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?

Ridin' Horseback

One of the things I have really enjoyed as a parent is watching my girls experience things I did not get to experience as a child. I TRY not to live through them, though my dear husband often reminds me that the girls are not going to always get as excited about experiences as I would and not to be to disappointed when they aren't!

One thing Sissy has been able to enjoy that I did not get to, was participating in Girl Scouts. This is her 3rd year with Girl Scouts and her first year as a Junior Girl Scout. After selling cookies this year the girls were able to go on their 2nd horseback riding event (another thing I always wanted to do!). Sissy has always been a bit skittish of animals, no matter how big or small, but I did notice that it didn't take her long to become comfortable this time. The girls were able to tour the stables (there was even a colt in the barn!), brush the horses, clean their hooves, visit the tack room, and take a ride.

Next weekend Sissy and daddy will be going to a Father Daughter Horseback Riding evening at

Michigan Christian Youth Camp. They will ride on the trails, take a hay ride and roast hot dogs around a campfire. Doesn't that sound like fun?

Visit with Family

My husband's sister and brother-in-law stayed with us 6 days and they have moved on to visit a few more family members. We had a really nice time and the kids really enjoyed having their aunt and uncle here. We took them to Greenfield Village and had awesome weather.

The girls enjoyed a ride on a bus from the 1930's. It's funny when they are young and can't really understand how far back things are from. Since we used the American Girls for our history study this year, I find myself saying, "That is from xxx's time" so they can place the time in history we are looking at. For the bus daddy said, "John Boy Walton would have ridden in one of these." Because most of the stuff on t.v. now is trash and we do not have cable/satellite, the kids do not watch alot of t.v. other than PBS or rented old t.v. shows from the library. The girls really like watching the Waltons and Sweet Baby even declared once that she wanted to marry John Boy!

We stopped by the old photography studio which is the cutest building with windows all on one side to let the light in. We had fun looking like the people do in photographs from the old days.

And of course, to end our day, we enjoyed the yummiest ice cream ever!

I LOVE Free Toys!

My husband is on vacation this week while we await a visit from his sister and her husband (they should be here any minute!) While he is off he has quite a large list of things to do around the house. One of the things was to start trimming the many trees we have in our yard. He was trimming the branches and asking the girls to try to pull them into the back yard when he noticed they were "making a fort" with the branches and playing Indians. I love when kids are easily amused at simple things and love it even more watching the girls enjoy their friendship.

A New Niece

I just had to share photos of my new niece...this is Isabelle Ann. She was born last week and the girls are just loving the idea of having a baby around to ooogle at. This is my only brother's first child. He and his girlfriend are very excited. Congrats!