Cub Scout Day Camp

This year was Corbin's first at Cub Scout Day Camp. We are discovering all sorts of perks living in SoCal. Scouting is a big thing around here and "Day" Camp is all WEEK long, with 600 other boys. I had to volunteer one of the days, but a sibling camp was provided for children ages 3-11. SO, I took four of the kids with me. The camp was held at Irvine Regional Park, which is less than five miles from our house.

And because they had an awesome photographer going around camp snapping candids,
I have some pictures to share.

          

Corbin's first class at Archery landed himself THREE bullseye hits. What a natural!

Proud Mama happen to catch one of his bullseye shots on film.

Eating Trail Mix made at Cooking Class.

Waiting for another turn at Archery.

At Woodshop Class building bookends.

Audrey in Sibling Camp. She could spend hours coloring or drawing. 
She was a huge help with Jake and Drew and such a great big sister. 
They look up to her so much!

There is no surprise here. Jake in sibling camp playing with the TRAINS!!!

Sweet Boy wearing his necklace Audrey made for him.

Not any great pictures of Drew, but here's proof he was there. 
And true to form, looks like he's made himself friends quickly and making sure his voice heard. :) 

Blogging Guilt

For the Love!!!  Why did I even start a blog?  It has become one more thing I add to my guilt list of "didn't get that done today, AGAIN!"

Truth be told, it's easier than scrapbooking, a convenient way to journal and include the pictures, someone else hosts and stores the data for FREE, and family and friends can stay connected.  It just takes time.  And any spare moment of the day I want to be laying on the couch sleeping.  By myself.  In a quiet room.  Or out my front door!

Which brings me to the reason for my guilt.  I have wanted to blog about our awesome temporary housing for the past 5 1/2 months.  And now with 2 week left to go, I'm kicking myself for all the entries I started in my head and never connected to the keyboard.  Let's see how much I can get caught up on for memory sake.  Let the blog times roll.

(Picture:  This is the view out my front door on a Saturday morning/afternoon during a regatta.)

P.S.  I am going to post-date my entries.  So scroll down if you want to catch up.

Trash Day

Living where we do with an alley behind the house, every Monday morning we can hear the trash truck coming.  It's so loud, we have enough time to hear it, get the trash cans moved out from behind the gate, and then watch the truck approach.  Audrey and Corbin have usually just left for school, so me and the little boys run out for the excitement.  It has become routine to start out the week.

Look!  It's coming!

Good morning Mr. Trash Man.  (Drew talks to ANYONE and EVERYONE so he has made friends with the Trash man. 

The kids like to think they are helping.  And I like them to think they are helping.  But really, we all know,  it just takes more time.

No matter if the bucket is full, he always uses the hydraulics to dump it at our house.

The trash man is so nice to the kids.  Sometime he dumps the bucket twice because they like it so much.

It's a GIRL???

Every now and then, Audrey goes through sister-withdrawals.  And since all of her brothers love to play with their awesome older sister, this is what happens...

She has figured out if they are going to follow her around, she might as well make the most of it.  They are usually her school students, or gymnastic guinea pigs.  Sometimes soldiers in an army.  But this particular day, they were SISTERS.  Introducing Trisha, Sake, and Sue.

Fisher and Jake, I mean Trisha and Sue, got right in to the photo shoot.  They soaked up all the attention and girly laughs we gave them.  Drew maintained his sense of manhood by sporting his camouflage PJs under his dress.  Of course Corbin at age 8 wanted nothing to do with the activity.  Haha!

To Nap or Not to Nap. That is the question.

Miracle of all miracles.  They are all asleep at the same time.  Now will they make the transfer or do I take my nap in the car too?  Hmmm.  Tempting.

I love when I get a few moments of quiet during the day.  It makes all the world of difference in filling my cup.  But when Jake and Drew fall asleep in daytime hours, we get into a viscous cycle - super late bedtimes which means they will need to nap again the next day.  

Audrey is the only one that could take a nap (even a couple months into kindergarten), and still go to bed on time.  Corbin and Jake both battled the nap/no nap issue when they were about 2 1/2.  Drew made it until 4 1/2.  But even now at 5, he needs about 2 naps a week.  Fisher seems to be following Audrey's footsteps.  At 1 1/2, he takes a 3 hour nap during the day and sleeps 12 hours at night.  Keep up the good work Fish!

Sometimes though, I take the hit to score a minute to myself so I can regroup before the witching hours begin.  You know, older kids home from school, homework to do, babies to hold, and dinner to make.  ALL AT THE SAME TIME!   :)

Beach Treasures

The kids have found the best times to find shells and other interesting items washed up on shore are right after a big storm.  The ocean creates a big shelf in the sand that is fun to play on too.  At first I thought a tractor created the shelf.  Weird I know, but we see tractors all the time landscaping the beach.  Probably because we are close to the school and they try to keep that area well-maintained.

