What A Difference A Rained Out Daytona 500 Makes..

I wrote yesterday's post a day early, and had it scheduled to post. When I had written it, we were still parking around the playhouse (project number 2) in the garage.

Then came Daytona 500 day. Husband and his father had decided to work on the playhouse for "a few hours until the race starts".

And then, it rained in Daytona. But the weather here was gorgeous, sunny and 65 degrees. So they worked. all. day. long.

And progress was made!! Camden LOVES it and it isn't even close to finished.

{Checking things out from his window}

{happy boy}

Progress. Looks good, eh? Can't wait to see the finished product. More pictures to come I'm sure!

Recent Projects

We have had a few different projects going on in our household as of lately.

Most of them are not completed, but I thought I'd document a few and maybe hold us accountable to finally finishing them.

First we have our bedroom wall, above our headboard. It was boring and bland for the last 5 years, but after taking an amazing trip to Australia and buying some gorgeous photographed prints from a local photographer there, we decided to remedy this.

The pictures we bought from the photographer in Oz came matted, so once we got home we took them to Hobby Lobby and had them framed. We hung our three pictures up on our wall, and it stayed like that for a few months. Finally I decided to get with the program and print off a bunch of the photos I took as well and put them on our wall to make an Australia college.

Little did we know, that the mats from the photographer in Australia would be a weird shade of white so what should have been an easy weekend project of buying frames with mats and setting it all up, turned into a multiple weekend project. Finally we had custom mats made that sorta match the Oz mats and everything is framed and ready to go.

The problem? The frames are all laid out on the floor - they just haven't made their way to a permanent place on the wall.

Soon, I hope.


Project Number Two is quickly on track to be completed much faster than Project Number One. Why you ask? Oh, probably because it involves building something; which is right up Husband's alley.

What is he building?

A playhouse for Camden to play in. It's going to be AH-MAZING.

Husband looked at different plans, made sketches, busted out AUTOCAD on his computer and tweaked it so it will hopefully be within our HOA standards. Then he started on it right away.

So this is what we've been parking around all week!! Impressive huh? Camden's going to luuuuuurrrrve it SO much. Husband's parents redid their extra room and in the process pulled up their carpet and switched out to wood floors. So - the extra carpet is getting repurposed in his play house. Did I mention that it is going to have REAL working windows and a porch? Cause it is. Husband for the win!

Woot! I'm not sure who is more excited?? Probably me, because I remember playing in our "doll house" that my dad had built growing up. It was a cute little house that was painted to match our parents house exactly! It was so much fun.

And now our little trouble maker is going to have a blast!

Love Story

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
Husband and I met freshman year in college (Fall 2001), but didn't really start dating until April (2002).

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}
Our "love story" begins with our Greek houses doing Homecoming together during our freshman year of college. It was a complete disaster. (Not us meeting, but the house dec. It was pathetic!) We continued to hang out through the spring semester when we started dating. Funny story - he actually went to our first sorority date party with one of my closest friends in the house (and still closest friends from the house today). We still find this story hilarious, both husband and my friend. Maybe it's especially hilarious 'cause he was kinda a tool that first date party? ;)

3. If married, how long have you been married? If not, is this the guy you hope to marry? {do tell}
We got married on November 4th, 2006, so it's been just a little over 5 years.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding? If not, where would you like to get married? And will it be big or small?
We got married at a mansion in town. I wanted to find the perfect church that would allow me to let our dog be the flower dog. But, no church would allow that. So? We got married in a mansion, so 'our' dog could stand at the front with the bridesmaids. And it was great! It was midsize - around 150 or so? My dad surprised us with fireworks in between the ceremony and the reception and it was AMAZING! Wouldn't have changed anything about the day!

{my flower dog}

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
Hmm...Mommy and Daddy are most common now. Honey and Babe are also common.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
He is laid back yet task oriented, funny, and is the best father/husband I could have hoped for.

7. Tell us how he proposed? Or your ideal proposal?
Husband proposed the day after his birthday in our college town, on a walking trail around their 'lake' at night, after a thunderstorm, while walking the dog. Yes, he made sure Pearl was there! The backdrop was just gorgeous, with the leftover remnants of lightning shooting through the sky.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
Neither. We aren't big fans of the day, and are usually in saving money mode instead of spending it on flowers that die. On the occasion he does buy me flowers, it is usually something that is in dirt with roots so that it can be moved to our garden. Last year for my first real Mother's day Camden and He got me some calla lilies that I replanted to our garden. I can't wait to see them come up this year!

