If You Give a Mom a Camera . . .

If you give a mom a camera, she'll want to take pictures of her babies.
If she takes pictures, she'll want to share them.
When she shares them, she will want to tell about them.
So she'll start a blog, post pictures and write about them.
While she's on the blog, she'll decide to check out other blogs.
On another blog site, she will notice a Flickr badge.
When she clicks on the Flickr badge, she'll discover thatshe can have a Flickr account!
After she opens her Flickr account she will add pictures to her account.
While she's adding pictures, she will play around with all the really cool features Flickr has.
When she's exploring Flickr, she'll run across a "Do More with Your Pictures" link.
When she clicks on that link, she'll see something called Blurb.
As she checks out Blurb, she will discover that she can print her blogs into one very nice, bound book.
She will want to download the Booksmart software, just to play with!
Once she plays with it, she will want to make a book.
When she finishes her first blog book, she will want to make another.
As she works on her blog book, she'll realize how many events and occurances are missing from her stories.
She will want to write more stories.
If she writes more stories, she will want to add more pictures.
In order to take more pictures, she will have to find her camera.

News flash: Lisa finds new obsession--making blog books. News at Eleven.

Copyright 2007
Lisa A. Baker

Just a Reminder . . .

. . . that I have two blogs. My homeschool blog has been updated recently. In fact, God has given me some deep, special things to think about, and I have reflected on them there. Also watch as we travel the world. I'll keep our travels up to date there!

Camping Photos

From our recent trip:

No PS2. No WII. No TV. No bike or inline skates. What's a boy to do?

...Plenty!!! (I never heard "I'm bored!" the entire weekend!)

The boys made boats for a rain-gutter regata.

AJ didn't quite get the whole "don't use your hands" thing.

I was feelin' a might skeered when I saw this.

(For you Yankees, that's quite frightened!)

Getting ready to shoot arrows.

What else is there in life?

National Lampoon's Cub Scout Adventure

I spent Friday night and a very LONG Saturday at Cuboree, an annual Cub Scout camping event. It was fun. Yeah. I can't wait to go next year. And I'm SO relieved that next year is still a year away.

As usual, all my plans for getting out of the house early went to pot. Somehow I always feel like my life operates according to Murphy's Law. I awoke Friday morning feeling a little under the weather--like I was coming down with a bug. A very dear friend had agreed to take my boys along with her on a co-op field trip, so I had most of the day to get stuff done, but instead I started the morning taking a needed nap. I wouldn't have, except I knew the boys would be very disappointed if I couldn't take them camping. When I got up, I had an extended quiet time with the Lord, then I had to get my five hours of chores done in about one. Not a great start.

I managed to pull together most of our camping stuff, but even after I picked the boys up and got them home, I kept thinking of so many things I needed to do before I left, that we left much later than planned. We finally arrived at the camp ground at about 7 pm. It was hot and very muggy, and I was already sweaty, tired and crabby from the hectic packing and leaving. With very generous help from the dads on the trip, I managed to get set up pretty quickly, and the evening was pretty laid back--mostly just playing around the campsite and toasting white fuel. (I've decided that I need to just reset my thinking and call marshmallows what they are--fuel.) Of course, it was laid back after I made the trip home to get some important things I forgot (like the pump to blow up the air mattress).

Getting ready for bed was a little tricky. While the scout camp ground was equipped with enough Port-O-Potties, there wasn't much in the way of other facilities. I suppose other people had had a rough evening too, but there wasn't much excuse for the guy who kept heckling us while we (three of us!) used the bathroom to do our end-of-the-evening business (the kind even boys can't do in the woods!) and clean up. I finally told the guy in no uncertain terms that there was a line INSIDE the bathroom just like there was one outside!

Then we headed back to our tent and the boys headed inside while I washed my filthy feet (bright idea wearing my imitation Crock sandals in Florida dirt). As I was trying to clean myself up, the boys found a guest in our tent--the kind with wings and a large brown body, and a cute Mexican song named for him. They kept panicking over him, while I kept telling them to just pick him up and throw him out--after all, it is better to catch him than to have him crawl over you in the middle of the night! (Ugghh! Gives me the heebie jeebies all over again!) But he got away. So I searched all over (didn't want him crawling on ME in the night) and finally freed him from the constraints of our tent.

