The Choreboard

"I think having us do chores is child abuse."

"I think it builds character."


My girls would snicker when they heard about their Oleander cousins having to do chores. Pick up their toys? Nope, not them! Brush their hair? Abby wouldn't have won the "Messiest Hair" award at camp if she did that! Take a bath? Nahhhhh.

But the threat was always there. Lolita had been offering to get me a choreboard ever since Abby came to live with us last year. There was just never a good time. When she came to us, there was adjusting to be done. Then the holidays came. Then winter camp. Then the Bahamas. When we got home from vacation, it was barely 2 weeks before we found Birdy. Then her adoption. Then summer camp. There is a lot of stuff that happens when you have a family!

Now that camp is over, we have no plan on getting any new kids any time soon, and we can settle down... Well, guess what my sis sent me to get?

DUN DUN DUNNNNN.... THE CHOREBOARD!




So now they have to pick up their toys, make their beds, brush their hair and teeth, and take a bath every week. I don't think asking them to take a bath once a week is too much, do you? *laughs*

I can't wait to see how they try to get out of this. Because, c'mon. They're my girls. Of course they're gonna try!!

Back to almost normal!

No pretty, edited pics today! Woo! I'm so lazy. LOL

Anyway... MY BABIES ARE HOME!!!




The girls got home late Sunday night and I was sooooo glad to see them. They had lots to tell me, all the little things that never make it to plurk, but they were also both super exhausted and needed to go to bed since it was late. I was just relieved to have them home! While they slept, I kept working on the up-upstairs of our house and added a craft area to the family room.




You know, as much as I am hating gacha these days, The Arcade will always be a fave because seriously, I have done SO much decorating using Arcade items in the past week. That's where you can get all the little knick knacks and decor items that really make a home.

Last night, both the girls were still tired so I went to hang out with my sister and the rest of the family. They had camp souvenirs to give me, including music/dance things to put on!




Then it was an all out fight for my sis to try to catch her dirty little kids so she could get them in the tub! Oh my gosh, Payton is FAST even with all the mud caked on her! *laughs* At one point, she snatched Riley from Lolita's head [because where else do you do the running man but on top of your mom's head?] and just ran! Eventually, Lolita got Riley and Raven to take their baths, but Payton managed to skip out on one again because her internet died. I have a feeling Lolita and Takeo are going to have to work together on this one!

Takeo was working last night on a camp video! Even though I didn't make it to camp, I made it in the video, so that's pretty cool. :) It's long, but if you're interested in camp stuff, you can see it. If you've never been to camp, take a look. You might want to sign up for the next one!

Almost Home

It's the last day of camp and my family comes home tonight! I'm resting out on the beach so I won't be tired by the time they make it home!




They really have had a great time and I am so happy for them, but God. I have missed them all so much. I was hoping to walk with them at the RFL thing yesterday, but it was a long RL day and by the time I got settled down, I was exhausted and needed to go to bed. Here is a picture I'm stealing from my sister of the family at the rememberance.





Since I stole one pic, hey, let me steal more for you all to see! *laughs* Here's a picture of all of us [minus Daddy Z, who got lost at Disney or something] at the family dance on Wednesday.




Lolita, Takeo, Abby, and Payton skateboarding across a bridge. Um...is that even safe??




Abby found a zombie in a cabinet. Why my child is wandering around in a tutu carrying a shotgun and a huge knife at camp, I don't even know.




Birdy got captured by pirates and her cabinmates had to come get her out. Although, I think if she tried, she could have just walked out. She's little and those bars are wide!





The girls at Friendship Night.





I'm reallyreallyreally hoping that by next camp, I'll have a computer that works well enough so that I can go, too. It's hard being left behind, y'all! Especially since Aldwyn was out of town and so I only got to talk to him on 2 nights this week. Maybe I need to find myself godparents to bother when everyone else is busy. *laughs* Or maybe not.

More RL stuff to do now and then comes the wait for my family to finally come home!!!

Waiting For The Dance

Tonight is Parents' Night at camp! Woo!! I'm so excited to see my little ones. They have kept me up to date on their camp activities [which have included being stuck outside in the ground at tuck in time and killing zombies], but I miss them so much! Hopefully Aldwyn will be able to come, too. He got himself dressed last night just in case he's able to run in during the dance. I managed to get him to NOT wear his Bob Marley board shorts. We can't embarrass the girls TOO much.