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
I think I am a little of both. For him? He's definitely a movie and relax on the couch kinda guy. Anything where I'm not chasing around a toddler is relaxing now a days, so I don't really care where I'm sitting as long as I'm getting to do it peacefully. :)

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
I had always wanted to travel to another country with him, and we did that last year when we went to Australia with the Snows. Hey travel buddies!! I'm sure a vacation with just the two of us would be nice, but there's no where I am dying to travel to or see immediately. I do, however, want to see Celine Dion's new Vegas show at some point...

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.
Well we didn't do anything big this past year, I think we went to bed early. At this point in our lives sleep trumps anything involving staying out past our bedtime!

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?
Nope! There wasn't anything I needed. But I did get Husband a cute canvas that had Camden's hand and footprints on it, that were turned into a tool belt. It is now our new art in the hall. Love it!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
Be a team. Doing anything together is twice as easy as alone. Don't go to bed mad, talk it out.

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

I could obviously keep going here, but I'll make myself stop. Love those two!

Year and a HALF!

Oh my goodness Camden, my love, HOW is it possible that you are already closer to TWO than ONE?

You are CONSTANTLY on the go. Running, moving, climbing. We can hardly catch a breath around here! It was right after you turned seventeen months that you found out how to climb on the couch. Which means you are able to climb on top of Pearl's platform, pull your self up into chairs of all kinds, including the dining room table chairs. And if you can climb onto those chairs, you can definitely climb ON TOP of the table. I tell people that I'm at the point now where I HAVE to take you to the bathroom with me, whether I wanted to or not. I left you alone the other day and in the 90 seconds it took me to pee you were standing on top of the kitchen table, laughing and trying to reach for the lights above it. Are you trying to give your Mommy a heart attack?

You are talking more and more. You are doing especially well with any word that starts with a 'B'. Ball, bubbles, bye bye. You are also a fan of NO, and you say this with a different tone and inflection than you say any other word, and often a shake of your pointer finger. They are teaching you at school to use "No" instead of doing something else (i.e. - hitting or stealing a toy away without asking). Unfortunately, this leads you to telling Mom and Dad 'No'. We are trying to counteract your stubbornness by making you say "please" instead of "no" to us. It's still a work in progress! You can also say more, go, mom, dad, dog, good girl, nana, wa-wa, pearl, Mickey (Mick-me). I'm sure there's more! You still sign words as well, we make you sign please, thank you, water, more and blow kisses. You do exceptionally well pointing out body parts, or finding Mick-me on your diaper.

You have been growing teeth lately like no other. I don't know what it is but since we rang in the new year you have grown three, and about to get a fourth. That is a TON of teeth in six weeks, seeing as how you were really good at spreading them out. Also, you tend to grow yours one at a time.

We started giving you a pillow at about fifteen months. You love it because you are such a tummy sleeper and are always tucking your knees up under you. I think it helps keep you level and isn't so hard on your little neck while you sleep.

You continue to remain a picky eater. We are still offering all sorts of fruits and veggies and hoping that you'll change your mind. Seeing as how you only have seven teeth up front you still prefer soft or pureed foods. You are still a major fan of beans, avocado, cheetos. Your favorites lately have been dried fruits. Dried strawberries are your FAVORITE!

We started you in swim lessons this past month and to say you are a fan would be an understatement. I can't wait to see how you do this summer, you are going to be a little fish! You are always fighting us to let you go in the water, you want to be independent so bad. Soon enough little one!

You are still sleeping well, going to bed around 715 and sleeping until we wake you at 530. You take one nap anywhere from 2-3 hours. On a weekend you usually go to bed around 8 and wake up by 7. As soon as you hear the dog, you're up!

You are still wearing a size five diaper, an overnight diaper in a size five and a size five shoe. The size five shoes are still a tad big on you. Clothes are around 18-24 months and pants up to 2T can fit you (if they are rolled up - shorty!) We will blame your big belly. :) You weigh about 24 pounds. Speaking of shoes, your new favorite thing is taking them off and trying to put them back on. You spend ALOT of time during the day attempting to do this.

