A goodie for the kids

My children are collectors, stamps, stickers, post cards, what we call our treasures, (things people give them, or special awards, special BD or other cards), I started a treasure box when my first child was born, and have done it ever since, so when my children saw it, they decided to start boxes of their own. Anyway, back to the goodie........

http://www.iswsc.org/iswsc_free.shtml When you click on this link, it will take you to this site. Just follow directions and send for the stamps. Very good Deal for just the cost of an envelope and stamp.

What I like most about hobbies like this is that you can work with your children and create lasting memories. Hobbies also teach your children patience, because they have to take their time if they want a nice project.

Hopefully I will come across some more freebies like this one before the summer ends, I know if your children are like mine, they are getting bored already, and I am scrambling to find free, or low cost things to keep them occupied. With my crew if I don't they will play Cowboys and Indians , and you know who will wind up the Indian!

So talk to my heart, tell me what hobbies your children are into, and any freebies you have found for them.

Do You Have Stacation Plans?

We have already talked about the price of gas, and everything else going up. Apparently a lot of us are in the same boat this year, enough in fact that someone has created a catchy little name for what we will be doing, "Stacation." I happen to like this name, it makes me feel like I am doing something interesting. Instead of telling someone I am staying home and doing nothing this year, I can tell them, "Oh we will be on Stacation!" Now doesn't that sound much more interesting? I have already started our Stacation plans. The children love the great outdoors, fishing, camping, swimming, birdwatching, catching butterflies and lightning bugs and all the things that go along with this fun activity. Well we have all of that and more in our own back yard. We have two decent sized tents, so a few weeks ago when the kid's wanted to "Camp out" I allowed them to set up the tents. They have used them twice since then and as a matter of fact, as I type they are camping tonight. I have decided it makes them so happy, I am letting them make it a permanent fixture for the summer. Swimming? I bought a large 41/2x18 ft pool from Sam's last year, now if my hubby can get the green out, (his current honey do), they will be swimming by the weekend. Fishing is a bit tougher, my Beta who's name is Cleatus, is watching me type, so I have to be careful what I say here, shhhhh! Most farmers will not let people fish their ponds anymore, because a lot of people abuse the privilege, leaving trash, or tearing up the fields with their cars/trucks. I guess we are lucky because the children's Aunt has a nice fishing pond, and her sister who lives beside her has one too, so we can go there to fish, and we will be doing that this Saturday, but it does take about 20 minutes to get there, much better than 4 hours to other places though, and straight shot from our house. I am teaching all 5 of them to be good fishermen, they even put their own night crawlers on. The last time we went we caught 70 + bass and bream, then I had fun cleaning them, with a little help from one of my Grand daughters, Lauren. Then we had a fish fry, oh they were so yummy. We use House Autry fish breader, best on the market, we think. We have already grilled a lot this year, burgers, steak, shrimp, veggies I love cooking anything on the grill. We have a burning ban here because of the draught, so I came up with a way we can still do smores, and roast marshmallows outside. I have the kid's to gather our kindling, and small branches, we put it in the grill on top of the burnt coals, and start our fire in the grill, works just as well as a campfire and no chance of it getting out of control, and burning all the dry grass and such around. The kid's can empty a bag of marshmallows in ten minutes, they love them. The rest is easy, God has provided the birds to watch, butterflies and lightning bugs to catch, and He even throws in the lizards and pill bugs that my 3 youngest love to put in a container to display. We have Bluebirds nesting in a birdhouse on our back deck, and I have three humming bird feeders hanging up out there too. I got hubby a telescope for Christmas, so he and the kids can see the stars up close and personal. When the kids get too hot during the day they can get in their cooling station that I got a few months back, from a Good Deal Alert, from Anjies newsletter you can join here....
anjie-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
It is a big blow up playhouse like thing, that you hook the hose to, and it sprays fine streams of water. It retailed for $129.00, I got it for $9.99, I got my Grandchildren who live here in town one too, now I am kicking myself for not ordering more, but I think at the time I could only get the two. because of my budget. Less than $25.00 for both with shipping, and the kids are loving it.
This week is July 4th our very favorite time in the summer. Thursday, we will go to the local park, where they have activities planned most of the day, rides, bands then fireworks when it gets dark. Friday, they will have a parade in the morning, then open the park back up at 12 for more fun, with things going on all day, then more fireworks Friday night. We are having family and friends over on Friday for a cookout, then we will all head for the park around 4 and stay until after the fireworks show. Sat. we will go to the kids Aunts house, do some fishing and cook out again. Then the kids have an invite to stay the rest of the weekend at her house, that will give me and hubby a little much needed time alone. Our house is usually full the whole summer, our 5, then one or more of the kids usually have a friend spending the night, well more like the week, which we don't mind, it keeps ours occupied, helps the other parents out, who have to work and what is one or two more anyway? Then we have 3 of our Grand Daughters coming in on the 12th, when they get here, the 3 who live here in town will more than likely come too, they all get along so well, because they are so close in age, so then we will really have a house full, it is also possible that our other 2 from out of town will come during that time too. They keep me hopping when I have them all here like that, but I love every minute that I get to spend with them. They grow up so fast, and the ones who live away, only get to come a couple of times a year, I miss out on so much of their lives, so I make up for it in the summer, every chance I get. Now you may think I am just one of those prejudiced Mom/Grand mom's, and you can think what you like, but I have the most awesomely wonderful, beautiful, talented, sweet children/grand children in the world, if you don't believe me, just ask me, LOL.
That's it for this installment, Talk to my heart, tell me if you have any Stacation plans for the summer, I may need some more ideas before it's over!

