Billowing Smoke and an Attempt at Organization

Yesterday, I was out running errands when Nathan called while he was waiting for a bus, the first time to talk to him since we left last weekend!  He's doing great, although we had a terrible connection, and he kept fading out.  While we were talking, Luke texted with the alarming news that our faithful vacuum had literally gone up in a puff of smoke!  Apparently, as Micah and Drew were vacuuming their room, they ran over the cord, which is not a first-time occurance, unfortunately.  But this time, the vacuum started billowing out a huge cloud of thick noxious black smoke, and after further examination, it appears the vacuum's soul has gone to the big appliance store in the sky.  Everyone had to evacuate the house and open all the doors and windows to get the smoke and fumes out!

This poor vacuum has served long and faithfully, for sure.  It's a Panasonic that we bought from Montgomery Ward in Colorado Springs, before we even had Nathan!  It got the best review in Consumer Reports that year (1996, I believe), and I think it lived up to the hype.  It has gotten louder over the years, but it has still vacuumed up everything we needed it too, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg either.  We really need a vacuum on each floor, so last night Bob looked on amazon, and we ordered a "Shark Navigator Lift-Away Professional Upright" based on reviews.  We'll see if we're as happy with this one in 19 years . . . We're going to use the Shark on the main floor and move the Hoover we bought several years ago up to the second floor.

After the airing-out excitement, Bob took Caleb off to the airport for his first CAP orientation ride.  Ah, the cycle starts again.  While they were gone, we got to skype with Nathan!  Anna had said earlier this week, "Now it really seems real that Nathan is gone, and I miss him", so it was good for the kids to see him.  Luke took Nathan on a video tour of the room that formerly half-belonged to Nathan but now is all Luke's.  Luke has been an organizational inspiration in there, and the room and bathroom look amazing!  It is so much easier to just keep your own stuff organized, for sure.  

All this organization upstairs prompted Bob and me to try something different with shoes.  We had a bench that opened up to store shoes in, plus a big shoe rack with 4 shelves, but it was all so ugly, and shoes were always all over the floor all around the bench and shelves.  So we picked up another one of these O'nin room divider things from Costco--they are so big and study, and the bins are much bigger than the cubbie things sold in places like Target.  Now we have 3 of them, lol.  Anyhow, we put Nathan's shoes, and any other shoes that were too big/too small/not worn down in the basement, and then we divided up the cubbies.  Bob, Luke, and I each get our own cubby, and Caleb and Jonathan share one, only because they have very few pairs of shoes.  Pretty soon their shoes will be too big to fit in one cubby though, so we'll see how it works out then.  Anna and Grace get their own cubbies on the bottom row (because they both have TONS of shoes, and Anna especially is a really shoe-lover), and Faith shares with Verity.  Then Micah and Drew share the last cubby.  So we were pretty happy with that, plus I spent a lot of time cleaning out the study, filing papers and throwing others away, and Bob really cleaned up the kitchen.  We went to bed feeling fairly organized and clean, especially in the shoe area!

Which made it all the more ironic when we were ready to leave for church, and we realized that Micah had no shoes in his cubby.  None!  How did no one realize that last night?!  We frantically searched all 3 floors, plus outside, but eventually Bob and Luke headed off to church because Luke was scheduled to be in the nursery.  We kept on looking, and FINALLY I found his crocs outside behind the stairs of the trampoline, between the stairs and the netting.  Of course!  And as I was heading back inside, it dawned on me that I brought Micah's and Drew's tennis shoes to Tech last weekend, and they were probably still at the bottom of the tote bag where I threw them as we were packing up (they were indeed).  We were, however, very, very, very late to church, and we had to park really far away.  Sigh.  

So after my fleeting feelings of organization last night, I spent the morning feeling so frustrated.  There are still too many people actively working against my organizational attempts!  Maybe a new vacuum will help.

Brief Visit

Saturday morning Bob, Micah, Drew, Verity, and I were out the door by 7:30 to drive down to visit Nathan.   The upper class cadets were all moving in, as well as everyone else on campus, and they wanted the new cadets out of the way, so they had to be off campus right after their parade Saturday morning. We knew it would be a crazy weekend, and it's always a circus when all of us go anywhere, so we decided to take the biggest potential troublemakers with us, and leave capable Luke at home with everyone else.

Unfortunately, we didn't get out the door as quickly as I had wanted to, because, well, we were just taking the youngest 3 with us, and it's hard to speed up grumpy toddlers who didn't want to wake up and aren't really interested in peeing, eating breakfast, or getting dressed and out the door.  That meant that we were still an hour away when my friend Rebecca texted us to say that the parade was over.  Ack!  So there were no pictures of Nathan in his snazzy uniform, and he had plenty of time to get his dirty laundry together before we got there.  Fortunately a friend, Rebecca, was able to watch out for him until we got there.  Thanks, Rebecca!  It was so good to see him again!

We went to a rather sketchy barbeque place for a late lunch, where I realized that I am not a huge fan of "Carolina" style barbeque, but rather prefer I guess a Texas-style or something.  There were several other new cadets there with their families.  They were all easily recognizable with their fuzzy bald heads!  I was so glad there were only 6 of us to find a table for--much easier than for 12!  Nathan adeptly avoided the dirty hands of his little siblings, and his "Hokie bag", which is that Corps polo and khaki pants, stayed clean.  Whew!

We were able to stay in a hotel really close to campus, which was really convenient since Nathan had to run back over there several times for various events.  After we checked in, Bob put Verity and the 2 boys down for a nap and laid down himself, while I ran Nathan back over for one of those events, some engineering fair or something.  When I got back, Verity and Bob were sound asleep, but Micah and Drew were bickering away.  I spent the next hour trying to get them to sleep, since they were both so tired and crabby.  At one point I heard this slapping noise, but no one was crying.  I went over to investigate, and Drew was giving himself "high-fives".  Yeah--just don't, please.  Go to SLEEP!

Eventually I put Drew in the bed Nathan would sleep on (he and Micah had both been on the foldout couch), and he and Micah both fell into a deep sleep for 3 hours.  Whew!  Bob got up and did Nathan's laundry down in the hotel's lone washer and dryer.  After I picked Nathan back up, we discovered he had had nosebleeds during the past week, and so there were bloodstains on both his white pillowcases.  Ack!  Bob did heroics in the laundry sink to get those out, while Nathan took his own nap.  By this point Verity was up, so I chased her around the hotel lobby so she wouldn't wake up the boys in the room.  I had brought Latin to work on, since I need to make extra practice sheets for each lesson.  Funny thing though--I hardly had any time to work on them, so I got next to nothing done.  Ah well.  We should have left all the kids at home with Luke.  Then I would have gotten lots done!  Haha.

