Camping

The boys (except for Charlie) all left this afternoon for a camping trip. The excitement was staggering. Ben packed his own bag sometime yesterday. This is what was inside of it: -5 white undershirts -3 pair of boxers -6 pair of underwear -a pair of shin guards Ben has never been camping. From the looks of his bag, I am wondering what he thinks he will be doing on the camping trip. Jack spent all afternoon looking for his pocket knife that we got him for his 9th birthday, and then promptly took away so that no one got hurt. I guess we hid it well. Scotty was downloading movies to his ipod as quickly as possible and searching the house for headphones, splitters, chargers etc... Pete spent a small fortune at Walmart so that he wouldn't have to search the house for things to pack, even though I reminded him that we have a very generous neighbor who has everything needed for camping. I am praying that they got to their site before pitch darkness, and were able to pitch their tent. Elaina and Charlie will be "camping" for a bit watching a movie in my room tonight. We also had a nice dinner together at a sushi restaurant. Elaina and Charlie both loved trying out the chopsticks, and they both discovered that they love Miso soup. Then they both were thrilled to no end to throw pennies in the fountain and sit and watch a train go by. After the train went by and we were walking to the car Charlie kept saying something that I didn't understand, finally I realized he was saying quite clearly, "THAT was AWESOME! THAT was AWESOME!" Love him. Also I don't want to forget: -today I got some new candles and lit them around the house. Jack was coming and going from the garage to his room, to the kitchen etc while getting ready for his trip.He came through the house once and said, "By the way mom, the house smells GREAT!" It just struck me funny. -Charlie just walked up to me while I was typing and started telling me a very elaborate story that involved him using different voices for the different characters including a growling ghost I think. And then he would suddenly do a surprised face and sort of jump, and then go on with the "story." He is a funny guy. Earlier this evening I got to go see and photograph my sweet new nephew Thomas! He is such an adorable baby and such a blessed little guy to have such fabulous parents and siblings. I went back to the waiting room where I had left Elaina and Charlie with Nanna. Elaina was sooooooo excited to see the pictures I had taken. She squealed with delight while looking at him, and really wanted to go up to the room to see him. I told her we would all go see him soon. But I guess I didn't realize how old she is. She is really getting to that sweet age where she really cares about others, loves babies, and appreciates what a big deal newborns are. It was really sweet, and I began to wish I had snuck her up there for a moment.