Raising Cubs in a Campground

Growing up I thought it would be so cool to be a photographer for National Geographic. I looked at a couple of art schools when I was a junior in high school, but settled on a liberal arts collage instead. I didn't have the confidence to pursue my passion, professionally. The ironic thing is that while working my other dream job as a park ranger, I was asked to participate in a photo shoot for a National Geographic article on kayaking in Voyageurs National Park. That day was the best and worst of my life. I'd only been in a kayak once before so by the end of the day I had to be towed behind another kayak because my muscles weren't conditioned. I was a limp, frozen noodle when I was returned to the dock twelve hours later . My sweet husband had my robe heating in the dryer for me and a bubble bath waiting. While I soaked my aching body I replayed the day in my head: Eight hours of paddling, being photographed in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, wa

To see who these little piggies belong to click here .

Imagine my surprise as I was paging through my new subscription to MotheringMagazine (thanks Sharon!) and there, staring back at me on page 25, was my baby girl. I knew about the Nov/Dec issue but I didn't know Kissaluvs was going to run Julia's ad again in the Jan/Feb edition. Random thought: Anyone else have a husband that stands over their shoulder while they blog? Mine does, but I kinda like it. He's way better at grammar and since he wouldn't have a clue how to get to our blog without me bringing it up on the screen for him, he might as well read it "live". He wanted me to share that Julia's cloth diaper ad was also featured in this month's issue of Baseball Monthly. I guess I'm not the only random one in the family. Back to the point of this post - I also experienced my 15 minutes 45 seconds of fame today when I talked to a local radio host LIVE this morning. The topic was lies we told as children. The woman before me had forged chec

You probably haven't noticed because I try my hardest to focus on the positive side of things, but I've been in a major rut lately -so deep that backwards steps are not an option. I must move forward. I think it stems from the fact that selling our home has left our house in disarray and I've let that spill over into our lifestyle. I've gotten lazy in many areas of my life and it's all catching up with me. The littlest things stress me out. When the house is a mess it literally feels like the joy is being sucked out of me. I cringe when I hear Sam calling for me in the morning because, like a broken record player, I've been repeating the same, unfulfilling days over and over again. Then yesterday morning as I got ready for church without anyone pulling on my sleeve to make them breakfast or whining for me to read them a story, I realized that a little less sleep was way worth the peace and quiet I was enjoying as I did my hair, put on my makeup and got dr

But first here's a rundown of Plan A: My 31st birthday fell on a school day so any plans would have to wait until after Sam and I played at the sand table, other moms and I discussed the the topic of responsibility vs. obedience, and a rousing circle time. The best part was that Brian didn't have to work so he joined in the fun. Secretly he and I packed a big lunch so we could leave school and head right to the Children's Museum for the rest of the day. School went off without a hitch until I went to pick up Julia from sibling care. That's when I put two and two together. The tears I thought were from crying in the van on the way to school and the color of her eye the night before that I attributed to having a cold were in fact related....to pink eye. So much for the Children's Museum. I managed to get in to see a doctor within 15 minutes of calling (I'd call that a nice birthday present!) and sure enough it's pink eye. I was also able to confirm my

Mary and Joseph (the one on the right) are still with us. I wasn't even sure they'd survive the drive home from my in-laws house, but here they are a month later. Sam helps change the water every Wednesday and the kids take turns feeding them once a day. Yesterday they showed their appreciating for fresh water by racing around their bowl. I'll be honest, the first week I was petrified to walk into our living room for fear of being the one to discover a floater or two. Ava's experience had me a bit spooked. Have any fish tales of your own? Do share! And please take a second to take my fishy poll in the upper right hand corner.

I published my very first blog post. The topic? You can read about it for yourself at the end of this post. First I have to give a shout out to MCK Mama , who was my blogging teacher and mentor (still is) and has become my dearest friend. I couldn't imagine not having all the memories that I've recorded at my old blogspot and though the 50 posts from this year are still fresh in my memory, those too will fade with time. In my free time I play around with the layout of my blurb book that puts my posts (including pictures) in print. My goal is to have a stack of personalized books that record my family's history, our quirks, our struggles, our triumphs, and most of all our love. The icing on the cake for my first blogg-iversary would be to hear from you , the friends and strangers out there who have offered encouragement, ideas, and prayers for me and my family. I would be forever grateful and for fun - when you leave a comment would you mention how our paths first cro

Through the blogging grapevine I've gotten to know some creative, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright great ladies. One of those ladies, Merranda , has started posting questions on her blog for fellow bloggers that are so fun to answer. The dialog that it has started is great. It's helped me stop and think about things like, how many loads of laundry do I really do in a week or what toys do my kids play with every single day . After checking with Merranda, I decided to post her questions and my answer here rather than in her comments so I can continue to archive my family's lives. You're welcome to join in the fun - let us all know if you do. Can you tell I miss the days of Mommy Talk Mondays? Today's Question*: What pet names/nicknames do you have for your child/children? Samuel: We both call him Sam or Sammy Sam. Brian has never ever called him Samuel (Isn't that odd?) You'd think I'd save Samuel for when gets in trouble, but I

