Herb's Happenings

Bunny Friends

2011-08-07T07:19:00.000-07:00

Since today is Chase's birthday and I was re-reading old posts I was realizing how much I enjoy doing just that - reading old posts. So much gets lost in the day to day of kids that if you don't write it down it's L.O.S.T! I'm going to try really hard *AGAIN* to stay somewhat on top of updating the blog so I have my memories!

I found this video in my photos today. I don't remember anything about this but I think it's cute. Cameron must have left a bunny out for the Easter Bunny to play with? No idea, but enjoy cuz it's cute!

It's February???

2011-02-17T05:46:00.000-08:00

Seriously, where does the time go? I feel like that's how I start every blog post lately. I'm just going to jump right in and mention what's going on here with the Herbies.

Chase is WALKING! He's 18 months old and he's finally realized that if he walks he can keep stuff in his hands while he moves. He is such a fast crawler it seemed as if he didn't care about walking because he could get there twice as fast crawling. He is no longer using bottles but he still has his binky. We try to let him have it only when he's ready for nap or bedtime but sometimes we cave and he gets it if he's fussy. He has quite a few teeth already but I am confident he's still teething and it seems as if the binky helps relieve some of that pain for him. He is talking a little. Some of the words he says are mama, daddy, bubba (Cameron), Hey E (Haley), GG, Mima, poop, no, ball, catch (sorta), Ya, go. If we ask him if he had a good day he will say "Ya." It is the cutest thing ever. What's also cute, while also being very bad at the same time, is the way he says no. He says it with such an attitude and shakes his head too. It is REALLY hard not to smile when he tells us no - but we are staying strong! He loves to dance now that he's figured out how to keep his balance standing up. He's in size 5 diapers, 18-24 mos bottoms and 18mo-3t tops. He's still drinking SILK and eating all sorts of things. Oh yeah, he can also say nana for banana.

Cameron is doing great in first grade. They are having a Star Spangled performance on Friday and he's been practicing the songs for a couple weeks now. I just love to hear him sing patriotic songs. He sings God Bless America, America the Beautiful and God Bless the USA. I can't wait for their show and I'm sure I'll be crying. He loves to read so much that we've had to put him to bed 30 minutes earlier than normal so he has time to read in bed and still get to sleep at a decent hour. He loves checking out the Star Wars books from the library. He and Haley are playing floor hockey in Boulder City and they are loving it. Haley loves it most when she gets to sit out on the high bench and watch.

Haley's in kindergarten and has quite the social circle. There are 4-5 girls in her class that have formed an all girl club. It is so cute. She's taking gymnastics at Gymcats and she does really well and really seems to love it. Joan picks her up from school on Tuesdays and takes her there. She's at about 130 sight words and books are finally starting to interest her now that she can read some of them herself. She loves to play with her barbies and dolls. She's in Daisy Girl Scouts and we are in the middle of cookie season. With the help of me, BJ and Mima she's sold about 850 packages of cookies. That is INSANE!

Almost Christmas

2010-12-14T05:47:00.000-08:00

As always, I can't believe so much time has passed. Christmas is next week. We are all absolutely jazzed and it is so fun. I love this time of year, much like my mother did when I was a child. I thank her for sharing her love for the season with me and I hope to pass the same on to my children. The kids are always asking me to turn Christmas music on in the car and that totally excites me. Yesterday on the way to school was no different. Then I told them that pretty soon Chase will start asking for Christmas music too and then it will be 4 against 1 when daddy says no Christmas songs and we will win hands down. They just giggled. It was awesome!

Chase still isn't walking, but he is standing up in the middle of the floor sometimes. He is talking very little. He says thank you, daddy, GG, Chase and cracker. If I remember correctly, he has four teeth each on top and bottom. We have a wooden train that spells out Herbolsheimer under the kids' Christmas trees. As soon as that train is placed he loves to go up to it and throw each letter as hard as he can. Needless to say, Herbolsheimer hasn't been spelled out very often because the letters just end up somewhere else anyway! That's about all the destruction he does with the decorations which is quite surprising to all of us, considering he's such a monkey and in to everything else. I can't remember if I had it in the last post or not, but he climbs on everything. We've found him on the kitchen counter, dining room table, game table, edges of the couch, Haley's dresser drawer....EVERYWHERE. It's a good thing he is so cute!

Haley is doing great in kindergarten. She sometimes loses a penny for talking to her friend, Chloe, in class. I reminded her one day not to talk to her and she said "But we're friends!" So cute. Haley's mastered 90 sight words already and she is loving to read now that she knows so many words.

Cameron has fallen in love with reading too and his teacher says he is reading at the benchmark level for end of 1st grade right now. We are proud of him. He also just got straight A's on his first report card. He went to his first birthday party alone a few weeks back. It was for a girl friend of his, Delaney. They went to Bounce U and then out to lunch at Rainforest Cafe. He had a BLAST! He and his friends play some sort of Scooby Doo game everyday at lunch. They've all created this fun game and it is so cool to hear him talk about it.

Enough for now...

Where did it go?

2010-11-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

So I seriously can't believe next week is Thanksgiving. I mean, like 4 days from now. Is that possible? Holy smokes - where has the time gone? I am absolutely excited for the holidays to be here though. Both Cameron and Haley can't wait for the Friday after Thanksgiving so they can decorate their Christmas tree again. I allowed them to choose one ornament at the store yesterday. Cameron chose R2D2 from Star Wars and Haley chose a really sweet tiara. For Chase we chose Mr. Potato Head from Toy Story.

Speaking of Chase, he is quite the monkey. He loves to climb on everything he can find. He pulled himself up on the piano bench one night and just started playing the piano. He was sitting with perfect form and everything. Eek! He has also climbed into Haley's dresser drawer and thrown out all her clothes to make room for himself. Cameron and Haley never climbed on anything so this is a whole new world for us. We may actually have to invest in safety equipment for Chase! We are pretty sure we will need to tie our Christmas Tree to the wall this year so he can't pull it down. Chase is 15 months old now and still not walking. Again, this is totally fine by me. He only says Daddy and sometimes Thank You. And if we say "One" he will say "Doo." It's quite cute. He has four teeth on top and two on the bottom. He's wearing mostly 24 month tops and about 18 month bottoms. He hates to have socks on his feet. As soon as we put them on he usually pulls them right off. He loves the Gerber Graduates lil munchy things in the Garden Tomato flavor. He is on Silk right now because he had major diarrhea about a month ago and it appears he may be lactose intolerant. The same thing happened to Cameron around this age and now he can drink cows milk so we aren't too worried about Chase.

Haley is as spunky as ever. She is really starting to learn to read and she loves to read to me before bedtime. If there's a word I know she doesn't know I just read it and she keeps reading the words she does know. It's quite cute. She knows about 60 sight words. This morning she told me she was reading to her Barbies while she was waiting for me to wake up. So cute! The hamper in her bedroom was overflowing with clothes this week and she told me "Mom, I sure do have a big loaf of laundry!"

Cameron is doing great as well. We all love his 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Lombardo. He is also loving to read and he has to read a homework book each night and then he also likes to read me some portions out of Star Wars books before bed. I am so excited about this because about six months ago the only thing he liked to do was watch TV and play the Wii. He just finished his first season of flag football. They didn't win any games but he always had so much fun. He is already looking forward to next year.

Here's hoping for a great holiday season filled with all sorts of memory makers. Enjoy your time with your families - I know I will!

2010 Fall Family Portraits

2010-11-03T12:51:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Cameron's 5th Birthday

2010-11-03T12:50:00.001-07:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

School Has Started!

2010-08-31T12:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of school for the kids. Cameron in 1st grade and Haley in kindergarten. I still cannot believe it. I took the morning off so I could take them (and their pictures, of course) and also so I could pick Haley up to hear all about her first day. She loved it (as we expected) and said she met friends but she didn't know their names yet. As we were walking to the car she asked where she would go tomorrow. I told her back to kindergarten. She got a huge smile on her face and said "Oh, I forgot." She is so funny. Her teacher, Mrs. DelGiorno, commented to me that she is a smartie pants. She asked the kids to write their name on their paper if they 'could' and she said Haley looked up at her and asked, "My last name too?" Yup, that's right, our little girl knows how to write and spell Herbolsheimer!

Cameron's first day went well also, with his only complaint being that he didn't have enough time to eat much lunch. We asked if it was because it was just a hectic day or if he spent too much time talking or what, but he just plain said he didn't have enough time. Guess he's going to have to learn to eat fast! I'm suspecting at day care they were given much more time for lunch so he's just not used to it. We'll see! Today he is trying hot lunch for the first time. It's two mini-hot dogs. I'm anxious to see how he liked it. It is hard to believe lunch is only $1.75. He's also trying Safe Key for the first time. He said he liked that as well. We are really hoping he'll try to get his homework done at Safe Key so he can have more time at night for himself.

Chase, of course, is still at the babysitter while we work. He is almost 13 months now and so much fun. He finally learned to do a real crawl just a couple days before his 1st birthday. Now he is quite fast when he wants to be. He loves to be in the fridge and freezer so we have to look around before we open them because if he hears them open he is at our feet and crawling inside before we even have time to grab the butter! He is starting to realize he has legs and that they are useful for standing. He pulls himself up on lots of things but he's still quite unsteady. As far as I'm concerned, this is ok. I am sure once he learns he can walk he will be all over the place in no time! He loves loves loves to be in Cameron's room playing with his Legos. We have to be really careful to keep his door closed at all times. He likes Haley's room too and he is allowed to go there. Most of the time he heads straight for the bright blue princess heels and a baby doll. He loves to give dolls kisses (or maybe he's biting them, who knows!) He loves any and all music. Whenever he hears music he twists his torso and swings his arms. Sometimes he rocks side to side too. He is quite the dancer.

