Kids Say/Do the Darndest Things
September 10, 2010
I get so much of my inspiration for these posts via my facebook friends. Today’s inspiration came from a friend in Iowa whose son swallowed a skeleton key. The key was 2 1/2 inches long. She posted the xray and then the real key. Oh my goodness!
Much like sharing our birth stories, we also like to share stories of the goofy (and sometimes frightening) things our children have done.
Share your stories in the comments.
Happy Mother’s Day – Spoil the Kids!
May 9, 2010
I started a tradition in my house many years ago that I would use Mother’s Day to spoil my kids. I wouldn’t have to be the “mean mom” on one day a year. I set out to do fun things for my kids on Mother’s Day. This had a two-fold reason.
The first was that I would often find myself feeling disappointed with the way Mother’s Day kind of turned out. I didn’t really want presents or anything, what I wanted was an accumulation of respect for what I did as a mom, all rolled into that one day. I wanted the house to be cleaned, food prepared, and all with smiles on their faces. Of course with 8 kids in under 12 years, that simply wasn’t realistic. I will admit it would have been nice to receive flowers and lavish gifts. But in my heart of hearts, I know that isn’t how people show their appreciation. And to be quite honest with you, I felt loved all the time. I felt like my children honored me every day of the year.
The second reason was that when I would get gifts from the kids and from Steve, they were really kind of … not great gifts. Steve would sometimes take the kids to Dollar General so they could pick out some items for me like cheap perfume, figurines, etc. Now I know I sound like I’m complaining..I’m not really. I loved the “idea” that the kids were choosing gifts for me. It was just that I didn’t really want any of the things they gave me.
One year, I was given flowers, by Steve. Here’s a sample picture of what the flowers looked like.
Yes! These are much like the ones I received for Mother's Day 2001.
How do you graciously accept flowers that you know are meant to be put at a cemetery? I smiled, and said, “thank you.” Then promptly called everyone I know and turned it into a very funny story. If I was going to be given a gravestone marker as my Mother’s Day flowers, I was going to milk it for all it was worth!
Steve strategically placed the flowers in the front yard very close to the street so that all the world could see that a “MOM” is at the house. Of course they wouldn’t know if the mom was dead or alive. But they would know that “MOM” is at the house.
As soon as he finished placing the flowers, I pulled out my “I’m blessing my kids today” thoughts. I liked to take them out for dinner. They thought they were taking me out for dinner. But I’ll tell you a little secret, if they were taking me out for dinner, I would not have chosen the McDonald’s Play Place. I even let them get Happy Meals and then I would take them for some kind of special dessert.
The gifts I really liked were the ones the kids would make themselves. They would make little clay pieces, drawings, or paintings. I didn’t really need flowers, because I had gifts from their hearts.
One of the neatest things the kids would do though is that they would make a banner for me. We had rolls of roll end paper from a newspaper office. Ashley would always direct the making of the banner. Each child would decorate a portion of their banner with their “signature.” I could always tell who decorated which portion and it wasn’t just because of their name being on it, but because they would take what was inside them, and transfer it onto a banner for me. Ashley would write Happy Mother’s Day in big letters, then “make” the rest of the kids add something. Tina would draw beautiful pictures of horses. Cathy would decorate the paper as if it were a party. David would write his name. John would write my name all over the paper. My name was “Mom.” Briana would do her hand prints. Erica smiled all over the paper. And Bryan would step on it. There was always a little footprint somewhere. I loved those banners.
This year I was away visiting with my mom and my sister on a trip to Vegas. In the airport while waiting for my flight I happened into the Brighton store. I spied a lovely ring and earrings that would go great with a lot of outfits that I wear. So I purchased them. When I got home and all the kids were gathered around me as I shared all the stories of my trip, I said to them, “Oh, do you want to see the Mother’s Day gift I bought for you to give me?” In unison they said, “YES!” I showed them the ring and the earrings. I handed them the gift bag and the tissue.
