on having small children...

i love being a mom. LOVE it. i love the chaos and seeing life through the eyes of a child.
BUT...i also love being a wife and a friend and a daughter and a sister and on and on.
sometimes when you have small children, those other things seem to get pushed to the back burner.
as my children are getting older, it is much easier to wear those other hats. but there have been several years in my recent past where i felt like i was just MOM.

as i think about having 3 young kids, i think the hardest part is that you don't want to burden anyone by asking them to take care of them. and you can't really afford a sitter for a weekend so you can have some time with your husband, or your friends or whatever.

all my siblings and paul's siblings are in this same stage of life right now. so i decided this summer i wanted to give them the opportunity to GO do something without the responsibility of kids for 48 hours. i didn't want them to have to ask anyone to watch their kids. i didn't want them to feel any guilt. just a relaxing 48 hours.

so i came up with a plan. and i call it CAMP CASSIE. and it starts today. :)
i have planned a full schedule of events for all my iowa nieces and nephews. (so sad bode and boone can't be here!) they start arriving this afternoon. macy, hadley and drew are coming with my recruited camp "counselor", donna (paul's mom)! and sean is bringing tate. i have the schedule up on the chalkboard and i'm heading out for groceries right now. jennie is going to kansas city and lisa, tony, erin and luke are going to okoboji.

and WE will be here swimming, hiking, playing and eating. (and after the kids are in bed at night we will also be drinking wine.! ha!)
i'm SO excited. i can't wait to have this time with all the kids, but i'm also just really excited that my siblings get a weekend. it's like when you know you got the perfect gift for someone for their birthday. you just can't wait for them to open it! that's how i feel today. excited!!

so you probably won't hear much from me this weekend. and if you see a caravan of cars heading to wild cat den, that would be us. say a prayer for us! :)
happy weekend!