July 2013

July 1- Camp Winshape for the oldest three ALL day, played with ephram, puzzles/school/songs/danced/read/games, etc. super fun day with e, picked up kids who had a great time, dinner together, early to bed.

July 2- winshape, brian and i signed for the loan, fabric store with ephram, fourth RAINY RAINY day in a row:(, stomach prob's, had a dog party with e, another fun day at camp, taco lasagna, listened to summer '99 music with brian, kids played with foam.

July 3- winshape, picked up Gavin so he and ephram could have a playdate, mall for them to play/lunch/read, boys came home and played here before we took G home, ephram helped me cook dinner, got the kids, bed!

July 4- slept in thanks to brian taking the kids to camp and ephram out to breakfast, went with Brian and Ephram to the 4th celebration in Wake Forest, played together all afternoon, 4th crafts with ephram, earthfare for dinner, went to fireworks/sparklers/cards/laughing/traffic/home late.

July 5- kids went to their last day of winshape and we went with them until after lunch!, cleaned the house, started switching the boys room with Kinsey's, cailey relaxed/read/played with ephram, brian didn't feel great, and we all went to bed ZONKED!

July 6- switched the boys room and kinsey's room...ALL day long!  Cailey played with ephram, outside play, lots of cleaning/organizing/tossing/taking apart and putting together beds, went to bed zonked!

July 7- church, granny's for the day/lunch/kids swam/drums, spray painted baskets, cailey started feeling bad.

July 8- piano, sick cailey girl (watched Anne of Green Gables with her), other three played upstairs most of the day together, kitchen meeting with Maryann, lots of snuggles with cailey, excitement to see daddy home:), and picked up paint.

July 9- cailey to doctor, painters here (from groupon) to do the boys and kinsey's room, cailey sick all day:(, more anne of green gables, other three played games, sorted legos together:), lots of tickling for ephram, secrets (to and from ephram...with LOTS of giggles), put the rooms back together, enjoyed the new rooms~

July 10- cleaned, laundry, kids folded it for me:), laura and the kids came to play for the day, no fighting/crying until 3pm (yay:), breakfast for dinner, lots of laughing for laura and i, day 1 AGAIN, packed/planned for the beach, and hung out with l.

July 11- up early for a BEACH day!, rainy/cold to sunny/gorgeous day, played in waves/laughed/, lunched, snacked, got food stolen from a psycho bird, had girls/boys cars, and came home to shower sleepy children before crashing.

July 12- chick fil a cow appreciation day!, breakfast there w/welch's, watched lucas for the day, lunch at cfa with klick's, boys had fun with lucas, trampoline, piano, games, and dinner at cfa with brian.

July 13- carter's bday party with ephram, the car got 'broken', home depot with brian for toilets, restful day while the kids did some school/play, bike rides, naps, and a nice relaxing day at home.

Cailey said egalant in reference to a shower (vs. elegant:)

Boy Cousin Time

 We brought Nicky back with us after Nonny's birthday party so he could hang out with the boys Saturday night-Wednesday. Cailey was at Aunt Camp and Kinsey had New Life Camp all day so it was just the boys.

 We went to Marbles museum and Nicky loved it!  They put out boat fires, played on pirate ships, raced cars, built Lego mansions, cooked, saved money in the piggy bank  room, and just had a great time!

 pirate ship

 boats

 building cars then racing them

GIANT legos

4

Ephram hasn't taken daily naps for a while now because he'd have a hard time falling to sleep at night if he did. But this summer he's been needing naps more...because we have discovered him asleep at 4:00 in different places. He'll be tucked away in the dining room on a chair, curled up on the floor..he falls asleep while playing with the other kids!  I guess our pool days/ field trips wear him out so lately we've gone back to napping when we are home. I have him sleep from 1-3 ONLY on the days we're home by then...which really isn't that often.  He ALWAYS takes naps on Sundays.  Thankfully if he's up by 3 it doesn't usually bother him falling asleep at night.

big big 4 year old boy:)

Nonny's 70th Birthday Party

 right away ephram found Nicky's rocking motorcycle and played on it.

 Matt and I threw mom a 'surprise' 70th birthday party in Charlotte.  The kids played while Leigh and I decorated and prepped for the party.

 Most of moms Charlotte friends were able to come and she caught up with them:)

 Matt and I invited our lifelong friends who lived close by and knew mom well...so glad they could come!

 it was surreal having the kids talk to parents of my friends when I was a kid!  

 singing to nonny

 me and my mama both in green (unplanned)

Green is mom's favorite color so I wanted to wear it for her party

So thankful we could celebrate her!

Exploring!

 Day three we set out with no plan except to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway, picnic, and go hiking. Our plan got messed up when we discovered the parkway only went for eight miles then was closed...so we followed signs that said Historic Sites, Zebulon B. Vance house.

Laura and I had no idea what to expect but figured it would be good...and a history lesson!  I called Brian to ask him about it and of course he knew exactly who I was talking about (Zebulon B. Vance) and told me all about him. He's so smart with History!

We read about his History and saw artifacts from that time period in the visitors center before going to explore the buildings. With Cailey and Rebecca loving this time period it was awesome for them to explore them!  We started in the main house.

 the girls room

 the boys room...and i LOVE me some old buildings!

 running down to the well house

 i mean...how Little House can you get??