I'm all dressed and ready to go, but while I was deciding what makeup to wear, I decided to just do a pic of myself. I'm actually not naked. My dress is strapless. *laughs*




I'll try to get some pics from tonight's dance, but I can't promise anything. I'm going to have to have my settings wayyyyy down so that I don't crash so any picture I get is probably going to be all sad and ugly anyway.

Time to let the computer rest for a bit and then wait until the dance!

My Little Loves

So after much waiting and hugs and I love yous and kisses, my girls set off for summer camp on Saturday. They are having a great time! I'm stealing Abby's picture from tonight because I forgot to take one of myself tonight. *laughs*





I'm happy that they're having a good time and meeting more friends. It's given me some time to finish decorating the area of our up-upstairs [our house has 3 floors] that I wanted to make into a play area for the girls. I think it's super cute up there now. It gave me an excuse to use some of the Arcade stuff that Aldwyn has fought to get for me, too. :) I've been working on our bedroom, since that has been an empty-ish mess for a while, and tomorrow I'll probably put our bathroom together.

But I will say that I miss the girls a lot. I knew that I would, but I didn't realize just how empty our home is without them. Even if we're not doing anything [and let's face it, we're usually not], there's always the sound of their giggles and a question to be answered or snuggle needed. It was bad enough when Abby went to winter camp, but now that we've got 2 girls running around, it's twice as quiet. I think it's even worse on me this time because Aldwyn has been super busy and has been unable to entertain me. I knew ahead of time that he wouldn't be around a lot during camp week because of RL travels, but ugh! I definitely need to make more friends in SL. Well, friends who understand the family community and who aren't just all about being naked all of the time. I already have seen some of my friends' boobs more than I've seen my own in the past month! *snickers* I know that being naked and "sexy" is a big part of SL, and was even a big part of my SL for a while, but it's not any more and that seems to have cost me some friends. Which is fine because I sure don't want to bring down anyone's good time or anything like that, not at all! But there has GOT to be some people who just want to chat and dance around and be silly with their clothes on, right?

Anyway, enough whining. :)

Two more sleeps and then I get to see the girls at the Parents' Night dance! Woo!

Camp Day!!

Guess what day it is?? It's CAMP DAY!!!! The girls are all packed up and ready to go. They're only going to be gone for a week so I told them to only bring the essentials.

I think they covered it.




I'm really excited for them to go. Not because I want them gone!! But camp gives them time to be kids, meet others, make new friends and memories, and this is their first official "big" thing they will do together as sisters! They're not in the same cabin but that is for the best, I think. They'll get the fun of going together and doing things together, but they will also do things with their cabinmates and not just be clinging to each other the entire time. It's really the best of both worlds. Birdy has her cousins Sophie and Tess in her cabin, and Abby is really excited about her cabinmates! All of the Oleanders will be there, too, so I know they will be well taken care of. They are going to have so so so much fun and I'm so happy for them.

However, I am going to miss my little ones!! I guess Aldwyn and I will take this time to walk around the house half dressed. *snickers* Actually, I have plans on finishing up the up-upstairs family room and play area, and maybe finally finish decorating our bedroom and bathroom.

Time to get ready for them to start calling cabins!

Camp Letters!

The girls finally got their camp acceptance letters! They've been waiting and waiting, but Bluebonnet IS off the beaten path and sometimes our mail is a little bit slow. Abby and Birdy couldn't WAIT to get their letters, but when you're only 6 and 8, sometimes you just really really can't reach the mailbox!






Luckily for them [and for us!], we made it home to help them out before anything got too crazy. :)




I guess it's official - They're really going to camp!

Now comes the hard part. Packing!! If you remember, Abby had a lot of suitcases for winter camp, and we both had a LOT of luggage when we went to the Bahamas, so I can only IMAGINE how much they're going to pack for camp!

I guess we better get started!

I fell heavy into your arms

We're in full camp mode around the Zanzibar household these days. The girls have been busy busy making their bunks and going to cabin meetings and most of the family [minus Aldwyn and myself] are working on their costumes and dances for the talent show.

Unfortunately, RL has kept Aldwyn and me busy so we haven't gotten to spend as much time with the girls as we'd like to before camp, and he won't be, and I may not even be, here to see them off on Saturday! Worst. Parents. EVER. I'm still not super sure on if I'll be here or not, so it's a definite "play it by ear" type of situation.

And if we've had almost no time with the girls, we've had even less time with each other, so it was nice to just be together after the girls went to bed.




Pre-camp pictures coming soon!! Letters and packing and bunk pics! The girls are very excited, and I'm happy for them. But I'm also super exhausted from a long busy day, so it's bedtime for me.