Had my baby, need advice!

I'm going to try to make this quick! Some of you may remember, I was pregnant with a little baby girl. She was born on March 31st! She was 7 pounds 6 ounces, and appeared to be very healthy. We took her home on April 1st. On April 2nd, she stopped breathing and turned blue. It Was the scariest day of my life. I called 911, and she was admitted to the children's hospital here. Long story short, we don't have any results yet, but she was sent home on a cardiac and respiratory monitor. It's a little machine that plugs into the wall and has cords attached to her to monitor periods of apnea. It's not real portable, so basically when I am tending to her, I have to be in one place, I can't just carry her around or use a sling or what not.

You may also remember that I have my two olders, ages 5 and 7 and our foster baby (who is most likely going to adoption) who is 7 months old. Our foster baby is not mobile, and is developmentally delayed, so she still needs a lot of attention. And of course, we homeschool. We are on break right now, of course, but we can't be on break forever...

So, I'm breastfeeding. I was not sure I wanted to at first because I knew it was so much more work than bottle feeding (that's my opinion, especially when you have another infant already bottle-feeding, what's one more?!). But I am, and I'm finding it hard to continue because it's so time consuming and because she pretty much has to stay in one place. I have a hard time occupying my 7 month old when breastfeeding for so long. On the other hand, I don't want to feel guilty for quitting either.

What do you all think? Is it realistic to continue? Can I homeschool, take care of a 7 month old, and breastfeed a child on an apnea monitor? And if so, how do I do it all?? Help!

Almost Done and large family organization

Our house is almost done. We went to see it yesterday and they were laying the tile. It's painted, and bricked already. The sod is down. We are due to close March 15th! I'm so excited! I wish I had pictures; they are all on Raymond's phone though!

So I started thinking about large families and how to run the home more efficiently. When it was just the two kids, it was pretty easy. I did laundry when needed, dishes when needed, cleaned when needed...I had free time. Since adding Mimi to the mix, and now expecting another little bundle, I am anticipating that I will be far to busy for my own good. I'm starting to gather ideas to help cut down on chores and maximize my time. So if you have a large family (and coming from a family with 2 kids including myself, I think 4 IS large) please feel free to give me some advice!

One thing I'm thinking of doing is a family closet. We have this incredibly strange and long closet in our new house that probably wouldn't work too well for much. It does have a light. I plan to put a rod in there at the kid's height and put all their clothes on the rod, divided off by child. Below that, I'd put plastic hampers for each child for their dirties. And above, on a shelf, baskets for socks and undies. That way, when I do laundry, I can put all the clothes away in the same place and gather all the dirties from the same place too. 3 of the kids rooms are upstais, and one is downstairs and the laundry is downstairs, so I think this will really cut back on folding and putting away, and on gathering laundry and going up and down the stairs all the time. Not to mention, the kids wouldn't make messes of their dresser drawers like they do now. Plus, since the house we are in right now is pretty small, the kids have been using my and Raymond's dressers (and I've been storing my clothes under the bed in a plastic bin) and don't have dressers of their own. Which means if I do the family closet idea for the kids, I won't have to buy dressers for each of them when we move.

That's just one idea. But I have more ideas brimming in my head. I plan to share them as I have time. If you have one and would like to share with me, I'd be so grateful!

First Snow

Growing up in Southern California, snow has always been a magical thing of mountain vacations. For my kids, that meant that at 5 and 6, they had never seen it in real life. So when we moved to Oklahoma last year around this time we hoped to see snow right away. Alas, it didn't happen that way, though it was bitter cold outside (at least it felt that way to us beach people).

But this year, they did get to see snow! And they LOVED it! It was only a few inches, blown into the city overnight, but let me tell you, my two big kids had their boots on before breakfast yesterday. They were READY!

Update on "Mimi" our foster baby

BTW, Mimi is not her real name, it's just a nickname we have for her.

It's funny to call her our "foster baby" because in many ways she is like our own. At the same time, it's always on our mind that she isn't ours, so we have to keep ourselves mindful and at the same time allow ourselves to get attached to her.

She is 5 months now, and she is just a happy little lady! She is pretty attached to us too--if we leave her alone in a room, say in her exersaucer, she will start crying, then smile when we come back! She is a little social bug too, always laughing, smiling, cooing and in general being super cute!

Physically the experts say she is on target for her age (had her evaluated by early intervention), but personally, I disagree. She isn't rolling at all or even trying to, or trying to sit. She isn't grabbing things or holding toys. She can't support her body on her arms and still face-plants during tummy time. I'm not too concerned, but it's something we are keeping our eye on.

