SBC Christmas

Photo credit: JenJen

We have some non-costume pictures of us as an engaged couple now!  Our friend Jen took some pictures of us by the tree at the summer staff Christmas party this past weekend (thanks dear).  It was a great time overall.  Some of us came the day before and spent the night—that was a blast!  We ate food (lots and lots), hung out by the fire, swapped stories, laughed (lots and lots), ate more food (seriously, tons of food), stayed up too late, took random naps (just because we could), played games in the gym, and then attended the dinner party on Sunday night.
It was great! And of course, spending time with my special Mr was wonderful.  Even without the snow, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

Photo credit: Emily (?)

Typography_Isaiah 40:3

I did end up entering this piece into the show, however, it did not make it :(
My professors really liked this piece, though, I confess, I feel as though it was not pushed far enough.  I am, however, glad to accept it as "done" and move onto more pieces!

I will probably make more prints of this piece, because it has already received some good response. 
Feedback welcome!

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Brawn: Skinny Man's Guide

Here is my graphic illustration / info-graphic from advanced GD this semester.  My brother served as a model for the piece, and helped to provide the information, which was very nice. :)

Anywho, after I made this piece, I was not exactly thrilled with the result—but my professors seem to like it, so that's good!  I was originally going to submit it into the show, but then decided against it at the last minute.

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Alla Prima, Painting Final

Here's my final painting for the semester (taken with my phone, sorry for the poor quality (again...)

We came to class today with our canvas already stretched over the weekend, and when she let us into the room, we had to pick a still life out of the 5 or 6 she had set up, make 5 thumb-nail sketches, a value sketch, a sketch on the canvas and then paint, paint, PAINT.
All in three hours.
Oye.

Well, based on the short amount of time, I'm pretty happy with this piece!  I think I like it better than most of my other paintings this semester, haha
I have some things to fix, but once it's a little more dry I can do that rather quickly.  I need to add more shadows, add some of the blues to the other side of the canvas a little (in the shadow of the fabric), pull the foreground up in value, and get the hues within the different fruit to differentiate more.
Feedback welcome!

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My Ring

I finally got my camera back, and now I have pictures of the ring for all of you :)

I love it

It adds something girly to my man-ish hands! haha  I'm still surprised when I look down and see it.  And I'm caught staring at it, or squealing "ah!" as I think about the fact that this actually happened!
I'm SO excited! I'm going to marry my best friend!


...
Ahhh!

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Going To The Chapel

My last post (the day I posted about spotted beards and Christmas candy) was the day before one of the very best days in the history of best days...

But I didn't know it at the time.
Or the next morning for that matter.
I had no idea that I was about to become one of the most excited girls ever.

I was volunteering at Somerset Beach Campground's Live Nativity in the evening with some great friends and co-workers—and, of course, my Superman :)  The Live Nativity is great, I look forward to it—but it is COLD!  We bundle up so much that we resemble marshmallows in our lovely Bible-time costumes.  Usually when Todd and I are back at Somerset, we'll go for a walk before actually leaving the Campground.  It's nice, we get a chance to catch up on the week, and remember some of the crazy things that have happened to us at camp.  So we went for our walk, and it was great as always.  After making our loop around the West campground, we walked back to the parking lot—but instead of walking back to the car, we went to the beach instead.  (I am still surprised that I did not catch on to that...)  Anyway, we walked up to the beach and saw a swing hanging from the tree by the boat house!

Now, some background: Before we were dating (and some after), we would talk on the swings a lot—and once we were swinging rather late in the evening and were picked on by the other counselors. And "teenagers staying out late on the swings" were mentioned a few days later in our security meeting (not about us specifically, but I still turned a few shades of pink).  

But because of that, "swings" is one of our little inside jokes, and we had actually just been talking about that meeting and remembered how embarrassed I was.  Thus, a swing that neither of us had ever seen before was kind of a huge deal, and we started taking turns on it.  It was great!
After trying out the swing, Todd gave me a bag of Dove chocolate—similar to the one he gave me before we were dating—the week I had my Senior Teen girls—(that had confused me greatly the whole week, because I already had a huge crush on him, but of course didn't think he was interested).  Then Todd encouraged me to get back onto the swing, and he stood behind me as we talked and I went back and forth.