As far as food goes, he prefers pureed baby food over chunks of people food. BJ gave him some baked potatoes the other night and he really liked those. We've been using sign language with him for quite some time and he definitely understands things. He is getting better about signing what *HE* wants, but I suspect some day soon he will just start signing and we'll be able to communicate much better. He is wearing 18mo - 2T clothes and size 4 diapers. He has three teeth (two on bottom, one on top) and the 2nd one on top is about to come through. He loves to wave bye-bye when anyone says the word. He's very social and has the warmest smile.

Well, I know it was a brief update but it's an update!

Cameron goes shopping

2010-07-25T06:57:00.001-07:00

Generally speaking Cameron is a typical boy and hates to go shopping or run errands. I convinced him to go to the mall with me on the premise that we'd shop for new "1st grade shoes" and he was sold! He liked every pair we saw. I'm not sure if he really liked them or if he was just saying he liked them so he could be done. Some were too big, some had broken laces...it didn't matter. "They feel good mom, I like them!" So finally we found a pair that passed my inspection too. I know I'm a little strict but I decided they had to FIT and they had to not look a year old already! So we got the shoes and then headed to the boys section to look for clothes too. I went for the clearance rack and he very quickly chose about 4 shirts he liked. I was impressed! Then we headed out into the mall to go to a different store. As we were walking he said "Mom, I kinda like shopping. You get new stuff!" What a cute kid!

Then when we got home he asked if he could try his clothes on. I about fell off the couch. Usually when I buy clothes and ask him to try them on I am met with a HUGE "oooooohhhhh, ughhhhhhhhhh, mom, do I have to?" Of course I said yes and I figured he would get caught up in TV and forget he wanted to try them on. After he brushed his teeth about 30 minutes later he asked me where his clothes were and he carried them out front and TRIED THEM ON! Did you read that, people? He tried them on ALL BY HIMSELF! No asking on my part. I wasn't even out there - I was tucking Haley into bed. I'm still in shock. So as he tried them on, if they fit he would take the tag off, throw it away and then set the shirt on the couch. He had two stacks going; one for the good ones and an empty place on the couch in case something didn't fit. WOW! So after all the shirts fit and were all stacked neatly on the couch he moved on to his most favorite purchase - his STAR WARS underpants. He put on the first of three pairs from the pack and said "Man, I look good in these!" This kid is a hoot! Then he started to try on the other two. I explained to him they are all the same and trying on one is enough. He said he knew, but he wanted to try them all anyway. **Smiles!**

Maybe I have a new shopping buddy!

It's Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T07:29:00.000-07:00

Oh how I love this day. The kids have been looking forward to this day all week and so have I. Cameron & Haley made stuff for me at Creative Kids and have been hiding it all week. Cameron asked me where he should hide his stuff and I suggested under his bed because I wont look there. Then during the week I would kid him and tell him I was thinking about cleaning his room and we'd make sure under his bed got cleaned too. It was cute how protective he was of my surprise.

So this morning Haley woke up at 5:30am and came into my room and said Happy Mother's Day. Then when Cameron got up about 6:30am he did the exact same thing. I am so lucky to have such awesome kids. Cameron's been plotting with daddy for what we'll do today and the biggest thing on his agenda is to give me hugs and kisses all day. Love it!

Last night they took me out for dinner at Olive Garden. It was delicious!

Chase is 9 months old now and I just can't believe it. He started sitting up on his own on April 12, 2010 but now he has it essentially mastered. If he's tired he will grab his binky and just fold himself in half and rest his head on the ground. It is so cute. He's starting all different types of moves to try and move around. Sometimes he will grab the carpet and pull and sometimes if he's lying on his back he'll kick his feet and just sort of bounce his butt around on the floor. He had a major ear infection about a month ago and I'm not sure it ever healed 100%. Last night he had a 102.6 fever so I am thinking today we'll take him to the doctor to make sure he doesn't need more antibiotics. I am so thankful our pediatricians work on the weekends. He has had a major runny nose and he hates to have his nose suctioned out. We still have to give him breathing treatments with pulmicort daily to keep his lungs in shape. But regardless of how sick he feels he is hands down the happiest baby I have ever met.

Happy Mother's Day to all the fabulous mothers out there!

Been too long

2010-03-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Wow - it's been way too long since I've blogged. No real reason, just plain busy I suppose. Here's a few updates.

Chase is already 7 months old. How the heck did that happen? He is rolling around all over the place. Our friend Lauren bought him a Bumbo seat and he really likes to sit in it. We're hoping it wont be long before he sits up on his own. He stays on his butt now, but he leans over and totally just slumps over himself. It's quite cute. He's been eating solids for a month or so. His favorite thing is peas HANDS DOWN. When we first gave him mangos he hated them - then my mom tried mixing them with peas and he liked the combo. Weird kid, huh? So far he's eaten peas, carrots, squash, sweet potato, applesauce, pear, mango, peaches, blueberries and bananas. At church we have to sit in the nursery room now because he no longer just sleeps through church; he prefers to sing and read along! I took him to the Dr. today because he was congested again and we wanted to make sure he isn't getting RSV again. Dr. Kulic said his lungs are perfect but he has an ear infection. How the heck does a kid get an ear infection and stay super happy? I guess the same way he gets RSV and stays happy. What an amazing kid!

Haley just turned 5 and we had her party at the house. She chose the same bounce house as last year with the slide. This year we got a cotton candy machine too. It was SO fun to make our own cotton candy. She didn't want cake and ice cream and to be honest she didn't really want to serve anything at her party; she just wanted the bounce house. I was finally able to convince her that it's somewhat customary to serve a little food at a party so she decided on pizza and jello! :) At the last minute she also allowed me to make some cupcakes for her friends. Whew! Just tonight I noticed she has a loose tooth. Oh my - she is growing up too fast!

Cameron is 6 and loving kindergarten. He and one of his classmates are in a little competition to read their sight words the fastest. Cameron is on 120 right now and I think John is on 110. It's awesome to see the excitement for learning. He can now read books to us! So fun. He hardly has any teeth left in his mouth. I think there's 4 missing on the top and 3 missing on the bottom. The middle two on the bottom are already growing in and they seem to be almost done 'growing.' He's hoping he gets some back in time for corn on the cob season. He recently had his kindergarten play where he was a horsefly and he had a speaking and dancing part. It was so fun to watch him perform. The kids all did a great job.

Both Cameron and Haley are GREAT big siblings to Chase. The love they show him is truly unbelievable. They each help me two days a week in the morning to feed him while I finish getting all our stuff ready for the day. Cameron takes Mon & Tues and Haley takes Wed & Thurs. I would be lost without them. They are always so excited to see him in the morning and as soon as they get home from school they ask where he is and run up and kiss him and talk to him. It truly is unbelievable.

Haley-isms

2010-01-14T05:20:00.000-08:00

Haley says the darndest things and they make us all smile from ear to ear. Here are a couple I don't want to forget anytime soon!

Chase had his little fingers wrapped around Haley's finger the other night and pulled it close to his mouth as any other 5 month old baby would do. Haley looked at me and said, "Oh no, I hate this part!"

When something is inside out she bring it to us and asks us to either "inside it" or to "inside out this."

Dreams

2009-12-18T06:43:00.001-08:00

Cameron woke up yesterday morning and came to tell me he had a bad dream. He was so cute and so sweet. With tired eyes and a soft voice he continued to tell me about it. He said "Mom, it was the same dream I had one hundred million weeks ago." Awwwww

Whoops E Daisy!

2009-12-06T21:38:00.000-08:00

I don't know why but it seems all my posts are about Haley lately. She is saying and doing the funniest things and I want to document them so I don't forget. And let me preface this one by saying I have NO IDEA how to spell "whoopsidaisy." You know, the word you use when you make a mistake??? Haley uses it in the cutest way. Her are some examples.

Mom, I was playing with this toy and I whoopsidaisy broke it.

Mom, I whoopsidaisy knocked the Elf off the tree.

Mom, I was pulling the book out of the cabinet and it whoopsidaisy fell on Chase's foot.

She cracks me up!

And let me also let you know that Chase found his feet about a week ago. He is so cute grabbing and tugging at them.

You and Me

2009-12-01T20:25:00.001-08:00

Cameron has some sight word flash cards we are working on and Haley always wants to do them too. I was working with her and the word was "You." I said "Y - O - U....You. What does it say, Haley?" She quickly answered, "Me!" She is so dang cute!

Fire in Haley's room

2009-11-16T04:41:00.001-08:00

Haley has been a little stuffed up lately so I bought a humidifier for her room since Chase is using the other one. We were talking before bed about how we put water in it and it will blow cool, moist air in her room and make her feel better. So I tell her to go lay down and she says "But are you going to put fire in my room?" What the heck??? Fire??? I told her it was a machine that uses water. Then it dawned on me...humidi "FIER!"

She makes me laugh and smile and giggle SO often. I love you, Bird.

A HOT Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-01T09:18:00.001-08:00

We went to the Pumpkin Patch at Sunset Station to see what it was all about. The kids had fun on the rides. The only problem was that it was HOT that day. Las Vegas Octobers can be so tricky when it comes to the weather. The week after this we were wearing coats, and now we are back to t-shirts again. Strange!

Chase was wishing he was old enough to ride!

The gigantic bouncy slides are always a good time!

