Camp For All

A couple of weeks ago, the kids were out of school for Spring Break. We didn't really have much planned for the week. We just played with friends and family, got our nails done, went to the movies, and did a pretty good job of entertaining ourselves.

But the thing that made our spring break really great was a little trip we took to a camp just outside of Brenham. It is a special needs camp called Camp For All. Our good friends and neighbors, Cindy and Darren, won a night of family camp at Camp For All at a silent auction. They were allowed to bring a group of 12, so they asked us and the Bream family to join them. It turned out to be a really fun experience for all of us.

We started the trip in Brenham with a tour of the Blue Bell factory (always a treat!)

Then, after lunch, we drove to the camp. All 12 of us stayed in one very nice, large cabin. After touring the camp, the kids wanted to do arts and crafts so we spent some time putting together and painting some wood crafts. Then we went canoeing. After dinner, we experienced the camp fire, which was alot of fun with skits and songs and dancing. Pumpkin really got her groove on and showed us some of her unique moves!

The next day we tried out archery, fished a little bit, and went through the nature walk. The girls were able to see and touch a 60 pound tortoise named Forest, and they also held a snake and fed an iguana!

The last thing we did before we left was the zip line. We had to climb up a rock wall and then zip down the zip line. Of course everyone was excited, but when it came time for the first pair to go, all the big girls said, "I'm not going first." Then Pumpkin looked at me and said, "I thought I was going first!" So I said, "Alright, let's go!" She just started climbing on up that rock wall like it was no big deal. She got to the top and waited while the guide hooked her up to the zip line, and then off she went! All smiles! Not scared one bit! Even I had a few butterflies in my stomach, but not Pumpkin! Eventually everyone took a turn and loved it, but the little girls, Anna and Pumpkin, went over and over again. Princess also loved it and went down the zip line 4 times!

We are so thankful to Cindy and Darren for inviting us to experience Camp For All with them!

Handmade Gifts from the Heart

Well, I was thinking about giving up my blog this year, mostly because I thought it was a waste of time and energy, but then I realized that I use my blog as a picture journal, and I refer back to the things I've written in my blog when I am scrapbooking those events, because honestly I can't remember what our favorite parts of the trip were, or what we thought was so funny, or why we loved a certain activity, unless I've written it down.
So, even if it is only for my benefit, I am going to continue this blog, although I will probably have even fewer entries.

Back in November, as I laid out our plan for making Christmas more about giving our presence than about getting presents, I shared that as a family, we were going to make gifts for each other instead of buying them. This turned out to be a wonderful project! The girls had a great time working hard on the presents they made, and it was so wonderful to see the spirits of creativity and generosity developing in each of them. The real joy, of course, came when they delighted in the response of person receiving the gift. I loved making gifts for each of my girls and for my husband, and we will definitely continue creating handmade gifts for each other in the years to come.

Here are a few of the gifts that we made for each other:

Drummer Boy made these for Princess's and Pumpkin's rooms

I made this jewelry box for Pumpkin using decopodge

Princess came up with the idea for this mirror all on her own. It turned out so cute for her sister.

I made this bag for Princess to carry her bible, journal, highlighter, and offering to church

Pumpkin made Princess a necklace. And both girls made a mosaic garden stone for Daddy with their hand prints in the middle. I will try to add a picture of those gifts later.

Keystone Weekend

Last December, Drummer Boy and I jumped on a SWA $59 each way sale and booked a weekend trip for our family to Keystone, CO. We spent the next 2 months trying to secretly buy and mostly borrow snow clothes for ourselves and the girls without them finding out. We wanted the trip to be a surprise.

We finally told the girls about the trip 6 days before we were scheduled to leave. They were ecstatic!

Of course, nothing ever goes as smoothly as we plan. There was a crazy snowstorm in Denver the day we were supposed to fly in, which caused the Denver airport to be closed for half a day, which caused us to be stuck in the Albuquerque airport for 7 hours (oh what joy!), and we lost about half a day and one night at Keystone.

Needless to say, that was NOT a fun day, but we persevered and were so thankful when the plane finally landed in Denver. Our two days at Keystone were a blast! We decided not to ski this time. Instead, we went tubing and ice skating, played in the snow fort, took advantage of the Kidtopia activities (a special kids' festival that Keystone puts on), made snow angels, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. One night, we took a horse-drawn sleigh ride out to a small cabin and enjoyed a great cowboy dinner. The kids really loved that, but I think tubing was everyone's favorite activity. Princess really wanted to try skiing, so we are thinking that we will try to go back in a couple of years and do ski school. I'm already looking forward to it! 

We are Thankful Because...

