The Big Campout 2013

On Thursday, my kids finally got to celebrate the beginning of summer.  School had been over for a while, but soccer and dentist appointments and other commitments kept us from really relaxing.  They made up for it in spades.

Commence fort building. We have old barns galore, so finding a spot to set up was not difficult.  They grabbed things from the house, scavenged around the yard, and built their outdoor homes.  Water jugs, tablecloths, bricks and wood to make tables and shelves and walls, snacks, coloring books and crayons, flashlights, pocket knives.  They thought of everything.  And much to my surprise and pleasure, even hygiene.






Learning how to be a big kid.  I saw him maybe three times all day.

While I was working in the garden, I kept hearing a consistent pounding on wood and the little boys shouting, "Aye, aye, Captain!" (ala SpongeBob Squarepants theme song) over and over and over.  I later found out they were putting on a "trampoline" show.

They set up boards to bounce on and do some cool tricks.

They were choreographed and everything.

They even made stands for the audience.  (Turken was in the show.  He just sat down during my tour of the fort.)

FYI:  It is quite handy to have well-trained Boy Scouts when wanting to roast hot dogs for dinner.  Phoenix and Star had it going strong before I even got to the fire pit.

THIS.  This here is what summer is for.

 

While sitting near the fire, I was so overcome with the love my kids were showing for one another.  When people ask me why we have so many children, I just want to whip out photos like this.

Once the hot dogs were gone, the Scouts introduced the non-Scouts to a delicious little campfire treat.

Dad showed Buttercup how to core and fill apples with cinnamon sugar.

Wrap in foil and place on the edges of the fire.  Let cook for approximately 20 minutes.

Have a big, strong, he-man carefully take them out of the fire.

Ooohhh, what is it going to look like??

Once it cools a bit, dig in!

To end the day, the Scouts once again came to the rescue and set up the tents.  One for the big kids outside

and one for the little kids inside.

Miraculously, everyone actually slept the entire night in their tents, despite the fact that Giant is convinced a coyote was howling right outside their tent at 2:00am.

Over the days after the campout, I asked the kids some questions for you, in case your kids ever wanted to try their own campout.

First, the little boys. 

"Boys, what was your favorite part of the camp day?"

I think we all could have predicted that.

 

I asked the big kids what they would do differently next time, and they all agreed to plan activities for the day before the campout begins.  They spent plenty of time planning a menu for the day (even attempting to balance the junk with the healthy), but it seems they were too lax about deciding what to do all day.   (See?  A list, People!  Always prepare with a list!!!)

 

Back when I was young, we lived in a new neighborhood with only four houses on our street.  There were open fields, a creek behind our house, a bike path throughout the neighborhood, and woods very nearby.  We were loose all the live-long day, coming home only for meals.

 

It saddens me a bit that we don't live in the same kind of world anymore.  Kids who are left to roam free all day, every day are seen as having neglectful parents.  I'm so grateful to be able to live on a property out in the middle of 200 acres of corn, far from the road, where my kids can still be the kind of kids who get filthy dirty, scratch their knees all to pieces, get a few ticks, and avoid their mother all day long.  They can't do it every day, but they can do it.  

 

I love summer.

 

Have a lovely day!   



If Only I Was a Tweeter

For a while now, Kate and Stephanie have tried to lure me into getting on the Twitter bandwagon.  I have managed to avoid it thus far.  Unfortunately, my brain is getting in on the act.

My brain keeps thinking in tweets.  Something will happen, and my brain will immediately work on telling about it in a simple one or two sentence synopsis.  It even checks to make sure it's less than 140 characters. 

I am not, I repeat, NOT getting a Twitter account, no matter how much my brain nags me.  Instead, I shall put my non-tweets here. 

