Camp

Jeff and Monkey are gone this week at camp, they left Friday and camp started on Saturday. Monkey was very excited about this year there are a bunch of kids from church going and his uncle (my brother) who is 11 months older than him will be there too! I talked to Jeff on Saturday morning and he said that Monkey had a rough night...really hoping that was the only bad night he has. When I talked to him he said he had a hard time sleeping because he missed me. Poor guy. Jeff also said that the camp had a hard time placing kids in cabins because all the kids had requested to be with Monkey!!! There are 5 boys from church not including Monkey and his uncle all wanted him with them. He is just such a timid kid in big groups, he has always been better one on one. I really hope he can over come that this week and just have a great time! The only bad part of everyone requesting him is they couldn't fit all the kids in one cabin so they split them. But no one is in a cabin by themselves so that is good. Please just pray for him this week that this time builds him up and he doesn't get discouraged.

Unsure

I'm really unsure how to handle my oldest son. He is my quiet guy not much of a talker but I can tell things are bothering him. He lashes out in little ways like if I ask him to sweep the floor which is one of his chores he does such a bad job that he has to do it two or three times before it is acceptable. He is so disgruntled about doing said chore. I just don't know how to get through to him. Today he didn't want to go swimming but everyone else did so he just sat on the side staring with a mad look on his face. When I tried to talk to him he just told me to go away or would start crying. I just really fear if he keeps it all inside at the ripe old age of 9 what is it going to be like when he is 13 - 18 when the things he is going to deal with are extremely difficult and he will need me and his dad. I just want to cry and make him talk but instead all I found I can do is pray. Pray that I can take him to God's word and show him how much he is loved no matter what the world says. Pray he will open up with me and talk about what is going on. Pray that I can help him work through it when that time comes. Pray that I can be the best parent for him. I'm just so scared sometimes that I am going to mess my kids up. I just want them to be healthy and happy and know how much I love and care about them but I fail so I pick myself back up and try again. If you could just pray for me and this whole situation with Monkey that would be great. I pray that this upcoming week will be so great for him to be at camp away from life and be able to learn and grow in his faith. This is really vague but I think we have some really serious stuff going on with him.

9 years ago...

today I was miserably pregnant with Monkey. I just can't get over how super fast these years are flying by me. This is his last year in the single digits and then I will have half my kids in the double digits. I have to say that these last 9 years have changed me for the better. I love all the joy and love that Monkey brings to our family. Yes, he is a kid and he has a sin nature just like everyone in this world but he is a really great person to know. He is a super sweet guy. There is just something special about the bond a mother and son have it is completely different than mothers and daughters, not better just different. Want to clarify that for when my kids read this later on in life. Most of the time I can just give Monkey a look and he knows exactly what I am going to say. Parenting him is so fun yet can also be challenging. He is not my talker like the other kids yet when it is just he and I alone...it is like the flood gates of his lips have opened up, I so cherish those one on one times with him and I really need to make more of them happen. As of 12:05am on the 22nd I will have a 9 year old. Happy Birthday my sweet sweet Monkey!

Vacation Bible School

We are currently in the midst of our second consecutive VBS. This week is different because I am working it so I get a break but not a sit in a coffee shop and surf the internet kind of a break. I work in the kitchen so there are no kids (well except today because I brought Shane the 3 month old I watch in the kitchen with me) but it is me and my friend. So we prepare the snacks and we chat. It is my favorite place to work in VBS. Thankfully this week's snack are much healthier than last weeks but the kids are still coming down from that sugar high. I can tell when they have been eating junk they are crankier and snap more at each other. I feel like after this week of our VBS summer just flies by us in a blink. We have one more VBS of the summer!!!

We made it!!!

