Trucker Kids: Fun Fall Sensory Bin

We have had so much fun with the kids the last few weeks, even with everything going on.  To help keep nap time quiet, I've been finding quiet learning things for Princess that she can do on her own.  Some days its a worksheet or coloring, but this is one of her favorite fall activities.

We made some fall scented rice.  It was sooo easy!  You can find the recipe here. When the rice was dry we put it in a big bowl.  We used our chip bowl that we use for parties.  (Just a note - you want to let the rice air dry. If you don't it does mold).
We put a variety of things in the bowl that represent fall.  Because it's Halloween, I found some cool, squishy spiders and also some small toy snakes and frogs at Walmart that were inexpensive.  I put in some feathers (We use craft feathers because the ones found outside really aren't safe for the kids to touch) and fake leaves in fall colors.  And we used pine cones and acorns from outside.   This kept both kids busy for hours. 

Adjusting to Life Changes

I had my allergy testing done last week.  So very happy to be able to take my medicine again!  We have known that I have always had environmental allergies that are more on the severe side of things.  This time I wanted to make sure that I got tested for everything that I have noticed reactions to which included foods...some of my favorite kinds of food.  Turns out that I am severely allergic to lobster and every food I was tested for I was allergic to at some level...Also, my environmental allergies have gotten worse and there are more of them....
So our house will be undergoing some pretty big adjustments, some of which we are not at all happy about.  Lobster, shrimp and crab are all things that have been treats in our house.  Very special treats.   These special treats are things that the Colonel makes to show me how much he appreciates me or when we have reached a goal.  Now we can't have any of them.  They can't even be cooked in the apartment which means that we now have to change some of our holiday celebrations.  No more seafood restaurants either.  We are still adjusting.  I am glad that I know and I'm very thankful that I haven't had a serious reaction before now.  But there isn't much that we do that is as special as the seafood so I am dealing with some not so pretty emotions about that.  We will get there I'm sure, just another thing we have to adjust to.
We will also be making adjustments in how we live.  Namely to our bedrooms.  The rest of the house is fairly allergy friendly already.  However, everything that we need the kids to stay out of usually ends up in our bedroom. 
While I was sitting in the doctor's office wanting nothing more than to scratch my arms, I got to watch a video that taught me a lot about decreasing the severity of allergies my kids might end up with.  I don't want them to end up with allergies like mine and our little red head has already started showing signs.  If I can prevent it and decrease the severity that is huge for me.  So we will be saving up to put allergy covers on everyone's mattress and pillows.   Eventually I will probably get an air purifier.  I can't see myself taking away all the stuffed animals right now.  Both kids are very attached to them.  So for now we will stick with the washing in hot water method.  We already limit the number they can have anyway. 
I am really hoping that as we get some of these things done in the bedroom, I will find that I have more energy and that the whole family will have improved sleep. 
Have you ever had a major life adjustment like this?  What did you do to adjust?

The News

Our hearts and prayers go out to all those families and children effected by the school shooting in Nevada, including the family of the shooter.  Normally I try to avoid discussing events in the news, but with all the school shootings that have been in the news, I am going to share a few thoughts I've had for a while.  I've noticed that while reading about these horrible events that most of the discussion revolves around gun control.  I get that that is a hot issue right now, but personally I feel that it is more of a band aid to these types of situations.  Let's face it, if the will is strong enough, a way will be found.  But what very few seem to be talking about is why these kids are so desensitized that they think this is ok.  (I am not saying that this is the case in the Nevada shooting, but in many of them it appears to be a large factor)  We live in a violent society.  The media, entertainment, music lyrics, even the news if you really think about it all contain violence.  And then there is the issue of the age that children are exposed to violence.  I have had 5 year olds come up to me and tell me that they watch R rated movies or tv shows that I wouldn't even consider watching because they are filled with violence.  And they tell me this like its the norm.  Honestly it breaks my heart. 
We made a decision before our first child was born, not that she would never be exposed to violence (that would be impossible), but that she would not be exposed it until we felt that she was old enough to handle it.  And that is something I want to clarify right now - I don't mean allowing a 5 year old to watch an R rated movie.  Determining once she is at the recommended age if it is something we are really ok with her watching.  Just because it is rated pg-13 does not mean that every 13 year old is mature enough to watch, understand, and process what they are seeing.  It is definitely not an easy decision and it involves a lot of sacrifice as an adult.  And it is not a decision that many understand either.  I can remember being at a friends house when Princess was about 3 months old.  They had a daughter about a month younger.  I asked the Colonel to turn Princess around because they were watching something that was at least pg-13 and the scenes were not something that she needed to see.  He hadn't been paying attention and once he realized he immediately turned her around.  But we got "Why does it matter, she won't remember it anyway."  From our friends.  It was not about whether or not she would remember it.  It was about getting us in the practice of taking responsibility for what our children are exposed to and also about allowing her to have as much of her childhood as possible.
Honestly we don't even watch the news around the kids, because of the amount of violence that is shown on there.  I read it in the paper or online.  I try to pay attention to the lyrics of the music my kids listen to.  We don't listen to all kid's music, but I will switch radio stations if there is something that is not kid friendly on. 
Like I said it's not easy.  We don't always like having to wait until they go to bed to watch a show that is for adult audiences or to play that m-rated video game.  Watching the same episode of Barney 100 times can get very very annoying.  But is it worth it?  Absolutely.  My kids get to be kids.  The shows they watch are teaching them values and focusing on kid oriented things.  I know what my kids are watching (which someday will not be as easy as it is right now, I know).  They will not live life thinking that it's ok to handle everything through violence.  They will be adults soon enough.  Once their childhood is gone its gone.  Why would I want to shorten it?  I cannot control society and the violence that is deemed ok there, but I can control what is in my home.  And honestly, if enough parents stood up and said "We don't want this in our homes."  then maybe, just maybe society would start to change.

