Our Family Slideshow

She Is Home!

I have some time while William and Zac are out painting the front porch. I loved it black, but William wants to try it the trim color. Whatever, as long as it looks good! Doesn't Zac look thrilled! He hates primer. Well, it has been a long week for me. Last Sunday, on Father's Day, we took Camille to camp. It was in Ashland, about 45 minutes south of us, at Southern Oregon University. The camp, Academy, is the same camp that Megan has attended for the previous two years, and the camp I went to as a middle schooler. I have nicknamed the camp "nerd camp", lovingly of course! It is a camp where talented kids spend a week with like minded peers and living in the dorms while living the college life. The kids receive course descriptions and then put in a schedule request. That was fun for Camille. Each camper is nominated by a teacher and must receive 3 letters of recommendation along with current test scores, report cards and 1 page essay stating why they should be considered for acceptance. It is a lot of work for a 10 year old. But she was in! William and I were so nervous sending Camille. We had never been nervous sending Megan. Meg had several friends that all went together. Camille went solo. We didn't know any other girls there. A couple of boys from her school were there, but no one she is really friends with. Let me set the scene. We arrived a little early for drop-off. We were standing around on the lawn in front of the dorm waiting. Camille heard the bushes moving and ran to see what was there. Well, she found a huge snake. Then some other kids from across the lawn said that they had found a rat over near them. I was freaked out. Then, as I am pleading my case to William why Camille should not stay, out of the corner of my eye, on the steps up to the dorms, I notice something grey. Another huge rat running on the stairs! How could I send my baby there for a week. Now, Camille was so excited at the "wildlife" around her. She begged me and said she would be fine. So we left her. I was sure she was going to need a rabies shot or something when she returned. In the car on the way home, Megan and I were talking about Camille's room. A couple of years ago, she was fed-up with sharing a room with Megan and decided she would like her own. After much discussion, we chose to give her the guest room. We pulled out the queen bed and took her bunk and put it in the room. The room was boring. We had not put much thought into it. We had spent time on the other room. She didn't care. Anyway, when William and I got new furniture in our room last year, Megan got our old stuff. Her room is huge, as it was designed for two kids. Camille then got Megan's bunk too. Well, then Zac grew and needed a new bed. He got a queen sized bed. So, we sold the bunks at the garage sale and gave her Zac's twin bed. Her bedding was Megan's old Hawaiian theme. Anyway, nothing in her room was anything she had chosen, all hand me downs. So, Megan and I decided to re-do her room. We kept the furniture, but rearranged it. I painted the room. Yes, you read correctly, I painted. We bought her new bedding and accessories. Megan and her friend, Kylee painted the mats for some picture frames that contained photos of our family and Camille's friends. We placed them all over her room! We finished the last details last night about 11 pm. Zac put together a new stand for her TV all by himself. He also repainted her old pot for her dead plant and bought her a new plant for her room. Megan worked hard all week in that room, on top of her regular chores and Camille's that needed to be done in her absence. We left early this morning to go and retrieve Camille. When she got home, I told her to take her things right upstairs and into her room. She opened her door and screamed, "What the....." She turned to look at me with the most confused look. She was so shocked it took a couple of minutes for her to realize that this was really her room. She loved it! It was all worth it! She is an amazing little girl who always gives to everyone else without ever complaining. This was her turn to receive! She deserves it!

High School?