 We stayed to explore a while, had a snack, then went back to see the Blue Ridge Parkway with no fog:)

 We didn't get any questions about being a daycare BUT at this location we were asked if we were ONE big happy family..lol!

 We pulled off to go hiking too. Laura LOVES stopping at random places to hike with no destination...lol:). It was fun. The kids had a blast!

 big girls led the way

 They even got brave for a picture for me:).  I have a picture like this from a few years ago at the girl weekend.

We came down the mountain to eat outside the Folk Art Center. The kids explored, Rebecca got stung by a bee:(, and they saw a wooly worm. More adventures.

 Thanks to the trusty internet via my iphone we found a great park for the kids to play in. I didn't take pics other than this flintstone car one but it was a lot like the castle park in MD. And we have super HILARIOUS memories to take away from it. Like driving around a racecar track...twice....while being followed by a car with lights...while the kids were freaking out. Makes me laugh just writing it. FUN times!

 taking a look at the French Broad river near the playground. 

 Sonic happy hour slushies for snack!

Pizza and breadsticks for dinner (once we found the pizza place:)

Our trip to the mountains was SO very fun and I will not soon forget the great time we had there. Laura and I will have many things to laugh about for years to come.  What a blessing to get to go to the mountains in one car and have a place to stay.  I would call this trip hilariously successful.

Brevard

 Day 2 we had a plan.  We were driving to Brevard to go hiking up to see triple falls, looking glass falls, etc. then would spend the second half of the day at little sliding rock.

 All eight of the kids did AWESOME on the hike...which wasn't easy for them. Cailey was in awe when she saw the waterfalls...and the ROCKS from the mountains. Every time she'd see 'rock' mountains (vs. trees on top) she'd get so excited and point it out. LOVED that...I just can't say enough how neat it was to be 'seeing' things through her eyes for the first time.

 Of course there were lots of photo ops on the way up...which mama had to take advantage of:)

 We made it!

 This girl..."mommy! take a picture of just me in front of a waterfall!"

 On the way down to triple falls we found a great place to stop for a snack. Oh...the kids were super helpful with carrying the backpack and other things that needed to be carried. Strangely enough they saw it as a privilege to be carrying it...which Laura and I loved:).

 letting our children get swept away in the waterfall never to be seen again.....:)

 You can take the girl to the beach, or the mountains, or the mall....but the girl will not stop cartwheeling! It's her mode of transportation.  We saw this snake...AGH!!! on the way back down.  Thankfully it stayed on there.

 Ephram did a GREAT job on the hike...much better than I expected. At the end he used a phrase he coined the previous day and said "my legs ran out of gas". We were almost to the van so I knew he could make it but sweet Aunt Laura saved him and took him the rest of the way.

 We went to little sliding rock and were thrilled to see we were the only ones there...as others were packing up to leave. Laura was my hero and stayed in the COLD water to catch the kids. Someone had to take pictures!:) They were watching aunt Laura go down.

 All of the Welch kids loved it (as this was their second time visiting). I was pretty sure Ephram would want no part of the cold water but thought the other three would like it.
Sure enough Ephram went down once (screaming) and then mommy made him go down again at the end after sitting wrapped in a towel...and once again he screamed (mean mommy) but I had to get a picture!

 My Kinsey girl can go either way. I wasn't sure if this would be her thing and it wasn't. She went down 7 times (because mommy wanted her to try:) but was done after that. I'm not sure if it was the cold water or rock, or what...but she was not thrilled.

Braden and Cailey loved it...they even tried going down on their stomachs!

 They went down for almost two hours then we found the perfect log to sit and have a snack before walking back down.

 We found the perfect spot for wading, throwing rocks, and exploring!  We stayed at the 'swimming hole' and had a great time playing in it!  Even this mama got in and braved the cold...Laura was right, after your legs go numb it's really not that bad.

 this guy had the goal of getting all the way across on his own and succeeded!

We stayed until a tree top cracked and started falling (sounding like fireworks)...the kids were scared. While we were waiting for Laura and Isaac to come back from the bathroom it started to downpour. And thunder. And lightning. I took the kids under some trees to help keep us from getting all the towels and bags soaked. The storm was getting pretty bad while we just stood there but when they showed up we all took off. There was a GIANT crashed of thunder and lightning which started the big girls SCREAMING, CRYING, and RUNNING. I couldn't stop laughing...as in hysterically. The scene was so funny to me for some reason! Eight children running for the car, screaming, getting poured on, and Laura and I just laughed and laughed. good times:).  That water hole and the storm were memories I won't soon forget! Even as I write this I have to smile.

OH..and went Ephram went to get in the car he somehow smashed his tongue?? and was bleeding all over. and even WORSE...Laura couldn't find her chapstick..LOL! 

 Our original plan of going to get ice cream was out since we weren't dressed and were soaked so we stopped and I got the kids the candy of their choice.

 When we got back to the house Laura took care of bathing everyone (in cold water because we forgot to turn the hot water heater on..lol!) while I cooked dinner. When the kids had downtime they ALL had fun playing with the lincoln logs .  The big girls made covered wagons and played Little House.

 When the boys weren't building houses they loved having battles with the people.

 These were the perfect toys to have up in the mountains:)

at night we talked scripture and prayed. it helped us all be on the right page.  the kids each came up with verses that would be helpful during the day to make our trip super fun.

Some of their choices were:

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control

Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining and arguing

Ephesians 6:1 Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother.

Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

After our bible time the kids played with glow sticks!