Anyway, this last storm was a doozey!  But the finds were awesome!!!  We headed down to the beach to burn some time before dinner.  Audrey started bringing me a collection of really cool clam shells she was finding.  Pretty soon we realized they were real clams and they were still living!  They had been washed up on a higher part of sand during high tide, and were left behind when the water receded.

Audrey wanted to bring them back to the house to eat them.  Brandon and I were headed out so we left Audrey and her friend to research how to cook them.  While at the movie, I searched online if they were even safe to eat!!!  I didn't want the girls poisoned!  Turns out they were safe, but they girls were too chicken to try them.  

They boiled the clams on the stove, three time as long as called for, without seasonings, or even cleaning out all the sand.  The boys licked them and that was enough to know they were gross!  Tough and nasty.  But the shells are awesome!

The following morning we were down at the water edge again and Corbin found a starfish just laying on the beach!  We brought him home as a pet for a day before throwing him back in the ocean.  Our tupperware box was not quite big enough for a suitable home.

Corbin's Baptism

I don't know any other person who has had the privilege of being baptized on their birthday.  But, as fate would have it, Corbin was able to do just that.  He turned 8 years old on March 3, which happened to be the first Saturday of the month.  At first he was really excited, because we thought we would be leaving our beach house in April and we wanted to have his party at the beach.  So, we thought things were working out perfectly.  And they were.  And they did.  (Even though now we are not moving until June.)

We did not have any intentions of attending our new ward until we moved into our home within boundaries, but after a visit to the temple the end of January, out of no where came the thought that maybe we should start attending...before Corbin was baptized.  Well, after ho-humming, stressing, and discussing things with Brandon, we finally dismissed the logic and started attending the Anaheim 6th Ward as soon as we had a signed contract for our new home - one week before Corbin's baptism.  The ward members  were so welcoming and the primary president and bishops have been amazing!  (I say "Bishops" because our first Sunday they were reorganizing the Bishopric.)  Our records were transferred in a matter of hours, Corbin had an interview scheduled with the new Bishop, and away we went with the baptism that Saturday at the Stake Center in Anaheim Hills.

Corbin was the only one in the ward getting baptized March 3, so he had the program to himself!  What a treat!  And, he was so blessed to have so many family members come and support him for this special event.

Corbin was so nervous the morning of his baptism he didn't want to get baptized.  I think it was this day I noticed a pattern of extreme anxiety with big events.  I first remember preschool being BIG episodes of separation anxiety.  I didn't know what I should do, since he was totally fine and happy after I left and he got going in class.  And then kindergarten he cried and clung to me the entire first week when I would drop him off - making a really big scene.  He gets so emotional and inconsolable, panic-stricken almost.  The day of his baptism was no different.  His excuse was he didn't want to get baptized on his birthday.  I think he was nervous that everyone came just for him, but more than that, he was afraid of the unknown.  He didn't know what to expect, even though we covered and practiced everything that would happen.

But, he got up enough nerve to get in the car and move forward.  Here he is with his family in front of the font before the service started.




And then a picture with his mom and dad who love him very much and was impressed with the choice he was making in the face of his fears!!!!!

The program was so spiritual and special.  I loved that he asked his grandmothers to speak and his grandfathers to offer the prayers.  It was so nice to have the family connections and know they had prepared their messages with Corbin in mind.

Afterwards, Corbin took a few pictures outside with his grandmas and grandpas.

And here is a family picture with everyone in their suits and dresses.  Notice how much more confident Corbin is standing!  The following day at church he had several people congratulate him, commenting on how nice he looked in his suit.  One lady even thought he looked like a little general authority.  :)

A couple weeks later Corbin was asked to speak at the Baptism Preview for the other kids in the ward.  It was a great opportunity for him to record his experience and feelings.  Here is what he shared...

I was baptized last week on my birthday, March 3.  When I woke up that morning, I was really scared.  I knew I wanted to be baptized, but I was still nervous.  I had a lot of family visiting.  Both my grandmas gave talks and my sister played the piano and my cousin's sang my favorite song.

When it was time to get baptized, me and my dad walked into the warm water.  It felt weird walking in the water with clothes on.  Me and my dad practiced at home so I knew how to hold on to his arm.

My favorite part was when I went under.  That made me feel good.  I thought it was fun.

After I changed my clothes, I was confirmed.  My dad said the prayer and my grandpa's and my dad's uncle and cousins helped.  I am happy I got baptized because now I have the Holy Ghost.  I also found out there was nothing to be scared of.