I love this picture...

This is my little guy casually leaning on me while watching his favorite show.

I love it.

Photo Challenge

So I entered a photography challenge on The Paper Mama's blog. It was a pet challenge, and you may remember this post from last week.

Well, I didn't win.

But...

I placed 5th! I get excited when a picture I took places. Pearl looks pretty stinkin' adorable in the photo too, so it was worth a shot!

Here is the link where you can see the other winners!

The other pictures are pretty darn impressive. I think my actual picture on my computer looks brighter/more vivid than the one on the blog, I think blogpress kinda uglys it down, if you know what I mean. Oh well, what can ya do??

At the Movies: Broken Arrow, The Finished Product!!

So, you wanted to see the finished product, eh? Well, here it is! I forgot to get a close up of the kids area and the Snow Cone station. That's right, kids get a snowcone! Do you have any idea how awesome that is? Plus the snacks are popcorn and candy, and of course you can get your free Starbucks. They added a new evening service for At the Movies, and with it they encouraged attendance by offering Klondike bars. Awesome! Needless to say, they are keeping the extra service.

The Ice Cave that Husband and I pioneered. This is the one we were
responsible for, so in our biased opinion it looks the best. :)

The finished Manny...

This is my sister's tree that she donated! Right up front!

Looking from one end of the lobby to the other!!

This is the host area, were you pick up your drinks and snacks.
For ATM, we have blue Gatorade as Glacier Ade, plus popcorn and candy.

That blur down there? That'd be Camden.

Little acorns were the signs for men and women restrooms.

Looking down the other end of the lobby!

And there you have it! The finished product. Again, all taken with my iPhone
so I apologize for the not so impressive quality. At least not what I am
used to taking anyway. ;)

Stay tuned for South Tulsa pictures!!!

At The Movies: Broken Arrow -- The set up

So, y'all know I LOVE my church, right? 

So when it came time for the At The Movies series - we jumped at the chance to volunteer all week to help put it together. This is right up C's alley, as he loves anything hands on or building anyway. He got to be creative and help with problem solving, so he was really in his element. Thankfully my mom was able to watch little C so we could make this happen. 

We volunteered almost everynight, and it was awesome to see it come together! 

The theme for Lifechurch.tv Broken Arrow Campus was Ice Age. Here are my pictures that I took with my iPhone, so they aren't super amazing but they'll do! 

These pictures are of the wooly mammoth, Manny. Any picture like this will show a progression of him coming together!

These were the "ice caves" in the process of being made. It took a lot of creativity and working with materials we had to figure out how to make them look good. 

These were the icicles that Husband had the task of figuring how to hang on the 8 TV screens we have in the lobby. He really enjoyed being given a task and problem solve on how to get them to hang, but he quickly figured that out in one night, and had them hung all on his own in one hour, so on to the next project it was!

This picture cracks me up, that is the "ice mountain" going up in another corner of the lobby and that would be our worship pastor hanging out on top of it, problem solving on how to get it to look the way he wants, but instead busting a move while up there. :) Get it done Brandon!

This is Manny coming right along! They had to go to 8 different fabric stores to find enough of this wooly mammoth hair to cover this beast!

Pretty awesome huh? Wanna see the finished product?

Stay tuned!!

Don't forget to watch Lifechurch.tv and church online. Last week they did "We Bought a Zoo" and it was amazing, and this weeks is "Moneyball". You can watch Moneyball anytime online for the rest of this week, so check it out! Fantastic message. :)

23 Months: A Letter

That's it. Twenty-three months. I just fell over dead from having to type that. What? Where on earth does the time go? 

I can't believe it's almost here. Again, it's almost August. Your birth month!

{this picture is why Mommy never gets any strawberries anymore. Someone eats them all before they even make it into the house!}

You are currently wearing 18-24 month clothes and some 2T tops. 2T is generally big on you, and the pants only fit if there is a working drawstring. You are wearing size 5 diaper and size 5 shoe. In your shoes that you wear socks with, they are starting to get a little tight. Just another sign that you are continuing to grow, grow, grow!

