Sports Sunday!

Today was Sports Sunday at church. Everyone that wanted to, was supposed to wear their favorite team's jersey to the service. I must say, it was a little awkward to wear jeans to church. Camden even called me out when we were leaving the house this morning "Mommy, why are YOU wearing jeans to church? I don't think the adults are supposed to wear jeans!" Seriously, my own child just yelled this in our driveway. Oh well, at least I was comfortable because I was scheduled to help in the 4 year old class; which really just means wrangling the kids and making sure they're not pulling each other's hair or pushing each other. This is the same class that a little boy thought it was funny to dance while "flipping everyone the bird" last time I was in there! He knew what he was doing too, because when I shockingly asked "Kevin, what are you doing?" He quickly put his hands behind his back and acted like he wasn't doing anything but dancing to the music.

It was a great day and the kids all got a football from the church which immediately was banned out of the house and a backyard toy as soon as we got home!

All Houston fans...

Braeden never looks at the camera... (I had to "trick" him into this shot)

As we're about to leave this conversation takes place:

Camden - Maya, let me see your eyes. Mommy, what color are Maya's eyes? Are they weasel?

Me - Weasel? Do you mean hazel?

Camden - Oh yeah, hazel.

Her eyes are still pretty green if you ask me, but I guess they could change...

So you may be wondering what I wore on Sports Sunday to church. Well since I'm so last minute about things and not really wanting to spend money on a jersey for myself, I just assume I'll figure it out on Sunday morning. Well, when I first heard about wearing a jersey I thought, I'm pretty sure I have a Sam Cassell Rocket's jersey somewhere in my closet (yes, I'm well aware it's from the mid 90's, but I didn't care!). Sunday morning gets here and I search through my closet and find nothing, I have no idea where this jersey has disappeared to. Next best option you might ask? Well believe it or not, I have a University of Texas volleyball t-shirt from when I went to camp there back in high school and it still fits!! So I sported a t-shirt that is, let's see, probably 15 years old. Shockingly enough there are no stains or holes in this shirt! Camden called me out on this shirt as well, but not until later in the day. He asked me "Mommy, is that a day time shirt?" I have worn this shirt to sleep in a time or two. What can I say? It worked for Sports Sunday!! :)

Kindergarten Homework

OK, let me start by saying I love Camden's teacher. She does a ton of activities with the kids and he has learned so much in the short time he's been in school. He's excited about going to school daily and excited about learning more and more. I really couldn't have asked for a better Kindergarten class. So now time for my venting....

Not that I mind this kind of thing because when it was all said and done, the kids and I had a blast doing this project. Of course, here’s the but… :)

I waited until Sunday (I know, why did I wait until the last minute) to thoroughly read Camden’s paperwork in his school folder, which told me that he had been chosen as “star of the week” for the coming week. YAY I thought, but then I see all this extra work that has to be done to prepare HIS week in school! First, he has to answer some questions about himself (i.e. favorite color, favorite food, etc). No big deal, except the 6 or 7 questions (with the one word answers) takes Camden a good 30+ minutes to write out! Then there is the “guessing jar” that has to be filled with objects for the class to guess how many items are in it. This could be fun, but since mommy waited until Sunday night to do this and stores are closing soon, what to fill this jar with??? OK, crayons are perfect! This is something all three kids can do together while I’m reading the next assignment. So I get the kids box-o-crayons out and tell them to hand crayons to Camden and he’s in charge of counting them and putting them in the jar. I look over a couple minutes later and realize that most of the crayons are broken, bitten or the paper is torn off! Crap… so I decide, only the non broken ones can go in the jar (I don’t care at this point if there is a small bite mark or the paper is missing)! Whew… 41 crayons later and we’re done with that project!

Then I see the biggest project of all – to create a poster with pics about Camden. I try to be sly about this and get out of it by asking Camden if the kids are bringing really big posters or will this work (I show him a 8 ½ X 11 sheet of construction paper thinking this will do). He tells me no way, the other kids are bringing HUGE posters. Great, I don’t have any posters! AND I haven’t printed pics. Who prints pics now with the digital cameras? Oh yeah, and the printer cartridge is out in the printer, so I can’t even print pics! Thank goodness for my parents. I call them asking if my dad can bring the pics I'm about to email him in the morning when he comes over (thinking that will be enough time to create this poster). He decides (wisely) that he’ll print them all and bring them by that night AND he’ll stop and get a poster board!! LOVE my parents! Over an hour of working, we completed the poster. Of course I had to do all the cutting and gluing, but then Camden “decorated” the finished product.

