I have to admit to being slightly guilted into inspired by Cindy's friday post on basically making memories for our kids.  First of all, I am what my husband calls the "reality police"...meaning that anytime he suggests we go do something "fun", I bring up all of the reasons it would NOT be fun for our family, yet.  Anyway, due to my previously mentioned "inspiration" I decided that I would give up our date night and turn it into a weekend of family fun...our first ever family camping trip.  My princess has been bugging us for about 2 years to do a real camping trip in a real forest, but after reading the first half of  The Shack, I have no interest in taking them into a "real forest!"  (thanks to everyone that suggested that book to a parent with a 4 year old girl about a 4 year old girl being taken from her dad on a camping trip and......etc.) anyway, this irrational new fear  of mine was the catapulting factor in my great idea of "camping at grandmas"!   It made a lot of sense really...only 15 min away, a big beautiful piece of property and the best part, running water...PERFECT!  My vision was to pitch a tent for the family, make a little fire pit, roast marshmallows, go on a mini hike, fly a kite, even go to the lake!  Brilliant, right???  Well,  it didn't exactly go as planned, which got me to thinking "maybe we aren't quite ready for real camping! So I made a little list for you all to give your family to check your camp-ability, in order to maybe avoid total camping disaster...



#10...When you have to take two cars on a 2 day camping trip only 15 min away (and you didn't even pack food)

#9...You get there and are unable to fly the kite (your only planned event) because you forgot the string, so your husband gets out his 5ft remote control  airplane (hence the extra car)

#8...You have to move the tent 3 times because your father-in-law is afraid it will kill the grass

#7...When your kids prefer to swim in the hot tub and not go to the lake

#6...Instead of hot dogs and marshmallows over an open flame, dinner is prepared by special order (father in law buys, mother in law makes) and then it is served at the dinner table while the kids watch a movie.

#5...When family time around the camp fire turns into one child knocked out because he decide napping earlier in a tent covered in spiders is not his thing. Child 2 is watching another movie, Mom is sitting on the deck with grandma, reading a book drinking a glass of wine,  and dad is watching Taledega Nights in the recliner.

#4...The only wildlife you come in contact with is a crazy huge mosquito eater on the kitchen wall and a dog that will not stop dropping pinecones on your lap to try to get you to throw them (I kinda think a bear would have been more fun!)

#3...The good intention of a family sleep out in the tent ends when child one is crying because she wants to sleep with grandma, and child two being brought inside by daddy (after daddy sends a text to mommy who is already inside, saying they are coming in because it's not comfortable!).

#2...Your early morning wake up does not come from surrounding campers but by the clanking of dad's  golf clubs being thrown in the back of his buddies car!



and the number one reason your family is NOT ready to start camping is..(drumroll please!)





#1...the only use you have for a flashlight is using it a 3:00 AM to clean up dog vomit off of your mother in laws white carpet. (yup, that really happened!)



So Im fully aware that this whole debacle was of our own doing and pretty much all of you are thinking "what the h$#%, they didn't even go camping...so, I'd love to hear about your camping fun :)...make sure to comment below and give us your scoop ;)

     My own kids must have had one of those sibling pow-wows (behind my back) and came to some kind of unanimous conclusion that they would never say one of my own (unoriginal) one liners: "Because I said so!". I used to have a picture hanging in my kitchen of a mother hen with a lot of babies under her wings and the caption read: "I'm the mommy that's why." They didn't give me grief over that one but evidently they really disliked 'because I said so.' Who knew?? I'm fairly sure when your little ones grow up they too will throw some of your mommy-isms back at you. I, for one, am hoping they do. :o)

{By Guest Contributor: Laura Moriarity}

It was a hot, dusty Southern Oregon morning in 1988. My mom had signed me up to run in the” Mini Marathon” at Sam’s Valley Elementary School. There I was, a chubby 4th grader standing on the starting line of some great idea from the mom with the fit kids at a PTA meeting. As I stood there a sense of absolute dread came over me. I panicked. What was I doing? Am I supposed to run up THAT HILL? Then all of a sudden some crazy parent in short-shorts, Asics and a sweatband yelled “GO”! Everyone started sprinting like there were puppies and unicorns on the other side of the hill of death, so stupidly I started sprinting too. After about 2 minutes I thought my lungs were literally on fire and going to explode. To make matters worse (like there is something worse than your lungs exploding) I was certain I was about to puke for the second time ever in public (yes it was that dramatic, and puking in public IS worse than your lungs exploding when you are 9). I was traumatized. The next year I volunteered at the doughnut table and took home the free t-shirt.

This is how mama rolls!

So how did that traumatized 4th grader go from the “Mini Marathon” nightmare to not only choosing to, but spending hours raising money and training for a 26.2 mile real marathon? (By the way, my fantasy of appearing on the cover of Runner’s World Magazine as my hot skinny butt crossed the finish line in record time did not come true- the reality was I ran the last 3 miles with a migraine, I think I was crying when I got there, and my 10 pound heavier butt ran straight for my mom. Oh, and my time was slower than Oprah’s). But here is the thing, outside of childbirth I have never felt more accomplished or AMAZED at what my body could do than I did that day.



