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.