My heart is full. My skin is burnt. Our kids are tired. Winning all around. Our camping week in photos:
Our new tent was amazingly spacious and cozy all at the same time. We shall call it our camping condo from now on….all are welcome. 
Unlimited sand time is WonderBOYs happy place. Especially with his soulmate Mason by his side.
This little one got a bit homesick after a few days so a little extra down time was needed. Camp nap in the shade.
Waterslide day!!!!
Firetime fun included smores, banana boats, playing with fire (supervised by our two firefighter Daddys), and some impromptu dance parties.
Board game time at the table is my fave….
Isn’t it a camping miracle when everything fits back into the truck???? Love that feeling of accomplishment after packing up all of our big time fun into those itty bitty bags.
My favorite part of summer….
…well my favorite part of summer every 4 years. The summer olympics!!!! Woot woot….
For the next 10 days, you can find me glued to my couch, screaming and shouting….crying….wiping the sweat from my palms as Gabby Douglas competes on the beam and Michael Phelps reaches out his crazy long phelanges to that wall. Gymnastics and Volleyball on TV at normal hours and pretty much on demand every single day (versus 1am in the morning on obscure stations)???? I’m so excited!!!
Grieving from the inside out…
Do these faces look like kids who are grieving????? (especially in that cutie patootie trailer they are posing in?)
Oftentimes, when people get to meet our little wonders, there are comments about how happy they are, well-behaved, polite, lucky to have us, etc. etc. And while those comments are probably true at that specific point in time (WB and WG do their best work in public), there is definitely some grieving going on right now. Evidence – tandem tantrums from the two of them a few nights back in the Target aisles after playing “spy” and hiding from me and then getting lost in the grocery section quickly thereafter – only strangers got to witness that fun adventure. Their grief comes out behind closed doors with us who are now their circle of safety and security. With legal adoption on the horizon (within months!!!), one might guess/assume that the one thing they’ve been begging social workers for since we got them 2 1/2 years ago would be creating some comfort or relief. But in contrast, it has really confused them and they are grieving what I would call “the life that could have/should have” been.
WonderGIRL is still resolving some conflicts around forgiveness and her trauma. Thus, her behavior has been extra defiant and manipulative as of late. We are trying to set boundaries and give appropriate consequences balanced with compassion and then my heart breaks when I hear her ask “Will this make you not want to adopt me?” She messes up and then the guilt from that catapults into so many other conflicting emotions – poor thing.
WonderBOY has always had hard feelings around his birthday and his birth story. The past couple of weeks, bed time has brought about many tears with statements like “I wish I had been born from your tummy” and “I want a re-do of everything that happened to me”. On one day he might be so excited to “be adopted and have a party” and then other days, he truly questions whether or not this is what he wants. We take all of his words and his thoughts at face value and try to provide the reassurance that he needs. Luckily, his self-regulation has gotten to a good point where he can actually talk about his feelings without violence or aggression (thank you counseling!!!!!).
I am writing this post just to reflect and process this point of the journey, not to make any comparisons or seek out sympathy for what we’re going through. Obviously, Scott and I are extremely excited we get to move forward with our family in a legal sense and I hope in some years, we can look back at this point in time and acknowledge how far the kids are going to come with their emotions and behaviors. While grief about their past will not do a disappearing act the day our adoption goes through, we are hopeful that a true “permanent” decision will provide some calm in their hearts and minds.
Camping Prep Party!
Although I like to complain to others about my hubby working a 48-hour shift right before we leave to camping, I actually kind of like the camping prep stage (and I like doing it on my own with complete control too – don’t tell Scott). Being creative with meals, squeezing a lot of tent equipment into little spaces, and planning out fun activities for the kiddos feels creative and exciting to me. Here are a few hacks I’ve learned along the way to make things easier and less stressful when out in the wild Chelan city park.
THE FOOD –
I love all the camping food hacks and ideas that are out there and am excited to try a few this year. I prepped the Shrimp Boil Packets and think they’re going to taste so good with minimal effort to put them together.
Breakfast burritos are a must for us adults while the kiddos are enjoying their Cheerios and oatmeal – I like to put instant mashed potatoes with sausage, eggs, and cilantro in ours and then I add salsa when it’s done cooking over our morning fire.