Briana said, “We have to wrap it?” (I may have set the standard too low in those early years.)
I took the present and said, “No, that’s just a formality we can dispense with this year.”
John took the gift bag, tissue, and gifts and said, “YES! We must wrap it.”
Then at 12:01 am John entered my room with a huge smile on his face and said, “Happy Mother’s Day” as he triumphantly handed me the gift bag. I opened it without any fanfare, just John and I sharing a mom and son moment. Inside the bag was not only the gifts I had bought myself but also a gift from John from his heart, a pottery vase he had made in art class. The art work he would create for me when he was very small, all seemed to combine into this one beautiful vase that he had made for me.
I love my kids..and to me…that’s really what Mother’s Day is all about. So today, I drove 30 minutes to the Krispy Kreme donut store so they could have donuts this morning before they went to church.
Happy Mother’s Day to me! and to my kids!
Proverbs 31:29
Mommy Inventions
January 19, 2010
Change – I thrive on it. I’m constantly coming up with new uses for my time. Maybe I should now become an affiliate marketer I might ask myself. Then I will get the books and decide. Usually I drop the idea in the middle of research. But sometimes the idea will go even further (like Ta-Dah Mom – which I continue to promote).
Another thing my brain seems to do is actively invent new products. Oh, if I only had the resources to research all of my ideas! I may have figured out that what I really love is the research and not necessarily seeing the fruition of my idea. No, what I really love is telling someone my idea then having them tell me it’s “brilliant and you should do it!” That’s all I’m after, the words proclaiming how smart I am. (Now if that isn’t egotistical I don’t know what is – but I’m just being real here)
I would venture to say that on an average day I will use the phrase, “I have an idea” at least five times. Most of my ideas are ways to make the life of a mom just a little bit easier. With eight kids, I’ve had a lot of opportunity to make my life easier. 
One of my ideas is a Night Owl Alarm Clock. It would be set at a certain time which would tell the child, “time to brush your teeth and put on your jammies.” Then 15 minutes later, it would chime again letting them know they are to get their FINAL drink of water. In five minutes another alarm would signal the child to get into bed. One more alarm (you set the time) would tell the child to put down the book and turn out the lights. Isn’t it brilliant? Want to invest?
I’m always striving to solve problems. Case in point – The other day while visiting my mom in MO there was another visitor in the house. Little Xavier’s mom was in the hospital having a baby. She had to stay over an extra day so Xavier was staying with his Grandma (who my mom lives with). His Grandma gave Xavier a bath, but as she was getting him ready realized there were no longer any diapers in his suitcase. It would be an hour before anyone could bring her diapers. Grandma got a little flustered with Xavier being “half neked.” I happened to look over and saw a Wal Mart bag. That’s when the idea took shape. We could put his legs through the bottom of the bag then take the loops and put his arms through the loops. Everyone laughed at my idea. I thought it was brilliant. His Grandma said, “There is no way he’ll let me put this on him.” She sat Xavier on her lap and proceed to slide his legs into the bag. The loops went over his arms, but kept falling down. I recommended a twist tie. We tied the loops behind him and he was able to go play without constantly being aware he was “half neked” and with Grandma not worrying about him having an accident on the couch.
As soon as he had on the “diaper” someone in the kitchen said, “Oh my gosh! It’s a redneck diaper!”
So, here is my first fully functional invention – The Redneck Diaper!
Xavier modeling his redneck diaper
Humor in the Holidays
December 5, 2009
This just in from Des Moines, Iowa ….
This is a friend of a friend in Des Moines. She lives just off a busy street.
Well, there is good news and bad news about my
Christmas decorations this year Good news is that I truly
out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad
news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come
screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made
me take it down. First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic
accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by. Second, a 55 year
old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it
against my house and didn’t realize it was fake until she climbed to the
top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who
attempted to do that. My yard couldn’t take it either. I have more than
a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard. Kind of feel like I
gave in to the man by taking him down but my neighbor did confirm
to near miss accidents on the busy street next to my house. I think I
made him too real this time So it was fun while it lasted.