A Thanksgiving craft? Of course we did a Thanksgiving craft! We are Blazers, aren't we? We have a craft for every season, don't we? It sure seams like we do anyway. I just love doing crafts, and Princess loves doing them with me (that's one of the reasons I am thankful for her), so I came up with a great useable craft that also gives us an opportunity to express our thanks for each other. 

We made placecards for the Thanksgiving table. The cards are just a piece of cardstock folded in half. On the outside of each card we pasted a turkey that I cut out from some decorative scrapbook paper. Then we tied a ribbon along the top of the card. Sarah wrote on the outside of each card "We are thankful for _____ because...", and then she used stamps to spell out the name of each person in our family. On the inside of the card, each of us wrote why are thankful for that person. Some examples are:

-"We are thankful for Nana because...

                      you are self-less, doing so much for me and my family (Amy) 

                      you are a great grandma (Princess)

                      you give me scones and you play with me (Pumpkin)"

-"We are thankful for Pumpkin because...

                      you love to play with me (Princess)

                      you are sweet and silly, you are a great helper, and you make me smile everyday (Amy)"

-"We are thankful for Drummer Boy because...

                      you spend time with me (Princess)

                      you work hard for our family (Amy)

                      you have whiskers and you play Legos with me (Pumpkin)

They turned out really cute and I am excited for everyone in my family to read the reasons that we are all thankful for them.  

Our Advent Conspiracy

The season of Advent is upon us. As you know, this season can easily become one of the most stressful times of the year, even though it should be the time of year that we feel the most joyful and blessed. Over the last few years, I have been searching for activities to keep me and my family focused on Jesus during the Advent season. I have several ideas this year that I would like to share.

Our church participates in something called "The Advent Conspiracy." If you've never heard of it, check out this short promo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IN0W3gjnNE&feature=share&mid=533.
So, what is the conspiracy? The Body of Christ will refuse to binge on buying and consuming at the expense of sharing and giving. It goes much further than simply adding charity to a long list of gifts for kids, parents, cousins, and friends. It means scaling back the gift-giving to one another and using the money to meet critical needs around the world and at home. This is at the heart of the Advent Conspiracy.

So this is how my family plans to participate this year:
-We are going to scale down the gift-giving in our immediate family by making gifts for each other. Not only will we save money, but we will also be giving more meaningful gifts. It's a win-win! I can't wait to share with you our hand-made gifts! Look for that post after Christmas.
-We will compare the cost of supplies for the hand-made gifts to the amount we spent on gifts for each other last year, and we will give the difference to Living Water International, a ministry that drills wells in third world countries to provide clean drinking water for the local villages. This is the ministry that took Drummer Boy on a well-drilling mission trip to Honduras last spring. 
-We will organize a neighborhood effort to adopt a family through KSBJ's Giving Tree ministry. I like this ministry because it is personal. We get to meet and visit with the family that we adopt, and our children get to participate in that as well. We did this last year and the neighbors really enjoyed participating in this ministry, so I think it will be well-received again.
-We will organize a neighborhood service project at Kids' Meals. Princess and I spent a day there last December and it was a great experience. I am hoping to recruit several other families to participate with us this year and I am planning on including Pumpkin this year as well. 
-Each family member will receive an allotment of money to give to an organization of their choice. Some of the organizations we are considering are Young Life, Compassion International, Whole Heart Ministries, The Houston Food Bank, and KSBJ (our local Christian radio station). I am hoping that this will inspire the girls to take interest in organizations that reach out to people in need, and will let them experience the joy that comes from helping others and making a difference.
-I purchased a daily Advent family devotional from Doorposts that I am very excited about. Each day's devotion consists of two or three passages of scripture to look up and read, a short paragraph commentary, and a suggested hymn. It is short and sweet. We plan to do it after dinner beginning Sunday, November 27th, the first Sunday of Advent. 
-I plan to read Preparing for Jesus, a book of daily devotionals for the Advent season, each morning to get my mind focused on Jesus each day. I love this book. I have read it for the past four years and it keeps me focused and joyful when I might otherwise be overwhelmed and stressed!
-Lastly, we are planning to make a real effort to give more of our time and presence to our family and friends instead of spending more money.

Will you join with me in this conspiracy? If you like these ideas, adopt them for your family. I think it is so important that we get away from the consumerism that this season has become, and get back to the roots of the season: preparing for the coming of Jesus. Are you ready for Him? Is your heart ready? I hope this year that all our hearts will be a little more focused on giving and less focused on getting. A little more about Jesus and less about ME ME ME. 