I am not sure how I got there really. It would be great to be able to insert some movie montage set to “Eye of the Tiger” here to motivate you all, but really I think I just decided one day that I was too poor for a gym membership, I felt too chubs to work out at one anyway, AND if I was going to puke I would rather do it outside. I knew I was 20 pounds overweight and all of my quick fixes did NOT work. I knew I had to get up off my butt and DO something.



The good news is I have grown to love it. Now instead of viewing running as a horrible lung bursting puke-fest (although it is that sometimes) I see it as affordable therapy. Challenging myself to enter races (no matter if it is a 5K or a full marathon) has transformed the way I think about weight and about my body. I find when I am training for a race I do not obsess over the number on the scale, instead I think about how many miles I was able to run while pushing 60 pounds of stroller, children, stuffed animals, blankies and snacks. I thank God for my body when I cross the finish line. I smile like a crazy person when I am passed by 70 year old ladies during a race because it gives me a crazy sense of hope. I don’t care if I am fast, I don’t care if I win anything, I just LOVE that I can survive it. Experiencing that split moment of absolute amazement at my imperfect but ABLE body is something I need as a women. So with that, just try it. Who knows, you may actually like itJ to help you get going here are my “10 running tips from an unlikely runner”

My 2 year old daughter running the last 1/2 mile with me!

1. {Run for a cause} For my marathon I raised $2,500 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society through Team In Training www.teamintraining.com. On those days I would have rather died than put on my running shoes I remembered that the people I was running for may never get the opportunity to do what I was doing so suck it up! Many races give the proceeds to foundations or agencies- pick one and put it in perspective!


2. {Brag about it!} post it on Facebook, tell your friends, milk every sore muscle and every ½ mile you possibly can-it helps with accountability!


3. {Download a training program} I like Hal Higdon’s as the schedules are realistic to incorporate in my crazy life. http://www.halhigdon.com


4. {Listen} to your body


5. {Get} a good pair of shoes


6. {Eat}


7. {Do it with and for your kids} Check out the picture of my 2 year old running the last half mile with me...


8. {Get an App} Like Runtastic or the one from Nike to track your calories, distance and progress


9. {Get a running partner} or join a running group (or start your own.)


10. {Sign Up}To really bring this thing full circle you can always sign your kids up for the Mini Marathon  http://kohd.com/news/local/193513

photo by:www.klikphotographic.com

Roo… is a former stockbroker who hung up her trading shoes when her daughter was six months in her belly. She started Oops! Sheet to fulfill her dream of being able to be home to raise her daughter. When asked when the next child will be coming along, she likes to joke that “she got it right the first time!”   

“Want to do a Guest Post on our Blog?” Lindsay asks. “Sure,” is my response. “Something light and fun,” says Linz. Sounds easy enough. But for two weeks I have started writing, just to stop and think, “No. There is nothing funny about that.” I have easily a dozen starts to this light and fun Guest Post for the fabulous Earth Monkeys Moms Blog. A blog that always makes me laugh out loud. And I’ve got nothing. Nothing at all to contribute.



Could it be that we are not fun, in my household? What is “fun” anyways? Let’s see what Google says. According to Wikipedia, “Fun is the enjoyment of pleasure.” Well, that sounds like something that happens all the time in our house! Perhaps I just needed to think harder. Fun, funny… Then it came to me: 



{Naked Kids }



It all began innocently enough. My six year old daughter loves to hang out with the four year old boy from across the street. She loves forests, bugs, and digging in the dirt. Boys do too. So the little boy across the street and my daughter get along like two peas in a pod.



The other day my daughter wanted to play in the back forest with her buddy from across the street. I opened the back gate for them and they ran happily into the forest in search of dinosaur bones and spots to dig to China. Oh, and did I mention they both happened to be in their bathing suits? Now normally that isn’t trouble when we’re talking about a six year old girl and a four year old boy…



Every few minutes I’d peek over the fence to see that all was well. And it was. For a while. During a routine peek over the fence, I could see WAY too much of my child’s skin. Sure enough she’s standing there, naked as the day she was born. With her bathing suit in her hand. The little boy from across the street is still wearing his bathing suit. Both were just chatting as though there were nothing unusual going on.



Not wanting to cause alarm, I very much needed to hear exactly how she came to be standing naked in the forest with the boy from across the street, bathing suit in hand. I told her there was something in her hair and to quickly come into our house with me. Streaking across the yard, in plain view of the entire neighbourhood, she runs into our house.



{Me} “Sweetie, why is your bathing suit in your hand?”



{My Child} “What’s in my hair, Mom?”



{Me} “Nothing is in your hair, I just wanted to find out why you are naked.”



{My Child} “Oh. My bathing suit got stuck on the blackberry bushes. I couldn’t get it unstuck so I took it off.”



Bless their innocent little hearts! The little boy from across the street had been standing side by side with my naked child while they both tugged her bathing suit off the blackberry bushes… There was a reason I found the kids chatting as though there was nothing unusual going on - that’s because there wasn’t anything going on! He was just trying to help her out and neither one of them thought naked was a big deal.



Childhood is such an innocent yet hilarious time… anyone else catch their kids in crazy situations? Situations that appear bad at first glance but turn out to be just fine?



After spending two weeks trying to find something light and funny to write about, I’ve taken it as a sign that I need to learn to look harder for the light and funny things in life. I think there is a lesson to be learned here and the best way to learn that lesson is to start a blog for Oops! Sheet. Stay tuned! One Oops! Sheet Blog coming right up… in two weeks… or so…