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!

We went to a Tulsa city park called Turkey Mountain today. We had a great time. I made little scavenger hunt lists (pictures of nuts, leaves, dirt, grass, etc) for Jada and James and if they found everything on the list they got a treat. So they collected all their goodies in a cup and got candy pumpkins for all their work. Then after hiking and eating we just stopped and played on the trail making mud and painting the rock.

Jada really enjoyed filling her cup with the things on her list but she kept dumping it. She, like every two year old, was very slow at walking and would periodically yell "I'm commin!!"

James was proud of his hiking pack. It was very heavy and he carried it for a long time - such a stud!

As usual Kinley really enjoyed eating the dirt.

These are the bugs we caught while hiking, isn't the green one cool? I am really growing in my ability to give my kids nasty science experiences! Alicia was the expert butterfly catcher!

Jason, Emily and Kate came for a visit a couple of weeks ago. Isn't baby Kate beautiful? We played dress up while they were here, Kate was a ballerina and the big kids wore my old tap recital costumes. James has been having to wear girl dress ups but we now have two male oriented options for him. We'll see what he chooses?? This is what Kinley does every time we ask her to smile - isn't it pretty and feminine?

We went to the OKC fair with Gigi and Bop. It was fun but very busy with all three of them so I forgot to take very many pictures. This is James having the camel ride "he's always wanted".

This was a freakish animal at the petting zoo that we thought belonged in a Dr. Seuss book.

Josh and I dressed up to go to the anniversary party and James asked if he would get to wear a tux when he was big - it was really cute!

The day Josh was fully in charge of dressing Jada?? :/ I had to razz him a little!!

Here is a sample of Kinley's adoration of James - he still gets her best laugh! It is also a sample of our everyday craziness - someone being "bad" someone laughing at the one being "bad" and the other one talking incessantly. Things are continuing to get a little better here. Josh's new branch office administrator started Monday and it is going really well. Hopefully she will stay for a while and they will be a good pair! God is dealing with a lot of my deep down sin and I can see some light at the end of the tunnel as far as growing as a mom and being able to better handle kids. The girls are going to stay at Gigi's next week so James can have some alone time with us then the next week we are going to Beaver's Bend for our annual camping trip. Lots of fun ahead!

Ok, where to start? Well, things are going tiny bit better. James and Jada are now having small moments of fun together. They are both still in major need of training and the days are intense. I think Jada is actually stepping up her difficulty level so we'll see? We had the first visit with Jada's worker in our home on Monday. All of us were on the couch and James made some reference to me spanking Jada. I looked at the worker and said "I have not spanked her" then James said "yes you did mommy"! I was shocked and in utter disbelief that this was happening to me. See we actually have been praying about and discussing using some form of spanking with Jada because she is in such need of it but we haven't #1 because we haven't gotten a peace from God and a close second is because we knew James would tell on us! Well he told on us and we didn't even do it. This coupled with the fact that our case workers biggest worry about us is that we spank our children - I was totally floored. Anyway, I asked James why he thought I spanked her and he said because I took the spoon in her room! He doesn't miss a thing. Well I told him that he lied about something very important and that he needs to not talk to anyone about his or his sisters' discipline. OH BROTHER!

Two weeks ago we all went to the doctor. Jada got two shots, James had a recheck on an old ear infection, and Kinley was diagnosed with bronchitis and a double ear infection. She was prescribed a nebulizer (sp?) We say she likes to hit the A-bong (a for albuteral (sp?)

One day that it rained we played in the garage and there is a low spot in the corner that hold water after a rain. I went inside to put Kinley in bed and came back out to James and Jada naked (except Jada's shirt was twisted around her shoulders) jumping in that nasty puddle! They were eaten alive by mosquito's but they had a blast.

Another day we played in the garage and James decided to build towers and run into them with his bike.

This is all three of them playing dress up. Poor James really needs some boy dress ups. I just can't tell the poor thing no when he asks to put on the tutu so he can dance with his sisters. He has also decided to like wearing a zebra print hair bow around the house. I need some help!

She is so precious!

Isn't she beautiful!

Jada loves to put on Mr. Potato Head's glasses. She has been doing this since we got her and I finally got a picture of it. She is so silly.

Kinley is a full time walker now! It is so fun to see her up!

We went to the pet store and the clerk got out two greyhound puppies for the kids to play with. It was so cute and this puppy kept trying to eat James' hair. James has been lobbying for a puppy since then but I think he is beginning to realize he is barking up a dead tree!

So the reason we were at the pet store is because Captain Bob finally died after a long struggle with who knows what. He hadn't been himself for a while and when we came back from Labor Day he was stuck under the rocks not moving. We went to pour him out and he miraculously came back to life! Three days later he died for real. It was sad but James was comforted that when he went down the toilet he would go to the ocean. So Monday we replaced him with Greenie Pete (he's orange). James had picked Greenie to be our new fish name right after Bob died. Josh wanted to name him Pete for Pistol Pete since he's orange but James was not budging on Greenie therefore he's Greenie Pete just like Captain Bob was Captain for Josh and Bob for James. I guess we'll always have two name fish. Josh and I were invited to a black tie 50th anniversary reception for some of his clients. It was at Southern Hills Country Club. It was really fun and fancy. I got a new White House Black Market dress at Name Brand Clothing for $30! It was nice to dress up and go out with my handsome Edward Jones man. This last weekend I had a cleaning job with my friend Alicia. He father in law and husband are in construction and have remodeled a beautiful home near 28th and Lewis and they asked us to do the final clean. It took us 15 1/2 hours but we had a great time together and he got a good dose of role reversal with our husbands. Josh did awesome Friday and Saturday but by Sunday he was a little worn out. I asked him if he got to pick Edward Jones or home with the kids what would he pick - he said Edward Jones! I said me too! not really - his job is super hard and I could never do it in a million years. I am so thankful I get to stay home and train our children no matter how hard it is.

We learned in class that there is usually a honeymoon phase when a foster child comes into your home. Well, I forgot about that and was thinking that the first two weeks with Jada were great and it was going to be smooth sailing. Then we started week number three! I'm not sure who went bad first but it is a toss up between me, James, and Jada. I think I have myself back in control and I'm working on J and J. They have been fighting constantly, James is bossy, controlling, hateful, disrespectful, and has a very strong desire to hurt Jada. He said during a discipline session "I just need to know how long she's going to be here?" Another day he was telling her the toys are not hers and my mom got onto him and he said "well we just don't know how long she's going to be with us". Needless to say it has been a tough adjustment having a two year old sister. The good thing is he has decided and begun to show that he loves Kinley to pieces. He has been very kind to her and they seem to be bonding under the new pressure. Jada has decided to whip out the strong will on us. We tell her to do or not do something and she just stares at us with a blank look at best or grunts and does the opposite or throws a fit at worst. She is a normal two year old it is just that we can't do with her what we did with our last two year old. Time out is what we do but she doesn't seem to mind it at all and doesn't seem to be learning from it. She is having trouble sitting still for anything and with being social with many people outside of our family. She still seems overwhelmed by our lifestyle. I do believe that in spite of all that she is attaching to us and us to her. It will be a long road but by God's grace we will adjust and hopefully help leave God's mark on her heart. We took a little vacation to Hot Springs, Arkansas with my parents last weekend. We had a great time!

I think we actually got a decent family picture!

We went to an petting zoo/alligator farm. It was really cool, they even had mountain lions!

We went to one of the lakes in Hot Springs Village to ride paddle boats but they didn't have any so we just took of the kids clothes and played in the water!

We are working on smiling for the camera but it is not favorite.

James got to climb on a real Army tank