In ten years.....

Our camping trip was so much fun! We camped at beautiful Greenleaf State Park. Friday we took a pontoon boat out on the lake for a few hours. Some of us fished. We went on walks, took naps and played. We experienced wonderful weather, great food and enjoyable conversations. Jackets were needed for the cool evenings and we stayed warm by the campfire. Our meals were yummy comfort foods like chili, grilled steaks and chicken, breakfast burritos with biscuits cooked over the campfire, and of course the requisite “smores”. The grandchildren (ages 2-8) enjoyed their time together and were so cute (I only took 433 pictures). We all agreed to camp together again next Fall Break. And the conversation the first night turned to Dirk’s usual question, “What will you be doing in ten years?”

According to the answers, in ten years……

We will have at least four more grandchildren
Two more in-laws
One son-in-law will be finishing up residency as a physician
One daughter will be educating her children at home.
One daughter will be working as an RN
One son-in-law will be working in his new career.
One son-in-law will be home from Iraq
I won’t be teaching any children at home; my youngest will have graduated from college!
One daughter will have finished writing a book and will be speaking to groups around the US
Some of our children will live out of state
My youngest son will be 23
My oldest grandchild will be 18 going to college on a rodeo scholarship
Some of us will still be happily doing what we’re doing now

I wonder what I’ll blog about when I’m 62?

Family Camping

Raising seven children didn’t allow for many vacations in the Meadows’ household. But we did go camping fairly often at various places in Oklahoma.

One year we even traveled to New Mexico for a week of camping in the mountains!

Camping is an inexpensive way to spend quality time together and make lasting memories. I do remember when the kids were young telling Dirk that camping was “doing the same thing I always do, only harder”. It was a lot of work, but fun anyway.

This weekend, 14 members of our family are going camping! We’re loading up and going to one of our favorite Oklahoma state parks.

Some of our favorite things to do include:

Fishing
Hiking
Nature Scavenger Hunts
Canoeing
Sitting around the camp fire (one of Dirk’s favorite questions to ask is “Where do you see yourself in ten years?”
Roasting marshmallows and hot dogs

Camping together gives you time to focus on each other without the normal distractions of life. It’s time well spent!

What are your camping experiences?
Where do you like to camp?

PS – I still get out my “Camping List” found in my Household Notebook.

Spin-ghetti?

Last week we left the TV on after the news and Oprah’s late show came on. Her guest that day was Jennifer Seinfeld (Jerry’s wife). She was sharing about her new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious. She steams vegetables, purees them, and then adds them to foods that her kids will eat. For example, she uses pureed butternut squash and mixes it into macaroni and cheese. A great idea for adding nutrition and fiber to her kids’ diets. You can read more about it at my new friend’s blog here or at Jennifer’s blog here.

BUT DON’T TRY WHAT I DID!! Previously, I’ve successfully added minced or blended fresh vegetables to things like meatloaf and even spaghetti sauce. In keeping with Jessica’s idea this week, I decided to add some nutrition to my spaghetti sauce. It’s not unusual for me to add onions, garlic, peppers, and even wheat bran to canned spaghetti sauce before I cook it. But this week, I only had tomato juice. So, I added an onion (red), a pepper, several cloves of garlic, some fresh basil and oregano from the garden, and on a “healthy whim” added a large handful of fresh spinach to the blender jar full of tomato juice. I covered it, and turned it on, and the previously red tomato juice turned …….an awful shade of muddy brown! Duh! What was I thinking? Being the frugal person that I am, I decided to go ahead and add the sauce to my already browned ground beef. Interestingly, the sauce was the same shade as the ground beef! I simmered it for about an hour. It looked a bit better. It smelled really good and tasted great! Some of my family came through the kitchen wondering what we were eating for dinner that evening.

“What is that, Mom?”

“It’s spaghetti,” I’d answer.

“It doesn’t look like spaghetti…”

They were right....

Guess what? When we sat down for dinner, everyone enjoyed the meal! Covered with plenty of grated parmesan cheese, it didn’t even look so bad! The dish has since been lovingly entitled “Spin-ghetti”.

And my picky eater, Kody ate spinach without even realizing it!

I think Jessica is on to something here. I just need to learn to color coordinate better!

A Crisis? No Way!

Yeah, my husband got a motorcycle.

A younger friend made the comment, “Oh, a mid-life crisis!”

I have to admit, that put me a little on the defensive. I didn’t say anything, but got to thinking about it later.

Why does a 54 year old man getting a brand new Honda VTX 1300 cruiser have to be having a crisis? This is the same man who sold his first motorcycle when our first child was born so we could buy a second car. It’s the same man who has owned his own business for over 30 years, helped me raise seven children, allowed me to stay home with them, and has been married to me for 34 years!

I wouldn’t say it’s a crisis! I call it a CELEBRATION!! Yea!!

And riding on the back is a LOT of fun!

It Was One of Those Days......

It was one of “those” days. It started off okay, but from there everything just went downhill. There seemed to be interruption, after interruption. Neither of the boys seemed to be able to focus on their schoolwork. I was getting a headache. One that
starts in your shoulders and keeps moving up until your head is pounding. Stress! But, we kept pressing on. Must get that schoolwork done!

Next, it was time to go over the science the boys had just read. Fun stuff about genetics, chromosomes, and heridity. I try to make it interesting, but….., well, sometimes it’s just not. My headache was getting worse. Must press on! So, I began asking review questions from what we had just read about genetics.

“What is a fraternal twin?” I ask in my most upbeat “teacher” voice.

Jacob, 13, answers with a grin, “It’s a twin that goes to college and joins a fraternity!”

That broke the monotony for the day! We laughed a lot, tried to get back on track and my headache even lessened a bit. And then we reviewed the correct meaning of a fraternal twin.

A friend told me the other day that you retain information seven times better when you laugh!

I’ll bet my boys never forget what a fraternal twin is.

Now, if I could just think of some great spelling and grammar jokes….

Which Are You? Carrots, Eggs, or Coffee?

An anonymous story with a great message.....enjoy!

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A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil.

In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she said, "Tell me what you see."

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the Mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich brew.

The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, Mother?" Her Mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

You hear the frequent horror stories of how some teenage girl ran away with a sexual predator that she met on Myspace. I believe that with a few precautions, those children and parents would never have had such a heartbreaking experience.

Myspace, Facebook and AIM instant messaging do have security measures. And with the added accountability of a family those sites can actually be safe.

Here are some precautions we take:

· “no secret” policy. I know your password you know mine. If you’re not willing to share what you are writing you will lose your privilege.

· the computer is in the living room or another public room

· myspace has private settings that only allow your approved ‘friends” to view your page or to message you

· facebook—only your approved friends can see your page and talk to you

· AIM instant messaging – you are the one to approve or deny a message

· my boys are instructed never to speak to a person they don’t know or accept them as a “friend”

· use good judgment on the sorts of things you allow others to see (don’t post your address or phone number or other personal information)

· I check my kids’ pages daily.

Do you have some good precautions to add?