To Be a Kid Again

Oh the times I remember having to sit on my parents back porch and do the 'miserable' task of shucking corn.  It truly is so funny how the things I used to hate as a child are things that I enjoy doing now as an adult and make our children 'miserable' by having to help. All in the hopes of teaching them to love the things some day that they too complained about doing.

My brother got me 13 dozen ears of corn to put up. If you have ever put up corn, that's a lot to get done in one day. So I so nicely gave some to my friend Laura only to relieve myself of more work:-) 

 BHCC Church Camp
We stopped at Chik-fil-a on our way to church camp for free food if you dressed up. The kids were along for the ride to camp since I was going to help with tie-dye. We went up for one day of Senior Camp and two days of Junior Camp. Next year, they all three might be able to go as pre-campers.

Tie-Dye used to be "my" craft so I gladly came up to help. Kylie might be the next pro!

I rarely saw the boys unless they needed a snack or to rest. The older kids were so nice and let the boys play with them and tag along. They made some sweet friends even in those 2 days while at camp. They even cried at night when it was time to go home because they wanted to stay. 

This is what camp is all about,,,gettin' dirty and sweaty!

Kylie and Callie Ann played together one of the days, and the other day Kylie hung with the older girls since Callie Ann wasn't there. 

Reed, JP, and Braden (JP's parents were in our wedding)

For some reason, every time I turned around Reed was getting hugged on by some girl. Brooke and Reed became good friends and now Reed runs very time he sees her at church. I think that's his way of showing his love.

Reed and Yobed

Braden pretty much played on the basketball court most of the day. He could definitely hang with the older boys. It was so funny because while he was playing Gotcha, one of the kids said "He's so good...he's a mini LeBron". Now Braden is good at basketball but not that good. 

Kylie and Emily, one of the girls in my Covenant group at church.

Kylie playing Mary with baby Jesus

 Canoeing the Harpeth

We went canoeing with the Karkaus one Sunday afternoon after church. We all loved it! This is another thing that I used to do evey summer with my family and now we are passing these traditions on to our kids.

Ryan and the boys

I think I have used the kids' hammocks more than they have, Kylie was hanging with me one day watching our twin baby in the yard, taking silly pictures then the next thing I know she has fallen asleep on me. Summer please slow down!!! 

If you want frozen peaches, you have to work for them! 

We went peach picking like we always do. We brought along friends this time to help pick. The kids love "Popsicle peaches" which are basically snack bags with cut up peaches and a little juice frozen. They eat these year round.

Kylie, Callie, Braden, Hudson, Colton and Reed

 I tried something new this year making a simple syrup of peach juice.
Man, this stuff is really good when added to a cold glass of tea.

This is Kylie's usual attire when we are at home. She loves to wear skirts/dresses with my wedges.

Kylie along with some friends from church went to Julie Tanner's house where her girls

were running a little day camp for younger girls. What a great idea and the girls had a great time.

School Fun

Derby Run Day. 

The kids do this for a fundraiser for the school where they run around the back loop for 30 minutes.

 Kylie's class getting ready to do some warm-up exercises before it starts. It was pretty cold but worked perfect since the kids got warmed up after a few laps. 

We were so proud of Kylie. Going into the run, Ryan and I didn't think she would run more than 9 laps. She tied for the most laps in her class with 13 laps!!

 Her sweet little class

 Reed doesn't start out the fastest but he has some stamina. He also tied for the most laps run in his class with Braden and Jett for a total of 15 laps!! 

 Field Day

The kids got beautiful weather for the field day the week before school let out.

 Have you tried to jump in a sack lately?!! It is way harder than it looks. I definitely captured some good falls of other kids. Thankfully they still allow kids to do these kids of things! 

 Reed was the last one up in his class beating the other class they were racing. I love Zach's face congratulating Reed! 

 Tug of War was all that they cared about. Their class made it to the semi-finals but got beat.

 It is crazy in the difference of mentality from kindergarten to 1st grade. The K class just went to have fun but the 1st wanted to win everything! 

Can you tell how hot it was?!!

 Then the week later, it was freezing! Ryan and I took the kids to the strawberry festival where we froze.  Don't waste your time going to this festival in downtown Franklin, The Nashville flea market is way better!  (Ryan might kill me for putting this pic because he doesn't like that he's not smiling:-)

The only cool thing there was learning about bees. 

Spring Activities

March and April little girls' birthdays were celebrated.  Instead of Kylie having a party this year, she took her cousins, my mom and Nanny to the American Girl Bistro. They each took one of their dolls to sit at the table with them and each girl and doll got a tiera to wear. Kylie and Charley turned 6 in April and Sawyer turned 3 in March.  

 Pure Joy! The cake was really good that they provide. 

 Kylie is growing up right before our eyes and she is such a joy to have in our family. She is almost always in a good mood and enjoys life. She is beautiful on the outside, but we tell her all of the time that that doesn't matter unless you are kind and beautiful on the inside where it matters! 

 Sawyer and Charley has a joint party at Goofballs with family and friends. 

 I don't even remember why Sawyer was pouting but it was too funny to not capture!

 Cousins is something that we never got to experience growing up since our parents are only children. Wow, did we miss out on a wonderful thing! I love that they get to see each other often and are such good friends. 

 To close out the month of April, some of us girls from church went to the beach for 5 days. It is one of my favorite trips of the year. We definitely enjoy only having to fix meals for ourselves, be responsible for no one else, and sit on the beach all day just talking, reading and eating! Thankful for good friends!