Keeping Our Children Safe

http://www.cacplano.org/edupublications.htm

This link is for publications geared towards 4th graders, to help teach them about abuse. It is Parent interactive, which I feel is very important when we are trying to teach our children about personal safety. I feel it is the Parents responsibility to teach our children about abuse, molestation, predators and sex education. I use tools to help, but I don't want a stranger telling my children, their beliefs, and impressing their moral values on my children. I wish more parents felt this way, and I really feel that if Doctors offices, and other agencies provided parents with tools to help talk to their children, more parents would. HHHMMMM, Maybe I need to get creative and make some literature, just for this. See I am doing that dangerous thing again, (thinking.) Seems like this blog just brings it out in me.
Talk to my heart, comment on this info, or ask me any questions you have on this issue. Have a blessed and safe 4th of July.

The First Cooking Lesson

My Mom could never be accused of being in the run for Ms. Susie Home Maker. She was not much of a cleaner, or cook when we were growing up, my sister and I did all the house work, mom worked full time. When she did cook, she thought everything had to be well done. Now her Idea of well done was black as charcoal. When I moved to SC , and would come home to visit, my hubby and my favorite joke was, "we didn't need an alarm clock to tell us it was time to get up, mom's smoke detector would wake us up." (True story).
So it was left to my Dad, and when I married my ex hubby, his Mom, to teach me how to cook, thank goodness, they were both excellent good old country cooks.
I am not a chef by any means but, people love to eat my cooking, my children come home, just to get mom's food, and my friends and other family members have always come to my house to eat. I do the Holiday dinners for our big family, and all of them can't wait for Thanksgiving and Christmas to come around, because I always try to make one favorite for everyone who comes.
Between my hubby and myself we have taught all our children who wanted to learn how to cook. So now my five adopted have decided they all want to learn how. I promised them that when school was out we would start their lessons. So Sunday was our start day. I asked who wanted to be first, and my 9 year old, Ariel Yelled the loudest, so on to the lesson.
Ariel is a bright girl, she learns fast, and retains things well, so I knew she would do well. I had already decided to do Country Style Steak, but I let her decide what sides to make along with it.
I got a notebook and put her name, the date etc. Then I told her to write out her menu.
She had the steak of course, rice and the gravy from the steak, corn on cob, black eyed peas, and biscuits....Yummy.
We started with the basics, she put her hair back, and washed her hands with soap and water, put on her apron that I had just received from a freebie. Mom is a stickler for cleanliness in the kitchen, no one will ever be afraid to eat something I cook.
I taught her to boil the meat to make it tender, then roll in flour and fry, all the steps to make the best Country steak ever. After each step I had her make notes, so she could go back to her notes anytime, or her siblings could, to recreate the meal.
I taught her what to cook first until last, so it would all come together at the same time. I was so proud of her, she was diligent from first to last, breading the steak, adding the ingredients for the delicious gravy, measuring the water and rice, adding a pinch of sugar to bring out the sweetness of the corn. She was awesome!
Now to plate and table, you should have heard the oohs and aahs, her brother said, "When I grow up I'm always gonna come to your house to eat, everyone ate until they were stuffed.
Was that the important thing in the cooking lesson? I say an absolute NO WAY!
The important things were, the time we got to spend bonding together, the pride she gained from seeing she could do it, the accomplishment, of starting something and finishing it, most important of all, THE MEMORIES, she will have.
I was so glad that Ariel was the first one to have a cooking lesson. All foster children have some sort of baggage they carry, hers is never feeling like what she does is good enough. She can make straight A's and still feel inadequate, tell her she is beautiful, and she doesn't see it, she did good at this, or that, no she could have done better. Not this time! Her chest stuck out, a big smile on her face, she was proud, and as her Mom and teacher, so was I.
Talk to my heart, tell me something memorable in your life, I would love to read your story.....