1.  I made my first blog button.  I think I'll sew it onto my shoulder-padded blue blazer, as neither should ever actually see the light of day. #IthinkIdiditwrong#U-G-L-Yyouaintgotnoalibi

2.  Anyone know how to discretely scratch the 10 bug bites lined up under the band of my underwear?  Reaching up under my skirt isn't working. #howdidthemosquitoesgetthere? #IswearIdidn'tmeantoflashyouOfficer 

3.  Our 19th wedding anniversary is next week.  My husband and son are celebrating by going on a dream vacation to Puerto Rico.  #Igottheshaft  #Ibettergetmorethanat-shirt

4.  My fingers look like I just plucked a mouse.  Will I ever remember to clean the lint screen BEFORE I put the wet clothes in the dryer? #wheredoeslintcomefromanyway? #yesIdoknowwhatapluckedmouselookslike

5.   FYI:  Slipping and falling on your butt in the baby pool of a fancy country club will not endear you to the trophy wives sitting on the pool deck. #savethebabies #ouch

6.  Whoever decided to put in mile markers every HALF mile never answered the question, "How much farther?" with "When the mile markers get to zero" #notcoolstateofIndiana #thenextoneis73.5 #thenextoneis73.0 #thenextoneis72.5#thenextoneis72.0 #thenextoneis71.5 #thenextoneis71.0...

7.  A helium balloon is like a gigolo.  It's loads of fun until the first time you release your grip and it flies away.  Or pops on the ceiling.  #notthebestsimileI'veevermade #Ihatewaitresseswhopassoutheliumballoons

8.  I am unhappy to report that I learned "bled like a stuck pig" is in fact an appropriate simile for someone who is bleeding profusely.  #raisingpigsisdumb

9.  After seeing the ads all over TV, I think the only dating site that hasn't been created is IneedtoregistereverytimeImove.com.  #soooogladI'mmarried

10.  Just played "Memory" with my 5yo to prove I still had some brain cells left.  I lost.  #allmyconversationsincludethewords"what'shisname?"


Glad I got that out of my system.  Maybe now I can go back to thinking in nice, long, over-wordy, parentheses-filled blog posts.

Have a lovely day!

10 Things of Thankful, Week 2

1.  I am thankful for kind blog friends.  Besides the fact you make me laugh, support me in the good and the bad, and simply just brighten my day, not one of you called me out on my incorrect spelling of "inaugural" (I spelled it something like inogarulle, but it seems spellcheck doesn't work in the title) in last week's thankful post.  (Don't bother going back to look.  I already changed it.) Are you all just that nice, or do you not know how to spell it, either?

2.  I am thankful for my perfectionist husband, who read the blog and alerted me to the misspelling.  If only he could have read it before Tuesday.

3.  I am thankful for my Betty Crocker cookbook.  That woman never lets me down.  I bought a big box of blueberries, which only two people in my house will eat.  However, in a Blueberry Streusel Muffin, all of the kids will devour them.

4. I am thankful for my umbrella.  Sunshine triggers Lupus flares.  An umbrella allows me to do a lot of the things I want to do, and some of the things I have to do.

parking duty during our home soccer tournament last weekend - This would be in the "have to do" category.

5.  I am thankful for bouquets, put together by a certain "free and a half" year old in order to surprise his daddy.

He got the vase out of the cupboard, filled it with water, and placed it on the table all by himself.

5.  I am thankful for healthy pigs.  Every time I go out to the pen, I get pigified.  (That would be a word I came up with to describe the state I am in when I come back from feeding/watering the pigs.  Basically, I am covered in mud.  Smears of it all over my legs from their snouts pushing me around in order to get their food.  Spots of it all over me from when they get their heads into the water stream while I fill their bowls, then shake their heads and send mud drops flying.  (Little tip: NEVER take your shower before feeding the pigs in the morning.))  When they were sick, I came back from feeding/watering sparkling clean.   

Plus, the tail don't lie.

Tightly coiled tail = healthy pig.

6.  I am thankful for our garden.  Besides the wonderfully yummy food it provides, it gives me hours of pleasure in time weeding.  I was out there for four hours on Thursday, and it was delightful.  (I'm not kidding.  I really do enjoy it.)

7.  I am thankful for the break from soccer and appointments.  Thursday is the first day so far that has felt like summer.  The van never left its spot in the driveway.  No place to go.  Nothing to do except enjoy some down time.

8.  I am thankful for spring temperatures.  After that long winter, we are experiencing a real spring with perfectly mild temperatures.  We have had the windows open for weeks now, and I love it.

9.  I am thankful for the library.  My kids love to read, so after a trip to the library, peace and quiet reigns for hours. 

10.  I am thankful for Star.   It's his birthday today!!!  He's the big 1-2.  Star has always been the wild card.  He's a boy of extremes, emotions written all over him, unless he is someplace other than home.  The entire world believes he is quiet and calm.  The entire world is WRONG!  Thankfully, he is also hilarious, in a very physical, Kramer from Seinfeld sort of way.  Lately, the boy has really started to mature.  The other day, I was emptying the dishwasher while all the kids were in the kitchen with me, finishing up their lunch.  With zero prompting from me, Star got up and began helping me.  That has never happened before.  Could it be he has actually been listening to me all these years when I have said, "When you see an adult working, your bum should be up and working, too"???