Eventually we got the boys woken up, and we tried to figure out what to have for dinner.  Since we had a late lunch, no adult person was all that hungry, but we knew we needed something for the littles.  Nathan said pizza sounded good, so we googled to find a local place with good reviews but wasn't that expensive.  We found "Mike's Grill", so we set off.  It turns out it is right across the street from campus, which I didn't like.  There were lots of little restaurants around, and tons of people, which stresses me out.  I didn't think we would be able to find a parking space, but we did (another advantage of not having the big van!).  It turned out that the restaurant was bigger than I thought, and it wasn't crowded or noisy at all. It was actually a really nice oasis of quiet, and there were plenty of tables!  The pizza was really delicious, and it was a really nice time.  We enjoyed hearing Nathan's stories!

When we got back to the hotel, Nathan caught up on emails, since he had been without any electronics for the previous week.  Bob took the 3 kids swimming, and I went down to sit by the pool and work on Latin.  Instead, Nathan's roommate and his family came in to swim and eat an even later dinner than us by the pool.  They were all really nice, and I really enjoyed the time getting to know them better.  The new cadets needed to have their heads freshly shaved when they went back Sunday night.  We had given a set of clippers to Nathan to take with him to college, and he brought those to the hotel.  I volunteered to shave Joe's head, so we headed back up to the room.  It is so easy to shave a head--seems silly to spend $10/week on it!  I shaved Nathan's head too.  Just another random skill, LOL.

We all slept well, but Nathan had to be over at the college at 7:45 for a mandatory meeting for the College of Engineering. That really irritated me--in a major where so many are cadets, why make a meeting so early in the morning on the one day they could potentially sleep in?  Plus, the meeting was full of fresh, novel advice such as "Go to class" and "Keep up with your assignments".  Wow!  No one has ever heard that before!  So it was a total waste, and hopefully some future cadet will read this and skip without feeling guilty.  Probably not though, lol.  

After we picked Nathan back up, Jared and his mom Rebecca stopped by for a head shave.  We sat around and visited for awhile, and it was so fun to hear his perspective on the past week as well.  It sounds like it was an interesting week!

All too soon, it was time for a late lunch, and then time to say goodbye.  I understand why this weekend is when the new cadets need to be gone, but I really think it would be better if it happened several more weeks into the year.  As it is, the academic year hadn't started yet, and everyone knew it would be different, but they didn't know how, and it was stressful.  I think it would be better after everyone had gotten into a better groove.  I was sad to leave him because I hadn't gone when he moved in, so this was my first time to drive off.  Micah kept asking why Nathan had to stay there "forever" and couldn't come home with us.  So sad!  Obviously Bob and I were affected because we drove off in the complete wrong direction on the highway, and the only way we realized it was because the GPS kept trying to get us to take the next exit!  Good thing we had the GPS, or we would have driven to West Virginia, LOL.  

As we drove back home, I really identified with Nathan, because I really didn't want to go home and face the mess and clutter, or the new school year.  I'm just tired, and I've never been so unmotivated.  I don't want to start back!  Sigh.  Only 18 more years to go.    

What's New: A Bed and Lots of Pee

Micah has a new bed, and Drew has graduated up to the toddler bed!  A few months ago, my friend Allison posted a cute picture of 2 of her boys, the youngest in a toddler bed, and the next older on a bed above him, but not high enough to be in an actual bunk bed.  I was quite intrigued, so I asked her about the bed.  She said it was a "junior loft bed", so it wasn't as high as a real bunk bed, but it still took a regular twin mattress.  She had gotten hers from someone on their base, but she told me that it was like this one on walmart.com.  It seemed like a great idea to me, because I had visions of Micah hanging off the ceiling fan at the very least from a regular bunk bed.

Well, a few weeks ago we finally got motivated enough to buy one, but we decided to buy a wooden one from amazon.  It looks great and went together easily--but I failed to compare the measurements of this bed versus the metal one from Walmart, and it turns out this one is quite a few inches shorter.  Oops!  Drew didn't seem to mind, but when he laid on the toddler bed, it made me think of being in an MRI tube or something, LOL.  So Bob problem-solved and bought some of those bed raisers.  You can see them under the posts of the wooden bed.  Those raised it with no problem, and except for the fact that the first step of the ladder is pretty high off the ground, it works great!  (And the high first step hasn't seemed to bother anyone at all either.)  I will say, if you happen to be considering one of these beds, the wooden one has a TERRIBLE smell for the first . . . while.  A week or two, at least.  So while it looks great, I'm not sure I would 100% recommend it.

Micah has done just fine in the loft bed.  He loves it, and has slept well.  Drew has done okay on the toddler bed.  It turns out he takes after his Uncle Dan and turns around a lot at night.  He fell out a time or 2, but then we found the bed rail, which solved that problem.  He was waking up in the wee hours of the morning for several nights, but I conjectured that he was just cold (not sur ehow, since it's been sooo hot here lately), so I put a warmer blanket in the bed, and again, that seemed to do the trick.

The goal of this whole transition is to get Verity into the crib in Micah and Drew's room, and out of our closet!  Although it's nice, big, and dark (and Verity sleeps like a champ in there), Bob would like to be able to get stuff out of his closet in the (very) early mornings, so he doesn't have to worry about having everything out of there the night before, before Verity goes to bed.

Unfortunately, other parties are not cooperating with this grand plan.  Verity was NOT amused when we put her down for the night in the crib.  She fussed and carried on for awhile, although she did eventually go off to sleep.  But then when either Drew or Micah woke up in the middle of the night and went to the bathroom, the light shined right in on her, and she was wide awake.  I finally just got her and put her back in the pack-n-play in the closet, where she sighed a happy sigh and went right off to sleep.  I've put her down for naps in the crib too, but she never sleeps that long or that well.  I think we're going to wait a few more months and then try again.