I distinctly remember noticing that he wasn't saying much anymore.  But apparently I just like the sound of my own voice, because it didn't phase me at all, and I kept talking, assuming that he would pipe in when he was done with his own thoughts.  And he did... kinda.  After a moment, Todd called my name and upon turning around I found my favorite young man on one knee, with a small white ring box in his hand.
I'm not sure how I got off the swing, but the next thing I remember, I was standing in front of him—completely in shock, trying to figure out what was going on.  He asked me to marry him and I clasped my mitten-ed hands over my face and said "ohmygosh" a few dozen times before I was finally able to give him a resounding "yes!" and buried my face in his shoulder.  He laughed at me :)

Best night ever?
Yes

Swing, Chocolate, Superman, Promise.
Yeah, it was perfect :)

But of course, it wouldn't do to have everything happen without a single snag!  That's just not how we do things.  This is the only picture of us that we have from that night, because Todd's camera battery was frozen and I had lent mine out to a friend for the week.
So here we are, just hours before our engagement, in our ridiculous costumes.

I may be a little bias, but I think we make a cute pair, don't you? ;)

You can see pictures of the ring here: RING

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Candy Canes and No-Shave

YAY! First candy cane of the season :D
I am very much enjoying it, and very much ready for Christmas.

Another, less recognized holiday is being celebrated today.  No-shave November is officially over and it is that wonderful time of year when all the men in your life begin to look well groomed once again!  Yay! (just kidding guys... mostly...)
I really don't have anything against beards, and I even think it looks really good on some people—but keep it TIDY!  And if it's patchy...?  After a month or so of being surrounded by gnarly, unkept, babe-repellent beards, I'm looking forward to seeing the clean shaves! haha

Painted Glass

A post to mark my recent progress on my almost final painting of the semester.
It's a "blow-up" project, and I am painting my pearl necklace, a glass candle holder and two scarfs.
Pardon the horrid image, it's a camera-phone shot...
Still have plenty to do—just finished a major layer on the glass though so I was pretty excited!
Feedback is welcome as always, and almost required :)  Help me to finish this and make it a "winner"!

Incorporating Some Illustrations

Here is a poster design that I just "finished".  Though it would be safe to incorporate Leonardo's quote, that art is never finished, it is simply abandoned.  I'm not happy with this piece at all, and I'm not sure if that is because I am so sick of it, or if it really is as horrid as I think it is!
But it's done.  A true event, and a drawing that I put into the computer after doing it in chalk pastels (borrowed from the lovely Beej—aka, best bud of art department).  The illustration is inspired from Bob Ziering and some of his pen work.
Really struggling with the placement of the date—will hopefully find a new solution soon, but for right now, I'm done!

Thoughts?

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Being Held Together

In this video, Louie Giglio, spoke on the wonders of God, showing how small and insignificant we truly are as human beings.  After comparing the earth to a golf ball, and giving examples from our world today to show the size of the stars that the majority of us are not even aware of, Giglio went on to share how truly amazing it is that a God so powerful would make each of us specifically, and would carry us through the trials of life.  The same God who created the vastly powerful stars, so much bigger than we are even able to understand, also created the smallest cell in our bodies, and the atoms that make up those cells.  Louie Giglio ended by sharing the awesome representation of God’s love for us in the Laminin protein cells(image below)—the powerhouse cell that holds our bodies together—that forms the shape of a cross; a sign that could not be clearer to Christians if it had been in the shape of a heart. 
I have seen part of this video before, but I was energized by the opportunity to see the entire speech.  I am continually struck by the vast size of the planets.  I cannot even imagine something as large as the sun, but the fact that our sun is so small in comparison to some of the smaller stars is mind blowing.  When I think about such size, I can only relate it to how I feel when I look down from a high building.  I am small, I am insignificant, and I am so thankful that God is in control.  I cannot help but wonder at the contrast—that a God who created stars that are too large for me to even comprehend, is the very same God that took care of every minute detail of the human body and existence here on Earth.  The Laminin is simply the icing on the cake.  For the past several years, I have considered cloud formations and beautiful color in the sky to be a special “love note” or sorts from God—similar to the rainbow—a reminder that He loves me and He takes delight in the things that I love.  The Laminin is the same thing for me—if God had written “Katrina, I AM here, I AM holding you”, it could not have been more clear (though it would have been a little more shocking).

Posters for School

I have been doing work around campus still—here is one of my non-portfolio pieces of the recent variety.  Originally I was planning on including this with my portfolio work, but the images weren't exactly quality and making posters in photoshop is entirely too frustrating for my taste (personally).
But here it is—nothing too fancy, and I'm just glad it's done, lol

Feedback welcome as always :)

Moral of the Story

I am not one to put work off.  In fact, I grow anxious if I think that there is any danger of me not making a deadline.  I also like free-time, and would rather work hard every weekend in order to enjoy a little bit of freedom each week, than have more freedom mixed with sleepless nights and panic attacks.
Because of this, I am known for getting my work done ahead of time.  So I wrote one of my big Core 400 papers on Friday, thinking that I wouldn't have to worry about it this weekend (Fall Break) if I just get it out of the way.