A little peek into their campout.  Post to come next week.

 

Well, Readers, it's your turn!  Link up your thankful lists so I can start reading about the good things in your lives.

Have a lovely day!

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Derecho

The kids were still asleep.  My breakfast was half-eaten when a sound intruded on the quiet around me.  I sat still for a minute, alert.  Within seconds, the weather went from cloudy and peaceful to uproarious.

I stood up and went to the window, where I saw trees bowed from the force of the wind. 

I couldn't help myself.  I wanted to know what it felt like.  I opened the door.

It's a very strange feeling, going from complete calm to complete chaos in one step.

For 20 minutes that wind howled, and just as abruptly as it began, it stopped.  Calm and peaceful reign once again.

Hubby called a bit later and asked if we had any bad weather.  The north side of Indy was pelted with up to 4 inches of rain.  We received next to none.

It was then that he told me of the rare derecho.  It must be rare, seeing as how I've lived in the Midwest almost my entire life and never heard of it.  (And spellcheck has currently underlined it.) In short, it is a "land hurricane", and there was a watch out for it in our neck of the fields.  Word is still out if that is what occurred, but I'm going to say, "No.  It wasn't."  (What, you didn't know I was a weather expert? (I'm not.))

Weather simply fascinates me.  I remember sitting in our garage when we were young, watching storms rage through the neighborhood.  I was mesmerized by the fierce lightening, the booms of thunder, and the steady splashing of the rain.

The adrenaline really gets rushing when the lightening hits right on top of you, so there is no warning when, a millisecond later, the thunder scares you right out of your seat, the vibrations of it all tearing through you.

But, the storm has passed.  The kids are outside playing.  It is the long-awaited "camp day" in which they spend the entire day in their forts.  They have drug all manner of supplies, including (most importantly) the first-ever box of Pop-tarts allowed in our house, out to their little dens. 

It should be a nice, calm day.

Have a lovely day, yourselves!

Just Another Moment in Which I Make My Kid Suffer for Your Enjoyment

At the grocery store on Wednesday, Star was in a silly mood. (which is most certainly a step up from the woe is me attitude he normally sports when having to endure the grocery store)  He took the bag which holds all of my reusable grocery bags and put it on his head like a hat, and wore it from the time we checked out until we got to the van.

Like this:

Cuckoo (and many other people) found it to be hilarious, so he put an extra, full-sized bag on his head in order to be like his big brother.

All was fun and giggles until we got to the van.

Cuckoo couldn't get his "hat" off.

.

He was screaming and hollering and getting a bit panicky, but as the big boys tried to help release him, I whisper yelled to them, "Take your time!   I have to get my phone out!"

And because the boys love their mama, (and they thought the whole situation was funny, too) they took their sweet time getting it off of him,

just so I could get some photos.

Have a lovely day!

The Inaugural 10 Things of Thankful!!

My family sat around the dining room table, the dinner options laid out before us.  One of my sons inspected it all and complained, "Oh, man, we're having asparagus?"

I hopped all over him.  "Honey, what else are we having?"

"Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and strawberries."

"Do you like all of those things?"

"Yes."

"And yet, when you came to the table, you picked out the one thing you don't like, and complained about it.  You had a choice; be grateful for the things you like or be upset about having to eat something you don't.  You chose to be unhappy.  Next time, why not choose to be happy? Instead of complaining to me about the asparagus, try thanking me for the mashed potatoes.  Do you think the tone of dinner will be a bit different if you do?"

Yes.  Yes it will.

What we look for, we will find.  If we look for the bad, we will most certainly find it.  There are bad things happening around us every day.  However, there are also good, kind, wonderful things happening at the same time.  We simply need to look for them.  When we do, our attitudes improve.  We become happier. 

This is why I jumped in yelling, "Pick me!  Pick me!" when my friend, Considerer, made a call for co-hosts for her new blog hop.  I'm all for encouraging people to see the good in their lives.

Before you are allowed to share your own, though, I'm going to make you read mine first.

Unless, of course, you are so excited to join in, you scroll right through mine to link yours up.  I'll be grateful for the link-up.

