Camping!

Ahhhh...camping!

It was one of my most favorite things to do as a child and I can't wait to pass it on to my children. There is something about sleeping in a tent, hearing the night sounds, and waking to a dew drenched campsite. I think alot of people now days have lost touch with nature. They are happier to be in a hotel and have everything withing walking distance. I love to leave all the world behind and just sit and absorb nature. I can't think of a better way to spend the sabbath then walking a nature trail and taking in the beauty all around. I don't know why most people don't do it as often as they used to. Plus, everyone now days has campers, 4 wheelers, and posh sitting areas......that is NOT camping. If you have never been...what is stopping you. Tent camping doesn't cost much and is very rewarding.

Here are some of my tried and true camping tips:

-buy a large plastic tub and fill it with things specific to camping. You can find cheap plastic kitchen goods and utensils at dollar store, salvation army, goodwill, and even garage sales. buy things to only be used and kept in your "Camping Tub"...Don't forget the can opener!!!! and since everything stays in the tub you won't forget things like hot pads or matches.

- you can find camping gear on sale or garage sales. you would be surprised how many people sell camping equipment. try craigslist.

-I use the mesh lingerie bag for my dishes. when you wash and rinse your plate, silver wear, and cup. Zip them up in a bag and hang on your clothes line. It works great. It saves room b/c you don't need a drainboard or extra towels. If you have a lot in your party you can write names on clothespins and keep every one's dishes separated. you don't have to dig for you supplies. time to eat you have everything right there.

-I divide the campground into sections. kitchen, tent, other. buy a smaller tubs that will fit into my big "Camping tub". put all things in designated totes and then store in larger tub. Makes it nice when you reach your campsite late and trying to set up in the dark. You don't have to pilfer through everything just to find the hammer and bungees.

-be creative! old sheets make good tableclothes and shade cloths, christmas light are fun to hang up if you have electricity at your site, old wire hangers make great hot dog roasters. just remember that it's suppost to be fun.

Camping is easy to do. you can go to camping web pages and find checklist of the things you need and will use. If you camp at a national park they have fire pits ready for you. If you can light a BBQ you can cook and camp. Try it! get out and get in touch with nature!

Frustration

My oldest son Collin has speech problem. That statement doesn't sound that bad. but, when we first found the problem and had him tested 2 years ago he was 4 and speaking at a 18month old level. It was hard to process but we got on the wagon and started to work to improving speech.

It honestly took a while for me to do anything. I have friends that are close to me with children with ADHD and Autism so you see your child and say he seems normal. He will just grown into it. He is just a late bloomer. Then I finally learned a most important lesson. NEVER compair your children to anyone or anything. Only focus on your own children and don't keep up and follow books that are usually written by people who don't have children.

When you have a child who has difficulties you constantly have to walk the edge of a blade. On one hand you want to be there and help with everything and make sure he knows he is supported. On the other hand you want him to spread his wings and try to fly on his own and learn to handle life in his own terms. This is hard to process and puts stains on everything around you. It especially hard for Moms. We always have this envision of what our child are going to be like when we carry them in the womb. No mother is ready to hear there child has problems. Sometime you blame yourself. Was it something I didn't do? I knew drinking that soda was bad, did i eat to much fish, did i not take enough vitamins. I know that sounds silly but to a Mom she understands. You always feel like you fell short. You just have to be careful not to go overboard with the therapy and drills and be a Mom first. As a Mom we want to right all the wrongs even if we where not at fault at all.

Having him home has full time has been a real test of myself. I am been trying to help him during the summer since school is out. Collin has therapy for an hour a day during school and he is doing well. Right now he is learning to read and struggles so hard with basic sounds and smashing word sounds together. I was helping him read and he gets so frustrated. "Mom, it really hard." He said. Then it kinda dawned on me. trying to get him to make sounds he might not be able to do is kind of like asking a cripple person to walk. That if I push them hard enough they can do it. I have backed off working so hard and getting so frustrated as i was with him and when he feels ready we work on things. I have to hand it to him, He works really hard and wants to learn. It's hard sometimes to realize that you have been pushing your own agenda and not seeing that he is trying so hard to keep up.

