We went on our 2nd annual Beaver's Bend camping trip this last weekend. We left Wednesday at 11:30 and got home Sunday at 5:00. It was a disastrous and eventful five days. We are pretty sure there will be no more camping without help until the kids are much older! Wednesday we left, the trip was about four hours. It was misting, hot, humid and cloudy when we got there. We got our stuff set up, made hot dogs on our new Coleman stove and went to bed. There was heavy rain, wind, thunder, lightning and tornado warnings from 1am - 5am. We woke up in a puddle - the tent's rain fly didn't to repel water it absorbed it and dropped it on our faces. James slept in his own kid tent but ended up with us as well as Jada. (side note - we put James and Jada in the kid tent together to try to go to sleep the first night and they played without need of intervention for over thirty minutes!! We ended up having to move them because they were having too much fun to sleep but it was wonderful hearing them having so much fun together).

Thursday we woke up with just about everything we took wet. We ate oatmeal and headed into the town of Broken Bow to look for dryers. We settled on Suds N Such. We didn't wash anything just dried it dirty - lovely! Then we went to McDonald's for caffeine - because the coffee we made on the stove was terrible - and Wal Mart to replace supplies that got wet. We then went looking for a trout hatchery that ended up not existing and went back to the tent to take a very long nap. We woke up rested and went on a little hike and made Hamburger Helper for dinner. We were invited to the Wagner camp for Uncle James' birthday desert. As we were getting in the car to go I realized Kinley was poopy and when I got in there saw that it was explosive. She had probably been poopy for hours and I didn't know it. Once I got that cleaned up we got back in the car and James began arguing with Jada about whose mommy I was and ended up slamming a rock into her face causing her to cry so hysterically that she threw up (multiple heaves) all over her car seat. Josh and I were in disbelief that we were having to clean poop and puke at a water spicket while all three of our children screamed bloody murder in the car. We finally made it to the party and eventually to bed!!

Friday we woke up dry and had pancakes for breakfast. They turned out weird because I forgot to take the recipe so Josh had to do it by memory but the ham was delicious and the coffee was better. We made our routine morning trip to the heritage museum AKA the closest bathroom for #2's and teeth brushing. After that we went to the river bank and watched workers take beams out of the low water dam while we threw rocks in the water. We had PBJ for lunch took a nap. When the kids woke up Kinley had a 103 fever. We gave her an insane amount of Ibuprofen and went hiking up a mountain to a beautiful scenic lookout. We had a catfish fry for dinner which actually turned out well but it took way too long to get finished so the kids were crazy and starving while we were trying to cook. As I was carrying water to do dishes from the spicket to camp unbeknownst to me my iphone (in my jacket pocket tied around my waist) was dipping into the water with every step. It was completely fried when I realized it had gotten wet. TOTAL BUMMER!! Then we went to take our one and only shower. Kinley's fever was back and she was shaking and pathetically lethargic. Josh took James to the guys bathroom and I took the girls - it is so unfair that we have two girls and one boy. I proceeded to get us all naked in a freezing bathroom and in came Aunt Samantha - she had no idea we were there she just came up to go to the bathroom - boy was God taking care of me!! I bathed sick Kinley then Sam held her in her towel and she fell asleep on her while I bathed Jada and myself. Had Sam not been there to help we would all have been crying the whole time. We got the showers done and put the kids in bed. Around 11:00 Jason, Emily and Kate arrived.

Saturday I got up and started the fire and coals to cook breakfast. I would deserve an honorary Eagle Scout except that I used and insane amount of lighter fluid because the wood we took was terrible and wet and wouldn't catch for anything. We had biscuts, eggs, bacon and YUMMY coffee for breakfast. After breakfast we hiked to an island in the river and James almost fell in but thanks to Uncle Jason's crazy fast reaction he was spared. Jason made him an awesome boat out of a piece of wood and a leaf. Josh and Jason went to a lodge to watch the OU/Texas game while Emily me and the kids had lunch and took naps. Then we we went on another hike into a forest and rerouted a stream and raced hand made boats. James was trying to jump from one rock to another and fell in the river. It was tragic and cold but he lived. We had Chili and cornbread for dinner and put the kids to bed at 7. Jada began crying around 9 and cried off and on for an hour. We had no idea why so she finally ended up between us. The low that night was under 40 but I think we all stayed warm waking up Sunday morning was the hardest part.

