Raising Cubs in a Campground

join us...head on over to A LITTLE MOMMY TALK and sign up! Describe your pregnancy...cravings, sickness, etc... Sam - It's hard to describe how I felt at the time I was pregnant with Sam because now I know how much worse it was with Julia's pregnancy, but I'll do my best. Morning sickness started around 7 weeks and because we didn't have insurance coverage I opted not to go to the hospital for IV hydration even though I probably needed it from throwing up so much. Instead we forked over $37 a pill for a wonder drug called Zofran . It was designed for people on chemotherapy, but it can also help nausea in pregnancy. I quickly learned that I could cut the pills in half and only have to spend $15 to be able to function at my job. I still saved them for my very worst days. I was a nannying 50 hours a week for my cousins (one and four years old). I also took unisom and vitamin B6 every night. I was well into my t...

A round of applause please - Julia has started clapping She also has a new tooth (two on top, and now three on the bottom) And her very first time on antibiotics cleared up the eye infection she woke up with on Thursday.

Since I was too busy getting ready (and shopping) for the big garage sales over the weekend, I missed Thursday Thirteen this past week. In honor of garage sale season - My Sunday Seventeen: Seventeen reasons I love garage sales: 1. Buying Gap khakis for only 50 cents 2. Buying Ralph Lauren shirts and sweaters for 50 cents each 3. Buying Gymboree sweaters for 75 cents 4. Buying a Radio Flyer tricycle for $4 5. Buying a Columbia winter jacket and matching snow pants for $7 6. Bringing home "new" dump trucks for Sam to play with 7. Seeing what other people are getting rid of 8. See what other people think their stuff is worth 9. Selling our papasan chair - (a huge space waister) 10. Only posting one garage sale sign, but still having almost constant customers for 6 hours 11. Having second thoughts about selling a stereo (so I raised the price) and made even more $ 12. Eating the brownies I made to sell 13. Spending the day outside when it's 70 and sunny ...

Theodore Roosevelt said that once, but I can't remember why. Sam got the stick part right, but as for walking softly......That's not going to happen anytime soon. I took this picture three weeks ago and haven't had a reason to post it until I saw this on Jennifer's blog. It seems the boys have more in common than their love of trucks.

Sorry everyone - I'm going to have to make this a Friday Fourteen because I'm busy prepping for a garage sale on Saturday. I heard there are going to be over 100 other garage sales going on that day in this area so I want to be ready for the crowds. Hopefully I'll make lots of dough, but more importantly I hope to make more room. Stay tuned - it might end up being a Saturday Sixteen or even a Sunday Seventeen.

I was sitting on the floor with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders when my sweet firstborn came in the room and said: Sammy nuggle with Mommy? It's moments like these, between diaper changes and dishes, that make my heart melt.

One of the few things I miss about my life before kids is the opportunity for Brian and I to play tennis. I'm not very good, but we always had fun and got a good workout. Once when Sam was a baby, we put the pack-n-play upside down over Sam so he wouldn't get hit by stray balls (read: my bad shots). We've upgraded to this cool sun tent (lower right-hand picture) to keep Julia safe. Not much we can do for Sam anymore. He wanders around the court making it impossible for us to do anymore than hit high arcing shots over the net. Oh well. It felt good to stretch my legs and see Sammy take a few swings.

As some of you know, on Tuesdays I watch two other kids besides my own. Now that the weather is nice we are able to get out and enjoy the neighborhood trails. It really helps make my day go faster and Sam absolutely loves playing with his friend Brianna (He calls her Bea and the name stuck). Bea's Daddy, Scott, went to high school with Brian so I've been friends with Bea's Mommy for a long time. It's nice to know that someday when they don't need daycare anymore Sam will still get to see his friend, Bea.

Sam: Look! Look Mom! Me: What Sam? Sam: Look! Look! Geen Not! Me: What's not green Sam? Sam: Geen not on Sam's finga Me: Oh, yes Sam that is green snot on your finger. Let me get that for you. Sam: Thanks mom.

join us...head on over to A LITTLE MOMMY TALK and sign up! How did you tell your spouse/sig. other you were pregnant? Was he happy, surprised, upset, worried, etc? How did you feel? February 5th, 2004 - Sam's story My period wasn't even late yet when I took a pregnancy test at work and got a positive result. My reaction includes an explative - that's how shocked I was. I waited three days to tell Brian because I knew I wanted to videotape his reaction when I told him. I was working very long hours and couldn't get to the store to buy a video camera right away. I hid the camera in a mound of laundry and had him come upstairs to get his Valentine's Day present. I modified the front of the card so it wouldn't give the surprise away right away. It used to read "Happy Valentine's Day Dad". He opened the card that on the front read: Once upon a time, there was a very lucky kid who loved a spe...

