Shaffers in the woods

The annual family dinner night at Boy Scout camp let us see how Marcus and Cale were doing and let us see Andy, since he had also been at Cub Scout camp the last half of the week before.  It was nice time and I didn't have to cook.  I did bring lots of candy that the kids had gotten at the 4th of July parade the day before.  Gotta share the candy.

Kinley and her friend.  Both these kids have several older sibs that are in scouts and are bound to see each other lots over the coming years.  And, I think they are almost exactly the same age.

Look-it's the scouts giving a wood chopping demo to a captive audience.

Yes!  a picture with most of my kids!

So pretty in the woods.  I don't think any camera could capture this.

Dinner selfie!

Someone brought a toy.  He had to find a cool spot for a pic.  Mission accomplished.  Stuffed animals accompany us everywhere, all the time.

So, June, a collection of photos

The first month of summer break is in the books.  By now, we are half-way through our time off from school.  No one is complaining about the lack of bedtimes.  Want to watch a movie at 10pm?  I'll make the popcorn.  

We did lots of stuff.  Here's some pics of what we did so you all can keep up.

Soccer finally ended for Ewan and Cale with a league tourney.  Both their teams made it to the final game and both teams lost and were the runner-up.  What a great season for both.  I love that Ewan's team was coached by an excited 20 year old who had a little brother or cousin on the team.  I also loved that the assistant coach who sometimes ran practice did not speak English and a couple of the kids on the team had to interpret for him.  

Cale's team played hard and lost their final game in double sudden death overtime.  Too exciting to watch.

Where are we going?  I don't know, but the girls are dressed, hair done, looking good with their little animal side-kicks.

There was a week where I took the 3 smalls to a different park each afternoon while the big boys had basketball.  They needed to get out of the house.

Also, some failed geocaching happened.

We came back to karate like the prodigal son.  

Kella did a basketball camp, too.

Full dress rehearsals for dance.

Behind the dancing scene.

This boy still cuddled with me.

More dress rehearsal fun.

Kinley and her backstage mom.

Another park day, this time with friends.

Got to watch some DCI groups with these two, before the storms rolled in and we all made for the shelter of our cars.

Painted some kindness rocks.

Rock by Marcus, plate by Kella.

Sent these boys off to Cub Scout camp.

Spend some time at the pool.

Sent Marcus off to the first of 3 camps he would be attending within 2 weeks.  First basketball, then Boy Scouts and finally soccer.

And, that's that.

A Happy 4th!

Here we are.  Worn out from staying up late many nights in a row.  And, I finally got a few minutes to myself (kind of) where I can upload pictures and do a quick post.  

This year's 4th was me and the 4 youngest kids.  Andy, Marcus and Cale are at Boy Scout camp this week.  Actually, Andy had to leave camp and work a baseball game on the 4th.  Yea for work.  

We started the day with the 4th of July parade.  I love our not-so-small town parade.  We sit right by the library, a whole whopping 10 minute walk from our house.  The kids love going, because they are guaranteed to get a bag full of candy-which they did.  

Kinley had a love-hate relationship with the parade.  She loved to go.  She hated that we stopped walking when we got to our spot.  She loved candy.  She did not love all the candy.  She wanted candy.  She did not want to get out of the wagon to get candy.  Typical Kinley.

Happy Birthday America!

Super-simple wind-sockets to decorate outside.  They looked so pretty in the breezes.  

I made time to snuggle with Mr. Orange.  He's really excited for the 4th of July.

We did go to a free fair at a local church.  They had a couple bounce house things and some carnival games.  The kids all managed to win a little something, which made everyone happy.  It was hot and humid-go July in Indiana-that the kids didn't mind only staying for a little while before we went back home to recover in air-conditioning with popsicles. 

And, my finest work.  A deconstructed s'mores that I found on facebook.  Chocolate bars, sprinkle-dipped marshmallows and cooking for 8 minutes at 450.  Done.  Dip  yourself in some graham crackers and prepare for the sugar rush that will follow.  This was our first course for dinner ("dessert" was hot dogs, pasta salad, etc.).  

So pretty.

Kid-tested and approved.  

Dinner was followed by baths, tv and kids that really didn't care about watching fireworks.  In fact, I put the girlies to bed before the fireworks were over.  (Another great thing about where we live is that we can see most of the fireworks from our house.  As the trees have grown, we can't see them as well outside anymore, but can get a great view from our stairwell inside.  Watching fireworks from indoors-no complaints from me.)  

Just nice and simple.  Love it.

Going north, part II

Part 2 of our spring break trip was an overnight trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the Wisconsin Dells.  We were looking forward to the trip since none of us had ever been there before.  It was only an hour north of where we were, so we didn't have to wait too long for fun.  First stop, lunch.

We thought it would be nice to eat at more of a sit-down restaurant that was not the golden arches.  For the price we paid, we should have classed it up a bit more.  Or just settled for fast food and spend way less.  Also, Kinley treated everyone to one of her famous meltdowns.  You know, since we were out in public.

We got a 2 bedroom condo for the night.  The kids loved the space.  Ewan brought along his "Preposition Peter" person (a spring break homework assignment) out for some photos.

We did the water park for a bit and the took a break for dinner.  Clearly, Kinley was done for the day.  After dinner, Andy and the boys went back to the water park.  Kella and I hung out and watched Netflix.

Love this picture-go family!  We are superheroes!

Making our way over to the water park.  There were lots of cool wooden furniture along the way.

Be impressed that I took a total of 3 pictures in the water park itself.  This slide was part of a little area that the girls played in most of the time.  

Ewan and his Prep-Peter guy in front of one of the many slides that the boys went down multiple times.

Gotta have a pic in front of the cool lobby display.

It was a good time-the perfect trip for us for spring break.  We went during the middle of the week, so the resort was not crowded and the kids did not have to wait in line very long for any of the slides.  The condo was a great choice for us and if I would have planned better, I could have actually cooked dinner for us instead of ordering pizza (no complaints from anyone, though).  I think we'll be back, hopefully with some cousins in tow next time.