YOUR Gonna Miss This… Moment… Week 43: Staycation

Last weekend Kiahna and I took a bike ride.  We went through the state park & camp grounds near our house.  I thought about how much fun it would be to go camping with the kids. And how much work it would be.  Then I said something to my sister about pulling her pop-up camper, that is stored in my building out there this weekend.

Then we did the week.

Summer school.

Doctor appointments.

Football camp.

Cheerleading camp.

Lunch with friends.

Swimming at the city pool.

Never did call the park to see if we could get in.

Plus, I was tired.  And camping is work. 

Work that I would be doing myself, with my 2 oldest boys gone for the weekend, my dad still gone, and my sister’s husband busy helping his family roof a house.

Too big.

This afternoon though, I had a burst of energy and my mom helped me pull the camper out of the barn and set it up in our back yard near the fire-pit!

So, this weekend, and maybe into next week… the kids will be enjoying the “sleeping out in the camper” routine (and I can sleep in my own bed if I choose!) We can eat camp food by the fire… and I can use my house so I don’t have to pack up a thing!!

The weather is unseasonably cool & comfortable… This is my kind of camping!!  I even have a novel I am reading…

I think I could say, “I am going to miss this” kind of camping!! 

Pam

Now, how about you?  Do you have something that you would like to write about and link back to this post so we can come over and read about the moments you will miss… and be inspired… maybe you are like me and need to be reminded to look for these things each week.  Sometimes it’s a challenge.  A good challenge.

Read YOUR GONNA MISS THIS guidelines here, if you are new to this blog carnival!

Vlogemo, Week 10…Lake Video & Grasping for Summer

This week I am once again joining Tim @ Ft Thompson For Vlog-emotions.  As I said in last week’s video, I let James take my video camera to Canada fishing, so no vlog “emotion” from me this week.  Whew!  You are in luck!  I do have a video for you though.  I didn’t have much footage to work with but I did put this together from our week at the lake!  Enjoy! 

Since we got back from the lake, a little over a week ago, summer has been flying by.  In my brain I want to believe that this is the “slower” time of year.  Time to relax, refresh, get ready for another year of school and being busy. 

Instead I feel busier than ever!  Camps, practices, summer school, & appointments crowd every day.  I have to make time to relax!  I have to choose to go swim with the kids.  Time on the computer, browsing the blogging world is scarce. 

I feel like I am grappling to hang on to some sense of summer… choosing to read a book for fun… choosing to go swimming instead of fold laundry… choosing to let the unedited pictures sit in my files waiting for slower days when I can enjoy them…choosing not to post or read blogs as much as I’d like. 

Braiding Kiahna’s hair.

Taking a bike ride.

Building a camp-fire.

Working on a 4-H project.

I am so behind on pictures to show you all… how about I end this with a few of those…

Zach & friends at his birthday dinner….

Mowing down the ribs!

Kiahna with her “poofy” hair! (which she loves but hates to have combed) so we are working on yarn braids again! & a kitty (one of 10 needing homes!!)

Don’t you love this shirt!  She picked it out herself, and how could I say no!?!

Sometimes we just don’t ask…

I try not to be too overprotective of a mother.  Letting boys be boys, to a degree.  Letting them get dirty, make a mess (until I go crazy, as long as it isn’t in my house). 

A couple days ago, Zach and his friends (see above picture minus one) Were over here.  They went out riding 4 wheelers.  Thankfully (and surprisingly) the 3 that left here wore helmets (and will every time, if I have a say).  They met their friend Cody, who lives a mile away.  Cody didn’t have on a helmet. 

Zach stopped the 4 wheeler to turn on his lights.  Cody didn’t see Zach through the dust, and hit him.  Cody was thrown off the 4-wheeler. 

Very scared boys.

Cody is going to be fine.  Spent the night in the hospital, suffering from a concussion and some very bad abrasions.  Thankfully he is alive & nothing in broken.

Guardian Angels work hard around these kids.

Off to enjoy some more of this gorgeous sunny, breezing, mild summer weather… or fold laundry, or cook dinner, or take in our 4-H projects, or pick up Leah from cheerleading, or take Zach to a birthday party, or read a book… catch me if you can!

There is always Twitter!

Pam

Blog Hop: 3 Things You Didn’t Know about me!