But then we weren't even done people! We then had to go on a hunt for his favorite book (which Braeden had hidden upstairs under his bed) and a small toy to take to school the following morning. Who knew there was this much involved in Kindergarten!!!

Calling All Superheroes!

The kids transformed into Superheroes this Halloween. Camden was Wolverine, Maya was Wonder Woman and Braeden was Batman. We opted for the church festival this year instead of the door to door trick or treating. There were tons of games and activities for the kids and we all had a blast!

Ready to go...

A stop by the cousins house first...

Wolverine is out before we even get to the church!!

After dinner watching Wolverine play a video game racing cars (not sure how he is able to drive with those claws)...Look out Braeden...
Time to fly home...

Look the other way Maya...

If you're easily grossed out, you may want to stop reading this blog now.... :-)

Well 2 nights ago marks the second time this month I've been thrown up on by one of my kids. I only missed Braeden's "incident" because he did it in the middle of the night all over his bed. I guess there was some sort of stomach bug going around my house and I hope now that we've all had it, it is gone! Generally, with my kids, if they throw up once, they are done and they start to feel better. And I had no reason to think otherwise with Maya this time. Both Camden and Braeden threw up once with this bug and they were done. Maya, on the other hand was different. She got sick Sunday night, on me at the top of the stairs, and then most of the day on Monday. She wouldn't eat anything but saltine crackers for dinner on Monday, but then as bedtime approached she got a second wind of course. So, I put her in bed as normal, thinking it has passed, but gave her a towel and a big bowl just in case. Around 11 p.m. I hear her screaming at the top of her lungs - this isn't super uncommon for Maya, I think she has a light case of night terrors occasionally, but I always go and check on her - so I go upstairs to check on her and she's sitting in her bed with the big bowl next to her which she had gotten sick in. My poor sweet baby girl I thought, so in order to keep an eye on her, I decided to let her sleep with me (which doesn't usually work) but she was so exhausted that she pretty much went right to sleep. So that makes two kids in the bed for the night (Camden is another story). Camden saw me bring in the towel and another big bowl just in case Maya needed it and he knew what that meant! In the middle of the night Maya woke up screaming and I immediately sat up and reached for the bowl wondering if it's too late. Did I miss her getting sick? Why is she screaming? But no, she had not thrown up anywhere, so she must have been having a dream. In the middle of her screaming Camden wakes up in a fog and whispers "Maya, look the other way, don't look toward me"!! Camden knew if she was looking his way and she got sick, he would have been the target. So you see, he wasn't really all that concerned with Maya, just himself..... Can't say I blame him, because while I didn't say that, I was quick to grab the bucket so I didn't get thrown up on! Maya has made it all day without getting sick so I think she's on the road to recovery!

My sweet girl finally asleep...

Pumpkin Patch Sunday

Maya and Braeden had a pumpkin patch day at MDO on Friday. Camden was so jealous that I promised him we would go to a pumpkin patch on Sunday with all of us to make up for it. Little did Camden know that a pumpkin patch was literally where you go to pick out pumpkins, I think he thought it was more like a fall festival (we've been to pumpkin patches before but I guess when you're 6 you just don't think about it). When I figured this out, I played it up so much that Camden was really looking forward to it! So we get to the pumpkin patch today and Braeden throws the biggest fit about taking his blanket out there and I refuse to let him, so he decides he's not interested in picking out a pumpkin and clings to me for the first 10 minutes while Camden and Maya look for the perfect one. Little did I know that the best place for Braeden was my hip! When the kid finally got down and started looking for "his" pumpkin (I let each kid pick their own) he went around picking up pumpkins, inspecting them, and when they weren't satisfactory, he THREW them back into their place! I kept trying to get him to stop and he wasn't trying to be mean about it, but he's such a little brute about things that's just the way he is. Needless to say, they all picked out their own pumpkin to decorate for our yard. I'm sure it's just me, because I'm an accountant and don't have an artistic bone in me (hence the cop-out for decoratring the pumpkins below). But I was trying to give a "math" lesson at the pumpkin patch, but the obviously irritated, been out there too long, mom, was having nothing to do with it! When the kids put their pumpkins up on the table for the oh so kind lady to measure them and tell us how much we owe her, she tells us $5, $4 and $4. So I say to Camden, can you add that up and tell mommy how much to pay the nice lady? He's 6 years old people.... he gets to 5 + 4 is 9 + 4 is..... and the lady interrupts and says, that'll be $13 dollars ma'am. HELLO!!! I KNOW she can hear my child, right in front of her, trying to add and tell me what I owe her, but no, she just blurts it out. Not a big deal if there were a line of people behind me, waiting to pay, but no, not a soul in sight!! I politely sigh (is it possible to politely sigh) and pay and tell Camden he did a good job and he'll get it next time!