Her reflux is under control at the moment, and thus she has mastered the art of sleeping on a flat surface, finally! Just this week she started breaking out of her swaddle so we are now laying her down without a blanket too! Big girl! No solids yet, though we tried a couple times and she did fine, she also did fine without, so I figure, why bother if she doesn't really need it?

She is a big girl! I think she is probably about 20 pounds! Amazing since when we got her she was only 4 pounds 9 ounces. She drinks four 8 ounce bottles a day. And she sucks them down, boy! We've already had to switch to a convertible car seat since she was way to heavy to tote around in the bucket seat.

As for her permanency plan, we don't know yet. We have another court date coming, that may reveal more, but I honestly highly doubt it'll be very productive. We'll have to wait and see!

Our House

I mentioned a while back that we had purchased a new home. It's entirely new, hasn't even been built yet! And if you read my post the other day, you know with a baby on the way, plus Mimi (not her real name), our foster baby, and two older kids, we are eager for the extra space. Above are a couple pics of the layout and exterior of the home.

It's 5 bedrooms (the media room we are putting in a closet to make a 5th bedroom), with two bedrooms downstairs, including the master. We will have a formal dining room downstairs which differs from the picture in that we will be closing ours off to make an extra room (playroom maybe?). Upstairs there are three bedrooms and a "game room". Our game room will be the school room. It sits on 1/3 an acre. We would have loved a little more land, but for the size of house we wanted and the price range we had, 1/3 was about as good as it gets! It's very close to Raymond's work too. We are excited and feel blessed to be making this purchase! We are hoping to close in February.

What's going on

I know, I know, I've been so MIA from my blog...but it's not for lack of fun things to share with you all! Recently we learned to play subtraction chain games in Right Start Level C. We made Spartan and Athenian magnetic paper dolls, we delved into creative writing with some fun projects and poems, we learned how bones and muscles work together to make our body move, and we played a neat fraction card game. All things I want to post about on my blog.

On the personal side, we are celebrating Little Bean's first loose tooth (and the adult tooth that is already coming in behind!), the baby's 3 month birthday and the piercing of her sweet little ears, Little Bean's amazing job selling popcorn for cub scouts (he came in 2nd in sales for his whole pack!), and the purchase of a brand new home, set to close in February!

In terms of reviews, I've got some good stuff coming up, reviewing that aforementioned fraction card game, a reading card game, a book on healthy living and nutrition for preschool and lower elementary, a math curriculum, and lots of other good things!

So though the blog is a little quiet, I hope you'll stick with me in this very busy time. If you do, I know eventually you'll be glad you did because I have lots of good stuff in mind, ...now all I need is the time to write it out!

How are things going with you??

Allergen Free Halloween Candy List

My husband found this list of allergen free Halloween candy, and I thought it was so helpful, I had to share: http://surefoodsliving.com/2011/10/halloween-candy-list-gluten-free-allergen-free-2011/ . It's written by a mom who's child has Celiac's (gluten allergy), I believe, but she includes six of the top eight allergens (including wheat and milk) and lists dozens of different candies and what is and isn't in them. She updates this list every Halloween too! This would be very helpful to us if all candy didn't have dyes in it and we weren't avoiding dyes! ;)

What are we doing for Halloween? Candy buy-back! The kids are getting money in exchange for their Halloween candy. We did buy a few gluten free, dye free candies at the store, but for the most part they are doing buy back. They seem to be alright with that.

American Heritage Girls

Have you heard of American Heritage Girls? When we signed Little Bean up for Cub Scouts, Miss O could not wait to get in on the vest-wearing, patch-earning action. She even wore her Awana Cubbies vest around the house and tagged along to Little Bean's pack meetings. When she turned 5 in July, I started looking into Girl Scouts, but heard something about this other group called American Heritage Girls.

AHG is a Christian group for girls that is apparently associated with boy scouts, and is a lot like girl scouts in that they earn patches and do fundraising and service projects in the community. We actually found out about our troop through our local homeschooling group and decided to join that instead of girl scouts.

Miss O is loving being with all her little friends and earning her beads (in Pathfinders they earn beads, not patches). Last Monday was her joining ceremony--she did great and had a lot of fun! :)

Update on the little one

Our little foster baby is 2 months now! She is doing great! She has not had a visit with her mama again yet, but we do have a family team meeting coming up at the end of this month and court again in December, so most likely mom will request a visit at that time. She is free to request one whenever she wants, but usually she ends up missing the visit for whatever reason.