Ignite the Fire! Available Again!
November 22, 2009
Finally after many hours — and much typing (27,000 words in two days!) and then lots and lots of website tweaking. Ignite the Fire is finally ready for you to purchase! Yippee! Woo Hoo! Doin’ the Snoopy Dance!
You can get your copy at http://www.homeschool.terricamp.com
Another great thing is that I’ve found all of my lost workshops! I’ve been able to transfer one of them into an mp3 file and I’m giving it away for FREE! It’s my most popular workshop, “Putting the Fun Into Home Education!” And you get it absolutely FREE!
While I was transfering it from a .wav file to an MP3 I listened to it. I had so much fun listening in and what a great reminder of all the fun things we had done. At the time of the recording David was out running my booth. He was 11. John was apparently in the audience. He was only 9. I could hear him turn and wave to the crowd and say, “Hi, I’m John.” How cute is that? Oh, that was another one of the workshops, but…he was still at that one. I will be completing the other four workshops and once I do that, I probably won’t be giving this one away for free anymore. So get it now!
I absolutely loved those younger years of homeschooling. I still love homeschooling actually. But now the kids are all so self-sufficient I’m not needed quite as much.
Just tonight I was telling someone I don’t even remember teaching Bryan to read. One day – he was just reading. And now he reads a lot! Today he came in my room to tell me he was on page 200 of a book, Brisingr, that he started last night.
Erica told me she has written over 50,000 words in the past four months or so. Holy Schmoly! The cool thing about my conversation with Erica was that she was bragging on her siblings and their gifts and talents. She asked me if I had seen the picture of the English Wolfhound that Briana had drawn. I had seen it. Erica said, “She could make money selling her drawings!” I’ve actually thought of that. I thought she could make notecards for animal lovers and sell them. But she likes to keep her drawings to herself (and the family).
Erica said to me, “You know, I think the reason we are all passionate about things is because you gave us time to do the stuff we really love doing.” Wow! What a kid!
Creative Way to Give Money as a Gift
September 3, 2009
As my kids have gotten older, they would rather I give them money instead of gifts for their birthday. I am not thrilled with the idea of just giving an envelope with cash —BO-RING!
For Briana’s 15th birthday this is what I did — She likes to watch the game show, Deal or No Deal, so I decided to recreate the game to give her money for her birthday. Read more
The Evian Roller Skating Babies
July 12, 2009
This is such a cute video! I just had to post it. Ya know – all my babies were this cute.
Strap in, Close Your Eyes, Throw Up Your Arms, and Scream
June 6, 2009
Shortly after moving to Texas, I took my kids to Six Flags for the day. Briana was watching The Batman go up and down, twist around, and fall. She was so excited and said to me, “Mom! Let’s go on The Batman!”
As I watched the people with their legs dangling, I said to her, “Honey, my life is a roller coaster right now, I don’t want to ride on my life.”
I could almost hear an announcer say, “Welcome – to the ride of your life!”
Almost four years have past since I was forced onto the “Ride of my life” and I have learned a lot in the process.
I’ve learned: Read more
Ta-Dah!
May 2, 2009
After many months – and a lot of education, I’m finally able to launch Ta-Dah Mom!
http://www.tadahmom.com and the ta-dah mom community http://www.tadahmoms.com
I have a lot of plans and I know the site will evolve as time goes on.
Take a look and see how awesome it is!
It is actually a fulfillment of my life-long passion to help women/moms. In fact, now that I’m writing this post, the tears are beginning to flow. (get a grip Terri)
It will be like my columns, speaking engagements, books, and radio broadcast all in one place and for a rock bottom price.
I sure hope you join me at Ta-Dah Mom!
Ignite the Fire – Available AGAIN!
Only $10.00!!!!!
Read more about Ignite the Fire!-
BRAND NEW!
Download Today!
Only $12.00!!!!!
Buy Other Terri Camp books on Amazon
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