Easter and Birthday...

Easter was a blast around these parts. The weather was gorgeous after a cold and rainy spurt so that made it extra enjoyable! Camden had his usual egg hunt at school followed by an Easter Party. He was so excited to do both. While hunting the eggs he cheated like a Sooner and ran ahead of his pals. Once his basket was full he was all "I got plenty of eggs, Mom". So adultish!

On Good Friday Daddy and Camden stayed home and played and went to Lowes, while I worked. We did church on Saturday which gave us Sunday morning to ourselves. We worked on our garden and planted a bunch of strawberries on Easter morning and that afternoon we went over to Chris grandparents house where we had a Mexican pot luck and hunted Easter eggs again with the kiddos. It was so much fun, C had a great time with his cousins!

I can't believe how fast time is going.

Today is my birthday, already!

Nothing exciting planned. I slept in. I'm going to take baptism pictures tonight at church. I was going to go shopping, but that sounds like too much work. Hopefully catching up on extra snuggles with my boys later! I had two other photo shoots this weekend which involved lots of squatting. So, very sore! Hence, the shopping is too much work. ;)

Hope you all have a fantastic day!

Happy Valentines Day!!

I might have to stay off Facebook today because its extra annoying on this holiday. People posting pictures of unnecessary things, bears, flowers and candy. Yeah that's great, but shouldn't you show that love year 'round? Not only that but I am incredibly thankful for my Savior who loves me enough to send his son to die for my sins. Now THAT is incredible.

So, speaking of holiday gifts, what might I want? For me? I want my husband to do the dishes or mate his socks. Just simple stuff like that means more to me than flowers that will die or chocolate that will make me fat. Those things that aren't material tend to mean the most!

Enough of that. I'll be 20 weeks tomorrow, so here a picture of me and two of my three valentines!

Christmas

I'm writing this on my phone, as my computer has been acting up lately as it severely wants an iOS update. My phone needs the same but it needs to be on the updated computer, it's all a chain reaction.

But that has nothing to do with this post! Since I worked Christmas and was bummed out by it, we had Santa arrive a day early so I could be there to enjoy I as well. Luckily Camden is young enough that it was okay. It was a great morning on Christmas Eve filled with presents and family. We then got ready and layered up and went to the Zoo as a family to get out and play. It was 40 degrees out but a blast. We returned and put C down for a nap while husband and I cooked and then we woke C up early and headed to my parents house to do our Cmas. It was fun and relaxed and we had a blast. Camden got some fun toys and we were blessed for sure.

After we left there we went to Chris grandmother's house on his mother's side and did Christmas there like we always do on Cmas eve. I got some new shirts and Camden got a fun fire truck. It's always great seeing family.

We crashed as soon as we hit the pillow, then Christmas started with more presents for C at his other great grandparents house. He got a big Donald Duck, some cars and trucks, some fantastic helicopters and a pillow pet. After leaving there it was naptime and then Christmas with the in laws.

Again we were incredibly blessed many times over an had a good time hanging out, letting the kids run wild and watching a sappy movie. It was great. Camden got numerous toys, bowling pin set, a book set and some clothes. A little racetrack an plenty of stocking stuffers. He got a vacuum and books from his cousins and he asks to vacuum all the time and keeps asking to read. It's cute!

It was a busy and fantastic holiday. I'm sad it's all over all ready, I wish it lasted a whole week.

Watching Camden open his gifts my heart just swelled with pride. So blessed!

Attached are some pics from our zoo trip and our family Christmas. So fun!

Christmas Traditions

I saw this posed as a question on another bloggers website that asked us to link up with our Christmas Traditions.

I couldn't help but stop and think about what traditions we have started for Camden thus far.