The kids with their pumpkin picks...

Look how strong I am Mommy...

My not so artistic side is obvious here, so I took the easy way out, sue me! Braeden chose the pirate (or as he calls it "arrrghhh"), Camden chose the vampire, and of course, Maya chose the princess...

She Missed Me Mommy and The Renaissance Festival

First of all, a follow up to the girl chasing Camden at Open House last week. I asked Camden if he talked to Taylor at school on Friday and he said "yeah, she told me she missed me when I came back to school from being sick". I spared you all the story of Camden waking up and throwing up on my bed and me last week... you're welcome. But because he was sick, he missed his very first day of school and I had to write my very first "absent from school note" as a parent. Well apparently, when he came back to school on Wednesday, Taylor told him that she missed him when he was absent. So sweet!!!!

On Saturday, we made trip to The Renaissance Festival. I had never been, so I had no clue what to expect. I must say, there are quite some characters at this Festival. Not that I'm judging, but let me say for those of you with kids, go early and leave at a decent time. There is a LOT of drinking and there really is no holds barred as far as dressing goes. Needless to say, we really did have a great time. We rode on an elephant, a carousel ride, face painting, saw a jousting match and rode on some out of the ordinary rides. The kids had a blast and it was well worth the trip!!

Ready to go...

Each kid had their turn at this bungee air flying thing...

You can't tell in this pic, but Camden was soooo excited at the beginning, but once the guy flung him in the air, Camden had a pure look of fear on his face.

Maya had fun, but didn't enjoy it until the end!

Braeden had absolutely NO fear and loved it the entire time!

Time for an ice cream break...

A family ride on the big swing...

A little face painting for Princess Maya... the boys got arm tattoos.

They each got to pick their own hat and I must say, Braeden is big pimpin in his...

Open House.... She's Crazy Mommy!!

Last night we went to Open House at Camden's school and he was so excited to show Maya and Braeden all of the fun things he gets to do in school. His teacher said he is doing really well and she hasn't had any problems with him yet...whew! I'd like to say he gets his great school attitude from me, but while I made really good grades, my conduct grades were not quite the same. Let's just say I probably talked too much and probably had an occasional smart remark to the teacher. :-) At least Camden is off to a great start and I'm so proud of him! He showed us the table he sits at, his daily journal, the computer lab, the art room, the library, the gym, and the music room. For some strange reason he didn't think he actually could sing in music class. I was so puzzled but I asked if he played instruments instead and he told me he didn't do that either. I said well then what do you do in there? He said that he copies the teacher. I said well are you copying her singing? It then clicks, "well we copy what the teacher sings so that must be singing". Braeden wanted to stay in the school so badly, let's just hope he has that same attitude when he starts Kindergarten! Maya was in awe of how many things Camden got to do in school and she is so excited that she will be going there next year! Everywhere we went, we would run into some kid from Camden's class and they would always say "hi Camden" to which Camden would shyly wave back. We kept running into two different girls and Camden would get a little embarrassed, it was so funny. We ran into one of the girls for maybe the third time in the library and Camden asks me "why is she everywhere we go Mommy" and I tell him that she's showing her Daddy all the fun places in the school just like he is with us. The other girl we ran into again in the hallway and she started trying to play with Camden. He was too embarrassed to play with her in front of us I think so he started running in a circle around me, Maya and Braeden. Of course, she chased him and was laughing hysterically while doing so. Camden kept running in circles and she keeps chasing him. I tell him to stop and just talk to her, to which he replies "she's CRAZY Mommy"!!! I'm really trying not to laugh, but it was just so cute. Her parents finally called her over and Camden let's out a sighing "bye Taylor". I think they're really friends in school but Camden was a little embarrassed with all of us there.

The cooties are all washed away now....

Catching up...

I'm not quite sure where the last month went since my last post but let me see if I can try to briefly catch up.

Maya and Braeden had their first day of Mother's Day Out at our church. YAY!!

How sweet...

Camden was the "King" of his class for the day!

We went to a surprise birthday party for my sister's father-in-law and captured some great pics of the kids!