It still doesn't sound to hard. but, trust me only someone who has gone down your path knows. It is the worst when he is looked down on...not by peers. Collin is very well like and has lots of friends. It is parents and family that look down on him and judge him so harshly. It is difficult to get family to understand and you wish you could tell them off...but you can't. I have the worst time with this at church of all places. They don't realize they do it they change there voice tone and over pronounce words just around him and not with other children the same age. The handle him with kids gloves. They come to me and say, "OOHHHH, I was able to understand a couple of words today. and he was able to sing some of the words to songs you must be so proud." though I know their intentions are Nobel. It almost feels like a slap in the face sometimes. He is no different then other children. He can understand everything you say...sometimes to much..LOL! He has also tested off the charts when it comes to concepts. He has it all inside he just can't get it out. That frustration make him a bit hyperactive. He is constantly looked down upon for it.

Imagine how frustrating it would be. Lets say you go to a foreign country and you know just a bit of the language. You are starving and you go into the local restaurant to get a bite to eat. You can't really read so you try the best you can to put together what words you know to try to tell them you want some food. But, instead of looking at your hand actions and working to try to understand you they talk to you and try to get you to talk by slowing there speech and over pronouncing. How frustrated are you gonna be?? You may get nowhere and are still starving. Now imagine that same thing in a language you can understand but can't speak.

There will come a time when this will all be behind Collin and he won't remember most of it. But, as a Mom it's hard to see your child struggle. I guess this is more an outcry to people who look down on someones child. Everyone had done it.. I have done it to. Kinda hard not to when a child is screaming their head off in Wal-mart. Now that I have been down this road for a while I understand and give a smile of comfort to the frazzled parent and you should to. Trust me. Just a smile and not a look of disgust or contempt can do wonders.

Getting used to having 2 boys again.

Things have been WILD around here!!! Having Collin back home 24/7 is a change. He has had to adjust back to the slower pace of home and i think he if finally getting the hang of it.

We are working in our workbooks and doing some penmanship excises. It is amazing how much energy little boys have. I have got to hand it to elementary teachers, they must have the Patience of Job.

Collin has matured so much that we are starting to do a reward and punishment system. Collin has matured past the time of "time outs". So this is the system I devised. For every good deed, job asked to do, or chore he is given a "token". I was going to use Bingo chips but they where sold out everywhere around here. So i opted for a Poker chip. He collects them in a bank and i have different things he can buy with his tokens. Treasure chest (small $1 toys) 5 tokens, 25 tokens gets you a new book, 50 gets you a night at the Movies, 75 a new DVD of choice, and the ultimate a Leapster 2 game for 100. To this there is another side. If he is discipline for the same action 3 times we take away a chip. More or less he is "paying" for bad behavior. This had caught on like wild fire!! when he goes back to school Zach and I talked about giving tokens for 100% papers. My teacher when i was in elementary school did that and we are worked so hard to get and keep good grades. I remember 100 chips= ice cream party! i will never forget how hard we all worked to get that.

I also have a new way to divvy up chores also. I have a board with 4 pegs on it. Each day i put a card on the pegs that tell the different jobs to do for the chores that day (4 per day). They are laminated and have pictures to help...things like make bed, pick up toys, feed Daisy. it has a pocket for the cards when they are completed they go into. It is the child's responsibility to do his chores by bedtime at there time. I am getting this one set up as i speak so i will post pics of the finished project.

The last idea actually come from my father. When Collin and Owen are a bit older i will start this one. I was talking with Dad about how kids these days have no concept of money management and skills. And he said something to the fact that to bad you can't give them fake money for purchases to get them used to the idea. Then *Bing* light came on and i devised a system.
At the beginning of Summer you give your child a Budget for the summer...lets say $200. that sounds like a lot but for 3 months...that isn't much, especially if you have a pre-teen. you put the money aside to make sure you have the funds so the system will work...No IOUs. Give you child the same amount in fake money. either money you make or monopoly money. When they want to spend it they have to give you the amount in fake to get the real or if at the store purchase and take out the cash later. you can go to the bank and get blank starter checks and you can teach them how to keep account of cash spent. Do not give them any more cash unless you want to add to the amount with allowance or if they do a job. I will see how this work in about a year or so.

Just some ideas that are being used around our home to help learn to be responsible.

BUSY!!!!

Wow! i have been a busy bee here lately. i know you have to! so i took a second to share an idea for this time of year when everything is GO! GO! GO!!

When our lives are always stuck in in a car, event, family, BBQ, graduations, weddings, and so on, our bodies take a tole. When is the last time you had to fix or sit down to a good balanced meal? if you are like me it's hard to remember to grab drive through..hehehe.