Haley loved this silly swing ride. She looked so cute on it!

Sleepy Time

2009-11-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

Two of my favorite boys often fall asleep like this...

We've got a sucker!

2009-09-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

Neither Cameron nor Haley ever sucked their thumbs (or anything for that matter.) Chase is so different. Since birth he has been content sucking his fingers, hands, arms, thumb, other people's chests, etc... It is so cute. (Don't worry - I know thumb sucking is a bad habit and I don't intend to let him continue.)

No more training wheels!

2009-09-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

BJ took off Cameron's training wheels and with just a little bit of coaxing and practice he did just fine. He wasn't sure he could do it and he liked the safety of the training wheels. But he quickly overcame his fear and now he is SO PROUD of himself. (9/4/09)

Cameron gives a bath

2009-09-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

Cameron loves to play with Chase and he also likes to take his picture (really close up!) It's fun for me to put the pictures from my camera on my computer because there are always some he has taken! :) This Winnie the Pooh Couch has been super fun for the kids. They use it as their 'bath tub.' Right now, Cameron is giving Chase a bath. :) (Photos from 8/31/09)

Noisy sleeper - off to your own room!

2009-09-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

Chase is a FANTASTIC sleeper, but he's quite noisy. He moans, groans, grunts, smacks, slurps, squeals, talks, etc... Up until now (8/28/09) he was sleeping in a bassinet in our room. He was constantly waking me up with his noises so even though HE was sleeping, I was not. That didn't really work out well for me so I did what every good mom would do...I gave him the BOOT out of our room! Ever since about two-three weeks old he has slept from about 10pm to 3 or 4am. It is AWESOME! And even when he wakes up he is so patient while we change him and get the bottle ready. He may be the BEST baby I've ever been around. We are so blessed. (And yes, that is a black marker spot on his sheet. I hadn't decided on his bedding yet so he is using hand me down sheets. Haley thought it would be fun to color her sheet one night with a dry erase marker...it didn't erase!) :)

A Purpleicious Party

2009-09-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

Our friend Chloe turned one and was having a Purpleicious Party. We made custom shirts for her party and I must say - we were a HIT! It was really fun. Even Chase had a matching shirt. They had a couple ball pits set up for the kids and Cameron & Haley loved playing in them. We used to have one at home but it popped, so it was fun for them to play in one again. Thanks, Chloe, for inviting us to your awesome purpleicious party.

School Open House

2009-09-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

Open House at Cameron's school was fun to go to. I was so excited to meet the teacher and see his classroom. He was even more excited to show us everything. Mommyhood just gets better and better! (Pics from 8/27/09)

Excited about homework

2009-09-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

The first week of school Cameron didn't have any homework so I had him practice writing his name using lower case letters. He was so excited to be doing his 'homework.' Of course, Haley had to do some too. We'll see how long this excitement lasts. (Pics from 8/26/09)

Catching Up

2009-09-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ok - so it's been a while since I've blogged. I was waiting because I was trying to do everything chronologically. I have since realized that doesn't work for me because I get hung up on one event and then nothing else gets blogged. So here we go - there will hopefully be lots of new blogs today and they'll be in NO order whatsoever. So sit back and enjoy the ride!

Chase's 1st Photo Shoot

2009-08-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

I am sure most of you know my sister in law is super talented. She came over when Chase was 2 weeks old and took these photos of him. I absolutely LOVE them. Enjoy! (And thanks a million, Jeny.)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Now we're in Utah

2009-08-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

After we got home from California Saturday night we turned around and headed to Brianhead, Utah on Monday. We wanted to get away as a family for a week before Cameron started school. We had a good time just relaxing, taking walks, playing at the park and playing games. We taught the kids how to play LCR and Uno. I really hope they will enjoy games as much as I do. Enjoy our pictures and pay special attention to the hide and go seek game that took place at the park. You'll see yet another reason why having kids ROCKS. Hiding places are so great when you're 4 and 5 years old.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A Trip to California

2009-08-30T15:46:00.000-07:00

One week after Chase was born we headed to California for an appointment for Cameron. We brought Mima along with us to hang out and help us with Chase. Even though I was still recovering from surgery we managed to do some fun stuff. We found a cool place for dinner called The Lazy Dog Cafe where all the pictures on the wall were dogs. After dinner we went to go play miniature golf. This was the kids' first time. I had to quit playing because my incision was hurting from laughing at Haley so much. We all enjoyed watching her. She definitely won the game if we were scoring by the most number of strokes. Then Mima bought us some chocolate ice cream bars that we enjoyed in the hotel before bed. Yummm!

The following morning we all enjoyed some down time and just hung out for a while. The kids played with their legos and rode each other around on their backs. It was nice to just relax. Then we loaded up and went to the Orange County Zoo. It was a small zoo but it had some neat animals in it and the kids enjoyed the petting zoo the best.

Chase was a darn good traveler for being only a week old! Enjoy our video - and I'm sure you'll laugh just as much as we did when you see Haley golfing. (Especially when you consider that her dad is a good golfer!)

Mr. Lucky Straw

2009-08-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

The kids were in a day camp at Valley View Rec Center for the summer. On the second to last day they performed this play called "Mr. Lucky Straw." It was a play about paying it forward. Cameron was a Rice Farmer and Haley was a Lady in Waiting. GG, Mima, myself, BJ and Chase all came to watch it and we had a great time.

A Very Late Tooth Fairy

2009-08-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

Cameron was eating a peach 8/12/09 and his second bottom tooth fell out. He was SO excited. The tooth fairy hadn't come by the time he woke up. Let me explain that one...a 5 day old baby! So when he came into my room at 6:15am and I was nursing Chase he was sad beyond belief. I had no idea why. Finally he told me the tooth fairy forgot to come. Oh my goodness...how was I going to recover from this one? So I looked at the clock and said "Oh Cameron, I am pretty sure she works until 7am and there must have been lots of kids last night that lost their teeth and she's on the way." It worked! He was ok with waiting. But then I had to figure out how to wake BJ up while I was trying to nurse Chase and keep it all a secret from Cameron & Haley. COMPLICATED! I finally got BJ up & he caught on to what was going on. Luckily he found some money in the garage that he could put under the pillow so the kids wouldn't know what was going on. Whew - the tooth fairy saved the day. She even left a note that said sorry she was late but that she was really busy. I love having kids! Things like this would never happen without kids and it is so awesome!

Kindergarten Roundup

2009-08-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, August 11, we got to go to Cameron's new school to meet his teacher. Chase is only 5 days old & he got to go with us too. I can't believe Cameron is starting kindergarten. They did a brief assessment on each child asking them their name, address, numbers, colors, letters, how to cut on a straight line, etc.. When the teacher finished & brought him back out to us she said he did "A-MA-ZING!" It was cute the way she said it and of course it made us proud that he did well. I think he is really looking forward to big boy school. We are all anxious for Monday 8/24 for the real deal to start.

Welcome Baby Chase

2009-08-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

Our little bundle of joy was due to arrive July 31, 2009. I had a very enjoyable pregnancy with no complaints at all. Apparently the baby didn't have any complaints either because my due date came and went without any activity. BJ and I were a little worried that my doctor would miss the delivery since he was going out of town from Aug 24 to 30, but we lucked out and the baby stayed put.

We went to the doctor August 4th and all was good and we set up an appointment for me to be induced Friday night at 10pm and the baby would arrive at some point on Saturday, 8-8-09. My lucky number is 8 so I figured it would be a perfect day to have a baby. The doctor set an appointment for Friday morning so I could get my membranes stripped to help to loosen the cervix in preparation for labor. You're guessing right - that sounded extremely painful to me and it sure was! So anyway, BJ and I went to the doctor Friday and they checked my amniotic fluids and it was perfect. Then they put me on the monitor to check the baby's heart beat like I had done every week for about 5 weeks. There was a problem this time, though. The baby's heartbeat decelerated for about two minutes. We knew something was wrong just by the way the nurses reacted to the results. They immediately called the doctor. He talked to BJ and told us to report immediately to the hospital for more monitoring, and if it happened again we would have to do a c-section, but if the baby cooperated and the heart rate stays up then we can go ahead with our original plan. I was super nervous but I was totally in denial that anything was really wrong.

We headed to the hospital but I had BJ stop to get us some food since I knew if they were going to start inducing me I wouldn't be able to eat until after the baby is born. Our doctor appointment was at 9am and now it was about 10:30am. We reported to the hospital at 11am and at 11:45am they hooked me up to the monitor again. All looked fine and the nurse was asking me all the regular questions they do when you check in. Then it happened again - the heart rate dropped. I was still in denial - but then it all hit me when the nurse ran out into the hallway and yelled to have another nurse come in and get my IV going ASAP. Yikes! I don't think it was more than 30 seconds until I had the needle in my arm. Now I was starting to realize that this is far more serious than I had thought. The thought of a c-section was becoming closer than I wanted. I was terrified. BJ sent a text to the doctor to try to get some answers for me because he knew I was freaking out (he didn't tell me he was texting him.) Next thing I know BJ's cell phone rang and I could tell it was the doctor. After a bunch of "uh huh's" and "ok's" BJ finally said "Are you going to tell her because I don't want to." I knew exactly what that meant. BJ handed me the phone and the doctor explained to me that when I was having mild contractions the baby's heart rate would drop and the only real positive way out of this situation is to have a c-section. He had already called the anesthesiologist (and they knew I had just eaten at 10:30am...shame on me!) and he had agreed to do the surgery at 4:30pm instead of the usual 6:30pm that they would normally wait after a meal. I asked the doctor if the heart rate stayed up until later in the afternoon if there was still a way to go through with a vaginal delivery. He said no and explained to me that these contractions now are so mild and it's causing this much trouble to the baby, that once the contractions get really strong and much closer together we run the risk of losing the baby. WOW! Talk about scary! So now it was just a waiting game until 4:30pm.