You seem to be sleeping less and less. Either that, or you are wanting to fight going to bed more than normal. We still manage to get you down around 8, but sleeping in hardly happens anymore. You are usually up by 6 or so, we should be so lucky for you to sleep til 7. You are still napping well, 2-3 hour naps.

You have had a busy month, playing outside, seeing fireworks and learning to swim ON. YOUR. OWN. Who said that was allowed? Your Daddy and I kept looking at each other and saying "He looks so big". Because swimming in that pool with your little floaty suit, refusing help from anyone else? Made you look like you were starting Kindergarten next week. Feel free to tone it down mister.

You continue to be a "free spirit", which is the nice way of saying you are strong willed, independent little guy. We are working on getting you to use your words when upset, instead of throwing a tantrum. It's pretty funny to hear you get frustrated and demand "that way" when you want to do something exactly opposite of what Mommy and Daddy are attempting to accomplish. You will be a little go getter that's for sure! 

You met little baby Kinley for the first time, and as soon as you saw her you were quick to point out "baby". You saw Mommy pat the baby, so you decided to as well. Mommy and Daddy startled, worried you wouldn't have your 'gentle hands' on, but you surprised us and were sweet and gentle as you mimicked my actions. Hopefully that is a good sign for your future brother or sister.

You are pottying more on the potty, they even started taking you some at school. It's a work in progress, and hopefully before too long you will get the hang of it. Right now, you really don't seem to care either way, but you don't have a problem going on the potty if we ask you to. I guess it's getting you to ask to go is the key!

 

The above two pictures were taken at a Birthday Party at BounceU. You LOVE it there. You can now say the word "bounce" and you just run and slide and climb like crazy. You love cake so much, that it might be a new favorite word. The top picture is because they said "put your hand on your head if you want a cupcake". You didn't want to take any chances so you put BOTH hands on your head, and you waited patiently for your cupcake! We went back a second time two weeks later and they said "raise your hand" if you want a piece of cake. And? You raised both while asking "cake? cake?". You are pretty darn cute, I must say.

You continue to love helicopters and airplanes. The above two pictures are of you signing airplane and you can now semi-accurately sign helicopter. It's pretty cute to watch how excited you get about them. You still use your signs, and it's helps when you sign and talk so others kind of know what you are saying. You still sign milk, more, thank you, please, all done and sorry. 

You continue to have little bow legs that I can't decide what to do with. Chiropractor? Bone specialist? I continue to think the problem is actually NOT in your hips, but from the knees down. You trip over yourself all the time, just yesterday after church at chickfila you tripped and fell and hit your nose on the ground, then afterwards at home you were running to the Elmo potty and cut your turn too short through a door frame and banged your ear/side of your face on the doorframe. That last one we can't blame on your legs, we can only blame on you inheriting Mommy's clumsiness. But back to the legs, you even have part of one of your two front teeth that is a little chipped. I can only guess you got that from tripping. :)

We still can't believe you are almost two, and are shocked at how big you seem to be getting every day. 

We love you to the moon and back!

Mommy

Festivities on the Fourth

I know this is a little late, but better late than never! 

We had an exciting 4th. We started by spending the Sunday before the 4th at a firework show by a local church right by our house. 

We got there early, probably a little too early, to get our parking spot so we could watch the show. We ended up having to kill a good hour and a half or so before the show started. Luckily we came prepared! We played with our poppers, played on the iPad and we brought a cooler with milk when things got desperate. 

Camden was a trooper. We kept him up a full 2 hours past his bedtime by the time the fireworks started. I think they surprised him a bit. At first he got a little jumpy and begged to get in the car stating "all done" and pointing to the car. With extra encouragement and discussing the noise the fireworks make "Boom". By the end he was much more relaxed and would even point at the fireworks and say 'boom'. It was pretty cute.

I think Camden had a good time, and he learned that loud noises went "boom". So, a few days after, Husband was in the room and let out some gas. It was really loud. And what did Camden say?  BOOM!! It was pretty cute.

