Camping

Life is so furiously quick. Days and weeks and months are flying by and I long for the slow, the easy, and the still. Not the still where you get nervous that your two year old just filled the toilet with all of the toilet paper.....again. But, the still where you can see things so closely and clearly that it makes you nervous you may never feel that way again.  Like in this picture. I looked at her in the tent under the trees where the sun played tricks on my very tired eyes. I looked at her and saw myself in a tent years ago daydreaming about what I would be someday. And in that same instant I saw the daydreamer in her. I saw the girl with all of the feelings and all of the uncertainty about how to handle them, but also the girl who is fierce and competitive and intense.

When I go camping it would seem that the entire point is to escape. The idea is to get closer to nature, and yet I love a tent. It seems weird that the tent would be the part I love the most. I have vivid memories of my sister at this age climbing on me and playing around in our big canvas Coleman monstrosity of a tent as kids. This is saying quite a lot because I have a terrible memory. But that spunky little two year old popped up in my mind as I watched my own two year old throw diapers all over the place and laugh hysterically. He is all adventure, all fun, and all mess. We chased him around our campsites as best we could, but when trapped in the tent I could just watch him be silly. I could laugh at how he marveled at our strange home with paper thin walls and windows that unzip. 

I didn't get a shot of Lila in the tent mostly because she isn't the type to just hang out in one spot for more than a few minutes. But camping, like hiking, speaks to her in a way that I hope lasts her entire life. She told me it was the greatest place she had ever been. As campgrounds go, it was pretty basic. But to her, the whole weekend was like coming home. It was carefree and messy. She could wear shoes, or not. She could make up games and shows with her friends and tell ghost stories in hammocks. She could roast the perfect marshmallow or just eat a ton of them as they are. She could be Lila without the expectation of anything else. 

We struggled a little (due to my poor planning) to find a campsite the day we headed North. Seth was already ahead of us and trying to sort things out, and once he finally got to our inevitable destination, he set up the new tent I purchased. It was a Wal-Mart special. This means that I purchased it just days before we left knowing that we absolutely needed a tent that could actually, comfortably fit all five us without breaking the bank. I don't love Wal-Mart, but this is the sort of situation it was made for. Someday we will have a vehicle of some kind that we escape to nature in. For now, this inexpensive beauty is just a newer, albeit cheaper in all of the ways, version of that big canvas Coleman from my childhood. Seth texted me these pictures and told me he was pretty sure his car could fit in it. That's when I knew I made the right choice. 

Seth and I love a good trip to the outdoors. In fact, if I had it my way we would live there full time somehow. Until then, Seth puts up with my constant desire to go camping and I think he loves it too once it's all said and done. We were fortunate enough to have some friends along for this trip, and it couldn't have been more perfect. 

Thankful post number one

My children are the luckiest. I mean, how many little girls can say they have more women to look up to than they know what to do with? I get nervous sometimes about not working. I wonder if my kids will see me differently because I didn't fight for a career or climb a ladder. And who's to say that can't still happen? In the mean time, the sheer volume of examples of successful women (yes, I am really popular) that I am friends with will have to do!

I have talked countless times about these amazing women. In this week of being thankful I want them to know they mean the world to me...and to my girls.

Here are a few examples of funny ways these ladies enter our day with or without them knowing it:

1) This is aunt Kimmie...she became a doll in Lila's doll house rather quickly. Lila talks to her frequently.  The picture below aunt Kimmie would be mommy and daddy.

2) Aunt Meg (and uncle Skip too) - Meg is due to have a baby here pretty soon. They don't know what they're having but they have names picked. When we pray for everyone (and I mean everyone) before bed I usually say "and thank you for Meg, Skip, and baby Emily". Seth usually says "and thank you for Meg, Skip, and baby Cole Trickle" because Seth has nicknames for everyone. Lila will add in (at least with me) the one that is left out. This may get confusing when the baby is actually here and she has to stick to one name. I think they should cross their fingers it's a girl or b-dub will be called "baby Cole Trickle" every time it sees Lila.

3) Aunt Josie (and aunt Vicky - Josie’s mom) - Ok, so this is what I’m talking about. How many of you have friends that haul their one year old and their mom to your house to babysit your two children so you can go on a date? I’m guessing not many. Not to mention they juggle two screaming babies and change sheets when diapers leak completely in stride. Lila is still asking me when Josie is coming back over.

These three examples are seriously just a few. I pray every night that my girls find the kind of true friends I have found.

