Baby Steps

Cameron started walking. She has been walking along the furniture and walls for two or more months now, but she hasn't had the confidence to let go until recently. Actually it was on Kyle's birthday at Matt and Mandy's house. There were several people out back and she didn't know anyone was watching. But Gregg and I were. We saw her stand up and take about 3 short little steps to the chair where Mandy was sitting with out holding on to anything. I was gad I got to see it. After that we started working with her to build her confidence more and more. She is doing really well now only crawling when she wants to go really fast or she gets sleepy and starts having balance issues.

So I guess it's official - She a "Toddler" now. Bitter Sweet.

This is from her second or third day. She's obviously doing better now, and getting better everyday, but I think it's those first shaky steps that are the most important to capture.

Kyle's Birthday

We are done having parties for a while, so for Kyle's birthday this year we did some other small things to celebrate.

His morning started out with a chocolate muffin for breakfast.

Later we spent a typical Friday evening with our good friends Matt and Mandy's at their house. Mandy was very sweet and baked brownies for Kyle so that he could have some candles to blow out on his special day. He was caught of guard and got shy for a minute when she brought them out back and we started singing. He got over it in time to make a wish and blow out the candles!

Macy, Cammie, Kyle, and Carter.

The next day Nolan, Melissa, and Jordan brought my Mom (who was in Cali visiting from Ohio) down from Fresno. We had decided that since the family would be together, that would be the day we'd celebrate with cupcakes and gifts.

For months when asked what he wants for his birthday all Kyle would say is a bounce house, so his gift from us this year was exactly that. It worked out well. He was thrilled!

He played, and played, and played...and then played some more!

Hugs for Jordan!

Chasing Cammie!

Pretty Girls!

When it was time to do birthday candles he jumped up and blew them out so fast I didn't even have time to snap the picture. It was pretty funny. I think his birthday song was about 4 seconds long.

Then gifts. Grandma B got him a great little tent. Very cool!

And some dinosaurs...

...a Buzz Light Year blaster from Grandma Lou!

Bear hugs from Uncle Nolan.

Loves for Auntie 'lissa.

A Happy Birthday Boy!

Kyle was beyond thrilled as the bounce house was being set up. I was able to get this cute little video of him. ;-)

Kyle is 3!

Last Friday Kyle turned 3! He is so proud to be a "Big Boy".

He got a two wheel bike (complete with training wheels) like Carter's about 2 months ago. We were going to get him one for his birthday, but he kept steeling his brothers so we caved and got one early. As it turns out that that was the best decision we could have made. Kyle and his bike are inseparable! They are like best friends. The first few days after he got it he would get up in the morning and go right out to ride it, now he can at least wait until after breakfast (most mornings anyway.) When he would get tired after riding around the back yard for hours on end, he would sneak it into the playroom to sit on it while he watched t.v. Once the bike got dirty it got banned from the house of course, much to Kyles dismay. Sometimes he still randomly says to me, "I'll be right back Mom. I'm going to go check on my bike" like it's a family pet or something. Oh, he makes me laugh!

Kyle has the best sense of humor! He has me laughing all the time. I wish I could explain it. It's not like he's telling jokes all the time or anything, it's just more of the timing and delivery of his thoughts on whatever is going on at the time. (Alright I've been sitting here for a solid five minutes just trying to think of a good example and I'm coming up short at the moment. I'll have to get some video of him sometime, but until then take my word for it he is funny!) He cracks Cammie up all the time too. She thinks he's even funnier that I think he his.

He is still very particular (okay O.C.D.) about lots of things with no rhyme or reason. He still has huge kicking screaming meltdowns that land him locked in his room for a mandatory cooling off period, for him and us. But as he gets older and more capable of doing things on his own (the way he prefers), and as his communication gets better, he is getting much easier to deal with. He is finally getting old enough now that sometimes we can actually reason with him which is HUGE!

He insists on peeing outside, usually out front. He says that the potty is too tall so he just has to go pee in the dirt. Sounds logical except for the fact that we keep a little step stool in front of each of the potties for that very reason. Lol. What are you going to do. I can't fight with him about it all day long. Frankly I'm just glad he's not going in his underwear.