And the other new thing is lots of pee.  Not in the potty, unfortunately.  I wrote in the beginning of July about how easy Drew was to potty-train.  And he was great!  But we came back from Ohio, and the wheels fell off.  I don't even really know what happened!  I think that Drew decided he would start standing up to pee.  But unfortunately he is not quite tall enough, so that resulted in a big puddle of pee right in the front of the potty.  Lots of puddles, actually.  It took me a little while to even figure out what was going on, because he never asked for help, or was alarmed by the big puddle or anything at all.  He would pee, come back out for help putting in his (dry) underwear and shorts . . . and then eventually I or someone else would head into the bathroom, where we would discover the huge puddle, right at the base of the potty.  Ack!  We eventually narrowed down the culprit to Drew, and I forbid any attempt at standing to pee.  But then Drew developed a new twist, which involved him waiting too long to go, and so he would start peeing before he made it onto the potty.  Now he has never had the kind of "pee running down the legs uncontrollably" accidents that most of my other kids have had when they waited too long.  No, he just pees a slight bit, enough to make the front of his underwear wet, and occasionally his shorts.  Sometimes he will get them off, and then pee on the floor, so I am still occasionally dealing with puddles, although this time when there's a puddle, his underwear are always somewhat wet.  Argh!!  So frustrating!!

Yesterday was a particularly bad day, and he just didn't seem to really care a bit.  I've been having him clean up the puddles for about a week now, which drives me crazy since he takes forEVER to wipe up the puddle with paper towels, and then wipe up the disinfectant spray.  But he has been steadily increasing the number of pairs of underwear he has been going through over the course of the past week or so, and it's been driving me more and more crazy!  Yesterday, after his 3rd pair of underwear and shorts, we told him he could not go swimming with the other kids and Bob.  Oh, he was devastated!  He cried and cried, but I told him that only big boys got to go swimming, because they wouldn't pee in the pool.  He carried on so long I eventually just put him to bed at 7:30.  He woke up in the middle of the night, crying, "I want to go swimming!"

Today was a better day.  He did pee on the floor once, down in the basement bathroom, but he was distracted by watching Frozen with the girls and Elena.  I am hopeful we will start trending upward.  I have started setting the timer to remind myself to tell him to go potty every hour and a half.  Predictably, he doesn't want to go, but he has lost the privilege of deciding for himself when to go!  He needs a reset, although honestly, without the timer, I simply can't remember to tell him on a regular basis.  My brain is just too full right now-and I mentally checked off potty-training for him the beginning of July!

I tell you what--there is always something with potty-training!  Definitely my least favorite stage of motherhood.  Give me labor and delivery any day!

Farewell!

 I thought this Zits strip from our daily calendar several weeks ago was perfect to commemorate Nathan's first day at college!  He was such a cute little cowboy, in the outfit our neighbors Pam and Bill got him on his 3rd birthday.  Awwww . . .

 Bob and Nathan left last night to drive down.  They left at 7:00 PM from the L's house, because we were actually having a potluck to say goodbye to our very dear friends, Tim and Amy P., and their girls Sarah and Rachel.  Tim and Amy were in our wedding, so we go way, way back with them, and they are like family to us. It was a night of sad goodbyes all around--although we had tons of fun at the potluck, and we didn't leave until almost 10:00!

 We were so thankful that Isaac McC got home from his 6 weeks in China yesterday afternoon, so Nathan could see him one more time before leaving.  Perfect timing!

People have asked how I'm doing, and the answer is fine, right now.  I think it would have been much harder for me if I had actually been the one dropping Nathan off.  Instead, I'm here at home, dealing with messes and bickering, so not much really has changed.  In fact, Nathan has already been gone 5 weeks this summer, so we are used to not having him around, which is sad because it *doesn't* seem so weird.  I think it was hardest for me last summer when we were in Boston without him.  That was really the first time I felt like we were "making memories" without him.  Plus, I was pregnant, so I already had tons of excess hormones floating around, LOL.  But getting over that hurdle was big to me.  This summer has been easier.  We get to see him next weekend, and then it will be awhile before we see him, so I am looking forward to next weekend.  I'm confidant he'll do fine.  Hopefully his time at PJOC and other things like that have prepared him, and he's in really good shape, which is a big thing.  We'll see what he says next weekend!  Then classes will start the next Monday.  The important thing is that Nathan was really ready to go, so now we'll just pray everything goes well, and he grows in his walk with the Lord through it all!

Verity Update

Verity had a well-baby appointment yesterday.  She's almost 11 months, so this is a weird time to have one, but I realized that as soon classes start up for us, it is going to be next-to-impossible for me to make it to Bethesda until January, so I thought I might as well get her in now.  Driving there yesterday morning brought back flashbacks to a year ago, when I was going 3 times a week for stress tests and appointments.  I don't miss that at all!

Traffic was crazy, so although we left at 8:45, we didn't get there until 10:10.  Maybe 10:09, which is an important distinction because the check-in lady informed me that I had made it there in the nick of time, since their brand spankin new late policy gives a 10 minute grace period for lateness, and then your appointment is cancelled.  Whew!  I would have been mad if the appointment was cancelled, simply because of so much wasted time (25 minutes in the parking garage alone!!), but I just wouldn't have come back.

Verity was a well baby indeed.  She has plumped up to 18 pounds, 2 ounces, which puts her in the 20th percentile.  The doctor (who we've never seen before) was plotting all this out, and she said, "Well, she's fine now, weight-wise, but she was fine back here too--I don't know why they kept having you come back in" as she pointed to the 7th percentile appointment back in February.  Yes, thank you very much.  Grrr.

I did tell her how irritated I was by the whole thing because Verity is no longer nursing.  By the time we went to Texas in June, she was only reliably nursing in the morning, and maybe one more time a day.  While we were in Ohio, she nursed for the last time the morning before we left.  Since then, she has just happily been not the slightest bit interested in nursing.  No big deal, I suppose--except this is my last baby, and I wasn't planning on stopping nursing until a year at least!  And I know she got a whole lot less interested in nursing the more the bottle was pushed on her.  As it turns out, now that she is eating table food instead of baby food, she has chunked up, although she probably would have been more in the 10-15th percentile in she wasn't on the bottle.  But she wouldn't have been any less healthy!!  Gah.  So annoying!

It is weird to be totally done with nursing and pregnancy things.  I got pregnant the end of September 1996 with Nathan, so it's been almost 19 years of my life.  There were a little over 2 years total in that time period where I was not pregnant or nursing.  It's definitely been what has defined my life for the past 19 years!  It's hard to just have it be done.  Ah well, I still have diapers.  Ha!