Hurricane Ike hit and we headed to the northeast side of town to spend 4 days with 14 people and 8 dogs! That was quite an experience trying to keep 3 young kids entertained without power. I feel so very fortunate to have such a wonderful family. I met some neighbors I had only previously waved at in passing. I was absolutely amazed to see so many people come together through such a rough time. We were very fortunate to have such minimal damage to our own home. My sister's in-laws were not as fortunate and had about 3 feet of water in their house. They are slowly getting their lives in order, but it will take quite a while for then and many to get back to normal.

Getting back to normal. A visit to the zoo... (so I'm guilty of being caught without my camera but my phone works too!)

Camden couldn't understand why this Giraffe had 3 "buddies"!!! (read previous blog for definition of "buddy")

I'm not scared mommy...

Camden celebrated his 6th birthday!! (I brought the real camera along for this, but realized the batteries were dead when I got there)

Arrrrgghh....

What routine?

Well we made made it through week one of kindergarten! And by we I do mean all of us. I really had been so focused on Camden starting something new and being out there all by himself that I hadn't thought about how his absence might effect Maya and Braeden. The first couple of days they would wake up from naps looking for him and when Camden would come home from school they would all hug and kiss as if they hadn't seen each other in a week! Absolutely adorable. I think Maya and Braeden are finally getting used to the idea of school and fortunately they begin Mother's Day Out at our church this week so that should help. Unfortunately, the adjustment has taken more of a toll than I had thought it would. They are all waking up earlier, which I'm not a big fan of! It's no secret to those of you that really know me, know that part of the reason I really like my job is because I don't have to "punch a clock". I like the idea of sleeping in occasionally or no one looking at me funny if I get in a little later or earlier, I have the ability to adjust my schedule! Well this school thing does not allow for adjustments - I always hated that tardy bell! Not only are the kids waking up earlier, they seem to be more emotional! Maya has been so dramatic this last week. Braeden is being a typical 3 year old boy and shows Camden how much he misses him by running and yelling! Camden is being good in school and saving his typical 5 year behavior for home! The kids have been used to a certain routine the last few years and we're all going to have to get used to this new routine... hopefully sooner rather than later....

Camden got a medal from the treasure chest in school and a new Wii game for being good his first week of school...

Braeden showing his muscles before he does a full on attack move on his big brother...

My sweet princess (usually)...

5 minutes later throwing a fit because we are out of batteries for her Leapster...

We survived!

OK OK, I guess I should say I survived because it doesn't seem like today was really all that different of a day for Camden. Today was the first day of Kindergarten and I was a nervous wreck! I took the day off to help with the transition, or really to ease my mind knowing I was right down the street if I was needed and I would be right there when he got home. We have been talking to Camden all summer about his new school and how much fun it would be, so he was as prepared as he could be for the change - we actually had a count down all summer to today. I'm not so sure it was the actual school part that made me nervous as much as riding the bus home did. We decided we would take him to school and he would ride the bus home. Since my dad watches the kids at our house, it seemed easier on him, and a good experience (or so I'm hoping) for Camden. Well, the teacher nor the district's department of transportation could really tell me when his bus would arrive at the end of our street. I got to the bus stop a little early and finally saw some other mothers arrive to wait for their children, who all reassured me that the bus would show up eventually and it took a couple months to get on a real schedule last year?!?! Well Camden seemed to have a great day! I asked him if he made any friends to which he responded "well one kid did make me laugh, but I don't remember what he said mommy so don't ask me". Once the pure exhaustion of the day faded and he got his second wind, he decided he would talk to me about school.... and I think he's really going to like it! I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Braeden bravely leading the way...

Braeden made me stand there while he told me EVERY letter. Although some letters are the sounds, i.e. "E" was "eh"...
A kiss goodbye for big brother...

Braeden doesn't seem as sad as I thought. Maybe that's because he got Camden's leapster games for the day!!

I can breathe again!! He made it home safely...
Today was also Maya's 4th birthday! She's a big girl now, according to Camden. Somewhere along the way he got in his mind that she could start playing the Wii when she turned 4. My guess is that he wouldn't quit bothering me one day about her being able to play and I didn't want to listen to them fight so I told him she wasn't old enough. He probably then said something along the lines of "so when she turns 4 like me, she can play" and I'm sure that's when the downfall occurred - I said yes without blinking. So, not only have we had a count down to Camden's new school, we've had a countdown to Maya being able to play the Wii. Camden was such a big brother about it and really tried to teach her, but Maya was more interested in dancing to the music the games played.

Maya wrote her name on her birthday crown. Not sure why, but she's recently decided to write MAYA as MYAA. She writes the letters 'm', 'a', 'y', 'a' but just puts the Y in the wrong spot?