Dinty Moore stew is a MUST for this girl – as a tradition from my childhood camping trips, I look forward to this tasty dinner served with cold milk and bread. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find it anywhere on our shopping excursions (4 different stores until this happy scene – I had tricked my littles into thinking that if we didn’t find it, we couldn’t go camping….I may feel minimal guilt about that little story).
THE PACKING –
In order for us to spend a week in a tent, I like to bring along lots of comfy bedding to make it feel like home to all of us. However, this takes up sooooo much room in our truck that we don’t have a lot of room for now that our little wonders are in the back and need space to move/sleep/entertain themselves. This year, I’m trying out vacuum seal bags to decrease the amount of space needed for these items. What you see in the photo below is ALL of our bedding – including pillows, comforters, AND all of our towels for the beach and showers. I am hoping that by the end of the trip we can use our air mattress pump to suck the air out but that could be a gamble so we’ll see what happens!
You know I can’t go anywhere without my oils. Last year, these came in handy for all the little bumps and bruises that come along with playing hard all day in the sun and water and now that I’ve condensed this little first aid kit into a small package, we can pack even more in!
OTHER HACKS I’m trying this year –
Shoe Organizer in our Kitchen/Canopy area
Hand Washing Station at our table
Freezing water bottles and other items to keep the cooler going on a long, hot drive to Chelan
Do you have any genius tent camping ideas? I’d love to hear them and log them into my brain for our next trip!!!! Happy August everyone!
A few things I’m loving right now….
It’s been a busy couple of weeks with our big Oregon Coast adventure and then WSU volleyball camp so no blogging for me. But here are a few things invading my mind and making me happy right now….
This picture literally makes me swoon with my love for my little wonders and the great big beach/world around them they get to discover. I am excited to get it printed big like and display it in our house somewhere….any suggestions?
My brain and I have been battling quite a bit this summer….insecurities, judgements, and comparisons are running wild up in there and I am finding this book is helping me rewrite a few stories that need to be revised for the good of myself and my family. I’m only a few chapters in and feel the impact already. Love personal development reads in the summer…..I can read a few pages and let them simmer in my brain and heart for a bit before moving on.
“Oh your team goes to WSU team camp? What a coincidence since you went there and all….” SOOOOOO not a coincidence. I love everything about WSU and Pullman (even the drive) and really get excited about showing my high school girls around. My heart swells as I enter the town, shop for new crimson and grey gear, and walk around the campus (my calves swell too but from all the hills…..small price to pay). Go Cougs (just in case my Husky friends are reading)!
As many coaches do, I love a good quote and passing it along to others. I also love Instagram…..Word Swag is a fun app that takes cool background pictures and swishes your fonts around until you find a combination that you like. It’s great for both short labels and words on photos AND longer quotes or passages.
I love watching the powerful women of the show, Open Concept and am also insanely jealous of how easy it looks to create literally my dream furniture and decor. Following their IG is full of inspiration – definitely worth a follow!
Some other honorable mentions:
– Missy Elliot pandora station (Ludacris, Usher, and Nelly show up a lot – perfect workout/cleaning/driving music)
– High School Musicals on repeat in our house this summer
– planning for some fun essential oils classes with my peeps in August before the craziness of volleyball starts
– how hard my volleyball girls are working in the off-season
– secret plans for a killer warm up playlist for this season
Coming up on the blog this week – my year “blog-a-versary” and what I’ve learned/loved/hated about it so far.
WonderGIRL turns 14 – the party details
Since WonderGIRL loves ANYTHING red, white and blue (“birthday colors” she calls them) this was the perfect theme for her birthday party we held at our house yesterday. That and everything red, white, and blue was 50% off at Michaels (winning!!!) Here are some details we/she/I loved (also might be perfect for a 4th of July party tomorrow):
THE FOOD –
Had to create the fruit flag (perfect for an 8 year old begging to help project), plus I saw this “firecracker hot dog” video right before my trip to the grocery store for party prepping – good timing!!! My favorite food was the firecracker popcorn and was quite a hit at the party (a good excuse for adults to consume pop rocks and not be judged!!!).
THE SELFIE STATION –
Since WG is loving her phone and especially the camera function, we created this selfie station to capture all of her loved ones with her at the party. They all turned out so cute!!! We’ll have to practice getting the selfie stick OUT of the shot on our next round.
We can always count on Uncle BJ to liven up our photoshoots.
THE DECOR –
Those jars are filled with rice colored with food coloring – again, another project great for “helpful” kiddos during the party prep stage.
