Boys in California

Brady & Keaton stayed with Grandpa Dave for 1 week in California right after school.
They boogie boarded and went to the beach almost every day.Brady strummin on a mini guitar
USS Midway - like the statue in the back? hehe
All dressed up - and white ankle socks are the evidence that boys do not obey their mother when she's not there to tell them to put on dark socks with dress clothes - haha caught ya ;)
and making faces ;)
Grandpa's take:

The boys are having a blast. Took them to see the USS Midway down in San Diego and then out to the beach. The Midway is an aircraft carrier. They want to do more beach stuff, hahahha. Tried to get them to try surfing but looks like boogie boarding is their favorite so far. They are eating lots of junk food, sleeping and playing on computer. Kidding. We played some basketball the other night and , yes, grandpa still has it. Played horse and Brady won, but one on one I can still take em. HAhahha. Keaton is reading my first published book and I gave them copies of both books.

June 22 - June 30

YCL Devotional

Find your prince - frog girls camp bead (YCL devotional) scrabble tile:

I divided the YCL's into 2 groups, one group drew a picture of a swamp and one group drew a stream. Then one group described the picture without showing what they drew to the other group using adjectives until they guessed what it was. I wrote down these adjectives as the girls were saying them, some of the words were slimy, mucky, filthy for swamp and some of the words for stream were clean, beautiful, peaceful, inviting, etc. I related those adjectives to the types of frogs you could find at the different locations and the boys you choose to date (since we were wearing tiara's and looked like princesses for Glinda theme in Wizard of Oz). Moral: date boys that will keep you clean, beautiful and finding peace in that. I gave each girl a frog scrabble tile to place on her camp necklace.

More Girl's Camp Beads

Spiritual YCL leader bead:

More crafts people bead:

Boutique bead:

Dorothy bead (earned if you performed a service or good deed during camp):

The girls enjoyed earning the beads, we gave plain colored ones for certifying, and painted daisies for the year bead, the hike bead had a painted tree on it, the first aid bead was green and had a white plus painted on it.

baby hummingbirds

uhhhh, why don't I get to have a hummingbird nest in MY yard?

My boys are visiting Grandpa Dave and they took this photo - they've nested on top of a wind chime - seems bizarre, like not very safe from predators? I'm sad I don't have baby hummingbirds at my house =(

feeding the birds

silly birds, they must have thought the grass seed we just spread was dinner! I couldn't get a photo of all of them - there were 20 of them or so - and I don't even know what type of bird this was - but they did like to stay in a pretty big flock.

good thing we overseeded ;) unless it's possible they consumed it all - and I wonder how nutrious that is for them? hmmmm, weirdos

Crocs and Buttons

At Girls Camp, since the theme is Follow the Yellow Brick Road, some of us got red crocs to represent Dorothy's Ruby Slippers.

I bedazzled my Mary Jane Crocs:

And added Wizard of Oz characters buttons that I made:

Can't wear flip flops at camp, but we can wear crocs!

Salamander

We occasionally see salamanders -they're pretty cute for slimy creatures ;) You have to agree their eyes are adorably beady:

This one didn't enjoy being held, he kept jumping out of my hands . . . and then getting very dirty:

Like he was very uncooperative as I was trying take some photos!

And by the fifth time he jumped out of my hands, he was pretty much lifeless - I think he might have crawled in a hole and died. It's sad and pretty cruel too. I guess I won't try and hold any more of those little suckers ;)

Girls Camp Beads

Some girls camp beads - I have others, but will have to post later!

Pink shimmery bead with star charm:

YCL - 5th year beads this year:

Dog tag beads for the 'toto' bead for our theme of 'Follow the Yellow Brick Road:

Craft people beads and for our YCL's who are helping:

Chef hat shrinky dink for our camp cooks and YCL's whose jobs are to help with the cooking:

Toilet Paper Bead on a wooden spool:

I designed a patriotic button that the YCL's who do flag this year will earn, as well as the 2nd year girls who will be taught flag as part of certification:

I just glued a pony bead on the back with E6000 - fabulous glue!

And for those early morning 'polar dips', here's a bead made out of a shrinky dink:

I got a plotter (which is better than a cricut because I can send whatever image from my computer to it and it cuts out foam, magnets, shrinky dink, cardstock, etc.!), which cuts out letters and shapes and it's my new favorite 'toy' =) I also have a button maker that I got for Mother's Day and it is super fun as well!

Sparkle Ball

I'm going to hang this over the YCL teepee area to represent the bubble Glinda floated down in as we are decorating our camp area as 'Glinda' theme:

Jonathan and I made a sparkle ball - ummm, turned out cuteness - I'm going to make more of these for Christmas decorations =) You know you have a spare 2 hours to create one too ;) haha

Directions found here. Made from 9 oz plastic cups and a string of 100 lights - solder gun and clothespins are your only tools.