Our last camping trip....

We went camping last weekend for Labor Day and it was officially our last camping trip in a tent. We have been camping for the last couple of years with two good family friends, The Burress and Hargrave family. We all started out in tents, but times are a changing, we are offically the last in our group that are still tent camping. I have never slept in a camper until this past weekend after a 20 minute storm completly flooded the ground and bottom of our tent.

Thankfully Alicia and Rusty let us crash in their camper. We had the girls in bed with us, while Jackson and Dalton shared a bed. All it took was one night, Aaron and I said we will not be camping again until we have a camper.

After the rainfall and tent drama the weekend went on as usual.The kids played in the back of the Rusty's truck bed with a rope for hours. I think Dalton stayed their all weekend. Emma was given her own soda, which is a treat. She only gets sips of soda here and there, but since we were camping we gave her a half a can of soda.

We decided to go to the look out tower and to check out the water. The big kids were able to ride their bikes from our camp sight. The rest of us piled in the car and met them over by the lake.

Halle,Jackson, Rylee,and Jadyn

 Kinley was not impressed with the watch tower. She would rather sleep in her daddy's arms.

 Emma walked around and picked flowers.

 Poor Dalton was not as lucky and got stung  by a bee. I just got a new lens so you will have to forgive my pictures. Hopefully, I will figure out how to work my camera better over the next year.

Dalton is a sweaty mess.

 We ended up going for a drive and getting some ice cream at the emporium in town. Emma did not even make it out of the park before she was out like a light. She ended up sleeping through all of the ice cream fun.

The on our way back Aaron wanted to look for future fishing spots. While we were driving around we were able to get out of the car and walk around. The boys were deep in conversation while watching all of the boats.

A Closet Blogger

When I first started trying to blog in 2008 it was so family that lived out of town could keep up with what was going on in our family. It was a great thought in theory and I am sure there are so many bloggers that this worked for, but I would so often forget to do it or put it off for another day. Recently, two of my closest friends began blogging to chronicle the day to day happenings of their home and I began to think about attempting to blog again. Not getting bogged down with the pressure of making the perfect post, but instead trying to capture moments. I  don't want to miss moments of my kids life because it passes all too quickly. So, I am determined to blog not for friends or family, but to blog and capture my family. So that I can look back, remember, feel and soak in what it was like to live in that particular moment again. So for now I am a closet blogger whoever stumbles upon it I hope you enjoy getting to know our crazy.

So what has happened since 2009...

The biggest change is that we finally evened out the odds in the Collins' home. We added two beautiful girls to our family. Emma Kate who is now 2 and Kinley Rae who is 4 months. We are now a family of 6.

Emma Kate

Sweet Kinley Rae

 They both have been a huge blessing to our family. It seems crazy that we started out as a boy home and now we have both.  We went from the land of mud, guns and always moving to purses, babies and shoes.

Jackson is now 9 and Dalton is 4 both boys have been great big brothers.

Jackson

Dalton

Along with adding two beautiful girls to our family I took on graduate school. I don't know if I was crazy at the time I enrolled in a masters program, but two kids and two years later I have my Masters in Educational Administration. I said that I would NEVER go back to school, but I actually heard myself say the other day that once the kids are bigger I may attempt getting my PhD. I think I may have been inhaling too many cleaning products.