Good plan, right?

Well, you see, the professor is apparently unaware that there are some collage students who do not do their homework the night before it is due (or within hours).  And, you see, he hadn't posted all of the criteria for the paper until, well, TODAY.

And after looking it over, I will have to re-write the majority of my paper.
Rats.

So... moral of the story?  ...don't plan ahead...?

Oil slick

Here is my second painting project.
... kind of.  My first real project had two paintings with it—but this is my second still life if you don't include the "exercises".
But either way, this is my first semester working with oil paints, and I am extremely green—really having trouble getting the paint to behave the way I want it too (praying that it will come to me eventually! lol)
I'm not completely sold on this piece, but it's better now than it was on Monday night, and I figured I was due a post from this class (more later, I promise).  I like the light blub, but I am still struggling with the rest.
Pardon the cell-phone-quality.  It is less than ideal, but I didn't really feel like taking my nice camera into a room that drips paint from every crevice.

CD Cover

Well, I'm trying it again. CD covers.

I'm pretty happy with this one—I had a lot of fun with the illustration, and I'm temporarily satisfied with what I have come up with at this point (we'll see how I feel after I am critiqued on it! haha)  The artist is real, though the album is fictitious (kind of, I just grabbed one of her songs).  She has a more moody, coffee-house type style to her music.  One of my house-mates is obsessed, and she really seemed to like this piece, so that was encouraging!  I've also received good responses from those who listen to her music (even more than I do).
Anyway, I welcome any feedback I can get—help me to improve!

A Dramatic Semester

I have been hired out to the Communications department here in the Arborshire!  Which means that I do the graphic design work for the theater productions that the school puts on :)
Later this month we are putting on the "39 Steps" broadway as a senior show for one of the students here.

This is the design for the poster that I came up with—it will also be seen on the program that I will be creating for them soon.  Feedback welcome!  It's a different style than what I normally go for, but I like it (well, I used to... now I need a break, lol)

Happy Fall!

Some girls get flowers from their favorite young men,

Some girls get pretty rhymes about violets,

Still other girls get chocolates in a cute little box.

Just getting one of these things from her favorite Mr,
is enough to put a girl on wings!

Some smart men do these things already,

while taking  the opportunity to go a step further once in a while,

(for example:)

To celebrate the first week of fall,

One girl received a bouquet of chocolate awesomeness,

In a vase filled with even more chocolate!

And a cute little note of encouragement

Does he know me or what?

love my Superman :)

Waterslide Event Poster

Here is my first poster design of the semester!  Feedback is MORE than welcome, in fact, it is required :)  This piece is headed towards my final portfolio and, hopefully, my senior show! So please be brutal, I really want to improve and finish this piece soon.

Oh, and the background isn't supposed to be that horrid green color—it's really a mid-dark robin's egg blue

Concerns: The heading "Waterslide!", is supposed to be easily seen, but on the distracting background (which is a mid-tone, so doesn't show up as well), I'm afraid that it doesn't have the emphasis it needs.
Also concerned with the information—had fun with it, but is it too distracting?
Feedback please!

Hopefully more work soon :)

Oye

It looks like it's just going to be one of those semesters.
You know, the one where you go to your first week of classes and you start to think, it's going to be super tough, but I'll probably make it.

And then you remember that you have two more classes that you haven't even been to yet!!!  AHH

Anyway, should you think of it, I know one girl who wouldn't mind being lifted in prayer....
*raises hand*

Packing

Well, I've spent the past week and a half slowly unpacking from camp life, and repacking for school life.  Back to the Arborshire on Monday.  I can't believe it's here so fast, though technically, the last time I moved in this late on move-in week was my Freshmen year.  The past two years have featured an early move in so that I could hang out with friends help the incoming Freshmen move into their new abodes.  It's almost poetic how many similarities there are this year with my Freshmen year.  I'm finding myself concerned as I move back for the final time.  Soon, I will be starting a new adventure, and I have mixed feelings on the entire idea.  I have loved school, though the pressure mixed with this upcoming year has me on pins and needles, and the thought of being done is exciting—but still scary!  I'm also not in love with the idea of leaving home—more than I have been since my first year.  While I would have to find more things to occupy myself if I were to stay home much longer, I love being here with my family and the idea of leaving has left me a little irritated.  Being an hour and a half away from the boyfriend doesn't help either :(

I mean, really, how could I be anxious to leave these lovely people?!