The aunt that originally wanted to take the baby has changed her mind, but another possible dad is being DNA tested now, and if he is the dad, he would be able to take custody of her right away, probably. We just need to wait and see, and we should know real soon if he is the dad. They do not give us foster parents the DNA results, but if he is the dad we will know because they will call to let us know she will be moving or at least to start visits with the dad if he needs to work a parenting plan.

Baby is about 12 pounds now, and already moving up to size two diapers! There were a few days last week where she was just super fussy and I decided to take her to the doctors, because that is not like her. As it turned out, she was not getting enough of her reflux medicine and they had to adjust the dosage. She is doing much better now, thankfully!

She is sleeping through the night most of the time now (8 to 10 hours!). I say that tentatively, since she tends to go for several nights great, and then need a feed the next night at 1 am. But for almost 9 weeks, she is doing super in the sleeping department. Her naps are not as good, she takes some of them pretty well, like 1.5 hours at a time, but others she wakes up after 45 minutes and is clearly not hungry and is clearly still tired. Not sure how to fix that, but eh, it is what it is right now I guess. I will say it makes homeschooling quite a challenge when I can't have her on a predictable schedule. Sometimes I feel like I am doing so much I can't do any of it well, or if I do one thing well, the other things suffer. I guess that's probably normal for this stage in life though!

We had her pictures taken when she turned 5 weeks, they are so adorable! I wish I could post them, but we are not allowed! I can't wait to show them off to her mom. :)

She is a lot of work, I will say that, between meetings, visits, court dates, docter visits, and home visits. We will likely add Early Intervention to that list soon too, as she is not meeting all of her milestones (who knew an 8 week old could be behind, but alas, this is what the social workers are worried about, but I digress...) and as a foster child, they are required to refer her sometime in the first three years of her life. I can't tell you how many people and how often they have asked me if I want her referred already! Even if she is alot of work, she is such a pleasure to have around, and we all already love her dearly!

Couldn't have found this site at a better time...

Just a few weeks before we picked up our little one (now 4 weeks old!), I started asking around on the different homeschooling message boards about an online program that I could use with my kids. I knew I'd be swamped taking care of a little baby, but at the same time, I really wanted the kids to continue with their studies even while we took some time off from our regular schedule. I didn't want an actual online school or a complete program, just something that would continue to sharpen and keep their knowledge fresh while we were away from the school room for a while.

A few people mentioned this program called Big IQ Kids, which is a free website (with a premium section, more on that later) designed for K to 12, offering learning exercises in math (drill), spelling, vocabulary and the states. To my delight, I was actually offered a premium subscription to this site for both my kids, and it couldn't have come at a better time!

Big IQ Kids is kind of a unique program because it is fairly customizable for your student. In the math section you can choose to have them timed or not timed, which operations you would like them to do and in how many digits (1 digit addition, etc), and how many problems they must complete to finish the lesson. In the free spelling section you can input your own word lists and choose how many and which games they will play to learn their words. Miss O was put on the premium spelling, and hers is oddly much less customizable than the free version. The section the states is not customizable, but it starts everyone at the beginning.

I'll be honest and just say we did not use the vocabulary section all that much, and I'll tell you why. This may just be me, but the characters on this program are computerized and they speak in a very monotone and unnatural fashion. In the vocab section especially, this is apparent, and I'll just say it, the voices irritated me. I didn't feel like my kids could understand them because of the strange tone and mode of speech. They actually never complained that they couldn't, but I couldn't bear to listen to it more than necessary!

Now here's the part of Big IQ that my kids liked: after every lesson, they earned a coin. The coins are saved and then can be used to play little games on the computer. The games are short and generally pretty simplistic, but it's enough of an incentive to get them to happily do some math drills or spelling games.

As I said before, Big IQ also offers a premium section of their site. The main difference between the two is that with the premium subscription the program will monitor and track your child's progress in the various subjects and move them forward only when mastery is achieved. But you do not have to have the premium membership to benefit from this site. There is alot there that is free for you. I wish I had known about it earlier! Here is more information on just what is free and what is included in the premium price. You can purchase the premium programs separately or all four for a bundle price of $19.99 a month, or $89.99 for a year. Find out more about pricing for individual purchases here.

We were given a 1 year subscription to this site, and I am sure we will get lots of use out of it--we already have! If you are interested in Big IQ Kids, hop over here and read more reviews for this product or go to their website FAQ page and find out more!