So is there a middle ground? i think so. i have been making a lot of juice here of late. my wonderful mom has kept out an eye for juicers at garage sale and she nabbed me a Jack LaLanne brand new for $25. which is awesome. Most run about $100. but that is money well spent. If you don't have one i suggest you go and get one! you can make a juice that will give you almost 3 servings of your veggies that you can drink on the Go!. Now, i know what you are thinking. That is what V8 is for or the "naked" brand. Well let me tell you something. all of those brands are pasteurized and it does have some vitamins but really most are lost in pasteurizing. so, you are paying for overpriced juice. Plus, if you make it at home you can tamper with taste and you know what you are drinking.

So here is my recipe for green power juice. if you have never drank homemade juice it might be something totally strange and you might want to take it easy and use more carrots or apples at first to get used to the texture and taste.
Make this ahead of time on the weekend. portion this out for your week. use old water bottles to fill and stick in your freezer. Why the freezer? well you want to suspend the vitamins in there freshest form. if it sits to long in a fridge it will lose vitamins. so if you juice it, drink it fast!!
My Recipe:
3 lemons ( peel them but leave the plith(white part))
1 head of celery (just wash and cut off root, leave leaves.)
6 apples ( you can mix sweet and tart, i prefer tart)
ginger about 2 inches more if you like some bite
2 heads of romaine lettuce
1 heads of Kale ( this will give it a bitter wang but it is the greatest super food you can eat)
1 head broccoli
3 kiwi whole (do not peel. you want all the minerals just under the skin)
2 cucumbers

1 bunch parsley

2 bunches spinach.

taste. if it needs more sweet for you add more apple, pear, carrot, or green grapes. get crazy with the recipe. some like fennel, parsley (good to get you off of caffeine), cilantro, hot peppers, green bell pepper (highest vitamin C you can get), aloe juice, sweet potato, strawberries, papaya. the list goes on and on. i added about 3/4 a cup of aloe vera juice. you can find that at wal-mart or health food stores.

pour into bottles. set one in fridge and freeze the rest. At night take it out of the freezer and put in fridge.

There you go! a fast easy breakfast that is packed with all the things you need to keep you going. plus it's cheap. all the things on my list you can get for under $20 bucks/ divide by 7 days=$2.86. you can barely get a store coffee for that. so what do you have to lose.

YARN!!!

Well, i have received an amazing gift this week. One of my friends grandmothers passed on and she received most of her estate. She was a crafter and had lot of supplies. My friend Terri knew i was a crafter and decided to give me the yarn and crochet thread b/c she didn't use it. I was to say the least surprised when i received 6-33 gallon bags of yarn. Thrilled and almost overwhelmed with such a gift i knew i had to put it to good use.

I have decided to try to start a yarn ministry around town. There are dozens of happy "hookers" who work within the town. I wanted to start to make good for local charity chapters.

Well this is more of an undertaking then first expected. Digging around town i found there is no town based organization. I like the people at the "Linus foundation" When i was in the hospital with Collin they gave him a blanket while he was there. I wanted to help in that way. The "Linus foundation" give blankets to preemie children, traumatized children, foster children, and children in stressful situations to give them a constant comfort. I didn't accept that blanket for i have made a lot of my own but the kindness of strangers trying to giving comfort the best way they could really stuck a cord. So i am going to talk to the local shelters and hospital tomorrow and see if they accept this kind of donation. After i establish what they accept and need then i will campus the city for helper and yarn donations.

Wish me luck and send prayers my way! Hopefully this will be the start of a very fulfilling chapter of my life and maybe even a lightning rod to those seeking fellowship with God.

Refrigerator

Well it came time to do one of my most hated chores...cleaning the refrigerator. I won't lie i had mystery bowls of stuff and things i couldn't believe that i saved. but, i do have some helpful hints when it come to such an important appliance.

The best thing to clean your fridge with is good old dish soap. i know it is temping to use bleach, or kitchen cleaner but the fumes don't leave well and get into your food. If you need sometime scrubbed. use baking soda and make it into a paste and it works awesome for getting out the mystery sticky goop. If you have really bad stains i do recommend a cleaner called (barkeepers friend) In your rinse water use white vinegar. it not only helps it dry faster but it will also help keep mold out of your fridge. Replace your baking soda often to keep smells out of there... Nothing worse then fish or onion tasting butter or milk (YUCK). make sure you use a tea towel to dry your work, you don't want a lot of moisture in your fridge.