Anyway, the appointment went well, the doctor was super-nice, and I felt vindicated.  Verity toddled happily around the room, chatting up a storm.  She was so happy--maybe because the doctor said she couldn't get any shots until after she turns 1.  And since I won't be able to get back there until January, she's off the hook for awhile!

Ohio Trip

On Monday, July 27, I met my parents halfway between our houses at a Cracker Barrel in Pennsylvania, and we switched the girls over to their van, because the next day was the start of GRANDMA/GRANDPA CAMP, which is the total highlight of summer for the under 10 girl crowd around here!  This year both Aunt Claire AND Uncle Jim flew to Texas from Utah, and then they flew with my nieces Emily and Elia up to Ohio on Tuesday.  I'm sure you can imagine the giggling and shrieking from these 5 girl cousins ages 9 down to almost 6 when they were all back together again!

They were busy having fun Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday:  they went to the local children's science museum, they went to Youngs for miniature golf, the big slide, and ice cream of course, and they also hit the base bowling alley.  Then the rest of us drove in Friday night.  Bob was even able to drive out with us for the weekend, and then he flew home late Sunday night.   We were busy having fun as well!

• Many games were played, especially of Stratego

•  The girls had a special breakfast at Mimi's

•  We made cinnamon rolls

•  We went to the church, and the girls wore these adorable matching patriotic dresses that Grandma had found for them

•  Uncle Jim grilled his famous flank steak, which was sooo delicious

•  Grandpa took the kids out for rides in the Model A--and Micah wasn't scared this year!

•  The girls made pies with Grandma and Aunt Claire--a delicious chocolate one, and a strawberry nectarine one that I was a bit hesitant about, but was *really* good

•  The girls had a make-up session with Aunt Claire, after which they had to run down and put on Nana's costume jewelry for the picture!

And then, all too soon, it was time for Emily, Elia, Aunt Claire, and Uncle Jim to fly back home. It's never long enough, and the girls were full of plans for us all to move to the same place! 

 Mom bought the girls 3 sets of matching outfits, and they were all so cute!  They love to match when they do all their Grandma/Grandpa camp stuff, and people always comment on them:  "Are they triplets and twins?"  So fun!  You can definitely tell the 5 girls are related.

Wednesday and Thursday we were able to spend time with Amy and her kids, including her niece, who is in between Anna and Grace in age.  The girls had a ball playing with her!

 Zachary has really shot up and filled out!  He was a wonderful big brother substitute for Verity, who definitely missed Nathan and Luke while they were gone.

Caleb and Jonathan spent Wednesday night over there, playing with Jacob, and they were thrilled to have something special for them to do.

 Thursday morning, the younger kids and I went back over, as well as my mom, so we could have lunch with Amy and her mom. We had such a great time!  Amy made a delicious chicken salad using freshly butchered chickens raised by her dad (and guest-fed by Amy herself  while her parents were on a cruise--we heard hilarious stories about that, as well as Amy's stint as assistant calf castrater!  They were definitely book material!)

But unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and we had to come back to Virginia and our stressful life here.  It is definitely getting harder and harder to do that!  Friday morning we left at 8:00 so we could pick up Nathan at WSS.  He did indeed have a fantastic time on AOX.  He said everyone bonded really quickly, and it was obvious everyone was there not just to have fun, but to grow and get prepared spiritually to go off to college.  I am always so thankful for the impact godly people at WSS have on my kids, just as godly people there influenced my walk back when I was a teenager.  What a blessing!

It was really great to see Nathan again, and we got to see Luke briefly, since he wasn't actually done until Sunday.  I actually drove back up Sunday morning to pick him up, getting there in time to eat lunch.  A friend of mine, Carri, who was on staff with me back in the day (the glory years, we said), was also up there from Kentucky to pick up one of her daughters who had also been on staff with Luke, so we were able to visit over lunch.  It was so lovely to catch up!  Then General and Mrs. B invited us over to their house on our way out of town for Gen. B's famous milkshakes, and well, who can say no to them?!  So we stopped over there, along with Carri and the 4 kids of hers she had with her (we both have 10 kids each--isn't that amazing?!  20 kids from 2 support staffers!).  Fun times!  We finally got home around 7:00, and we were finally all together again--for one more week, until Nathan leaves.  Wah!

Must Have Been Friday . . .

 . . . because we were once again making a trip to White Sulphur Springs!  Somehow we managed to maximize our trips to WSS this summer.  Nathan went up for 2 weeks after we got back from TX (although the L's brought him up--thank you!!), and we picked him up on a Friday.  That Sunday Caleb and Jonathan had to be up there, but this time Amanda L. was looking for more practice driving hours, so she and Ed took them up (THANK YOU!!).  They got picked up the following Friday, and just I went up, although I still took the girls to swim practice in the morning, so I left a lot later and got there just in time for lunch, completely missing Caleb and Jonathan's zip line trips.  But I got to eat lunch there, visiting with Kim U and Amy M, so that was definitely not a wasted trip!  Then Anna and Grace had to be up there on Sunday, 2 days later.  And they got picked up yesterday.  At least we had to drop off Nathan and Luke for 2 more weeks as well yesterday, so we don't have to go back again on Sunday!  We've definitely been burning up I-70 between here and there this month, though.

Yesterday we really wanted to make the zip line, since it was Anna and Grace's first time at camp, and I knew Grace for sure would be apprehensive.  Their time was at 10:00, which meant we had to leave by 7:15 to make it.  We also brought up another boy who is on Luke's staff, and I felt bad that he had to get up so early to go with us, since they technically didn't have to be there until 2:00!

We did make it there right at 10:00, and we watched 7 campers whiz down before Anna went.  She confidently zoomed down, and then it was Grace's turn.  She spent the next at least 10 minutes, maybe longer, on the platform, being encouraged by the counselors, as well as her large familial cheering section down below.

She eventually made it all the way to the edge of the platform, but I really didn't think she was going to going to ever let go.  I thought she was the last camper (there were only 10 kids last week), but then I realized there was actually one more boy waiting *very* patiently down below the platform.  At that point, I pretty much told her to fish or cut bait because people were waiting, and so lo and behold, she let go and zipped away.

Nothing bad happened, and she arrived at the end in one piece, just as we had all assured her would happen!  I don't really know what she was so afraid of, because she goes on all sorts of big roller coasters at the amusement park, and she has no problem there.  Maybe just the actual act of stepping of, since in a roller coaster, they do that for you?  Who knows!