But I am going to be living in a house this year, and with some really awesome girls!  We already have a lot to be excited about as one of the girls is engaged, and we expect another to be in a short time :)  How fun it will be to spend this time with them—to be able to enjoy their company and help them get ready before they start their next adventure.
It will be good, it really will.
I am excited.  Just a little nervous.  A little extra prayerful.

Thankful

Saw this quote and it blew my mind:

What if you woke up today, and the only 
things you had were the things you thanked 
God for yesterday?

wow.  Sounds like I need to be more thankful—even for the little things, like fingernails, and clocks that work.

Defeat?

For those of you who don't know, I've been (slowly) working through this Paul study with Beth Moore.  I took a break from it to do a study with the counseling staff this summer, but I was so happy to return to it (not that the other was bad by any means).  Day 37 really hit me where I needed it—which I think tends to happen when you're working with the God of the Universe!
It was all about failure, revealing how frustrated Paul was after dealing with the Athenians in Acts 17.  For people who were so intellectual and seemed so open to new ideas, these people were incredibly closed to the Gospel!  While a few men and women were saved, their faith does not seem to be very strong, and Paul never mentions a church being built there—and this was after one of the best salvation messages ever preached!  And yet Paul left in frustration.
The next place Paul traveled to was to Corinth.  Unlike when he went elsewhere, Paul had a new sense of defeat; a sense of frustration and failure.  And yet, the Corinthians responded well, because Paul was humbled anew, and was able to allow God to work through his inability.  It says that Paul came to them "with weakness and fear, and with much trembling" (1 Corth 2:2), and God used him even more.

It brings to mind this past summer.  Stacy and I had to teach our own lessons, and this is something I was more uncomfortable with than I would like to admit.  I was intimidated.  I have no teaching experience—other than leading a few Bible studies and counseling the year before—and those I directed towards the individuals, and on what topic I felt they needed to cover.  This was entirely different for me.  I had a set topic.  I had a wide age-group.  I had very little self-confidence.
It's hard to try and be a "teacher" when your co-worker actually is a teacher—and a great one at that!  But it was great to see God use those times.  While I had a few lessons that "flopped", my inadequacy revealed my dependence on God, and He was able to lead me towards lesson plans that I would not have considered within my topic before hand.  He revealed new ways to send a message and opened oppertunities during individual times with the campers.

Everytime I said: "I can't, I'm not good enough"
"He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'." (2 Corth 12:9)


Who knows if anything stuck?  If they will even remember me?
I sure don't.  But I do know that God can use those times when I feel most inadequate to do great things.

Missing Them Already...

Some pictures I never had a chance to upload.  I have a feeling that this will be happening a few times within the next few days—there are just so many good times, and so little patience when it comes to posting, haha!  But for tonight, some photos and forgotten quotes.

We painted on the sidewalk outside Home Base with some home-made side walk paint, and yesterday we took pictures under some of the "costumes" that we made.  The picture of Lindsay (above) was my personal favorite—ADC campers are so funny!

Some more humor over the past few weeks—this group was only with us for a few days, but we sure had fun!  The last day they were here called for some extra silliness.  So we stuffed some of our pillows up our shirts and ran around the room for a while :) 

Joe brought this AWESOME towel and Alec enjoyed some attention in front of the camera and gave us a few laughs!

Jack was with us the last two days—and he drew this picture for me :)  It's of a train and a tree.  Oh yes, he is also showing off his favorite face and the ring he got out of the "Pinana".

QUOTES:

Her DID?!? —Tyler

You should have quit while you were still early. —Adam

I'm donna till you! —Tyler

I hav' da black... bu' ith's pur'ple... —Tyler (I have the black... but it's purple...)

Tamanna! —Joe (Banana)

How do ou tike my new cocks? —Tyler (how do you like my new socks?)

They just don't make shovels like they used to... —Jack (super serious and quite sad about the lack of quality found in sand toys!)

Photo Frenzy x2

Something that has been popular off and on over the past few weeks is minnow catching.  Some attempts are more suscessful than others—below is Jackson's take on the sport.

 He did not catch a thing, but he sure had fun with it!

Our theme this week is "celebration", and we had 2 pinatas today :)  Or as Tyler called them "Pananas" (pronounced like 'banana' with a 'p'), and that is what they have been called ever since he first said it this morning.  Pinatas just might always be 'pananas' to me from now on—Mexican or not ;)

We went for a speed-boat ride on Monday!  Tyler was super excited and kept talking about the "peed boot" even after we had left it :)  Dave, the director, took us on the ride and that was just great.  Where else will you have the director of the entire camp take some time out to spin kids around on a boat?  And they loved every minute!

