Category Archives: Life in general

A camping we will go… for real this time

Posted on June 17, 2013 | 5 comments

It was on my list of things to do before I turned 35 and with just two weeks to go, I got it in. We went camping; like for real, in a tent and not in someone’s backyard. We had been talking about it with our small group since last year and with one family moving out of town, we knew we needed to get it in before they left (much to their non-camping chagrin).

I grew up camping – yes, I consider sleeping in a pop-up camper camping, despite what my sleep on the cold, hard ground under the stars husband has to say about that – and I loved it. Some of my favorite childhood memories are from camping, not at all tarnished by the bad aspects, including the time we were riding bikes across the road (me sitting on my dad’s crossbar) and my foot went in the wheel of my dad’s bike and we flipped over in the road and my mom had to drag us out of traffic. My dad couldn’t sit for a week but we still got to get ice cream after I stopped crying, so bonus! Happy memories. I had always dreamed my kids would get to make the same memories – minus the near death experiences – but I also knew my ability to be able to deal with them camping wouldn’t start until they weren’t so into actively trying to harm themselves in normal settings (a.k.a., post-toddlerhood) and Jack being Jack, we had to wait a little longer to ensure we wouldn’t sneak out of the tent in the middle of the night and go swimming. But from here on out, I think we can say we are a camping family. After one weekend, I can honestly say I’m looking forward to going again and trying to figure out when that can happen.

It’s pretty easy to say that when you go with awesome company with built-in playmates for your kids (we had 15 kids between five families) and an ideal setting for camping with all your normal free activities (beach, playground, dirt for digging and ponds to go frogging in), plus some abnormal ones like a petting zoo and skate park and some paid ones (archery, riflery and horseback riding).

Jack 100% approved of the paid activity of candy purchasing at the Barn Store.

We might have been newbies to camping with our family, but Simon and I are old souls when it comes to the experience and we had good friends who loaned us most everything we brought, including an awesome bunk bed-cot set up for the boys, which was the best thing! I think it helped us enjoy the experience to have all the things we needed to make life a little more convenient in a new situation. I highly recommend hitting up your camping friends when you attempt to go camping for the first time – it comes in handy when you want to test it out before going all in. But now I think we’ll be going all in… anyone have some good leads on camping equipment? And, mom, I now have a Christmas list for our family.

Hopefully this is the start of a lovely family tradition, one we do again with these friends (and any other friends who want to join us) as it is the friends that helped make it fun for everyone. Without all the playmates, I’m sure I would have heard the dreaded, “I’m bored” at least a hundred times and without all the grown-ups, I’m sure one of us parents would have lost our minds on our children, instead we could just walk away and know another adult could take the reins. Community is a beautiful thing (so is all food prepared and eaten outdoors).

This post is all over the place and not at all organized, but I wanted to capture the weekend before too much times passes. Despite my eldest son coming out of the tent to throw up (because someone always has to puke; he was fine, just too much junk food and watching another kid play a video game in the tent; and bonus points to him for NOT doing it in the tent) and despite one family getting rained out in the middle of the night, I would do the weekend over in a heartbeat. This is life: making memories, making the best of every moment and creating situations where the experience so much greater than the sum of all the parts.

Of course, despite my thinking they would revel in the outdoors living, no-holds barred approach to cleanliness, both children asked for long baths on the way home, so they are still city boys at heart.

I loved this sweet moment between my boys and we’ll pretend it happened almost completely organically and that I didn’t tell Jack to go sit by his brother and “please, just don’t hit him.”

5 Comments

Posted in Family Traditions, Life in general

Thursday Randoms

Posted on June 13, 2013 | 4 comments

Like every other person in the world, we’ve been busy. That’s what happens at the end of the school year, when you work full time and also are packing up your house to move the first week in July. Throw in a round of IBS flare up and/or the stomach flu, camping one weekend and a family reunion and even the most prepared person might not find time to blog. But my fans are clamoring (read: my dad) for an update.

