Two weeks ago today, I waved goodbye to my hubs and two oldest sons (and two nephews who rode with) as they drove away for a campout with the Community of St. John. With a few tears in my eyes. When you are married and completely one in your marriage, a parting such as this is hard. But so worth it, because of the amazing opportunity that comes with it.
So what is Boys Camp and what do they do?
**CAMP**
**LEARNING TIME**
(Look at that cutie in the top left!! Can I admit how my heart skipped a beat EVERY time I saw him in the video - see below....)
**GAMES/SWIMMING/ACTIVITIES**
**FIELD TRIP**
**SKITS**
**WORK**
(father of 8 - soon to be 9 - has the gift of delegation down perfectly. Don't you love his pointed finger in giving direction?!)
**PRAYER/ADORATION/MASS**
Here's this year's video of pictures from the camp....
(which some of the pictures from above were taken from it, so I apologize for any blurriness)
++Thank you, God, for the Community of St. John for leading this wonderful camp every summer for our boys and giving the boys such a beautiful experience on what living their Catholic faith is like. Thank you for your Body of Christ, living and present and shining so brightly on retreats like this!!++
This goofey kid would live outside if we let him. He would run around all day barefoot too. He's our kid who will find sticks to play with every time he gets a chance to go outside, along with some sort of living creature. Just this last weekend, he found "Chirpie". Personally, I don't run around finding frogs and making them my "pets", so I was kinda shocked that they do make this sweet chirping sound. From a distance, the frog/toad sound seems more like a croaking, but this guy was a chirper. Maybe it was because we were up close?
++Thank you, Lord, for your presence in all of creation and the love Max has for the great outdoors.++
We went to our local zoo for the first time this summer at the end of last week. (checking off items from our summer bucket list, remember?) It was so much fun, and this momma heart bubbles over with joy seeing her kids delight in great experiences like this. Rose was especially adorable and has asked at least three-hundred-twenty-seven more times to go back. She canNOT wait! And, to be honest, I can't either. The work to get there and keeping track of 8 little bodies is so worth it!! And, I am so proud of them too, to see how sweet and helpful and well-behaved they are when out and about.
++Thank you, God!!!++
Here are some pictures of our wonderful day with the ducks, turtles, snakes, lizards, giraffes, wolves, zebras. leopards, camels, and more....
**The GANG**
**SPLISH SPLASH**
(Rose is so stinkin' cute when she jumps in puddles, I just love it!)
**The Lorakeets**
(Mario and Melody are SO brave!!)
**Yoda's first trip to the zoo**
(I think he liked it!!)
**"Hanitizer"**
(for after the petting zoo, of course!)
Is is strange that I take more pictures of my kids than the animals?? Hmmmm.....
Creativityis not a word that I honestly can use to describe myself, although I like to gleam from others' creativity. I know where to find really great ideas and have the drive and will to put them into practice. I love doing "creative" things! But the actual ideas?? No. Nada. Very rarely found in me.
But I have 8 kids who are very gifted in creativity. I wish I could answer all the "how's" and "whys" on how this has happened. Mostly by the grace of God and Him working and living and breathing in their beautiful, innocent, open souls.
I do, however, have 7 tips on some things we have done over the years that may have added to building up these creative young ones in our house....
#1
Play/Free Time
I am putting this as número uno, because kids need the time and opportunity to let those creative juices to flow. I truly believe that without this time, a kid cannot blossom into the creative person God has called them to be. My kids love to play especially love to dress up, play "house", pretend play, playing outside, riding bikes, splashing and getting wet (and sometimes dirty!), and so much more.
#2
Singing
Again, I have to first share that I am NOT a singer and have no singing ability. However, I do love to sing. Anyone else the same way? We sing many of our prayers - part of our morning offering, we love to sing the Hail Mary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, and countless hymns and Christian songs.
Each kid has a name song that we made up for them when they were just babies. It spells out the letters of their name and is sung to a catchy tune. It helps them know how to spell their name even before they know what letters are. We use nicknames here on the blog, otherwise, I would share one of the kid's songs.
Who doesn't like a party in kitchen singing and dancing around to your favorite songs? They happen quite regularly around here. I'm known to grab a kid as they walk by me in the kitchen and dance with them, while singing "Once Upon A Dream". My girls also sing in our church choir. Many mornings, I wake the kids up with a "Good Morning" song. And, pretty much anytime, there is someone either humming, singing a tune, or some sort of music is playing in the background.
#3
Building
This one doesn't need much explanation. And, like most kids, ours love to build with Lego's - on a daily basis!!
Although this one also goes along with #6, here is an example of how the bigger boys build their lego's and what they do with them afterward....
#4
Playing an instrument
Neither Neil or myself played an instrument growing up, but when we had kids, something in us longed to allow our kids this opportunity. So, around Kindgarten/First Grade, our kids started in piano lessons. Our big kids take weekly piano lessons and participate in a Gold Cup Festival every year along with yearly recitals, not to mention the daily practice and just playing for fun and love of the instrument. Mario, after receiving his first Gold Cup in piano, wanted to try a new instrument. So he is going on about 2 years of playing the guitar now. The babies and preschoolers get free reign of the piano as well, as long as they "use their fingers" (no toys, mainly!), plus we have a big basket full of instruments in our kitchen that get played with regularly as well.
#5
Video making/acting
This area of creativity is a relatively new area for our family, not really thinking our kids were interested or had any natural talent (I feel terrible putting this off for such a long time, knowing now how good they are actually are). Mario and Fone took part in an acting camp last spring at a local junior theater and absolutely loved it. Then, in the summer, Fone took one of the lead roles in the VBS plays at our church. In wanting to continue with this gift and build on it, I signed up Mario and Fone in a video making class last summer. WOW!!!! My boys are just shining and truly loving this new hobby. We let them start a YouTube channel called Funny Boys Productions to share and keep all their videos and just last night, they won an award (and cash prize!!) for a short film contest that the local libraries were hosting. We couldn't be more proud of them!!! And, for this semester, not only Mario and Fone, but also Melody are all taking acting classes at our local junior theater.
#6
Arts/crafts
Again, I have very little talent with arts/crafts, so when our children show talent and a love for the arts, it just blows me away because I know it comes from Someone Else. ++thank you, God!++ Arts/crafts around here mostly consist of chalk drawings, pencil and paper drawings, watercolors, painting, and the occasional-super-duper-rare pinterest material project. Mostly, any room you enter at our house has some art project or drawing made with love by one of our young ones hanging on our walls, cupboards, fridge, or door. My sweet kids are my interior decorators and provide all the decorations we need for simple, yet beautiful living. ;)
#7
Homeschooling/Reading
I truly believe that homeschooling has helped preserve the God-given gifts of creativity given to my children because they are not afraid to be themselves. They are surrounded all day long by people that love them for who they are, and they can blossom in that environment without being teased or judged. I know homeschooling is not for everyone and does not work for every family, but it has done so much good to our family and I am forever grateful. ++thank you, God!!++ A huge part of our homeschooling is reading - the kids read on their own, to each other and before bed, I take time to read longer books to the older kids. We treasure our reading time!!
Since today is a Friday and I shared @7 things", I can't help but link up to 7 Quick Takes. Visit the icon below to see more great Quick Takes links....