Dailey took this picture of the kids and me, since all 10 kids were together for a few minutes.  Now Luke is on staff, and Nathan is there for 2 weeks as well.  He'll be doing special projects for the first week, then going on AOX for the second week.  AO is an outdoor adventure time, with rapelling, whitewater rafting, ropes courses, etc., and AOX is a special invitation-only week for seniors who just graduated, with a focus on discipleship.  I'm so excited to hear what he learns!

In the meantime, it's hitting home that just one week after Nathan and Luke get back, Nathan will head off to college.  That's hard to think about!  I miss having him and Luke around in the evening to share funny things with.  Drew was so funny yesterday.  We ate lunch at Taco Bell about 30 minutes down the road.  When we were standing in line, he was looking around the restaurant, and he got all excited.  "Look!!  There's Lukey!!" as he pointed to a Taco Bell employee sitting on his break at a table with his back to us.  Well, no, Pumpkin, we left Luke at WSS . . . he's not actually working here at this Taco Bell.  Although the guy was young and had short brownish hair, LOL.  So while Faith, Micah, and Drew were VERY happy to have Anna and Grace back, they were not at all sure it was a good trade to lose Nathan and Luke.

10 Months Old

This happy girl is 10 months old today!  She's gotten in 2 more top teeth, for a grand total of 6, and having those break through seems to have solved her diaper rash issues.  She is happily eating all table food, which is definitely helping her put on weight.  I haven't actually weighed her since we were at Dan and Melinda's (and I never did get in for a 9 month well-baby appointment.  Oops.), but I am confidant she is gaining, because she seems a lot chunkier.  She nurses happily first thing in the morning--and then sometimes one more time during the day, but usually not.  She's not angry about it; she just smiles, turns away, and flat-out refuses to nurse.  So technically she is still somewhat nursing, but who knows how long I can keep up with once a day feedings.  That is bittersweet for me, since I've been nursing for so very long, but it looks like the end is in sight for my nursing days.  Weird to think about!  She's still taking a bottle with no problems.  I need to get out the sippy cups again.  I tried her on one earlier, and she could not get the hang of it, LOL.  She just sort of chewed on it, which is exactly what her oldest brother did as a baby.  I bought at least 5 kinds of sippy cups, trying to find a spout where Nathan would figure out that he needed to suck on it, not chew it!  He took forever to get the hang of straws too.  Ah well, look how far he's come.  I have hope for Verity as well!

Verity is also walking, albeit unsteadily.  She took her first steps in a row on the Monday Nathan and I left for his orientation, and I was so happy to be able to see them! She had taken one or 2 before, as reported by various kids, but never confirmed by me.  She can now make it all the way across a room with those wide, wobbling steps of the new toddlers.  If she does crawl, she looks like Mowgli doing the Elephant March, with her rear in the air and her knees of the ground.  Occasionally she'll put her knees down, but she doesn't prefer it.  She's one of my earlier walkers.  Caleb was also walking before he was 10 months.  I've been thinking about this.  Verity and Caleb's birthdays are separated by only about 6 weeks, and both of them were ready to start standing and taking steps in the late spring--when babies stop wearing socks and shoes, footed sleepers, etc. all the time, and start going barefoot.  I think that helps my babies anyhow start walking earlier.  Verity is always looking for more things to get into, and she has become really speedy at going up the stairs.  I need to spend some dedicated time working with her on turning around to go downstairs.

Orientation

 Nathan and I just had some mother/son time--2 days of orientation!  We drove down Monday night and stayed at a hotel so we didn't have to get up super early to drive Tuesday morning.  As it turned out, we could have either slept in that morning or driven down then, because we did not have to get there as early as we did!  We arrived and parked, getting over to the student center by 8:30.  Nathan registered, picking up a cheaply made string backpack that broke a few minutes later filled with a nice t-shirt (which he is wearing above) and some other trinkets.  I registered as well and paid for my room and 3 meals on campus.  We stopped in at a coffee for the Corps of Cadets, where we met the AFROTC officer and chatted for a minute, and then we wandered around the resource fair, picking up more trinkets for a long time, since we didn't actually have to be at the main intro session until 10:30.  Ah well, live and learn.

The morning session was pretty peppy, and I have gotten very cynical in my old age, as it turns out.  Well, actually I was never that enthusiastic in crowd settings before either, LOL.  Several people gave speeches, and I was very impressed with their speaking skills, since they didn't use notes.  Eventually 30 of the peppiest, cheeriest, most enthusiastic students on campus came up to lead the new students around in groups.  They all trotted off to eat lunch and have their own presentations.  We parents got box lunches which we could eat anywhere.  I sat on a comfy chair in the student center and read the book I brought, The Sports Gene:  Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance, by David Epstein.   What an interesting book!  I can hardly put it down!  I gave my AP biology boys for this year a choice of a few books to read over the summer, and this is one of them, so I thought I should read it too.  It gets great reviews on Amazon, and I have not been disappointed!

After lunch, we parents went back in the ballroom (I sat in the back half of the room because the chairs were more comfortable and also spread slightly more apart--I was sandwiched closely between Nathan and a large guy during the morning session!) for more presentations by a wide variety of people from every different office you can imagine on a college--resident life, police, dining services, student advocacy, counseling, medical center, financial aid, etc.  There were 12 presentations in all over 3 hours, with 2 ten minute breaks.  It was grueling!  I got the sense that the administration really cares for the students and wants them to succeed, though, so that was nice.  Honestly though, I felt like the presentations were geared more for helicopter-type parents (although they say they never use that word!), because they were just full of a lot of info that I really had never even thought to be concerned about or even really cared all that much about, and that is pretty much all somewhere online.  When I think about going through this 9 more times, I make a mental note to sit in the very back and read my book, LOL.

Eventually Nathan and I met back up again, and we went to a session introducing us to the Corps.  There was no peppy cheerleading here, so I felt a lot better about it!  I really like the Corps, and it really seems like they want each cadet to succeed as well.  They showed a graphic with the average cadet GPA the first year back in 1992 being a 2. something (3 maybe?  I should have written it down), and that has trended upward, with last year it being a 3.1.  They really help the cadets learn how to manage their time, and what they're doing seems to be working.  Plus, as speakers in the other session kept emphasizing, you have to make the big university become smaller by finding a support group of close friends--that is provided in the Corps.

