the weekly recap {June 13-19}

Monday morning was the last rise and shine of the year.

 C Girl's class were all recognized as the students of the week from her teacher!

Tim had taken the day off and we did one of our favorite things - junkin'!

These were made out of books! How neat is that?!

 C Girl had her final piano lesson before her summer break. Her teacher is getting married this week!

After piano, we went to swim at the community center. We recently joined as members so we are taking advantage of the swimming!

Thursday was the last day of school!

The last day of 4th grade for this girl!

The last day of 3rd grade for this boy!

They always want to do a silly face!

Since this was the end of her elementary journey, I had to do a comparison between the first day of kindergarten and the last day of 4th grade.

She's grown SO much!!!

Graduating elementary school!

So proud of our girl!

She has made such sweet friends! I'm so glad that some will be joining her at the middle school she will be attending.

Picking them up for the last time this year in the carline!

Pretty Sissy girl!

Celebrating school being out!!!

This girl loves this boy!

On Friday, my brother, Kevin and his boys and my SIL, Jessica and her boy came up to visit us!

We went to visit Crystal Bridges and then to the splash park. It was hot but we had a lot of fun! I love spending time with my nephews! They are all so funny! I also love my brother and SIL!!!

We went back to my house to have tacos for dinner. Kevin and the boys headed home after dinner, but we got some extra time with Jessica and P since they stayed the night!

I love when these cousins get together!

An exhibit on the floor of hard candy - this is my kids' favorite "artwork!" 

Saturday afternoon we loaded up our van and headed out to go camping!

We used to take the kids camping when they were toddlers/pre-schoolers, but we haven't been camping since moving to Bentonville almost 6 years ago. Unless, of course, you count camping in the backyard! Ha!

The kids were so excited and they have their own tent!

We camped at Prairie Creek on Beaver lake.

Tim and the kids swam for a couple of hours in the lake.

They tried making "nature dolls?" Don't ask me, it was C Girl's idea!

We have been putting a focus on giving the kids independence and teaching them to do more things. They packed their own stuff for the trip and Tim had them help put the tents up!

Our tent is one that Tim has had for more than 20 years. It's been a great tent!

Our campsite:

Things weren't precious the whole time. We have some tweens and tweens have grumpiness and attitude, so we have to deal with that frequently. Ugh!

At least they are cute!

We let the kids practice taking a few pictures with my big camera. I like this one that B Boy took of Tim and I!

We kept things as simple as possible for the trip (It's true that you learn from experience!). I planned a menu of steak (we marinated them at home and kept them in a ziploc until time to grill), mushrooms, asparagus and watermelon. We wanted stuff that had few ingredients and didn't need any extras. It worked out well. We cooked the mushrooms before we came and just heated them over the fire. We also roasted marshmallows over the fire after dinner! 

For breakfast the next morning, we had pancakes (batter had been mixed before we came) and bacon (the pre-cooked kind) and we cooked those on our electric griddle.

After dinner, the kids were exploring and we saw two deer and a baby bunny!

Other wildlife seen on the trip: an armadillo, chipmunks, and blue jays!

It was hot, so C Girl had a really hard time going to sleep. I had a hard time because I was nervous about them being in a different tent and the way they were set up, their tent door was not visible from our tent.

The next morning, Tim and the kids were up early so they went fishing. I stayed behind and slept some more.

B Boy caught around 17 fish!!!! No lie!

That afternoon when we came home, Tim mowed while I worked on the laundry and stuff in the house. We had frozen pizza for dinner and then watched Zootopia. Such a good movie.

We gave Tim his Father's day card and treats. He has gotten some good gifts lately too!

He is the best daddy to these two! So thankful for him!!!