Camden is 4

My baby boy is 4! Four years is so big. 3 is still toddler-like, but four? This cute little man has brought so much happiness to our lives. He makes us laugh, he makes me want to tear my hair out at times, :), he keeps us on our toes, and makes us smile daily. He is full of life!

For his birthday he really wanted to go to Boondocks with his "two best friends- and that's it!" So to Boondocks we went. We took Julianna, and Chase, and they had a great time. First we opened presents, then had cake and ice cream at our house. Then we went to Boondocks, and played games, climbed on the playground, and ran around. We wore them out! It was a simple party, and perfect for Camden.

Camden is a bit obsessed by cats right now. He talks about them a lot, and pretends he is one, often. For weeks before his birth day, he kept saying he wanted a cat cake. I tried and tried to talk him out of it, but he was not budging. So...he got a cat cake.




He begged for a Hello Kitty karaoke machine. However, that's where I drew the line. He did not get that! :) He definitely has his own mind.

Favorites now at 4: (Answered by Camden)

Color: blue
Food: shrimp
Favorite place: Lagoon
Number: 4
Friends: Julianna and Chase
Book: The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
Movie: Hop, and Oliver and Company
Song: "Dynamite!"
Animal: Cat (Was there really a question?")
TV show: Wonder Pets
A talent of Camden: He has an awesome memory! He remembers things people say all the time. He remembers lines from books, shows, etc. His vocabulary is HUGE. I think it's because if he hears a word once, he remembers it. He will ask random questions all the time, and then at a later date he recalls what he asked and will recite it verbatim. He learned the pledge of allegiance the first time he heard it in preschool. The other day he told me he has 8 units of blood. What? Where in the world that came from I have no idea, but just the way he used the word units made me laugh.

We are so glad to have Camden in our lives. He is a joy, and we cannot imagine life without him.

Oooooklahoma

For Mother's day Matt decided to give me something I like most. A trip! I went to Oklahoma to visit friends, and to attend Time Out For Women. I stayed with Karen, and had a great time. We went to the the lake, shopped, ate out, got pedicures, saw a movie, went to TOFW, stayed up late, etc. It was really fun to visit with everyone. I sure miss my Oklahoma girls! Every time we have gone back to visit, it feels so normal to be there. It's just like picking up where we left off. The weather was great, too. You never know what to expect this time of year. Earlier in the week it was 96 degrees. However, it was only in the high 70's for my stay there. And no tornadoes. That's always a bonus. :) Christa was doing the time out for women there, so she got me and 3 of my friends in free, which was so nice! On Saturday night, after the event, I stayed at Christa's hotel so Karen wouldn't have to miss church to take me to the airport. We had fun staying up super late talking. I am so lucky to have great in-laws, who I can call friends. The next morning we walked to the Oklahoma City bombing memorial site. It is always humbling to go there. After that it was to the airport and then home. What a great trip!

Morgan for 9th grade office

Morgan will be going to a new school this year. She will keep her record of not having attended a school for more than 2 years. They are building a new junior high and she will get to go to that school for the 2011-2012 school year. She actually wasn't too excited about it, since it won't have all of the course options she wanted, since it's a new school, and because some of her friends won't be going to the new junior high. However, she is excited now.

She ran for 9th grade office and made it! She is so excited, and ready to get involved in planning lots of fun activities. This school is going to be very technologically advanced. Each student gets their own laptop, in lieu of textbooks, etc. They decided to continue this way of thinking with elections and have the entire campaign be online. Each candidate had to submit a 3 minute video, then it was put on the school website. The students then voted for the candidate they wanted. No posters, buttons, social media, etc. allowed. It was actually a really fun, and much easier way to run a campaign. I thought it was so much more fair, too. If they made it to final elections, then they had interviews with a board, final voting, and that was it.

I tried several times to upload her video, but it will not load. Anyway- she is so excited, and ready to participate in the start up of a new school, and one that even will have air conditioning. :)

Mother's Day

My family spoils me to much for things. They always make me feel so special. I am so blessed to be a Mom. I realize this at other times, but particularly on Mother's Day, I count my blessings to be a mom. Especially a mom to these kids. I love them so much.

We had my family over for dinner. Matt took care of everything. He is so good to us all! He didn't let anyone bring anything and he took care of food, cleaning, etc. I did make some cake pops ahead of time, but that's it. I also didn't take any other pictures of the day, except for cake pops. I always forget to pull out my camera! Anyway- it was a great day, and am so grateful for my kids, and my husband.

Dillon's party

We found out about a game truck that does parties. They drive up to your desired location, with lights and sirens and up to 16 kids climb aboard, and plays video games, etc. We knew Dillon and his friends would all love this! We decided to have his party at Matt's work, so they could go in and out easier for pizza, cake, etc. The game truck has 4 big screen tv's 16, movie type seats, and any game and system you can imagine. They take pictures, and then provide a slide show at the end.

After the game truck left, we opened presents,

and had cake and ice cream.

As we were taking the boys home they could not stop talking about how cool this party was.

One of them said it was even better than Christmas, which made me laugh, since it was basically only video games. However, I guess 16 kids playing games in a truck= a good party. :) It was the easiest party I have ever done, too- score!

Dillon's birthday

My sweet Dillon is 11 today! I will never forget the minute my sweet firstborn son entered the world. Rough, rough labor, but almost totally forgotten when I saw his cute face. He makes us smile, and laugh all the time. He has a great sense of humor, and is an awesome scientist. His mind thinks about things in a whole new way, and I love to see how his brain works. He is a great brother, son, and friend. We were able to celebrate his birthday all day and had a great time. He woke up early, (of course!) and wanted to open his gifts right away.


Since he is starting boy scouts now, he needed a bunch of camping/hiking stuff. He mostly got that stuff, along with a couple Wii games, and Star Wars stuff. Later, I checked Dillon out of school for lunch and we went to play at Boondocks.
We ate, and then played lots of games before he had to return to school. He got to choose what he wanted for dinner and he chose to eat at Chili's. My boy born on Cinco de Mayo, always seems to choose somewhere that has chips and salsa on his birthday. We love you Dillon! Happy 11th birthday!

Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend with soccer, lacrosse, two extra kids, a baptism, we went to Lagoon, etc. I watched my sister in laws kids while they were in Texas. The first day was fine, and they all got along great. Then as time went on they started acting like siblings. :) 6 kids is a lot I decided. Especially when I had to sit with them all in church by myself. There were a few meltdowns. Including me when right before church I discovered the shredded cheese had been thrown all over my kitchen floor. I definitely gained a new appreciation for my sweet mother in law, bringing 7 children to church by herself for all of those years. WOW! Really- it was fine, just super busy. I'd say we will be excited for some relaxation, but I know May around our house is usually pretty crazy, so maybe next month! :)