Then we headed off to an engineering orientation meeting.  It was good, but I don't remember any details.  I was pretty hungry by this point, LOL.  Actually, what I kept thinking was, "I am SO glad I'm not pregnant!"  Ha!  Finally we were able to make the long trek back to the van where we got our overnight stuff and checked into our 2 dorms.  The parents stayed in a renovated dorm with air conditioning and these humongous rooms.  I think the rooms were literally twice the size of Amy's and my room in college.  And each room had a private bathroom.  Nice!

Nathan and I met up again for dinner in the main dining hall, which has a bunch of different stations and is all-you-can-eat.  It was super-crowded and a bit overwhelming.  I was really hungry, so I just looked for the shortest line and got some Indian food.  One point everyone made a zillion times was how great the food is there (ranked #1 in the nation!), and the head of the dining services even said, "If your student comes home at Thanksgiving and doesn't eat your food, it's not our fault!"  I have to say my tikka masala is better than theirs, LOL.  But it was nice, and I could see that they have a ton of variety, so no one will get bored with the food.  I did note the next morning at breakfast that they do not have Cocoa Puffs as a cereal option, as good colleges should, so I could not give it my highest approval, unfortunately.

The dining hall was really crowded so we asked a family if we could share a table with them.  They were super-nice, as actually all the parents were that I interacted with, and we sat around chatting for another half an hour after our kids left to meet up with their groups for more games/fun.  Then I went back to my room, where I sat in the absolute silence and read for a long time, interrupted only by phone calls with my mom and with Bob, and with texts from Amy and Luke.  It was sooo heavenly!  I skipped out on the "parents reception" with a cash bar and everything for this time of peace and quiet, and it was so totally the right choice for me!

The next morning we ate breakfast and then Nathan had his advising session.  He was in a room with a bunch of other engineering students, each at a computer.  The department had pre-registered everyone for classes, based on AP/DE credit.  Nathan came in with 30 credits, so that helped.  He was most delighted that his 4 on AP lit got him out of both semesters of freshman writing!  He'll be taking chemistry, multivariable calculus, intro to engineering, his Corps/ROTC classes, and a lit class (because they have to take some classes from different areas to be well-rounded).  The speakers the day before mentioned a dozen times as least "Moms and dads, you WILL be separated from your sons and daughters during their advising sessions", as if that was going to be hugely distressing or something.  There was an advisor or 2 circling the kids in the room, helping whoever had questions, and it was fine.  Nathan and I had discussed beforehand some things he might ask about, but I really wasn't worried at all that he wouldn't be able to deal with anything that came up.  I went to a parents of engineering session, with another good extemporaneous speaker who was pretty funny as well.

Then we headed off to get all the ROTC stuff in order.  Lots of paperwork, fittings in the tailor shop, etc.  While Nathan was busy there, a cadet took up parents over to see a room.  The cadets will have to be 3 to a room for awhile, because the new dorm they are constructing is not yet finished.  The rooms will be . . .  tight . .  with 3 beds, dressers, and desks in there.  This picture is from the doorway.  One bed is lofted, with a desk and dresser under it.  The closet is on the right, past the sink.

 This picture is taken from the window, and you can see the other 2 beds bunked, with one desk in the middle of the room, and one desk against the wall (where the boy is sitting), and one dresser under the bed.  The third dresser is in the closet.  The commandant of the Corps said they are having "Operation Light Load" when everyone moves in, with everyone encouraged to bring the absolute minimum!  Fortunately new cadets don't need all that much, since they can't have anything decorative, any civilian clothes, etc.

 So then we did some running around, picking up Nathan's computer, getting his student ID card, etc.  While he was finishing that, I drove over to Taco Bell and picked up lunch, which we ate in the car as we were driving home.  We ended up leaving a little after 1:00, and we got home around 6:00, with evening traffic.  Just in time for me to go to a swim meet!  Back to my normal, loud life, LOL.

Cinnamon Rolls

I wanted to share Elizabeth's cinnamon roll recipe on here.  This way it will be nicely typed out, even for me, since what I use, I hand-wrote on the back of a piece of scrap paper a million years ago (okay, not really, but it seems like it)!

I'm not the best at yeast doughs, but this recipe has always turned out well for me.  Plus it tastes delicious!  I usually make these at least for Christmas morning, which is definitely something the kids look forward to.  The recipe makes up 2 big pans of rolls.  The dough fits well in my Electrolux Assistent and Elizabeth's Bosch, but it would not fit in a KitchenAid, I don't think--for sure not a 5 qt. one.

If I was one of those fancy food bloggers, I would have a bunch of artistic pictures of a cinnamon roll from different angles and in different stages of preparation, but I'm not--and the pan Anna made on Thursday is long gone, so I no longer have any "models".  Alas.  You'll just have to make your own!

Elizabeth's Cinnamon Rolls

1 c. warm water
2 tsp. sugar
2T yeast
1 c. flour

Proof together for 5 minutes.

4 eggs
1 c. water
2T salt
2 sticks butter or 1 c. oil (I used 1 c. coconut oil)
3/4 c. sugar
9-10 c. flour

Mix these ingredients into the proofed mixture.  Add 6-7 cup of flour slowly, then the last few cups, so that your dough doesn't end up too dry.  Knead for 7-8 minutes.  Cover and let rise for 1 hour.

Punch the dough down, and divide in half.  Roll out each half as thin as you can in a rectangle.

Melt 1 stick of butter; spread on dough all the way out to the edges.
Mix up about 3/4 c. sugar plus 1 tsp. cinnamon, and sprinkle all over the rectangle.
Roll up from he long side.  Use dental floss to cut off 1 1/2 inch slices.  Place on greased cookie sheets or jelly roll pans.

At this step you can go a few different directions.  You can let the rolls rise on the cookie sheet for another hour and then bake them.  You can refrigerate them over night, letting them come to room temperature in the morning for about 30 minutes before baking them.  Or you can even freeze the rolls, putting them back on a cookie sheet and letting them thaw for a day or so before baking them.  That's what I usually do with the second pan, in an attempt to discourage gluttony, LOL.

Bake them at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Frosting (probably enough for both pans)

2 oz. cream cheese
3T butter
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar
1-3 T milk, depending on consistency

Or if you don't have cream cheese, just use 1 c. powdered sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and enough milk or orange juice to make a good spreading consistency.

