Monday, December 6, 2010

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 :)

Sunday, December 5, 2010

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 :)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

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!

Friday, October 22, 2010

A New Cousin :)


On September 12, 2010 my "baby" sister, Shelby, and her husband, Nick, welcomed their first child into the world. Ryan Keith has been such a blessing to our family! We all love him sooo very much :) Callie really, REALLY loves Ryan. She says "Ry-Ry baby" and kisses and hugs him constantly! She always wants to hold him and love on him and it has made for some adorable photo ops...Here are a few of my favorites! I have no doubt that these two will be the best of friends and I can't wait to watch them grow up and play together!






Thursday, October 7, 2010

Callie is 18 Months!!!


10/7/10

No matter how hard I try to convince them not to, my kids just keep growing and growing! I can't believe how fast the last 18 months have gone. Here's what's up with our sweetie pie!

At her check-up Callie weighed in at 21 lbs. 10 oz. She was 30 1/4 inches long. That puts her in the 10th percentile for both height and weight!!! She is ON THE CHARTS!!! She's so active and happy ALL the time...it's hard to believe that the doctors were ever worried about her.

Callie is wearing size 12 month clothes. She's in size 3 diapers and wears size 3 shoes and a couple pair of size 4. She LOVES shoes. She always wants to have them on and the shinier the better. She prefers wearing dresses as well and when I say "lets go get dressed" she'll say "pree jess" (pretty dress). She holds her dresses out to her sides and spins like a little ballerina.

We (read: Daddy) decided that this was the week that we would be giving up the binky. I have been dreading this for months. Um...it's really not supposed to be THAT easy, is it? She hasn't even missed it, cried for it, or needed it...I'm so very relieved!!! Her new cousin, Ryan, takes the same kind of binky that she did and she hasn't even tried to take his. She's also seen one of hers in the cabinet...she did reach for it, but I said...it's all gone - Callie is a big girl! And that was that!

A few weeks ago, Callie had to have surgery to place tubes in her ears. She has had so many ear infections this year and the doctor decided it would be best. The surgery itself was so fast and simple, but I had no idea what I was in for when they said we could "stay with her while she fell asleep". They brought us into a room, sat her on my lap and had me hold her down while one nurse held her head, another her feet, and a third held a gas mask over her face while she was looking up at me with tears running down her face, crying, and looking at me like "mommy, why are you doing this to me?" Then her little eyes rolled back and she went limp in my arms, they took her from me and kicked us out. I pray that this is her one and only set of tubes...if not, Daddy gets to hold her next time :) Everything went well and she's been healthy since.

Everyone who has met Callie has seen that she has quite a little personality. When she's frustrated and can't express to us what she wants, it turns into a full blown fit. On one occasion, she was crying and wouldn't go to sleep and we tried everything. We finally got her a drink of water and she gulped it down, then went fast asleep. We of course felt awful about it! I started thinking about how I was going to get her to express to us what she wants. I never really considered teaching her sign language before. Cameron was a very early talker and was speaking in sentences by this age. Callie "talks" almost constantly and will repeat (or at least try) almost any word we ask her to. She understands so much and follows directions very well. She does most anything we ask her to do and loves "helping". She cleans up her toys, picks up her laundry, and loves closing doors that people leave opened. But, if she can't express to us that she is thirsty, I figured that we should at least give sign language a try. I thought maybe she would be too old to start, but started with a few simple signs. I showed her the signs and said the word a few times and she copied me, but didn't spend more than about 10 minutes doing so. An hour or so later we went out for dinner and she started doing the sign for "milk" when she wanted a drink!!! From that point on she has been using a few signs consistently. What's even better is that she also has learned to say the words and uses both together. I wish we would have done this sooner!!! Right now she knows about 10 signs...and she learned them all in about a total of 15 minutes! (more, milk, eat, please, thank you, mommy, daddy, apple, sleep, drink) We are planning to keep teaching these to her...it has helped her learn so many new words!!!

Here are some pictures of my big girl:

Callie loves finding little corners to play in...

She loves her "pretties"! Even when she's waiting to see Dr. Joe...the BEST pediatrician EVER! Gotta love her "cheesy" grin!

I was folding laundry the other morning and looked over and found her like this :) Notice the purse on her shoulder, as always! We hadn't changed her out of her jammies yet and the bottoms were off because she was wearing a pull up....she's been doing great about going on the potty!!! Those are Cameron's old Buzz Lightyear sunglasses that he passed down to his sis.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Backyard Fun



Tonight I decided to capture a few fun pictures of the kids playing outside while the weather is still nice enough. Our neighbors have two little girls and they had outgrown some of their "big" toys. They decided to sell them and asked us if we were interested. Callie snagged a play house for the back yard and a Castle swing and slide for her play room (that will hopefully be ready soon...I'd love to have the ever expanding collection of toys out of our family room!) She loves going in and out of the house and opening and closing the windows. She and Cam also had a good time swinging, climbing the rock wall, and going down the slide. I don't think Callie knows yet just how lucky she is to have such a great big brother. I am so incredibly blessed to have these two precious kids! I love them more every day :) Seriously, though...how could you not love these faces? :)











Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Double Trouble

A few weeks ago, while visiting my mom, Callie and her cousin Cory (who's 2 1/2 months younger) got into their first "trouble". My cousin was over with her 3 kids (9 year old twin boys, 8 year old girl) and she, my mom, and I were in the kitchen working on something. The babies were into everything, so we decided to put them in "The den" which is a small play room my mom has for the kids. The big kids (my cousin's 3, Cameron, and my nephew Cody who's 5) were in the den and we asked them to keep an eye on the two babies. There was a gate across the doorway and the bathroom door was closed. Plus, we were in the very next room.

A while later, we found out what happens when you leave two 9 year olds, two 8 year olds, and a 5 year old in charge of two 1 year olds. This happened in the span of about 10 - 15 minutes and the older kids were completely oblivious! Apparently one of them used the bathroom and forgot to close the door behind them :) Luckily, though....they remembered to close the lid!







Swimming!!!


My kids both love to go swimming at Nana and Pappy's house. It was one of our favorite summer activities this year because it was SO hot! Cameron is so tall that he has no problems touching and keeping his head above water...Callie likes her goldfish floaty, but prefers being held so she can kick her legs and splash! Here are a few highlights from our pool days this summer...


Callie getting ready for her very first time in the pool!
Callie and her cousin Cory
She was having a blast!
Swimming with Aunt Shelby

Cam looks distraught...


Taking a break and looking adorable! This was my favorite of her bathing suits :)

She loved getting out and marching around the deck...
Ruffles on the toosh are a MUST!