Raising Cubs in a Campground

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change. - Buddha We had an unexpected girl's night this evening, just Julia and Mommy. She had me in stitches most of the night. She doesn't miss a thing and is always singing or humming something. Tonight it was O Christmas Tree and The Thankful song from Veggie Tales. I used to think I wanted her to stay a little for as long as possible, but I'm learning that the older she gets the closer we get. She and I are a lot alike and while our stubborn streaks can get in the way sometimes, I wouldn't trade the snuggles, the story times, the hide and seek games, and the joy of watching her get excited about her latest dinosaur coloring page for anything! Veggie Tales is almost over so it's time to go upstairs and sit in her room. She'll bring her blanket and puppy over to the chair and I'll sing Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, ...

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments ! I created this carnival as a way to record the little things my kids do. The special occasions get enough attention in photographs, blog posts, and storytelling. These keepsake book pages are meant to take a closer look at the ordinary and every day moments of childhood. Some day we will look back on all the little things and realize they were really the big things. This is the second time through the alphabet for me and some of my readers and I can't tell you how exciting it is to have a completed Alphabitty Moments book under my belt! This project is a labor of love and so much more than a blog carnival. I put the final touches on Sam's book just in time for the Blurb.com Best Book contest. Even if you were following along the last time and saw all of my pages each week, you'll still want to go here and view the book in it's entirety. I added extra pages to the beginning and the end. The forward explains the meaning and purpose of ...

Heads? Or tails? It's a toss up. Or is it?

Her first day of soccer. Her last day of soccer.....until next year when she's a little older. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Book contest update: I'm currently in 17th place - only two away from making it into the final round! That's HUGE people and I have YOU to thank for it! This isn't the typical set up for voting...you only vote one time. You DO need to have a blurb account, but you can opt out of the email notifications which means all you have to do is put your email, a unique user name, and a password and then you are a registered voter. http://www.blurb.com/photo-book-contest/view_book/911883

Her first day of soccer. Her last day of soccer.....until next year when she's a little older. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Book contest update: I'm currently in 17th place - only two away from making it into the final round! That's HUGE people and I have YOU to thank for it! This isn't the typical set up for voting...you only vote one time. You DO need to have a blurb account, but you can opt out of the email notifications which means all you have to do is put your email, a unique user name, and a password and then you are a registered voter. http://www.blurb.com/photo-book-contest/view_book/911883

I'm more than a little behind in my blogging both personally and professionally. It was bound to happen seeing as I have four blogs and three jobs. But who's counting right? One of the book projects I was working on this summer was unlike any I'd ever done before. Jenn was a missionary in Nepal for two years. She blogged about her journey and spiritual grown at Lightbulb in a Darkness . Sometimes it felt like I was right there with her with her descriptive and honest account of being an 'm' in a Hindu country. By the time I finished her 399 page book, I definitely felt like I had been there with her! Take a peak at the album she'll be taking with her as she travels around to churches and talks about her Journey with Jesus. (clicking on each images will make them easier to see) I had so much fun showcasing some of her amazing photographs! The Nepalese script in the next picture translates to "Jenn & Jesus Journey Through Nepal" While she was on the...

Vote for my book in the Best Blurb Books Contest! Voting ends Nov. 9 View other entries » I would be forever grateful! From what I can tell you can only vote once. There is a public voting time (until Nov. 9th) and then the top 15 books move to the judging round. Thanks for taking the time to do this for me! If you don't know the story behind the title of the book, you can read more about it here .

Welcome back to Alphabitty Moments ! I have been hosting this carnival since the end of February without a week off, until I took a break last week. I've finished 3 books week so we could go on vacation after the campground closed on the 18th, but bronchitis took up residence in our home and we had to stay home. We're on the mend now and I'm getting a little more caught up with my blogging. I was able to publish my first Alphabitty Moments book in time to enter the Best Blurb Book contest that I'll post more about tomorrow when the voting begins. It felt so good to finish a book that I'd been working on for so long! Wanna sneak peak? Click here to see it online in my bookstore (You can now see the WHOLE thing thanks to Blurb.com's upgrade) Now back to the new book and the new software from mixbook.com ... I chose gingerbread house for the letter G. It's a fun family project that we look forward to every year. I try not to make sure it's perfect, ...

Welcome to BearCountry! I'm the MamaBear of the family. I used to spend my days as a stay at home mom, but God is using the talents he bestowed on me to provide for our family during these hard economic times. I design blog books and photograph families, seniors, and weddings . These two jobs keep me busy 30-40 hours a week, but that's not all that's going on around here. PapaBear and I are the caretakers of BearCountry (in exchange for our housing) and that means we are on duty 24/7. Those three jobs put food on the table, but my most important job is Mom to the cutest cubs around. How do I juggle all these responsibilities? To be honest, most days I drop at least one ball. Thankfully His mercies are new every morning and I have a wonderful, supportive, and understanding husband. I've given up trying to live a balanced life - instead I'm striving to live a {Christ} centered life. PapaBear is the reason food makes it to the table - he cooks he cleans and be...

Due to some changes to the layout of my design (Thanks again Tricia for you speedy and mind reading work!) I no longer have the Blog Frog widget in my sidebar. Actually I don't have sidebars anymore, but that doesn't mean you have to miss out on the opportunity to participate in my community discussions and contests (Have you entered the Meet & Greet contest yet?) And while I'm talking about the Blog Frog I've been meaning to mention their new Premium Membership . If you are looking for a one stop shop for insight, advice, and inspiration in regards to all things 'mommy blogging' - look no further! (No, I'm not getting paid to say this - I am simply part of core group of bloggers who have provided feedback to the fine folks at the Blog Frog) So yes, there IS still a frog in our pond and now there are two ways to find that frog: 1) Scroll down to the bottom of my blog 2) click on Blog Frog in the navigation bar which will bring you to this post where I...

