A nice surprise!

So there I was, standing at the kitchen sink (in grubby sweats, no doubt) washing dishes while Cameron helped, of course. John had left for a trip to Houston, so it was just me and Cam. I wasn't expecting anyone, so the sudden repeated doorbell ringing was certainly a surprise!

I'll admit I was a little creeped out when I went to look out the window and saw no one at the door. (My mind began to wander back to episodes of "Criminal Minds.") However, upon further investigation, I discovered that indeed it was not a stranger lurking at the door, but a lovely delivery that my thoughtful husband (& son) had dropped by on their way out of town.

It was a wonderful surprise. The flowers have blossomed beautifully and have continued to brighten my day for many days. There's nothing quite like being thought of, just because someone thinks you're special. It meant a lot to me and was definitely worth remembering with a picture.

Thanks honey! That was an awesome thing to do. :-)

Look Who's two!

Cameron turned two and we were all very excited to celebrate with him!

The kids lead the way with decorating the house the night before, so Cameron could wake up to birthday festivities.

We didn't have a big party, but we certainly made him our prince for the day. He even got a nice visit from friends. I don't know that any other 2 year old boy is loved quite so much.

Austin and Brooke helped decorate the cake for Cameron with farm animals and tractors, complete with a road made of smashed graham crackers.

Cameron loved it, in many ways. :-) He liked the toys enough that he licked them clean and the cake wasn't bad either.

In fact, Mommy made a teddy bear cake in addition to the other one, so there was plenty of cake to go around! Cameron was thrilled that he was allowed to eat it his hearts content, and he certainly did that.

We got Cameron his own scooter for his birthday and he LOVES it! He hopped right on and started scooting all around the house. He rides it all over the place and lately he even likes to give his toys rides on it with him. It's very cute.

Cameron has grown up so much this past year and developed into such a funny little guy. He's a great blend of cuddly and energetic, articulate and baby-talk, sweet and sassy. It has been such a fun time to watch him grow and learn. He's a full fledged toddler now and still makes us laugh out loud every day. He's adorable and wonderful and we all love him so much.

My favorite Cameron word that has come and gone this year is:

"wowie" = shower ( now he just calls it shower, and he really loves to take them)

We really love the way he will look at us with his trademark mischievous dimpled grin and turn his eyes up, looking to the side like he's planning something wonderful. It's hilarious and precious all at once.

We love the way he cuddles, and kisses and still rubs his belly when he says please("cheese.")

We love the way he says, "watch me dive" and then points his hands in front of him before he jumps off the couch.

We love his obsession with shoes and being outdoors, petting the cat, looking at birds or examining bugs.

I love how he snuggles up to stuffed animals and says, "awwww."

I love the gleeful smile that lights up his face when he comes aross his blankie. I love watching him snuggle up with it and giggle.

I love Cameron's emerging personality, indepencnce, and sense of humor. He is wonderful and precious and I'm looking forward to many more years of being his Mama.

Happy 2nd Birthday little buddy!

As an added bonus to our lovely Colorado trip, we got to celebrate Cameron's birthday again with family. He shared a celebration with his older cousin and had a fun time being honored and smiled at by everyone as he opened his gifts. The little guinea pig shown in the picture was a big hit. He still plays with it all the time. :-)

Happy Birthday Cameron! We love you!

I'm back... I hope

A friend of mine recently said that she had taken a leave of absence from her blog. It sounded all too familiar and I realized how long it has been since I've found the time to post.

When things get so busy that I can't even get phone calls or quality time with my kids in, blogging has to take a back seat. However, since this is my way of documenting memories, it's important to me that I stay more current than I have lately. I needed to get back on the wagon. So, here I am, on the blogging wagon. :-)

It seems like I blinked and summer was gone. So, as hard as it might be, I'm going to attempt to re-cap some of the highlights in my next few posts. These will include the 4th of July, Cameron's 2nd birthday, our trip to Colorado and visit with family there, Austin's 9th birthday, the beginning of school. . . see how fast it goes??

We had a lot of nice family time this summer. We played, we swam, we ate yogurt a few times :-) and we enjoyed the break from the schedule. Now we're back in the swing of things and fall is upon us. We're excited for this fabulous time of year and all that comes with it.

Here's to crisp mornings and playing outside on cool afternoons, scarecrows, changing leaves, pumpkin carving and trick or treating. Here's to fall! We love fall!

Face Painting fun...

I am soooooo far behind with my blogging! The updates will follow, slowly but surely, I hope. But for today, here are some cute pictures of the kids all painted up by our talented friend Michelle. The kids had a good time, and were very sad when they had to come home and shower away all their lovely paint!

You can check out more of what Michelle does at: www.onthespotbodyart.com

Milestones

It's bitter sweet, how kids grow up.

Here we are cheering them on every step of the way and then one day we look at them and discover how much they've grown up.

This week was a week of milestones for Brooke, in particular. . .

After MUCH anticipation and eager wiggling, she lost her first tooth!!

Luckily we got some great pictures because, much to her dismay, she somehow "misplaced" (aka Lost) her tooth before we could even

get it under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

The house has been scoured but, sadly, the tooth is nowhere to be found.

Brooke is convinced that the tooth fairy came and collected it,

since that is the only reasonable explanation, of course.

She didn't get to leave it under her pillow, so if we don't find it soon, we've decided that Brooke will leave a note and a picture under her pillow instead of her tooth, and hope for a prize. I'm sure she'll get something special. :-)

Her other milestones this week went hand in hand . . .

Anyone who knows Brooke well knows that she has been an avid thumb sucker all her young life. It made her a very happy, content baby and always a sweet quiet toddler. However, as she's gotten older, the addiction has gotten harder and harder for her to shake. ( and believe me, we've tried.)

Kindergarten came and went and she was still struggling with giving it up. I sucked my thumb until kindergarten, so I had hoped that she would stop after starting school, like my Mom says I did. But no. (although she never did it at school)

She really wanted to stop, but our attempts had been unsuccessful.

Well, about a month ago, at the beginning of summer, she began begging to get her ears pierced. After some thought and discussion, we decided that we would let her get her ears pierced if she was able to stop sucking her thumb. We helped her make up a cute little calendar and she began keeping track of the days that she went without sucking her thumb.

It was a real challenge for her and it took about a month, but she was bound and determined to do it this time and she has been very successful.

There have been a few slip ups here and there, but this whole week she hasn't even sucked it at night to go to sleep.

That is a HUGE accomplishment, and of course, needed to be rewarded.

So . . .

After much begging and pleading and then begging and pleading some more, I finally followed through with the promise of getting her ears pierced tonight.

She had plenty of support from special girlfriends who've been cheering her on and encouraging her to reach her goal.

There were some tears, a few more than I expected, actually, which broke my heart. She recovered quickly though and was

off to shopping, playing and dessert in no time.

So, it's official, she's a big girl.

My little Brookie is growing up.

No more sucking her thumb, got some birthstones in her ears and grown up teeth are making their way into her pretty little smile.

I sure do love that girl.

As much as I'll miss my "baby" girl, I am certainly enjoying my little girlfriend.