One tradition that we started just this year was the Elf on a Shelf. We used to always play "find the milk" after he took a bath in the evenings, and he LOVED that game. So I don't really think he gets the Elf's story this year, but he definitely enjoys finding it each morning because he loves the "find the...." game. He excitedly will point him out to us each morning, running the halls and checking the rooms for him. It's pretty darn cute. He even was able to name his Elf. We offered him many suggestions from Jingle to Buddy and Max and every name in between, but he suggested Gil. You may be wonderng where on earth did he come up with such a name? Well, Camden's favorite show is Bubble Guppies, and my dad asked him not too long ago what his favorite character's name was. And he responded with "Gil", who happens to be the silly blue headed Bubble Guppy on the show. Thus, our Elf's name is Gil. The only issue I see with this is with his young age, he's going to look for Gil after Christmas and there will be no Gil. So, it'll stink that one of his favorite games will come to and end for 11 months. Oh well, good thing he will probably have plenty of new toys to play with.

Another tradition that we have as just a family is adopting angel trees and being involved in LifePacks through church. He's still too young to understand now but I really want him to learn that it really is more about giving that receiving.

My husband has traditions that carried over, like going to his Grandmother's house (Camden's great grandmothers) at 7 am on Christmas to eat mush (fried cornmeal) and sausage and biscuits and to open presents. They all cram into their tiny house, snack away and make sure they all sit in their EXACT SAME SEATS each year. We also go to my husband's OTHER grandparents every Christmas Eve and eat dinner and open presents and hang out. It's really a lot of family in such a short time!

I am hoping that Camden will gain more interest in Christmas lights as he grows older, and will enjoy that more often. We have gone to Rhema the past two years to walk and look at lights, but I think Husband and I enjoy that more than little C. He does at first, but the novelty wears off pretty fast. We decorated our tree together too, and this was the first year Camden was able to help. You could definitely tell where his eye level was, as everything hung a little long and low. :)

We did Christmas Train for the first time this year and as awesome as it was, I'm not sure if that will be a yearly thing or not. It was fun though, that's for sure!

We will definitely read the Christmas story, and I'm hoping to do an Advent calendar or something along the lines next year when Camden is a bit older and maybe will understand better.

I will say, it has been so much fun deciding what traditions to start for our family!

Weekend recap

Long time no post! We had the busiest weekend in a long time! We did Christmas train on Friday night, I had two photo sessions, we did home improvement work to fix some outlets (I get to say "we" because I did help hubby run the lines/wires during naptime), we saw lights at Rhema and we spent the better part of our free time looking for my keys that I "lost". The house got a good cleaning after getting turned upside down multiple times.

Finally found my keys after a long weekend of searching, in my pants that I had already washed AND dried. Big fat fail. It appears as if the keys are ruined, but at least I know where they are on the plus side.

Chris was thoroughly annoyed as can be expected, especially after my phone incident a few weeks ago. But on the plus side my sweet hubby is the BEST. Not only did he quietly voice his frustration, but he surprised me with a new camera lens and a flash for my camera when I got home Friday! He had to take a half day to be able to sign for it so he could have it all before we headed out on the Christmas Train. So sweet of him! He really hustled to get it all. And he got the high grade lens even though I said I would settle for the medium. He kept saying "you wouldn't of been happy". Whatever, would too! But I am extremely happy this way too!

Camden also had some sickness this weekend that was random. Two of the days and mostly in the middle of the night he would cough and then vomit. Just once, and like 24 hours apart. And it was gross. He didn't run a fever, acted fine if not even better after. It was just bizarre. He denied anything hurting, and all doctor appointments were full so I am just waiting it out. So far no incidents since this weekend. But he is still coughing and I think I may have a slight touch of PTSD from the events as I jump everytime he starts to hack.

Been trying to wrap up end of the year stuff. Getting final doctor appointments and making sure we spent enough on flex spending. Let me just say, I think we are going to own lots of band aids very shortly!

That is all I can think of for now. Evenings are spent enjoying this uncharacteristically warm weather out riding trikes and bikes or spent at the gym or editing photos. So much to do, so little time left before Christmas!

I will leave you with a few picture of pictures of Christmas Train and a shot of my gorgeous nieces' newborn photos!

Turkey..

Turkey day did us in. :)

Three thanksgivings in 24 hours will do that to you.

But it was great to see family and catch up. It was a good time, and now it's already a month until Christmas.

Time flies around these parts!

