Backyard camping

I haven't written in a couple weeks and I have no real excuse.  Life happens. 

We had a campout in our backyard a few weeks ago.  Miranda and her boys came over to camp.

 We pitched a tent, dug a fire pit, hunted for kindling (in the alley) and bought firewood at QT.  A lot like real camping, right?  Our campfire was really fun. 

My brother and his family came over for that part of the night.  We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Of course, we made s'mores.  I even had some peanut butter cups to use instead of plain chocoloate.  It was campfire deliciousness!  Miranda made some homemade chai tea for us and then we put the kids to bed. At least we tried. Miranda's boys were having a hard time sleeping.  Renner slept inside with Corey because he wasn't feeling too well. 

Once we got the kids settled, Miranda and I sat by the fire and talked until it was completely out.  Then we bunkered down on the ground in the tent and tried to sleep.  It was a little chilly, not too bad.  The best part happened about six AM. Are you ready for it?

It rained.

Did I put the rain flap on?

NO.

 Why, you ask?

 Because we live in the desert and it doesn't rain, ever.

Unless you decide to sleep in your backyard.

It was pretty funny.  It started raining harder and Sayer bolted up out of his sleeping bag and said, "What is that noise?"  That is how often my son has heard rain. He had to ask what it was. We were all sitting there laughing and listening to the rain and Sayer says, "Why are we still sitting in here?"  Good question little man!  Off to the house we went to eat our breakfast and start our day!  What a fun (and exhausting) night!  Thanks, Miranda and Corey, for not thinking I was crazy for suggesting a backyard campout!  Let's do it again when it warms up!

Last night my sister, Serena, was over and decided to go grocery shopping with me.  It is always an adventure with my coupons and takes a couple hours.  At Basha's, stop two of three, we found some Halloween masks on clearance.  After trying them on and taking pictures of each other, we decided to buy them to scare my kids.  Nice, I know.  They were a dollar each and a little frightening.

We stopped by home on the way to the last stop and scared my kids.  Sayer was already asleep so he missed out on all the fun.  Cora was a little scared but not too bad.  Renner, on the other hand, was terrified!  We were sneaking down the hall with our mask on and Renner came out of my room, saw us, screamed, shuffled backwards and then ran as fast as he could back to the bed with Daddy.  We laughed SO hard! 

After that we got a brilliant idea to go scare Halley when she got off work.  We snuck through the back gate at my parents and climbed up on the roof to get to Halley's window.  We stuck our masked faces in her window until she noticed us, screamed and ran for Mom!  We were dying!  Then Hannah came up the stairs and they were arguing over who it was.  Halley was certain it was one of Hannah's friends.  After going throught the possibilities with Hannah saying no to them all, Halley screamed, "Who is it then? You don't have any other friends!"  More laughter from us!

We made it safely off the roof to continue the fright fest.  We stopped by the basement window and added a little fun to Sterling's T.V. watching.  Then we went upstairs and peeked at Dad in the bathroom.  Mom was trying to sleep through all of this (with her lights on).  We snuck in and she looked at us, screamed and ducked under the covers yelling for my dad!  Ha ha ha!  We headed back downstairs to give Sterling a little more monster madness.  And when they thought we were gone, we headed back up on the roof to Halley's open window again!  It was so much fun! 

Who knew two, $1 masks could provide so much entertainment?  I kinda like my own Halloween in November.  It is cheaper, and no one else expects it :D

That's it for today.  I will let you all know how Thanksgiving goes.  I am also taking the two older kids to try out rock climbing on Friday.  I will definitely post about that.

Have a good Thanksgiving!