Camping Trip July 2008

We had a great camping trip this past weekend. Like most vacations however, it was a bit tiring, and it's taking a few days to recover! It's a lot of work going camping with two little guys, but definitely worth it! The strangest thing for me was actually being the parents, and being the one to take my children camping. Does that make sense? When you're a kid you don't have all the responsibility, and there is always mom or dad to look to for help. But this trip was a whole new experience since it's the first time I've camped since being married. It's a strange reality to have arrived at this place in life: I just had to sit and marvel at the fact that I have children now and my husband and I are the ones taking them camping and creating new memories for our family. So here are some of those memories!

Moses was excited, along with Elijah, to go camping!

We were packed and ready for our trip on Sunday morning. It's a tight squeeze taking a family of four camping in a small 4 dour car. Our plan was to go to church with our car packed and leave right after.

We were quite packed in!

It's amazing how much stuff we took camping with us! Most of which we really needed and did use.

Our campsite: You can see me by the fire on the left and our table is kind of messy. We arrived a bit later then we expected because we stopped to pick blueberries at a u-pick farm along the way! So we were hurriedly trying to set up camp and get dinner going because the boys were hungry. I made chicken in the slow cooker the day before and refrigerated it. We reheated it over the fire with BBQ sauce(wrapped in foil ), and then we had homemade pasta salad and baked beans (heated up on our camping stove).

Some good friends let us borrow their tent which was a great blessing.

Papa and Elijah. I didn't get Elijah to smile in this shot, but he really was having a great time!

Our first morning eating breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage


We had a beautiful gorgeous day on Monday!


We hung out with some good friends over at the beach and the guys had a great time digging a moat around a big mound of sand. Do you see a resemblance in the background?


Janine and I enjoyed visiting and taking pictures of our boys having fun in the sand!

The Boys had a lot of fun!

Elijah sitting on Moses' lap in a little chair by our campfire

Beach Campfire

Our last morning hair, and there!
Moses sleeping so soundly, but I had to wake him yup so we could pack up our stuff. The boys slept great by the way, considering it was really cold and a whole new sleeping experience.

It was a joy to experience camping with our boys and be together as a family.

Children are a blessing

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the children of one's youth.
Blessed is the man
who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. "
Psalm 127 3-5

I love this passage and I thought it only appropriate to post it today. I am finally announcing to all that Finlay baby #3 is coming soon!!! I am about 5 weeks along and due near the end of March 2009. I am feeling okay overall, I haven't been sick, just exhausted. With two little boys I don't have the luxury of napping whenever I want, but I get rest when I can. I just feel blah on some days and don't want to do anything. We are going camping this weekend, and even though my energy has been low it will be wonderful to go to the coast and camp for the first time as a family!

Below is a link to one of the sweetest videos of Moses that I wanted to share

Singing Moses

Free Giveaway Contests

I was just over at Biblicalwomanhood checking out Frugal Fridays and found a website with some contests. Natalie of CurlyWurlyGurly is doing a “Breakfast in Bed” give-away. You should go over and visit her site and check it out too:)

If you like natural soaps and candles, here is another contest to check out at Mommie Daze

One more over at Shake the Salt. It goes on for another month and there are a lot of entries already, but hey, it's worth a try!

Pets

So, I think we might be naming our fish Blueberry! We will see. The boys seemed to like that one, and especially since we've been eating lots of berries lately!

A kitten followed us home today on our walk. I fed him a bit of lunch meat(not sure if that is good for him or not, but I wasn't sure what else to feed him). The kitten seemed awful hungry and skinny. So, he's been sticking around all day. We will see how long he hangs out. He is cute, although it might be a she. I asked the boys what they wanted to call it and Moses replied, "Blueberry!" How funny! My husband will be so tickled to see the cat when he gets home from work. He is the biggest cat lover of anyone I've ever met. I'll have to post a better picture later.

Include Your Children in Your Work

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."
~ Colossians 3:23-24

It is good that our children see us working in our homes with a glad heart. It is good for them to learn at a young age that work is not a negative thing. In addition to that I am learning what a blessing it is for them to join me in my work. Though they are boys, they will learn much by helping mama in what I do. They also help Papa when he is home, but since they spend a good amount of time with me during the day, I am slowly learning the benefits to having them help me with my chores.

Elijah is almost 2 and Moses is almost 3 and today they both helped me vacuum and empty the dishwasher. Sometimes they also help me "wash" dishes (aka: play in the bubbles!). But I've been impressed with how they learn, I should not be surprised, but I am still, they are so smart. Kids are capable of far more than what is often expected of them, which is usually very little. So I'm trying to teach and train more...I feel that I lack so much, but that is good because it makes me far more dependent on the Lord. Better to feel needy for HIM rather than feel like I can do it all so well on my own. Anyways, Moses has been trained to put the utensils away (ahem, it's like a matching game!) and he and Elijah can hand me items from the dishwasher that go in high cupboards. Usually, I think that I need to occupy them with an activity or wait until naps for me to do chores, but it's been wonderful incorporating them to help me with the chores. Granted, what would take me 5 minutes might turn into 10 minutes with a little one helping. But the extra time is worth it as they learn that work is what we're made to do and that we should do it with a glad heart.

Homemade Deodorant

I haven't experimented too much with natural deodorants that you buy in the store, but the one I have tried didn't work too well for me. I have not completely given up my very bad for me anti-persperant(who wants to stink), that is until yesterday. I hate sweating, but it's very natural and good, but the very natural scent just stinks. So, since I really don't want to keep using aluminum in my deodorant and I don't want to smell when I sweet--if I can help it--I finally tried a homemade recipe I found at Lindsay's blog. I am VERY impressed with this simple homemade all natural deodorant.

I halfed the recipe since I wanted to make a smaller portion:

2 TBS baking soda
2 TBS arrowroot powder or cornstarch (i used cornstarch)
2-3 TBS coconut oil

mix together until you get a firm consistancy. I store mine in a small glass jar with a lid (here is a tip: in the condiment asile where they sell oilves and pickles (at least at my Fred Meyer) they sell pimentos in these tiny jars, I think they are like 1 oz. or 2 maybe, but they are perfect for something like this deodorant!! My jar of pimentos was only 1.09 or something. )

I am 100% positive that you will be impressed! I was amazed to go through my day not not smeel. Yes you still sweat but it does not stink! Apply liberally too.

Commercialization of Childhood

Stacy over at yoursacredcalling has such a good post in response to a video about the commercialization of children. I want to encourage you to just go to the site and check it out.