Camden - Maya, choose your player wisely because you only get one choice.
Maya - OK Camden. (she chooses the princess which Camden rolls his eyes at but is willing to go along with it for now)
Camden - Push the A button Maya. The A button! THE A BUTTON!!!!! Here, let me see the controller.
Maya - (Still dancing) OK Camden, here you go. (as she tosses the controller at him)

Camden is really trying to teach her... she's just not that interested!

Camden tries for a while to be patient and teach her, but they finally compromise that Camden does the 2 player game and he plays against her, which means he wins every time! As long as they're getting along, at this point, I'm OK with that approach. Braeden wanted to be a part of the action, so I tied the nunchuck around his arm so he thought he was playing too!

What's in a name really?

I love my kids names, but when we were going through the process of trying to figure out names for our unborn children I was somewhat exhausting on what is normally, I'm assuming, a pretty fun process. I would think of every conceivable nickname/make fun of name that I could think of so that I would be as prepared as I could be with whatever people may end up calling our kids. For instance, I refused to name any of our children with a name beginning with "P" because sure enough some kid would call them "PP" in school. Also, I loved the name Reese for a girl, but I could just hear some little boy saying to his friends "I'm going to get me some of those Reese's pieces", so the name was out! I know it's a little overboard, but kids go through enough growing up that I didn't want to contribute to it anymore if I could help it. Well needless to say, I think we came up with some unique names and still carried on family names at the same time.

Now that the kids are growing up and have voices of their own, it's interesting to me what they will allow and don't like me to call them! I'm their mother, I gave them their names, I should be allowed to call them whatever I want right?!?! Apparently not, according to Camden and Maya! Let me see if I can list the names they answer to (or at least turn to tell me that is NOT their name) -

Camden - Cam, James, CJ, JP, Bub, Bubby (which he HATES suddenly)

Maya - Princess, My Pie, Alysa, Baby Girl

Braeden - Brae, Bub, Bubby, Little Man, BP, Joseph

Maya has such a hard time saying Braeden's name. For the longest time, she called him "baby", but I've worked with her so much on saying Braeden that she's mixed the two names and now she calls him Bay-bree, which Braeden now calls himself as well! Braeden doesn't seem to care about the difference in the names, it just seems to matter how it is said. We'll see what he thinks in about a year, where the real opinions seem to begin!

I rarely call my kids by their actual name. Although recently, Camden and Maya have decided they would like to be called only by their first name, no nickname, no middle name, simply the first name. Camden must think he's some kind of celebrity because he, until a few weeks ago, refused to acknowledge that he even had a last name. Camden was it. He was only to be called Camden! (as if he's Madonna or Cher - except a guy.... even if I could think of a guy one name celebrity, the only name that comes to mind is Eminem and I'm not sure I want my boys to have that comparison, oh and there is Prince, even still not the comparison I was looking for... I digress) The point is this, my kids are growing up and developing opinions of their own and I'm just not as prepared as I'd like to be!

Tomorrow is the first day of kindergarten for Camden (let the meanness from other kids begin) AND Maya's 4th birthday! I'll let you know how it all goes...

Rain rain go away...

While Tropical Storm Eduoard didn't cause much damage in our part of town, as a mother, and after the recent years disasters, I have a tendency to be overly cautious when there are hurricanes brewing in the Gulf. So we packed it up for an overnight stay at my aunt's house (thanks Aunt Annie) in Humble (not too far away, but a little further than League City). As you can see from the picture, my aunt has an amazing pool in the backyard that the kids were dying to get in to. But as the rain came through early that morning, their little hearts seemed to sink as they thought they may not get to swim. Well there was a break in the rain mid afternoon and I let the kids loose to swim and burn off some of their energy! Those of you with kids know, three kids locked in a house all day, and one without all of their own toys, can be a recipe for disaster. The kids were really pretty good considering, and my aunt was extremely gracious and tolerant as the kids draped toys and left crumbs all over the house. But I was ready for the kids to get outside where they wouldn't be fighting over toys and I wouldn't have to chase them and constantly worry about them breaking something in the house. So I get Maya and Camden suited up and ask Braeden if he's ready to get his bathing suit on and to my surprise he tells me he doesn't want to swim!!

Take note - I put Maya AND Camden in life jackets this time! Although I did get in the pool later (which you won't see pictures of) and worked on the kids swimming.

Little did I know that Braeden wanted to stay in the house to have all of the trains to himself - he was obviously tired of being good and sharing! He played very quietly and worked very hard at putting all of the trains in a line. I may need to consider getting some of these trains for our house!