You continue to LOVE daycare. You have really developed a special bond with one of your teachers at school. She lets you go with her on special errands and you always tend to gravitate towards her. It's pretty cute. Occasionally you'll even ask her to make a mohawk of your hair! They told me you keep them on their toes. I went to pick you up one day last week and they said you gave them quite a scare. I had to ask them to explain what they meant. They said that one of the girls was changing a diaper and the other one was sweeping the floor after snack and they looked up and you had scaled a bookshelf and were standing on top, getting into the upper half of the split cabinets. I told them they should see you at home! :)

They sing lots of songs at school. You came home one weekend and all you would do was grab your elbow and do a tomahawk chop and grin at us while chopping. We finally figured you wanted to hear the Skinamarink-y Dink-y Dink song. You'll also tap your head multiple times when you want to sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. You are so silly! You can point at body parts when we ask, and can make noises of animals when we ask you to. Lately, every time you hear a dog bark you mimic it. You also LOVE to dance. Your favorite songs to dance to are the Hot Dog Dance from Mickey's Clubhouse and Pants by VeggieTales. You are SO cute because you have your Daddy's rhythm. Either you sway side to side or you alternate your hands in the air. That's about the extent of it!

You continue to love anything artistic. Coloring with markers and crayons you really enjoy, and you are always bringing home new masterpieces from school. This week you are learning about pets at school, so your artwork has revolved around sensory things like making a "cat" by gluing pipe cleaners on paper for whiskers. Cute! We had to print of special pictures of your buddy Pearl to show to the class. I can't wait for you to share!

{cleaning up a mess. What a little helper!}

You are pretty proficient at the iPad as well. You love to scroll pages, open and close apps and play in a few of your favorites that include: Phone 4 Kids, PeekABoo Barn and I Hear Ewe. You can't get enough of the helicopter sound in I Hear Ewe, I think thats because at school you can see the helicopters on the helipad from the playground!

{you and daddy with the helicopter you all made!}

You love to see how things work, and helping your Daddy make/fix/do things is your favorite. You are so observant and we love showing you new things each day.

Keep growing and learning little one, we love you so!

Eyelashes.

Did he get Mommy's eyelashes or what? Nom nom.

Family: In a Picture

My Boys. Enjoying a sucker one day during this unseasonably warm 'winter' we are having. I love them so much! My heart swells watching them interact. I think this is a favorite photo just because of Husband's profile. I can't even see his eyes, but I know from his expression he's looking at our son with complete adoration. (and maybe a little amusement). Love them!

linking up with the The Paper Mama for her photo challenge!

A Sliding Fool

Camden was invited to a birthday party this past weekend. It was held at Bounce U, somewhere we had never been. It was a late party at 730p which is normally bedtime, so to prepare we kept him up late in the afternoon so he could have a late nap. Turns out, it was WELL worth it. Camden LOVED the place. We stuck him in some bounce houses and let him bounce and run around, play with the air guns, climb over things and go down the slides.

{he loved it! Can you tell?}

{tired babies}

{the birthday girl!}

The party was split into two rooms. You spent the first thirty minutes in the first room, and the second 30 minutes in the other room. The second room and a HUGE slide, and that was by far Camden's favorite thing. We would slide down it with him, and he'd get to the bottom and immediately start signing "more" nonstop. He'd say it too, "mo mo mo". So up again we went. Over and over. He would grin at the bottom each time! Towards the end we decided to just drop him down on his own. Homeboy LOVED going by himself. He laughed and grinned and would hop up and ask for "mo".

Here's a video of us letting him slide down on his own. He thought it was hilarious.



We had the same problem leaving the slide that we had leaving the pool. Kid started kicking and crying, arms flailing while asking for 'mo'. We told him repeatedly to "wave bye" and "all done" but that didn't satisfy him. Apparently, the late nap did the trick. I think he could have stayed up all night going down the slide.

The last thirty minutes of the party were spent in the party room with the birthday girl, eating cake and ice cream and opening presents. It was nearing 9 so we cut out early as it was in Camden's best interest.