10 Things of Thankful

 

1.  I am thankful for forts.  I know, last year I went on and on about how much I strongly dislike forts, but that was about indoor forts.  Outdoor forts are the bomb.  My kids have grand plans of spending 24 hours outside one day next week.  Yesterday, they spent the entire day outside getting their forts ready.  Two teams.  Two forts.  One quiet house.  One happy mom.

 

2.  I am thankful for over-the-counter medicine (for man and beast).  When one gets poison ivy around her eye, she may want to gouge out her eyeball and rip off her eyelid.  Fortunately, when hydrocortisone doesn't work, IvaRest will usually do the trick.  When a pig gets sick and a vet can't get to it, we can buy all the medicine we need to cure it.

3.  I am thankful for beautiful spring evenings.  Hubby and I use these as date nights by heading out to the garden to pull weeds.  We're outside to feel the warm breeze, to hear the animals chattering, to see the sun setting.  We can talk about anything we want, confident the children will not interrupt us.  (They are way too afraid we'll put them to work if they do.)  All of this while helping our garden to grow.

4.  I am thankful for food in the pantry and the freezer.  By raising our own pigs and canning our own food, I can simply run to the basement at 4:30 and say, "We're going to have pork tenderloin, cinnamon apples, and green beans for dinner.  I'll make some cornbread to go with."  I did that just yesterday.

5.  I am thankful for our dogs.  Sure, they are a pain sometimes, digging up my flowers and eating the chickens that managed to get into the yard.  But they do their job.  A coyote has been coming around in the mornings, trying to make friends.  The dogs will have none of it.  The coyote, so far, has been kept away from the pigs.

6.  I am thankful for kind doctors and modern medical practices.  Since our new home seems to be OrthoIndy, I'm so grateful for the kind, efficient people who work there.  They know what they're doing, they get us in and out as quickly as possible, and they pass out candy.  We have healed or are healing from our injuries quite nicely.

7.  I am thankful for good friends and a playground to meet.  Our kids run around having fun and burning energy while we moms can laugh, vent, and support each other in our struggles.  And I get to hold babies.  I love holding babies.

8.  I am thankful for bright sunshine which dries our clothes so nicely.  I can get so much more done when two or three loads can be hung to dry, while the socks and underwear take an eternity to dry in the dryer.

9.  I am thankful for good, kind, fun coaches.  There has been some unhappiness surrounding one of our soccer teams, and it just makes us more grateful for the wonderful coaches we do have and have had in the past.  My kids have never once complained about going to soccer.  They love it, and so much of that love is a result of the coaches' love of the game.

10.  I am thankful for mulberries.  Unlike the song says, mulberries don't always grow on bushes.  We have an abundance of mulberry trees around our property.  Sure, I look like I am bleeding out when I get back from mowing around them, but those berries taste so good.  The kids don't even have to come inside for a snack when they are outside playing.  They simply go to one of the trees and start eating.  

I have not been good about storing these berries.  I don't know exactly what to do with them.  Do I need to take the stems out or not?  Taking them out would be a pain!  The kids pick a bunch, so I am going to try to make a pie with them.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm sure there is a recipe for syrup out there somewhere I could try, too.

If you have a good recipe for anything mulberry, let me know!!  I'd be so grateful.

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

The new blog hop is here!  The new blog hop is here! I'm somebody now!

Happy thanking and linking and hopping!!

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7QT #?? and FTSF #??

Let's get to it...

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Hubby to me:  "You gotta believe me when I tell you the two things I'm about to tell you are not related.   I'm out of underwear and we don't have any toilet paper."

Oh, how I love that man.

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Giant's cast came off!!

I was happy to see there weren't any odd things stuck down in the cast and it wasn't dirty at all.  Not even that stinky.  Guess when you aren't allowed to get your heart rate up, sweat isn't nearly as much of an issue.

He made two observations:

1.  I have a tan line!

See it?

2.  The skin on my broken thumb is smooth.  It doesn't even have wrinkles.

Yeah, that's because it's still swollen.  Not exactly healed.

We came home with 2 soft casts, which he will wear all summer long.

One for when he's not playing soccer

And one for when he is.  (aka Cuckoo's cast when Giant isn't playing soccer.)

I feel this photo should be in Highlights magazine.  How many silly things do you see in this picture? 