HOW TO BECOME A FOSTER PARENT

I am asked all the time, "Why did you become a Foster Parent?" A short and sweet answer to that question for me is "That's my calling in life." Some people become Lawyers, Doctors, Teachers, and Ditch Diggers, I was meant to be a parent. Oh believe me I have had many jobs in my life, some good, some nightmares, but none have ever been as fulfilling to me as becoming a parent. If you have read my profile, you see we have 10 children, 5 of those are Natural born, His, Mine, Ours, and our baby is 21 now, and is getting ready to become a Daddy himself. 5 are Adopted. Whenmy 21 year old was in high school, and all our other children were grown and gone, I got empty nest syndrome. For those of you who don't know what that is, let me explain.....I was going crazy with no kids to have to cook for, pick up behind, and wipe their snotty noses. You may say it, I say it to myself sometimes, "ARE YOU CRAZY?"
Since I was a child, I always wanted to help children, we were poor, didn't even know if we would eat sometimes, but I would have given my last scrap of food to another child if I knew they needed it. So, many years later here I am with no one to wet nurse, could not have any children of my own, my children wouldn't let me keep my Grandchildren forever, no matter how much I begged, and they begged, so what was the solution? It came in the form of trying to help a friend of my sons, who came home one day to find his whole family gone, electricity turned off, no food, nothing, and no idea where his Mom and Step dad had gone. Since he practically lived at my house anyway, he came to the only place he knew he would be taken care of, Momma Marilyn's.
In the process of trying to get him registered in our school district, (though he only lived a few blocks from us, he was in a different district), medicaid, so I could get him checked out, and other things, I found out that in our state the only way to legally get him any help was to become Licensed Foster Parents. We had to take 10 weeks of classes, have background checks, fingerprints and all sorts of what I felt at the time were invasive things, later on though I came to realize, it was all for the safety of the children. Thus began the best and worst 5 years of my life. The best because I have been able to help over 20 children in that time, the worst because I get so close to these wonderful children who ask only to be safe and loved, and when it is time for them to leave to go back to their Biological parent(s), or Adoptive homes, it is hard to let go, but then I see how much I have accomplished with them, and them with me, and I can smile and say bring on the next one. So how about you? Thinking about becoming a Foster Parent? Need to add some meaning to your life, and the life of a child? Want to fill that empty nest? Here what you need to do.....
Contact your local Department of Children's Services, they should be listed in the white pages of your phone book, or the county government section.
For more information on Fostering you can go to your states foster and adoptive parent association, just put the initials for your state , like mine is NCFAPA.ORG, NC for North Carolina, this is a group of Foster and Adoptive parents all over your state who help answer questions and advocate for Foster parents/children at a state and national level. If you become a FP please join your local association if your area has one, if not start one of your own.

That is it for today, I will leave you with this bit of wisdom: "Tell your children you love them everyday, even when they have gotten on your last nerve you don't think you do, tomorrow will be a new day ."