It has been a busy week and I haven't had time to write about the school year ending. We had the chance to attend graduations for Zac and Camille at school. It was a bitter sweet time for us. I will say it again, time is speeding and moving too fast. I have officially left the "Elementary School" life. No more play days, jog-a-thons, room parties or the like. In the Fall, Zac will be in high school and Camille will be in middle school. Maybe it wouldn't have been so hard if they both hadn't happened at the same time. But, they are great kids that have to grow up. I can't (and on most occasions DO NOT want) keep them with us forever. They both did very well again, as did Megan. Megan and Zac both had 4.0's. Camille's school grades a little differently but had the equivalent. Well, except for penmanship. Maybe she'll be a doctor. Okay, no more bragging. I have added some photos of Zac and Camille at their respective graduation assemblies. Zac is now "too cool" to smile when asked. Camille was all dressed up for her themed graduation, "You Are A Star". She even wore little heals that belong to Megan. I was proud that she didn't trip on the red carpet. William and I are so proud of our kids. It is a scary time to be parents of teenagers. The worry was to be expected, but the sleepless nights and chest pains were a surprise! What will we do when Zac starts driving so soon? Ugh! We are blessed. I, being completely insane, agreed to let all 3 kids have parties that day. So, Camille had a big graduation party from Noon until 2:30, complete with bounce house. Megan had an end of the year swim party from 3:00-5:00 and Zac rounded out the day with a sleepover that started at 6:15. Both of the girls parties were crashed by the neighborhood boys. Normally I don't let them swim together, but it was fun! Plus, I had a lot of help keeping an eye on things! I didn't get photos of Zac's friends at his party or the bounce house. I am a slacker. By then, I let William take over and I was done. He did not think about the camera. It was a great end to a long but fun day! We now begin the next chapter....hold on! It will be a crazy ride.

Track Meet

Today, Camille participated in the 4th/5th grade track meet. She did very well. She ran in the relay, 400M, and the 200M. She also did the obstacle course. She loves to run. She

finished 2nd. It was fun day. Camille's school and the middle school that Zac and Meg attend are just separated by a field in the middle. The track is located at the middle school. So, I was able to spend the afternoon watching Camille while spying on the older kids at lunch. I didn't see Zac until the last 5 minutes, but I saw Megan and her "crew" right away. So, I thought I'd share a photo of the posse, as we refer to them. We had a wonderful day. The weather was perfect. The track meet had been rained out twice. We are having such strange weather! I hope the sun stays for a while! I can't believe the end of the school year is so close. Zac will head to high school and Camille to middle school...scary. The time if flying by much too quickly...

Memorial Day Weekend

Whoever said three day weekends were relaxing was lying. This past weekend, like every previous Memorial Day weekend in recent memory, was spent on the soccer field in Medford. Megan and Camille's team were playing in the Rogue Valley Cup. It is a large tournament with teams from Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. We have done this tournament every year for the last 5 years. When Zac played it was easier because it was just him. Now both girls play and Zac referee's. We stayed the weekend at my sister Sara's home in Jacksonville. It is closer to the fields than Grants Pass. The 1/2 hour difference in the drive was a big deal when the girls needed to be at their games at 7:15 on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Between the girls they played 10 full length games. Zac ref'd Saturday and Sunday a total of about 15 or so games. He made a lot of money this weekend. Not bad for a 14 yr. old! The girls did very well. Camille's team took 4th place. This is very good for a team that is very young and the first tournament they have played. It was a new experience for them to play such physical games. Camille did very well on defense. She is very fast and understands the game very well. Megan's team lost in the championship game and placed 2nd. This was hard for her team. We have won the tournament the last couple of years. We lost to a team that is always our biggest challenge. It was a very rough and physical game with several injuries. It's fun to see the changes in the way they play from year to year. Megan scored a goal on both Saturday and her Sunday games! It has been about 2 years since her last goal. She plays mid-field and doesn't get a lot of shots on goal. Most of her game is spend assisting her teamates. So, it was very exciting to see her shoot and score. William and I both were able to see it. Most of the weekend, we were apart at each girls games. They played at nearly the same time on fields as far away as possible from each other. With each girl needing to be an hour early for the game and needing about 15 minutes to get to each field, when the games were played near the same time, we divided and conquered. It was nice to see both girls play yesterday. Then we needed to shuffle Zac from field to field. It got easier on Sunday because Zac was at the same fields where Camille's team played. That was nice. When we weren't at games we were able to spend sometime with my family. My brother Ken and sister Sydney and their families were in town from Colorado and Utah. We celebrated birthdays and had a lot of food! It was nice to spend time with everyone! I look forward to the day that we can relax on a long weekend....

