No need for thanks!

Part One: Here in the Walker home we find ourselves slightly tight on living space.  Bedrooms are fully occupied to the max!  Jonah is the only child with his own room.  The three girls share a lovely abode together.  Usually this isn't a problem, but occasionally we have fighting that occurs as a result of different cleanliness opinions.  Savannah accuses Madeline of having OCD(Obsessive Control Disorder) and Madeline accuse Savannah of having OPD(Obsessive Piggy Disorder).  So this next event stemmed from a stream of arguments resulting in the declarations " I want my own room"....

Part Two:  As I walk past Jonah's room I glanced at a cluttered and messy habitat.  I ask Jonah to clean it up.  Jonah responds with "Sure, I'll get to it".  Day two- David asks Jonah to clean it up.  Jonah responds with "Sure".  Day three- I start to feel bad that three girls are stuck in one room and the child who has his own room can't keep it clean.  These pictures are blurry(camera issues) but I think you get the idea of the room's condition.

Do you see the banana peel??? REALLY??? 
So not wanting to be THAT parent , you know the one who nags and nags, I came up with another solution.  This is what Jonah came home to find on his door.

Let's just say that when Jonah read this he was NOT happy.  His response " 3 days is not enough time"...I told him that I hoped he could make the deadline.  I was pulling for him!

The result:

Nicely folded clothing...I have to give Jonah A LOT of credit on this one.  All my children have to fold their own laundry.  He is the BEST laundry folder out of all of them.  He really does a nice job with this task.

A clean Room!  These pictures are slightly dark but I think you get the idea.

To sum this up I dedicate this last part to my future daughter-in -law.  There is NO need to thank me for all the years of training that went into this awesome young man!  He was worth and I know you will SO appreciate his domestic skills as he applies them in your home.  You can thank me by having adorable cute grand kids!!!

 

First...Second...and Traditional

We experienced our First time geocaching!  Thanks Ron and Elaine for turning us on to such fun.  I would have never imagined that going through grave yards could be so awesome.  This fun event is like a scavenger hunt electronically.  We followed directions to where a little something was left for us to either  leave an additional something or just sign our name.  Good stuff...Jonah even got to hop a barbed wire fence, with no injuries.

This was our Second attempt at a corn maze.  This maze had the shape of the United States.  We had two sections, the first was the outline of the U.S.  The second was the inner workings of the U.S.  Very Cool!  Unlike a couple of years ago we managed to swiftly make our way through the maze, not as quickly as the boys or our friends...but what's that matter (hee hee).  This picture shows Savannah's enthusiasm because we made it out without getting lost!

Our attempt at being angels...I know we need A LOT of help!

Maddy striking a pose...she was the reason we didn't get lost.  That girl was amazing with a map!

Traditional...The camp ground we stayed at offered trick our treating from campsite to campsite.  This would have been cool if I were not so lame.  We quickly realized that our little scarecrow decoration was NOTHING compared to the other campers.  Other campers had a whole haunted trail with the BESTEST decorations.  Oh well...we still had candy, that's what's important right? 

Abby is a scary witch!

Jonah is a rocker!

 Maddy stuck with her 80's girl theme!

Savannah is an Identity crisis!

When I grow up I want to be like Abigail!

Once a year in Activity Days, 8-11 year old church group activity, the girls get to perform a talent.  This year I asked Abigail what she wanted to do and her response was "I have this under control mom!".  So I sat back and waited until the BIG EVENT.  Sure enough when it was her turn to perform Abigail went to the front and performed like a star.  Abigail sang a Taylor Swift song with no music or fear.  I have decided that I want to have that much courage when I grow up.  Her confidence stole my heart!

HOMECOMING

Madeline's first homecoming!  She went with a great group of girls.  Here's to Maddy living it up!

REALLY???

This year is a HUGE adjustment for us.  Our Madeline started High School.  And yes, I am one of those moms you hate.  I really struggle with my children growing up...I am whine about it all the time.  I LOVE having a house full of children and chaos.  I don't want those days to come to a close any time soon.  When I think of Maddy this is what I think of...

Little and having so much fun with her siblings...she still does this but she is all grown up now.  Now she has more fun with her friends.  THIS is what I am not prepared for...

Yep...she is touching a BOY!  Luckily for me this is a camp counselor she had EFY camp (Especially for youth).  She is enjoying growing up and I am loving being a part of this great young woman that she has become.  She is such a tender spirit.  She is like most teenagers and gets a little sassy now and then, I know right!!!  But the great thing for me is by the end of the day if she has been sassy she will usually come to me and say something like " Hey mom...I am sorry I was rude".  She will never know how much that touches my heart.  I know she is being a teenager and I let it slide...but is such a great kid that SHE doesn't let it slide.  LOVE her!

YOU ARE HERE!!!

Every year we enter the summer reading program at our local library.  If the children do a designated amount of reading they get to enter their names in a drawing for a prize.  A few years ago Madeline won this awesome bag with a lot of fun goodies when her name was picked.  Knowing this you can imagine Savannah's complete excitement when we received a call this summer that she won a prize.  She was so eager to run to the library and see what she won.  When we got there and they handed Savannah her prize I almost died laughing.  This is what she won.

You can tell by the look on her face that her excitement was ALL gone!  This is a reusable bag...and nothing was in it!  Just the bag is what she won.  I barely made it out of the library I was laughing so hard.  Savannah was quoted as saying "I've never won anything in my whole life...and THIS is what I win".  Good stuff!

We had a lot of family fun with this event.  My aunt suggested that wherever Savannah goes this summer she should take her bag so she knows were she is.  We LOVED that idea...so we did it!

Here she is up in Lewiston camping with some friends!

And here she is at Michigan's Adventure!

Camping in Pentwater with some friends!!! And somewhere we have a picture of her at the Detroit zoo and Girl's camp...they have seemed to disappeared.  All  in all we have had GREAT fun with this bag!  Thanks library for helping us to appreciate always knowing where we are!

Rain Rain-Thanks for the Day!

We wait all year for our Michigan's Adventure weekend.  This year we were SO worried that the 90 degree weather we have been having, we were worried that it would KILL us.  We made sure we dressed super light and thought about everything we needed to do to stay Cool.  What we didn't prepare for was the rain.  We were actually cold for a bit because it rained so much.  We pressed on though...we rode until they shut down the rides for a brief period of time.  You can see the kids playing in the rain waiting for the rides to start up again.  I was so bummed because I seemed to be the unlucky one.  I was all buckled in to do the bumper cars and they shut it down due to lighting.  Then later I wanted to do the Beebop cars and got to the front of the line only for them to inform me that they were temporarily shut down...Seriously???

All that seems not good but it worked to our advantage.  The rain kept everyone else away.  Once it cleared up everything was up and running, and so were we!  There were very few lines.  The kids would get on the ride-back off-and right back on again.  It was AWESOME.  It even warmed up enough to enjoy the water park fully.  It was a BLAST!  I love this weekend.  I love hanging with our friends and talking by the campfire all night.  Good times for sure!