our first family camping trip.

I grew up camping.  

When each of us - myself and three siblings - turned three we had officially "come of age" to be ripped from my mother's arms and be carried off by my father to go on overnight camping trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northern Minnesota.  Here we would get nestled into the middle of canoes, amongst the gear and coolers, drag our tiny hands in the water, attempt to paddle with kid-sized oars, dip mini-fishing poles in, watch the big people set up camp, sip hot chocolate under tarps in the rain, watch my dad and his twin brother chase off black bears, listen to the loons sing, sing campfire songs, and praise God together under a million stars.

My dad taught me, from that tender age of three, the spirituality of the wilderness.

Finola is not three yet.  (She turns two today!)

I don't think I could let her be whisked away to the wild.

But I do want her to start young.

So instead of a birthday party this year, we went camping.

Just for one night.  Just a tiny taste.

It went by quickly and was a lot of fun!  Except the part where, at 10pm, waaaaay past their bedtime, the kids were expected to go to sleep in the tent.  Cormac only fought it a little, but lil miss Fin ran around the tent, chattering, giggling and poking me in the face.  Finally I heard a yawn, she asked for her blanket, which she had been tossing around, and she conked out.

Then Hubby and I had a beer by the fire and congratulated ourselves on a successful first attempt at tent camping with the kiddos.

We can't wait to go again!

fire-making with dada

checking out the sights

child with hot poker in the fire - this looks totally safe, right???

mama hovering around the fire, afraid of blond locks going ablaze.

contemplating nature and life

eyeing her mama's beer

while not super primitive, it was very peaceful

these two...the conversations they have!

I kept saying, "Run wild, my child!" which she did, while repeating that.

Colbie liked relaxing, too.

A lot.

going in and out of the tent was a favorite activity.  I'm surprised we didn't sleep with a million bugs.

campfires are magnets for kiddos. just sayin'.

face smush.

we did the whole "stick the bean can right in the fire" thing - turned out well...and less dishes!

Hubby makes a s'more.

We got a little wet from the morning rain!

"The humidity does wonders for my curls!"

birthday girl 

"Here Finola - have a marshmallow!  I have a whole bag!"

"Fine, I'll eat them all myself."

Breakfast of champions!

packing up...a little earlier than expected, due to rain!

While he wasn't too helpful packing up, he did build this contraption in the trunk.

I am pretty sure one night is all Finola could handle (while we were stuck in the tent during a morning rain shower she shouted repeatedly, "GO HOME NOW!") Cormac, however, was asking if we could stay "five more days."

Three, man.  I'm telling you.  My Dad was right - that is the "magic camping age."

Or simply when we were potty-trained and he could hold us over the side of the canoe to pee-pee.

:)

january diy : colorful play tent!

I love crafting and just being creative in general -- despite not having a natural propensity for it (meaning : I am impatient and disorganized!) So crafting for me usually means a lot of unfinished projects lying around the house, and lots of mess! Sure, I do get a lot completed...and it is that satisfaction that drives me to keep on crafting/diy-ing. I love seeing things in my house that I had a hand in creating!

This year I decided to pick one project per month, in an effort to focus more on one task at a time and be more organized!  Oh, and save money by buying only what is necessary for that month's craft.  (Seriously, I have a lot of crap I've never used in my basement and crafting bin.)

Last month's project: A play tent for the family room!  I blogged in this post about wanting a striped play tent.  But instead of spending lots of cash ($160!) for this cute one...I made my own humble, yet still cute, version! (around $40!)

There are plenty of DIY no-sew tutorials out there for tents, but I fell in love with this tutorial about making a simple A-frame with colorful yarn-wrapped posts.

Here is how mine turned out....

I might eventually get a rug for underneath...but for now these colorful tiles do the trick!

I purchased the fabric from IKEA!

I took these pics right after I finished it.  Lil Girl is checking things out cautiously...while wielding some sort of weapon.

We've been playing in it quite a bit -- usually filling it with pillows and blankets and having "sleepovers."  I love how it adds to the "kid-friendliness" of our family room...and I am excited to add more decor to this room to make it feel more "done."  

