Raising Cubs in a Campground

There isn't much on the web about how to do a snake themed birthday party, but that didn't stop me from honoring my kid's request for a snake birthday party. In case you have a snake lover in your family - here's a few tips on how to have a fun and easy party! 1. applique snakes onto shirts using the same method here . (optional: Instead of letters use their age) 2 let kids make crowns from poster board a decorate with stick on letters and jeweled stickers 3. hide a dozen plastic snakes around the yard and have the kids each find one 4. Fill decorative cups with gummy snakes for them to take home as favors. 5. Cut out plywood in the shape of a snake then cover with green construction paper 6. Line up cupcakes decorated with frosting that matches your child's favorite snake - Coral 7. Use a couple of chocolate chips & a strip of Fruit by the Foot to cut out a snake tongue . 8. Have pizza delivered so there isn't any cooking 9. Have a couple games ...

Big ships Big wind Big water slides Big waterfalls Big beds Big luxuries Big jumps Our vacation was B.I.G. F.UN!!!! Then it was home to: Big laundry piles Big to-do lists Big house to clean you know.... life. But we have BIG memories to look back on and that's really really nice after 6 months straight of working in the campground!

flowers {and bee!} along new bike trail 8/29/10

The sky over the vineyard we saw on Julia's field trip 10/14/10

frost on the grass outside our tent on the second morning of our Fall Camping Trip 10/3/10

tree in our campground 10/12/10

Maple leaf at Wild River State Park on Saturday 10/2/10

Sumac along the new bike trail 8/29/10

We're already on the downhill slide for this round of Alphabitty Moments! It goes so fast! By the end of the alphabet this time both my kids will have two books of every day moments to look back at. The beauty of this carnival is that you can do it over and over again because interests and ability change. I don't know if Sam is going to outgrow is love of racing any time soon but I came across this picture* in my archives and new I had to incorporate it into alphabitty moments somehow. Running, Racing, Romping....it all applies to my rough and tumble boy. He LOVES to race. He races his own teammates to the ball in soccer even after the whistle blows. We're working on that. * I love how this picture shows the perspective how close we are to where we work. There is no doubt we live in the park . (That's our home behind the barn where the campground office is located. I stood in a campsite to take the photo of Sam racing across the island on a beautiful November d...

She's funny. She's silly. She's creative. She's artistic. She's tough. She's adventurous. She's insistent about blowing kisses and waving whenever anyone leaves. She's capable. She's pig headed. She's affectionate. She's brave. She's my baby and she's four. Happy 4th Birthday to my angel! Mommy loves you!

I've made other granola's before but nothing compares to the flavor of the one I found at The Kitchen Sink. Kristin's whole site is FULL of wonderful mouthwatering recipes so be sure to visit and see what she's been up to recently! The photo below shows the version I came up with but check out the link above for the real deal. I do have a few recipes posted on this little ol' blog - pie, chili, chicken pot pie, beef barley soup, and probably a couple of others. It's nice to know that I can always look up the family favorites on my blog when I can't find them in the recipe drawer. Do you make granola too? Mix & bake at 375 degrees, stirring every 10 minutes. (I cooked mine 25 minutes, but should have only cooked it 20) Kristin suggests a foil lined pan but we don't use aluminum at our house so I sprayed a little olive oil on my Pampered Chef roasting pan and that worked like a charm!

Ah, the dreaded Q. It's a tricky one to find a relevant Alphabitty Moment for, but thanks to Sam's recent love of Chess, I was able to use QUEEN. He's been pretending to play chess for a while now but last week PapaBear read a book and figured out how to play and then taught Sam. The next day he taught me. It's really fun and not nearly as intimidating as I thought! I love sitting down to play a game with Sam - we just need to stop doing it before school so we aren't rushing so much at the last minute. :) Do you play? How about your children? (our set was purchased off of Craigslist for $12 - it's from Poland)

Life rarely slows down for our family. Even the little trip the kids and I took to ride bikes on some new trails had a two fold purpose. One, our park system is developing a brochure for the new trails so I was asked to take some photographs while the colors are at their peak. Two, it's birthday month for our kids so I dressed them accordingly in hopes of snapping a few keepers to commemorate their 4 th and 6 th birthdays. Our outing was fun and productive. I admit I found myself prompting the kids to hurry up so we could get to the next leg of the trail or hurry up to get their seat belts buckled (they can do it themselves now! Hallelujah !). I can feel my heart starting to race and the pressure mount when they move.so.slow. I can also feel that nudge to let them be. Do we really need to hurry up? Sometimes the answer is yes (like this morning when Julia slept until 5 minutes before our departure time) but much of the time I'm hurrying them out of habit. It's somet...

I've been doing more of the household chores the past couple of months while PapaBear works with the maintenance staff here at the park. It's not permanent work, but the few paychecks we're getting before the winter months set in are like solid gold to me. I still have my blog book business and my photography business work to keep up but I have really been enjoying the break from the ten hour days away from my kids. Like the post I wrote almost two years ago I am thankful that I can set my other jobs aside during the day and focus on the kids, cleaning, laundry, errands, & cooking. After two weeks without carbs we have added healthy ones back in. I'm baking with Stevia instead of white sugar and making as much of our meals from scratch as possible. Tonight I whipped up homemade biscuits & white sauce for dinner and Julia helped me make peanut butter oatmeal cookies. It's so much healthier to make things from scratch and I really enjoy baking with my kid...