At last we laid our sweaty bodies down in the stuffy tent. (Sadly, I had to sleep on the real hard ground. The pump made it but the nozel to fit into the mattress didn't.) The boys complained that they'd never be able to fall asleep, and I had just enough time to threaten their lives if they touched me before I heard them snoring. It only took me another two hours to start dozing. But dozing was all I did for a long while. First the heat kept me awake. Then one of my boys started talking in his sleep. Then I heard another boy in another tent crying for mommy. Night noises. Woodsy noises. My other boy sitting up and talking. Finally I dozed off, almost asleep. It was probably about 2:30 am. At about 3:30 I was jarred awake by the sound of wheezing--an all-too-familiar sound of someone (a dad, not a kid) having an asthma attack. My heart raced as I wondered what to do. Finally I got up and stepped out of the tent. By that time, he had evidently found an inhaler and the gasping had turned to just coughing, and was settling down. But of course my heart was racing and my adrenaline pumping. I was wide awake now. And hey! It was cool outside! But I got back into my tent and decided to read and pray for a while. Then I went back to sleep for a few more hours.

Morning came too soon, but I got up, got the boys fed and we headed to the flag ceremony. The day was filled with activities for the boys, as I ran back and forth to camp to pack things up, break down the tent and lug stuff to the car (we weren't allowed to take the parked cars back into the camp sites on Saturday). After lunch, I left for a while to head home (just a couple miles away) and check on the dogs and at that time I did the smartest thing of the day--I unloaded most of our stuff. I spent the rest of the day walking and either looking for our pack or watching the boys.

While I know this sounds like a terrible trip, and it WAS hot and exhausting, I actually found many things for which to be thankful. Last year every single camping trip we had planned was cancelled by inclement weather or something else. All year I never felt the group blended well. But this weekend I was able to get to know and really enjoy the other dads and boys. It was really fun to be around guys talking about air conditioning units and football teams--I don't get to do that much. It was also fun to see the boys really enjoying other boys, and running around without hinderance. The activities were fun for them, and the men there really pitched in and watched my boys or helped me with things so I could juggle everything.

I was also thankful that Saturday we had overcast weather and a little rain, but it never poured. It was nice weather for outdoors activities. We also came home to a fairly clean house, and although I still have all the stuff to go through, I always feel good when I do something so out of my element like camping. One of the experienced dads teased me as a couple of newer dads helped me set up that I was actually more experienced than anyone there. It was fun going and kind of knowing what I was doing. And even though it was hot, and I clearly saw again how out of shape I am physically, I survived, got much needed exercise, and slept VERY well last night. I also really appreciate all the little luxuries God has given us that I usually take for granted (like air conditioning and hot showers).

So the next camping trip? Well, I think we could go.

Life With Kitty

OK. The boys can come up with wonderful names . . . I know they can. They've come up with great names for their Webkinz! AJ has three named Root Beer Bandit, Chocolate Chip, and Cookies N Cream. Josh has a monkey named Pernix (Latin for agile) and a bear named Mini-Me (he was a bear in the play, remember). So why in the world do we have a cat named Kitty? Actually her name is Kitty Pryde--it's a super hero thing. I've decided I hate it. I wasn't crazy about Chewy when we thought she was a he, but at least he had a real name. There's just a part of me that wants to call her something, and I feel like I'm not really calling her anything when I call "Kitty, Kitty, Kitty!" Everybody calls their cat with that!!! I may have to take this whole thing into my own hands and name the poor animal!

Other than the goofy name, life with Kitty is fun. I AM her mama. In fact, every now and then she just wants to see my face, so she grabs on to one of my legs with her small little claws and scales me like a tree. Yeah, I know. Cute now . . . not so much when she's ten pounds. Our favorite times of day are when she goes into what Josh has labelled "loopy mode." She races around attacking anything that moves and acts all goofy and funny. She's a little rough on the hands in loopy mode (and face, and toes, and arms . . . ), but we are definitely enjoying playing with her. OK, so maybe we're enjoying her a little too much, but we'll get school and those chores done eventually! Of course we also love the mood she's in when she just wakes up. She purrs and purrs and loves us back. The boys really like having an animal that will snuggle with you and let you carry it like a baby. Not that we don't love the dogs anymore, we just like the different dynamics of having a cat.

I'm not so fond of the litter box (which is in my bathroom, getting litter all over my floor--a real joy when you have wet feet!), and loopy mode gets a bit exhausting when she decides to go into it at 5 am (with my face!), and she's only just starting to get the message that counters and tables are not fair game for her curiosity. But none of those things are as dreadful as I had been programmed to remember (by the cat hater in our family!), and I'm quickly deciding that they are worth the inconvenience to have the fun of a kitty . . . er Kitty. Only, now I have to go, 'cause she's sitting on my desk and she thinks the keyboard is a fun place to walk. So vdsfnapfh aewfrawfywae fhafaehf . . . .

If You're Askin' What That Noise Is . . .