Even Toddlers Can Do Chores

I saw a great idea for a toddler chore chart on this blog: http://www.passionatehomemaking.com and I tweeked it a little bit to work for my family. First, I decided which chores I want my kids to do each day or weekly, etc. Then I made an index card for each chore. On each index card I glued a picture related to that chore and then wrote the words of the chore. For example, I took a picture of Pumpkin brushing her teeth and glued it to the index card next to the words, "brush teeth". Then I took a picture of her clean room and glued it on the card next to the words,  "clean your room". I also made cards for Princess with pictures of her room and her brushing her teeth or hair, etc. 

Then I made two envelopes for each child. On Pumpkin's envelopes I wrote, "Pumpkin TO DO" and "Pumpkin DONE" and on Princess's envelopes, "Princess TO DO" and "Princess DONE". I also wrote a bible verse on each envelope to remind them why and how they are to do their chores (Colossians 3:23 and Matthew 25:21).

Then I taped the envelopes to the wall next to their rooms, where they would see them every morning and evening so that they could check their chore chart easily. Each evening, I go through the index cards and put the cards that they are responsible for the next day in the respective "TO DO" envelope. And each day, as the girls complete their chores, they move the card to their "DONE" envelope. Some chores don't need to be done every day, like clean your room and feed the fish, so those cards stay in the "DONE" envelope until I move them to the "TO DO" envelope.

We've been using this system for a few weeks now and it is working great. I am just so happy because I have tried several different charts (some home-made and others that I paid for) and nothing ever worked just right for our family. This chart is great because Pumpkin can look at the pictures since she can't read yet, and I can include daily chores, every-other-day chores, and weekly chores all in the same chart. I also love that it is so flexible (for example: the girls trade doing the dishes and cleaning the bathroom each week, so I can just move that index card to the other girl's envelope at the beginning of the week). The girls also love the pictures of themselves doing the chores.

If you've been looking for a chore chart that is flexible for your family, I hope you try this one and have success with it as I have.

Caught in a Snowstorm in October!

Drummer Boy has always wanted to go to a football game at West Point. It's just one of those things on his bucket list. To his great delight, he was assigned a project that is located about 15 miles from West Point in NY. Perfect! He decided that he would arrange to make a site visit during the fall and then stick around for the weekend to experience a home game at West Point. He chose the last weekend in October. The plan was for him to go up to NY mid-week, and for me to join him in New York City on Friday. We would spend Friday afternoon and evening in NYC and then take the train to West Point on Saturday morning. We planned on spending Saturday touring West Point and then attending the game. Sunday we had plans to experience the acclaimed brunch at the Thayer Hotel and then drive up to Hyde Park and the FDR Historic Site before heading back to the airport.

Well, that was the plan anyway. Until the crazy October snowstorm ruined our weekend!

Actually, Friday afternoon and evening in the City was great. We walked around Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and 5th Ave. We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was beautiful (it reminded me of being in Italy). We had a fabulous dinner at China Grill and then went to see Wicked on Broadway. It was wonderful! Everything that I expected. After the show, we went back to our hotel and enjoyed a chocolate martini in the bar. A perfect way to end a wonderful day.

Rockefeller Center

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Drummer Boy in front of the Wicked sign in Times Square

 Saturday morning we got up and went to Grand Central Station. We walked around for a bit before boarding our train to Beacon. It started snowing at about 10AM while we were on the train, and it didn't stop until midnight. The area we were in got 12 inches of snow on Saturday. We thought we would be okay. We went ahead to the campus and tried to walk around, but we couldn't even see anything because the snow was all in our face and our eyes. Plus, I did not have waterproof shoes or jacket, so my toes and hands were FROZEN!!  We left the campus just as the game was starting because we just couldn't take it anymore. Little did we know it would take us 5 hours to drive the 15 miles from West Point to our hotel! Absolutely miserable!

Amy in the snow at West Point

West Point on Saturday

Thankfully, Sunday was a beautiful day. We went back to West Point and walked around. We couldn't get into the brunch at the Thayer Hotel, so we were disappointed about that, but we still had a nice time driving around and walking around the campus. Here are some pictures we took on Sunday.

Notice the snow piled up along the sidelines.
They had snowplows shovelling snow off the field before the game.

A fire hydrant buried in the snow!

We headed to the airport early and it was a good thing because the lines were so long that many people missed their flights waiting in line to check bags! It was crazy. But the redeeming thing of the weekend was that Drummer Boy got bumped up to first class and he let me take his seat. I had never flown first class before and it was fun! I felt very elite. He tried to tell me that I owed him one, and I said, "No I don't! This is my reward for being a single mom for half a week every week for the last 2 months!" And a nice reward it was.