Backyard Bonfire

We celebrated the end of the first week of school with a backyard bonfire and a basement camp out. I hoped to take the kids to Skyline Drive to camp, but it was too wet, so we did the next best thing, we camped at home. We set up our backyard firepit and cooked hobo packs on it (foil packets of beef, onion, carrot, and potato). The kids enjoyed assembling their packets and putting them on the fire. They enjoyed eating them too, although Mark and I think they were a bit overcooked. Our fire was just too hot. While the kids were eating, Peyton remarked that she was enjoying her pork. We got into a discussion about how pork comes from pigs and that we were eating beef, which comes from cows. So then they both started talking about eating cow and at one point Liam asked me to please cut his cow! It was so funny. I was glad that talking about where their meat came from didn't freak them out either.

We also ate s'mores, lots and lots of them and Peyton and Mark even substituted homemade pound cake for their graham crackers. Mark said it was an awesome way to eat a s'more! We stayed up late on Friday night just spending time as a family and then we all slept in the basement, the kids in their sleeping bags and Mark and I on the futon. I was hoping the kids would sleep in on Saturday morning, but they were both up before 7:30. We spent a lot of time on Saturday just hanging out as a family. We went to the downtown farmer's market and then to the library where Peyton got her own card. She was very excited to be able to check books out on her own card. I'm glad that simple things still give our kids so much joy.

I am praying for good mornings this week. Peyton loves school, but she HATES getting up in the morning and has cried a lot about wanting to stay home. Hopefully as we get into a routine it will get easier. When I woke her up on Friday she said, "It's Labor Day. I don't have to go to school!" She is just not a morning person and she loves to sleep. Even getting her into bed by 7:45pm hasn't helped. She has been sitting in bed reading until almost 9. Hopefully sleeping in on the weekends will help make up for the 5 days of the week she has to get up early!