One more camping trip...

Here is a montage of our camping trip this past weekend to Sheep Bridge, Central Oregon. It was a blast for the kids! A very dusty place, and Beau found that was great for driving his beloved truck around in. We took the kids on many bike rides,and Darrin thought up this hilarious trick to feed the chipmunks since they love peanuts. He took the hook off of his fishing pole line, and tied a peanut to the end, then had Beau sit and 'squirrel fish', and those darn things fight to the death for those peanuts *clip in montage*. A few meltdowns, and black boogers galore due to the dusty ground, but overall it was very fun trip and a great place to camp with kids....Enjoy pics!

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Dollar Store Supa-find & POOP

I found this darling set of wall stickers at the $tree today, it was such a great find! I put them along one open space of Leah's wall, and it looks so cute! I love it! When I showed her I said, "Wow! I really like your flower garden!" She soaked that up, and was so pleased to find tiny lady bugs on the flower petals, and called the grasshopper a frog, and kept trying to match up each bug as 'mommy and daddy'. Too cute!
She is doing fine today after her bout with that nasty wasp, you can see the spot where she was stung, then the two bite marks on either side...it still makes me so mad! DH found the nest. It is under and in the lawnmower...of all places! So, he has to get rid of it soon, since he cannot mow till it's gone anyway!

MOOD SPOILER FOR THE DAY: While we were perusing the dollar store, Beau suddenly decided to just poop his underwear standing right there beside me and the shopping cart! I was livid! What the heck is gonna make him stop this??? I ran him back to the bathroom, and stripped him, luckily I had an old pull up in the diaper bag, LUCKY I SAY because he had diahrrea to top it all off. So I just threw his underwear away! GROSS! I am so tired of this....help me please!

A FUNNY: I got these little tidy bowl pellets to put into the toilet tank, supposed to keep the toilet looking and smelling clean, but they turn the water blue...Beau went to go pee at bedtime and he darn near had a heart attack..." OH NO, MOM, COME QUICK, YOU GOTTA LOOK AT THIS, THE WATER IS BLUE!" He would not pee till I came and explained to him that it was okay, the blue was gonna clean his pee out when he got done...

Lulu's Booboo & More

This evening I was trying hard to get all the flowers watered, and Beau and Leah were so intent on helping out, but kept fighting over the water can, so I finally got my big one for Beau, next thing I hear Leah whining...Leah whines a lot this time of night (8pm-ish) and so I just ignored it, this is something you learn to do as you have more children...you tend to ignore some of the not so important things. However, I shouldn't have. Sweet Leah somehow got stung by a wasp not once, but 3 times!!! Once on her left upper arm, and 2 times near her left arm pit! THAT D#$ BEE! I was so mad, and I dropped what I was doing, ran her into the house to check her in the bathroom and make sure no stingers were still in her,they weren't. But, even being the nurse that I am, I just went blank about what to do, I mean, she was only whining, not really crying, her stings were only slightly raised bumps, and even though the skin around was becoming quite red, they were slowly beginning to flatten out, and I couldn't give her any benadryl, big NO-NO according to my doc. Beau kept trying to soothe her by offering her our BooBoo Buddy(photo to right), which calmed her, but she kept placing it on her elbow, nowhere near the stings, LOL. She finally let me pack all 3 spots with baking soda paste, (I convinced her it was just lotion) and within an hour I could no longer see any more bumps. Now in bed, I will check on her once more to make sure she's okay, no anaphylactic reactions or anything to freak me out!
On a lighter note: A funny for all...Today we were spending some time at 'Grandma's house', and Beau just would not stop buggin' about "takin' a baf" at Grandma's, was driving me crazy! Finally Grandpa put on the sprinkler and that distracted Beau. He quickly stripped to his underwear, which then had Leah stripping naked, and they took off into the sprinkler. Next thing I hear Beau say, "Uh oh, I gotta pee!" My Mom told him, "Well, then pee!" (in the bushes) Then Leah follows suit, "I gotta pee tooooo!" She walked over stood next to Beau, naked, and literally, I KID YOU NOT, pee'd a straight line out with better aim than that boy! I could not stop laughing! I could not believe it! HOW DID SHE DO IT?

More flowers...

My Mom has this beautiful Tiger Lily (Lilium Lancifolium to be exact) that just appeared in her yard last year. A gift from the birds, always a nice surprise. I must have this Lily!

