Poison Ivy

We've got poison ivy.

I'm sure we encountered it as we were traipsing in the woods last week while camping.

As soon as I noticed the blisters on Sam last night, I got out the "Ivy Dry" and splashed it on. The poor guy woke up at 2am feeling like he wanted to peel his skin off.

At 2am, I dug through the medicine cabinet and couldn't find any Benedryl. None that wasn't expired anyway.

Desperately, I Googled poison ivy to find relief. Something that would not require a trip to the store. Or require us to be up for hours soaking in the tub...He was just as tired as I was, and a nice warm bath would have been torture to stay awake in.

One little solitary comment on one of the websites mentioned tape, scotch tape. I've got that. Plenty in fact.

With Sam standing on the kitchen chair, I plastered all his spots with strips of tape.

Within 5 minutes he was asleep. Me, it took awhile. Thanks for asking.

This morning he woke up less itchy and some of the oozey, itchy, blistery boils were already gone!

I will run to the store today for Benedryl, I promise, but in the meantime...Scotch tape it is!

Do you have an amazing remedy? For poison ivy or anything else, I'd love to hear it...Just in case I'm ever up at 2am again wondering how to cure it.

What we learned

Things we definitely learned on our first voyage.

1) We need screens and a screen door. We know how we're going to do it, but hadn't gotten around to it yet.

2) The back curtains will not work on a wire. One roll by a Kid Sleeping With Mom and it was torn from its moorings.

3) Once the tools and such are removed from the overhead compartments, we'll be able to fit a lot of things in there.

4) Our fuel tank was NOT full when we thought it was (or at least I HOPE it was not). The gauge said full and the pump stopped to indicate it was full before we left town. But on the way out of the State Park we stopped to fuel up (so I could use my handy dandy chart to determine MPG) and thinking we would not spend that much, we used our debit card at the pump. You know how they have a predetermined amount they'll let you spend? Our pump stopped before we could get it filled and we had only traveled 77 miles. We did have some difficulty with the pump not wanting to continue, ya know, like it's full...Maybe it's a much bigger tank and there was a lot of splashing...?... I'm hoping that's the case.

5) Everyone was afraid they'd fall off the top bunk, but no one did.

6) It drives well. I can even do it.

7) If you drop your size 1 double pointed knitting needle in the woods, you will never find it.

8) I can NOT pack pretzels and honey mustard for a camping snack EVER AGAIN.

9) Pack a wagon, it's a must for hauling the full potty to the dumping station. (see #8 above)

10) We should charge for tours ;)

Maiden Voyage

And...We're off!

We, well, some of us anyway, took Errabundus Bus camping last week(end). We did all end up together, but in the middle we were in many different places.

I can already tell this is going to be a complicated post.

As I was perusing through the pictures in my iPhoto, which are sorted by date and time, I began to feel a little unbalanced. You see, Hailey also took lots of pictures, and they are all intertwixt with mine.

On Thursday she and Matt were at the Republican Rally listening to John McCain and Sarah Palin while I was listening to the waves at the beach.

She and Matt were shaking hands with the candidates while I was shaking hands with my new friend Fuzzy the Caterpillar.
They were among the masses, we were tucked away in the quiet.
Well, until bedtime that is.
And the only famous person we saw was Luke Skywalker. He must have boarded the bus when I was not looking.

Friday, The Kids At Home attended their various engagements, practices and social events. Sam, Isaac and I swam and played at the beach while waiting for Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins to arrive.

Who invited the racoons?

Saturday, Matt, Hailey, and Hayden, went to see Griffin play football before heading South to join the rest of us.

Suffice it to say that our playbook for the last few days was really complicated. I'm glad it's over and that most of it went without a hitch.

Stay tuned for What We Learned...

Thorough

When your 4 year old throws up once. Not a lot.

Just perfectly positioned on your comforter, flat sheet, fitted sheet and pillow case.

Everyone has a gift.

Everyone Has A Gift

Mine happens to be busy-work. Or form-making.

Yesterday, I created some spreadsheet forms for recording gas mileage and maintenance for the bus. I was just going to print them out for a binder but just then I felt a jolt of creativity, something I don't experience much anymore.

I made a "mock up" of a cute little booklet out of scrap paper I had laying around. Just to get the feel for what I would need before I cut into real decorative paper. And then I headed to the fabric/craft store. My old hangout. Me and Joann, we go way back.

This is what I came home with. Well, actually, I came home with the papers and a really ugly journal. What you see before you is them all put together

I'd like to say I've still got it, but judging from the 2 hours of meandering through JoAnn's Fabrics with a glazed over look in my eyes, I think I realized that I lost that part of me somewhere between kid #5 and homeschooling. I ended up with a prepackaged bundle of sitckers, ribbons, papers and ideas.


I used to love scrapbooking. Way back when. When I had time to think. When I had time to, well, just basically, had time.

We plan to keep a detailed journal of what we do while we're away in the bus.

And I plan on keeping meticulous records of our mileage and maintenance. I thought this might make spending thousands of dollars for fuel a little more pleasant.
Behind the forms are pockets for...I dunno, reciepts?



I was also looking for fabric for our bathroom and bedroom "doors". I could have just bought a shower curtain but was still feeling that surge of creativity, so I hunted for the perfect fabric.

I came home with bleached white muslin.

I told you I've lost it.

Only the Strong Survive.

A great day for football, don't you think?

Griffin had his first game on Saturday. We all brought our chairs and lined up on the sidelines ready to watch. On the opening kick off, Griffin, number 65, was leveled by the man he was assigned to block. I mean knocked backwards, on his backside, about 2 feet. This boy was HUGE. And considering Griffin was running at him with all his 88 pounds at full force this guy must have been a rock.

Nothing like starting your career with a hit like that.

My bottom didn't grace the chair again until the game was over, I was not expecting it to be so entertaining, so exciting, or so painful to watch my boy do what he loves.

Did I tell you all that I made him wait until 5th grade to play? Hayden was able to play in 4th grade, so that extra year was torture for him. Plus, he's old for his grade and Hayden was young, so he waited even LONGER.

In boy years, that's forever.

Here he is taking direction form Coach Dudley and Coach Mckenzie. These men are incredible.


Early in the game Griffin got his hands on the ball for this running play, but did not gain any yardage. Once again, I felt every hit directly in my uterus. Can anyone explain that to me?


Its hard to believe that only a month ago this 3 point stance was as difficult to do for him as it would be for me to touch my toes to my head. Now, he looks completely poised and balanced. When they were learning this particular posture the coaches used to be able to walk by and push them over with hardly any effort at all.





I don't know where he is in this picture, I just thought it was cool.

Here they are milling about at half time



But come game time, he was all business, he wouldn't even look at us as he walked by.


I believe he is blocking The Rock here. Look at the size of him. At least 5 times bigger, don't you think? This is the only picture we got with his buddy Parker in it. He also had a great time at the game.


Griffin's stats for the game included 1.5 sacks of which he'll be glowing about for days.


They won 16 to 0.




After the team huddle, these boys snuck off to perform a ritual which backfired on them, as they were no match for....














...Coach McKenzie.

14 Days of Homeschool

Our homeschool support group had it's kick off meeting last week. Along with tons of information concerning opportunities for the up coming school year, there was this really funny skit.

I'm in it.

Along with a bunch of my friends.

I think it's hilarious.



Hailey was laughing so hard she found it hard to keep the camera steady.

We were asked to do it again for the talent show in the Spring.