I sit here writing and am at a loss for words that will adequately describe the past week.  Pine Cove Family Camp is amazing and so many amazing things happen during the week that it may take me two posts to fully describe them.   =) If you want to see all the pics from the week, click here

We left last Sunday right after church and drove into camp around 3:30pm.  As you can see, the little man drove us into camp this year =)
Once we got into camp, the fun didn’t stop.  Avery was a “Wild Kid” this year, Elliana was a “June Bug”, and Justus was a “Rollie Pollie” which meant Elliana and Justus both still got naps in their class while Avery got to do fun things like have water balloon fights, shaving cream wars, swimming contests, and pony rides during naps.  All three of them love their classes.  In fact, Brent and I had a plan to take the kids out on individual dates throughout the week.  We’ll just say it took some convincing to get the kids to leave their class to go out with mommy and daddy!

I don’t have any pictures of our dates with the kids.  So wish I did!  But on Monday, we took Elliana out on the boat and she rode the water rocket.  You sit on it and hang on for dear life while the boat tries to throw you in the water.  Every time a wave hit the water rocket, Elliana yelled “yeehaw”.  She loved it!  I took Avery out on the boat to do the same thing on Friday.  I think she giggled through the entire thing =)  REALLY really wish I had both experiences on video!

Brent and I also got a few dates throughout the week.  A breakfast trail ride, a morning water ski outing, and 2 dinner dates.  I think that’s one of the things I love about Pine Cove.  It provides amazing family activities as well as amazing couple activites and amazing kids programs.    Everyone in the family gets to have fun without mommy and daddy feeling like they are working overtime to take care of everyone!So because I can’t really put into words the amazing week of vacation, I put together the video below that somewhat captures our week.  I know its long, but I’m sure the grandparents will be as excited about it as I am =) If you don’t want to watch the whole thing, you should skip ahead to about 3 min. & 40 seconds  and catch a glimpse of the kids’ musical debut.  I’ll just say Elliana learned to use her hips that way from her father.  =)  Hope you enjoy!

My birthday happened to fall on the day that Brent pulls a 14 hour work day, so we’re pretending my birthday is tomorrow.   The girls decided that I needed a cake today though since it was my actual birthday.  I think they thought they were going to make it themselves  because when I started to get everything ready to make the cake, I was bombarded with two little girls who were beside themselves about the fact that I was going to make my own birthday cake.

They kept saying “you can’t make your own cake.  It must be a surprise.” Followed by “the cake has to be made after you’re in bed and you don’t get to see it until your party!” They definitely have the  birthday cake ritual down. 

They finally were convinced that if they were to get cake tonight, I was going to have to help make it, and we settled on making a butterfly cake.   Well, actually I made it while they played in frosting and said things like “I’m just about to do the crumb coat” and “I need a better offset spatula”. I think they’ve been watching cooking videos a little too much.

The cake turned out a little messy which is a good representation of the whole day.  A little messy, but perfect all at the same time.

We attempted to go to the zoo, saw the 30 minute wait to get into the alternative parking lot because the normal zoo parking lot was already full, and decided to do something else instead.

Around the area of the zoo, there are a few other options.  The mini train was our first thought, but we didn’t have any cash.  As we pulled out of the road, we saw a sign that said “Log Cabin Village” and thought “why not? Let’s try it”.  So we went.
None of us had ever been there so we didn’t know what to expect.
It was a blast. The kids got to play in the “woods”, learned how candles were made, and got a few interesting history lessons about the type of potties the pioneers used.
They also had a “hands on” house where the kids got to play in the kitchen, play with a spinning wheel, gather eggs from a chicken coup, grind coffee, and pump water.
Not too bad for a last minute revision of plans!

This post is just a few days late…oops =)

But Family Fun Day was a bit low key this week. Brent’s sick, the oldest is recovering from an ear and sinus infection, the middle one has horrible allergies, and the youngest one has been sick for 3 weeks. So we moved a bit slow this Friday =)

A leisurely walk to the park to climb some trees and have a picnic lunch
then we let each girl use money from their piggy banks to go to the Revive Carnival at church.  Revive is our special needs ministry and every year we have a carnival at the church and all proceeds go to Revive.  The girls had a blast. Little man was still sick, but he’s a trooper.We ended the evening by making some peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and watching “Franklin”.  I found this recipe out of desperation one girls’ night when I was preggos with the little man.  I googled “peanut butter cookies using 4 ingredients”  and found this recipe.  It is amazing and the girls can make it themselves; although I have yet to leave the kitchen while they are making it!  In case you want to try it out, here’s the recipe:

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir it all together, make it into little balls on a cookie sheet, and put it in the oven at 350 for 7-10 min.  This is the first time we added chocolate chips to the recipe and it was really good.  I don’t think you can mess this up!

And I end this post with a little prayer request for the little guy.  We’re on week 2 of pretty intensely high fevers.  We did a round of blood work today, X-rays earlier this week, and plenty of doctors visits.  We are going back in on Monday morning to review the blood work.  If you could pray that his little body would be healed, I would appreciate it.  He’s too little to be this sick.

And celebrate we did as the girls woke up to an empty tomb this morning!