My 3rd Delphinium (left), but my favorite one, 'Gaurdian Blue', isn't it beautiful?
And, Echinacea(below). It is a wonderful addition to my back flower bed since it attracts butterflies.

From the mouth of Beau

"Mom, Jesus came to see me...he came to see me sunday, he came in his golden car...yeah, like my golden car, then he knocked on my door... aaaand he made me a cake...aaaaaaand then I ate it, and I said 'thankyou'"

And, a couple favorite books for today:

Friday Fave~CandyTime

Mommy Community has requested that I blog for Friday Favorites, this weeks meme being CANDY, love it or hate it?
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Rocky Road candybars, I also love Reese's peanut butter cups, and Bubblicious bubble gum in strawberry (does that count as a candy?) I prefer the mini peanut buttercups and orange bubblicious, but they stopped making the orange flavor :( Hmmmm, I also LOVE chic-o-sticks, and Reese's pieces. I can't wait for easter to come so I can stock up on Cadbury eggs...Ooooohhh I love those things!
Candy I hate would be: black licorice, and any hard candies or candy canes.
My kids...they would live on M&M's!!
One year I made a cake for Grace, on her 10th Birthday, of 2 M&M characters stranded on an island, and bordered the cake with mini M&M's, and used brown sugar for the 'sand' and tiny cake palm trees from another cake, and wrote S.O.S. on the sand in cake writing gel, it was too cute! She loved it!

Crazy photos, Goodwill find

Doin' some crazy picture takin' for fun, Drew's idea. I just love the look look on Beau face when he's lookin' at me, it's such a loving look. I adore my boy! Drew trying to make the 'grace' face, you know the 'cool' face teens make for myspace shots...drama...I do believe she has my eyes though!

Found this great hotwheels steering wheel toy for Beau at the Goodwill today as I was browsing while Drew and Beau were at VBS. It was a rare find, made in 1999, and in completely perfect working condition. He has been running all around the house and backyard pretending to be a race car driver, crashing and speeding, shifting and stopping...HE IS SUCH A BOY!

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Chain Email, Drew random photo

This is just a random pic of Drew I had taken at the zoo, and was running through all the photos, I like to look back and see if I missed enhancing a good one or not. This one is so random, she was sitting in the butterfly exhibit, and it truly is a beautiful shot, without intention. She just looks solemn, as if pondering something so deep. I love it!
On another note: I keep recieving this email from many contacts, a 'chain' email of sorts. You know, the ones that promise some grand experience if you forward it to 10, 15 or 20 people? I most often just delete them and move on, I don't even bother reading anything with a FW: in the title. I HATE THEM, I REALLY DO! But, this time, I read it, my Dad fwd'd this one, and my Dad, well, I have to read it if it's from my Dad and it must be worth fwding to someone else if it's from my Dad right? Well, this one was read all, fwd to 15 contacts, and your wish will come true in the number of minutes that equals your age. Okay, so 30 minutes for me...My only wish is to reconnect with my BF from HS, Christa Johnson was her name. We did so much together, and she is lost to me. I have not seen her since my oldest dtr was around 1 year old I think? I loved her! I adored her! The me that I am with her is different. I want a little of that back. I miss seeing and being in contact with MY friends. Since my friends are now, my husbands friend's' wifes. Know how that goes? Not that that is not okay, or not better for me, but I just need a reconnect, just once, that's all, so...I fwd'd this stupid email to more than 15 people, did it work, NO NO NO! Did I really believe it would? NO NO NO! So, from now on, I will continue to delete in bulk ALL fwd's anyone sends me...NO 'must get this one back', NO 'read all then forward to...' THEY ARE GARBAGE!
I will say to Donna...I did sign the mastectomy bill. Thanks for that one!

VBS

Drew and Beau have been attending VBS this week, and they are having a blast! Beau is loving going to "school", and since everything so far has been speaking of 'fish' of some sort or another, they have his complete attention. Today, they made a whale from a milk jug, and a bean bag Jonah for the whale to eat.Beau thinks it's the greatest thing ever, and has not put it down since he left VBS today. The paint is starting to chip off he has played with it so much. I am so happy that they are enjoying it, and Drew has let me know that she has made 3 new friends as well. And, they ate dirt, you know, "dirt" cake...Beau also found that to be so 'amazin'!

