Julianne's b-day and our annual campout

The past few weekends have been busy with lots of weekend activities. We had our annual camp out and the kids had a great time. We set up the tent and brought out all the air mattresses and sleeping bags. We grilled out and cooked our annual smores. Nathan really liked the fire this time. He, as well as his dad were memorized by the fire and he kept saying, "I like fires." D slept in the tent with the kids since it was hard for me to really want to sleep outside with my bed 25 feet from the tent. He is much better at sleeping in different beds and places so I knew that he would not have any troubles sleeping in the tent. I did miss waking up with them but they also had an interesting night. Julianne threw up in her bed and Nathan peed in his bed. Julianne ended up sleeping in my bed and Nathan crawled into bed with D. So it was a great night. Julianne threw up two more times after that but was fine after that. So I don't know what was the matter with her. She might have eaten too much or just had a little bug.







"I love the fire."

Mallory was our patient marshmallows toaster. She would put the marshmallow in the fire and let it get brown. Julianne put hers straight into the fire, burned it then ate it. It was fun to see the differences.


The fire at night. It was a great fire and it had so many great shots. I just did not have my tripod out so most of my pictures did not turn out.

Our first sweet baby turned 9 last week. I am still amazed that she is that old. Everyone with older kids says that their kids lives flew by and now their kids are teenagers or out of the house. I know what they are talking about. It is hard to image how hard it was when Julianne was a baby. She was colicky, high need and high maintenance. She is such a great kid. She is a great friend, is considerate, respects adults, tries hard at school and in her extra activities and in general is a great big sister. She really loves us and has really come into her own person. I can't believe that next year she will be 10 and then in her pre-teens. I know that those years will be harder than what we experienced when she was a baby. So I am going to try to savor more smaller moments with all my kids since they really do grow up so fast.

Her best friend has the same birthday so her friend had her party on her birthday so Julianne is celebrating her friends' birthday party this coming weekend. We had her family party last weekend. We gave her a new desk for all her homework to come and we bought her a wave board. It is like a skate board but you gain speed and momentum by rotating your feet on the board.








Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Celebrating Julianne's b-day with her
-Mallory getting used to school and eating lunch in the cafeteria for the first time and not being afraid
-Hearing Nathan tell the girls that they look pretty