Sunday we got up and had oatmeal for breakfast again. We stared packing up right away and left the site around 11:30 so we could have a picnic by the main dam spillway. The boys rerouted another stream and raced boats again - Josh and Jason spent a lot of time growing up doing this and little James is already majorly into it. Then we got in the car and headed home. The kids fell asleep a little while after we started then we realized we had to stop for gas - which always wakes them up. Thankfully we managed to only wake up James, the girls slept for three hours - I guess they were tired. When we were thirty minutes from Tulsa our power steering went out then the car started dinging because it was overheating. We were stuck on the side of the road exhausted, dirty, cranky and in disbelief that the weekend was getting worse. A great friend Brent Tate came and took us home then went back with Josh to try to fix it. They weren't able to and we had to have it towed to our mechanic this morning. The up side is that we didn't have anything to unpack last night and we got to relax. Come to find out something about the fan and a hose broke and it's going to be about $600 to fix it. And we have the problem that I have no phone and no calendar $$ thankfully James and Sam have an old AT&T phone I can borrow until we figure out what to do.

So I guess we learned we are stronger that we thought were. We will never go camping with three kids and no help again. We can still have fun when our world of comfort doesn't exist. Josh and I love each other more than we did a week ago. James and Jada have bonded. God is always good and no matter where we are or what we are going through we can find His goodness even if it is only in knowing Him.

In other news - Jada has been asking for her mommy at least once a day usually more. We are going to see her this Friday just Jada and Mom no siblings or workers or other foster parents.

I have noticed a difference in James' and Jada's interaction. Their good times are really good. Their bad times are not as intense and I actually had to get onto them for breaking the rules so they could be together and have fun. They have been laughing more and crying less. I feel like I'm going to jinks it by talking about it???

Josh's new office administrator is doing great which is a huge blessing.

Kinley is going to the doctor Wednesday and if she has fluid on her ears, which she probably does because of the fever and fussiness, then we will have to go to an ear specialist for tubes.

I think that's all that is going on right now! Enjoy the pics - Beaver's Bend is beautiful and you should go! They have cabins too!!

A couple of weeks ago we babysat for the first time since we've had three of our own. It was crazy but we did it. For some reason I thought it would be good to have spaghetti for dinner that night?? It was a mess! This was the line up - Kinley, Levi, James, Ezra, and Jada. Derrick and Rachel (Levi and Ezra's parents) are returning the favor tomorrow night..we'll see if they survive

James wore his construction safety glasses everywhere we went one day. Oh how the pride of a mother takes a beating!

My mom took the girls for a few days and while they were gone James and I went to the 3D double feature of Toy Story 1 and 2. Then we went back to Turkey Mountain and hiked for two and a half hours. We had a great time together and enjoyed doing things we can't do with sisters. I also introduced him to the old cartoon Inspector Gadget - he loved it! He's been pretending to be MAD cat a lot. Theses were the new 3D glasses we got to wear for the movie. It's a bad picture so you can't see that we are holding up Buzz and Woody - they had to go too!

One of the kids' favorite activity is to have a pillow pit. We move the ottoman back (by the way a big soft ottoman was the best purchase ever) and fill the area between the couch and ottoman with all the pillows in the house then they jump off the furniture into the pillows. Great gross motor activity for rainy days!

This cracks us up because of James' face and how it depicts his attitude toward his life as a big brother these days.

Kinley has officially learned to blow her nose and loves to practice - it is adorable in person.

We have been incredibly blessed in the last month by me getting cleaning jobs and DHS paying us for taking care of Jada. It has been neat for me to be a part of contributing to our finances as a stay at home mom. One day while I was cleaning Josh took this pic of the kids - so sweet. Jada was perplexed at Josh's circus throwing to get Kinley to smile.

We got to go to Abby, Joshua, and Caleb Butters' birthday party at the pumpkin patch. It was great fun. Kinley loves carrying things around as if they are a purse.

There was a petting zoo at the pumpkin patch - Jada and the goats got along great. She was covered in animal drool when she was done. She fed the sheep her paper bag when it was empty!

We got to go on a hay ride too!

My friends Katherine, Kari, Chandra and Shelly surprised me with 3 1/2 hours with a cleaning lady last week. I was so humbled and thankful for their thoughtfulness and generosity. James said "do we get to keep this cleaning lady forever so you don't have to clean and you can play with us more?" So sweet...but no! I also forgot to tell a funny story a few weeks ago - when Jada and James were playing in a puddle and took off all their clothes James told Jada that God cut her penis off!! Things aren't really any better and my concern for James and Jada is growing but we are consulting books and counselors for tips so hopefully we will see some growth soon!