My mom was watching Cameron and Haley while we went to the doctor and we had intended to be back to pick them up around 11am and spend the day at home with them and take them to dinner to celebrate our last evening of being a family of 4, and then we would take them out to my sister in law's home so she could watch them for the weekend while we had the baby and until we got home. Our plan didn't work out! Thankfully I have an amazing family and things just fell into place. Jeny, my sister in law immediately asked me what I needed at the hospital. BJ and I had left the house with NOTHING since we figured we were coming back. She gathered all the items, went to my moms house to retrieve the kids and then she sent my mom and grandma into the hospital to be with me. My dad and Joan arrived at the hospital around 2 or 3pm to be with us as well. It is such an awesome feeling knowing family is there to support you. We are blessed for sure.

About 4:30 the doctor came and explained everything to us again and asked if we had any questions. My only real question was whether or not I'd be able to go to Cameron's doctor appointment in California the following Friday. I certainly had never intended on a c-section and I wasn't sure how that recovery would go. The doctor said I could go as long as I took it easy and didn't lift anything heavier than the baby. Whew, what a relief. So here we go to the operating room. I received a spinal tap (which felt totally weird) and then they started the surgery. BJ was taking pictures and video. The ceiling had shiny silver ceiling tiles on it so I could sorta see what was going on. I couldn't see details, but I could see they had started because I could see red. Surprisingly I was very calm.

At 5:02pm a beautiful baby boy was born. He was perfect and his cry was so comforting. We were now a family of 5! I could see the joy in BJ's face as well. We welcomed Chase Kenneth Herbolsheimer into this world with lots of love. He weighed 7lb 13 oz and was 20 inches long. Kenneth was BJ's dad's name in case you're wondering where that comes from. The doctor told us that his umbilical cord was around his neck when he delivered him so it is a good thing we had done a c-section because we would have wound up with an emergency c-section anyway because of the cord.

I'm not sure what time it was but about an hour or two later I finally got to hold him. What a sweet feeling. We tried nursing and he latched right on. There is no greater feeling than nursing a newborn. It is just amazing that they know how to do it as soon as they are born. Totally awe inspiring.

Jeny & Jeff brought the kids in about 10pm so they could meet Chase. We didn't know the gender and we decided not to tell the kids until they were there to meet the new baby. BJ was holding him and Cameron asked what his name was. BJ said "Chase." The night before BJ and Cameron had talked about names and the name Racely came up because Cameron wanted to name him Riley & BJ wanted to name him Chase if it was a boy so they came up with Racely together. So Cameron said "I thought we were going to name him Racely." BJ told him no, his name is Chase. So Cameron then asked "So what is it?" When BJ told him it was a boy Cameron did a fist pump and whispered "Yes" and clasped his hands together and smiled from ear to ear. Haley was a little disappointed it wasn't a girl but she loves him like crazy anyway. Cameron was really worried about me as well. It was really sweet because he walked right into the room and came to the bedside to see me. I had just been given some pain meds that made me extremely drowsy and I could barely stay awake while they were there. I think that really worried all four kids. (My brother's twins came too; they are 5 years old as well.)

The next day the kids came back and brought us pizza for lunch. Again, Cameron came to me first to make sure I was doing fine. Thankfully I was coherent that day, unlike the night before. All four kids asked me all sorts of questions relating to Chase and the birth. Questions like "Where did your big tummy go? Why do you have a cut? When will you be better? When do you get to come home? Why does he eat from your breast? Did it hurt? Why do you have a needle in your arm?" and many more. It was awesome to experience their curiosity.

On Monday we both got discharged from the hospital and headed home. We went to pick up Cameron & Haley from their camp & surprised them with Chase in the car. They were so happy that we were all going to go home together. As soon as we got home they both wanted to give him hugs & kisses and admire him as much as they could. Then it was time to play with the Legos Chase gave them in the hospital.

Wednesday (8/12) he had his first doctor's appointment & he was scheduled to be circumcised. He was back up in weight and looking good. He was born at 7lb 13 oz, dropped to 7lb 8 oz on the first day, then 7lb 4 oz on the 2nd day. On day 5 at the doctor he was back up to 7lb 8 oz. Doctor said he was a little yellow so he told us to just keep him in the sunlight to help fight off jaundice. He referred us out to a urologist to do the circumcision because of the way his penis is shaped. Whew - he escaped that ordeal for a while!

Here is a slideshow of the first 5 days of Chase's life. Check back often because we'll be blogging as much as we can while we're home enjoying our time together. And remember we LOVE to read your comments so feel free to leave them. You don't have to be a google member - you can do it without a log on so it's super easy! (I think you do it as name/url and you can just insert your name in the correct area.) :) Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

All Tuckered Out

2009-06-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

I just had to post this. This photo is from November 2008 when we went to CA for Cameron's birthday. We had just spend the day with Thomas the Train and Haley was a bit sleepy!

Growing Up!

2009-06-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

Once again I ask this question..."When the heck did he get so big? Now he just wants to shower instead of take a bath!" WOW. Big boy for sure.

I love this picture. So cute.

Graduation Day

2009-06-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's time for Cameron to go to kindergarten. WOW. Here are some pics of his pre-school graduation. We could hear him singing (read: shouting) his songs from the audience. Congrats, Cameron. We love you!

That's him to the right of the boy in red. To his left is Paden and to his right is Levi. Two of his favorite friends in school.

They all have their diplomas!

Miss Mary is the BEST teacher we could ask for.

The boys: Cameron, Paden and Levi. Trouble times three!

A proud day for us all!

Water Park Birthday Fun

2009-06-22T19:19:00.001-07:00

Does it get any better than a birthday party at a water park? No way! Cameron's friend Levi turned 5 and he celebrated by playing at a water park. The kids had a great time.

The party was pirate themed. The kids got eye patches in their goody boxes. Fun times. They also got parrots. Cameron tucked his parrot under his patch strap while they danced.

Pre-School End of Year Program

2009-06-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

The kids are part of an early childhood education program at their school where they are chosen to by typical peers in the classroom. What that means is that they help the special needs children during class by modeling great behavior and speaking skills and things like that. It's really a great program that the school district does to help bring kids up to par before kindergarten. Here are a few photos from the program. Cameron's class performed the cha cha slide and Haley's did I'm a little teacup. If I can figure out the video I'll post it - otherwise you're just stuck with photos.

Mima and the kids

The whole gang!

Hair Cut

2009-06-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm in California for a conference and BJ is home with the kids. BJ and Cameron both had hair cuts this morning. I talked to Cameron later in the day and he told me he got a hair cut. I asked him if he looked handsome. His response was "Oohh Ya.....I think so!" He is such a character.

Aunt Kerri's Birthday

2009-06-07T16:26:00.000-07:00

Aunt Kerri wanted to eat at Carraba's for her birthday. We hadn't been there in years and it was pretty darn good. Haley had a salad with LOTS of croutons and Cameron had spaghetti.

And then Cameron taught Haley and Aunt Kerri how to play Pass the Pigs. It's a new game we bought and it's pretty fun. You roll the pigs and depending on how they land you get certain points.

BJ and I got married on Kerri's birthday (June 1) so it's pretty easy for us to remember her birthday and for her to remember our anniversary! Happy Birthday, Kerri. We love you.

Haley's Dance Recital

2009-06-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

My fantabulous sister in law created this slide show in her spare time for me. You know, she's not busy or anything. In this last week she came to the kids school program, picked up my kids and watched them for half a day, made dinner for BJ and I before Haley's dance recital, packed and moved her house from LV to BC, decorated her niece's car for graduation and lord only knows what else she did. She is amazing! Thanks, Jeny. I love you.

Haley's "Stick Up" hair

2009-05-19T08:10:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know, Haley and I have become a little excited about her hair lately since she is finally letting me do cool stuff with it. I search blogs to get ideas for cool ways to do her hair and then I show Haley the picture and she tells me yes or no.

Last night she got out of the bath and I told her I'd just do her hair real quick in two braids so it would be fast and easy since she wanted to play the computer before bed. Here's our conversation.

Haley: Mom, I want my hair sticking up.
Mom: Are you sure? Let's just do quick braids so you can play.
Haley: No, lets look on the computer.
Mom: Are you sure? You only have 5 minutes for hair AND play, so if we take time to look on the computer you wont have as much time to play.
Haley: Let's look at the computer.
Mom: Ok (So I scroll through trying to find SUPER easy ones that would be fast and painless.)
Mom: The hair you have in mind, have we done it before? (Hoping the answer would be yes so I could just show her pictures of her actual hair that we've done so I don't have to sift through hundreds of blog photos.)
Haley: No, we haven't done it. I want it sticking up.

So we keep searching and she comes across this.
http://3girlshair.blogspot.com/2009/05/celebrity-do-on-cutie-boo.html (Pay attention to only the 2nd photo of the little girl where her hair is just in a simple pony before the curls go in.)

Haley: This. This is what I want.
Mom: A ponytail?
Haley: Yes.

Boy did BJ and I smile and chuckle. It was SO darn cute. Apparently she wanted this PARTICULAR pony tail because it is high on the head and 'sticks up.'

