Camden's Piano Lesson #3

If you read the Blog often, you know that Camden has been taking piano lessons for the past 3 weeks. He has been doing awesome! He was extremely fidgety during his last lesson with Mrs. Johnston (I think because the lesson time had moved to 2:00 p.m. during his normal downtime). Here is a small clip of his lesson!

Art Work

Here is a picture of Sponge Bob that Camden drew! Not bad for a 4-year old. Our neighbor Ryan drew a picture of Sponge Bob for Camden on Wednesday when he was over. So on Thursday, after breakfast, Camden started to draw a picture of Sponge Bob by looking at Ryan's drawing. He drew a square, a mouth with teeth, eyes and eylashes, and then asked, "Mom, how do you draw Sponge Bob's nose?" I was clueless that he drew what he had, so when I walked over to help him I was amazed at what he had already drawn. I am by far not an artist, but being a Mom you learn that you are a super hero to your kids. I attempted to show him how to draw a nose on another paper by using Ryan's picture as a guide. Camden then drew the nose. I sat with him while he drew the rest of Sponge Bob, guiding him on how to draw some of the features. He was so determined to draw a Sponge Bob that looked as good as Ryan's. It was so cute; and Sponge Bob didn't turn out that bad! Great Job Camy! (I did help but only by making his square 3-D, drawing the belt, and drawing the hands--he was getting frustrated that his hands were too BIG, and they were!)

Have you ever cooked with a 2,3, and 4 year old?

Ms. Dana came over for dinner again this week...and she brought the ingredients to make her famous pumpkin dip! The kids were all so excited to help that I whipped out the aprons and chef hats and here is the story...

Getting ready to help...

Waiting patiently for a turn to open the can of pumpkin...

Mixing and tasting, mixing and tasting, and tasting and tasting and tasting some more...

Waiting for Riley to finish tasting so he can have a turn...

Pumpkin Dip YUM YUM YUMMY in our tummies! Thank you Ms. Dana!

Sunflower status!

My garden has been a great success this year! But my greatest success has been the sunflowers. Just to give you an idea of how tall they really are, Kevin is 5'11"...I would say this sunflower has at least 4' on him. It actually was blown over during the rain storm a week ago, so he was out in his work clothes getting ready to mow the lawn...I made him hold the sunflower in place before he hauled it away.

Sunbathing

I was laying out in the sun on Saturday (thought I might catch a few more rays before the short summer ends) while the kids were playing in the pool. When I got up to get lunch, I came back to find Riley laying in my spot...I thought this was so funny!

A Much Needed Play Date!

We had FUN today! After not having friends to play with most of the summer, I watched two of the kids friends today. It was four toddlers under four years old and me. Camden and Riley each had a friend over and we did A LOT! The girls played dress up, the boys cruiesed the neighborhood on the Jeep, the girls held a newborn baby, and the boys played cars and chase. Here are some pictures to capture the story...

Our guests arrived and Camden wrote a message in the driveway, ON HIS OWN, I did not help him except when he asked how to spell HOME...he already had H O M written, he just needed an E. It was so nice to see him try to spell...I am very proud of him. The message says, "Camden Home" supposed to read "Camden's Home".

Camden and Shawn were cruising the neighborhood strip looking for the chicas...what handsome boys! Love the shades!

Typical girls, perhaps sharing beauty products...at least they are parked, and wearing a seatbelt.

Those beauty products paid off, the boys found some girls!

Aaawwww, Riley and Shawn on a little drive

Riley and Madison look like twins from behind...they are two peas in a pod.

Princesses for the day! The girls let me put their hair in an updo and they both wanted to wear pink princess dresses and crowns! True Royalty!

Ms. Dana brought her 1 month old McKayla over today for a visit. The girls took turns holding the baby. At one point, I was standing up holding McKayla and the girls started reaching their arms up asking to hold "me baby" There was even elbowing and pushing. You would have thought they were bridesmaids fighting for the brides boquet! They both loved McKayla! Riley helped me feed the baby and all of the kids liked patting the baby on the back to burp her.

After holding McKayla; Madison and Riley played little Mommies and pushed their babies in strollers up and down the street. I can not get over how much these two bossom buddies look alike, especially in the matching dresses!

