Vera's Nursery

So our little Vera will be 8 months on Tuesday and I finally finished her nursery. This is the only nursery I have been able to all out decorate because you can't paint in apartments. So this is still the same bedding and mobile the older girls used and we went off of that theme. Ben did the painting. Nice work honey!I think you can tell from this first photo that Vera really likes her new room! A special thanks to Auntie Cyddie for her favorite blanket, which matches the room very nicely. And to Ashley B. for the bear Vera loves to grab at night. I hemmed some cream curtains for the window and found a cream rug to match the bedding. Then I painted the three paintings to match the bedding and used white to tie in the baseboard trims.

I finally framed some cute artwork of animals I found at Ikea. Then I set up Vera's dresser with blankets and burpies and a basket of books for bedtime. With Muffy Vanderbear living on the top shelves, as well as Gunny Bunny (a bunny Gunnar bought me that looks like him, glasses and all). And I keep the quilt on the rocker for my back and because it looks nice. The wall above will have the girls baby annoucements framed when Grandma is finished cross-stiching them. Love you Gram.

Camping trip #3

So this third camping trip we won at Ginny's preschool aution. We were going to go with another family who would bring all the food and cook it for us. Turns out that family had a serious emergency and couldnt come with us. We hope they are doing well and our prayers are with them. So instead of that senario we were able to invite Meaghan's family, Ben's sister, to join us and bring our own food. We camped at Gold Basin near Granite Falls, Washington.

We went on a hike at the Ice Caves. It was beautiful and an easy hike for our girls. It was a little scary for me considering and 11 year old girl passed away there the week prior due to ice collapsing. Our hearts are with that family aswell. We didn't venture close to the ice.

Where we stopped for lunch Anika found a napping rock. We thought that was pretty cool.Bridget also napped in the pack on the way back to the car.
Due to rain for most of the second half of the trip we spent some wild time in the tent.

And under blue tarps Garrick lashed to the trees.We had lots of fun catching up with eachother and riding bikes and enjoying good food, thanks to Garrick's awesomely constructed box oven. I plan to make one soon. Hooray for camping! Next summer we won't do it on consecutive weeks.

Camping Trip #2

On July 22-24th we went camping with my Mom and Gunnar and Lily, while Gavin was spending time with my Dad. Sadly Grant and Elaine couldnt make it. We had lots of fun below are some highlights.

Ben was the master chef this trip and the Evil Gunnar kept him as a pet as you can see. Grandma helped Ginny work on a puzzle book given to us by the campground host. Ever heard of Harold the Hodag? He was featured on this puzzle book. If you know who & what Harold is I will send you 4 homemade cards if you are the first to comment the correct answer on this post.Ben told Lilly a pretty scary story at campfire. Yes our fire was pretty much out.Ben took us all on a hike. Violet enjoyed the pack this time.Ginny found some pretty flowers.After some car sickness, from the car ride to the trail head, Lily and I joined in the hiking. We saw a really cool bird while getting over the nausea; he got so close he even stole a tissue from Lily.After the hike a cool dip in the river made it a great day. Warmer and slower than the last river we had a great time. Can you see Gunnar in this picture?
Stay tuned for our last camping trip this summer.