Fire Staion No. 5

Our very good friend Matt (or Uncle Matt as he's commonly referred to by the boys) is a Firefighter here in Bakersfield. On Sunday we decided to go over to his station for a visit. We've taken the boys before, but that was almost 2 years ago.
On the way over the kids all fell asleep in the car so they were a little reserved when we got there, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. ;-)
Kyle loves anything "fireman" related and tells me all the time that he wants to drive the firetruck like Uncle Matt when he grows up, so we knew he'd get a kick out of seeing all the real equipment.
Matt was awesome! He showed us the whole station, let the boys climb up into the truck, and even took us all for a ride. Then he got the big hose out and let the kids hold it (with Daddy's help) while he turned on the water. The boys even got to climb into the driver seat and blow the air horn before we left.
Very cool!

Carter and Kyle in the truck going for a ride around the block.

Kyle kept falling out of the seat when Matt would turn or hit the breaks.

This was right after he woke up, he was a little groggy, but loved every minute of it.

Here is Uncle Matt showing the boys how to work the hose.

Kyle decided to take control and hose down the whole parking lot.

Carter was much more interested in how it worked.

Cammie's turn.

She got so dirty crawling around that we literally had to hose her off with the fire hose.

Pulling the air horn!

Kyle did the air horn and then decided he wanted to do the regular one too.

The boys each sat on the front of one of the trucks, Carter on the Engine and Kyle on the Rig (the smaller truck.)

So much fun for the boys! A big thank you to Uncle Matt for showing us around.

It's Spring in the Valley

I love all the beautiful flowers and blossoms that come in the spring. I have a tendency to just drive around and look at them all. The other day the kids and I drove out to some orchards 10 minutes or so from our house . There were blossoms as far as the eye could see. I couldn't resist pulling over and taking a few pictures.

~SO Beautiful!~

No More Kisses for You!

Ah...the games we play to get affection from our growing boys. Kyle is our snuggler, but as he gets older it's getting harder and harder to pin him down so I can kiss and squeeze him. I have had to resort to reverse psychology and say things like, "I'm too busy for loves right now so do Not come over here and give me a kiss." Or "You're stinky stay over there because I do NOT want hugs!" Always with a smile and it usually works. Gregg's Mom Kathy visited this past month and she came up with a great game to get some kisses from the little guy, (well I don't actually know how the game evolved, but I love it.) He would stand in front of her and scold, "No more kisses for YOU" pointing his finger. She in turn would pout, and he'd give in with a big smooch! Then he'd run off and start the little scenario all over again. She must have gotten 500 kisses while she was here!

No More Kisses for You

Okay you can have one!

I can get him to play it with me every now and then, but I guess it's just not the same if it's not with Grandma B.

Birthday Cake!

Here are the "Cake Eating" pictures from Cammie's birthday party.

The Before picture

"Is this for me?"

Blowing out the candle with a little help from Mom.

First taste!

Enough of this tasting business, I want a bite!

Yum!

Carter and Jackson couldn't take the torture of not having any

for one more moment and had to grab a taste themselves.

Sugar High!

The damage she caused.

I think she liked it!

Aw, sweet little face!

Cammie's Polka Dot Princess Party

For Cammie's 1st birthday we did a "Polka Dot Princess" themed party. It was very small. Family and a couple close friends. She seemed to enjoy the attention and playing with her cousins. She had to nap in the middle of things, between cake and opening gifts, because all of the excitement wore her out. She was a ball of energy after her 30 minute power nap. It was fun to hang out with family from Fresno and celebrate our little princess's first birthday.

Cammie in her Birthday outfit!

I'll admit the bow was a little over the top.

It only lasted a little while.

Cammie's cake, (obviously.)

Everyone else got cupcakes, (they're much easier to make.)

The decor.

Except for the streamers, 1, and 2 princess balloons

everything was left over from Valentine's Day. Perfect!

Cammie and Grandma B watching the big kids in the bounce house.

Cammie played in it for a while, but as the storm moved in she needed to be held to keep warm.

Cammie wasn't very interested in opening gifts as she had just been yanked out of bed.