I knew I wanted to create a special video of WG popping this amazing confetti-filled ginormous balloon from Spruce (one of my favorite Bellingham shops) and the video happened and was awesome….but I still can’t get it to load on here so check out the instagram post instead.
Also, the outfit (all Target) was a combination of workout leggings, a tutu and the festive tank. She was also treated to a birthday party manicure so even her fingernails match her outfit/party – how cute!!! Thank you to everyone that came and celebrated one of the bravest dinosaurs (teen-o-saur?) in our crazy little bunch – we are so proud of her growth, especially in this last year of life and will love her to pieces forever and ever.
on creative “cooking”…
As many of you know, my skills and knowledge around a kitchen and cooking are limited. I am, however, pretty great at PREPARING foods that come to me in an easily accessed pouch or mix. When it’s my turn to prepare dinner, I like to be creative with what we have around the house. One of my favorite things to do, especially to help our wonders with foods we tend to have over and over is to create “cupcake” creations. These BBQ bacon cupcakes are some of our favorites!
For this recipe, I used the following ingredients/mixes:
Honest Earth Creamy Mashed Potatoes (Instant) – 1 package (seriously, pick this up on your next Costco trip….so delicious for instant potatoes and obviously, very easy to prepare)
Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits – yes you can make these yourself but again, the mix is where it’s at for me and my skills
Bacon
BBQ sauce
After preparing, combine these ingredients (bacon sprinkles are always a crowd pleaser) into a delightful “cupcake” formation and everyone in your family will enjoy (I’m pretty sure Scott had 6 cupcakes…..comfort food!). What types of cupcakes can you create with your dinner tonight?
Do your littles need some help with proper teeth brushing?
One of the things we still monitor and manage closely with our littles is proper hygiene and care of their bodies and teeth. Because routines and expectations weren’t managed at young ages, they still tend to lie and manipulate their way out of certain healthy routines. Teeth brushing is one of them….and especially with WG getting her braces on a while back – we want to scaffold their independence in these tasks. I read about this app called “Magic Timer” from Oral B and we fell in love with from first download and use.
Each child gets to set up their own “brusher” with different characters. If you purchase an Oral B toothbrush (fairly cheap), then you can scan the toothbrush character and that’s what your theme will be.
Then each time, your little goes to brush, the timer plays with music and the toothbrush magically erases a secret picture. The brush moves to remind your child to move their toothbrush around and even gives prompts for appropriate “spit” time. Two minutes can seem like such a long time to young children (or hurried teens for that matter), so watching this scene unfold is a great way to pass the time.
Try it out and impress your dentist on that next routine exam!!!
on my “to-read” list this summer….
With my full schedule during the school year, I often don’t MAKE the time to read. And I LOVE reading so each summer, I try to fill my reading bucket back up by cramming in multiple books that have been on my list for far too long. Here is what I have lined up this Summer for books related to personal and professional development. I also love weekly visits to the library to grab some light fiction reads and encourage my littles to keep reading over the summer. Have you read any of these? I am most looking forward to reading “Essentialism” as I have heard it mentioned over and over again in different podcasts that I listen to on my daily walks.
The following picture is brought to you by my daughter’s first school fundraiser that she was VERY excited to participate in and earn prizes from. To earn some prizes, hubby and I subscribed to a few different magazines to bridge the gap. And here they are, all piled up and untouched….ready for long drives in the car, camping trips, and a few lazy days on our new porch soaking up the sun. Even though I can read the content online, I still really love bookmarking pages, ripping them out and saving them for future uses, and a physical copy in my hand. Currently, I am reading In Style, Traditional Home, Health, Oprah Magazine, Family Fun, and Better Homes and Gardens.
If you saw my Instagram post from a few nights ago, I also just discovered Happinez and Project Calm (from the makers of Mollie Makes) that I really like too. Happy summer reading everyone!!!
Happy Fathers Day!
Dear Scott thank you for saving money .
Remmber when we went to hobe town that was fun.
I like play at the park.
Ilove you when you care about me .
have a good fathers day.
love WonderBOY,
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Dear Scott, Thanks for always being my protector and its true you will be the only superman I have thanks for a good year and a fun one too. I love hanging out with you. Through my eye rolling and my attitude I love you very much. Happy Father’s Day I hope you have a good day.
Love, WonderGIRL