Big Kid at Camp

Sissy is 10 this summer and this is the first year she has requested to go to church summer camp. The first time she has gone to any camp. The first time she's been away from home for more than 2 nights. It has been a change for sure. I am missing her like crazy! She is at Michigan Christian Youth Camp (MCYC) which is just outside of Lapeer. This week is Bristol Road week. It is the week that most of the attendees are from our church so it wasn't too difficult to let her go. We know nearly all of the counselors and she was lucky enough to bunk with her pal who will be moving away to Oklahoma within the next month or so.

Last night was family night so we went out around dinner time and met her in the cafeteria. It felt SO good to see her and give her a few hugs. After the kids finished eating we made our way down to the pavilion for chapel. Here are the girls all together enjoying songs. When I asked Sissy what her favorite thing to do so far was, she replied, "Archery! I even popped a balloon."

It wasn't raining when we arrived but of course, once the field games started, the rain started. LOTS OF RAIN..I'm guessing for about 2 hours. We were so wet but seriously, what fun! Here she is trying to stay dry and starting to get cold. Luckily someone found us the key to her cabin so we could get her a sweatshirt and some dry clothes after about an hour and a half!

The younger girls were so happy to see her! When we dropped her off Peanut cried for some time as we were leaving and then the 2nd night without her it was about 2 hours of quiet crying because she missed her sister. I even found the girls sleeping with photographs of Sissy. So sweet!

The younger girls loved watching the field games and didn't complain, NOT ONCE about being in the rain for so long. For the balloon toss (yes, more water!) they even let sweet baby get in on the action.

The rain didn't dampen the fun. I had the best time just watching my baby grow up. Seeing her participate in something I never was able to. I am so thankful that my husband and I have chosen Jesus, if not for ourselves, then for our girls. I love sitting and watching them sing songs and singing lines like "I'm all wrapped up, I'm all tied up, I'm all tangled up in Jesus", I love knowing that the friends they are making now know Him and that we are doing our best to start them on a righteous path.

All About Spelling - New Book Ready!

I know I have a few posts here on my blog about what a great spelling program we have found. We use All About Spelling and it has done wonders for my girls. We have been anxiously awaiting the publication of the 5th book as Sissy is more than 1/2 way done with level 4. If you want to check out the All About Spelling site, just follow this link: www.allaboutspelling.com/caspen1973

To see the Level 5 information page, follow this link: https://marierippel.infusionsoft.com/go/level5/caspen1973

In addition, All About Spelling has a site where you can chat with other AAS users and get all your questions answered from those who have used the program, want to check that out? Go to this link: https://marierippel.infusionsoft.com/go/chatter/caspen1973

I'm off to order level 5!

A Haircut and Ear Piercings...

There isn't much to share about school since we are on a break for the summer so I thought I would shar these photos of Sweet Baby and Sissy. Last fall Sissy told me that she thought might like to get her ears pierced. Both dad and I were o.k. with that so we talked about doing it after we got back from our Disney trip. By the time we returned and mentioned it to her, she had changed her mind. A couple weeks ago she came to me out of the blue and said she was ready to get her ears pierced and only required that both ears be done at the same time. Unfortunately I called a couple places near us and there were no places that had 2 ladies working at the time. Grandma was visiting so I told her that grandma could come with us and see her get it done if she thought she could get past the fact that they would need to pierce one ear at a time. Suprisingly she said yes! So off we went. The piercing went well except for a couple silent tears as they were finished. After we were done we went to the grocery store and got Sissy a frozen coke. By that time she had announced that she had no pain at all and didn't even remember they were in her ear. However, she did make a point to tell me that as they were doing it, "it felt like they put staples in my ears mom!

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Sweet baby has been asking to have her hair cut for the last couple months but I have been avoiding do it. Why? Because she is 5 years old and has only had her length trimmed 1 time and it was less than 1/2". Her hair had gotten so long (just scroll down and look at the Memorial day pictures). Sissy started getting her hair cut into a bob around age 2 1/2 because she didn't like long hair. Peanut started getting her hair cut about the same time because she would scream and whine whenever I brushed it and would not let me put any barrettes or ponytails in her hair. Sweet Baby has never cared about the length and is very good about letting me do her hair. But she started asking to have it cut, so off it went. We took 12" off and will be donating it to Locks of Love. I love the above picture because you can see Peanut in the mirror saying, "Oh, it is so cute. You look beautiful!" She does look so cute doesn't she?