All of this being said, Lila and Evie's real aunt, Sara, moved to NYC about a month ago. While all of these other women are so important and wonderful, no one can replace Sara. She watched Lila the whole first year of her life while living with us. I knew when Sara moved away it would be tough. She knew it too. The day before she left was really difficult. But, I keep telling her that she is so lucky to be having this experience. I often regret that I have only ever lived in Georgia. She is getting to experience so many new things at such a great time in her life. 

AND, technology makes it easier than ever to "be there" when you can't actually be there. The first few times that we tried to video chat it was a bit of a train wreck. Lila didn't want to stay in front of the camera so it was mostly Sara and I talking while I may or may not have been holding Evie. But the few times so far that Lila has really engaged it has been priceless. Lila has read books to Sara, tried to brush her hair through the computer screen, and tried to feed her play food from her kitchen. It's just adorable how the mind of a two year old works. When Lila told Sara she wanted to brush her hair Sara was about to say "you can't" but couldn't get it out because Lila was already leaning over "brushing" the computer screen. We miss you Sara but live it up for us ok??? **Side note - take a look at Sara's blog...I have to say she kind of reminds me of....me :-) www.sarabateman85.blogspot.com .

I'm going to leave you with the latest installment of the best shots from our last go at photo booth...I'm pretty sure initially they were like "wait, what's the point of this again?".

Already over it. They seem to like to just stare at themselves (go figure). I usually have to prompt them to make faces or something...

...like here...

...I think here I said "smile really big!".

Attempt number one at getting a cute hug.

I couldn't think of anything else to tell them to do.

Attempt number two at getting a cute hug (which means we will have to practice this one some more).

Camping

I think it takes a certain kind of female to really enjoy camping. I think it takes an even more special kind of female to want to take a toddler camping. I can toot my own horn and say I am that girl. Lucky for me, Katie is that kind of girl too. Kim and Sara also happen to be professional campers. Brandon pretty much invented it. This would be THE crew to teach two little girls about sleeping in the wilderness. And when I say wilderness I mean the big open field outside of a cabin belonging to Katie's sister-in-law's family.

Seth took one for the team and stayed home with Evie. Lila got sick last week and passed it on to Seth and eventually to Evie. By Friday everyone was sick except for me. Seth and I had a long talk about the planned camping trip and decided he and Evie would stay here and Lila and I would go. Lila was in need of some serious one on one time. She was still not feeling great, but we decided being outside would help.

A big thank you to Brandon for hanging out with all of the ladies this weekend and handling all things camping. We had THE BEST time. I loved the time with Lila. She picked ate apples, ran around chasing Moe (the Beans dog), and slept all night in a tent! I am so proud of her. She and Carson spent all day Saturday playing around our "campsite" learning about why their parents love to camp. Good times.

Here are entirely too many pictures to showcase what a good time we had. I promise I chose only the best ones...

Things got started on the tractor headed to pick apples...Lila was SO excited about the tractor that she almost had a meltdown when it was time to get off.

But then she realized there were apples to be eaten!

Delish.

 We may or may not have encouraged the hand holding frolicking through the apples...

Lila has a recent love of hills. In the car she yells "hill!!!" and then says "weeeeee". So naturally, this hill needed her to run to the top the minute she saw it.

Here we are setting up camp. This lasted about a minute before Lila almost whacked Katie in the face with a tent pole.

Happy campers! (sorry, had to say it ).

YAY for camping. I hate this, but I have almost no pictures of Kim or Katie. Katie if you took some will you share?

Pile on Jana...their favorite game.

This would be our tent city. The blue ones actually attach and have tunnels!

I seriously took twenty pictures trying to get a good shot of the girls and Sara in Sara's fun hammock. This was the best one if that tells you anything.

It got better when it was just them...

I have a habit of bringing bubbles everywhere. I am so glad I did this time too! 

I call this one Carson's pre-glamour shots picture. She's really probably trying to get Lila to stop holding her hand but it came out like "check out how cute I am" instead.

LOVE.

I know there are more but my computer is running slow because it's overloaded with pictures and I need to go to bed. Just a quick note about the new header...

I want to mention something about the picture of Lila, Carson, and I. I randomly remembered today that I have photo booth on my Mac. This will now be my go to activity when the girls get nuts. I'm pretty sure they could have stared at themselves and taken pictures of themselves for hours. In the header picture I had just told them to quickly make a funny face :-)

Par tay

Lila's 2nd birthday party was a little over a week ago. We decided to throw conventional party planning out the window and wait to have her party over a month after her actual birthday. Between my cinco de Mayo baby and my kid destined to a life of birthday pool parties I would say it will all even out somehow...someday.

