A Birthday Boy, Lost Teeth and Heading to Kamp

Our week started off with a bang with Lincoln’s 7^th birthday. That boy has been so excited about his birthday, especially because he got to have his first friend party. Lincoln is a special kid who loves deeply and can drive you a little crazy J. He loves to snuggle and have his back rubbed and if the moment is right, he loves to be my helper. Some things he is totally oblivious too but then others he is right on top of. He gets up in the morning and pretty much always gets dressed, brings down his laundry, brushes his teeth and does his chore without me saying anything. He even puts away his toothbrush and toothpaste when he brushes his teeth. I guess this impresses me because his dad doesn’t even do that J. He says the funniest things that just make you smile and is a bit of a manipulator who somehow gets his friends and the twins to help him with different things like putting away his laundry. He loves playing with his friends and has learned to appreciate playing with the twins because they will follow his lead in their make-believe schemes. He also loves his video games which leads to the theme of his party-Minecraft.

We got over to my parents’ house around 9 Monday morning and started getting things ready for the party. I enlisted the help of Jackson and Ellie. And thankfully my mom was a huge help since my other helpers weren’t the most enthusiastic. We had to put up the backdrop and banner, set up the food table and the main table, blow up balloons, prep the cupcakes, prep the scavenger hunt bags with their hunt list and the necklaces that Ellie made and put out all the treats for the scavenger hunt. For the scavenger hunt, I made up a sheet that showed several different Minecraft items, like diamonds, gold, etc., and then put a picture of a candy/treat that I was using as the equivalent that was hiding out in my parents yard. The kids showed up at 10:30 and immediately got in the pool. The pool had gotten green over the weekend and my dad tried to clear it up without any luck. So we joked that we did it on purpose to match the theme. It didn’t seem to bother the kids at all. After swimming for a bit, they dug into the food table which included big marshmallows dipped in red chocolate that were supposed to be mushrooms, Rice Krispie treats that were sand blocks, brownies with green icing that were dirt blocks, pretzels that were sticks, cheese cubes that were lava and licorice wrapped up like TNT.

Then we went out to the side of the house to blow up stuff like they do in Minecraft. We tried to do the Mentos and Diet Coke trick but it was a total bust-oh well. So we just went right into the scavenger hunt and they had a lot of fun with that. Then it was time for presents. Lincoln was so excited about each and every one. And lastly, we had cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday before getting some more swimming in before parents came back. It ended up being a great party and everyone had fun. The swimming helped control the energy J.

We cleaned up after the party but were able to leave some stuff up for his family party which was that evening. Then it was back home where I wasted time trying to figure out some stuff with our internet connection. Thankfully the kids kept themselves busy playing with their friends. The twins have quite the imagination lately and will do imaginative play for hours. Lincoln and his friend decided to build a weapons cache in our garage using the appliances as their “cave” and stockpiling all sorts of Nerf guns and bows. And before we knew it, it was time to head back to my parents for the family party. I cleaned up the pool house a bit and set up the food table again. My parents and Molly helped me with the finishing touches and we were all ready to go. We just ordered pizza and it was a calm, simple party. Again, Lincoln was excited about all his gifts. He has been needing some new mud boots for the ranch for several months and he finally got some. He was very excited. I guess it shows that sometimes you are more appreciative if you have to wait for something. He was also very excited about his new bike and couldn’t wait to get home and ride it some more.

Tuesday was the day to knock a bunch of stuff off my to-do list. I finally collected all of our cable boxes and remotes (it took a while to unhook everything) and took them to the cable office and cancelled our cable. It will save us $100 a month so I’m hoping it works. I got all the packages ready for our kampers and started collecting clothes. The kids played outside quite a bit and took breaks inside playing on the Wii and watching their new favorite, America’s Funniest Videos. That night after dinner, Andrew and Jackson mowed the yard and then all the kids ended up playing games late into the night. They tried to play some soccer and flag football and ended with Ghost in the Graveyard. I left around 9:45 for a quick trip to Wal-Mart and they were still playing when I left. I picked up some toiletries to pack for kamp and a cable to hook up our new sound bar.