If you havn’t already heard, there is a new MckLinky out there these days!  I tried it last week on my “YOUR Gonna Miss This… Moment” Carnival.  Did you like it?  Brent Riggs from the Rigg’s Famiy Blog, created this.  Offers it for free!  He is also hosting this carnival which includes a prize!  Brent is for real, If you remember I won $100 from them once before! :) 

The theme this week is 3 things you may not know about me.  I have come of with 3 that I don’t believe I have ever written about on here.  Kinda hard!  :)

1.  I am turning 37 on July 27!  (I met HSSH when I was 15 & just added Taylor Swift’s song “Fifteen” to my playlist, cause I wish I would have…ya know…)

2. When I was Fifteen, speaking of, my dad took my sister Lana and I to Canada for a week.  It was awful.  I cried to leave, Lana cried to stay.  We ended up spending some time on Mackinaw Island, so I think the leaving must have won out!  :)  My only trip fishing in Canada. Blah!  I don’t even like fish (what were you thinking Dad???)

3.  When HSSH & I were first married he was in the Army.  We lived 2 1/2 years in Heidelberg, Germany & a year at Ft. Hood, Texas.  Then he got out and we moved back to our hometown in Northeastern Indiana.

See below to find out how you can join me in this carnival!

Pam

And, the emotions are trying to take over again.

In 6 minutes I have to leave the house to take Leah to her first day of cheerleading “camp” at the middle school. 

I dropped Zach off at a neighboring school 2 hours ago for football camp.

Lucas will start his first week of summer school tomorrow from 9-11.

Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

Laundry is piled behind me.

I can barely breath.

Emotions are flying all around me.  I am busy physically, but my mind is still trying to process the weekend.  The visit the kids had with their dad.  A couple of conversations I had with him.  What God is asking me to pray.  What I see with my human eyes.  It’s just too much.

3 minutes.

Please pray for me to see the truth according to God’s Word and send all these emotions on their way one by one…

James is in Canada fishing all week with my dad.  So glad that he is in a place that I don’t have to be concerned about him too much.  So thankful for my dad and the role model he is in my children’s lives.

1 minute.

I took Zach and Lucas to have their broken bones checked out this morning again.  Zach’s knee appears to have just a natural crack in his patella rather than a break. (it is in 2 pieces rather than one). Lucas toe is healing nicely.  Neither boy needs to go back again at this point!

After that I took them out to breakfast. 

Time is up.

Better get her to cheer camp.

YOUR Gonna Miss This…Moment… Week 42

 

This morning I was up before everyone else, so I thought.  I went downstairs and heard the shower running.  I wondered why James would be up so early. 

He is leaving today for a week in Canada with his grandpa.  I knew he was leaving at 8:30.  So why was he up at 7? 

He told me that he had woken at 6:30 and couldn’t sleep. 

Pretty soon Jadon woke up.  James called him over to sit on his lap.  And James started reading books to Jadon.

They read every Dr. Suess book we have!

I had to laugh at James trying to get all the tongue twisters!  And told him that it was about time he realize how hard it was to read those books, after making me read them over and over to him when he was young!  He didn’t think he was ready to “thank” me yet for that, because they weren't “that hard” to read!  LOL!

It was very sweet.

Praying for James, Dad, & the other 4 guys going along (and my camera to stay safe & dry!!)

Praying for Jadon, Leah, & Lucas as they spend time with their dad this weekend.  Jadon especially as he has been struggling with hyperactivity & wetting his pants again lately.

Praying that I can relax. Enjoy the break. No fear.

Praying for Zach as he is at the lake with a friend.

Praying for Kiahna as she is with me, and we visit with some friends.

Pam

Do you have a “moment” you would like to share with me?  I’d love to come over and read it.  I’d love for others to come over and read it!  If you are new to this blog carnival you can read more here.

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I am going to try using MckLinky this week.  Hope it works well…

Vlogemo, Week 9 & Update

Didn’t know if I would get a vlog-emo post up this week… but I woke up early and got one done!  It is a vlog-emo & an update, along with prayer requests.  I find that it is much quicker for me to do these videos than to type out all my thoughts!  I guess I talk faster than I type! 

Here are the quotes I mentioned in the vlog.  All from Week 3, Day 1 of Jennifer Rothschild’s Study, Me Myself & Lies.

“Feelings are valid, but they must concur with truth to be worthy of our life.”

“A surplus of emotion usually precedes acting without wisdom”

“Without wisdom we act emotionally, think with our feelings, and don’t recognize truth—with catastrophic results.”

Thank you for praying with me for wisdom.  And for praying for us this weekend as the kids go with their dad for a few days. 

Have a blessed day, and thanks for watching.  Join Tim @ Ft Thompson for vlog-emotions each Thursday.  Say a prayer this week for their family, they are dealing with the death of Carey’s Grandma.

Pam

Wordful Wednesday… Lake Pictures

A few photos from the first part of the week…

Grandma & Kiahna…

something is not right with these life jackets…

james, slalom skiing…

here, you two sit here… we will pull you up from the raft… (leah in blue, livia in red)

or maybe not.

Third time’s a charm…

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Admiring baby Addison…

And then the cool weather set in…

Pam