Dancing Princess

2009-05-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today Haley's dance class had pictures taken. She looked SO cute. And then we went to see Mima at work where Haley became super shy and hid behind my tummy.

Mother's Day

2009-05-13T18:56:00.001-07:00

I had the BEST Mother's Day I could have asked for. We started off by going to church and then to Costco for hot dogs, of course. Then we came home and swam (sorry about the sideways picture.)

The kids enjoyed some cupcakes

Cameron and BJ decorated a chair for me with flowers!

It was such a great day. For dinner I requested In N Out. So yummy. And BJ made brownies for dessert. The kids told me all day that I was the queen for the day and that they would do anything I asked them to that day because it was my day. Thanks for such a special day. I love all three of you.

Family Night - Dog Night

2009-05-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since we did a family night, but we had a great time and hopefully the next one wont be too long from now. We did dog night tonight. We made dog bones and dog bowls to eat out of.

Cameron forgot he was Bolt so he wrote Cam on one side of his bone.

I took Princess for a walk.

Haley took Sparky for a walk.

We ate hot DOGS.

We also had cubed hash browns that really looked like dog food in Ty's bowl. (Cameron named BJ's and my dog.)

Cameron even dressed up as a dog with his Blues Clues Costume.

Then we watched a dog movie - Marley & Me

It was such a fun night. Bolt said "This is the best night ever!" He kept asking if we can do it again. Of course we can, Bolt! :)

Happy Birthday, Makenna

2009-05-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago our friend Makenna had her 2nd birthday party. Here are some pics of the festivities. The weather was awesome!

Cameron & Haley by their waterfall and spa. That thing is so cool!

The little kids were dragging balloons around on the ground and they kept popping and Cam & Haley didn't like the popping noise! :)

Bubbles are always fun! We had Toby with us because Sam was sick. He had a good time and we had a great time having him along!

And then there were presents!

Thanks Tiffany and Lonnie for inviting us to share Makenna's birthday with you all.

Save my spot, Mom

2009-04-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

This morning Haley crawled into our bed because she was scared for some reason. After BJ got up to take a shower it was just Haley and I resting there in that huge king bed, just waiting for BJ to finish in the bathroom so I could get up and get ready for work. We were quiet and resting and then I hear this...

"Mama, will you save my spot? I gotta go potty."

It was so cute. I guess she was worried Cameron would wake up and take her spot on the left side of me. Moments like that make being a mother the best job in the world!

Race Day

2009-04-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

Mima signed us all up for the NV Child Seekers 5k Dash and 1mi stroll. It was really fun. Cameron & Haley loved it a lot more than I imagined. They ran most of the way, having to stop quite often of course so we all could catch up. After the race there was a little area with games and stuff for kids that we all enjoyed. It was a great Saturday morning for sure. Thanks, Mima.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Easter 2009

2009-04-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter Sunday in the park and it was SO much fun. Inside some of the eggs were Bunny Bucks that allowed us to go shopping in the Bunny Buck store for super cool prizes that wouldn't normally fit in an egg (kites, balls, books, stickers, bubbles, chalk, fairy wings, bats & balls, etc.) It was so fun and the weather was perfect.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

New Swing Set

2009-04-12T08:40:00.001-07:00

The bunny brought us something super early - a NEW SWING SET! It is gonna be SO cool when it gets set up. The directions say it will take two adults 8-10 hours to assemble it. I wonder how long it will take 1 adult and 2 toddlers?

The first slide down for each kid. This is only one part of the set. We still have to put up the monkey bars and swing portions. But the kids are loving it already!

Searching for winter?

2009-04-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

Notice the bright green garage sale tag on the side? I love it!

I'm not sure what got into my kids tonight, but they decided they wanted to wear winter clothes. Cameron found a scarf and Haley found her garage sale snow boots. Silly kids!

Future PBA Tour Member?

2009-04-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

In case you can't read the scoreboard on the screen, Cameron bowled a 78 the first game and then kicked it into gear for game #2 and bowled a 117! I think he had 2 strikes and a spare. Below is video of the spare. I only caught the tail end of one of the strikes on video so it's not posted here. He doesn't bowl very often; this is only about his 7th or 8th time. We go again Friday and he tells me and BJ "I'm gonna get all kinds of strikes on Friday!" Let's hope so!

North Winds

2009-03-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

This morning it was quite cool for us here in Vegas. I think the news said about 45 degrees and winds from the North. I was putting Cameron in the car and we had this fantastic conversation.

Cameron: Brr...it's cold.
Mom: Yes it is. It's the wind from the North that's making us so cold.
Cameron: Isn't Luda Lou (our great Aunt) from the North?
Mom: Yes, yes she is. (She lives in North Dakota.)
Mom: I bet Luda Lou and Cheryl Rae and Andy are blowing all their cold wind down here.
Cameron: Can't they just blow it down to Texas? That way the cowboys can be cold. (giggle, giggle.)

Haley's Eyes

2009-03-10T07:57:00.000-07:00

Haley was fighting bedtime last night. She laid in bed thinking of every question she could ask me just to stay awake. When I went to bed I checked on Cameron and he was already asleep. I walked into Haley's room and told her that Cameron was already asleep so she needed to go to sleep to. Her response (and I admit it made me laugh, smile, and give her a kiss)

"My eyes don't close that early, mom."

You're Welcome

2009-03-06T09:22:00.000-08:00

I was getting Haley dressed for school and I was buttoning her jacket.

She said "Thank you Mama."

I said "Uh Huh."

She said "Does Uh Huh mean you're welcome?"

My Birthday

2009-02-21T14:42:00.000-08:00

My mom organized a trip to my favorite lunch place..Olive Garden. I NEVER get to go here because BJ doesn't really care for it. So my mom did a girls day (but of course Cameron, Sam & Toby could come too!) It was me, mom, grandma, Jeny and Joan. It was lots of fun. Thanks mom, grandma and Joan for taking me out!

Haley slurpin her spaghetti!

A fun family pic!

This was at my dad's house. I requested the KFC cake. It is so dang good!

I had a great birthday. BJ took me out to Red Lobster too while my mom watched the kids.

A pound of crab hit the spot that night for sure! Yummy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

BJ and I are in bed, it's about 6:30am

I hear footsteps from the kids room, going out front, and then back to my bedroom.

Haley: "Momma, where is Cameron?"

Mom: "I don't know. Check out front."

Haley walks back out front.

Cameron: "Happy Valentine's Day, Haley!"

Haley: "Thank you." short pause "Happy Valentine's Day!"

Cameron: "Thanks!"

I am constantly amazed by the love these two siblings share for each other!

Bedtime By Themselves

2009-02-10T12:56:00.000-08:00

Last night BJ had to go back to work at 8:30pm and I was beyond tired (couldn't sleep the night before because of the awesome sound of the rain.) Anyway, when BJ left for work at 8:15 I told the kids we were brushing teeth and going to bed. Somehow they managed to figure out it wasn't 8:30 yet and called me on it. I told them "That's fine. Let's get ready, brush our teeth, and then I'm going to bed. If you want to stay up until 8:30 it's fine, but you're going to have to turn out all the lights and tuck yourselves in."

Holy smokes did they think that was cool! Their giggles were so cute as they were playing out front while I was in bed (simply in bed - light was still on and I certainly wasn't sleeping!)

And guess what? When I told them it was 8:30 they ran around and turned off all the lights and went to bed. It was so cute!

More snow play!

2009-01-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

BJ pulled the kids back up the hill on the sled - until he got stuck in a pile of snow!

Mushroom table top on the patio!

All bundled up!

Cameron LOVES the snow!

Look at those red cheeks. Brr...

Minnesota Day Two - Playing on the lake

2009-01-24T09:20:00.000-08:00

After breakfast (Cameron requested pancakes of course) we bundled up and headed out on the lake. This lake is about 150 feet from their house. We were supposed to fish on this lake but they got too much snow and now the fishing is bad because the ice is too far below the snow (or something like that.) But we didn't care. The kids got pulled around on the sled and BJ and I got to snowshoe. Cameron even took Haley for a spin on the sled.

The temperature while we were out there was negative 3, with a windchill of negative 25.

Minnesota - Day one!

2009-01-24T09:06:00.000-08:00

We stopped at McDonalds somewhere between Rochester and Park Rapids. The kids didn't want to eat; they just wanted to play. I can't blame them. We had been in the plane for 3 hours and then the car for about 2 hours. They needed to 'wiggle." They loved playing in the snow even at McD's!

As soon as we got to Aunt Charlotte's house Cameron wanted to play outside. So we did! Charlotte took them for a sled ride.

BJ made them a slide from a huge pile of snow.

Haley went down really fast and always said "Weeeee!"

Making snow angels is always fun

I'm not sure what the temperature was when we were playing, but I'm guessing it was about zero.

One Hour...Literally

2009-01-22T21:24:00.000-08:00

This is how long I've been working on this post. I am SO frustrated. I finished the smilebox of our ski trip to Brianhead but the internet wont let me send it because it doesn't allow me to sign in. Why? I have no idea. Maybe it's a bad connection since I'm in zero degree weather in the middle of the woods? Who knows. According to the computer the signal is strong.

Anyway, so then I just try to log on to blogspot to post this frustration note, and it gives me the run around too. Seriously...it must be a conspiracy.

So anyway, we are having loads of fun in Minnesota so far. The kids (including BJ) totally love the snow and we are looking forward to a full day of outdoor play tomorrow, including walking across the Mississippi river.

At some point I hope to get the Brianhead Pics posted, as well as some pictures from our trip here.

Good night!

Can you relate?