Lila has what some may call an obsession with Elmo. She loves Sesame Street, but she LOVES Elmo. So really the only planning that went into this party was the cake. And i didn't even do that. I didn't decorate. I barely got food in time. I invited the whole world and then got all stressed out about it because that's what I do. So I knew something had to be a sure thing. And boy was it ever.

Seth's aunt Janis did us the gigantic favor of making this masterpiece. I asked her to make an Elmo cake. What I got was the best kid's birthday cake ever.

To top that off, Lila's most priceless moment of the entire party may have been more overwhelming for me than it was for her. When things like this happen I feel like my legs get knocked out from under me and I can't catch my breath. There's a moment where everything stops and all I see is this perfect creation that Seth and I made. I want to run up and somehow convey to her that she is the best thing that ever happened to me. I want my crazy and intense staring to signal to her that turning two and having 40 people singing happy birthday to you while you stand next to the best Elmo cake ever is in fact as glorious as it feels...

...thank God we were able to capture this moment. Seriously, what am I going to do when she graduates or gets married? 

We have the best friends and family. The gobs of people that love this little girl need to know that we love you for loving her as much as you do. 

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from the big day. 

And lastly, this is what we are referring to as her "paparazzi moment".

Easter

This past weekend was fantastic. I would say it was one of the best weekends we have had as a family in a really long time. It was crazy busy, but so much fun. Here's why...

Friday night was uneventful :-) Seth worked pretty late which usually leads to a lot of working over the weekend. Fortunately for us, that was not the case this weekend!

Saturday morning we got up and got ready for Lila's first Easter egg hunt on our street. It was less than nice outside, so instead of the cute little sundress I had picked out Lila wore her absolute favorite outfit....the "button shirt" and rain boots. We had a small posse with us that included my mom, Seth's mom, Sara, and Sara's boyfriend Tucker.

I just love our neighbors. Our kids are all pretty much around the same age, and they get along so well. It's a small group, but the hunt was a huge success! Lila, of course, walked around discussing to herself something about the eggs this and the eggs that as she picked them up.

This one is the favorite of the day. Everyone looks so awkward all at the same time. Priceless.

I mean seriously...could I look more frumpy?

After the hunt the sun started to shine and we headed to the Szubski's house for a driveway cookout. I didn't have my camera for this part, but it was just perfect. Seth and Ben almost ingested enough hot dogs to concern me. Teddy put his arm around Lila at the little kid picnic table. All was right with the world.

After the cookout we made the bold decision to skip nap and head to Grant park for our friend Eric's 30th birthday cookout. Lila has skipped naps before, but it was usually because she just chose to talk in her bed instead of sleep. We knew this could go one of two ways. However, we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best anyway. The best is what we got. She had her first experience with corn hole and she sat like a zombie in Meg's lap on the blanket filled with babies (so mad at myself for not getting a picture of all the babies on the blanket!).

Earlier last week Seth's mom offered to have Lila spend the night one night over the weekend. Lila has been having consistent sleepovers with both Seth's mom and my mom the past couple of weeks and it has been so nice for us and for Lila. She gets to be around an active adult that doesn't move like slug and we get to either get things done, rest, or go out for the night. I felt bad bringing our very sleepy child over to Lee's, but again she was a champ. Seth and I went to a very nice dinner and then to a movie with Meg and Skip. I got the best night of sleep I've had in weeks. I'm not sure why it was so good because Lila almost never wakes up in the middle of the night. But it was glorious just the same. Seth and I rolled over at 9 am and just stayed there basking in the fact that neither of us just naturally woke up way earlier.

It dawned on me that Lila didn't get to see her Easter basket that morning at our house. I did do one and she still has yet to see it. But, it doesn't matter. She has the best time at Grammy's house and we had our second Easter egg hunt to attend. I figured she'd be ok with waiting a few days on the actual basket presentation.

We got ready and headed to Seth's Grandpa's house in Monroe. Lee met us there with Lila. On Seth's side of the family Lila is really the only little kid. So they did a "big kid" Easter egg hunt complete with money in some of the eggs. Lila got a head start for the ones on the ground. She loved this egg hunt just as much! It was so cute to see her get so into it. She again missed her usual nap time. Lila is not the type of kid that has ever fallen asleep anywhere but in her own bed. I have tried to get her to nap with me or fall asleep with me at other random times and she just won't sit still long enough to do it. As you can see, she did it this time...in two different chairs on two different people no less! That's how you know she had just as much of a good time this weekend as we did.