We went camping at Beaver's Bend in southeast Oklahoma from the 23rd to the 26th. Gigi, Bop, Jason and Emily joined us on Friday. We had the best time! We knew it was going to be good when we began to leave the ranger station to find our camp site and both kids started screaming for no apparent reason. Josh and I looked at each other and said our motto "the family that camps together stays together"! The Wagners introduced us to Beaver's Bend and they were there with their extended family. We were surprised when we were touring the Wagners' RV to find "Uncy James" had come from Atlanta to camp! We set up camp and got ready for 40 degree nights. We made it through the first night wonderfully. I was dreading the cold long night but we got new sleeping bags and they were wonderful - I actually slept great and so did the kids. The next morning when were trying to get breakfast cooked and cleaned up James was complaining about the cold and he finally said "I want to go to Grandma Barbara's RV"! Josh rolled his eyes and I sympathized with James. We got to go on a hike into the woods and throw rocks into a stream. That afternoon my parents arrived and we got them settled. Jason and Emily came late Friday night. In the night James ended up on top of me and yelled "I lost my sleeping bag!" Emily said she could hear him from their tent and she said it broke her heart. Then a few hours later Kinley started coughing and Emily's heart broke again! That was the worst night we had and it really wasn't that bad. Saturday the girls and kids took hot showers which was wonderful then we went to the nature center and enjoyed the beautiful day. We went back to the stream in the woods and James, James, Daddy, Jason and Bop rerouted parts of the stream so they could have wood boat races. James was all about the men on this trip. Then the boys went to watch the OSU/Texas game and me and the kids tried to take a nap - I was the only one that slept and I finally gave up on getting them to. I was holding Kinley and James was jumping around and Kinley started belly laughing like she never has. It was my favorite moment as the mother of two so far. We haven't been able to get her to do it again and of course I didn't have the camera. That afternoon my parents and James and I rode a canoe which was beautiful then we all met back of for dinner. We had an amazing pot of chili and cornbread then desert of half baked cookie dough. We did all our cooking over the fire in a dutch oven and iron skillet. Sunday morning we packed up and left around noon. The kids were exhuasted and slept two hours on the way home! When we got home we put Kinley on the floor and she rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time! She is so big (and tough)! Josh and I reflected on our time and felt so blessed to get to experience camping together with our kids and some family. We are very impressed with our kids for being able to rough it four 4 days and still have a blast!

James with his bowl of precious purple berries

Awww - are't we sweet! We had one tiny romantic moment!

I think they are ready - already assuming the positions of parenthood!

Jason teaching James to use a hatchet!?!

This was the man who parked his RV next to our campsite for the weekend. He was really kind and he had a dog named Little Bit. James said "there goes Little Bit walking his Cowboy". He calls any man with a hat, boots and big belt buckle a Cowboy.

Group picture!

Saturday James crawled up in my lap at 6:30 and fell asleep within a minute!

A kid has to get creative to find "toys" to play with at a campsite!

Josh's first try at setting up the hammock - yes his bottom is touching the ground

Success!

The river (Mountain Fork River) was really foggy each morning

James couldn't bear to see the tent come down - he burst into tears and said he didn't want to leave camping. Josh had to comfort him and promise we would go back next year.

naked pictures

as usual if only we could get them to smile at the same time

James will be a horse for Halloween

Kinley will be a ballerina (Chandra made her cutie tutu)

Gangsta James

Look at me pose

GO POKES! James is getting such a grasp of the world he lives in. Yesterday I asked him to do something and he said "I could probably do it for a kiss" Josh says that to him all the time - it was so cute. While we were at my Mom's last weekend my mom asked James if Tristan called him and James said "tell his mommy to call my mommy". He knows how his schedule is made.

Family - I want you to know that I have all of our pictures attached to the blog so that you can save any of them to your computer or you can order them straight from the web to Walgreens or through Snapfish. Snapfish delivers to your house! You go to the actual blog which is http://jklmorris.blogspot.com, click on the link "photo albums" click on the album you want pictures from, at the top click prints, then select the provider such as Walgreens or Snapfish, then follow the prompts. If you want to save a pictures or set it as your desktop right click the picture you like and choose "save image as" or "set as desktop background". I will update the albums everytime I add new pics to our computer. Hopefully this will be easy and make you all happy! We love you dearly - thanks for enjoying our kiddos. Chandra and Shelly will be glad to know Kinley finally joined the big flower club - due largely to the insistence of Gigi. Isn't she just a peach! She was being so stubborn - I couldn't get a smile out of her.

We went to the Pumpkin Patch with our life group tonight. It was great fun and beautiful weather. James' favorite part was the "dark place" it was a hay bail maze. I have to brag on him for a minute because he didn't get to ride the pony's like the other kids because it was very expensive and we didn't feel like it was a good choice for our money. He stood on a chair right by the pony ride and cheered for all his friends that were riding. He never whined or had a bad attitude about it. He is so big and mature. It is those moments that make us feel like we might make it though this parenting thing. I made Kinley laugh but of course she got stingy with it when the camera came out. Here is a very short video of it. Josh is having really bad sinus problems again and we are in the process of scheduling sinus surgery. His week just keeps getting worse. We're going to see how long that big account from yesterday will keep him going. He was such a good sport tonight to hang out at the pumpkin patch feeling so bad. He is such a fun husband and daddy.

We went to OKC last weekend to let James and Tristan hang out. It was really nice to have all four of us spend a weekend away being taken care of. James and Tristan got to ride the Amtrak train to Norman then go to the Oklahoma Natural History museum. They loved the dinosaur bones. They also got to wrestle and play Wii together. They are so cute and funny. James has decided he is Milky the cat (a girl cat mind you). He has been talking about Milky in thrid person and when we call him James he corrects us. Everything he experiences he then relives it through the eyes of Milky. It's pretty funny. If only I could have a tape recorder to remember everything he says. When Kinley cries hard he always tells me "she needs a bottle" or "she needs a nap" this week he's been saying "she wants to get big now". We found out today that Kinley has her first cold and ear infection. Bless her heart. She's been sick for two and a half weeks but I thought it was teething and she hasn't been very fussy. She is an amazing baby. She is on her first anti biotic now and I'm sure will be feeling better tomorrow. She is rolling over and talking a lot. My mom even got her to laugh! The past two weeks have been very hard on Josh but he is making it. God is good all the time. Today he officially brought over his first million dollar account - two of them! Praise Jesus! Josh is amazing at his job and at sticking with it when everything is pushing him not to. I know he will reap the benefits spiritually, personally, and professionally someday. Here are clips of James and Kinley being cute - it is a video there should be a play button at the bottom. It may take a while to "buffer".