It was a blast of a party, and I can't wait to take Camden back there again to a free bounce activity of some sort.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Back before Christmas Camden and I stopped by this lady's studio who makes art out of hand and footprints, usually putting them on ornamental plates or on canvas. I secretly went on my day off, and pitched an idea that I thought best fit with my needs. A toolbelt! The lady at Dimple Toes was super sweet, and despite having never done a tool belt before, she googled some ideas and promised me she'd make it work. I told her I had full faith in her, and she promised I'd have it by the beginning of February. Perfect for a Valentine's gift for the Hubs!

Well, after my mom slipped a hint, I couldn't wait any longer and Camden and I gave it to him early. Here is the finished product, a canvas painting of a toolbelt with a hand and footprint hidden within!

{So stinking awesome, right? It definitely exceeded my expectations.}

After some discussion with Husband, we decided for a change in hallway art. (I had it made thinking he would hang it up in his office, but he instead wanted to keep it at home. I was more than okay with that decision, because that meant I could enjoy it as well!) If you all know us, we don't change things around once we have it how we like it, so a revamped wall was a nice change in decoration. We took down our wedding guestbook that was a large framed picture, and switched it out for our Dimple Toes art and a blown up 8x10 of my most recent favorite picture, the one of little feet in the grass.

{A welcome change! Also: Pardon the crappy iPhone pics. I got a little lazy, but at least I can admit it.}

Happy Valentine's Day folks, also known as Happy Singles Awareness Day! We have no major plans, and I couldn't be happier about it. I'm not a fan of crowds or cold weather and would much rather stay in and play with the monkey of a toddler. Hope everyone has a great day!

Announcing: LifeChurch BA!!

Husband and I have been part of a core group of people starting up a new campus of our church here in town. LifeChurch currently has three campuses in town, and it was time to launch a fourth and we agreed to be a part of the core group to assist with the launch. We went to meetings to get fired up and worship together, and events at the church to assist with putting together furniture and set up and learn our roles for serving.

This past weekend was the launch date - and it was SO exciting! We had two services, a 10 and an 1130. Husband and I went to the ten which was so packed it ended up being standing room only. We served in between the 10 and 1130 and were amazed at how quickly that service filled up as well. All in all, our campus saw over 2100 attendees and 43 people committed their lives to Christ. Exciting, huh?

{the auditorium, before the stage is set up and the chairs brought in!}

{blueprints. We got our permits to occupy only a few days before scheduled launch!}

{the next few are some of the wall art that I am SUPER in love with...}

{part of the HUGE kids room that Camden gets to play in..they are almost double in size from what we are used to!}

{The LifeKIDS area, so nice!}

This building actually used to be an old Albertson's. God had plans for us to use it, as it sat vacant waiting on us for about five years and then our church got an amazing deal on it. It just shows God provides for his people!

We were so packed out, that after one week they are already adding another service! This coming weekend there will be a 10, and 1130 and a 1! We are well on our way to having enough services to add a Saturday night, which is my FAVORITE time to go to church! (And it works out the best since I work every third weekend) Bring it on BA, let's do it!

The Newest Diaper Dolphin

Camden had his first 'swim lesson' this week at a local swim school. I saw a LivingSocial deal for the classes to be half off - so I quickly snatched it up. For fifty bucks we snagged a six week class that we can practice our swimming in. We didn't necessarily NEED to buy this as Camden LOVES the water and my in-laws have a great pool, but I figured since he loves it so much, why not get a head start on the summer?

Camden LOVED it. Love might be an understatement. They practiced putting water on them, getting them to lay on their backs and float, blowing bubbles (if you know Camden's obsession with bubbles you know this was his favorite) and how to kick and paddle with their bodies. They even practiced climbing out of the side of the pool. All of this while singing songs and playing with toys.

Camden was sold as soon as he and Husband got in the pool, but practicing blowing bubbles? His favorite. He kept doing it all through the class. He also kept turning around and waving at his audience watching through the window that included myself, my sister and his CiCi. Oh my WORD, was it adorable!

As we were leaving, Camden proceeded to throw the mother of all fits because we were walking out the door. Legs pumping simultaneously, arms flailing about and loud screeching all because we were leaving. I think it's safe to say he LOVES the water!

{learning to kick}

{still blowing bubbles}

{more waving. Checking to make sure his audience was still watching! Talk about melt my heart adorable. Love that kid.}