Please note: I was given this product free of charge in exchange for my honest review. I am not obligated to give a positive review and all opinions are mine.

Foster Care Update

We have had our little foster baby in the house for a little over 2 weeks now, and she is such a delight! I haven't shared much about her, though I'd like to (I feel like I need therapy just thinking about all she has gone through in her little life!), to preserve her privacy and dignity there is alot I can't talk about.

But she is doing great! She came to us at 4 lb 12 oz, and she is a whopping 8 lb 5 oz now at almost 4 weeks. She is such a good baby too. I have memories of walking my kids up and down the living room floor at night trying to get them to fall asleep and stay asleep. Not so with this little one! She came to us already knowing how to fall asleep on her own. She has a very distinct pattern to her days: eat, stay awake for a while, get groggy, go to sleep, and start over again. Except at night when she skips the staying awake bit! Truly I did not know babies like her existed, she is SO good!

Even still, she does keep me getting up every 3 to 4 hours at night and likes to spray me with her projectile vomit at least daily (she has acid reflux and is on Zantac), so I am tired! I got a cold just right after we got her, and haven't been able to get rid of it. I'm not sure how I will with such sporadic sleep going on!

I don't know if I mentioned before, but in the state of Oklahoma, a kinship or family placement takes priority over a straight foster care placement, which is what we are. There is a relative that would like custody of this little one, and so is going through background checks now. If she is approved, the baby would go to live with her. Things do not look like they will go that way, but we will not know for at least a few months.

Baby had her first visit with her birthmom yesterday. I will say that it was interesting (and not in a good way) to say the least, but the most important thing I got out of it was that a)the birth mom loves her little baby A LOT, and b)although she is upset about the situation, she does not have any bad feelings, it seems, toward us as the foster family. I'm glad for that because I would really like to have a good working relationship with her, and am not the kind of person who knows how to deal with that kind of conflict. The baby was wide awake for the visit and well fed beforehand, so she was a little sweetie pie for her mom and they spent some time getting to know one another. I'm not sure if and when the next visit will be.

Yesterday our case worker also gave us a clothing voucher so we can do a little shopping for the little miss! Since she was so new when she came into custody, she came with nothing but the clothes on her back (a 3 to 6 mo. onesie and socks) and a receiving blanket. We have purchased alot of clothing for her already, but with the weather changing (yay!) she will be needing more warm clothing and the voucher will help a lot!

Miss O and Little Bean are enamored with her, but in different ways. Miss O is like my little helper, she even *tries* to change diapers for me! Little Bean loves how soft her skin is and how she makes "animal" noises and squeezes his fingers! We started homeschooling back up again on Tuesday, but I can tell I may need more time. My energy is really at an all time low. Thank goodness she is such an easy little baby, not sure I can handle much more!

When she came to us there were some concerns with her heart (possible situs inversus, or reversal of the heart) and she had some stomache distention, and had an x-ray. All was normal on that, and she is healthy in every way at this point. We are so thankful to have her for whatever amount of time. What an amazing (yet exhausting experience) this has been so far!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

....that's what our little foster baby is made of! We picked up our very first placement as foster parents yesterday morning. She is a week and a half old and is just as sweet as can be. :) If the first 36 hours are any indication, she is going to be a very agreeable baby.

The difference between CA and OK, lol

In California, summertime is a blissful 75 degrees, and you spend all of it outside. It doesn't rain much in the summer, but if it does, it's cold, and you complain about rain in August and you stay inside.

In Oklahoma, summertime is akin to living on the sun, and you spend all if it inside. It doesn't rain much in the summer, but if it does, it's a warm rain with puddles that dry up almost right before your eyes, and you rejoice, and you turn your face up to the sky, and let the rain make little trails down your shoulders, and you stop in the middle of your school day to go outside and dance in the rain until it's gone, all the time wishing it would never go away.

Why didn't we ever think to dance in the rain when we lived in California?

Identity

People find their identity in different things. It could be in your career. It could be your education or a hobby. Or a religion. For me, it's always been my family.

I love my family.

I love being with them.

My husband is my best friend.

I love my kids. I love teaching them, raising them.

They are a part of me, and I am a part of them.

And family is a good thing.

But I realized something recently. It isn't enough. Our identity, my identity is meant to be defined in Christ, and in Him alone.

Someone said this to me the other day, having no idea at the time that I needed to hear it:she said that so often we ask God for a child, and when He gives us one (or two, or more), our whole world becomes about that child.