We also had a chance to take the kids to the zip line 2 weeks ago and again this week! THEY LOVED IT! haha, but for all the talk and begging that they did before the zip line, I was surprised how SILENT they were on the way down!  And most of them had little petrified smiles on their faces (if they even showed that much emotion).  Even I screamed the first few times down!
But after all that fun, we had to have a group shot—and their true colors came out again. There is no such thing as a 'normal' photo with these kids :)

More photos later—too tired to edit now...

Trends and Loose Ends

Wow, only 2 more days of ADC left... I can't believe it.

But, at the same time, I'm ready to be done for a while!  I love camp, and I have loved working ADC, but it's time for a break.  It's too lonely out here when everyone else is gone...

But something that came to my attention this morning is the movement in trends.  I'm sure it's like this at a typical school, but I'm not around that so much and was caught by surprise.  The beginning trend was coloring.  We had coloring pages and everyone—I mean EVERYONE—did a coloring page each day.  That trend soon moved to playing cards, and I have played more rounds of "Go Fish", "Garbage" and "Slap" than I ever care to play again!  But they eventually moved past that and Pokemon cards made an appearance.  Waa??

Yeah, that was strange.  Something that was popular when I was in elementary is now the popular topic of conversation and play for my campers.  Strange. (photo above is of some sort of battle / trade involving the cards)
While Pokemon hasn't truly died, it too has been pushed to the side, and fort building has taken it's place.  There are numerous forts built every day—and they are starting to bring blankets and beg to use our towels to make bigger and better forts!  It's nice that they can entertain themselves (as we begin to feel burnt out), and some of the designs they come up with are pretty creative!
Below is a picture of Noah in his fort from today as well as the large fort that some of the other kids built today.

But we're very much reaching the end.  I can already feel myself turn over and begin to think of school.  A mixed feeling of dread and excitement.  I'm not looking forward to being super busy again (of course, I've been busy all summer, so a break will be very welcome!), and I'm not too thrilled to be returning without some of my dearest friends.  After a lonlier summer, the thought of being lonely at school has me crippled.  I know I have plenty of friends in Arborshire, but something's still missing.

Wow.  Last 2 days.

Birthday Wishes

My birthday was this week—I turned the "big" 2-1.

It was a very different birthday for me this year—I spent it away from home for the first time, and I found that super weird!  I love camp, and the people I work with / the campers, but it was still really strange!  It didn't feel like my birthday, even though Tyler was yelling "It's Twina's birf-daa" all through lunch, I was sung too, I even got a cake(!) and my Email was so full of well wishes that I was overwhelmed!  But in so many ways, it was a normal camp day—I was usually taken a little by surprise when someone would say "happy birthday" to me! lol  But it was really great, and I felt super loved :)  Mom came out to camp and took me to dinner, which was awesome.  We had a chance to talk just the two of us, and I think I really needed that.

I think my favorite 'gift' was getting to spend the weekend with Todd and my family!  I know, it sounds so "cliche" when I say that was the best gift—but it really was!  I was so upset when I thought I would have to miss out on that because I was so sick, but thankfully I was feeling just fine by Friday and I got to go!  And it was absolutely wonderful!  Just to get away from camp and enjoy the company of my favorite people (and eat lots of fudge of course! lol)

Exactly what I wanted for my birthday.

What You Missed

This past week I was...

Saying "Good Bye"
This past week was the last week with the other counselors.  What a bummer!  The last over night camp where I would join the counselors and all of their children for games and wagon rides and bonfires.  The last week with my summer friends and roommates, the last week living in my cabin.  The final time down the slip'n'slide for the year, and the last epic game of Water Rush.  The last week of summer before Todd returns to the world of the grown-ups that I am still desperately fighting to avoid... at least until next week...
But that's alright, all good stages must come to an end—and I had every intention of making the most of my last moments with everyone.

Sick
If only my good attitude had prevailed.... instead I experienced fatigue, a sore throat and a serious case of the chills that soon revealed it's true identity.  By Tuesday morning I was feeling pretty bad and by that evening it was clear that something was incredibly wrong.  I was finally convinced that it was not a small cold that would just leave after an extra nap, and went to visit the nurses.  Anne and Sherry looked me over and I was quarantined.  Fever of 102* and tonsils the size of my fists meant that I was to spend my evening in the clinic.  I had strep.
Awesome.
Well, I wasn't about to spend my hours of confinement alone in the cabin! 1-800-Mommy, and I was soon on my way home—feeling worse than ever.  The people of the clinic were EXTREMELY mean, but they have me some meds and I accepted my fate as I shivered off to bed.