Santa has already been doing his shopping, and I think it's about time for our Elf to come visit, Camden loves trying to find things so I know it will be a big hit!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!!

Easter, Part II

{who cares about getting more eggs, lets eat what was in this one!}

{Cousin K has got it figured out!}

{So does cousin H!}


After the easter egg hunt, we played with a bouncy ball and Husband and his brother were kicking it up really high in the air. Camden thought this was HILARIOUS. I took some pictures of him full on laughing.

Then, Camden decided he thought he might want to snack on something. So he helped himself.

Then, Mommy decided to have another impromptu photo shoot reminiscient of last year.

Remember this post involving this same truck?

and somehow I managed to remember to take a family picture of ALL THREE OF US. Mark that down on the calendar, I never seem to remember!

It was great getting to see everyone for the holiday, and I'm glad the weather held off so we could enjoy it outside. It was a fun-filled and busy weekend, that's for sure!

Easter Egg Hunt at School!

I have been super busy around these parts, which explains my lack of posting in the blog world.

Last week was not only my birthday weekend, but Easter weekend, AND I worked. This past weekend we went to Texas for a quick Nascar race shindig. So I haven't had much spare time to type.

I suppose I should start at the beginning so that means Easter. The day before Good Friday, Camden had Easter celebrations at school. I am so lucky that I was able to rearrange my group times so I could make it over there to take pictures and help him hunt eggs. It means so much to me to be able to be a working parent, yet to be able to attend the important events really make it so I can have the best of both worlds. Hopefully things will continue to be that flexible. Anyways the kids were so cute, picking up their eggs. I'll post a few.

{I'm supposed to do...what again?}

{Look what I found, Mom!!}

{Telling me something important about his eggs}

{laughing after telling me that something important :)}

{Camden and his close bud behind him (in yellow) after the hunt. They are each other's shadows!}

I got some good pictures of my little man in action, which I was super surprised that he was able to follow my directs with me hiding behind the camera. Love my little guy!

Christmas Cookies

Camden helped make his first batch of cookies this year for Santa. We had to split it up into two parts and finished baking them after he went to bed, but it's the thought that counts, right? He got to enjoy the best parts: pushing on the cookie cutters and licking the spoon. :)

{clapping for himself. He was so proud!}

I'd say this version involved less mess than the first. ;) (Sorry Jess, next time we'll stay away from the sprinkles!)

Lights on Rhema

There are amazing Christmas lights that a church in our city puts up every year. The line to drive through their parking lot around Christmas is just insane. It gets miles long around the Christmas season as cars barely creep through. If you are lucky enough you can find a place to park and wander around on foot. We decided to skip the crowds, and really were going to skip the whole thing, until last week. Last weekend the temperature was in the 60s (in December? What?!?) The church keeps their lights up until January 1st, and with the weather being that amazing AFTER Christmas, we decided to stop in. We went right at dusk, and stayed just long enough to wander around a bit, enjoy the lights and let Camden take it in. It was a nice little Friday night outing with my little family! I am enjoying having my husband back on Fridays, it means we can do spur of the moment things like this!

2011: In Review

January: We were busy this month with a little baby and trying to get over the nasty colds we were having. Camden had his first haircut and was just getting the hang of rice cereal. We also dealt with a nasty "non specific rash".

February: We had the biggest snowstorm in years, with over 2 feet of snow. Somehow Chris and I managed to battle through and with a five month old we still didn't miss a single day of work. We battled sickness and fevers (lots of it!) but continued to push through. This is also the month I took a photography class and grew an interest in photography as a hobby, and really learned how to work my camera. It has changed my pictures for the better! Camden had his first foray into the solid food world and I proceeded to make all of his baby food for him, using fresh and organic foods.

March: It finally started to warm up. There were signs that we were going to make it through the terrible winter that we had! Camden started to sit up like a champ. We continued to have sickies but no where near as bad as previously. The last weekend in February my friends and I went to visit a sorority sister who was moving to Australia for a year. IT was SO. MUCH. FUN! We also took a nice visit to see Great Granddaddy.

