Disney World

W & E went to Disney April 16-21 with Gram and Granddad (K's mom and step-dad).  They had a blast and here's a link to the photo book that K created.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AYuWTZq2cMmTF-g

Spooktacular at Sea World

Since we had Sea World passes, we decided to go to Sea World for their annual Spooktacular event. My mom and Chuck came with us, so we left Friday after the kids got home from school.  We ate dinner at Buc-cee's on the road and went to bed shortly after we got to the hotel.  We stayed at the Comfort Inn and had a relaxing morning.  We went and ate the continental breakfast and watched TV in the hotel room before heading to Sea World at 10 am.  All the decorations were Halloween themed and the kids "trick-or-treated" around the park using a map.  We went to shows and looked at exhibits all day.  We ate at the Smokehouse and planned to watch the 8:30 Shamu show.  Before the show, we walked around while it started to get dark, and all the scary stuff started coming out.  We walked through the "doll" area and all these broken/scary dolls walked around and followed us.  We also walked through a Zombie spot and that really freaked the kids out.  Near Shamu's theater is the Crazy House section, and all the weird "sick" people yelling and screaming.  The kids handled it pretty good, and only cried a little.  I think Ell just walked with her eyes closed the entire time.  The Shamu Halloween show was a lot of fun, and then we headed back to the hotel.
Sunday morning was a lot like Saturday with TV and breakfast.  We drove back to Richmond and the kids went to Awana Sunday night.  While the kids were at Awana, the adults enjoyed a meal at Pappa's BBQ.

Our clan

A is finally tall enough to ride the steel ell

before the Steel Eel

After the Steel Eel and he loved it!

Crazy costumes everywhere

We let our kids dress up too

At the Halloween Shamu show

All 8 of us in a selfie

This was Jack.  He was our MC and was a little creepy with his pumpkin head

Surfin' Civitan 2016

We look forward to camp every year and this year was no different.  R, A & W were excited too and going to join us for camp on Monday after all the kids arrived and got settled.  The four kids were with my dad and Ella for the weekend and planning to join us on Monday.  Saturday afternoon, while at the playground, W jumped out of his swing and landed hard on his arm/shoulder.  My parents iced it and gave him some children's Tylenol.  It was pretty swollen, but W wasn't complaining about it so they thought it was okay.  Monday when they brought W to us at camp, we took him to the camp nurse, and she took one look at it and her eyes got real big.  She said "he needs an x-ray" and so that began the process of our first ER visit. I've already written about W's broken arm and how that whole thing went down, so back to Civitan Camp.

Due to our hospital stay and W's arm, B and I were in and out of camp for a few days.  R & A still went with Bubba and Gilly and traveled with their areas.  I believe by Wednesday B and I were both back at camp full time, and my mom and Chuck took care of W and E.

I was the area mom of Native Village and B ran the "Hang Out" (aka the pool).  Camp is one of our favorite weeks of the year and this year it was awesome again.  We had a great group of guys at Native Village and I spent a lot of time with Matthew Glaze.  I spent a lot of time with all the boys, but Matthew was always awake early like me, so we would sit under the pavilion and read together.  Our counselors were good too, and we finished in the top 3 for the Abbie Award.

It's a lot easier to show pictures of our week instead of try and recount all the stories and events.  I traveled with the group of guys most of the time, but I also had my cleaning duties back at the area.  As always, it's one of my favorite weeks of the year and it's a little glimpse to what heaven will be like when there's no judgment and only love and service.

Matthew and I early one morning

One night a counselor stepped on this and the nail went through his flip-flop.  He had to get a tetanus shot.

A and Jimmy playing cards

Josh and Logan building with blocks at Native Village.

A and Jimmy planning more

Jackson enjoying fishing

petting snakes and other reptiles from the zoo.

Slade with a baby alligator

Brody's turn with the alligator

Dylan with his buddy

R playing with Jackson

Native Village area moms

My love at my place

Wes's 5th Birthday

We have attended a lot of big elaborate birthday parties and also smaller more intimate birthday celebrations over the years.  B and I have often wondered how we will do 4 birthdays each year and not fall into that trap of bigger and better each year. Yes, I have a pinterest account and I'll pin things, but I don't feel like I have to do everything I pin.  So we always ask families what their birthday philosophy is and we finally heard one that we loved, so we stole it.  The family also has 4 kids pretty close together, so it works perfectly for us and our kids understand too.  Every year for a birthday, either I will cook a meal of their choice or we will go out to eat where-ever they pick.  If they choose to eat out, they can also choose to bring the entire family, or just a special meal with Mommy and Daddy.  If it's a multiple of 5 birthday, then we will do a "party".  This year (2016) was W's 5th birthday so we threw him a party.  He picked an Angry Bird theme so I started pinning away.  We hosted at the house and invited W's friends that he picked.  Since W wasn't in Kindergarten yet, he didn't have school friends, but he did have church friends and neighbor friends.
We played some Angry Bird inspired games, like a water balloon toss using B's sling shot to hit boxes, and a balloon toss pretending they were eggs.  We also played Pie Face, which was probably the favorite.  We ate Angry Bird Pizza's that B actually create from pinterest, but they turned out super cute.  After eating, W opened his gifts and he was so excited about each one.  He showed genuine enthusiasms for each present, and gave a heartfelt thank you to each family.  It was really sweet to watch.
Once it got dark, most people left and we let the kids watch a movie before bed.  We loved celebrating W and it was really meaningful to the family because it doesn't happen every year.  I think this will help our kids appreciate their special birthday parties even more, but we also spent time planning it and asked W what he wanted.  I ordered the birthday cake from Wal-mart and it was an Angry Bird them as well.  R helped me color pages to decorate the house and we bought a piñata in the shape of the green pig.  I forgot about the piñata.  It was a definite hit as well.

W on his birthday being silly in the van

B used his artistic abilities to make Angry Bird Pizzas

Pie Face was a big hit

Joe P, Xavier, Jeffrey, Abe, Ell, Rin, Faith, Selene, and W

W got the first swing at the pinata