Kangaroodles,Mama Speaks

I must try to win something! Drea keeps having so many contests, I am bound to get atleast something right? Well, this site Kangaroodles has some great items, inventions for modern moms, this is my must have. Something we would definitely use a lot, especially when camping!
Mama Speaks is a new website showing the newest and most sought after inventions for moms, with reviews by moms! Wow! I missed alot as a new mom, but then again, I did just fine without all these gadgets...however, would be nice to try some now!

GeoCaching, Fiery Night Sky

This past sunday, my SIL came to visit with her two dtrs, and she invited us to tag along with her to go geocaching. This is an amazing thing to take your kids to do! It is basically treasure hunting, only with a handheld GPS unit to locate latitude/longitude points. My SIL had a travel bug she had taken from another cache in Washington, so she placed it here when we found our 1st cache. The whole point is that you take something, leave something. Most things are random trinkets, like McDonalds toys, or $ store items. Then you sign the log, name and date found, and replace it. I made a montage to illustrate just how fun it is. Drew and Beau loved it, and so did I! It is also a wonderful way to see the outdoors with your kids. Just down from our first cache find was a turtle pond with tons of dragonflies flittering about. It was great fun to see many things we don't see everyday, we also came across a huge white spider eating a bumble bee on a thistle. Pic is in montage.You can read all about geocaching, locate some near you, and create your own geocaching profile here .

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Can you believe this sky? This is the sunset from last eve just above our road! I had to take a pic, it's just amazing to see such drastic color!

Random ramblings from Beau: "Hey, mom, peter pan has a pickled pepper. I didn't know that, but he won't let me have one!" What?! I wonder where this came from...

Just stuff in my head

I always sing this song to my boy, "Beau Michael, My son, He's handsome, The only one!" He loves it and will sing it with me. Well, anymore, when he or Leah is feeling 'loving' they will say to me or, for example, the other night to Drew Leah said, "Oooh! You my son!" It's become thier way of saying "I love you". It cracks me up!
At the same time, when Beau becomes angry with me he will say, "Mom, your so amazin'!" "Mom, your just a genius!" Or a new one, "Mom, your just carin' too much!"
Yesterday when we were visiting my Mom, she asked Beau is he was gonna give her a kiss goodbye, he went over to her and said, "I can't, if I give you a kiss it will make you sick!" He is trying to understand her surgery and healing...lol.
When Beau gets mad at Leah, he always says, "She's such a stinkin' baby!"

Something New, Something Fun

I got this new flower plant called LANTANA, I love it! My mom had one in her flower pot, and it changes colors! Like a kaleidescope. And, best of all it thrives in full sun! It is only showing some yellow right now, but it will change to orange and pink, gradually. The variety is called 'Sunset Paradise'. I planted 2 in my new wine barrel along with 3 white petunias and a bright pink geranium.

We have a wonderfull program here through the firefighters association. Whether you trade in your old bicycle helmet or not, you can get a free one! They size your child, ensure the straps are tight enough, and that the correct thickness of padding is in the helmet! Beau was very much in need of one, and so I took him down to the city hall, and he got a red one. He had wanted one that was $25.00 (ouch!) at Fred Meyer because it had hotwheel cars on it, but instead we got this free red one and dressed it up with disney 'CARS' movie character stickers from the Dollar Tree. He loved showing off his helmet for Mom to take a pic. Drew wanted a new one too (mostly because Beau got one), but hers still fits, so she revamped hers by adding spongebob stickers. A fun easy cheap way to specialize thier own helmets! I did this with my oldest Dtr when she was 2 as well.

Today I feel...

New Store to Shop

Okay, so I need need needed some tank tops and shorts, and just could not find anything at Old Navy, Target, Kmart, or Sears which is all we have here in lame Albany Oregon. However, this weekend is 'crazy dayz' and so many stores are having major summer clearance, and I happened to notice some tank tops at this store called Christopher&Banks I love this store! Tank tops were only 6.99, so I got a few! They are on the spendier side, at regular price, but I would never buy it regular retail. A Great place to find a bargain this time of year on summer clothing!

Bathtime Fun

I saw this bath faucet cover on another blog, I had to get it! It's so cool! The kids love it, here is a quick video of Beau raving. It makes washing thier hair sooo much easier, and you can add bubble bath into the green area to disperse with the water flowing. A MUST HAVE FOR TODDLERS!