Today is my Grandma's birthday. She is 87, but I think she's just as beautiful as she was in this next picture taken when I was a baby. That's her in the yellow. My mom is holding me and my great grandma is on the far left. Right after Julia was born we took another 4 generation photo to keep up the tradition. Another tradition our family has is to wear this gown when a baby is baptized. (This is Sammy's - can you believe that hair?) It has been in my family for over 100 years. My grandma's dad was baptized in it as a baby. Assuming that he was at least 20 when my grandma was born - and she's 87 now - that makes the gown 107 years old. My kids are the 5th generation to wear it. Samuel's baptism in 2004 Julia's baptism in 2006 My baptism in 1977. Someday, God willing, I want to witness my grandchildren being baptized in the very same gown. Let's hope it doesn't disintegrate before then!

Most people think of Minnesota as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes". At least that's what our license plates say. Depending on how you define "lake", we have as few as 13, 000 or as many as 15, 287. Either way, on this 37th Earth Day I encourage you to do your part to be good stewards of our beautiful world God has given us. It can be as simple as swithing to vegetable based dish soap! I recently found Seventh Generation dish soap at Target. They have a little blurb on the back that reads: If every household in the U.S replaced just one bottle of 25 oz. petroleum based dishwashing liquid with our 25 oz. vegetabel based product, we could save 81,000 barrles of oil, enough to heat and cool 4,600 U.S. homes for a year! Happy Earth Day!

Don't you just want to squeeze those chubby cheeks? Be careful though! She'll yank on any hair she can get her hands on! I haven't been able to wear my hair down for weeks. (At least that's the excuse I've been using for not doing my hair.)

I noticed today that I've reached the 2000 mark on my stat counter at the bottom of my blog. At least half of the hits are from me, but I'm curious to know who else is reading what I write. I know I'm a lurker on many blogs where I'd feel silly commenting since they don't have a clue who I am. Who knows! Maybe we are reading each other's blogs and don't know it! I promise to de-lurk if you will. Come on be brave! Leave me a comment and I'll return the favor.

Thirteen Things about Carrie We are constantly documenting "firsts" in our house as the kids learn and experience new things. Here are 13 of my firsts: 1. house : 920 square feet of coziness and fond memories of our newlywed years 2. kiss : Amy Olson's 14th birthday party (with Jay Johnson) 3. job : Babysitting for $100 a week 4. plane ride : Flew to Montana by myself for a 5 week Student Conservation Association gig 5. car : 1986 baby blue, Chevy Celebrity 6 . stitches : May 2003 when I had my wisdom teeth removed 7. surgery : February 2, 1998 when a front tooth got knocked out 8. passport stamp : August 1997, Costa Rica 9. horse : A Welsh pony named Banner that I had for 20 years 10 . boyfriend: Zachary Carr in first grade 11. grade teacher : Miss Anderson - we had class in the balcony of our church 12. computer: Apple IIe - you know the one with the green screen 13. time I met my husband : June 1st, 1998 at or...

Sam and Kieran pushed their dump trucks to the park today. After some typical 2 1/2 year old behavior from both of them and a yummy lunch (Thanks Jennifer!), they happily ran off to explore. I had to zoom in with my telephoto to get this shot of the boys - that's how far away they were. They were completely safe since it was a huge open area, but it sure felt strange to not have Sam close by. I think he enjoyed the taste of freedom. Look - Cullen and Julia are playing footsie. Aaaawwh!

  We're getting closer to shorts weather and I'm dreading the skinned knees that are sure to be a constant this summer.

  We saw our shadows a lot today thanks to the beautiful sunny weather we are having.

For most kids Bambi is the deer's name in the Disney movie, but not for Sam. In our (Disney free) house bambi is a band-aid.

Sam played with his best friend, Kieran, today at the community center. They were inseperable. The only way I could get Sam to leave was to remind him that he gets to play at Kieran's house tomorrow. Boys being boys: Thanks for playing today Kieran!