2009-01-05T12:59:00.000-08:00

Can any of you relate to this article? (I am challenged in the link department so I hope the link below will work. I tried to insert the link by following the directions but it didn't work.)

http://forums.parenting.com/blogs/parenting-post/posts/order-or-something-closely-resembling-it

Anyway, I think she is on to something. That week between Christmas and New Years is so busy and we pack it full of things to do and then we fail each and every year! I think I am going to have my own personal New Year start on February 1st. It will work for me!

And as a side note - Joseph was missing from my nativity a few years back and this year I am missing one of the wise men. Seriously - where do they go? Perhaps I should check my mis-matched sock drawer since nativity characters seem to be as mischevious as the socks are!

Who wants to join me for a New Years party on Jan 31? I am serious! However, it will be a dinner party since we all know that if we are missing Joseph, wise men and socks that we likely don't stay up until midnight!

Mixed Emotions

2009-01-04T21:52:00.000-08:00

How can it be that I can feel so 'tired' of my kids and ask them to play quietly or play alone or ask them 1000 times to put their toys away and eat a good meal and wash their hands after they use the restroom and take their vitamins and be quiet at bedtime and wake up happy in the morning and and and and....

And then when they suddenly leave me for the night I immediately start to miss them as if they've been gone for a week and wont return for another week.

Tonight, Haley went to spend the night with GG and unexpectedly (but boy was he happy!) Cameron spent the night with my dad. I'm not sure what to do with myself - honestly. How odd.

But what I do know is that I'm totally blessed to have family nearby that loves my kids as much as I do. And I'm happy that my kids enjoy being away from me and enjoy being with other people. We all can use some alone time every now and again. And hey, if they eat a lot more snacks at Gramma's or GG's house than they would at home - that's 100% ok. That's what being a kid is all about.

I love you guys - and I miss ya! See you tomorrow. I can't wait to hear about your day.

Love, Mom

My Haley

2009-01-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

Haley's jammie pants were too long.

Haley: "Momma, can you roll up my pant sleeves?"

Love it!

A lil bit later she wanted her tap shoes on. She asked me if these were her new ones that are bigger. I told her yes.

Haley: "Momma, I got new tap shoes because I'm growin'. I'm growin' big because I've been eating CRAB!"

(We had crab for Christmas Eve & she ate it. We told her eating good meals like that will make her grow big.)

Um, when did this happen?

2009-01-03T08:50:00.000-08:00

My little 5 year old boy is growing up. WOW!

Christmas Eve

2009-01-01T17:01:00.000-08:00

We started off our celebration at Central Christian Church. It was great, and we have a great memory of getting booted out of our seats by a little old lady. I know you're wondering, so I will tell you the story!

BJ and I got there early to save 6 seats for the entire family (Us, Jeff, Jeny, boys, GG and Mima.) So we're sitting and saving seats about 15 minutes before service starts and this lady walks up and starts to sit down in a saved seat. I say "I'm sorry ma'am, but we're saving these." She said "I sit here every service" and she continued to sit down in our saved seat. This is where I had a really tough choice to make - do I be my normal self and stand my ground? Or do I remember that I'm at church and in about 10 seconds I will be fighting with a 70 year old lady over a seat and we will both look like fools! So I say again, "Well, I'm sorry, but we're saving these." She says "TOUGH!" Wow, I am in shock. I can't believe this is happening. So since I have to get the last word I stand up, touch her arm and tell her "You are a VERY sweet Christian. Have a Merry Christmas" and we move! She says to me as we are walking away "I know I am!" Is that not ridiculous? What a woman. Anyway, church was great.

This pic is out of order, but it's the kids in the jammies that Santa brought them. They all have matching striped pants and then long sleeve shirts that have their first initial on them. So cool! (Haley doesn't have her shirt on yet, actually, now that I look at the picture, she doesn't have any of her jammies on yet. Hmm)

Santa came to visit. GG made a wish!

Haley gives Santa some love.

Cameron LOVES is "San!"

The kids wait to see what he pulls out of his bag.

GG and the kids.

Me and GG making lefse. Yummmm

The kids leave cookies, milk and ice cream for Santa once we get home. We can't wait until morning!

Potty Talk

2008-12-25T20:21:00.000-08:00

I am in the restroom washing my hands when Cameron comes running in.

Cam: Are you done goin' potty, Mom?

Mom: Yes, honey, I am.

Cam: Mom, I love you. Can you wait for me?

Mom: Cameron, I love you too buddy!

Cam: So mom, can you wait for me? Because that's why I said I love you?

Santa Claus is Comin' To Town

2008-12-20T21:04:00.000-08:00

Snow Fun Take 2!

2008-12-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

Normally snow in Vegas only lasts a few hours. This is a rare treat that we can play in it two days in a row. As a matter of fact, we are already on day 3! Maybe a little bit will last until Christmas and we'll have a tidbit of a White Christmas.

Anyway, this smilebox isn't exactly what I had in mind, but I guess it will do. (Too lazy to create another one.) In case you can't tell, the kids are LOVING the snow.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Dear Santa

2008-12-20T20:10:00.000-08:00

I can't write anything better than this! Love it.

Hey "San"

2008-12-20T19:58:00.001-08:00

Pipa has this huge animated Santa tied to his side gate.

When Cameron first saw it he said "Hey San."

Apparently he and Cameron are on a nick-name basis.

Later in the evening Cameron even called him "Sanny."

All Aboard!

2008-12-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

We rode the Santa Train in Boulder City on one of the coldest and windiest days of the season. We were very smart and chose an open air train car too. Man, it was chilly. But no one seemed to mind. Santa and Mrs. Claus even came by to talk to every kid on the train. It was really cool.

Christmas Quiz

2008-12-19T15:04:00.001-08:00

I found this on a blog and think it's fun. Lets do it together!
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping Paper! It's so much more fun to rip off the paper than it is to just peek in the bag. Plus, saving bags is a bad habit of mine, so if I use paper I know FOR SURE I won't salvage it. However, some gifts with awkward packaging just scream gift bag to me so I don't have to find a box or spend an hour trying to wrap the thing.
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial for sure. I HATE to put the lights on the tree (my mom used to do it for me every year.) But now that pre-lit trees are around I can't imagine any other type of tree. Talk about EASY!
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the day after Thanksgiving
4. When do you take the tree down? Usually the day or weekend after Christmas. By that point I am so tired of the extra stuff in my house that I want it down so I can reclaim my house and spaces back. I love how empty it looks when they come down.
5. Do you like eggnog? Eh, not so much. But I haven't had it in a while so who knows.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't really remember anything that stands out. Isn't that awful? I loved Cabbage Patch Kids so I am sure those were some of my favorites.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My grandma (GG.) She likes everything and doesn't spoil herself at all. So sweaters and broaches are always easy and fun to buy. And she is always so grateful so that makes it nice.
9. Do You have a nativity scene? Oh yes. One that my mom gave me when I was in college, one that is the kids (that Baby Jesus doesn't arrive until Christmas Day. I wrap him up and the kids have to find him first before they can open any gifts.) And then I got a new one this year for our Village.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail for sure, but this year I am not sure I will get to it. I may have to do a New Year's letter. I don't like to just send a card with our signatures. I like to write about our year and include pictures. I love getting people's letters in the mail as well, since we don't connect all the time.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? My dad bought us fire extinguishers and smoke detectors one year. I know he was concerned for us, but how excited can you be as a teenager about fire safety equipment? It was a good story, though, to tell people what we got. No one could believe it!
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I am not really into movies in general, so I don't have a favorite Christmas movie. But if I were to pick, it would probably be Christmas Shoes. I've never seen it but I LOVE the book and story line.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year. The hard part is remembering what I've purchased and where I put it.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Absolutely. One mans junk is another mans treasure.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Lefse! It's a Norwegian dessert that we have at every holiday. And even though I don't like it, I love that we eat Oyster Stew every year on Christmas Eve. It's just a great tradition that we've done ever since I can remember.
16. Lights on the tree? Of course! We have white on our big tree, and colorful on the kids trees.
17. Favorite Christmas song? I like lots of them. Little Drummer Boy, Silent Night, Christmas Shoes, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - I like them ALL!
18. Travel for Christmas or stay home? Stay home. It is so cozy and comfy to be home.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Yes, but I do it in tune with the song. If I had to do it out of order I couldn't!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a Santa that BJ's mom gave him.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One on Christmas Eve, the rest on Christmas Day.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? How people get so rude and mean.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We do silver and light greenish and white. It looks very angelic.
24. Favorite Christmas dinner? Prime rib and crab legs. Ya baby!
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? MAC school so I can learn cool things to do with my computer.
Ok... I want to read yours... Do one on your blog and leave me a comment that you did it so I can check it out (I don' know how to do all the link stuff.)

Decorating

2008-12-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

We decorated our house the Friday after Thanksgiving. It was really fun to do it as a family and this year we started a tradition where the kids each have a tree that they decorate on their own. I look forward to those trees changing every year. The first several days our trees were up Cameron would keep taking ornaments from our big tree and placing them on his tree. They also like to sort the gifts and put theirs under their own tree. That doesn't work out very well for our big tree, though, because right now there are only 2 gifts that aren't for them under our big tree, so when they take them all away we look like a pretty sad family! They love to take the gifts back and forth.

I am so thankful to have two fantastic kids and a very loving husband who goes along with whatever I have in mind for Christmas. This is, by far, my favorite time of year. The more we can decorate the better. BJ did a FANTASTIC job outside. I'll have to get a pic of it to post. He also put up Papa's village and did a remarkable job on that. Without him our house would look totally boring. I love you, honey.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Snow Rocks!