Here she is escaping while Mommy and her brothers finished opening them for her.

She opted to play with her cousin Tanner instead.

Uncle Chris was here so of course the night couldn't end without Pony Rides for the boys...

...and a dog pile!

It was a nice day, and our last birthday party for a long long time, like until she turns 16! ;-)

(Cake pictures to come in our next post)

Cameron Turns One!

I can't believe it! Last week my baby turned One!

Our sweet little princess is growing up so fast.

Here she is on her Birthday!

Cameron Renee was born one year ago weighing 5lbs 9oz. Now she is 4 times that at 21 lbs. She is still our sweet baby girl even though she is becoming more of a toddler and less like a baby every day. She is standing up next to anything she can hold on to, (including furniture, Mommy's legs, her big brothers, etc.) She moves along the couches quickly and can walk behind the baby stroller that Grandma B got her for her birthday. We know that any day she will be walking on her own. She has two bottom teeth and is cutting two top teeth this week.
She can be a bit of a picky eater, but generally she does well, (her chubbiness is evidence.) Her favorite things to eat are Honey Nut Cheerios and baby raviolli. In fact sometimes I have to put Cheerios's on her spoonful of baby food to get her to open her mouth. She likes to do things on her own, like feed herself and put her pacifier in her mouth by herself. She even tries to put her clothes and shoes on by herself, but as you can imagine that ends up mostly being her banging her shoe on her foot or ankle smiling at me like she's actually getting it right. She thinks she is so funny and so tricky. When she thinks she's done something clever or cute she will clap for herself and wait for you to join in.
She loves her brothers, especially Carter. Whenever I put her in the car she has to turn to see if Carter is in his seat too. She calls his name if she can't find him, and loves to wrestle with him and play "chase me" with him. She thinks Kyle is hilarious! He can always make her laugh big belly laughs even if she's upset. His tricks usually involve a fake fall of something else that appears to hurt him and she just loves it.
She speaks a little bit. She can say Mama, Dada, Carter - "Crtr", Kyle - "Ka", More - "mo mo", Bye Bye, and Ni-night. She can sign More, and waves for good bye, hello, and good night. She doesn't like to speak on Que and if I ask her to say Mama she will often look me right in the eye and clearly speak "DADA". She's such a turd! Lol!
My sweet little girl loves to make messes! She will sit in front of a basket of toys or diapers and pull them out one by one, throwing them over her head behind her until there is nothing left, and then move on to something else. She pulls socks out of drawers, shoes out of bins, Kleenex out of boxes, everything out of the diaper bag, and anything else she can mess up. Her favorite thing to destroy is nice neat folded piles of laundry! She lights up when she sees them. I learned very quickly that folding laundry on the floor is NOT and option if Cammie is awake. Sometimes I let her have a pile of dish towels just because she is so funny and cute when she is being destructive. I thought girls were suppose to be neat and tidy. Boy was I wrong!
I could go on and on about her...

She Mommy's sweet little princess,

the light of Daddy's life,

her brothers favorite playmate,

and she just crawled up into my lap so I thinks I'll go snuggle her for a few minutes.

Happy Birthday Bam Bam! We love you to bits!

My Stubborn, Sleepy, Little Guy

Kyle is by far my most stubborn child. In fact he may be the most stubborn child I know. He rarely takes naps anymore, (because if I let him nap for even 30 minutes I don't get him to sleep until close to 11 PM most of the time.) This week all of the kids have been sick with a particularly nasty cold. Kyle is just getting over the worst of it and was so tired yesterday afternoon, but refused a real nap and was fighting falling asleep. On the way home from Carter's school Kyle started crying and throwing a fit saying, "My eyes are broken Mommy! They won't stay open!" After we got home I tried to get him to lay down on my bed and watch some cartoons, but he knew if he did that he would fall asleep. I couldn't even get him to sit on my bed, or sit at all for that matter. He just wanted to stand. So I turned on cartoons and put his little chair next to him in case he changed his mind. A little bit later I went in to check on him and found him like this. He stayed like that for almost an hour and a half. Poor little guy.