Maybe it's only me that struggles with this. I don't know. I don't struggle with drugs, or alcohol or being faithful to my husband or any of the "biggies" that are always mentioned in church. I've always thought, "How can loving my family be wrong?"

And it isn't wrong to love them. But to find my identity in them means that I no longer find my identity in the One who call me to Himself, the One who died for me, the One who brought me into His family. And that is wrong. It's idolatry.

I want to get back to the place where I'm finding my identity in Him, where I'm seeking His wisdom daily, not only so I can show my children what inexplicable joy a relationship with Christ brings, but so I can experience that joy myself.

I want to dance at His feet again.

If you can relate to what I've said here, pray for me, will you? I'd love that! :) And of course, if you let me know you are struggling too, I'd love to pray on your behalf. If you can't relate, that's okay too.

How about you? Do you ever feel this way?

Foster Parenting, almost done with the wait!

You might remember that we are new foster parents. The social worker contacted me today to let us know that we are almost done with the wait! She has submitted our paperwork, so she said to be expecting a call for a possible placement within a week or so! I'm excited and nervous to begin this journey.

Kinda big news for our family...

Those of you who know me in real life may know this already, so this is for the rest of you. :)

We have some kinda big news--we are going to be foster parents! Raymond, my husband, picked up this magazine at Subway a few weeks after we moved here. And in the magazine was this ad that was for a foster parenting agency. And it was saying that they really needed homes for children in the 0 to 3 age range. In fact, this particular agency only places children in that age bracket.

We had talked about adoption and foster care many times off and on throughout our marriage, but Raymond has always been hesititant because he always thought he'd get attached and then have to see the kids go back home. Well, something about this ad really touched him, and he brought up the possibility of becoming a foster family with me.

I was all for it! :) So we started the process. It's a long process, 27 hours of training classes, CPR and first aid training, 2 home studies, lots of paperwork, and background, psychological, and fingerprint tests. We have just finished the classes, and one of the home studies, and are just now waiting on the other home study and for our fingerprints and references to come back (thank you to all those who are my references!). We should get a placement hopefully by the end of July.

Any child who is or has been in the foster care system has suffered abuse and neglect. Our family is really excited to be a part of healing and hope for these little ones.

A Day in Our Life--Lately At Least

Here's how we've been doing school since we moved to Oklahoma in February.

7 or 8 am: the kids eat breakfast while I do the dishes and shower. They usually wake up even earlier, but stay in their rooms and read or play until I come in.

8 to noon-ish: play time. The kids seem to prefer to play all morning and would always gripe when we'd do school in the AM, so I start the day off with free play. They eat a morning snack around 9:30 ish.

Noon-ish: lunch time.

After lunch for one hour or so: quiet time. Little Bean would spend all day alone in his room without a problem, and Miss O likes to come out and interrupt whatever I'm doing over and over. Polar opposites, I tell ya. But they both do quiet time in their rooms at this time, and sometimes Miss O will fall asleep. Little Bean does a little bit of independent work in his room at this time (Easy Grammar, some daily skills worksheets, sometimes a bit of U.S. state stuff, or some cursive).

Next comes school time: I do Miss O first, generally speaking. She does reading, printing, spelling, and math daily. At least theoretically. Sometimes we whizz through, other days she requests that we skip one of the subjects. She knows her limits, so when she wants time off, we take it.

2:00 ish: we have an afternoon snack.

Then we get back to work with Little Bean: He does different subjects on different days, but I try to at least hit spelling 3 times a week, cursive 2 times a week, history 4 times a week or as needed to finish a chapter a week, and math every weekday. Lately he's been requesting more science and writing assignments (shocking!) so we've taken more time doing that kind of thing and skipped some of the others. Depending on the day, he is usually done around 4:30 or 5 o'clock. Sometimes it's sooner, sometimes it's later.

We eat usually around 6. Sometimes they'll play a game with dh while I do the dishes and clean up. Or sometimes they'll just run around and play. Then if we aren't going anywhere that night like boy scouts or to a meeting or what not, they get into bed at 7:30 ish. Miss O goes right to bed usually, but she has a hard time settling down. Little Bean reads until 9 and then I put him to bed officially.

So that's our day! What does your day usually look like? More structure? Less?

Good Grief!

If it's not one thing, it's another, it seems. We are still tied to California, and I don't mean in a good way. Here's my story, if you have advice, please give it, because I am fresh out of ideas.

