Taking Care

Mer spent a lot of time over Thanksgiving helping with Emmrie. Really, truly, helping. And helping made her pretty happy, which I suppose is what makes it easier to watch your kids grow up, right? 

Fixing Things

Madeline, while trying to change the batteries in a toy, "Peyton says I'm good at fixing things." I agreed, told her I thought Peyton was right. "That's what I do during recess sometimes." I was curious now - oh? What do you fix at recess? "Well, not things. I fix people's feelings, sometimes." 

Pinecrest by Madeline

We got there on Sunday afternoon. We checked in at 3 and then we went to my cabin first to set me up. I had to be in the last room because the first room was full. But I was happy because on the last campers ended up to be my best buddy. Her name is Sophie.

Now I will talk about the schedule. We got ready for the day and then we to breakfast. The food was awesome. We ate and then went back to our cabins. We hung out there and then went to huddles in the Stump. We did 2 energizers every morning. Then Anne Marie had a bible school lesson. Then, we did a craft to go along with the Bible lesson. Then we had morning activities.

Every day when morning activities were over we went to lunch. After lunch every day we had flat time and after flat time, we went to the pool. Thn we had canteen. Then we went back to our cabins to change into dry clothes. Then we had dinner and night games. That’s the day at Pinecrest!

Pinecrest Camp by Meredith

Meredith Lareau tuning in to tell you all about a sleepaway camp that my sister and I go to. we went to this camp last year, and it was fun so we decided to go again!

DAY 1
The camp starts like this...when you get there you sign in and go to your cabin. Then your parents help get you settled. when the parents leave we go to the overlook and eat dinner. we had roasted hot dogs,chips,beans,coleslaw,cookies and , oranges.YUM! after dinner we went to the barn to play games including ships and sailors and Pinecrest olympics.then we came bck to the main part of Pinecrest and we had a snack.(pinecrest calls it canteen).after canteen we played PPMD. PPMD is basicly a big game of hide n seek. After that we said a prayer and then we went to our cabins to go to bed.
That is how the first day of Pinecrest goes!!!!!!!

DAY 2
Monday at Pinecrest was an interesting day! Dad had to come to Pinecest because  Madeline  hurt her wrist the day before.Well actually she sprained her wrist at soccer camp the week before.But that is another story...Anyway, she hurt her wrist even more the last night. So, dad had to take her to an urgent care in Collerille.After this fiasco we had afternoon activities.I chose kickball. It was super fun!!!!! After that we had Flat time. Flat time is basicly rest time. All you do is sleep or be quiet. I know it is terrible. After flat time we changed for swwwimming. Unfortuanatly when we got to the pool it started raining. Plan B was to go to the lodge. We played games like identity crisis and Mophia.it was super fun!! After Games in the lodge we ate dinner. YUM! After dinner the rain was gone so we went swimming!We had to take our swim test first though. I got a green band which means I passed. Madeline almost got at green band but, her wrist started hurting when she was treding water so she got a yellow which is halfway.So she did pretty well for a sprained wrist!After swimming time we went back to our cabin to change back into dry clothes. when we came back we went to go play night games. night games are really fun because they are in the dark! We played barnyard. Barnyard is a game were you find various objects hidden throughout the woods.When you find something you yell your team animal sound and the counselor on your team had to come pick it up! It is a super fun game!! Then we went back to cabins to take showers and go to bed!
that is how the second day of Pinecrest goes!!!!!!!

DAY 3
Tuesday was a super fun day! On Tuesday I got to go tree climbing and it was tanktop Tuesday!In tree climbing I beat all The boys!!!It was super fun!After tree clumbing we had lunch. You do not know how appealing food is after hard work!After thi we had flat time. Again. We woke up from flat time and it was raining hard..,.Again!We had to stay in our cain untill the rain eased up. after the rain eased up we went to the lodge to play games again.after games we had canteen.YUM! Then we went to our cabis to get changed for swimming. The water was super cold so, I did not swim I just played gaga. GaGa is a made up Pinecrest game.Then we went to our cabins to change back into dry clothes. Then we went to dinner. After dinne we went out to the althletic field to play barbarians. that game is really fun!!!!After barbarians we had smores and a campfire.Then we went back to our cabins to go to bed.
That is how the third day at Pinecrest goes!!!!!!!

