Camping with children 101

At the end of April we got our first taste of camping with children! I previously thought this was impossible with a baby until I saw a friend do it and she said he got a tent big enough for a pack n play. Adam and I fell for each other on a camping trip so we have always enjoyed camping together! We decided to take the plunge and get a big tent so we could try it out with our kiddos. We also thought a well planned ward campout would also be a good opportunity to test it out. Luckily some of our other friends with kids also braved it so we had a lot of fun hanging out with them. There was dinner, a scavenger hunt for the kids, and we had a campfire and then the young women serenaded us with campfire songs.

These boys in their maching hoodies with ears 😍😍

This pic turned out pretty cool with the light shining through. Maeve and Addie are standing to the left of the light admiring the young women performing! 

After the official program ended, a bunch of people stayed around the fire and made smores and such. We brought fancy flavored marshmallows - maple flavored and coconut flavored and they were sooooo good roasted! We also roasted starbursts which are quite delightful too.

Chowing down on their smores together in their little pink camping chairs 😍😍 - their faces kill me in this pic, obviously the flash threw them wayyy off 😂

Daddy was excited to help her and show her how it's all done! She was quite thrilled to experience it all. 😄

Don't mind Rowan's flailing legs and orange nose 😂 or my pasty skin.... Still one cute happy family camping 🤣

Once kids needed to go to bed, plenty of people started disappearing. We got our kids in bed at 9 and asleep in probably half an hour and once we left the tent again just a few people were still by the fire. We were surprised not only by how many people left and didn't even camp for the night, but called it a night early and headed to their tents! By probably 10pm it was just us out but we enjoyed the dark cold quiet night by the fire together chatting until probably 11:30pm. It was such a fun change from our norm and definitely brought back lots of camping memories.

The fire was looking so pretty 

Once we headed to bed that's when it all started getting less enjoyable. I could not sleep because I was sooooo cold! Luckily the kids did great, but until 3am I was tossing and turning just trying to warm up and nothing was working despite all my blankets. Then Rowan woke up to nurse and I wanted to die thinking about exposing my boob in the cold, much less get out of my sleeping bag to even grab him 😨😨 - it was tough stuff and in those moments I really wanted to secretly be back home! 😂 Maeve woke up too hearing Rowan and once we got him settled we moved her near us and instead of being in separate sleeping backs we opened up everything to be near each other's body heat and piled all blankets on us including hers too. Luckily then I was able to get warm enough to sleep! If only we had done that sooner... 😩 Nonetheless, the sun woke us all up at 6:30am or so, so it was a lovely 3 hours of sleep. We kinda wanted to die at the thought of getting up so we lounged for as long as the kids were happy lounging and ate poptarts (of course - Adam and I both coincidentally brought our own poptarts for breakfast when we first went camping together, so naturally that has been a tradition ever since)!

Morning faces 😍

Adam was enjoying Rowan climbing all over his face - a great wake up call 

Adam was a beast to put this huge tent together successfully almost by himself 💪

All in all, it was a pretty successful first camping trip as a little fam, but next time if it's cold I'm bringing seven million blankets. ✌️😅

April Photo Dump

It's been a while and today I kicked my butt into gear and decided to knock some blogging out. I am determined to not fall so behind I just give up and stop blogging. I WILL catch up, if it kills me! I am seriously wanting to cry right now though because I just spent an hour working on this post and then lost everything.... So now I'm starting over and writing it all for a second time. 😭😭😭😠 But anyways, it's been some time since I have done a good photo dump so here's the greatest pics from April.

Just doing a little grocery shopping when I glanced over at this hand placement 😂😍

These baby seats are genius and should be in every single bathroom! Kroger wins for having this in its big stall because seriously I don't have seven hands to hold my this baby and help his toddler sis go potty at the same time! And it kills me how dang cute he looks sitting in it. #winning 😍

Oh man does this boy loooove his Daddy! Probably over the last month he has become especially expressive and makes it clear that he is angry and cranky if Adam is not holding him or paying full attention to him after he gets home from work every night until bedtime. It is the sweetest bond to see! I can't blame him for it because he's clearly the fun parent 🤷‍♀️😍

I can't even.. 😍😍

Baby kisses are the best kisses! 💋

After being obsessed with it at her cousin's house we splurged and bought the Cupcake game! We play it a whole lot around here and she still loves it just as much so that's a big win! 

She also went through a period where she was obsessed with doing these peppa pig puzzles on repeat all by herself and I loved it! Here she is proudly showing her work. 😍

The important part of this picture is the toy ring on that somehow found its way to his thigh! 🤔 It's pretty funny because Maeve used to do that too with this toy and it cracked me up. Like sister like brother! 😂

Can I get some more where that came from? 😂

One of the last weekends in April we took did a ward campout (which will get its own post) so to prepare for this we did a trial run of camping out in the living room. It was a big hit for Maeve - I mean, who wouldn't want to lounge in a comfy sleeping bag and watch a movie?! She pretty much hung out in there all day when we were in the house and then did in fact successfully sleep there at night too! 