. . . scroll down to the bottom!!! I've figured out how to link to video feed. Only, I can't figure out how to get it into the middle of my blog yet. But LOOK AT WHAT I FOUND!!! (OK, Eva. Never mind. You won't watch it anyway. . . . But I LOVE you!!!)

We're Still Treading Water

OK, I haven't fallen off the planet. I have either been:

a) busy (School and kids are killing me!)
b) playing Webkinz (sorry, I know I'm a grown-up, but it's how I unwind)
c) just not feeling like blogging (yeah, I know--what? Me not blog?)
d) playing with the kitten (oh yeah. Did I mention we now have a kitten?)

Guess I have a lot to catch you up on. I'll try to do some this weekend.

God Covers All My Ducks

I've known for a while that all my ducks weren't in a row. Financially, I'm a goofball. No, really, I am. One of the things I've known for a while that I should do is make a list of everything in my wallet . . . you know, just in case it went missing. Didn't do it, but I should have.

Today the two younger boys and I went to the library in Gainesville. We do this monthly, so it's not an unusual thing. Before we left, we stopped at Sonic for a quick bite to eat (I do love that place!), so of course I had to use the . . . ehh hem . . . ladies room while we were there. I went back to the business of roaming around one of my favorite places in the world, picking out more books than we will ever read (but gosh! I could roll in them and be happy!). Unexpectedly, I was called to the circulation desk. I wondered what it was about--had they discovered fifteen books I forgot to bring back? Quick, where are the kids? So I went to grab my purse . . . only to find . . . no purse.

And yes, that was it. When I got to the desk, someone had turned in my purse, which I had left sitting on the shelf behind me in the restroom stall. Quickly I unzipped it to find that my wallet and a small change purse had been stolen. So the boys and I sat around the library for a couple hours waiting for a police officer so I could report my wallet missing. Meanwhile, my overactive brain was trying to recall what billions of cards I was carrying in those two wallets.

Now, for how God covered my ducks, even though I had not:

• I only carry one credit card and one debit card. They are on the same account, so I had them cancelled in about ten minutes.
• My bank was able to quickly lock my account with a password.
• Most of my money had been left in my car, so they only got about ten bucks.
• My car was running literally on fumes, but because I had left my money in the car, I had money to get gas.
• Whoever stole my wallet left behind my checkbook and car keys.
• My kids were safe.
• No weapons were involved.
• Everyone from the people at the circulation desk to the policeman that responded was very nice.
• I never broke down in tears.
• I only really have to replace my driver's license and wallet. The other cards will be easy to replace . . . if I remember all of them.
• I didn't lose either of my library cards . . . well, I did lose my Clay County one, but I never use it anyway! My Jax and Alachau ones are safe and sound, and we were still able to check out all our books today!

As my best friend Eva told me, I had my cell phone, keys and library cards! How bad could it be?

A Kitty Tail . . . Er . . . Tale

Last week as we were leaving church the boys kept saying, "Mom, Mom! There's a cat back there [behind a shed] about the size of the guinea pig!"

Finally I checked it out. It was NOT a cat. It was a teeny new kitten. His eyes were still closed, and he was lying in the mud screeching! So I picked him up! I took him into the kitchen and got a towel to wrap him in, then took him home.

Once home, I gave him a little milk and started to warm him up. I got on the Internet, to see what to do for him, only to read "Do not give cow's milk!"

Ooops.

I put him in a bin with a heating pad, and run to the pet store to get kitten formula. Now I'm committed. Come home, feed him. For about two days, I worried that he wasn't eating enough, worried that he would dehydrate from diareaha . . . . worried about this teeny, helpless little thing.

But he's a scrappy little fighter. Over the week he has gained two ounces or more, and is SO CUTE! The boys and I are in love. We named him Chewbacca--Chewie for short. Yeah, I know. It's all over when you name them.

We are not keeping him. Yeah. Right.

All in a Week

So much has happened in the last week that I hardly know where to start. So here's the gist:

• Sunday: found kitten less than a week old, older boys left for a week for camp, AJ went with his dad for the day, I start around the clock rotations to feed the kitten
• Monday: watched kids for the day, kept feeding kitten, took AJ to see Transformers
• Tuesday: more kids, still feeding kitten every four to five hours, AJ has friend over for the day, then goes to friend's house to spend the night, I have dinner with a friend
• Wednesday: I have lunch with a friend, AJ at his friend's until after lunch, I take AJ and his friend to Chuck E. Cheese, AJ supposed to spend the night with his Pawpaw, but it was delayed
• Thursday: AJ leaves to spend a couple of days with Pawpaw, I run errands, afternoon brings a call from a weepy AJ who misses me, spend evening with my dearest friend and her kids
• Friday: AJ decides to come home early, I RUSH to get SOMETHING done before he does, boys come home from camp late that evening . . . . and yes, I am STILL feeding the kitten every four to six hours. I'm tired.
• Saturday: boys and mom sleep in, get a few things done in the afternoon, talk about boys' week, run out to get groceries

There you have it. Our week in a nutshell . . . or maybe that's our week in a nut house.

