Raising Cubs in a Campground

UPDATE: What creative guesses ladies! Scroll down to see a couple hints in red and a clarification. Also, see if you can identify the person I dressed up as. Don't worry about the patch that is hidden behind Julia - that one's irrelevant . Who can identify what Sam and Julia were for Halloween this year? (Elephant is not the answer I'm looking for.) I'm afraid I threw everyone off with this statement. Sam IS an elephant, but I was looking for the elephant's NAME. JoJo is waiting to hear your guesses. Who ever can guess their costumes be prepared, these two cuties might just show up on your doorstep and.... give YOU a smooch! Happy guessing!

Julia squatted down on the kitchen floor tonight after dinner, looking extra cute in her red fleece robe and wet ringlets and squealed an exuberant "Hi!" . She put her face right down by the floor and said it again, "Hi!!!" Then she picked up my shoe and BAM! No more boxelder bug.

Stellan's here! I was away from my computer all day so it was after 2pm before I heard the good news about Stellan's birth and good health report. It was hard to wrap my brain around the reality that he's here even when MckMama showed me the pictures on her computer of her beautiful son who was resting one floor above us. With all that I was squeezing into one day, I wasn't sure if the kids were going to allow me to visit for very long. Turns out they were perfect angels and we had a nice change to talk. Here's the best part! I got to meet the sweetest, most perfect baby today. Seriously, he is precious beyond words and he has the strongest and bravest mom I know.

Am I overreacting when I cringe when the kids at Julia's school are taught a song that includes the word "dumb"? At our house I always censor that word and many others. Usually "silly" makes a good substitute. This time of year parents have many choices to make about what they want their kids exposed in regards to socially acceptable Halloween traditions. I'm the first to admit that my philosophy is to avoid as much of it as we can. I don't take my kids into Walgreens. Have you seen their Halloween displays? Ish. We don't go trick or treating. We don't allow the kids to pretend to be ghosts. Sam is into monsters right now which I try not to make a big deal about. Kids tend to want what they can't have so I'm simply choosing to distract rather than forbid that sort of imaginary play. It's a good thing he wasn't at our library's story time this morning. The theme for the day was Monsters. What 2 year old doesn...

We live out in the country and that means anytime we want to go somewhere it usually involves at least a twenty minute drive. When we can, we try to take advantage of the things the small town nearby has to offer. We weigh the higher costs of items here vs. the cost to drive to the bigger stores in the suburbs. I was thankful today was one of those days where I could accomplish everything within a one mile radius. We went from the library (for story time) to Sam's school (to pick up Sam) to McDonalds (for a $4.20 lunch and some playtime), the doctor (in the same parking lot as McDonalds), and then across the street to the pharmacy. The suburbs might have more options, but I love the ease of getting around our small little corner of the world. After almost 6 months it's starting to feel like home. The last time I was in our old neighborhood I felt so uncomfortable and out of place. Funny how that happens. Tomorrow will be pretty much the opposite of today. We'll be ...

It's (not) that time again. It never sneaks up on me. I'm always near the top of the Mr. Linky list of participants in MckMama's Not Me Monday Carnival. Oh wait. I AM near the top this week. Multi-tasking** pays off once again! Here are some more things I didn't do: * I did not forget to send my own mother a birthday card and instead use this post to wish her a happy birthday and happy anniversary. ( She and Paul were married one year ago yesterday.) Sorry Mom! Hope you guys had a great day! * I did not ask my husband to read a 378 page book about parenting and marriage as his Christmas present to me this year. * I didn't take it one step further and ask him to discuss each chapter with me when he finished it. * I did not go on vacation (without the kids) even though my daughter hadn't ever gone without nursing at least 2x a day for her whole life. * I didn't take a breast pump along on our camping trip so I could still nurse my 2 year old when we...