We spent the actual fourth swimming at the pool with the cousins and having a blast. We went to bed on time on the fourth, had we been a little earlier Camden may have just slept through the racket. But I didn't mind climbing in his toddler bed for a few cuddles to help him relax to go to sleep.

And that was our fourth in a nutshell!

7 little moments

Random moments from the past week: If you follow me on instagram you have already seen these. My apologies! :)

He reached over to hold my hand. LOVE it.

Braums was short on the letter 'R' and for some reason I find it hilarious.

I went to get CEUs on Saturday. We spent a good 4 hours learning local gangs and their colors, signs, dress, slang, graffiti and how we as therapists can encourage a different lifestyle. Really enjoyed it and it was super super informative.

I saw this on my run the other evening. He didn't make it, but was so pretty.

My passenger seat driver.

Feeling the rain with Dad.

Swimming all on his own. When did he get so big? Just nuts I tell you.

And there you have it. I'll try and not use only previously instagrammed photos next time! 

;)

Sick

I just finished a post late last week about my amazing dog and how important she is to me.

And then she got sick.

It was very out of character for her. She never gets sick. She threw up Saturday and we chalked it up as something not agreeing with her. She woke us up as much as a newborn to let her diarrhea out that night. It continued all Sunday. But the scary part was when the diarrhea turned to blood Sunday afternoon.

Very scary. And very unusual for my healthy dog!

My mom went with me to take my sickly Pearl to the emergency vet. They poked and prodded and x-rayed my fur baby. It could have been a variety of things, blockage or torn lining or bacterial infection. All signs pointed to bacterial infection when the x-ray came back clear. She was given three shots, one of an antibiotic, one of an anti-nausea and one of fluids. They said most people would opt to leave the dog overnight, but due to Pearls separation anxiety seizures and her being "skittish" in the back during x-rays, they figured it was best for her to be managed on an outpatient basis.

Honestly, best for her AND my pocketbook. ;)

After we got the okay to go and paid the small fortune in fees, we happily headed home.

Pearl is still on the mend but increasingly better now that she has some medicine in her system. Hopefully her diarrhea will be gone by tomorrow and the antibiotic will get rid of the bacteria.

It may have cost me an arm and a leg, but for my firstborn it was SO worth it.

Pearl-y Girl-y

We seriously have the best dog. She is so patient. She plays great with Camden. She is loving, and SO obedient. I think it comes from being a rescue dog. One of her favorite things? Playing in the water in the summer. She LOVES the swimming pool and I think she also has self-diagnosed S.A.D. like her momma. She loves summertime! 

I took these shots the other day while we were outside mowing and watering. She was drenched by the time we came inside, but she wouldn't have it any other way. I made sure she got her daily joint pill, because even though she looks like a puppy in these pictures? Homegirl is somewhere around ten. She plays so hard then gimps and sleeps for 2-3 days after. She loves it though! 

We love you Pearl! I'm entering this last photo in The Paper Mama's photo challenge.  I love her sweet, expressive and trusting eyes here. I love that she fully trusts us after being rescued from an abusive home. It goes to show that you can find a happily ever after!! 

What a lucky dog. :)

Linking up with The Paper Mama.

Manic Monday

This morning when husband went in to wake little C, he had such a tough time that he called me to come join. Sure enough little one was sleeping soundly in bed and when husby went to wake him, he vigorously shook his head no and sunk himself deeper into the pillow.

We had to pull him out of bed, the entire time he cried "my bed, my bed" and he just wanted to lay back down. Let me say, it took everything in me to not give in, lay down with him, and just skip monday all together.

He continued to burrow himself into us when holding him and cry for "my bed". Then when it was time to leave the house he cried because he wanted to ride in Dada's car.

I was still wiping the tears from under his eyes when dropping him off at school! Poor baby.

Can't wait for some extra cuddles tonight!!

(apologize for the horrid iPhone picture!!)