On Wednesday I got a swim in and then we took Ellie to do some more testing for RAP. After we dropped her off, we went by the YMCA and signed the twins up for their first season of soccer. They are excited to get to play this year even though they aren’t too aware of how to play it. Then we made another quick trip to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple more things I wanted to try out to get our TV and sound bar all set up. We saw my mom as we were leaving and talked to her for a bit and then saw Tiffany and Ty. Our next stop was my parents’ house to get some swim trunks for Jackson for kamp and then we went back to Ray Miller and let the kids play on the playground while we waited for Ellie to finish. 

Later that afternoon all five kids had dentist appointments. They started at 3 and we were done by 4:30. I thought it would take longer but things went pretty smoothly although it was a pretty full 1 ½ hours. They started with Lincoln and Jackson while Ellie went down the hall to see Molly at my dad’s office. She got back just as they called her back. They had 3 hygienist working on them which I was thankful for. We had good reports on all three of them except they recommended that Jackson get a sealant on his 12 year molar that had come all the way through (they wanted to wait a little more on the others). They wanted us to get it done soon though since there was maybe a tiny cavity starting to form. So I was starting to make the appointment for that and for Lincoln to get sealants on four of his molars when one of the hygienist suggested that they just try to do it right then since they had an open room. I was all for it, so they took Jackson back and got it done quickly while I sat with Bennett to get his teeth cleaned. He was a little hesitant but did very well sitting on my lap and even found some of it entertaining. Miles was up next and at this point Lincoln decided to join us in the back and they decided to go ahead and do his sealants too. But while they were prepping the room, he decided to finally pull out one of his three loose teeth. So they had to wait for it to quit bleeding before they could put the sealants on. He has a pretty cute smile though J.

I ended up going between his room and Miles’ making sure they were all okay. And then I get a notification that Molly tagged me in a photo on Facebook and I see this.

They were eating leftover pizza and suckers and Ellie had a grape soda and Jackson helped himself to a half empty 2 liter of Coke. Exactly what they were supposed to do after the dentist. I showed the picture to Amee, the hygienist that always jokes around with my dad, and she immediately went down to his office to give him heck J.  We finished up the twins without any incident and headed down to my dad’s office so they could get pizza, suckers and soda J. Probably the most fun dentist visit they have had. By the time we got home, it was time to get dinner started. Then after dinner, Andrew and Jackson ran some sprints, threw the football around and lifted. I started working on packing for kamp and finished up around 9:30 with everything packed but some preventative lice shampoo I ordered off Amazon earlier that day after receiving notification from Sharon (Brett is a counselor at K-Kountry) that there has been a small lice problem at K-Kountry-fun times.

Thursday morning, I met Andrew driving into the neighborhood as I was getting back from my bike ride. Then he got the kids up and took them out to the ranch for a little bit. I took advantage of that and cleaned all the bathrooms, got ready and then went grocery shopping. Later that afternoon we went to my parents’ to go swimming. Kathy Powell brought her grandkids over to swim too and then we ordered some pizza and ate dinner by the pool. When went home later that evening and the kids played outside with their friends. They have had fun including the twins while playing cops and robbers and let the twins “arrest” people.

Friday was our final day to get ready for kamp. We had everything pretty much ready to go except I did wash and clean out the car and fill it up with gas so we were ready for the trek down to Branson and Lampe. Ellie and Grace spent part of the day painting rocks. A new thing has been going around town where people paint rocks and hide them for others to find. Then you can keep them or rehide them. And you are supposed to post it all on Facebook so people can see what rocks there are to find and see when people find their rocks. Lincoln also painted a rock with some help from me-of course he wanted to do a Minecraft creeper. 

Along with painting rocks we spent time playing outside, especially with all the Nerf guns.

  

Andrew was gone all day helping with the haying at the ranch so we did dinner without him. While we were cleaning up, the twins and Lincoln were playing around and Lincoln started screaming. Bennett accidentally kneed him in the mouth and he lost his second front tooth. He didn’t want to hear me tell him how cute he was going to look as he was crying and blood was coming out of his mouth. He is a tad dramatic though. I helped control the bleeding and calmed him down a bit, but then I just closed the door to the bathroom and let him calm down a little more. He wasn’t too keen on how it felt but was soon all better once his friends showed back up to play.