We are in the process of deciding if this kitty is the solution. We liv e in a 70+ year old farm house and that means mice move in when the weather turns cold. Brian put traps around the house and basement but if that doesn't work we might have to get a cat. The kids would be thrilled and surprisingly I think this little kitty would be too. He showed up on our porch last week and I couldn't help but put a dish of dogfood out for him. I figured it wouldn't hurt anything to give a stray some food. "What did you expect?" Brian said when the cat returned every day since for more handouts. When he tried to get in the house a couple days ago I realized he wasn't just a stray. He's been around humans and is very friendly. Could he be the solution to our mouse problem? We're going to give the traps a few more days and if they don't pan out we might be giving Houston (Huey for short) a tour of our home....

A is for animals Sam and his classmates spent Tuesday morning getting up close and personal with the animals on the farm. B is for Brrrrrrr It was a chilly morning, but I didn't hear one complaint from the kids. They were too busy having fun. C is for Cow We watched how a cow gets milked, saw where the milk gets stored, felt the wet noses of young calves... D is for Devin It was Devin's grandparent's farm that we visited E is for Egg The kids searched for eggs in the chick en coop. After a few minutes Julia started freaking out. Then it dawned on me that she had just remembered that she'd been bitten by a chicken at the zoo this past summer. F is for Farm Equipment. The look on the kid's faces when they watched Devin's dad drive the combine was priceless. G is for Group. What a great group of kids Sam has in his class. It was fun to watch him interact with his classmates and for Julia to feel part of the group. For the most part she fits right in, except fo...

Julia is starting to get on board with the idea of weaning. When she's tired or anxious she asks to nurse, but since we returned from the BWCA each day she is less insistent. Today was our best day yet. She never asked when she got up this morning. I kept her very distracted at nap time and she was happy to read a book in bed before sleeping for two hours. I went out to dinner with five girlfriends last night so nursing was not an option at bedtime. Brian said it didn't bother her one bit. I figured if we made it through most of the day, we could make it through one more bedtime. We were so close I could taste it. It was a night to celebrate. The day my body officially became mine again. I have been pregnant or nursing all but one month since January of 2004. It was time to pop the cork on a bottle of wine. (It went great with that chicken pot pie I mentioned earlier. It was worth all the time it took to make it.) We played a rowdy came of the Laundry Game* tonigh...

I've kept a journal for almost two decades. I still have them all tucked away somewhere. There's the plastic, puffy one with a lock on the front that says "My Diary"- Inside its filled with my pathetic cursive penmanship and includes all constantly changing crushes I had in school, what my homework was, what happened on the bus, how annoyed I was with my little sisters. I distinctly remember writing using a flashlight for light up on my loft bed in the tiny room I shared with Katie and Kara. Later I used a small spiral bound notebook for my junior high years. I used a different color ink for each page - all two hundred of them. I wrote about how my dad and I used to get away with watching TV on the weeknights (a big no-no at our house) when my mom went to church for a meeting. Is the show Hunter still shown in reruns anymore? Boys were still the main topic of most of my entries, especially a nine month "relationship" with Danny. Since we never talk...

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The October baby boom is in full swing: Brianna has a new bab y brother named Caden Scott. (October 14th) My best friend from high school is due with her third girl today . Heather missed an October birthday for her son, Isaac, by one day. Joy and Chris had a baby girl, Evie late in September. Stellan will join the ranks next week . No wonder baby fever is hitting me hard right now!

I did not wear 11 different articles of clothing in order to stay warm on our trip . I did not wear the same shirts for 4 days straight. I did not forget about our dog the entire time we were gone until the drive home and I saw a dog in someone's yard. Brian did not tip over the canoe when he was going out to fish before dinner. I did not just blog about Brian tipping over the canoe despite him saying that we weren't going to speak of this...ever. We did not break camp over an hour before the sun came up in order to get home to see the kids sooner. No, that would be stupid and dangerous. We wouldn't go up the rapids in the dark. Brian would never carry a canoe over rocky terrain in the dark. I did not spell Stellan's name incorrectly and then proceed to take a bunch of pictures of my mistake. Julia did not fall into the pond while we were gone. I most certainly didn't laugh at her reaction at see...