Before we moved, my mom signed over the title of her car (which my dh had been driving) to us. Well, we mailed in the paperwork and the person assisting us apparently wrote the address down wrong because we never received the new title. We NEED the title to register our vehicle in Oklahoma. We called the DMV and confirmed, yes, they have mailed it to the wrong address, and now we must fill out a form requesting a duplicate title in order to get a new one.

Well, there is a fee for a duplicate title. We call again saying that we don't think we should have to pay since it is a DMV error. They say mail in a Statement of Facts along with the request for a duplicate title and they will send a new title out. Weeks go by. We cannot register our car in Oklahoma without the title, so my husband is driving around with CA plates.

Not so bad until--what do you know? Two months later no title has arrived. But a noticed of suspension of our registration from CA HAS arrived. No we didn't re-register there. Why would we? We moved to OK in February and intended to register before our CA registration ran out in April. But we couldn't do that--why? No title!! So now, dh is driving around with expired CA plates.

And they still won't send the title. We called again to find out what to do. They said the system shows that something is supposed to be coming in the mail for us, probably the title. Guess what it was?! Nope, not the title. A duplicate registration card that we never requested, which states that our registration is suspended. Wow. We know that. Where's the title though? Can't register without one, you know!

Ehh. Can you tell how over-the-top annoyed I am with this? Ideas, anyone??

Tell me something that you ARE good at

Being a mom isn't easy. Being a mom in a state so far from home isn't easy. Being a mom to a child with special needs isn't easy. And so often I feel like I don't measure up. I can easily recount all the ways that I feel like I've failed as a mom, as a wife, as a woman, and just as a person. It's so easy to recognize and point out my flaws, but how often do I do the opposite? How often to I recognize the things I am good at? How often do you?

I've noticed that so many moms, wives, and women in general are down on themselves. They don't have a low self esteem really, but they are quick to point out their faults. Let's be different today. It's okay. Really, it is.

Let's tell about something we ARE good at. Or a few things.

Here's my list:
--I'm a good cook. I really am. So often I am afraid of what others outside our family will think of my cooking, but I'll tell you the truth--I've discovered that I'm actually pretty good at it.

--I'm a good teacher. I'm good at explaining things and using the resources that I have to make learning happen.

--I'm a good mom, I really do believe that. I think I was made to have a child with special needs. Most of the time I feel equipped. I'm intuitive and I'm more understanding than some would be in my situation.

So what about you? What are you good at?

Leave me a comment and tell me about it. And try not to tell me what you're not good at while you're telling me what you are good at! Easier said than done, I know!

Being in nature is theraputic

Most of you know my son has Autism. We have done alot of different traditional therapies with him--ABA based social skills classes, anger classes, 1:1 therapy, occupational therapy, etc. But one of the most theraputic things for him isn't found in a therapy setting at all. It's found out of doors.

Little Bean loves wide open spaces. At the park, he doesn't gravitate to the swings and slides like most kids. He moves to the perimeter of the playground and he discovers and explores and he collects. He could spend hours and hours and hours doing that just at the local park. And it is therapy to him.

He becomes this different person, who is free from anxiety, who is brave and unfettered, who is kind and social, and relaxed.

So on the morning of his sixth birthday, we took a road trip. It was a three hour trip up from Oklahoma City to a wonderful animal reserve called Wichita Mountains. Wichita Mountains is a nearly 60 acre piece of land that is a refuge for large native grazing animals such as the American bison, rocky mountain Elk, deer, and Texas long horn cattle. There are also plenty of birds, lizards and prairie dogs there.

We started out in the amazing nature center, which had tons of displays and a short film on why a refuge was needed for the buffalo and the Texas long horn. We learned that when a buffalo is injured, (say by gunfire), all the others in the herd gather round him. This made buffalos an easy target, and hunters would kill them one right after the other in this way until they were virtually extinct.

The kids were able to learn about the different species who were introduced to the refuge, and which ones failed to thrive there.

Then we set off to explore the refuge ourselves. You can go through in the car or by foot, or even both, and either way you do it, you will see free range cattle and buffalo grazing sometimes as close as 3 or 4 feet from you. It's seemed the cattle were a little less shy. We got very close to those, but only saw bufalo from a distance.

We saw many tracks, giant lizards, turkey vultures in the trees, and lots of prarie dogs. It was an amazing day for us all, but we especially enjoyed watching Little Bean as he enjoyed himself in his element. There's nothing like the unrestrained joy of a child that you love.