Still napping spontaneously on the couch from time to time 😍😍

I'm adding this picture in because 1. That little face and 2. The poor boy can't eat in peace without his sissy messing with some part of his body 😂

This is when he started perfecting pulling up on furniture and I couldn't get over this proud happy face! 😍

Nothing but trouble 🙄

Signature sib pose = the chokehold. 😂 Maeve's first instinct is to always do this if I ask her to put her arm around him and luckily he takes it like a champ! They were matching so I had to try and get a cute shot, ya know. 🙄🤷‍♀️

She's perfecting the art of the selfie one selfie at a time - I saw this one and laughed at her on the angle of the picture. 😂 Almost there sis! 

She got a tattoo in her Easter candy from an egg hunt and I incorrectly thought it was a sticker for a while. Once I realized I was wrong, we had fun trying it out! She thought it was pretty stinkin cool and was excited to show it off, cute smirk and all. 😍

Tell me you've seen a better, cuter, more joyous picture before. TELL ME. That's right, you haven't! Impossible. 😍😍😍

I mean, I just can't even... He dies for those tickles from her any day 😍❤️

Turning on that flirt. He knows what he's doing! 

That cheesy gummy grin though! 😂😍😍

Just a perfect little face that I munch on constantly 

She was obseeeesssed with this puzzle for a while. The first few times she needed my guidance and direction but this was the first time she did it herself without any prompting! She was quite proud of herself and that happy pretty little face is life. 😍😍😍

She could hardly contain her excitement! 😂

Best seat in the house I guess - interestingly enough that vacuum hose broke right around that area a short while later. Hmmm I wonder why... 🤔😑

That little body in those jammies. Delish! 

I see this picture and for a moment I feel like she's still my little baby 😍 - definitely still has some baby fat! 

Oh man, I have to include this picture because I about died this night. Adam went shopping and came home with a new shirt that we you can see is almost identical to a shirt he already owned. I asked him why he got it because of this and he couldn't seem to remember he had one so similar. I pulled it out to show him and I mean, come on, could you justify keeping both?! I couldn't, but somehow he was able to and we definitely both got a good kick out of it! 😂

The love shared amongst these three is real! It is not uncommon for them both to be in his lap or cuddled on either side of him one he is home from work every night. I don't complain about the break for one minute and I also think it's pretty dang cute. 😍😍😍

It's blurry, but I just had to show those happy happy faces! Daddy gets some of the best smiles to come out!! 😍❤️

Had to include this one because I have the same pic of Maeve at this age resting her foot on that bar - I guess it's really just best used as a foot rest 😂

These little friends are too much! I can't get over the series of pics I got - they sure love their zoo trips together and are best buds 😍

👭

No shortage of laugher when Addie is around! 

Too much cuteness 😍

Addie was definitely the peer pressure (in a good way) that got Maeve to finally try this bridge and even walking it herself! It took some persuading for sure. 

My work as a mother has now been cut back substantially 👌

We said goodbye to his infant carseat! I found a good deal on this so figured we might as well switch over. Just a month sooner than his sis switched! 

Maeve's little stance is killing me here. She actually threw up right as we got to the park this day and on the way home. 😩 But you wouldn't know that looking at this picture nor by how happy she was while we were at the park! She insisted she was fine enough to stay. 🤷‍♀️

Because why not play in the old basket that Mom emptied out. 🙌

It's a pretty good fit, really 😍

I can't even take his lips and eyes in this picture..... 😍😍 - I could eat him! 

Terrible lighting but she just looks so big and I love that happy smile. Doesn't take much to get it out of her! 

First time doing a little braid! I can't get over how tiny it is, but it works and she looooooves doing braids now. Must always be like Elsa! 

Rowan was making himself at home with the big kids in the McDonald's play area. The best part is Maeve doesn't know any of these kids but is always so quick to make friends and play with anyone around. She always says "Hi, I'm Maeve!" and they don't often respond with their name so she just refers to them as girl or boy the whole time she plays with them 😂🤷‍♀️

He loved that little tunnel and even marked his territory by throwing up in it 🙄

Such a comfy position she chose to sleep in 😂

Oh man, he thinks he's so big when he's standing and loves flashing that smile! 😍

Okay I just can't... He nicked his nose and was bleeding and I didn't want him to get blood on his crib sheet so I put a bandaid on. It is crazy he let me put it on and even crazier he didn't try and take it off! It was totally cracking me up looking at him with it on. 😂😂 Don't mind that it takes up half his face!

Too much sweeteness 😍

Sibs who swing together stay together 😜😍

And that's enough for now! I only accidentally erased different captions 473837 times before getting to this point 🤦‍♀️ BUT I'm in the clear now. I guess I shouldn't be doing this on my phone... anyway, stay tuned for photo dumps from May and June. Peace and love!