Campie

We just bought a used pop-up camper and we're sooooo excited! We wanted to take a long trip this summer (after Rob being in school for seven long years) and we decided that we wanted to shop around for a used pop-up camper. Nothing fancy, just something to camp in that would provide a little more comfort and shelter than a tent. We found this one only a 1/2 hours drive from us for $1000 but when we met with the man to look at it he said our children reminded him so much of his own children that he gave it to us for $600!!! How cool is that?! His kids (who are teenagers now) told us that they always called it "Campie" and we think it would be wrong to change it's name. :) So "Campie" is now a part of our little family.

We have a three week trip planned for this summer but we are keeping the details of our trip secret because we really need this trip to be just about the four of us - three solid weeks of big open spaces and family fun and bonding.

It has two sides that pull out to make two full sized beds. Malachi thinks he's going to get one to himself but I think Mommy may end up bunking with him cuz Mommy and Daddy won't fit too well in a full... we'll see though...

It has electric and water hook ups, a little stove, sink, and table area that folds down into Elise's bed. (She claimed it right away!)

We are all very excited about our up-coming adventure! And of-course I'll blog all about it when we get back! We'll keep ya posted!

I'm gonna vent a little...

Is anyone else sick of what it takes to just "be"? I mean that I can clean all day and wash clothes all day, and do dishes all day, and feed little mouths all day, and the next morning it starts all over again! It just NEVER ENDS!! You do all of this just so you can wake up the next morning and not be any futher ahead than you were the day before. It's depressing. My house is always a wreck, there seems to never be a clean spoon when I need one, my kids seem to always be hungry or dirty or in need of something. And heaven forbid I want to take a shower cuz there's no clean towels in sight and I'm never sure where they all go! It's like there's a black hole looming somewhere in my home... And lately I've had to be on a couple of medications and vitamins that I have to take mutiple times a day and that just adds to my feeling of "it's always something". I feel like the energizer bunny (minus the energy). It's really hard for me cuz I'm a check-list-person and with being a stay-at-home-mom I never have any sense of accomplishment. Nothing really ever gets checked off cuz as soon as you do the dishes you have to cook another meal, creating more dirty dishes, and as soon as you mop someone tracks in mud or spills an entire glass of juice. It's almost pointless...

Oh well. Whatever. I just wanted to vent a little...

Happy Birthday To You!

Our Son turned 4 in January and got to have two parties! Rob's Mom made him this Sponge Bob cake and gave him the gifts from her family while we were visiting and then at my parent's house we held a party for my side and the Abell side of the family.

It was great cuz everyone invited showed up! He had three Great Grandmas there, two Great Grandpas, two Grandpas, two Grandmas, many Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins! It was a great party!

Youth Retreat

In January Rob and I helped take the youth of our church to ROCK - a youth retreat put on by the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church and held in Ocean City, MD. We had 22 kids with us, 18 of which were boys and most of the kids were between 10-13 years old (with a couple of older and a couple of younger one thrown in there).

Rob and I first drove our own children up to our mothers (who each kept them for a couple of days -thanks Moms!) And then we drove to Halsey Valley NY and picked up three 12 year old boys that go to a church we used to attend and took them with us to Ocean City. A 6 hour trip with three 12 year old boys is interesting but can be pretty fun too and above all I was just glad they got to come and have a little adventure!

So we had a good time with the youth. I was glad to get the chance to spend some one-on-one time with them getting to know them. I admit I enjoied the kids more than the actual conference. The main speaker (Pastor Grace) and the band (Salvador) were very good, don't get me wrong, but for me it was great to just have the time to hang with our Youth Unplugged kids.

The boys even did a "polar bear plunge" which was hysterical to watch!

I did get to go out on the beach at 6am with my acoustic guitar and watch the sunrise as I quietly worshiped the Lord and it was absolutely amazing!

I used to do that as a teen on our family vacations to the shore and it was always and really pure, really awe-inspiring time then and it proved to be now as well. It just brings everything down to basics. No other noises then you singing to a quiet guitar and the waves crashing. There's no distractions, no problems, nothing. Just you and your creator. Peace. Love and peace and simplicity. I long for more of that...

Our Son

Our son is very creative and loves to draw and paint. Here are some of his drawings that I have hanging up around the house. The yellow one is our family at Christmas (you'll see Me and Rob and the kids with the tree and gifts under it), the one on the magna-doodle is his birthday (him holding balloons with a party hat on..) and the one of the faces is supposed to be me (Mommy-with the spiked hair :) and Rob's Mom Nancy is on the top ("Mimi" as the kids call her. And he always draws her with a rainbow for her hair - there's gotta be something to that... but we haven't figured out what exactly!)

He is also a little too into organization! The pretzils were his snack and I found them like this, and the cars are parked perfectly. He always separates out his pasta into color piles when I serve garden rotini (green, ivory, and orange spirals) and he can't have anything new in his room when it's bed time - nothing that does belong - in his eyes. It drives me a bit crazy but I am trying to appreciate who God made him to be and realize that he'd be great in certain detail-oriented jobs when he grows up.

MIA

Ok, so my friend Jacque was on my case this weekend about not adding to my blog in the last month or so... It's not for lack of events or photos - just time! So here are a few snap-shot I took today at our house and as the week goes on I will try to get a post up about personal stuff.

Thomas the Train has got some major use today because of the weather (although these pictures were not taken today...)