I did not wear 11 different articles of clothing in order to stay warm on our trip . I did not wear the same shirts for 4 days straight. I did not forget about our dog the entire time we were gone until the drive home and I saw a dog in someone's yard. Brian did not tip over the canoe when he was going out to fish before dinner. I did not just blog about Brian tipping over the canoe despite him saying that we weren't going to speak of this...ever. We did not break camp over an hour before the sun came up in order to get home to see the kids sooner. No, that would be stupid and dangerous. We wouldn't go up the rapids in the dark. Brian would never carry a canoe over rocky terrain in the dark. I did not spell Stellan's name incorrectly and then proceed to take a bunch of pictures of my mistake. Julia did not fall into the pond while we were gone. I most certainly didn't laugh at her reaction at see...

Finding fun templates online is fun and all - especially when they are free, but I've yet to find anything that will let me use the stretch minima layout and I love that layout. Bare with me while I do some more tweaking to the page elements. I promise it will be worth it when I can blow up my pics like this:

Mommy and Daddy were driving six hours away to spend their first nights away together in over 2 years. While you were getting dressed, we were paddling across the first of 2 lakes. While you were eating breakfast, Mommy was resting half way through the 190 rod portage. While you were painting pumpkins, Daddy was carrying the canoe (and the food pack) around some rapids on the South Kiwishiwi River. While you were eating hamburgers and ice cream cones at McDonald's, Mommy was catching our lunch. While you were making pizza with Sharon, Grandma, and Grandpa, Mommy and Daddy were enjoying the view at their campsite. While you were watching Whinnie the Pooh, Daddy was catching big fish. For the record Mommy had a bigger bass on her line until it broke the line. While you were eating tacos, Mommy and Daddy were eating fresh fish. Really fresh While you were getting ready for bed, Mommy took this picture for Stellan's gallery. While you were sleeping in your beds, we were sleeping i...

Sam especially enjoys it when I read him this book at bedtime. Lately as I leave the room one of us will tell the other that we love each other to the moon and back - just like in the book. Yesterday as if he knew my heart was already starting to miss him and we haven't even left yet, he says to me after I say I love him to the moon and back, "I love you to the angels." I don't think I'll look at the moon the same ever again. Tonight when I tucked him in and once again explained that Mommy and Daddy won't be here in the morning when he wakes up and that while we're gone he can look up at the moon and know that we're doing the same thing and thinking of him. "But Mama, the moon is going to be over MY house!" I should have seen that one coming! Then I tell him how excited we are going to be when we get home on Sunday that I'm going to give him lots and lots of squeezes. "But Mama, that's going to turn me into a pea!" giggle...

I'm doing my best to not think about the fact that I lost my cell phone amongst all the leaves when I look at the pictures from Monday's hike, but the memory is still fresh. The panic was real. It was deep. I only had one bar left of battery. Worse yet the phone was on vibrate. Did I mention the sun had set right before I realized the phone had fallen out of my pocket? I prayed the whole time I was out searching the park - retracing my steps. It might seem trivial to lose a phone, but I cannot afford a new one. We don't have a land line so I'd have no way of making emergency calls, I have many phone numbers stored in the phone that I don't have anywhere else... I NEED my phone. God knew this and after 20 minutes of searching I spotted it. Can you see it in the picture above? A sight for sore eyes - literally!

Since I only have an early elements version of Photoshop and I don't really know how to use it, you can be sure that God gets ALL the credit for the brilliant colors you see in the leaves. Wait. That didn't come out right. He gets all the credit regardless. What was I thinking? I remember now. I was thinking it would be a shame to sit indoors after Sam's birthday dinner yesterday when the trees in our park are dripping with color. So outside we went. Like father, like son. I think they're both brilliant. The birthday boy Mmmmm.... yummy evening light.... My camera is still limping along....I'm going to milk it for all it's worth until my warranty mess gets resolved. Check out my pup. Smart huh? He's on a leash like the park rules require. This isn't a new trick for him. He's been taking himself for walks for 10 years. Brilliant!