Here’s a recap of what I’ve been up to since last we met:

Watching The Voice… it’s pretty much the only new television I’ve been keeping up with this summer, though I also enjoy Rookie Blue when my husband doesn’t delete it from the DVR before I can watch it… we’ve also been cleaning off all the saved items on our DVR since we will be sending it back when we move. We watched 50/50 two weekends ago – pretty good movie. Genuinely funny, though still with Seth Rogan so at times inappropriate. We also rented Pitch Perfect last weekend and I really enjoyed it despite the two unnecessary puking scenes, but I love a musical (aside from Les Mis, which was not my favorite despite how much everyone loves it). We also went to see “Fast & Furious 6” for date night recently – it was even my pick because along with musicals and movies with dancing in them, I also love a mindless movie with fast cars (and Paul Walker).
We found a restaurant in town that actually makes its own tamales and tortillas – delicious. It is tiny and more suited for take out, but it is worth checking out. La Huasteca on Plainfield.
We closed on our new house – I don’t think I actually mentioned that here… we also ended up buying all the furniture from the list in my last post that weekend (thanks to an awesome warehouse sale at a local furniture store) so in the span of a few days we spent a whole lot of money with virtually nothing to show for it at this point since we don’t get possession of the house until the 30th and our furniture isn’t delivered until the first week in July. Here’s hoping it actually comes then or else the living room, kitchen and dining room are going to be quite empty. [Also, we are leaving the clawfoot tub, at our buyers request so I don’t have to fret about that.]
We’ve had some fun play dates with sweet friends – I feel so blessed by the people in our lives – my friends and my children’s friends.
Liam wrapped up first grade – which officially means we have a second grader (yipes) – and got a little verklempt on the last day of school when we pulled out of the parking lot. (I admit that it choked me up a little but then I remembered that it was the last time I’d be doing daily school drop off and pick up and I was happy once again – the bus stop for Liam’s new school is literally at the end of our driveway).
I signed up for the summer round of Biggest Blogging Loser – last time I came in third (though we were on vacation and my last email weigh-in never got sent so that’s according to my calculations and nothing official) and there is no glory (or money) for third place so I’m doing it again! Wish me luck!
The boys had their 6-month check at the dentist and BOTH of them had cavities. Sigh. We are admittedly a little lax lately in the toothbrushing department and apparently it DOES make a difference (yes – I really do know this, but sometimes things fall through the cracks). So we go back in another couple weeks for fillings. The dentist recommended that we get nitrous for Jack since during the cleaning and check up it was all she could do to get him to stay in the chair. I booked them for a morning appointment, thinking it would be a perfect thing for Simon to take them to but then realized I wasn’t about to miss the hilarity that was sure to ensue with Jack in nitrous oxide so I think we’ll make it a family affair. Winsies for everyone.
I had a perfect check up. Go me. At least one of us is good with their dental hygiene (Simon also had a cavity at his last check up).
The boys start swim lessons next week… like the intense, teach them to swim in four days kind of swim lessons. I cannot wait!
I received the following mis-directed texts this week which cracked me up:
- Text #1: That ugly [derogatory term we don’t use here, but made it clear they weren’t referring to my Australian husband] you with doesn’t deserve you. He be cheating with some b!tch. I tell you cause you some sweet girl and deserve a [same lovely term] that will treat you good.
- Text #2: He was pulling out of a hotel with some girl last Tuesday.
Firstly, what a lovely sentiment and text to receive from a “friend.” Second, the sender waited an entire week to send this tidbit of information, clearly they weren’t overly concerned. Hope it all works out because I never responded to tell them that they sent the texts to the wrong number.
I cooked nearly 4 pounds of bacon last night and you would have thought George would have been at my side, begging for every little morsel I might throw him, but there was also a thunder storm going on so my sad little dog was cowering upstairs, too afraid to venture down the stairs even for some bacon.
Speaking of bacon, it is delicious.
Liam had a play date with my coworker’s son last week to reacquaint them since they will be at daycare together one day a week this summer and she texted me about how talkative he is… and it is 100% true, the kid can (and will) talk to anyone, about anything, for as long as you will listen.
And then there is Jack who just never stops moving and does everything with the greatest intensity he can muster (which is great).
Re. above two bullets: my children are exhausting.
I’ve also been playing a wee bit of Candy Crush Saga and Words with Friends (read: every evening, until my eyelids can no longer stay open). I have a problem and I’m okay with that.
We are going camping this week (like for real, in a tent and not in someone’s backyard) (i.e., reason for the bacon cooking above). In theory, we are all looking forward to this weekend. The boys have no idea what to expect and I know they will love it. I grew up camping (be it in a pop-up camper) and also love it, but I never had to do all the prep work for those trips and lo, it is a lot of work. But the memories, it will be worth it!
I feel like there were many other funny stories to share about the boys… but this is what happens when I take two weeks to blog, I forget things. Sorry, dad.
My Nespresso maker came and I am dying to use it, but I am saving it for the new house. It is adorable though and it’s going to make yummy coffee…
Making this today, per Heidi’s recommendation: Blueberry Boy Bait. Also made these Party Pretzels and Get Thee Behind Me Satan Snack mix (recipe below) for camping