Teenagers...UGH...

Last night around 10, William and I were in bed watching Grey's Anatomy. Okay, I was watching and William was trying to sleep. Camille was fast asleep in her room. Megan and Zac were brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed. Suddenly, our doorbell rings about 10 times quickly. Simon, our watchdog, starts barking and runs downstairs. All I can think is "Really? Doorbell ditching at 10 in a school night?" As I hear the offenders run on the front porch, William peaks out our bedroom window to see what's going on. Now, we can see almost everything from our room. It is upstairs and in the far corner of the house, with 2 walls of windows. All he can see is two dark figures jumping over the rock creek, through the neighbors yard and down the street. About this time, Zac has made it downstairs to the door. All William can say is, "We have been TP'd. I don't even know how to spell it. I am sure that everyone knows that it rains a lot in Oregon and last night was not exception. I thought it was hilarious! Zac yells to William that they got his car. William has been parking the BMW in the driveway. The Denali is in the carport and my car is in the garage. He needs to rearrange some things on his side so he can park inside. His side has the treadmill, home gym, Foosball table and free weights. He has always parked his baby in the garage, but when I got my new car, I got the garage. It's funny having a 3 car garage with only one car inside. I am not putting my car in the driveway. I do not want cats on the top. I worry about their hair on the soft top and I don't want it used as a scratching place at night. Okay, so when Zac informs William about his car, all bets were off. I don't think I've seen William dress so fast! He had his keys and was gone so fast. He, Zac and a very excited Megan were off to find the "brats that messed with my car". What was he going to do when he found them? He was gone for about 20 minutes. He never found them. Megan and Zac spent the next little bit cleaning up what they could. I have to give the kids credit. They got us good. Meg and Zac willhear who did it, and then we will plan. My mom didn't teach me to cook, but she did teach me to properly vandalize. So, when the kids are home from school, we should have more info on who we will be visiting! When we were building our home, we landscaped with a lot of trees. I knew when we did it, we were asking for trouble. I guess it's just another phase of my life. Very exciting! The pictures are of the yard after the initial clean up. The first picture is from our front porch. The second shows our driveway that is lined with trees. The kids better enjoy cleaning up because I am sure this will happen many more times!

Amelia Earhart

This week was the 'Living History Museum' at Camille's school. She has been working hard on her project. Each 5th grader is assigned a historical character. They are responsible for writing a 3 page paper, make a visual project and have a monologue prepared about their character. Camille was assigned to be Amelia Earhart. How perfect was that? Well, for the last several months Camille has been studying her subject like crazy. She and her Uncle Matt made Amelia's first plane, Canary, while we were in Utah in April. She was so cute! She worked very hard and it was apparent. The school gym is filled with different booths from each student. As people walk around to each booth, the student begins their presentation. Many children had not prepared well. They needed to read their parts from note cards. Part of the assignment was to have everything memorized. Camille was totally in character. She spoke loudly and with emotion. Her voice was clear. She didn't even seem nervous, except she kept rolling her feet! We had a difficult time finding a costume for her, but my nephew, Tanner, had just needed a costume for the Wright brothers, so we were in luck. It was a little awkward for me because she had a line at her booth while many other children had no one at theirs. So, I spent the time visiting each booth. Camille was so proud of her plane. She was very upset yesterday at school because someone touched her plane and broke the propeller. Her teacher tried to glue it back on, but it wasn't quite straight and Camille did notice. She knows that plane inside and out. She and Matt worked very hard on it. I think we will hang it from the corner of her room. I am sure it will look great with the Hawaiian theme! It was a great evening. My sister Stacey and her kids came. They were visiting from Utah. My brother Ed and his family also came. We were so grateful that they made the effort to come and support Camille. It was a bitter sweet night. It was my last activity at the school. Camille will leave elementary school is a couple of weeks and head to middle school. Zac will head to high school. I've said it before, it is happening too fast. I am not ready.