Summer Accomplishments

I go into every summer with a big list of organizational things to accomplish around the house, and each year it seems like none of them get done.  This summer I'm taking a different approach, and assuming my house will remain just as messy and unorganized, since there are still all these people living here, many of them still in prime mess-maker mode.  Instead, I've got some other more long-term rewarding projects going on.

First was potty-training Drew.  I knew that when we came back from Texas, this was my big shot at it, since we have a few weeks where we're not making a big trip.  I told him over and over before we left for Texas that when we came back, he'd be wearing big boy underwear.  He started peeing on the potty fairly often, especially down in Texas, when he was getting in and out of his swimsuit 10 times a day, LOL.  I think that really helped get him used to the whole idea.  Then last Friday the L's came by to pick up Nathan, since they kindly offered to give him a ride up to WSS with their family.  Elizabeth also dropped off a big bag of Theodore's underwear that he had outgrown--even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle ones.  Micah was quite impressed with this sacrifice, and he was more than willing to pass ALL of his underwear down to Drew, since he had this whole new bag to choose from.  So Monday Drew started wearing underwear, and he hasn't looked back!  He's had 3 little accidents since then, which is really quite good, and the whole business was quite painless this time, I have to say.  Yay!  Drew's favorites are either Thomas the Tank Engine or Cars.  Hard to pick a favorite from those 2 good options, LOL.

Swim team has been taking an inordinate amount of time.  We have kids in every possible age bracket for morning practice.  Micah starts off from 7:30-8:00, then Faith and Grace are from 8:00-8:30, then Anna and Jonathan from 8:30-9:15, and then Caleb from 9:15-10:00.  I have never been so happy to have Luke not be swimming, so at least I don't have to cart Verity and Drew around the whole morning. Since the pool is about 10 minutes away, and no one wants to sit over there for 2 1/2 hours, I usually end up making 3 round trips.

Micah is the wild card.  Our team decided to offer a "junior swim team" this year for kids who couldn't make it across the pool.  They just had to be 4, which Micah turned not long before registration.  I was hesitant, given Micah's history of balking uncooperativeness, but Bob thought a summer of swim lessons sounded great, so we signed him up.  The only problem is that his practice is the earliest, and it's always the coldest.  So there are all these scrawny little kids crying about getting into the cold water, and Micah is right there with them (ETA:  Bob wanted to be sure to point out he is definitely a ringleader, not just a follower, LOL).  When he does get in, he does great with his little kickboard.  I just hope he will go through enough practices this year that he will get the idea of his arms working too.  If it looks like it's going to be cold or rainy in the morning, though, we've started just not taking Micah.  That makes the other practices just work out better.  Hopefully next year he'll be in the 8:00 slot by being able to cross the pool!

This morning, since it was after a meet, they didn't have a regular practice.  Instead, the little kids dove off the diving board into the waiting arms of their coaches.  Bob dropped Micah off this morning on his way to work, and he called to tell me he didn't think Micah would jump at all.  But when I got there to pick him up and drop off the girls and Jonathan, he had in fact jumped off 5 times! He was pretty proud of himself.  We'll see what tomorrow brings . . . I think it's supposed to rain.

Everyone else is doing really well.  Caleb and Jonathan are doing well, although Caleb is not thrilled about moving up to the 13 and up age bracket, where it seems like everyone else is huge and muscular, LOL.  Grace has really made huge strides.  She has been winning her freestyle and backstroke races!  Anna is an excellent swimmer too, although this year she's the younger year of her age group.  Also, she's had to learn the butterfly, as well as work a lot on breaststroke, her least favorite stroke by far.

This is Faith's first year on swim team, and she's doing great too!  She's just learned the backstroke, and she is so cute when she does it.  She pulls to the left until she hits the lane line, then corrects a bit, until she arcs back over to that left lane line.  It's a scallop pattern, LOL.  But when she figures out how to go straight, she'll really take off!  In last night's meet, the first time she swam backstroke, one of her coaches was in the lane with her, just in case she had trouble, but she didn't have any (aside from hitting the lane lines, LOL), easily making it across the pool.

Another rewarding project I've been working on is cooking with Anna.  She's really wanted to do more cooking, and she loves watching cooking shows on youtube, but I have not had a ton of extra time to teach her during the school year.  So far this week we've made some jam-filled cookies, banana muffins, and today's project of cinnamon rolls, using Elizabeth L's recipe.  They were just as delicious as they look!  She is really improving in reading through the recipe a few times, instead of just throwing random things in willy-nilly.  I don't know what tomorrow's project will be, but everyone else in the house is really enjoying the fruits of her labors!

We've also been doing some school to finish up some things for some people, and to do some new things for others, like Micah.  He has seemed really interested in learning to read, but again, I just haven't had a ton of extra time during the school year.  This week I got out the old "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons", and we've started plugging through that.  He has watched the Leapfrog Letter Factory video a bunch of times with the girls, so he already knows a lot of the sounds (love that video!).  After doing a lesson or 2, I give him some letters to trace.  When Nathan was preschool age, and I desperately wanted to do *something* to show I was homeschooling, my friend Suzanne recommended taking an Usborne beginning handwriting book, tearing out all the pages, and laminating them, so the kids could just write on them over and over with a dry-erase marker.  I did that with 2 books (a handwriting one, and a space connect the dots one), and all the kids have loved using them.  Best thing I ever did, for sure!  So I got those out, and Micah and Drew have been having a ball each morning with those.  We'll see if he maintains his interest.  If not, no big deal.  He's having fun right now though!

So my house is still cluttered, messy, and unorganized.  To paraphrase my sister-in-law's sign at her house, "My house was clean for Nathan's graduation party on June 6 . . . sorry you missed it!"  But other important things are getting done, things with more lasting value.  Now I just need to fit in time to plan for my classes next year . . . I guess that will be July's big project.  Sigh.  I am not looking forward to diving back into it all again one bit!

ETA:  Oh, I almost forgot an accomplishment I'm so excited about!  I finally finished my snapfish photobook about our space-a Hawaii adventure from back in February 2014!  I think I started it over Christmas break, but it's taken me forever to finish.  One reason is because I incorporated my blog posts into the pages, so I had to deal with text boxes, and text in tiny fonts, which I couldn't take in big sittings.  But now it's on its way, and I can't wait to see it!  I hope it's a wonderful memory of a wonderful trip.

Happy Birthday, Nathan!