On Monday morning I was laying in bed and heard the most crazy wind I have ever heard in my life and two seconds later we lost power. Well that changed my plans for the day. No grocery shopping for me. However the kids still had a Vacation Bible School all week to go to. What a life saver that turned out to be! On the way to VBS there were so many trees down. There was actually a tree that was completely uprooted that left a HUGE divot in the ground where grass used to be. Craziest thing I have heard seen. Later that day the city workers were out there cutting the tree up. Once they had all the branches cut off the stood the trunk back up. Never seen that before! It was just a tree trunk with no leaves. Anyways, as Monday went on and I started hearing that other places like Great America had lost power, I realized that we were going to be a long time without power. We kept calling ComEd to see when our power would be back on and learned that over 800,000 customers were without power and the first day they just said restoration could take several days. Yipes! That is A. Lot. of. people! I wish we hadn't been in that number but we were. The whole block across the street had power so by Tuesday there were tons of extension cords going across the street to tap their electricity. We didn't ask our neighbors, though I know they would of said yes. We just really didn't have much food in the fridge to bother with that. The plus side of not tapping in was we were able to clean out the fridge! It looks so nice. Yes, we did end up throwing some food out but, really, it was maybe $30 dollars worth. Tuesday they finally gave us a restoration day Friday at noon. WHAT?!?! How am I going to survive three more powerless days??? Thankfully our electricity came back on at 5:15am on Thursday morning. It was funny Jeff set his alarm for 5:15 to go golfing, I hear the alarm and kept my eyes closed in hopes I could fall back asleep but no go Jeff hits me to tell me we got power! I laid there willing myself back to sleep which was hard because I had so many thoughts running through my head and so happy we didn't have to go two more days without it. The kids and I did make the best out of the bad situation. We did tons of play dates at the pool and park and went to fun places. It will probably be the most interesting week of the summer. One my kids will for sure remember as the summer we lost power for 3 days!!! We survived :)

Monkey

This month a lot is happening for my little Monkey man. He is turning 9 years old and he is getting glasses. I never had to wear glasses so as his mom I am really nervous for him. I have no idea what to expect. I think he is slightly nervous to get them and have to wear them in front of his friends. Kids can be so mean and I guess he is going to find out who is true friends are...the ones that don't make fun of him. I am also nervous about the his siblings. They have already made a few comments that aren't very kind and fortunately I don't think he has heard them. I just really want him to feel good about needing glasses. Tons of kids have glasses there just isn't a whole lot in his school that do. I know this is what is best for him at this point in time. He is also probably going to be my kid that is going to need braces which will be another rough event for me. I never had those either. Though I think Peanut might need those too just hoping she doesn't need the glasses. The store called and left a message saying that his first pair of glasses is in so we are going to be picking them up. I think I will wait to finish this post when I have a cute picture of him in the glasses to upload. Ok here is my handsome little Monkey in his new cool glasses!!!
Not sure why the picture is so small but we lost power yesterday morning and I'm sitting in a coffee shop to get some internet time. The kids are at VBS! This post was started a few days ago...

The Fest!

This year I am taking a little different approach on the whole festival/carnival. I actually read through some of the other activities besides the rides. The boys did the baseball skills activity and both got a trophy. They actually gave Peanut one too just because she was there. HA! Another thing I am doing differently is actually eating some of the fest food. Typically I will feed the kids before we go and then pack a few snacks but this year I figure we didn't take a vacation last year and even though I want to take one this year it just might not happen so this will be our little vacation where we spend some money just enjoying ourselves! The first night we got an elephant ear and funnel cake to share because we went after Monkey's last baseball game of the season. Friday we ate dinner there and it was pretty good. Saturday we ate before we went and got some ice cream at the fest. The kids are so shocked. This is totally not what we have done in the past :) I have forgotten to bring my camera the last few days but am hoping to remember to bring it tonight so I can get some pictures to go with this post! I remember the camera the very last day of the fest! Here are some of the pictures I took.

Ice cream YUM

My serious ice cream eater :)

Racing down the big slide!

Monkey won!

Our favorite ride...well my favorite ride :)

Swings

Monkey's favorite ride...the bumper cars!

These two went on all the crazy rides!

2011 Fest was a good one! We spent two different nights with friends. One night with friends from school and the other night with friends from church. So much fun!!!

She's HOME!!!

Today we picked up GG from camp! Boy have I missed her dearly! I really love that girl and it makes me realize how much of a help she is to me when she is gone. She had a wonderful time at camp and was so excited to have gotten two packages in the mail plus the letters she got from friends and family. I guess I need to start saving up again for next year because she really wants to go back...