No eloquent prose (not that you'd expect that from me anyway), no photographs, just me putting my thoughts on "paper". We've kept so busy these past couple days that even Sam was getting confused about what we did when. Lest I forget the craziness that is life with two small children I'm gonna ramble on about what we've been up to. Then I'm going to collapse in bed to rest up before Brianna arrives bright and early tomorrow at 7am. Yesterday it was early naps, LONG snuggle on the couch (I'm talking 2 hours of pure bliss with my still, quiet, warm three year old.), errands at the mall including 10 minutes of play at the VonMaur train table, a long drive to the chiropractor in terrible traffic due to an inch of snow, and then a detour to my mom's house, and an even bigger detour to pick Brian up from work. Today we were out and about even longer. Tuesday Tot-Time at the gym for two hours. I remember weeks when we'd only last 45 minutes there

these are my kids on photo overload

Year round my kids get a squirt of flax oil, a multivitamin* and a liquid DHA supplement (Omega-3's) in whatever they happen to be eating for breakfast. If I can't sneak it in there, I put it in their water/milk/juice cup. All winter my kids get a dose of Echinacea Goldenseal daily. When they are fighting a cold (like Julia is now), I bring out my arsenal of remedies to boost further boost her immune system. * The Echinacea Goldenseal is upped to 3x a day * One KidZinc Lozenges w/ echinacea , olive leaf and slippery elm is crushed and sprinkled on her applesauce. * 1/2 cup of Cold Care tea is added to her juice. * I cut out dairy products and pump as much water into her as I can. Since I'm still nursing I up my intake of Mother's Milk tea and Fenugreek to increase my milk supply. * I also take a great pre -natal vitamin with whole green foods in it. * At night I use the vapor plugs from PediaCare and run a humidifier in her room. * We use that awful b

What's that spell? Not a thing. But those were the very first letters my blue-eyed boy wrote all by himself tonight. I witnessed the writing of the brown "L" and 30 minutes later when I came downstairs after putting Julia to bed, Brian showed me an "O" and a "Q" he had done all by himself. I almost started to cry. My baby is growing up.

On Julia's 6 month birthday I discovered her first curls. A month later her locks were long enough to hold a bow in place. and here we are today.... two bows, and countless curls. I get asked all the time where she got the curls from. My hair is only wavy, but my dad had curly hair, both my mom's brothers have curly hair, and Brian would have curls if I didn't keep his hair cut so short. Brian's brother had curly hair as a baby until after his first hair cut and it went straight. With that many curly heads in the family you'd think I would have wondered if one of our children would have curly hair too, but the thought never crossed my mind. It's strange to go back and look at Julia's pictures prior to April '07 because you'd never ever guess that one day like magic the curls would appear.

Now Showing: A Charlie Brown Christmas ticket price: a bath and pj's. Is anybody else still watching Christmas movies?

It was nine years ago that I first saw Go Fish in concert at my hometown middle school. It was fun to enjoy their unique sound again. Their set-up is flashier, but their message is the same. Their music is catchy, biblical, and fun for people of all ages. Moms, dads, grandmas, big kids, and little kids were jamming away. Check out Hilary and MCK Mama's blogs for some cool shots from the concert. I kept saying how much Julia would have enjoyed the singing, but it was nice to have special time with just Sam. The bonus was my mom was there to enjoy it with us and take a picture of me with my sweet baby boy.

Let me assure you that Julia is wearing these goggles by choice. Just like she wears two backpacks by choice. This is new territory for me - understanding and communicating so easily with my 15 month old. Sam was a YEAR older before he talked as well as she does already. I'm loving every minute of it. There's never a dull moment with this goofy girl around.

The downside of having a new blog is that I can't link back to old posts. To recap for anyone who's new to our story - When Brian left his old employer in August and applied for a National Park Service job we put our house on the market. We tried for 6 weeks to sell it on our own before calling in a professional. We didn't want to waste any more time. Our old Realtor referred us to our current one who specializes in short sales (when you owe more than your house is worth). She is a genius in the field and worked her magic over the course of the past four months. We rarely went a week without a showing or two and in this market that's really, really good. When Brian didn't get the Park Service job we widened our job search. We were ready to move wherever God led, but the doors just weren't opening. In His perfect timing, a door opened for us and we have been given the opportunity to remain in our home. We won't be the owners of it (as of 4pm next T

At our house we make snow bears , not snowmen because of this book . (It also is easier when we don't have any carrots in the house.) Daddy helped the kids make the first snowbear of the season the other day, Julia took her first solo trip down a little hill, and Sam made his first ever snow angel. He just fell right over backwards and started moving his arms and legs. It was priceless. It is very handy with little kids to be able to go sledding right out our front door. It's also very fun!

"I'm going to drill your eye. Hold still."

...it's a good day to go to the zoo. Sam had a dream about bears last night - that's how excited he was to go today. "Will the bears roar Mommy?" "No, I don't think so." "Well they won't say hello." hmmm.. He's got me there. I didn't take my good camera, but here are a few pictures from our 3 1/2 hour adventure. (I'm trying to be better about being in the moment with my kids rather than photographing every moment.) A day at the zoo with some "stinky anmimals" and a dolphin show and a bird show - $5 (the free library pass doesn't include parking) A 25 minute train ride - $7 Lunch at Wendy's on the way home: $4.68 Kids so tired they eat with their eyes closed: Priceless.