“Get Thee Behind Me, Satan” Sweet Snack Mix
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup lite corn syrup
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
melt all in sauce pan, boil 2 minutes
In large bowl mix together 18oz box of crispix cereal (can also use corn or rice chex), 3+ cups mini pretzels (optional, replace 1 cup pretzels with peanuts). Pour syrup over all and mix well. Put into large greased roasting pan (or two 9×13 pans). Bake @ 250 for about 1 hour, stirring every 15 min. Dump out on wax paper or foil to cool (slightly) then add M&M’s (optional). Eat until you can’t stand yourself!! Store in airtight container.

4 Comments

Posted in Food, Life in general, Random

Appropriate thanksgiving…

Posted on May 30, 2013 | 2 comments

We’re on a good streak right now and I’ve often heard that when things are going well, we often forget to give God the thanks and attention He deserves. We’re real good at complaining, asking for help or lifting up our anxiety and concerns to Him, etc… so I want to take a moment to give God His due in all this. Certainly His hand has been in all these things going on (which, I realize begs the bigger question of where His hand is in things when they are not going so great; the great problem with pain and evil. I’m not about to get in a theological debate here, but I will say, He’s there in those things, too.) and I am so thankful and full of rejoicing in knowing He has guided our path all along the way.

In the span of the last few days my dad has gone into the hospital with chest pains and returned home after having a stent put in, feeling way better than he did before he went in, we closed on our new house (quite possibly our forever home) and found out that all is good with the sale of our current home (the appraisal came back at value and with no additional repairs). Thank you, God. I feel overwhelmingly blessed and lucky. My dad reminded me that God helps those that helps themselves – not sure I wholeheartedly adhere to that thought since I believe He also helps those who cannot help themselves – but I do agree that we have to do our part in things (God wasn’t going to sell our house without our cleaning and packing – not that He couldn’t, just that He maybe wouldn’t; and if my dad hadn’t listened to his body and taken himself to the ER, things could have taken a very bad turn), but that without Him, it all would not have gone as smoothly and as low-stress as it has gone (despite my useless worrying). God’s timing is perfect, but it is not always ours (if it was, for sure Simon would be working first shift by now) but He sees the bigger picture and brings it all together so much better than we ever could have imagined. There are often lessons to be learned along the way and sometimes those lessons rather suck, but without lessons, we would never learn. So I’m thankful it’s not my problem to figure it all out, but it is my job to listen to His voice as best I can, give credit where credit’s due and enjoy the blessings He’s bestowed.

Our family is currently in the midst of a season of change and I know it will bring some growing pains, but it’s the trials in life that make us stronger and condition us to do the hard work that can lie ahead. We are also entering a season of thanksgiving and are able to give thanks and recognize that we are so very blessed. Hopefully we are doing that without it seeming like bragging because that is the furthest thing from how I feel… all this goodness was not of my own doing and I didn’t receive it because I did anything right but because I have a good Father who gives good gifts. And it’s a beautiful thing.

2 Comments

Posted in Faith, Gratitude, House, Life in general

File this under random stuff I have photographed this week

Posted on May 24, 2013 | 1 comment

It’s been a busy week… things are wrapping up with lots of things (how’s that for a vague sentence?) and life is just busy, but that is May for you… less than two weeks until school is out for the summer and 5-6 weeks until we move. We close on our new house next week and provided all goes well and according to plan, we close on our current house two days before we take possession of the new house. So yes, we have sold our house, but I’m not ready to shout it to the world until all the inspections are behind us and the only thing we are waiting for is the closing. But I can tell you that God is good and He for SURE answers prayers and that is all for now. On to the real reason for this post…

My apologies in advance, but I was laughing at the series of photos on my phone for this week – none of them super pleasing to the eye or cute pics of my kids doing cute things… nope, just a real slice of life for what it is really like to be a parent.