DAY 4
I woke up this and threw my clothes on. We immediately went to breakfast. After breakfast, we went to huddles. We learned to remember to pray for others. We went back to our cabins to change for swimming. The swimming pool is super cold at Pinecrest. After swimming we went back to our cabins to get out of the wet bathing suits and change into - dah dah dah - our MUD PIT clothes! Then we ate lunch and went straight to the mud pit for two hours. The mud pit is so awesome (fun fact about mud pit: if you don't want to get in, too bad, somebody is going to push you in!). After mud pit we went to our cabins to shower. Showers take a long time on mud pit day. After flat time we had dinner. Because we had mud pit, the schedule was a little crazy. After dinner, we did activities. I played soccer and it was super fun. Me and Abram killed it. We walked back from soccer to go change for movie night. I wore my LOVE sweatshirt and shorts. The movie choices were Princess Diaries or Prince Caspian. Of course I chose Prince Caspian. I loved it. Except for the part where the creepy bald cat grandma thing comes out. That was weird. Otherwise, the movie was great and I had an awesome time. During the movie there was a crazy lightening storm, so it made the movie all the more scary. Score! Also, during the movie we got to have canteen. I had a Hershey's bar and Powerade. YUM!

DAY 5
I had to wake up early this morning. Horseback riders had to eat breakfast early because we had to leave early. At the stables, we got to groom the horse and ride it. Also, we walked it and played a game with it. We were out there for three whole hours. When we got back we went straight to lunch. During lunch I got awesome mail from mom and dad. Tonight is the Oscar's - this is Pinecrests way of congratulating campers for getting through the week. I am psyched.

After flat time we went to afternoon activities - the choices were football, frisbee golf, or arts and crafts. I wanted to do arts and crafts, but Mallory sent me to frisbee golf because arts and crafts had too many people. Turns out I'm pretty good at frisbee golf. After afternoon activities, we ate dinner. Then we had skit practice for two hours. Our cabin did a hair salon skit and we plucked Aiden's eyebrows. It was hilarious. For my award, I got Most Likely to be Internet Famous because of my journal and the blog. Then we had a dance party - the best songs were Trouble by Taylor Swift, Moves Like Jagger. After that we had Canteen and then Pinecrest camp was over.

Madeline 's Arm

I went to Rhodes College Summer Soccer Camp today. It was very fun because I saw somebody that I played against in a soccer game! The cochs were very nice. It was so hot two of the kids almost passed out. We had to drink a lot of water! 

It all started when we were playing Sharks and Minnows...I got tagged in this version of the game. But insted of just tapping me they pushed me to the grond and this is the bad part. When they pushed me down I sprained my wrist!!! After that, I went to the sport doctor and she gave me a bandage. 

I didn't play agen until lunch was over but even then I didn't play that much. But it was still fun!

As written by Madeline Lareau
Typed by Mama

Best Buddies

This is not a phrase I use, this "best buddies." Nor is it one I've really heard the girls use much. Which is part of why it was especially heart breaking when Madeline cried this week--in that tragic and whole-hearted way she has--that going to school without her best buddy Meredith next year was going to be the worst of all fates. She cried and she cried and Meredith and I both comforted her with all the rational and true things. None of those compensated, though, for what she felt she was losing: walking in to school everyday with her best buddy and knowing that her best buddy was there. 

In the end, Mer spontaneously got a ruler off the desk and measured the distance between their beds. One foot and one half, she said, that's how close we'll be to each other every single night, no matter which school we go to. It didn't exactly comfort Madz (let's be honest, nothing does in those moments) but it did distract her a bit. And then Mer picked up the little sister who is about 5 minutes away from outgrowing her and she rocked her. I love these moments when it suddenly becomes clear that they don't need me. It's enough to see them be just what one another needs. 

Christmas in Arkansas

Christmas at Home

Gymnasts

When Cleaning Closets