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7 things about ME

Okay, a meme, got tagged by Margo. I will try my best to name 7 things about ME that you may or may not already know. Here goes...
1. I wash windows everyday, I hate looking at smudges from little people's hands, they don't last forever I know, but they make thier mark everyday!
2. I love to vaccume. This is one chore I will not delegate. I have toned down, but used to vaccume almost every day.
3. I love flowers. I think it is so amazing and satisfying to put a seed in the ground and see the end result. I have many flowers, most all bloom in spring/summer time. Watering/weeding is MY time, well, usually.
4. I cannot stand diet pepsi, my husband has decided that is what he will drink, and that it is what I SHOULD drink, and I probably should, but this should be MY decision. I sometimes buy a 1/2 case of regular and hide it...and drink it when he's gone.
5. I like to eat spicy pork rinds, something I get from my Dad, something my DH hates to see me eat!
6. I have NEVER vacationed outside of Oregon. :(
7. I can't stand to swim in a lake, the thought of something slimy touching my foot or leg freaks me out!

Trip to the Zoo

Zoo Day was sooo crazy! I got there by 9am, still a LONG line. Got in, most all the animals were not to be seen, it was too hot outside, so they must have been hiding out in shady areas, so big bummer for the kids not to get to see alot of the animals. They did get to see some fishies, the sea lions, which Beau kept calling out "Here comes the shark!" whenever it swam near the window, lol. We had the most fun in the butterfly exhibit, Winged Wonders, it was very hot in there though, and so we had to get out quick. My camera died ofcourse halfway through the zoo...always my luck! The kids loved the meerkats the most, I think, Leah kept saying "Ooohhh! It's so cuuuutte!" The bats were hideous, Drew was amazed by how ugly they are, you just don't see them around here. So, my 2 hour plan did not work, we got home by 2:30, and it was sooo hot. I think it was 104? We all got in the pool once home...here are the pics, sorry took my so long to post, I was pooped out Tuesday night, and went to bed early, no blogging, and I worked last night.

Had to do this...

Many of the blogging momma's I read up on have been posting this, I must say, Drea had a very high percentage...Mine isn't so bad???
58%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Online Dating

My Mom is home...HOT SUMMER DAY!

Okay, so my Mom is back home from her surgery! She looks great! She is still having some numbness to the left side of her face, stroke-like, flaccid. But, with time it will go away. She is using a walker for balance right now, and is getting around rather well. I was at thier house this morning getting everything finished, clean, ready for her to come home. They have wood floors, and slippery carpets at every entry from them, those had to GO! Fall risk. She can lift nothing heavier than a cup of coffee, cannot bend below the waist, and must NOT sleep flat. She has an incision in her spine, and if it begins to leak spinal fluid, she must go to ER. So far, she looked good, incision looked fine, no leaking, no redness. My oldest, Miss Grace is helping to take care of her since she is on summer vacation. Those two are very close, so this will be good for her. I know when I was her age, I wished I had been able to help take care of my grandmother. Ofcourse, my Mom is getting better, recovering from surgery, and my Grandmother was ill with cancer. There is nothing like the bond between the first Grandchild, and a Grandmother, atleast, in my family.
Of note: My Grace went to Camp this past week, of her own will she went through some bible study classes and chose to accept Christ into her life. I am very proud. Hopefully she keeps on the right path through the upcoming challenges of being a preteen/teenager in todays world. I want nothing less than the best for her.

~

What a hot hot day it has been today! Started out okay, quite a breeze blowing, but this late evening the breeze died down leaving the humid air to linger, mostly INSIDE MY HOUSE! Augggh! It's so hard to get the kids to bed with this kind of heat inside, since we have no A/C. A few ceiling fans, but they do not suffice. We did spend an hour or so in the pool late afternoon, the kids had a blast! Then we hung out on the back porch, Beau playing in the 'dust' with his little tractor truck yelling "Mommy! Mommy! Take a picture of me playin' in the dust with my tractor!" Okay...
I did get them to bed early this evening anyway since I plan on taking them all to the zoo tomorrow morning. Only thing is, once I got them down I still have to run around watering all the flowers, doing laundry and getting the drinks and food ready to pack up for the trip tomorrow. Can't pass up 2 buck tuesday even if it's supposed to be in the upper 90's, which means over 100 in the valley d/t the humidity levels. My plan: up at 5am, get shower, finish getting everything together, water the back yard flower beds, turn off pool pump, wake kids up one by one and get them all ready, fed, and cleaned up to leave not later than 7:30am. Crazy? Yeah, I probably am, NO...I AM FOR SURE! But, hey, one day, I can handle it, so surely they can too! It will all be worth it once they see the animals, and the butterfly exhibit will blow thier little minds! It's amazing! Pics a promise!
Frustrations for the day...kids no naps, behaviours were insane at times, trying my every nerve...I swear I cannot do all I need to do in one day's outing! I know this, and everytime, I do it anyway. These crazy late summer nights are gonna kill me!