Exhibit #1: swollen ankle/foot from a mosquito bite
Poor Jack. Daycare called me on Monday to let me know that Jack had been bitten by a mosquito and was having quite the allergic reaction. The pic below is after the Benedryl kicked it and had reduced the swelling quite a bit and yet you can still see how his ankle and foot are puffed up significantly more than the other leg, they were also hard, red and hot to the touch. [Not pictured: his other knee which was also bit up and swelled; bonus shot of his shorter toe from where the bone was removed to put in his thumb.] I called the pediatrician just to confirm that pain meds and Benedryl were the way to go and was advised to bring him in if the swelling did not improve the next day. In the morning Jack’s swelling had come back full force and he didn’t even want to walk on his foot because it hurt so Simon ended up taking him into the doctor, yes, for a mosquito bite. He learned there is a bad batch of mosquitoes that recently hatched but that should die out in the next week but the office had seen quite a few bad reactions that week, so at least we weren’t the only ones. Jack now has to take allergy meds every morning to help with potential reactions and wear long pants to daycare (where he seems to react the worst to the mosquitoes in their woods).

Exhibit #2: suddenly grown-in adult tooth
Liam apparently has fast-growing teeth because last week when I was doing our regular check for loose teeth (his top two have been wiggly since before spring break) the bottom ones were not lose and totally by themselves in his mouth, but on Tuesday when he got out of school he showed me that not only was the bottom one wiggly, but his adult tooth was fully grown in behind it. How does this happen? Well, I know how this happens, the same thing happened to me in kindergarten when my bottom two adult teeth came in and the baby teeth weren’t even lose so I had to have them pulled by the dentist. Thankfully Liam’s tooth is quite loose so no traumatic tooth pulling in our future (we had enough of that with Jack, thank you very much).

Exhibit #3: a tick
This is the picture that most squigs me out. Wednesday evening I noticed George had a bump on the underside, edge of his ear – but he’s had these before in the form of a non-problematic cyst and a skin tag. This looked like a skin tag since it was flesh-colored and mostly obscured by hair. Cut to Thursday night when I think again to check it out and note it seems bigger than the night before and when I take a closer look, I discover little black lines at the base of where it is attached to his ear. Um, those would be legs and my night suddenly got awful. I knew it was a tick but of course I Googled “ticks on dogs” and sadly confirmed my suspicion to be true (also, add that to the list of things not not look at Google images of – ick). I called Simon and told him that I’d have to wait for him to get home because I just could. not. remove. it. myself. He came home armed with tweezers and rubbing alcohol. It was a quick job and since it was moving around after we removed it, we were successful in removing all of it. Here it is after we asphyxiated it with a rubbing alcohol pad. Did you know that you shouldn’t flush a tick because that does not kill it and also you should keep it in case it needs to be tested? Now you know.

So that’s my week… here’s hoping those are the set of three unexpected things that happen to us and that I don’t end up with a strange picture of Simon over the weekend.

1 Comment

Posted in Life in general, Parenting

Stop the cycle

Posted on May 20, 2013 | 3 comments

A friend and I were chatting (and by chatting, I mean texting) about life and I mentioned I felt guilty about Liam not being on a sports team, despite the fact that he hasn’t expressed interest in joining a team and it’s not something I want to add to our calendar of life at this point in time. She said that she had admired how I just let my kids be and don’t go chasing after other family’s activities. She (wisely) told me to shoo away that mommy guilt and “realize that while you’re beating yourself up over something, someone else is watching your family and doing the same thing.” That’s “mommy” guilt for you – we all have it – we all fall victim to it and really it’s just a vicious, ugly circle. It’s just another form of comparison that we put on ourselves; feeling bad because we do things in a different way from another family.

And didn’t I already post something about comparison on not letting it steal our joy? Why yes, I did. And yet again, I needed a reminder to be happy with myself, who we are as a family and trust that we are making the right decisions for US, for where we are in life, despite what others do.

Life is just a constant stream of lessons to be learned… thank goodness for friends who speak (or type) truth to us when we need to hear it. May we always hear the voices telling us not to be stupid.