Cameron's New Friend

Cameron's teacher is amazing! She is always thinking out of the box and doing new and creative things with the kids. There is a new nursing home in our area and she made contact with the residents there. The kids in her class were all assigned one of the residents as a pen pal. Cameron's friend is Betty. He was excited about writing letters to her in class.

During school one day, his class was able to spend a few hours at the nursing home meeting their pen pals, making gingerbread houses, and singing Christmas carols. I sent my camera to school with Cam so he could get some pictures. Of course most of the pictures were of his friends being silly, but he did get a couple of pictures with his new friend Betty. He said she is very nice and it was fun spending some time with her. We're hoping to keep in touch with Betty and go visit her again soon.

Cameron's 9th Birthday

As usual I am over a month behind on my blogging....but better late than never, right?

It's so hard to believe that my "baby" is 9 years old. I look at him sometimes and can't believe how grown up he looks. We are taking bets on if he'll be as tall as me by his 10th birthday. I'm thinking that it's very likely. He has always been in the 98th percentile since he was a baby. At his check up, his weight actually went down to about 95th, but for height he's off the charts. He was 4' 10"! The doctor said that him being this tall at his age and considering that he hasn't even started to mature yet, he'll most likely be around 6' 5" as an adult!!!

We had a pretty laid back day for Cameron's birthday. He had school, so I surprised him with a new shirt and watch before school. I was volunteering for the Santa Shop at school that day, so I had lunch with him. After school we stopped for some Starbucks and headed to Nana's house so she could spoil him a little. He wanted spaghetti tacos for his birthday dinner. He got the idea from the show iCarly on Nickelodeon...one of his favorites. So, that seemed easy enough and it actually didn't taste nearly as weird as it sounds.

We let Cameron pick a few close friends to take to a Cyclones hockey game on the Friday night after his birthday. His best friend was in Costa Rica visiting his family for the holidays, but he had a great time with his other friends that came. It was a fun game and the kids loved it...none of his friends had ever even been to a hockey game before, so they were all pretty excited.

On Saturday, we had a small family party at my mom & dad's house. It was a great day!

Here are a few pictures of my BIG boy. He lights up my life in so many ways and I am so proud of him!

Cam and his cousin Cody at Nana's on his birthday

Putting together his Lego racing game...

Spaghetti Tacos for his Birthday dinner!

First taste....

...and they are a hit!

Cam and his buddies Alex, Avery, and Griffin before going to the Cyclones game

Cam and his friends at the game

They got to see the Kelly Cup!

Cam got a new magic set from Nana and Pappy at his family party!

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy! I love you so much :)

Christmas Cuties

Our family always goes to Sharon Woods for the Holiday in Lights and Santaland at Christmas time. We went last Saturday and had a blast as always. My sister caught this cute moment between Callie and her cousin Cory (who is 2 months younger) while we were enjoying listening to the Dickens Carolers. They are the best of friends and love each other so much :)

Callie and the Dancing Christmas Tree

Nana's house at Christmas is always so much fun for the kids. Callie's favorite decoration at Nana's this year is a Christmas tree that dances and sings. She carries it around the whole time we're there and pushes the button over and over. I caught her on video dancing with the tree and I thought it was just too cute not to share. I love how you can hear the little jingle bells on her bow, too :)

Mismatch Day

Cameron is so lucky to be in one of the "team teaching" classes at his school. They have a team name, a daily meeting, and they learn to work together. They also are able to separate the kids into groups according to their level of learning to give them more focussed attention. Cameron loves his teachers and enjoys school so much.

One of the things that they do is "Fun Friday". The kids earn a special activity each Friday by completing their assignments on time each week. If they don't complete and turn in their work, they go to study hall instead. They do things like making crafts, playing kick ball, learning dance moves, and lots of other fun things. Sometimes they have parents come in to help with the activities and I'm so excited for my turn that is coming up soon!

Another thing that they have is "Panther Praise Points". They are awarded points as a class when they do certain things. Once they reach 20 points they are given options for a little something special. In the past they have had pajama day, extra recess, and things like that. This time the class chose to have "Mismatch Day". They were supposed to wear the craziest mismatched outfit that they could come up with. Cameron and I had so much fun the night before going through his closet and finding the silliest outfit we could. I am so thankful for his teachers and their creativity in keeping learning fun for the kids and making school enjoyable. It makes it so much easier when your kids WANTS to go to school every day!

Here is Cam's crazy outfit...

Callie had to sneak in on the action... ;)

Cameron's First GOAL!!!

Cameron started playing ice hockey when he was 3 years old (almost 4). He LOVES it and always has tons of fun. At his age, they shuffle the positions around for the most part, but try to let the kids play the positions that they enjoy most of the time. Cameron's favorite position is Goalie, but they all have to take turns. His second choice is Defense...so for most of the games that is where he is. On November 6, 2010 his coach put him on the offensive line. They were playing at Indian Hill Winter Club against their home team. I was taking pictures and had just put my camera in my purse to pick up Callie....THAT is when it happened! Cam scored his very first Goal!

Cam had scored goals during scrimmages at practice before, but NEVER during a game. I missed the photo opportunity, but LUCKILY one of the other moms happened to be video taping the game. She got Cam's goal on film and she's doing her best to get us a copy....but it's an older camcorder. Hopefully I'll have a video to post here soon!

In the locker room the coach pulled the puck from Cam's goal out of his pocket and put hockey tape around the edge of it. He wrote the stats of the game, the date, and Cam's name on it and presented it to him. He was so excited! I snapped a picture of him with it once we got home with my phone so it's pretty grainy. The final score of that game was Crushers 5 - Indian Hill - 0. Cam's goal was number 3! Brandon and I both teared up because we are so proud of him!!!

My proud boy with his game puck!

A few action shots from the game....

Cam is #2 with the yellow helmet

Halloween 2010

I'm late getting this posted, since Thanksgiving is only two days away...but better late than never, right?

When we were trying to decide what to dress Callie up like for Halloween this year I did a search on the internet. I came across a list of cute ideas for toddler costumes. On the list was Pebbles Flintstone. Since Callie only has a little tuft of hair that I usually put in a pony tail on top of her head, I though it would be a cute idea. From that, it turned into Cameron being Fred since he didn't really have anything in mind. Then we decided to have my nephews join in on the fun! My nephew Cody was Barney Rubble, his little brother Cory was Bam-Bam, and my nephew Ryan was Dino.

Thanks to my WONDERFUL and TALENTED mother-in-law, we had some super cute costumes for the kids. She made them all from her own patterns at home in COLORADO and sent them out for us!!! We couldn't have been happier. The kids were cute and they all had fun!

We always get to trick or treat at least 3 times, so they get to wear the costumes several times. We went to Nana and Pappy's house for trick or treat first since theirs was a different night from us. Then on Sunday we went to Trunk N Treat at our church followed by a trip around the neighborhood. Callie passed out on the way home from church so she missed out on the neighborhood fun.

Here are some pictures....ENJOY!

Getting ready for Pumpkin Carving night at Nana's house :)

Callie's silly smile...

All of the kiddos at Nana's getting ready to leave for Trick Or Treating

Barney, Bam-Bam, Fred, Dino, and Pebbles

The sweetest Pebbles you'll ever meet!

This was the only picture that all of them were facing forward!

Callie's first day facing forward (FINALLY!) at church waiting for Trunk N Treat to start

Cam (Fred) waiting for Trunk N Treat

Cory and Cody waiting for Trunk N Treat

Ready with her bag for some loot!

Baby Dino having his dinner...I didn't get a good picture of him in his costume...I am sure my sister did!