We are back!

We seem to be getting back into the swing of things.  At least where we should be able to make a few posts a week.  Probably won't be completely back to the full swing of things, but we are getting there.  Princess is doing great!  Surprisingly Buddy is having the harder time adjusting to having her home again.  He is happy she is back, but does not like having to share again. Rose is going in for some allergy testing this week, which means no medications this week.  Thus the reason we aren't quite fully up and running again.  Not being able to take the allergy meds often leaves Rose feeling very tired and drained.  All the tests have are outdated and have to be redone before a plan can be made to hopefully make the allergies more manageable.  So this week is literally a necessary evil.  On the upside there are a lot of fun things that have gone on and will be going on that we can't wait to share.  We celebrated our anniversary and another birthday.  We went apple picking and the kitchen has been full of wonderful smells as Rose cooks and cans up all those fresh apples.  The kids have been doing lots of fun fall and Halloween related activities.  And finally, Rose has found another way to save us about another $100 a year. 

Trucker Kids - Adjustments after taking a trip

Princess comes home today after being gone for almost 2 weeks!  Buddy and I are both extremely excited.  On that note we probably won't be posting much for the rest of the week.  Princess tends to be the harder one to get back into a routine.  But both kids need to get back into a schedule.  Little Buddy is so used to having his sister around that this last week has been especially difficult.  He refuses to eat supper, doesn't really want to go out to play, and doesn't want to go to sleep until 11.  Letting him take care of Princess' lovey has helped some (we didn't want to take the chance of losing it should the luggage get lost on the plane), but we both really miss her.  It's the longest either of us have been away from her.  Princess will be dealing with saying "See you later." to one of her favorite relatives as well as readjusting to a different time zone.  This is one of the difficulties for our trucker kids.  Goodbyes are that much harder because they have had to say goodbye so many times.  Princess can cry about a goodbye for up to a month.  We use charts to help her get a sense of time so she can see when she gets to see various people again.  This really helps a lot.  Unfortunately, the Colonel got to see what some of the goodbyes can really be like when he was home.  It was a shock to him what some of the rougher ones are really like.  It has been a long time since he has actually seen the crying child that doesn't want to eat and tries to stay up until the missed family member comes home.  And honestly, it's not something I really like the Colonel to see or talk to him about when it happens because that would be a huge distraction for him on the road.  I simply find the best ways to help the kids through it as quickly as possible and we move on.  Routine and the charts are our biggest helps.  Will be back to post as soon as we get our kids through the worst of the adjusting.  How do you help your children adjust??

Party Planning - The Food

This is probably the most difficult portion of the party as a truckers family.  We have found that the best way to handle this is to keep it simple.  Our family travels quite a distance to celebrate with us so we always try to have a meal.  We serve a variation of the same meal for every party.  To keep the cost down I sale shop and use coupons for as much of the food as I can.  The only things that cannot be bought ahead of time are the fruits and vegetables.  We usually go with hotdogs and hamburgers or drumsticks on the grill with a veggie plate or salad, a pasta salad, chips, fruit skewers or fruit salad and ice
cream.  If someone offers to help we usually accept.  This really helps with the stress on my part, trying to care for the kids and make all the food in the few days before the party.  I also make the cake and/or cupcakes.  If I do both one is chocolate and the other is vanilla.  By making them myself it saves me a lot of money and gives me special moments with the kids as they both love to help me bake.  It is the most time consuming food item, but also the most important.  We reuse any cake sets we can or use small toys to decorate the cake with.  After the party the kids get the toys to play with which seems like a better use of money to us.

Trucker Kids - Fun with Leaves

When I taught preschool I used to do this fun activity to help kids learn about falling leaves with a parachute.  I don't have a parachute at home so we substituted a blanket.  It worked but not as well as I hoped, so next time I might try a sheet.
First, I let the kids check out the fake leaves.  We talked about the colors of the leaves while they checked them out.  Then Princess helped me put them on the blanket.  We each took a side to the blanket and we started by moving it up and down slowly.  The leaves really didn't move much.  Then we moved the blanket fast.  This was Princess' favorite part because the leaves fell everywhere.  Then we got to talk about how leaves fall and leaves in the wind.  The more we did it, the more interested Buddy became.  By the end he was repeating some of the color words and trying to say leaves.