Dying
Wednesday morning.  I had been on the antibiotic for a while, so I should be getting better, right?  Nope.  I was so fatigued that it was hard to sit up in bed—in fact, I didn't leave until close to 1:00.  I felt a little better and cried all through "Soul Surfer".  And then it got really bad.  After a super short nap I woke up feeling worse than I had before, and this continued for the rest of the night.  Sending down a ball of broken glass each time I swallowed produced tears and frustration while I started to feel dizzy and an upset stomach soon followed.
After emptying what little was residing in my stomach, the fever finally broke and I was able to fall back to sleep—convinced that I should have gone back to the clinic, and determined to visit my own doctor in the morning.

Travling
Turns out I didn't have strep.  I didn't have Mono either.
I had some crazy virus that was out to end my life!  Only it didn't.  It did take me out of Adventure Day Camp for the rest of the week (Wed – Fri), but I was still able to go to Mackinac with my mom's side of the family for the weekend! yay!  And Todd was able to come too—yay again!
So we drove all the way to Mackinac on Friday—right after Todd moved out of Somerset—and let me tell you, that car's seats were not designed well.  My bottom was quite sore after the drive!
But it was a wonderful weekend—so good to be with my family and Todd.  Dad wasn't able to make it because he has a final coming up, so that was upsetting, but I can sympathize with the need to study (and his grades aren't allowed to be lower than mine, so he has a lot to live up to! :P hehe)

Wet
Saturday morning!  We wake up, excited with anticipation of the fun ahead on the Island!  And then we look outside.  It was raining.  Supa' hard.
But something like that won't keep my family down!  We spent some time together at the shops, at the pool, and even got some board games for the evening.  We still had a blast and were able to enjoy each other despite the rain.  The rain did end up stopping later in the evening so we had a chance to go outside a little—but the next day on the Island was also tons of fun :)

Back
Now I'm back at camp for my last week.  I can't believe in a week ADC '11 will be all memories.  I've moved out of the cabin and am now living on the other side of the campground—which is super weird! I've never really been over here, because even when I camp with my family, we're just outside where the cabins are, so that's where I'm most comfortable.
It's a little lonelier now (okay, a lot) without the other counselors.  And there isn't much to do in the evenings.  It's weird, but at the moment, not all bad.  I'm enjoying some rest after a busy day.

Giggles and Bunny Ears

Silliness.
It's kinda what we eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Oh, and snack too :)  Thus, we have some silly face pictures to share (notice that Hope always puts the bunny-ears on her own head *giggle*)

We've had some extra hard laughs this week because Tyler is back! yay—we missed him and Brandon a whole lot, I'm so glad they are back (it's going to be a hard school year without them...).  But with some added lisps and bluntness comes some fantastic new quotes!

"I have a fever of 204." —Brandon (said oh-so matter-o-factly)


"If I were a chicken, I would have hached from one of these..." —Devin (holding the 'mistake' egg that was super tiny)

"Whe'... da tign?" —Tyler in his sleep (where's the sign?)

"U twack me up!" —Tyler (and that cracked us up!)

"Jared laughs like a girl indian!" —Hope (waaa?)

And our favorite for the week (thus far)
"Dat tittin tinks.  It' dot prayed by a kunk!!" —by the ever famous: TYLER! (Translation= That kitten stinks.  It got sprayed by a skunk)

Home Again, Home Again

Home is a greeting of excitement as you walk in the door.
Home is lounging on the couch with huge pillows on your lap.
Home is evidence of water balloon fights decorating the yard.
Home is teasing and spontaneous poking.
Home is echos of laughter through the halls and off the walls.
Home is walking at the park and sitting on the porch with mom.
Home is an hour long nap... by mistake.
Home is war cries and dodging darts in each and every room.
Home is eating ice cream out of a flowery mug.
Home is relaxing with my family and enjoying their company.

I love being at home.  I love how silly my family is.
I love being home.

...did I say that already?

Photo Frenzy!

Alright! Here are some photos from the past 2 weeks—I have been very bad about taking photos lately, but I'm hoping to make up for that shortly...

 Little Courtney before her turn at the carpet ball table—we all played this for a while.  I've never quite fallen for the game, but for some reason the boys absolutely LOVE it, and some of my campers have in the past as well.  I can do it for a while, but then I always tend to move on...

