in and peek on you and Josie when you are sleeping.  It's very calming.  I love to see you snuggled up on your tummy with your legs tucked underneath and your little bottom sticking up.  When I need a smile I just tickle you and listen to you laugh.  One of my prayers for you is that you will know just how beautiful you are because you are fearfully & wonderfully made by God himself!  I love you....  

I normally don't like pictures of me but I love this picture of us.  Although I think it's about time to use the anti-wrinkle cream.

I love this profile picture.