Family Camp

We just got home a little while ago from our family camp. Our church sponsored a weekend camp for families of all shapes and sizes. We began Friday evening and ended this morning and had a blast all weekend! Even Benjamin enjoyed himself!

Paul and his team of leaders did a great job of organizing and putting on this camp for well over 200 people. It went off without a hitch!

Sam ran and played until he dropped into his bed at night. He was so tired out that he took a nap after breakfast each day!

Our speakers were Nancy Campbell and her husband Colin from Above Rubies ministries and they were wonderful! This is the third time I've heard Nancy speak and she's always right on target.

Part of the camp.

Ellie leaving with a noisy Benjamin.

Worship time.

That onery face says it all.

It was a blessed weekend.

Dogs

We've gone from having 1 dog (Trigger) to having 2 dogs (Trigger and Bullet) back to having 1 dog (Trigger) to having 2 dogs (Trigger and Bella) back to having 1 dog(Bella) to having 2 dogs (Bella and Schnitzel) to having 3 dogs (Bella, Schnitzel and Sheba). (All of this took place within 7 months!) Whew. I can say with complete assurance: WE ARE NOT GETTING ANYMORE DOGS!

We got Bella at Christmas. Paul isn't sure what came over him when he decided on the spur of the moment to get a puppy, but I think God knew we'd need that dog when Trigger died. She was a comfort to all of us.

Schnitzel came to us about 3 weeks ago. We've not found his owners, so on Anna's birthday, Paul told her she could keep him. (Of course, if his owners showed up, he'd go back.) Schnitzel claimed Anna from day one and she him. He is a pampered, spoiled dog who thinks he owns this house. He had some dominion "issues" when Sheba came, but he's calmed down now. Whoever trained him, did an excellent job. He is young, but totally housebroken and obedient.

But these dogs are not guard dogs, or so I'm told. So when some friends of ours had some puppies to give away, Paul decided to get one. Right now, she's a cuddly, cute puppy, but they assure me she'll grow into a fierce guard dog. (Or maybe just a fierce looking guard dog!)

The first few days, all 3 dogs were inside the majority of the time. But that didn't last long, and Bella and Sheba are now outside dogs. Bella protests loudly, and sometimes the puppy will join in. Schnitzel is an inside dog, but loves playing outside with Bella.

This is the best picture of all 3 together we could get. You can see how playful they are, especially Bella! The kids love having all the dogs, and truth be told, so do Paul and I. I love them more now that most of them are outside!!

Randomness

• The temperature has dropped 20 degrees at least these last couple of days. I was so glad- I was not ready for constant temps in the 90's just yet.
• Our family camp is this weekend. We're expecting around 250 people from around the south. Our church has been planning and prepping for this camp for months now and to think it's this weekend is amazing.
• Ben is cutting 2 or 3 teeth and is contemplating giving up his naps. All of them. But don't worry. I'm not letting him. He didn't take a nap at all yesterday, and fought the nap this morning. But I think he's finally fallen asleep.
• The dogs have taken over our house. We got our third puppy last week, and for a few days, they were all inside. Then we wised up and made 2 of them outside dogs. Those dogs are protesting loudly. I call it whinefest.
• Samuel decided yesterday that he was going to test his parents to see if they still expected obedience. And he found out they do and that there is serious consequences for disobedience. He is a much happier child today.

Update

Notice I updated my blog header to reflect the recent changes around here. Those kids will not stop growing up!

Random Picture Challenge

This picture is the 18th picture from September, 2008 that I have on my computer.
Sam was doing school one day and I thought his little, chubby hands looked so cute!

Anna's 13th birthday

The Garden

Pics from our trip

These pictures are from a stop in Tennesee. Ben would tolerate about 2 hours before he would let us know quite loudly that he needed to get out. When we would stop we would let him walk and run the whole time. This fireworks store had some old trucks and toys out front that he and Sam had a ball playing on.

Ahhhh, peace and quiet....for about 15 minutes. Seriously, Ben slept for about 30 minutes on the way there and about 30 minutes on the way home. This was a 10 hour trip. Sam, on the other hand, slept alot and through anything. Ben was right next to him screaming and it didn't phase Sam one bit.

The hotel we stayed in in Ohio had a water park adjacent to it. Paul bought tickets for him and the kids and they had a blast playing all day Friday in it. At one point in the afternoon, they were the only ones in it and had the run of the place.

Ben went for just a little while before he decided he wasn't very interested.

Sam didn't stop all day long.