3 - # of cases of bronchitis this month 2 - # of different antibiotics we've tried 9 - # of chiropractic adjustments 1 - # of canceled vacations 58 - # of cough drops consumed 45 - # of tea bags brewed 3 - # of trips to the doctor 102 - # of flies/Asian beetles we've vacuumed up 2 - # of decent Fall days 10 - # on the calendar when it snowed 4 - # of days we've had snow 21 - # on the thermometer on the coldest night of the month 3 - # of inches of snow we've had 12 - # on the calendar when we took our Christmas card picture 2 - # of books I've made so far this month (3 more to go before November) 10 - # of years it's been since I graduated from college 5 - # of chili's entered in this year's chili cook-off contest 0 - # of chili's we got to sample 5 - # of hours I napped on Friday 13 - # of hours I slept Friday night 3 - # of books I read over the weekend 40 - # of tomatoes that froze in my garden 15 - # of campers that cancelled their reservation fo...

I didn't believe it either and I took these pictures! **** and in case you didn't see my tweet from yesterday, there won't be an alphabitty moments post this week. We'll be back next week with the letter G.******

That's the phrase I Googled in various forms the week before Julia's birthday. I had been thinking about what the kids were going to wear to the day we celebrated October birthdays in our house and being on a tight budget, making something was the obvious choice. I considered freezer paper stencils but the cost of the supplies, though not all that high, was higher than the cost of some thread a little fabric and some fusible interfacing. I came across Jessie's post about applique and she was kind enough to direct me to this site which does a great job of walking you through the process of applique and what supplies you need. It does SUCH a great job that there isn't a need for me to go through all the steps again, but I wanted to talk a bit about the things I learned along the way. First step. Go to Walmart. In their craft section is a rack of fabrics that are trendy, cute, and don't overwhelm a person like the fabric store can. I grabbed a few squares (they wra...

Welcome to this weeks installment of Alphabitty Moments ! This project is a way to record some of the little things our kids do so we can look back years from now and be transported back to a time when our kids wore footie pajamas & asked questions and were curious about every little thing . This week I chose Farm. At least a couple times a year we go to PapaBear's cousin's farm. Julia always wears gingham. Sam always wears red. Every time. (Yes, my neurotic tendencies for good photos rears it's ugly head on those days). There are many photos to choose from after 4 years of visits but these three represent some of the highlights. We always start in the cow barn where we greet the kitties. Then it's further inside to see the calves. We usually startle the chickens on our way to feed the pigs next. Sometimes there are tractors to ride or Bobcats to drive. I grew up on a horse farm so a dairy farm is new ground for me. The kids love it and we love teaching the...

The Jesus Storybook Bible is coming out as a deluxe version - with audio CD's! It would be awesome to win one (this post is my entry) but either way we'll be reading from this Bible soon. I've heard nothing but GREAT things about it. What have you heard? Or maybe you have the Jesus Storybook Bible already?

Things will be back to (the new) normal here in the virtual version of BearCountry real soon. Please bear with me (sorry, couldn't help myself!) as I work with Tricia of the Lemon Drop Design Shoppe (link should work now) to spruce up my blog. She is an incredibly talented artist and designer and I'm thrilled with the job she did with my header. I asked if she could write in the bark and make it look real and boy did she deliver or what!?!?! She has even more up her sleeve for my blog so stop back soon to see what else is new.

There wasn't anything good playing on the radio while I drove home this afternoon so I popped in a Christmas CD. (It was that or kids songs) The second "Deck the Halls" came on my chest started to tighten, tears pricked my the corners of my eyes. It was instant. It was scary. I quickly turned the music off. I regrouped. I prayed. I counted my blessings. God never gives us more than we can handle. As I look forward to an incredibly busy time for my blog book business with Christmas deadlines just around the corner, I am thankful that God has provided a way to support our family. But I think I'll hold off on "White Christmas" for a while yet.

But don't worry - these are NICE dinosaurs. You could even go so far as to say they are cute . One thing is for sure - they are cheap . I spent $16 at Walmart on the supplies (including the t-shirts) to make these shirts for my kids to wear. Let me know if you would be interested to read about how I went about making the shirts - they are my very first attempt at applique so I'm no expert. In fact I don't think I've sewn anything since that awful star sequin number I made for a 4-H project two decades ago. But if there is enough interest I will take the time to post a few tips.

A daughter is the happy memories of the past, the joyful moments of the present, and the hope and promise of the future. -- Author Unknown Happy 3rd birthday to the sweetest, most talkative, most stuff animal loving girl in BearCountry. We love you baby girl and feel so blessed to be your parents!

Welcome to Alphabitty Moments! I created this carnival as a way to record the little things my kids do. The special occasions get enough attention in photographs, blog posts, and storytelling. These keepsake book pages are meant to take a closer look at the ordinary and every day moments of childhood. Some day we will look back on all the little things and realize they were really the big things. This week using Mixbook I put together this page for the letter E. I think the picture speaks for itself. The kid can (and does!) run circles around me. He's always been an active little boy but thankfully has a calm side and can play for hours by himself with only a few toys. I love that we can go on long hikes without him asking to be carried. When Julia was a baby we'd walk 2 miles a day and he was only 2 years old! Now it's your turn. What little moment do you want to remember about your kids? Don't forget to try out Mixbook and enter your page in this mcklinky to be ...