Okay, I've been away ALL WEEK at YW Girl's Camp, so I'm a little behind. I didn't even post about last week's events much because I was so busy getting ready for camp. Wow - even as I type this, my fingers aren't working on the keyboard because #1 - I'm tired beyond belief, and #2 - I haven't used my fingers for anything besides cooking and cleaning this week. When I got into my Honda to drive home today, I felt disoriented because I haven't driven a car in 5 days! That felt weird.
I've gone off track. Let me digress. Last week was the British Soccer Camp Challenger Sports puts on. They have soccer coaches from Great Britain come and teach the kids soccer skills for a week. We put Joey in it for something to do. Andrew would have gone too, but he had Cub Scout camp. This was Joey's first time playing a sport, and he did really well physically. But do you ever get those moments when you see how well (or badly) you've been parenting? When you learn what you have been lacking in teaching your kids? Well, we'll be working on paying attention and following directions with Joey. He's the middle child, and sometimes gets a little lost at our house. As I reflected on my bad parenting skills while sitting watching him interact with his coaches, I realized that I probably too often give him something to do and never follow up. He just wanted to play the games his own way, and didn't pay attention to the rules too much. But he's Joey, so the coaches loved him to bits, and he has several new fans.
Here are his two soccer coaches, Jack and Kat. They were awesome. They were perfect for this age group. British people are quite funny in their own way. The parents enjoyed their dry humor, I think. Here's Joey trying to be patient and listen. At least he tried, right?
I've gone off track. Let me digress. Last week was the British Soccer Camp Challenger Sports puts on. They have soccer coaches from Great Britain come and teach the kids soccer skills for a week. We put Joey in it for something to do. Andrew would have gone too, but he had Cub Scout camp. This was Joey's first time playing a sport, and he did really well physically. But do you ever get those moments when you see how well (or badly) you've been parenting? When you learn what you have been lacking in teaching your kids? Well, we'll be working on paying attention and following directions with Joey. He's the middle child, and sometimes gets a little lost at our house. As I reflected on my bad parenting skills while sitting watching him interact with his coaches, I realized that I probably too often give him something to do and never follow up. He just wanted to play the games his own way, and didn't pay attention to the rules too much. But he's Joey, so the coaches loved him to bits, and he has several new fans.
Here are his two soccer coaches, Jack and Kat. They were awesome. They were perfect for this age group. British people are quite funny in their own way. The parents enjoyed their dry humor, I think. Here's Joey trying to be patient and listen. At least he tried, right?
On the last day, they told the kids that they could bring anything they wanted and the coaches would wear it. This is Jack dressed up in all the beautiful things the kids brought:
Joey brought a Spider-man mask, but he decided it would look better on his own head.
We had a great Father's Day, too. We started with breakfast in bed for dad. We got up early (Ben's usually the first one up, so I had to beg him to stay in bed until we were ready) and made cinnamon rolls. We made daddy a great card. I asked the kids (those who can talk) questions like: What is daddy's favorite thing to do? What is daddy's favorite food, tv show, movie, place to go, etc. What does daddy do for a job? Things like that. My favorite one was when I asked Andrew what was daddy's job. He said, "He helps people." I said, "Helps people with what?" Andrew said, "A pen." Cute! Daddy does usually have a pen, so that makes sense.
We did the same thing for grandpa Jerry, and Grace said that Grandpa's favorite tv show was ice skating! He laughed at that.
So as I mentioned before, I went to Girl's Camp this week, which I will blog about when I find Haley's camera to offload the pictures. But I'll tell you about what happened around here while I was gone.
Grandma Jane stayed with the kids during the day. She's off for the summer, so that was great. The trampoline is our favorite toy, followed by the basketball hoop. I bought the hoop, but the trampoline, a new Wii game, and a new bike for Andrew are courtesy Grandma Jane. Thanks Grandma!
Daddy had the kids at night, and did safe things with them like having them stand over a pot of boiling water.
This will probably ban this behavior in the future. I'm going to have nightmares tonight.
As we pulled in to the church parking lot to let off the other girls I brought home (we laughed the whole way - they were a funny group!), Haley sent a text to Ben to let him know we were near. So as I rounded the corner by our house, the boys were on the there waiting for me. I decided to race them home. (We tied.)
This is Matt and the other boys waiting outside for me. My baby doesn't crawl anymore! Too sad for me.
I'm just glad they remembered me (although I did get a text yesterday at camp that said, "Can you please try to call tonight? Joey just said he doesn't remember his mommy." I almost cried a little).
I'm so glad to be home. Really, really tired, but glad to be home. And glad to be cooking for only 7 people, not 130 for each meal (more on that later......)