I was a bit nervous to ask one question, thinking the staff would find me to be a bit off.  I was so happy when the tech simply offered.

Why yes, we would love to take the old cast home!

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I was talking to my mom the other day, and she was telling me about getting new appliances in her kitchen.  She told the story about her fridge's water line needing to be replaced, and as she was cutting or doing something with the copper wire, she cut herself.  She said, and I quote,

I was bleeding like a stuck pig.

blah, blah, blah.

Me: "SAM!" *

Mom:  What?

Me:  Do you know what you just said?

Mom:  What are you talking about?

Me:  You bled like a stuck pig?

Mom:  Yes, I cut my finger.

Me:  SAM!  After the week I just had, you are going to sit there and nonchalantly throw that phrase around like it doesn't mean anything?

Mom:  Oh!  Hahahahahaha!

Me:  I have seen a stuck pig.  I know the blood of a stuck pig.  I HAVE STUCK THE PIG AND MADE IT BLEED!  Until you have seen and done the things I have seen and done, you are not to use that phrase again!!!  You hear me!?!?!  **

Mom: Hahahahahaha!  OK, back to my kitchen.

* When I need my mom's full attention, I call her by her first name.
**I love my mom to pieces.  I'm not usually so smart-mouthed with her. ***

*** Yes, I am.  She loves it.

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Speaking of pigs, an update.

I am very happy to say that the last three pigs are still alive and acting as pigs should.  They are eating, drinking, running, and rooting around.  Oh, the rooting.  The pen will never be the same after this lot. 

Thanks to a second injection which Hubby helped me give to the sickest pink pig (I'm sorry, I didn't write a post about this one.  It was getting dark, and we were both exhausted.  It took 10 minutes for me to convince Hubby to actually catch the pig with the rope, and another 5 for him to catch the thing), it is doing much better.

Unfortunately, Hubby was not able to catch the 2nd sickest pig, so it did not receive a second dose.  It still has diarrhea.  We're going to have to come up with a plan to catch that sucker and give it more medicine.

I'll try to get photos.

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Speaking of diarrhea, I feel much better now.  Thank you for all of the well wishes.  At least, I think that's what you were doing through your laughing.

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Tonight the new blog hop goes live!!!  Are your thankful posts ready!!!! 

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Our FTSF sentence:

I hit a turning point in my life when...

I have taken many sharp turns in my lifetime, but one that had the biggest impact was the day I forgave my parents and stepparents.

I was sitting in a quiet church, praying about something completely unrelated.  I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden I started crying.  Tears streamed down my face as thoughts of my childhood and teen years went through my head.  I realized I was holding on to some serious anger and bitterness.  With all divorce situations, there are difficulties.  With remarriage situations, plenty more come up.  We'll just say there were some serious difficulties. 

I was holding on to my anger for one Very Good Reason.  The same reason most people hang on to anger.  I wanted someone to apologize.  I wanted someone to apologize for the difficulties I had to go through and take responsibility for it.  See?  Very Good Reason. 

Sitting in that church, it became clear to me that my bitterness and anger were doing nothing but hurting me.  They certainly didn't know I was angry.  It's not like I was outwardly mean towards my parents.  I still went to visit.  I was pleasant when I was there.  However, it was more out of obligation than desire to be there.  By holding on to the anger, I was hurting whatever possible future relationship I could have with them.   

An apology wasn't going to come.  What was I going to do about it?

I chose to take responsibility for my own anger.  I chose to forgive.  I simply let it go.  As the tears dripped off my chin, my anger and bitterness went with them. 

The weirdest thing about it all was that I didn't feel the need to tell my parents about it.  Our relationship changed in a very big way, but they weren't going to know that it happened.  There was nothing for me to say.

While I haven't forgotten those difficult years, I'm not angry.  I have learned from the past, and I am the person I am because of the past difficulties. 

I now thoroughly enjoy spending time with my parents.  I look for opportunities to spend time with them.  I'm sad when I can't be at gatherings they are attending. 

This relationship wouldn't have been possible if I would have held onto that anger.

But the best part is, I have taken what I've learned from this and applied it to everyone I come across.  People make mistakes.  Do I really want to hold their mistakes against them for the rest of their lives?  Do I want to be angry all the time?  No.  No I don't.

Plus, if I hold onto my anger for the mistakes other people make, don't others then have a reason to hold onto the anger for the mistakes I have made against them?

Have a lovely day!