A Midsummers Eve

Okay, I love photos, love this whole 'slide' thing and playing around with different ways to post my photos. I LOVE TAKING PICTURES AND I LOVE BLOGGING! I will give detail to this slide: I noticed a ladybug on the petunias and Beau ran straight over to look, it had already hidden itself so we peered in and I could not resist taking a pic of the ladybug in the petals. Then Beau and Leah decided to go play with the car ramp which Drew had placed on top of the trampoline, and it was instant that Leah's hair began to stick straight up in the air! Too cute to pass up the photo op!
The kids swam a little after Daddy got home from work and we were all out sitting in the back yard...Beau is a maniac in the water and Leah loves her floatie. I am amazed that it even holds her wieght, since she is 35lb, and Beau is only 30lb!
A bit later as I was watering the front yard flower beds and strawberries, Beau and Leah came running out in diaper and swim trunks, with thier rubber boots on, lol, and began racing on the paver step stones I had placed in the strawberry patch for them to walk on, Leah emerged first, "I winned!"

Got one!

We finally found a decent price on a patio set, and DH got it all put together in one day...enjoying his days work...things always take him so much longer than me to put together, but this one I was not going to tackle since I was stuck putting together the camp stove while we were camping, which in my opinion, HE should have done before we ever left for camping!

Update

My Mom had her surgery today for the growth in her neck, but turns out it was in her brain. It was a pocket of spinal fluid. NO TUMOR! Thankyou Lord! She is in ICU, recovering, doing well, and my Dad says she should make it home by Monday given all goes well from here! I am so happy! I LOVE YOU MOM, MORE THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW!

Campin' Again...

We made it through our second camping trip with the kids, and we took along my cousins' dtr, Jayd. She was an angel, and made a great playmate for Drew. The girls' rode bikes around camp alot, one night we all went on a ride, each of the kids with those glow in the dark tube necklaces on for fun, many of the other campers thought that was cute! We took the kids to the river to swim, and that is where I gathered the lot of most of my photos, it was a GREAT spot. I loved how they came out. Leah, she decided the dirt was the most interesting thing, and covered herself as if it were plaster of paris. I did not have my camera ready for the really bad messes she made of herself since we went to the river more than once. I literally had to hold her upside down in the shower afterward to get the dirt out of the potty parts, IT WAS CAKED IN! Daddy took the Boy fishin', and as excited as he was to go, only minutes into 'fishin' he threw his pole down INTO the river and decided swimming was more fun! We almost lost his pole, the little stinker! The kids had a blast, but Beau and Leah made more whine than I could handle! I think 2 days is our max for this summer for any camp trip!
Oh, and must add, 2nd day...we let the kids play at the park area, and I sat down under a tree for shade when shortly afterward Darrin was observing many birds eating cherries off of another tree, moments later I feel something drop on my chest and leg, and...you guessed it, BIRD POOP, RED CHERRY BIRD POOP! Auugghh! He found it quite amusing.

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Bad Day

Here we are, just days before the 4th, and we are packing up to go camping again. I have been looking forward to going more, but today is a bad day. I am so impatient, not sure if it's me, or if the kid really are being so disobedient d/t being up late nights, and being sooo OVER TIRED! Whatever it may be, it's driving me crazy! Drew is just back talking left and right, Beau woke up puking again, and Leah will not eat for the life of me. She just begs and begs for a ba-ba! Today I have the obscene urge to just throw that thing in the garbage can, and tell her 'you lost it!' the next time she asks me for it! So mean, I know, but it is time to do away with it...I tossed my oldest dtr's once she started throwing her full bottle down moments after I had filled it at her request. I filled the 2nd dtr's with lemon juice, diluted 2/3 with water, and then she decided on her own that ba-ba's were 'gucky'. Beau helped me throw all of his away nipple by bottle by ring, one by one, and that was that! Leah, ah Leah, not sure what the trick will be for her, but the time has come!
Drew, she better straighten up or I am gonna lose my mind! I know she needs some sleep, as is the usual when she behaves this way. We'll see how this trip goes!

A Summer Afternoon

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