 Emily and Alyssa!  Both only here for this week, though Alyssa is trying to come back another day.  They were good buddies and had a lot of fun at the beach :)

 Noah.  Well, our ham hasn't changed a bit—still as goofy as ever :)

 Last week Abby was picked to stand up front with Jerry and hold a sign for one of the songs! She did a great job :)

 We were also visited by the "Animal Man", who showed us how God provides for the animals by giving them special protection.  Marissa loved the snake—Tyler, was less than thrilled.

I personally loved the Chinchilla (spelling??) the best—it was SO precious!  Super soft, all of the kids liked this one, even the youngest ones :)
"It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" (if you haven't seen this movie, you're missing out...)

Say Whaa?

More quotes?!? Yes, there are more, due to the fact that I often forget some qhotes until after I publish the post... more soon I'm sure :)  Also included are some photos from this morning / afternoon!  Some silly close-ups and a "smiley" one too!

"I DID'TNT EVIN DET TO SWEEP YET!: —Tyler (very angry that he had spent the entirety of his quiet time messing around — he did, however, get a good 15 minutes before we had to wake him up)

Courtney: "Where's Clayton?"
Me: "In the bathroom"
Courtney: "What's he doing in there?"
Me: "What do you think?"
Courtney: *shy smile*
(Pause)
Courtney: "He goes to the bathroom like my daddy..." (What does that even MEAN?!?)

"Will you help me put on my sun cream?" —Makana  (sun screen)

Hope: "I read almost the whole Bible last night"
Kyle: "oh wow!" *exchange look of amusement with leaders*
Hope: "Yeah, before bed I read 6 whole pages!"

"I HAVE AN IDEA!  Katrina, you should say to Todd, 'You're pretty', and then, he'll look down at himself (*looks down at herself as though to admire herself*) and then you can run past him!!  —Abby (her plan for winning the boys v. girls round of Gold Rush)

"Oh, I win-did it" —Tyler (he won?)

Note from Jack::
Stacy and Katrina
Wanna play with me at our house?
That's it.
—Jack

Beach Party Safety

Our task last night? To throw a beach party.
Our tools? A single hula-hoop and an oar.
What to do... what to do?

First things first: test out the equipment!

And prep for strange situations... whatever they may be...

And of course, we can't just assume that the prizes will be good—we have to take them out for a test drive.  For safety purposes.  And after testing out the equipment, we decided that it was safe for the kids to participate in the games and win some prizes.

It's all for the kids :)

Playing Hard

Me: "You're now in jail"

Noah: "Okay... I just need a harmonica and I'm all set"

Mackenzie: "What animal am I? I'm brown and hairy..."

Devin: "A turtle!!" (???)

"Miss Katrina's playing hard to get" —Zachery

"I know how to play Gold Fish!" —Jared (one of our helpers)

"Didn't you notice my shoes?" —Marissa (she was quite insulted that I had forgotten to mention how much I liked them)

"Just so you know, I put some 'Degree' on" —Mariah (which explains the chunks of deodorant all over the changing room floor...)

Jack: "Where's your flower?"
Me: "Over there by the picture I'm coloring"
Jack: "Why isn't it in your hair?  Girls always wear flowers in their hair!"

"Hewre Twina, here'sth a fower for yo haiwr" —Tyler (sporting the new additions to my new hair accessories in the photo above—one from T-man and one from Jack)

And just so ya'll know, Tyler can say "slip'n'slide" perfectly!  I can't even begin to tell you how disappointed Stacy and I were.

Heat

You know it's hot when...

- You walk outside and your sunglasses (or camera lens!!!) fogs up due to the change in temperature
- The lake water is no longer refreshing
- The ice cream starts melting before you get it out of the freezer. (yes, I ate an ice cream sandwich w/ plate and fork yesterday)
- Socks and shoes are so uncomfortable that even the most decided flip-flop haters are wearing them
- Nobody complains about how cold the water in the fire-hose is
- Everyone would rather put up with itchy bug bites than put pants on in the evening
- The sand is so hot, a camper cries because they can't make it to the beach and we have to pull out the sprinkler
- The windows to "Home Base" are fogged up (the room that ADC starts/ends in)
- You're online during your morning prep-time in order to find a game to play that won't kill all of the kids because of heat exhaustion
- The wet hayride doesn't sound too bad anymore... even to the counselors!
- You wear 2 or 3 shirts a day because of all the sweating

But I'd rather it be hot than cold!

Under Attack

I am being hunted.