Our celebration consisted of dying Easter eggs last night to prepare for Easter morning After we talked about the tomb being empty and that Jesus is alive, we told them the rest of the day was a party to celebrate that Jesus is stronger than death. The first fun thing was their Easter baskets and an Easter egg hunt around the house.Our celebration then moved to an incredible time of worship at Northwood Church  followed by an afternoon with some family friends and their families.

At the afternoon party, the kids got another Easter Egg HuntHours filled with playing with friends and some play time with some ducks and a chicken (notice the little man’s arm stuck through the fence trying to reach the animals) The kids are now exhausted, but I think they have decided they like these kinds of celebrations where they get lots of candy

Overall, I think our week of intentionally drawing our family into thinking through what the cross means has been good.  The oldest finally understood that she is sinful which was my biggest prayer through this whole thing.    Through all the talking this week, she has heard the gospel quite a few times and one day in the car she said, “mommy, I know I’m a sinner and my only hope is Jesus.  He alone can forgive me.”   We praise Christ that he is softening her heart but we also know she is a bit young to truly understand salvation.  The foundation is being laid though, and I pray Christ continues to work in all my kids’ hearts and minds as they grow older.

Jesus Praying in the Garden and telling God “not my will but Yours be done”.

Day Six: Two part series =)

Part One:  Jesus died on the cross

We then left and went to Good Friday Service.  The youngest and the oldest have croup so we spent the majority of the service in the cry room (sigh).  It was still an amazing service though…even if it was observed from the cry room.

Part Two:  Putting Jesus in the tomb.

We came home, discussed how Jesus would now be dead, put him in the tomb and blew out the last candle.

The oldest is already itching to get Jesus out of the tomb.  I know tomorrow is going to feel like an eternity to her!

Truth by told, Day Three got a little rushed.  All day long, I thought it was Wednesday so planned the wrong story.  Then I realized my mistake right before we were starting our devotions so we scrambled to remember what Tuesday’s lesson was supposed to be.  Then Brent and I had plans so the babysitter showed up as we were about to start.  All that to say, Day Three was a bit rushed.  I redid it again this morning after breakfast =)

Day Three:  Judas betrays Jesus for money

Day Four:  The Last Supper.

As we talked through the last supper and had the little people act it out, I told the girls they could not participate in communion at church on Friday night until they were ready to make a decision about Christ.  The 2 year old is still a bit young to truly get it.  She responded, “okay. I’ll do that and then I get crackers at church?” Understanding dawned in the 4 year old’s eyes though.  She asked “I have to believe that I can’t be good on my own and its only through Jesus? “ She then thought for a minute and said, “maybe I’ll sit and talk to daddy about it tomorrow.” My heart is bursting with prayers for her tonight as she thinks through my words while laying in her bed.

We blew out one more candle tonight as well.  Two more and then we’ll be sitting in darkness to symbolize Jesus was in the tomb.

If you missed Day One, click here

Jesus washing the disciple’s feet.

“Jesus” would be the blue pipe cleaner and is washing “Peter”, the yellow pipe cleaner man’s, feet just in case you were wondering =)

Its Palm Sunday today.  In an effort to teach our kids that Easter is a BIG deal, we began our week leading up to Easter like this:

Before church we made play dough and formed it into Golgotha, poked some holes into it for the cross, found sticks outside to make a cross, and baked the play dough in order to harden it while we were at service.

Spent some time after church coloring our mountain and talking about Easter

Tonight family worship was spent discussing and acting out the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.

We blew out one of the six candles we have lit to symbolize that the time for Jesus to die was approaching.  (By Saturday night, we’ll be sitting in the dark to represent that Jesus is dead)

Our oldest is quickly approaching the age where both Brent and I accepted Christ.  Our hope and prayer this Easter is that she begins the process of thinking about Christ and his sacrifice for her.  She has yet to truly understand she has a sin nature and needs a Savior.  Although she wholeheartedly loves Jesus, we pray this Easter she begins to see the reality of the cross and the destruction that sin causes.

(sidenote: I completely stole this idea from Noel Piper’s book Treasuring God in our Traditions. )

Maybe more of a Family Fun Evening this week.  The little guy had his 12 month well visit, Brent needed to do our taxes, and the girls needed some down time this morning, so we put off our family fun until after naps today.

Then it was photo shoot time!  One of our good friends is a photographer so we spent the evening with her and her family, and she took the oldest one’s 4 yr old pics and the little guys 1 yr old pics.  I can’t wait to get them and post some of them.  They looked amazing!

While the photo shoot was happening, the rest of the kiddos had a blast playing in the sand/mud. I think one of the reasons our families hang out so much is that our kids are pretty much all the same age.  They all have a blast together which makes the adults able to have a blast together. The other reason we hang out together all the time is because this family is just fun.    We love the Borns! =)

And just a couple pics from today because I liked them

After the picture taking was over, I made lasagna for dinner, and we ate, talked, played, and stayed out until 8:30!!   I read someone’s tweet on the way home that said they were just waking their hubby up from a nap ,and I thought to myself, “A nap?  Isn’t it bedtime now?” Then it hit me.  I really am old.   Maybe when my kids stop going to bed at 7pm, I’ll stop thinking 8:30pm is late…  Maybe…

Happy Friday to you all!!