Raising Cubs in a Campground

One of the things on my to-do list is to get renter's insurance. I called Progressive on Thursday and asked them to transfer me to the company they work with to provide other types of insurance. Here's how it went: Me: I am calling to get renter's insurance on the home we'll be moving into May 1st. Agent Man: Can I have your first and last blah..blah...blah... Agent Man: Will there be any firearm's on the property? Me: Do BB guns count? (remember those pesky woodpeckers?) Agent Man: Um no, but I do need to disclose that we'll be doing a claim check though. Me: A what? Agent Man: We'll do a search to see if you've filed any claims in the last five years. Me: Hey Brian! What year did that guy die in our bedroom and the tree fall on our house? Agent Man: What? Brian: 2002 Me: Oh good. That's outside of the 5 year window. Agent Man: Someone died in your house? Me: Hmmm ? Oh yeah. We rented out our house one summer and learned the week befo...

I was up to my elbows in Boston Brick in Sam's new room when Brian called to say that he has succumbed to the sickness that is working its way through our home. I hurried to get at least some Cup of Cocoa on the walls in Julia's room before calling it a day. Wish me luck as I try to put some Pumpkin Butter in the library with two kids in tow tomorrow. I think I'm going to need it.

Winter - 2 bouts with the stomach flu a couple colds per person Spring - 4 trips to the doctor in the same week 1 case of croup 1 case of strep throat 1 case of Fifths Disease Maybe I'm not in such a hurry to get to Summer after all.

We have jammie day around here at least once a week. It's tradition. It's easy. It's warm and cozy. This week it also proved to be embarrassing. Sam had been a little "off" Tuesday afternoon but it wasn't until bedtime that he spiked a fever of 102.9. That's when I started wondering if the multiple trips to the bathroom meant he had a bladder infection. Brian takes the car on Wednesdays so if I was going to have this checked out I had to do it that night. So off to UrgentCare we we went. We got in within 15 minutes and 15 minutes later learned that he had strep. Didn't see that one coming. The nearest pharmacy closed in 10 minutes so I hustled my tired and feverish boy off to get some amoxacilian - in his jammies and not just any jammies....but green jammies...covered in.....pink flowers. It seemed wasteful to not use hand-me-down pajamas that were the right size just because they were meant for girls. Nobody was looking at them anyway when...

"This is the biggest room I've ever seen!"Sam said as he explored the 5 bedroom house we will call home in only 6 short weeks. It will be more than a home though. We are going to be caretakers of a 200+ acre park in exchange for most of our housing expenses. The financial benefits are incredible, but it's the amenities that sold us on the place. The job requires that we be on the property most of the time in case we are called upon by a park visitor so it's really nice to have so many things to do our our front door. It all seems surreal right now and very overwhelming. I have two garage sales to prepare for, a move to coordinate, a second car to purchase, a van to repair , a house to pack up, another to unpack, and some painting and floor refinishing to tackle. I love a challenge!!! As promised, here are some photos of the house: You'll want to click on the collages to get a closer look. Top left: Main door is to the left of the dishwasher Top right: s...

Here's my attempt at showing a bit more of the layout of the home. The cabinet on the left is the cabinet to the right of the laundry room entrance (follow that?). You are seeing a glimpse of my favorite room in the entire house. I'm not kidding. I've been longing for a second bathroom for years. I was almost convinced we should move to a house that didn't have a working kitchen just so we could have a second bathroom. If you were standing at the kitchen sink and then turned to your left and walked down the hall, you'd enter this huge dining room From there you go through to the library . Turn left and go into that entryway I talked about in the photo about the changing table. The stairs are right in front of you. Go up the stairs and turn right. The next picture is what you'll see, that is, if you aren't lost. The room you can't see on left edge of the photo will be the playroom. The next door on the left is the master bedroom. Across the hall...

Written as a mom, not a book consultant. Just wanted to make that clear. I purchased flashcards designed to teach kids how to tell time from Usborne three weeks ago but didn't pull them out until last week. We went through them about 5 times and are also talking about the concept of time whenever we see a clock. To be honest, I had been nervous about how I was going to teach Sam to tell time. The task seemed daunting. Not anymore. I'm already seeing results from using the fun flashcards. This morning I asked Sam what time it was and after careful thought he slowly said, "It's quarter after nine!" That's my boy!

Pictures of the house are in the works. Until I can get them all sorted I'll share some that I took of the property the house sits on. To the left of this second playground is the tennis courts and behind where I'm taking the picture from is the beach, fishing pier, hiking trail, and disc golf. Here's the baseball field. I can't wait to see what it looks like without snow! It might sound silly, but I'm pretty darn excited about having a two car garage.

All these months of uncertainty have finally come to end. I never imagined we'd be living in a home with such unique features such as this built-in hutch. There are many other unique features of our new living situation. Stay tuned....

We've been practicing finding eggs all week so it was a surprise this morning for the kids to hear the rattle of cheddar bunnies in the plastic eggs. You wouldn't know it by the smile on Sam's face, but he didn't sleep well last night and ended up in bed with me at 10:30. Then morning came very early with our church's sunrise service starting at 6:45. We've made it a tradition to go to the sunrise service and attend the breakfast that follows. It's important to us to start this day off focused on Jesus and the sacrifice He made for all of us. The following is the text from one of my favorite books to read this time of year and our take on the Easter bunny and the commercial side of this Holy Day: "The little bunny hops, hops, hops. Is this what Easter means? Is it about the Easter eggs All filled with Jellybeans? Is Easter about hunting eggs? I do that every year. Does it mean eating chocolate stuff? I ate my bunny's ear. Is it about the baby chick...

Like Mck Mama , this post is mostly about capturing what the kids looked like this year at Easter. Of course our fondest memories will be of what they did , not what clothes they had on. (I can't help but be a tad proud of the fact that I dressed both the kids for only 20 bucks with some good finds from the consignment shop.) There were kissing cousins... stealing a moment for a family photo in between running and giggling with cousins... ...the chance to meet a third cousin as in Brian's second cousin's, daughter. Welcome Abby! You are a beauty! and then it was time to release them from their Easter finery and let them get some fresh air...

A snowy Easter can be fun after all! Hope you all had a hoppy Easter!