Gemini: Beauty and the Geek

I do not include enough photos of me on my own blog, and since today I had my hair cut...I thought I might humor you all...

...now there is a familiar face!

Coorporate Executive

Camden has once again not been feeling well (check out Camden News) and this evening he was asleep by 5:30. That gave Riley some alone time with Mom; so I let her play on my laptop. Here are some candid shots of her at her desk!

Riley taking a break, perhaps reading her work...

Here she is working hard...

Notice her sippy cup...all that go go juice keeps her motivated!

Here she is before bed playing with my Lite Brite from when I was a kid.

Pirate Days Parade

We went back to see the Pirate Parade. There was this man next to us that I was about to elbow. He was so rude and running out to get the beads, candy, and goodies that were thrown out o the kids. One lady on a float even tried to throw goodies to my kids and he kept intervening. I was appalled. Other than that, we had a great time, and the kids really did not know any different. I love Pirate Kevin...how tough does he look!?

Camden took this photo. Jen, notice the cap Kevin is wearing?

Arrrrgh!

Waiting patiently for the parade.

Camden and Pirate Jreck with Sponge Bob

A pirate and a poppin!

Pirate Days

Our Family had a blast being pirates for the day! Kevin even costumed up a little. Here are some pictures of us enjoying Pirate Days!

A real Pirate Ship behind us!

Camden and Riley in front of a ship anchor.

Pirate Camden

Pirate Riley.

Camden climbed this rock barefoot...about 5 feet high. I wasvery impressed!

Summer Storm

There was excitement in my small town today when an unexpected thunder storm hit! We had blue skies all morning, then around 1:30 this afternoon the skies got dark and we had thunder, lightning and pellet sized hail followed by HEAVY rain. Within 15 minutes my backyard was flooded (we only get water like this durning the winter thaw and that is only if there is A LOT of snow that melts fast). Here are some pictures I took from the Rickman Island! The rain finally let up around 2:00 and by 3:00 we had blue skies and plenty of sunshine. The road was dry and all the water was gone.

Riley's First Bra

Here is Riley Cheering for Daddy's Football team! She is wearing her headband wig...$1 at the dollar store and it matches her hair perfect!

I could not resist sharing this cute photo and story with all of you...as embarrassing as this might turn out for Riley in a few years. I was shopping with the kids the other day and was looking at some school clothes for the kids; while I was browsing the girls section, Riley sets her sights on, "Mommy, me bra, plllleeeeaase? 'rella bra plllleeeease?" (translation: 'rella = cinderella or princess) How can you say no to such nice asking. So luckily, they had her size (xxs), and I picked her up her first matching bra and pantie set. She had to show Ms. "Yo-lane" (translation: Jolane) her lingerie! What a perfect photo moment...here is a picture of her wearing it...she wore the bra for three days (I did manage to get it off her at night and wash it). I just thought it was so funny that she has a "bra".

My Garden

As most of you know, I grew a garden of veggies this year--my first! Here is a picture of it! What you see are pumpkins, corn stalks, sunflowers, cucumbers, tomatoes, zuchini, watermelon, and cantalope. This is my tallest sunflower measuring almost 10 feet tall.

Photo in front of the cornstalks! C'mon, Dad is from Iowa.

Scared of Monsters!

Today we went to McDonald's for a playdate with our friend Beth and her family who came up for a visit! We had fun running, eating, climbing, chasing, sliding, and playing with the balls...ok, the kids had fun doing all that stuff! I had fun chatting and catching up with all of the moms!

I have been working on trying to get the kids to fall asleep on their own in their own beds, since this has been a problem recently and I am tired of being kicked out of my bed by two toddlers. Camden really gets scared that there is a monster in his room and that the monster can only see in the dark. So I have let him try to fall asleep with his lamp on. So this evening after I left Camden to fall asleep on his own, and Riley in her bed sound asleep with a book in hand, I went up to check on the kiddos. As I went into Camdens room, he was no where to be found, so I figured he was in my bed...I was wrong. He had climbed into bed with his little sister and snuggled up to her. I could not resist grabbing my camera to share the sight. They truely are best buddies. I can't help but wonder what he was thinking though...did he think the monster might attack Riley first?!