There is a deerfly that lies in wait for me outside.  As soon as I set foot outside the cabin door, I hear his wings beginning to warm up, and I grow uneasy.  By the time I'm outside the screen door on the porch, he's in full action.  I am constantly dodging barrel roll attacks and nose dives from the offending fly—though that is only the warm up.
I practically expect small explosives to be going off around me as I ward off these attacks with my wash cloth, though he seems to have skipped to biting.  Sometimes I even find him waiting for me outside of the Anex, where we hold the day camp.  Usually then I am largely defenseless as I speed-walk back to the cabin.

So rude.

Humbled

Oh these kids, always keeping me humble!  Brandon is famous for being quite frank and letting us know how well we look, or how well we do not look, but yesterday after church I was informed of my previous inabilities in the area of polish.
The conversation went something like this:

Girl: "You look familiar"
Me: "Do you recognize me from VBS last week?  I handed out your snack every day"
Girl: "Oh... that was you?"
Me: *nod*
Girl: "Oh, you look a lot better now!"
Me: *eyes wide, shaky smile*
Girl: "It's a good thing you put on make-up"
Me: *mouth open*
Girl: "... and deodorant"

Thank you little girl.  I'll have you know that I was usually more freshly showered, and deodorant-ed when you saw me in the morning for VBS than I was yesterday morning, but it was still good for a laugh ;)  And what can you do after something like that but laugh and share with others how embarrassing your life is?  So that's what I'm doing :)

Apparently the square-cut T-shirts aren't a good look for me?  Oh well, it's a good thing I'm not here to impress anyone!

Notes From Jack

Dear Jared & Katrina,


If you don't want me in Adventure Day Camp anymore that's fine, but if you do, tell me.  What? You changed your mind? Ugh! I'm gonna kick you out of camp and take you to jail.


Love, Jack

Jared and I got this note from the character above.  Life is definitely never boring around here! Haha, and this one had us laughing for quite a while, and it still tickles a little as I read it again.

Love you too Jack :)

"I Tan Heer You"

Here are some of the more recent quotes from the delightful (though sometimes tiring) world of Adventure Day Camp:

"My sister puts the arm–pit–stuff on" —small girl in the VBS program

"I tan heer you" —Tyler (Heather and I were changing in the girl's changing room that is right next to the boy's.  We were talking about something funny that Tyler did earlier and he sternly informed us that he could "heer" what we were saying)

"If you see a crocodile, ask him what his name is and then do this: 'woo-woo-woo', and we'll be right over" —Jack  (on the hunt for Nile the Crocodile)

"You know, some guys get tossed into the lake for that" —Jack  (just moments after Todd told another kid that "campers have been thrown into the lake for less than that".  Way to go Superman)

"What are those dots on your face? (acne) Trina has those too!  What are those, Trina?" —Brandon

"Twina and Tacy" —Tyler ("Trina and Stacy")

Doubtless, more quotes will soon be appearing among my other musings.  Also being advertised is a picture of me and Superman, courtesy of Mommy (though, right after I got out of the lake might not have been the best timing... lol)

NEW ADDITIONS! (7/15/2011)

"Can you go blow your nose please?" (—Me after Isaac breathed in really hard and revealed his runny nose)
"No.  I'm taking it in!" —Isaac

"Thwisby" —Tyler (Frisbee)

"Are you ready to go play bowling?" —Stacy (we hang out with little kids too much... or maybe with Tyler too much ;) )

Napping Again

*Insert sigh of relief*


Back to a somewhat normal summer routine for us!  We still have VBS in the morning, which makes our day both easier and harder.  I did not know that was possible before now, but let me tell you: it is!  Stacy and I are still running around trying to help everything run smoothly during the VBS itself, and now we have our own kids to keep a second eye on.  But it's still good, just mixed around some—swim time is in the afternoon instead of the morning, for example.

We only have 4 kids right now.  It's so strange!  1 left during lunch because she had plans with her mom, and just after lunch 2 more left because Bre has a case of pink eye (prayer welcome on this!), so her mom came and took both her and her brother home.  Never a dull moment!  But I'm glad to be back with my kids again—to be in our little room (sorta), and to be headed towards something closer to what we have been doing.  It was nice to have a break and to be with the other staff members more, but I do like what I am doing now.

A definite plus side to the 'normal' routine is that nap time is back! Yay-yay-yay!  So now I have some time set aside for me to start posting again :)  Here are some pictures from the Family Fun Fair on Saturday.  It was a blast and all of the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves.

And of course I had to snag one of Superman and Red Brother (even if it is a bad picture technically / artistically speaking)  Sometimes I worry about how well they get along... last Wednesday my fears were realized when Superman helped my family soak me with a handy squirt gun.
Multiple times.
*sigh* I guess I should be used to it by now ;)

I think it's time for MY nap now, hopefully another post tomorrow!