Raising Cubs in a Campground

We all made it on his good list this year.... SisterBear got the "Nem-nem-nems" (M&Ms) and Swedish Fish she asked for. BrotherBear asked for boats, M&Ms, and Swedish Fish. He wasn't disappointed. In fact he was so busy playing with his new toys that I couldn't get him to let me take a picture of him. Conor was more than willing to pose. :) Then he was off to enjoy is "candy cane" Santa brought me Burt's Bees lip balm. Just what I needed! PapaBear's sweet tooth will be satisfied for a while with a package of gummy worms and a Toblerone Bar. Later Christmas Day we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for more gift opening fun. They spoil all of us with their unique, thoughtful, useful, and creative gifts. Would you believe PapaBear's dad made us a countertop ? I now have twice the work space in my kitchen. Wahoo!! BrotherBear's favorite gift was a camera. We've since learned that the Fisher Price digital cameras have a vi...

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday.... ALL full of Christmas celebrations. I even squeezed in a photo shoot for this family on Christmas Eve. I love the expression on Grandma's face! I had to include this one of the baby in the family. She's only six months old, but boy did she ever keep her eye on the lens! We're off to my mom's house this morning. I better get dressed before PapaBear leaves without me! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Esther answered these 25 questions on her blog and I thought it would be fun to answer them for our family. The snow is falling outside and I'm about to curl up in the library next to our tree and do my devotional, but before I do, here's our family's version.... 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. Next year I want to try these for some of the hard to wrap gifts. Sometimes we use gift bags - if we have them from previous years. I've never bought any for Christmas gifts, only reused them. 2. Real tree or Artificial? Both. When I was growing up we had a fake one every year except the year our farm was paid off. That year I insisted we go out to the woods and cut down one from the property. It was the ugliest tree, but oh so special. When we got married we picked out a real tree from the Snyder's Drug Store lot. When BrotherBear was a baby we went to Z's Trees to cut down our own. We did that until SisterBear's second Christmas when we...

Esther answered these 25 questions on her blog and I thought it would be fun to answer them for our family. The snow is falling outside and I'm about to curl up in the library next to our tree and do my devotional, but before I do, here's our family's version.... 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper. Next year I want to try these for some of the hard to wrap gifts. Sometimes we use gift bags - if we have them from previous years. I've never bought any for Christmas gifts, only reused them. 2. Real tree or Artificial? Both. When I was growing up we had a fake one every year except the year our farm was paid off. That year I insisted we go out to the woods and cut down one from the property. It was the ugliest tree, but oh so special. When we got married we picked out a real tree from the Snyder's Drug Store lot. When BrotherBear was a baby we went to Z's Trees to cut down our own. We did that until SisterBear's second Christmas when we...

I've joined Hilary in her December Challenge and already I'm feeling more connected, less stressed, and am even seeing my kids get into the spirit. With my steaming cup of coffee I sat down by the tree yesterday morning to read some scripture and browse through a family devotion specific to the Advent season. Our family will be focusing on preparing for the birth of our Savior with some meaningful Advent activities that may turn into traditions if the kids go for them. Because really, if they aren't excited about it or dread it, I'll put the idea away for another year or toss it out entirely. Our kids are removed from the commercialism that overwhelms this time of year. They don't watch TV and we rarely go shopping. We make 75% of our gifts and the kids are 99% involved in the process. I feel like we're in a good place, but I'm always checking myself to make sure that everything is kept in perspective. There can be so much pressure associated with ma...

Our families came over this weekend to spend some time enjoying the beautiful Fall colors and to celebrate October birthdays. Kara's birthday is today, my mom's is the 26th, and it feels like Sam and Julia have been celebrating their birthdays all month. My other sister, Katie, is holding Lily . Look how big she's gotten ! For $8 I was able to create a theme for the parties using crayon candles, colored sprinkles, balloons anchored with boxes of crayons, and if the kids ran out of things to do I was going to roll out craft paper so they could color in the garage. That never happened though. They were happy to either run around or play with Sam's new race car toys. The kids took turns blowing out candles on the cake. The balloons were a hit - especially when the kids were allowed to run around the yard with them. It was two days of fun, family, and friends. Sam found the perfect way to end the weekend was to lounge in his new hammock and roast marshmallows over th...

During a scenic hike on the trails behind the campground this past weekend my father-in-law discovered that grapes grow here in the park. We wouldn't want good grapes going to waste so the kids and I took an ice cream bucket with us on our walk yesterday. The kids were great about picking and despite being staining their hands and faces purple, we picked quite a few grapes. We found some vines that we missed on Sunday and before we knew it the bucket was full. For some unknown reason there was a paper bag in the jogger which we took full advantage of and filled it half way. My mom used to can things when I was growing up. I even remember my parents making wine with the grapes that grew in our apple orchard. Do I have a clue how to do any of that stuff now? No. I think it's time to give Google a try and a visit to Craigslist for canning supplies.

My niece, Lily Angel born August 15 th at 9:39pm 7 pounds, 7 ounces 19 inches long Lily with Grandma and with Aunt Katie Since she was "supposed" to be a boy my mom, sister, and I went on a shopping spree when we left the hospital to grab some lunch. No more blue for this beauty! Sam and Julia were shy, yet curious about their new cousin. Congratulations Kara! She's beautiful!

The new gadgets we got for Christmas from Brian's parents to help us in car emergencies (flat tire or dead battery) only work if you actually have them in the car with you. For the record, the air compressor was where it belonged, but I didn't have a flat tire. Nope. I learned the hard way that you can't use the car's battery to run the mini DVD player that I plugged into the power outlet in our van if the van isn't running. So there I sat in the parking lot of the grocery store, kicking myself for not putting the handy-dandy jumper cables in the car. Thanks to my mom, I do carry the regular kind with me at all times, but I don't know how to use them. The new ones plug into the cigarette lighter. They don't seem so intimidating, but again, they don't work sitting in my garage. My mom was kind enough to call into work and come rescue the kids and I. She is amazing. She knows everything. She's the first person I call when I don't know ho...