Ok. here is the best tip i ever received and i want to share it. Tired of knocking over bottles when you are looking for the ketchup that someone put in the back. I put everything on a lazy susan. you can get them at any store for cheap and you just spin to what you need. another good thing is that it doesn't take up to much space. i have another underneath this one for jams and peanut butter (i make a lot of PB&J sandwiches) I also purchased a coated wire basket to keep apples and fruit in the fridge. easy to grab, a must in our household my boys eat about 2 apples each a day.

I have a stubborn husband i didn't use to store chips and things on top of the fridge. But, after much asking i broke down and started putting things up there. I purchased a simple metal basket for the kitchen and put chips in so they won't fall behind. The wicker basket if full of snack item for the children. much easier to grab out of there in keep boxes in my cabinets.

Always keep a shopping list by your fridge. when you are cooking and you need stuff jot it down. Nothing worse then going to a store, getting a brain fart and not remembering what you went in for. found this magnetic one at Michael's for $1 and it came with a pen.

Make your own magnets. i made the picture frames of the animals from a Martha Stewart kit that was on the clearance isle for $1. The fruit magnets i made from 3d paper cutout stickers from the scrapbook isle. i mounted them on a thin cardboard and attached a magnet. tada!

These are just some of the things i have done and some of my tip. i hope i have given you ideas to help you next time you tackle cleaning the fridge.

Bittersweet

Earth day is a special day for me for another reason. I got to bring my oldest son Collin home from the NICU on this day.

When you are pregnant there are some many questions, fear, and excitement about the whole thing. You plan the best you can. You decide on decor, what kind of diapers, breastfeeding, care, and birth plan. Well even the most well laid out plans rarely go as planned. I have planned to have Collin natural birth with no drugs. Well life had other plans. 5 weeks before i was due i went to the hospital for a routine stress test. Well after they did my test and checked my urine they realized that something was terribly wrong. I had preclamsia BAD!!! and it was making Collin weak. They admitted me right then and there and starting putting me on magnesium. That stuff if so bad it makes you feel like you have a fever and you blood is boiling. They kept me overnight only to find that things where worse. Collin's health was still declining and i was getting so bad i was about an hour away from total kidney failure.

I was rushed right to Columbia b/c Moberly hospital didn't have the equipment needed to deal with me and a 5 week early baby. Got to Columbia and they stabilized me. It was a good thing b/c my Aunt Denise was my nurse. Then they decided to give me potosin to start my labor to get Collin out. After 6 hours and no progress they decided on c-section.

All that was a total blur to me. I remember being prepped i was so out of it i didn't remember much. After they got Collin out i got to see him for 10 seconds. i got a side glace at him. I couldn't touch him they had me pinned to the table like i was on a cross and i was strapped down.

He was rushed away and i had to sit in silence as they stitched me up. It was horrifying not knowing what is going on and how your baby is. I was put into a recovery room until the feeling came back to lower half.

I wasn't able to see Collin for the whole first day. Zach took this picture for me so i could see what he looked like.

He was so tiny he only weighed 4lbs and 8oz and was 17 inch long. He was having trouble breathing and his temp would not hold.

I finally got to see him late the day after he was born. I had to stand up and walk as my reward i got to see my son. I went into the NICU and i could barely see him from all the wires, tube, and machines they had on him. It made me so sad and so happy at the same time. i got to touch him through the port holes but was not allowed to hold him yet.

The next day they told me to come down and try to feed him. I wanted to breastfeed. I finally got to hold him. But, he was so small he didn't have the strength to breastfeed. so i had to pump and put it into his feeding tube. After a week in the hospital i was released but Collin had to stay. I have never in my life cried as much as i did that day. I cried all the way home. I hated to sit and home and wait for Zach to get off work to do a 35 mile drive just to see my baby for a couple hours. Then i had the grueling task of leaving. I cried every time in the car ride home.

Each day he was getting better. i could feed him on the breast a little, he got rid of the feeding tube, had all the IVs taken out, each day something was a step in the right direction. I had to fight with the DR. a bit. both Zach and I have low body temp so he got released to a more open crib after that.

Finally we got the call....Collin can come home. He had been in the NICU 10 days. To this day i don't think any other news has made me happier! So that is why earth day is so special to me. It was the end to one of the most grueling emotional times i have ever had.

So i hear people making birth plans about home birth and whatnot. I can honestly say i am so so so glad i didn't do it. I actually encourage people not to rely on midwifes or homebirth in case of unforseen complications. It is scary to feel fine and not relize your body is rejecting to carring your baby. If i hadn't Collin and I would not be here, i feel so blessed for the people that saved us.