My kids love the new car, and someone came up with the great idea of going “camping” in it. Literally in it. So Micah and I brought a bunch of blankets down, Micah moved all of the seats forward, we stuck in Swiss Family Robinson, and went camping in our driveway. The kids loved it — especially Scout. He was so excited that a movie wasn’t really doing the trick. So “after the tree house part, we are going to get paper and do some art, and then we are going to play pirates”, etc. So after that part, we went into the table and drew pictures of pirate ships while I drew a treasure hunt map. Then afterward, instead of playing “pirates”, my kids went on a treasure hunt to find a buried treasure box.
The camp site.
The snacks.
While the movie was doing the trick!
The treasure map.
Surprisingly, Scout did a really good job of reading it. He even knew that part of it was to go and kiss Nonnie three times!
When they found the treasure, I tossed the handful of Skittles on the ground and they went after them like mad men.
it must have been a success, because Scout has asked for a treasure hunt every night since!
Saturday morning jobs this week consisted of washing Dad’s car. Both kids participated pretty good, and were pretty good helpers. I remember every Saturday morning when my dad would whistle “Zippity Doo Dah” as he went around to wake all of the kids for our jobs. I got pretty good at hiding under my bed when I heard his song, or hiding in the closet. But he got pretty good at pouring water on me if I didn’t get out of bed the first time around!
Icka was on tire duty while Scout helped Micah fill the bucket full of clean water.
Drying was a little tougher for the kids because their towels were already wet from the ground. Notice the big girl underpants on Navy!!!
Sidenote: I had a friend tell me that whenever she checks out my blog, my kids are always in their undies. It is true. My kids are ALWAYS in their underwear, and it is by their own doing. Friend — just be glad that we have the saying, “keep your privates private” in our household, because if they could really choose — underwear wouldn’t even be part of the equation.
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Our last job of the morning (other jobs were — clean back yard, make beds, take out kitchen trash and empty the dishwasher) was to go put some sweat equity into our garden. My kids love the garden. They have their own little plot where they have their own crops. I told them we need to harvest some things for Sunday dinner, and we got a load of stuff — tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, potatoes and some onions. Besides the fact that our dinner was delish (especially the herb/garlic potatoes), I love that my kids are willing to put in an hour or so of work. After they thought their time was up, and Micah and I were still pruning and weeding, the kids went fence climbing. Scout went uninjured, but instead of jumping, Icka slid down the fence and caught a wire on her way down that scraped up her stomach.
Poor thing was a trooper, and didn’t even shed a tear.
But she did make a couple of “I’m in pain” faces.
DRAMA!
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Their hard work paid off.
That afternoon, they earned a trip to the circus!
I woke up sick this morning. Thankfully Skilly and NayNay came over to save the day. NayNay swam with the kids, both girls baked cookies with them, and Skilly took them on a photo scavenger hunt. I made a list of things they needed to find in the neighborhood, and when they found them, Skilly snapped a shot. They had a great time doing it, and it allowed me to get a little rest.
Here is their shot of a pink flower.
Here they are in front of the best doctor in the world’s home!
Here is their “animal”.
And here is the two of them making a letter on the ground. Here is their version of an “H”.
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Thank goodness for the Clifford girls!
XOXO to them!
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when the swimming teacher talks about my daughter and says, “That Navy….she’s a pistol.” Most of the time, I want to laugh. Today — not so much. The story goes a little like this. Navy could have been potty trained a year ago. She definitely has the capacity, has known how to use the facilities forever, and is plenty smart enough to get it all down. I had some urging from others to get it done before Hawaii, and more urging to get it done before baby #3. But I always knew that when she wanted to potty train, she would instigate it and be a success immediately. (Plus, Scout potty trained himself in a day, and it was a cinch….and I was looking for a similar experience.) The good news — Navy instigated it about a week ago, and hasn’t had a misstep yet!
So on the heels of me having a day of throwing up and other lovely flu-like symptoms, Micah offered to take the kids into work this morning. It was great. It allowed me to get some R&R and a few errands done. When I went to pick her up, her entire lower half of her outfit was wet. I figured that maybe a new place, or a Daddy who wasn’t as proactive on asking if she needed to go potty was the reason…so no biggie. On our way home from his work, I had both kids in the car, and for some reason I also had arguing, sassing, “Scout hit me” when he clearly wasn’t AKA lying, and a few other choice moves out of my kids. As a result, both kids were racking up minutes of timeout like they were shares of Apple stock. When we got home, they were both in their timeout spots. (Side note — it always blows my mind when my kids are at each other’s throats, but the second they are in time out together, they become besties all over again.) As they laughed and chatted, Bella noticed a strong stench. When I called Navy over to ask her if she had gone poops in her big girl pants, she said matter-of-factly, “Yep.” When I asked her why she went (knowing full well that she knew not to) she said, “Because I was mad at you.”
Laughing just wasn’t in the cards today!
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