Poll Results Are In

If you suddenly found you had time to do whatever you wanted, how would you spend that time?

Well, my first poll results are in, and the books have it. Of course, only seven people voted, so it's not exactly official. The results?

57% would prefer to read a book
28% would prefer to hang out with a friend
14% would prefer to play on the computer

I'm trying to think of my next question, so stay tuned. It'll be up soon.

Things Moms Must Know About Boys

These are 'specially important to know if you didn't grow up with brothers.

• Boys do not wear panties. They wear underwear, boxers, briefs, skivvies, but not panties.
• Boys do not have slumber parties. They are called sleepovers, and they require LOTS of food, at least two video game systems, and DVDs with lots of combat and goofy humor.
• Boys do not play with dolls. They are called action figures.
• Boys do not play dress up. They wear the uniform for the current battle. Usually that battle is related to whatever battle DVD they are watching or just watched.
• Boy movies do not have to make sense or have a logical plot. They just have to have several weapons, body noises, and senseless humor. No kissing or happy endings, thank you. They're fine if everyone dies at the end.
• Do not call boys sweetie, honey, dear, or sugar. You can use buddy, big guy, or dude if you like.
• If you call a girl "boy" or "dude" she'll look at you like you have three heads. Then she'll shrug and walk off, thinking you're crazy. But if you call a boy "girl" or "princess" or something like that, he'll begin arming for war. Them's fightin' words!
• Boys automatically speak a second language. It includes belches, farts, armpit noises, and all kinds of other body noises.
• Boys need sound effects. They come prewired to make noises of explosions, shooting, and machine gun fire. Some girls will never figure out how to make these noises correctly.
• Boys insult each other the way dogs sniff each other's tails. It's just not as offensive to them as it is to us girls.

This isn't an exhaustive list, just tips to get you started.

Some Random Things

• There are SEVEN boys downstairs right now. They are playing video games, eating (of course!), and making LOTS of noise. All but one are sleeping over. I expect it will be a late night.
• I got a new grill in April. I finally made perfect hamburgers and hot dogs on it tonight (not burned). It's not me. The grill runs very hot. Really. Anyway, I'm feeling very proud of myself.
• There are no hamburgers left . . . and I made more than there were people. But I still have hot dogs!
• I have twelve books of my own that I'm trying to read, but for some reason, I have spent the last three days reading one of Josh's (one I'm pre-reading, so he can read it). I wish he'd get off my back.
• I'm trying to figure out why I clean house before the boys have friends over. This time, I didn't do much, and I'm feeling OK about it.
• On Sunday my older boys go to camp. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the youngest. If he stays with me, I'm trying to figure out who he can talk to.
• My back hurts. I went to the chiropractor today and he said my sacroilliac is out of place. He put it back in place, but it doesn't seem to want to stay where it belongs. I'm wondering if I can just buy a new one.
• My oldest son acts weird when he's around friends. Is that normal?
• I really like my sons' friends. They are a lot of fun. Is it normal for teen boys to like their friends' parents?
• We only have exactly thirteen days until we start school. I'm sooooo not ready.

Yes, Thank You, I Am A Fool

Fool used because I can't use the term I would really like to use for myself right now.

The boys and I have been really into dinosaur movies lately. More specifically, we have gotten caught up in the Jurassic Park movies. We have seen the third a couple times, and just watched it again as well as the first. Tonight we saw the second. I should have considered there was something wrong with it when I realized we were rooting for the dinosaurs!!! The older boys were fine with it--they love all that scary, eat-the-bad-guy stuff.

But as I sit here typing, Andrew is asleep in my bed (because I couldn't tear him off of me after the movie ended) whimpering to himself. What WAS I thinking? Duhhhh . . . hope the dino eats the bad guy . . . .

Please take away my mommy license.

OK. He's in my lap now. Kind of hard to type. Need to go to bed. Hoping he won't cling to me ALL NIGHT. Yes, I am one of those . . . well, you know.

Check Out My Sidebar!

Ok, now that Blogger makes blogging SOOOO easy, I'm really having more fun with it. All of the sudden, I'm not just writing posts, I can add lists about us, advertise, and sponsor polls. Please vote on my poll when you come. It means absolutely nothing, just for fun, but I'll post the results and let you know. I'll extend the ending of the first one for those of you who haven't noticed it before. So come on! Vote now!