Crazy, Crazy, Crazy

Life has has been crazy/busy the last few weeks. It all started when Jeff, the boys and I traveled to Sisters so I could attend my 10 year high school reunion on the 23 of July. It was a whirlwind trip, and I had an...interesting... time at my reunion. All in all though, it was a good trip and it afforded us a chance to bask in the warmth of the Central Oregon sun for a while.

Jeff and Levi took full advantage of a warm afternoon and a hammock in the shade.

We returned home on a Sunday evening and I got up at 5:00 Monday morning to drive into Portland to take a class at Portland State University. It was the last class in a series I've been taking since 2007 to get an endorsement on my license. I could have waited until the fall of 2012 to take the class in Tillamook, but I was anxious to get it over with, so spent 2 full days in an old classroom, in uncomfortable chairs, on the PSU campus. Things got a bit stressful when I had some babysitting change-ups to deal with while I was in class (I felt awful while I was blatantly texting and leaving the room to make phone calls during class, but the professor seemed to understand), but luckily it all got sorted without me needing to drive home Monday night and back into Porland at 5 AM on Tuesday. Instead I stayed at the Brownlee's house and got to visit with some of my favorite people :)

Wednesday was a semi-quiet day, but Thursday I was busy prepping for a baby shower that I threw for my friend LeAnne and her newborn daughter Caris on Thursday evening. I think it went well, but things got so busy on Friday that I never really reflected on the shower.

I spent a few hours at TRFC on Friday getting stuff ready for Day Camp staff orientation. I was a co-director of Day Camp at TRFC this year! Saturday and Sunday were totally devoted to leading orientation/training and then Day Camp started at 8:00 Monday morning. I was there from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Thursday, and until 8:00 PM on Friday, minus the hour that I had to drive down to Tillamook in the middle of each day to take the boys to day care. Day Camp was crazybusywonderful, filled with difficultneedyprecious children, stuckinyourheadallweek songs, lots of AMAZING volunteers, and moments that only God can orchestrate. It reminded me how much I love camp ministry, but it also made me realize how much less energy I have now than when I was 19 and counseled camps for 6 weeks straight. I have a renewed passion for finding ways to be more involved at TRFC (or another camp???) in the future. For now, I am taking it easy.

The next 3 weeks I have very little planned, and what I do have planned is just fun stuff :)! Then, the last week of August, I start my full-time subbing job. I will be teaching 1st grade, and I'm a bit nervous after spending a lot of time with 6 and 7 year old kids at Day Camp. But I think I can do it...it's only for 3 months...yikes!

In the midst of all this craziness, my two wonderful boys both accomplished big things!

Levi started crawling!

He still crawls like he does in this video, using one foot to push himself forward, with the other foot tucked in toward his tummy, but he is much faster now! And he is so proud of himself :) It's adorable! He loves "running away" from us now, especially after bath time, when he's naked ;)

Daniel mastered his Strider bike! This isn't a great video, but the end is pretty cute. He thinks it's funny to "fall-off" his bike, but he is actually quite good at keeping it upright. And in the two weeks since we took this video, he has gotten even better on his bike. He can basically run with it and then pick up his feet and coast for 10-20 yards. He loves riding his bike so much now that we take at least two walks a day so he can ride around the neighborhood.