2008-12-17T21:34:00.000-08:00

It has snowed 8 inches in Henderson today. WOW! The kids loved it, and so did BJ. I liked taking pictures and video. The snow is so bad here that the City let us leave at 3pm, Highway 95 at Railroad Pass is closed unless you can prove you live there, all other roads out of the valley are closed. You can't get to Utah, California, Arizona, Pahrump, NOWHERE! It is crazy. We don't have snowplows here in Vegas so the roads are a mess. School is cancelled for tomorrow and there is a good possibility that we will be off tomorrow as well due to unsafe roads. So anyway, enjoy the kids playing in the snow. We did!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Thanksgiving

2008-12-13T07:44:00.001-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Mima's house. We always have lots of fun because Sam & Toby are there to play with us. When the grown-ups are out front watching TV (daddy's were watching football) we are allowed to go in GG's room and watch TV in there. We don't usually pay much attention to the TV because we like to play on GG's bed since it is normally off limits. I am impressed that the kids put themselves in weight order when they make this huge sandwich. I am thinking Toby must be the brains behind this operation since he is the smallest and has probably learned that he shouldn't be on the bottom.

Dinner time wasn't very fun for us. The grown-ups made us sit down and eat dinner. How boring! Mima's friend Brian was there with his 3 kids so it made it a little more fun, but still, we would have preferred to be playing.
Sweet revenge: We pulled out the Tinker Toys and got them all over the floor! That was fun, but then we realized they make great drums. We were really rockin' out!
The other highlight of the day was Mommy making Lefse with GG. It was so good we ate almost half the batch as soon as it came off the lefse iron. Perfectly warm lefse - does it get any better than that? I don't think so.

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We are thankful to be blessed by so many friends and family close by.

Haley's Dance Recital

2008-12-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

Tonight was Haley's Christmas recital. It was small and informal and oh so cute! Enjoy!

(In case you can't tell, she is the on in the black pants with the pink shirt on.)

First they did a ballet routine and then tap.

H - A - L - E - Y

2008-12-07T15:41:00.000-08:00

Haley: Momma, my name is Haley

Mom: Yes, that's right

Haley: When I was a baby I didn't know how to spell H A L E Y

Mom: That's right, sweetie.

Haley: Momma, but when I was a baby my name was still H A L E Y

Yet another reason why I LOVE kids!

Happy Birthday, Daddy

2008-11-27T07:50:00.000-08:00

November 17 was BJ's birthday. He requested to spend the night at home as a family and eat steak and crab legs for dinner. He also wanted sauteed onions and mushrooms but I totally forgot to buy those at the store. He invited his sister and her daughter over too. It was a delicious dinner and a perfect evening.

Here is the envelope Cameron wrote for Daddy's card. So cute!

Cameron told me Daddy wanted a Speed Racer Hot Wheel, so that is what he got. I'm not sure who was more excited, daddy or Cameron!

When I asked Haley what she wanted to buy for daddy she wasn't too sure. Finally she told me "I don't know, a daddy toy!" So off I went to the store to find a daddy toy for Haley. I came up with lanterns for our travel trailer. Daddy loved them, and so did the kids. They use them at night to walk to their room and find their jammies. They decided the big blue one is for Cameron and the small red one is for Haley. So much for daddy toys, huh?

Aunt Kerri flew us in the air on her legs. She is so fun!

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

2008-11-24T21:07:00.001-08:00

A dear friend of my grandma's, Flora, passed away last week at 97 years old! She lived in a beautiful home in Upland California. It looked like a floral garden the way it was landscaped. I have a few memories of Flora from taking GG to see her on various occasions. GG said they were friends for over 30 years and that Flora was the best friend she ever had. Isn't that sweet? They were really like the Golden Girls when they got together. Flora always loved to have company and would make special meals and desserts for her whenever she visited. GG often didn't like to give Flora too much notice when she would visit because she wouldn't want her to do too much, but it never mattered. Flora was always a great hostess.

The service was Sunday at 1pm in Pomona California. First she wasn't going to go, then she thought about flying there, then maybe she and my mom should drive, then she won't go, and so on and so forth. Finally it seemed settled that my mom & she would drive to California on Sunday. That would be a perfect plan, except for the fact that BJ just got done installing wood flooring in mom's ENTIRE house and the house is completely tore apart, so much so that GG has to sleep at my house for a few nights because there aren't any beds at mom & GG's house; mom is sleeping in a recliner! So I was over at my mom's on Saturday helping her paint baseboard because GG was at my house and it was apparently driving GG nuts that I wasn't working hard enough. She kept making comments like "Your mom could probably use you. Is there anything I can do here? Since I can't help you here, maybe I should go home and paint." So I got the hint; she wanted to watch my kids so I could go paint! I was painting when my mom sprung the question on me. "What do you have going on tomorrow? Can you drive GG to California so I can stay here and work?" I say yes, of course, and just figure I'll make the best of it and head to Ikea while I'm there. I have wanted to go the last two times we've been in CA but we've had the trailer and it's SO crowded in all the parking lots that I hate to ask BJ to go there.

So the plan is to leave by 8am on Sunday morning. Cameron would stay with my mom and BJ, and Haley would go to Aunt Kerri's house for the day. We leave about 7:45am and get 10 minutes away when mom calls & says the tags on GG's car are expired and she has the new sticker at her house. I know that I could prove it later if I got pulled over, but the truth was, I was planning on speeding and I didn't want our car to have a red flag on it if by chance I encountered a handsome CHP officer. I wanted to be totally legal in hopes of only getting a warning if I got pulled over! So, we turn around. This is where GG starts to make me smile with her comments. She says "Well, we don't have to put the sticker on, do we?" Now, tell me, what's the point in turning around to get the sticker if you're not going to put it on? An officer can run the plate without the sticker to confirm it's registered, so how would a sticker in my purse help? So funny! Also, how long does it really take to put on the sticker? Maybe 2 seconds I would imagine. But you know GG. "Is BJ going to be there to put it on for you?" Are you kidding? It's a sticker! I think I can handle it, but thanks for your concern. So with a cup of coffee from my mom for GG we are on our way again.

The ride was pretty uneventful for awhile. Then all of a sudden she jumps and says "Oh my that's hot!" She had turned the cup of coffee upside down in her seat next to her leg and didn't realize it. By the time she noticed her butt was soaked in coffee all the way across the seat cushion. Oops! Thank goodness she had on black slacks.

Ok, wet pants don't phase her. We eventually get to the funeral home and she says she fine just being dropped off. "Oh, there's a California license plate. The family must be here already." I think to myself, "A CA license plate in CA really isn't that noteworthy, but whatever." I can't take it any longer and I remind her that we're in California and the plate wouldn't mean anything. She says "Oh, I know. But the family is from Frisco." Um, ok. Last I checked that's still California which again, would mean NOTHING as far as the plate is concerned. Silly lady!

So now it's me time. I head to Ikea for an hour or so and then to grab a bite to eat before heading out. I love Ikea; who doesn't. It was a perfect side trip for my day journey to California.

I pick up GG about 3pm and we are back on the road again. She is telling me about sitting inside the funeral home. She said she was sitting in a padded cushion and could feel it getting wet. Haha. So she has to get up, go to the restroom to try to dab some of the coffee out and then she returns to the lobby to sit on a hard chair until her butt dries. I guess a few guests asked if she wanted to come inside and she kindly had to say no. I think that is darn funny! Sounds like something that would happen to me.

Rumor on the streets is that Flora has loads of money and everyone has been acting greedy the last few years just waiting for her to die. It's a shame, but I guess it's just the nature of the beast. However, I found it funny when GG said "The nieces and nephew were there because they need to stay in good graces to stay in the will." I've never heard of that, but I guess there's a new way to change a will from your casket these days. My how technology has progressed! If you don't show up to the funeral your name gets deleted from the will. Oh my!

We made it home about 7pm after picking up Haley from Aunt Kerri's. She immediately poured herself a screwdiver. By the end of the night she had three! Go girl! It was a long day but I enjoyed it immensely. I love that woman so much. As quirky as she is, she always brings a smile to my face. The few times I've been upset with her (and I can remember them because there really are so few) it never lasts long. She is quick to apologize and make it right, or explain herself so I realize that maybe it was me that was wrong. She is the strongest person I have ever known. I have so much to learn from her. She is selfless, caring, giving, loving, humble, patient, kind, respectful, intelligent, beautiful, graceful, generous and the list goes on and on. If I could be half the woman she is I think I could be a success in life.

I am thankful for every day I get to spend with her. I look forward to our phone calls twice a day (7:15 am and 9:00pm.) There are some days when we call and simply say "I'm calling, I'm tired, I'll talk to you tomorrow." And that is totally fine! We are real with each other. She tells me I've gained weight or I look tired or my hair is messy and I am never offended because I also know she is quick to compliment me and we all need people to be real with us. I love everything about her.

I love you GG! Thanks for allowing me to take you to California. I'll be sure to tell my will hopeful friends that they need to attend the funeral if they want a piece of the pie!

Family Night - Under The Sea!

2008-11-24T20:47:00.000-08:00

I stole the idea from a blogger whom I have never met to have a themed family night. The kids and I decided it would be more fun if we invited Sam & Toby, so we did. We made an ocean out of crepe paper and the kids got creative and put the slide in front so they could slide under. They hit their heads a few times but they didn't care one bit. We cut fish and bubbles out of blue paper to put inside our ocean. The kids wore their swimsuits and goggles too.