April: My birthday month. Camden started crawling. We went to Texas to a Nascar race, and had a good time. Spring arrived and trees bloomed. Camden got his first documented ear infection. My uncle passed after fighting a hard fought battle with Alzheimer's.

May: I had my first Mother's Day. While uneventful, it reminds me that I have this blessed opportunity to be someone's MOTHER, and that I cherish. We spent our first Easter as a family with grandparents and great grandparents. We had an impromptu photo shoot on a truck that went slightly awry. But the pictures are ADORABLE! Camden continued to grow and worked on perfecting crawling.

June: We had another round of the sickies. We had another ear infection and fever, but still managed to heal and get some swimming in at Chris' parents pool. We built a baby gate to keep speed crawling Camden out of the kitchen and out of the dog's water bowl. We planned for our trip to visit Missy in Australia. woo! Camden grew his first tooth and we enjoyed the warmer weather. Camden also worked on perfecting standing and pulling up.

July: We had our first July 4th as a family of three! This month also brought about Camden's second tooth. Lots of fussing came with that territory! There was also lots of swimming and enjoying the great outdoors. We planned for Camden's first birthday party as well as our big trip to Australia. We were elated that he chose to walk for us before we left for our trip, so we didn't miss it while we were gone! The day we left on our vacation, we woke up to find Camden covered in vomit in your crib. That made getting to the airport extra fun! I was worried about my little babe, and it turned out he had another ear infection!

August: We spent the first two weeks of this month vacationing and enjoying Australia. (I linked to one of the last Oz posts I did. If you want to read any of the others, click the tagged word 'Oz'.) It was definitely a trip of a lifetime! Once home, we set up appointments for meeting with an ENT - we had just been too sick for summer time to let the sickies continue. Camden got Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. We planned and enjoyed Camden's first birthday, as well as Chris' birthday and my two nieces. (you can revisit the birthday here and here.) My Mom, her friend, Camden and co-workers and I walked in the Alzheimer's walk. Mom and I walked in honor of her brother, and my uncle. It was hot, but it was a really neat thing to do. I raised over 200 for the Alzheimer's Association!

September: Camden moved up rooms in daycare. He was officially no longer a baby! He weaned off breastmilk and switched to cow's milk. He got tubes to help with his nasty ear infections. One of the ears had to be difficult and a blood clot was blocking the tube. In turn we had to do lots of work to get the clot out, and once the clot was out we discovered yet another ear infection complete with green oozing pus. (After we got rid of all of that, it was pretty easy to put drops in his ear and since then there have been no problems. The tubes were DEFINITELY the way to go for us.)

October: We continued to deal with the same nasty ear infection and on top of that an infected/ingrown toenail. To put the icing on the cake to a doctor's visit, Camden managed to rip off one of the doors on the cabinet. I was mortified! This was Camden's second Halloween and he went as a lion. He was so adorable it was ridiculous! He returned home early from trick or treating as he was fighting a fever.

This month was also the month I took what is one of my favorite pictures...

November: The beginning of November, Husband and I celebrated 5 years of wedded bliss. :) Unfortunately any fun plans we had were put on hold as a horrible stomach bug gripped our house and our little one. We spent most of that weekend throwing up, trying to decide if the earth quaking was a result of our upset tummies or if the earth in Oklahoma was indeed quaking. (which it was. Crazy!) Once we got over Pukevember, we prepped the house for Christmas by putting up Christmas lights and enjoyed a Thanksgiving with ALL of our family, my Dad included.

December: Husband set up our lights to music and an FM tuner so you could hear it in your car, while watching a light show. He's pretty awesome like that. He put in his notice at Target and quit working there so he would be able to spend more time with us at home. We LOVE it! We celebrated Christmas multiple times (if you count all the different places/shindigs we went to it adds up to 7!) We had a blast celebrating with families.

It was good to look back on the year and see just how far we have come! Camden has gotten SO big in SO many ways, I can't believe it! Despite our sickness it has made us stronger and we are grateful for each day we have been given together. What an exciting 2011 and we can't wait to see what 2012 will bring us!

Happy New Year!