Things to come in this space...

• A large antique "built-in" cabinet that purchased at an antique store -- which will replace the old + ugly cabinets/shelves we currently have.

• a DIY coffee table made from salvaged barn wood from my parent's farm

• curtains!  I plan to make them myself...so it could be a while...

• a cute gallery wall!  I am currently gathering items I want to put here.  I have a vision and it is VERY slowly coming together.

What are you currently working on in your home?

santa visit : third time's a charm

We trekked off to the mall on Wednesday to visit Santa.

Despite all three of us having colds, we headed out that morning (uh, well, 11am...as early as I can manage with two kids) and met Hubby so he can share in this always very joyous experience.

Ha.

The past two years we've done our due diligence and taken Cormac to visit the man in red,

only to see him make disgusted faces or flat out throw a tantrum

I know there are many parents who can relate.

Here is Cormac his first Santa visit, four months old...

Santa looks amazing.  Cormac looks like Santa smells bad.  This is literally the best picture I have from the experience.

The next year was, in fact, worse.  

We saw Santa at Paul's work's "kid party."

Amid the pizza and bouncy house fun, 

Santa arrived.

He may as well have been an ax murderer.

My 1 1/2 year old was not happy, 

clearly...

Then they hit the age of two, 

and suddenly Christmas is less "fun you force upon them" and

becomes something magical they actually want to be involved in.

This year, we started hyping Christmas early (both Santa Clause lore and Jesus' birthday) and he has been watching Christmas movies on Netflix since way before Thanksgiving.

He can sing Jingle Bells, Up on the Housetop and Oh, Christmas Tree.

This year, I knew our Santa experience would be much, much different.

And it was...

He was too scared to ride the train, any coin-operated animal, or the merry-go-round at the mall

("Maybe when I am older," he told me.)

However, this year, he was able to sit on Santa's lap and declare emphatically that for Christmas he wanted "A d-ire engine!" 

Oh, and smiled dutifully for mama (who incidentally had to be told by Santa to stay off the rug if I wanted to take my own photos.)

I couldn't have been prouder.

Oh, and Finola was there, too.  She made weird faces.

But at least I expected that, this time around.

:)

"Out!!!!"

This post is dedicated to all the new words my 22-month-old is saying.  At 18 months I shared that he hardly said five whole words and even those were sketchy to qualify as actual words.  Now it is as though he has unleashed a whole new toddler vocabulary.  To go with his early "terrible two" attitude.  Don't get me wrong - I love this stage of development...much more than the immobile, non-verbal infant stage.  He is a lot of fun!  A frustrating, somewhat annoying handful at times - but also really fun!

preppy style...and in major need of a haircut!

each time he sees one of these weeping holes in the stone walls around our 'hood, he shouts, "IN!" 

love, love, love this boy

not-so-happy face

"give!"

"Baby - OUT!"

"num nums"

My favorite currently is the title of this post - "Out!" which he most often says while pointing at my ginormous pregnant belly.  Second most often is when he sees his,or any, bed...because he can get "out!" of it.  And does.  Way too early.

Other fun new words include...

-Ambulance {which is every white large vehicle}
-Alarm {learned when I set off all the smoke alarms a few weeks ago}
- Elbow {no clue}
- Aminal {animal, but close enough}
- Ipad {this was one of his first, which delighted the Mac technician I dealt with after spilling water on my computer}
- In
- Tractor
- Mac {his name. he won't say Cormac}
- Baby
- Hot {he declares every food to be 'hot'}
- Done {this one is my least favorite, as it is highly overused, and he will say it even when he is not, in fact, done.}
- Boom
- Ap Goose {apple juice}
- Book
- UP!
- Ohhhhm {home}
- Garage {referring to anything that large items can be fit into}

And that is all I can think of at 6am without a full cup of coffee in my system.  Time to go rescue Hubby, who has corralled the little guy back in his bed to give me a few more moments of coffee/blog time.

g

(Did I mention I am now dilated to FIVE centimeters????)