Haley goes for a swim! Notice Sam is already under water?
We ate Octopus and sea shells!

Yummmm....Octopus is delicious!
We fished for goldfish! Cameron was a really good fisherman.

Haley did a great job too, she just wasn't too sure about how close to get to them!
We played in the ocean trying to catch 'fish.'
And Aunt Jeny had a great idea to make snow globes. They have Nemo figurines in a baby food jar with water and glitter. So cool!

It was so much fun to do and the kids loved it. I really want to try to do it once a week but I think I might need to wait until after the holidays because it is just WAY too hectic right now. I already bought some circus hats and big clown ties so I think the next theme night will be Under the Big Top. Keep checking to see when it takes place! Big thanks to Aunt Jeny for thinking up some cool stuff to do.

Go Team CB!

2008-11-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a few shots from our trip to Disneyland for Cameron's birthday. The first stop was his first pick - AUTOPIA! So much fun. At one point Cameron was driving and he said "We're having some trouble!" Silly boy.

That's us. Team CB5. There were 13 of us total, all with the same shirts on. It was so much fun to have matching shirts. Cameron picked a Cars character for each of us for the front of our shirts. And the back said "CB5" in reference to Cameron Blake's 5th birthday. It was neat to have people comment on our shirts and ask us what the CB5 meant. Some of us even got Honorary Citizen of Disneyland buttons in the Toy Story line because the line guy said our shirts were the best he had seen all day! SWEET! Huge thanks to Aunt Jeny for making such awesome shirts.
Here's two pictures of Haley with Minnie. Last time we were at Disneyland we never even saw Minnie. Haley says she must have been on vacation. I guess we made up for it this time because we saw her twice. Hi Minnie!

The 4 crazy kids. In the line for Monsters, Inc. you can look through the window to watch the cars go by. This window is perfect height for them and they look through it every single time we walk by!
This is Haley having one of 3 meltdowns in the Monsters, Inc. line. It was entertaining to everyone around. She would just throw herself in a ball on the floor, then when the line moved I would pick her up and set her on her feet again and she'd ball up yet again. Can you say DRAMA?!

This trip to Disney was extra fun because we were all finally tall enough to ride on Matterhorn! YAY! The kids loved it and wanted to do it again and again.

I finally found some!

2008-11-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

Pets that I'm not allergic too! YAY!

The kids found these costumes in their closet and had so much fun with them. I got them for free from a freecycle type site. SCORE! The red one is actually a devil costume but since it had a tail and was red Haley thought it was Clifford the Big Red Dog! Whatever works, right?

Why, oh why?

2008-11-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

Why do I love this man so much? Because he can do ANYTHING! And also because when I watch 90210 on DVR he tells me he watched it already and admits that his favorite character is Silver. And he also admits that he likes to watch Priveleged too! Even though he looks rough and acts tough, he is an amazing man who apparently likes teenie soap operas too! Ha. I also love him because he thinks it's funny to put the Outback bread loaves in his shirt pocket. Nice touch, BJ! :) I love you.

Happy Birthday, Doops

2008-11-17T21:16:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, November 12 was Cameron's 5th birthday. WOW! It was a school day for him but that made it that much more special for him, I think. I picked him up at lunchtime and we met BJ for lunch. Cameron chose McDonald's for his special lunch. He wanted his hair in a mohawk that day too. He even got a Happy Meal on his birthday and it had Gloria from Madagascar in it. (For those who don't know me well, I'm not too quick to purchase Happy Meals because aside from the toy, the food can be purchased for $1 and I just don't think it's worth it.) Anyway, he was in heaven.

He got to play some too, of course.
Then I told him we would go to the store and buy cupcakes for his classmates. We didn't buy them because I am too lazy to bake them myself; we bought them because that was the only way we could bring treats to school. They only allow store purchased treats, and honestly, I am glad. First of all it's so much easier to hit up the local Albertson's for some super cute cupcakes, not to mention that the thought of some of those school kid's kitchens and hygiene skills makes me SO happy that they can't bring in homemade food either. The kids were so excited to see me because Cameron had told them early in the morning that he was going to bring cupcakes after he came back from lunch. Many of them even gave me hugs. It was so cute. Haley got to join him in his class during the celebration, so that was a special treat for both of them. I think Cameron really loved being in school on his birthday because of all the attention he got.
And to wrap up a perfect day, we went over to GG and Mima's house for pizza. Daddy had to work on the new wood floor for a few hours so Mima bought pizza for us all. YUMMY! This picture here is of GG with the kids. They just love her (and she loves them a little bit too!)
I can't believe my son is 5. Where has all the time gone? I love you, buddy. You make my life special every single day.

**In case you're wondering, Doops is what I call Cameron most of the time. It's short for Doopa (I have no idea how to spell that) which means butt in Norwegian.

My Resignation

2008-11-10T13:34:00.001-08:00

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of a 5 year old again. I want to go to McDonald's and think that it is a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples in a pond with rocks. I want to think M&M's are better than money because you can eat them. I want to lie under a big oak tree and watch the ants march up its trunk. I want to run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day. I want to go fishing and care more about catching the minnows along the shore than the big bass in the lake. I want to think the world is fair. I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all I knew about were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes. When I didn't know what I know now. When all I knew was to be happy because I was blissfully unaware of all the things that should make me worried. I want to think that a quarter is worth more than a dollar bill because it is prettier and weighs more. I want to think that everyone is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things in life again. I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, dreams, the imagination, the Tooth Fairy, a kiss that makes a boo-boo go away, making angels in the snow, and that my dad and God are the strongest people in the world. So......here's my checkbook and my car keys, my credit cards and the bills, my 401K statements, my stocks and bonds, my collections, my insurance premiums, my job, my house and the payments, my e-mail address, pager, cell phone, computer, and watch. I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this with me further, you'll have to catch me cause........ tag! You're it!

Cameron turns 5!

2008-11-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Cameron's 5th birthday party on Saturday. There, of course, were a ton of pics so I attempted to make a slideshow. This is my first one, so be patient. I see now that it isn't starting with the picture I chose, but oh well. You get the idea! :) He was so excited to have his party, but when I mentioned to him that we had to make some girl goody bags he advised me that he didn't want girls at his party. I explained to him that in exchange for the goody bag, he will get a gift from the girls. He didn't care - no girls. "I don't want any presents from girls, mom." Silly boy! As you can see, there were girls here - and as it turns out, he is playing with the things they got him. Go figure.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Halloween

2008-11-03T21:20:00.001-08:00

Aunt Jeny was there to do Haley's hair. She is SO good at making Haley extra 'girly.'

Haley loves to wear sunglasses. We call these her Elton John glasses.

The final hair look. It had glow sticks in the ponytail and hair glitter. SO cute!

Here's Cameron getting his awesome red hair. 3 days later and his scalp is still a bit red! We even washed it out as soon as we got home on Friday.
The 4 kids. Haley = fairy, Sam = Peter Pan, Cameron = Optimus Prime, Toby = Captain Hook. Jeny sewed Sam & Toby's costumes. Impressive, huh? I bought mine at Wal-Mart! :)
We were only about 10 houses away from ours when Cameron decided he had to pee. So BJ dropped his costume and let him pee in the street. Nice, huh? And this is the same BJ that has a fit when I let the kids poop and/or pee alongside a rural highway. Um, ya, ok...I think the highway is a little less 'visible' but hey, who am I to judge. See how far he can pee? That's my boy! And notice Captain Hook in the bottom of the pic checking it out...
Now Captain Hook decided he needed to pee. Oh my, what have we started? BJ says "At least they peed in the street; no one will have to walk on it." I'm not sure that makes it any better...

A Major Haircut

2008-11-02T19:47:00.000-08:00

Haley gets her hair washed like the big girls!

I'm ready for this, mom!
Wow, that's a LOT of hair to be cutting. Yikes.
So pretty. I was expecting the cut to make her look younger but she actually looks older.

We've trimmed Haley's hair several times a few inches at a time, but this is the first BIG haircut. Her hair prior to the cut was almost to her waistline. After the cut it's just a tad bit below her shoulders. She was such a good girl. She even got her hair washed like the big girls do for the first time ever.

As a side note - we are watching football tonight and Cameron announced that he's going to marry ALL of the cheerleaders because he likes their tummies! He is so dang funny. His love for tummies started during the olympics when he fell in love with Misty May and Kerri Walsh. He was into all the olympics, but when those two played he was glued to the TV.

Catching Up

2008-11-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

Since I'm new to this there are a few photos I'd like to put up and blog about. First let's start with our pumpkin carving. I will say BJ did a kickass job at carving them out. That man is so talented. (Apparently I can't rotate and edit pics once they are here. Sorry about that...lesson learned.)

The kids had a Harvest Festival at school so myself and my grandma went to watch the kids and help out. The kids were so excited to have GG there. We call her GG for Great Grandma. She is 87 years old and as spunky as ever. Man, I love that woman.

Sorry about the layout. This is getting frustrating. I need to figure this out a lil better. Not feeling well might have a little to do with this. I will stop for now and maybe tomorrow I'll have better luck with photo placement alongside the text.

I had to do it

2008-11-01T19:35:00.001-07:00

After months of 'blog surfing' I have finally decided to start our own. I know I forget so much of what our family does because I don't make digital scrapbooks nearly often enough, so this way I figure I'll have the memories for when I do decide to make the books. I'm not sure how this is going to work, so I am hoping these pictures attached will be pictures of our recent trip to Disneyland for Halloween. Mima, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Jeny, Sam & Toby went along with us. It was loads of fun.