He is very, very sweet. The best cuddler I know!
Favorite foods right now: Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, Chicken Nuggets, Chocolate, Raisins, Milk in large quantities.
Favorite shows and movies: Diego, Dora the Explorer, The Backyardigans, The Cat in the Hat, The Letter Factory, all 3 of the Toy Story movies.
Other Favorite things: Motorcycles, Dinosaurs, Going fast, Fire engines, Being outside.

I try to hold him and rock him like a little baby and he kicks and screams (laughing the whole time) telling me, "I'm not a baby! I'm a big boy! Only Cammie can be the baby!" Little does he know, he will always be my little baby!

Our sweet, sweet little Beaker Man!

20 Years

Today marks 20 years since the passing of Gregg's father Arnold. I never had the honor of meeting him, but I couldn't let this day pass without a small acknowledgement.

A great man is gone, and has been for sometime.
One day when this life is over I hope to meet him and the pleasure will be all mine.
I'm grateful for his family, that I inherited some years later.
I know that he is proud of them as he watches from above with our maker.

Arn,
You were greatly loved, and you are dearly missed.

Easter 2011

This year Easter was quiet and uneventful. We had just gotten back from the beach, and were all still getting over being sick (again). The Easter Bunny did visit and even though there was no egg hunt this year, he left baskets full of goodies for the kiddos. Carter was the first one up of course. He came in and woke me up at 6am by tapping me on the head saying, "Come look what the Easter Bunny left us!" By the time I got up 15 minutes later he had already gone through his stuff and was making his way through Kyle's. I can't blame the kid, it's very exciting when a giant magical bunny leaves candy and presents for everyone while you are asleep. The rest of the day was mostly spent like a normal Sunday, but with Deviled Eggs of course.

Here is Carter showing off his spoils.

When Kyle woke up he sat right down on the couch with out a secondthought about it being Easter. This was the look on his face when I finally got him to peek over and see what was left for him.

Happy Boy!

A groggy Cammie going through her stuff.

The kids each got one of the giant bouncy balls in their baskets. The boys have decided that they are "Crystal Balls." Cammie's is sparkly. "Oooo Pitty!"

Reaching for her basket after I put it up for breakfast.

Later Cammie found another basket to climb into.

The boys playing with their new bubbles.

Cameron did a trick at breakfast. She thought she was so funny! We did too!

Silly girl!

Happy Easter to all of our friends and family. Hope yours was as nice and relaxing as ours!

Spring Break - Pismo Beach

Gregg was lucky enough to have a few days off last week. It was spring break so we decided to meet my brother Bryan and his family at Pismo beach for a few days of camping on the dunes. The mornings were great. The kids loved playing with their cousins, digging in the sand and of course watching all of the quads, dirt bikes, and other big kid sand toys. The afternoons were pretty windy so we spent a lot of time in the trailer and in town.

Looks rough doesn't it!

Carter stole my sunglasses in order to keep the sand from blowing in his eyes when the breeze started picking up.

He started being silly when he saw that I was taking pictures of him.

Cammie with cousin Autumn and cute Lexi. They were by her side for most of the trip, very cute!

Enjoying the peaceful campfire.

Carter is sharing secrets with his cousin Cade whom he played with constantly.

Cammie with Auntie Nat.

We took the kids for a walk down the Avila Pier and stopped for a snack. The cook came out to see if we liked his creation (which was awesome) and asked if he could take a picture of us. This is actually the only picture I have of the five of us since Thanksgiving.

The wind was a little too much for us in the end so we cut our trip a day short. The kids, Cammie especially, are still just too little to deal with blowing wind and sand. Carter did pretty well with it and was sad to leave early, but the younger two were happy to be going home. We love the beach and had a great time visiting and playing with family and friends. As the kids get bigger we will hopefully be doing it more often.

Basket Case

Cameron loves baskets. Well, that is to say, she loves to sit in them. She seems the most content (and always quite proud of herself) when she is sitting in a basket, or bucket, or hamper, etc. The boys used to climb into their toy basket when they were little, but it was for the purpose of being closer to their toys. Cammie on the other hand climbs in just to sit. Sometimes she plays with the toys and sometimes she throws them all out. She cracks us up as usual. Here are some of the pictures I've taken of her in various baskets around the house.

In her toy basket in the living room. She's in this one the most.

In her brothers room.

Her hamper.

Messing up the laundry is always a favorite!

Not really a basket, but she plays in her playpen a lot.

There have been others, and I'm sure there will be more.

She's our favorite little basket case!