Camping In

One of the things on our “Summer Bucket List” was a living room camp-out, which Jonah quickly pointed out was actually a camp-IN. While we are currently in the middle of packing to move into our new house, we are also trying to keep our priorities in order and make room for family time too. It is really challenging to fit in time for everything that is going on right now, much less find fun time as well. But we were edging close to a burn-out and the minions needed some downtime with mommy and daddy.

So, we pushed the boxes into the corners and threw some blankets and pillows into the living room for one last, great memory in this house.

It was simple, but it was a blast! We tucked Laelynn into bed, (sorry baby girl, we will do it again when you are bigger), and started the camp-in with story time. First, Daddy read in Haven’s princess book, then Jonah read us the second half of his new Thomas and the Dinosaur book. After that, we turned on the movie while we munched on chips, dip, carrots, almonds, and our juice boxes.

Half way through the movie, we paused it long enough to go into the kitchen to make a campout staple…smores! Thanks to our gas stove, we toasted the marshmallows over the flame before squishing them between graham crackers with chocolate. Jonah and Haven really enjoyed toasting the marshmallows and Jonah became the official ‘blower-outer’ when they would catch fire. Mmm…so good!

After the smores, we finished the movie and then tucked ourselves into our couches and mats to sleep.

We were up incredibly late and we ate too much and it was completely worth it. It was really great to spend some uninterrupted time with the minions and just laugh together. Life gets so crazy and hairy and we fill every second of every day with things to be done; sometimes, it’s healthy to just stop and breathe.

Going forward, the lesson I leaned is that I need to make time to play with the kids. Sounds simple, but not always easy to remember. When we make time to spend on them, they learn that they are special and worthy of love and attention.

We will definitely be looking forward to another camp-in soon…in our new home.