That evening the kids played outside a bit and then I loaded up the twins along with Ellie, Grace and Faith and we went to three different parks to hide their rocks. I let them play just a little bit at each but it was getting dark and I knew Tiffany wanted Grace home to get to bed since they had an early morning leaving for camp the next day. They had a lot of fun though and I can see them wanting to do it again when they get back from kamp.

The next morning, we were up early and Molly came around 7 to watch the twins so we could head down to Branson. We made a quick stop in Columbia to pick up a Sam’s order and ate lunch in Springfield. We got to K-Kountry around 1:30 and the Marshalls had just arrived too to drop off Noah. I didn’t think it was going to be as hot, but it was still pretty toasty. But it didn’t dampen Ellie’s excitement. She is so ready to go which made me happy. We waited in line for ½ hour before they opened the gates and then she was off to be announced and we waited to see what barn she was in. She was all smiles when they announced her and she is in Barn 6 for the week. We quickly met her counselors, made her bed, chatted with one of her barnmates who rode the bus there, and gave her hugs goodbye. We didn’t set out anything else like we usually do but she told us she could do it and didn’t seem sad at all about any of it. She was wanting to head out and see if she could see Briley and Grace when they were announced since they were all coming a little later.  As we were leaving, I recognized a mom standing in line as someone who I went to camp with. I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t 100% sure but when I got home, I found an old camp picture with her in it. And Andrew saw two of his fraternity brothers dropping off their kids. And then we saw Andy and Autumn and the kids heading in as we were going back to our car.

Then we were off to Lampe to drop Jackson off at K-7. He didn’t seem too nervous but was maybe unsure of what to expect at a new kamp. They do take them to look at it their last year at K-Kountry though. It was crazy to be back there after 20 years. Not a whole lot has changed. When we were eating lunch earlier in the day, I asked him if he brought Grover and he said he forgot. I could tell he was a little sad about it. It was his first year not bringing him. He usually just sneaks him in his pillow. I said we could mail it to him but he said it wouldn't work because they make you open your packages in front of the counselors and I think he would have been embarrassed. I also told him that I'm sure Molly would drive it down at that moment because she understands that stuff :-). Most of the kids were already there but they still had some counselors around for the introduction including two of Jackson’s counselors. He is in Teepee 5 for the week. His counselors seem like great guys and the rest of the kids in his teepee greeted him as he came in which was nice. We quickly set up his bed too as they were getting ready to head to a pool party. One thing I feel has changed in the teepees is that they put a huge fan in the floor which definitely helped cool things down. We said our quick goodbyes and went to drop off his packages at the office before we left. I recognized one of the guys in there and told him I was a counselor there 20 years ago and he asked my name. He said he remembered me but I’m wondering if he was just saying that to be nice. The head director of K7 is the same from when I was there and he looks pretty much the same now with a huge smile on his face. I really think Jackson is going to like it there. They gave us a CD that had some highlights of the talks they would be having and I think they will be so good for Jackson. I can’t wait to hear what he thought about all of it.

We made good time home and Molly and the twins were waiting for us when we got there around 9:15. They had a good day hanging out with Molly, swimming at my parents and hanging out with Papa at his office while he built some new shelving for his office. Andrew went for a bike ride the next morning and then we went to church. It takes me just a bit to get adjusted to only having three kids at home and not wondering where the other two are.  I did remember them by cleaning all of their bedding. So I spent the day doing that along with the normal laundry, editing photos from the week to do this blog, and staring to get stuff ready for the remodel. I pulled down all of our vinyl lettering and started packing up some of the kitchen. The boys played with their Nerf guns quite a bit but I took them away after a few too many tears. Then they went down to the "Lego Room" to build some stuff. I caught Miles trying to sneak a "lego guy" out of Jackson's room though because he said he couldn't find anymore :-). That night we grilled hamburgers and enjoyed dinner outside before the hot weather returns this next week. Andrew was watering the yard, so the twins, Lincoln and Ty had fun running through it for a bit.