Last week of the 2012-2013 year

This is our last week of school! I'm so excited to have a month of goofing off, trips to cool places and play dates with friends. Also looking forward to turning our junk room into a school room for the boys.


Babalu has a camp this week from 8-12. He has his reading book to finish plus reading his independent books for summer reading. He may not enjoy it but I want him to continue reading a book each week or two (depending on the length) from now until he moves out. Generally he grumbles when it is time for a new books but after a chapter or two is more than happy to lay in bed or on the couch reading. So far his favorite genre is mystery so he is enjoying The Hardy Boys Secret Files books.

Rookie isn't old enough to attend the camp so I have the pleasure of his company. So happy. He has math to finish up plus I want to him to read a books or two this week (and every week) for his summer reading programs (both boys are doing summer reading through the library and the local Barnes and Noble). Today he will start Hop on Pop (my personal favorite Dr. Seuss book).

Snuggle Puppy has no opinions since his routine won't be changing much. He may get more attention since won't be busy with his brothers. He has recently discovered just how awesome Pooh Bear is which thrills me. I adore the 100 Acre wood and all of it's inhabitants so I love sharing that with my boys.

Camping With Kids Series- Intro

For years I turned up my nose at camping. There is DIRT everywhere. Showers are either nonexistent or have to be paid for. I have to sleep in on an air mattress.! All very horrible things for me. But somehow, last summer, I decided I could live with it for a weekend (Friday afternoon until Sunday morning). We took one camping trip last fall (that is just how our schedules worked) and the camping bug bit me. When we made our reservations for our campsite last fall I did what any uninformed person should do- I googled "camping with kids" and "camping with toddler". I found just enough info for me to feel comfortable with our plans. I decided that I should add to internet's repository of knowledge on the subject by blogging a series of posts. I'm hoping that my series will help others. Our current camping trip is scheduled for the first weekend in August so as I prep our supplies I will be posting and expect at least one post after we return home.

 Aside from our regular cast of characters we also add a few more-

RP3- my BFF/boy's favorite uncle

Fish Guy- RP3's boyfriend and another favorite uncle. He also likes to keep fish.

Nephew #5- self-explanatory. He joined us last year for camping and will be joining us again. He is a blast. He is #5 because I have 6 nephews and in chronological order he is the #5. Same age as Babalu and is one of his and Rookie's best friends.

Niece #5- also self-explanatory. She is sister to Nephew #5 and Niece #6. I have a lot of nieces/nephews (including great of either kind), my husband comes from a large family. She plans to join our next camping trip.

Other Other Grandpa- Niece #5/6 & Nephew #5's other grandfather. Navy Vet and Camping Extraordinaire. Also joining us for our camping trip. Really cool guy with cool stories and is really good with all the little boys. Real Outdoorsy type.

{Throwback Thursday} Babalu

 Baby Babalu with his binky. The only one of the three boys to use a binky past the first few weeks. He stopped using it on his own at about 8 months old. Was so thankful to not have a Binky Battle when he reached his first birthday. He was such a sweet baby, pudgy and soft. Thankfully he is still that way, aside from the pudgy part- he is rather trim now.

Sick kids

Nothing like having a feverish toddler sleeping all day and not wanting to sleep at night... it is going to be a long day!