Catching up

Yall have been patient. My last two posts have been about make-up and melanoma and, well, me. I know that's not what you come here for. You come here to read about the kids. We are staying busy with their activities as usual, but it has been a while since I reported. Mainly because I had this fantasy that Corin would do a guest blog post on his recent camping trip with Evan. I thought I had him talked into doing it, but every time I brought it up, it seemed he didn't have time. See, it seems he thinks that a blog post has to be perfectly written, like a brief that he would write at work. Silly Corin. He's read this blog long enough to know the standards here are not nearly that high. But, as he is a perfectionist, he doesn't think he can just slap something together like I do, so I've given up.

Anyhoo... Two weekends ago, Corin took Evan camping with his dad, their friend Kip, and Kip's son Harris. While the boys were gone camping, Pressley and I decided to have a girl weekend. We started our day doing wedding crafts with my friend Stephanie, who is getting married next weekend. Pressley was pretty well-behaved and even helped a little tiny bit with the crafts. I was afraid she wasn't really enjoying herself all that much, but it turns out she had a ball. After her nap, we headed back out to go get mother/daughter manicures and pedicures. She has been completely enamored of having her nails painted ever since I bribed her to let me cut her nails several months back with the promise of nail polish. I've created a monster! Needless to say, she thought she was big stuff getting her nails done professionally like a big girl. The ladies at the nail salon fawned over her like crazy and even talked me into letting them paint little flowers on her thumbnails. It was all super-cute.

The finished product:

After all the pampering, we picked up a pizza and a movie on the way home. I remember seeing Enchanted on pay per view a couple of years ago and thinking that it would be fun to watch it with Pressley someday when she got old enough. I can't believe that time has already arrived. She loved the movie and sang the songs from it for days afterward. We may even have to ask Santa for our own copy for Christmas.

The next morning, we went to church and she was very proud to show off her nails to everyone who would look. She also told her Sunday school teacher that next Sunday, she and mommy would be camping and the boys would be at church. Ahhh, Pressley....not a chance. But a cute thought nonetheless.

[Imagine some clever transition sentence here.]

I always feel guilty when Corin and I split up with the kids for activities because inevitably, Evan chooses Corin to go with him and then I feel like he gets short shrift on the blog reporting. Here's the best I can do on the camping adventure based on what I've been told.

First, they had a blast. Corin actually said it may be the most fun he's ever had camping. Now, coming from me, that wouldn't be big deal since my experience with camping is severely limited. But, coming from Corin, that's saying a lot. His camping experience is vast - or at least a lot more vast than mine.

They did some hiking, some kicking around the camp site, slept in a tent, cooked hot dogs and s'mores over the campfire, and even did some fishing. Evan and Harris got along famously, it seems. Evan hiked all the way to the top of Blood Mountain, which is something like a 2-1/2 mile hike (one way). He was a real trooper, I hear. And to this day (just a second ago), he says that "climbing the mountain" was his favorite part of the trip.

He was much more enamored of the idea of the s'mores than the s'mores themselves. Apparently, a burnt-up marshmallow is just not as appetizing as it sounds.

Since I wasn't there, I will now point you to a bunch of pictures to round out the story. You know what they say about pictures.... There are none of the hike because the boys apparently played with the camera and ran down the battery before the hiking took place. Oh well. The fact that I was absent and yet photos were taken is a victory in and of itself. (More pics at the November 09 link.)

Next up, the Halloween Carnival that took place two weeks after Halloween, the Thanksgiving program at Pressley's school, and Evan's karate test (whereupon he earned a Crane patch).