 Nathan turned 18 on Wednesday!  Like they say, the days are long, but the years are short.  I can't think of anything more rewarding I could have been doing for these past 18 years than raising him and his brothers and sisters.  Nathan is a huge blessing to our family, and we are certainly going to miss him when he goes off to college in August.  In fact, anytime he gets ready to go anywhere for at least a night, Faith asks, "So wait . . . this isn't when Nathan goes to college, right?  He's coming back this time?"

 We did not do too much celebrating on his actual birthday.  We did treat him to a shopping spree at Walmart, though--everything he could find on the new cadet packing list!  So now he has a big tub of random items up in his room, which really makes it seem real that he is in fact heading off in the not-too-distant future.  Bob and the other kids were at a swim meet Wednesday evening, so Nathan picked out a box of frozen barbeque pulled pork from Sams, and we had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner that night.  Thursday night we grilled chicken for his actual birthday dinner, as you can see on the special "Celebrate" plate above.  It was yummy!

Nathan didn't get too relax too long--Friday he left to be on staff at White Sulphur Springs for a few weeks.  I'm sure he's having a fantastic time there, as always, and we are missing him more than he is missing us!

 We've come a long way in 18 years!  This is a picture from December, 1997, when Nathan was dedicated at our church in Colorado Springs.  Bob and I were so young!  I had no idea at that time that 18 years later, I would still be changing diapers and nursing.  Probably better I didn't know, LOL.

Nathan is almost 2 here, still in Colorado Springs.  As you can see, he looks a lot like the rest of our kids.  We have a strong stamp, LOL.

One thing I have been remembering these past few weeks is my wonderful moms' walking group at Peterson AFB.  At some point a few months before I was due with Nathan, I noticed a flyer for this walking group up at the USAFA maternity clinic, where I went for appointments.  I started walking with them three times a week, and that group of ladies was such a wonderful support the rest of the time we were in Colorado. I really valued their friendships!  Three of us ended up having our babies in 3 days in 1997--my friend Gemiel had TJ on June 22, I had Nathan on June 24, and another girl, Mary, had her baby 6 weeks early up in Denver also on June 24 (she had been hiking in the mountains, and her water broke early).  We had a super-fun combined 1 year birthday party for the 3 babies the next year!

It is funny to look back and remember what a huge difference a few months of baby age seemed.  Jennifer had her first back in December, I think it was, and she became pregnant with her second not long after I joined.  She was so much wiser and more experienced, it seemed to me.  Felicia had her daughter a few weeks earlier in May, so Samantha seemed huge compared to newborn Nathan.  Dawn had Fredrick a few weeks later than Nathan, in July, and then it was Nathan's turn to seem huge and so old in comparison.  I am friends on facebook with Jennifer, Felicia, Gemiel, and Dawn, and it has been so fun to keep up with their kids, all of whom are graduating this year--a few months or weeks really makes no difference at all, LOL.  They're a great bunch of kids, though!  

Cousin Fun

The kids have been having such a fun time here in Texas with their cousins!

Friday afternoon Melinda took us to "Safety Town" in a neighboring town's fire station.  I was expecting something where the kids climbed on fire engines and stuff (and there was a fire engine they could sit in), but it was so much more!  They have built a literal little town, with 4 blocks of little buildings, crosswalks, stop signs, cross walks, roads, etc, and they have 15 of those battery-powered jeeps for the kids to drive.  So the kids sit through a little presentation where they are reminded to stop at the red lights, stay in their lane, drive courteously, and so on.  Then they get to drive around this little town for 15 minutes.  Micah and Drew were too short to actually be the drivers, so Micah rode with Grace and Drew rode with Anna.  Faith was by herself, as were Emily and Elia.  The girls had so much fun driving!  There were definitely some boys who treated the whole thing like bumper cars, LOL, but it was a great program.  The girls would have loved to drive longer!

And of course there's the pool in the back yard.  The kids have been in there several times a day each day except yesterday, when we had stormy weather from tropical storm Bill.

The pool is big enough for all the kids, and it's set up just perfectly for a wide range of ages.  On the far end is a large flat "sunning" area, which is perfect for Drew especially to splash around in.  He and Micah also like to play in the "hot tub", which is not actually any hotter, but has a bench all around it so it is not too deep.

They also have a bunch of fun floatie things, like this airplane.  Micah has really loved this little ring.  In that, he kicks around the pool wherever he wants to go.  I will be glad when he learns to actually swim, though--hopefully by the end of this summer.  He's on the "junior swim team", so essentially he's having swim  lessons for June and July.  Of course, he can be not so cooperative, and the water was pretty cold in VA before we left, so he hadn't made any great strides, LOL.  But hopefully when we get back . . . he and Drew are both really enjoying the water here in Texas!

Faith and Elia are 2 peas in a pod!  They have such similar personalities.  They are so funny!

Poor Verity was not an initial fan of the pool, even though she was surrounded by her doting helpers, Anna, Caleb, Faith, and Elia.  When Caleb and then Luke held her, she was happier.  The next day I went in the pool too.  I held her at first and then put her back in her little boat, and she was okay with it then.  She was so cute in her little Winnie the Pooh suit and sun hat!

Drew has been really enamored with an alphabet puzzle they have here.  These are his favorite letters, along with an actual carrot because who knows why.  You will notice they are all food pictures--nuts, jelly beans, waffle, ice cream, carrot--and then "footprints".  The first time he did the puzzle, he called that piece "chocolate milk", so I guess in his mind, it does go along with the whole food theme.  Now the footprints piece is missing, so hopefully it will show back up again.

Tuesday night after dinner the younger kids and I headed over to a local park with Melinda and the girls.  It had a really nice playground, with lots of things to do, so it was a good way for the kids to burn off extra energy, since they hadn't been able to swim a lot that day either.  Yesterday they couldn't swim at all, and we really noticed a difference in how wound up and bouncing off the walls all the kids were last night!

Grace called this an "action shot".  At the base of this pole a little frog lived, the discovery of which caused great excitement.

Here is a picture of all the cousins except Nathan, taken right after church on Sunday.  We parked and as I came in the door, I told everyone I wanted to get a picture--but the girls had already started changing in to their swim suits!  I told them to change back into their church clothes for just a few more minutes, LOL.  The 5 girls really look like they are all related.  They all went to a local vacation Bible school this week in the mornings, and when Melinda would walk them all in, everyone thought she had 5 girls close in age, and commented on how busy she must be!