boys' camping trip

After the drama with the car was sorted out, Jacob, Truck Grandpa and the boys (minus Christopher) headed out to Hanging Rock State Park for a few days of camping.  Nick and Ben were in charge of getting the tent set up!

They went fishing from the side of the lake and rented a boat but sadly, no one caught anything.  The boys liked the ice cream bars after being out on the lake.

Everyone's favorite part of camping-- relaxing by the campfire (ideally while making s'mores) and playing cards.

august randomness

Ben flew home from Arizona ALL BY HIMSELF!  He had to take a non-stop flight because he was an unaccompanied minor so we had to pick him up in Raleigh instead of Charlotte.  We took advantage of the drive and had dinner at Pei Wei!

Following in big bro's footsteps, Nick got his braces this month!  And just like always, Ellie still loves to play the piano.

Nick, Ben, and Lexie went to Camp Corral at Camp Weaver again this summer.  They love getting to be away from home for a week and see old friends and I love that they stay connected to the military community and are around kids that have had similar military experiences.

Chris missed camp this year because he had AP Bootcamp for his AP World History class-- summer homework is a very real thing in high school!  He enjoyed hanging out at home in the peace and quiet and playing with Ellie until we picked the other three kids up.

Such a silly girl!  She has been obsessed with Moana lately and just had to get a Moana necklace!

We watched the solar eclipse with our neighbors and had snowcones-- such a cool experience!!  We've already made plans to go see the next one in 2024!!

-Our little Moana-

We lucked out and happened to be eating dinner at our local Chick-fil-A on "Make Your Own Sundae" night and the kids had a blast creating theirs!!

Ellie loves playing with blocks and will find random things to incorporate into her towers.  Her use of popsicle sticks was pretty impressive-- she payed close attention to both the symmetry of the structure as well as the design... maybe a future architect??

Cake pops have to be one of the best inventions, at least in the eyes of a three year old!

march randomness

Jacob took the boys camping for the weekend and the car was packed to the brim!

While the boys were gone, the girls went out to dinner and watched movies!

We had a fun lunch with Auntie Janne when she came into town.  Spring is the time of fun school things like crazy hair day and Learn, Create, and Share night!

We had a late season (at least for us in North Carolina) snow and woke up to a couple of inches on the ground.

It was a snowy drive to church and by the time we left, it had all melted (which I totally forgot to take a picture of)!

St Patrick's Day fun-- green ice cream at Chick-Fil-A and green tea at Target.

Randomness: Ellie loves all of the displays at Target... and she also loves napping in the car!  Fun dinner at Duckworth's and spring flowers.

Always the journalist, Christopher took pictures for the school news and yearbook while waiting for his tennis matches.

Christopher decided to try out for the tennis team this year and had so much fun learning the game and growing as a player.

camp weaver and atlantic beach

The big kids all went to Camp Weaver again this summer for a week of fun sponsored by Camp Corral.

All situated in their cabins-- all four picked top bunks this year!  Ellie was a bit sad to say goodbye and leave without all of her "fwends".

But she was all smiles once we made it to Atlantic Beach to spend a few days relaxing.  We had dinner at Amos Mosquito's the first night and it was DELICIOUS!!  Ellie tried to convince us to let her sleep in a dresser drawer when we got back to the hotel but grudgingly agreed to sleep in the pack-n-play instead.

july randomness

Since Christopher turned THIRTEEN this year, we decided to take him to Epic Chophouse for a special birthday dinner while Nick, Ben, and Lexie were at VBS.  He was totally surprised and LOVED it!  Ellie entertained herself by organizing all of the silverware.

A few of Ellie's favorites: our new (to us, really, it's over 100 years old) piano, getting her hair done,

going to breakfast, and shopping at Hobby Lobby (or Hobby Wobby as she says it!).

Ellie playing the piano.

She's "seriously hungry"!!

Sweet girls by the fountain.  Nick and Jacob were geocaching in the area so we stopped to watch the dancing fountain.

The big kids all went to Camp Bob in the mountains of NC for a week of camp sponsored by Operation Purple (an organization that sends military kids to camp to connect with other kids that have been through similar situations).  They had a great time and made lots of new friends-- and we enjoyed a quiet house!!

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august fun

We met some friends from Fort Bragg at the NC Zoo for a morning of animal adventures.

Even though we don't see them as often as we used to, the kids have a great time together!

The grounds of the zoo are absolutely beautiful!  We packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed it while moving around to stay away from the bees.

The bears were a favorite and we watched this black one lounge around for quite awhile.

We went to National Night Out in downtown Mooresville again this year.  Ben and Lexie were excited to participate in the donut eating contest-- they tried their hardest but didn't finish first.

Christopher and Nicholas participated in the older group.  They were both sure they'd win but didn't quite beat the girl that seemed to just inhale hers.

We celebrated Christopher's 12th birthday with ice cream from Kilwin's and then presents at home!

All the boys went to Camp Weaver this year.  It was Ben's first time staying at camp for a week and he was so excited (and did great)!

The boys all ready for camp-- and Lexie ready to leave them there!

It was fun having just girls for the week and lots of fun and silliness ensued.

Ellie loves "helping" bake just about anything.  The pumpkin dump cake beaters are definitely a favorite though.

After a week of camp, Christopher was excited to celebrate his birthday with his friends.  He had three spend the night and they were busy with swimming, pizza, movies and video games!

Such a silly girl!!  Ellie loves playing with all of her babies and with her big brother, Ben!

Dancing Queen!

New song, same moves. And apparently swim suits are worn over clothes!

camp weaver and fort bragg

The day after we got home from the beach, Christopher and Nicholas were off to camp!  The were able to take part in Camp Corral this year- a camp for the children of wounded, disabled and fallen service members.

The grounds of the camp are beautiful.  There is a lake with waterslides, pastures for the horses, and even a skate park!

As soon as they got back from camp, we drove out to Fort Bragg to see Army friends.

After a torrential downpour, we had a blast playing at the park.  We had pizza for dinner and played for hours.

All too soon it was time to say goodbye.  We snapped a picture of all of the kids-- minus the Jensen girls who couldn't make it :(