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!

Bow chicka bow wow.... Holla!!

My kids LOVE to dance. I'm not saying they can dance well, but they really do try. We have what I like to call "dance time" in our house. We'll turn the music up and just dance and sing our little hearts out. (I usually keep the music loud enough so I don't have to hear how bad we actually sound!) I am not quite sure why, but it seems true with all little boys and girls. When little girls dance, they actually move their hips and spin in pretty ballerina circles. When boys dance, it's all about their arms waving around and kicking and spinning. Almost like a mixture of bad break-dancing and karate. Well ok, so maybe that's just my kids?!?

I'm not sure exactly when the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks came out (I'm thinking around Christmas last year) but this first story relates to that movie. The previews of the movie had been all over TV, but I hadn't paid too much attention to it, but knew the kids wanted to see it. Well one afternoon, the kids and I are getting ready to leave my parents house and we're all standing by the front door. I look over to see Maya busting a new dance move. She has her hands on the back of her head (similar to pic below) and she's moving her little hips side to side as she sings "bow chicka bow wow". I begin to laugh and then realize this is my 3 year old daughter and she shouldn't be moving like that! The following conversation takes place:

Me - Maya, what are you doing?

Maya - Dancing mommy!

(my mom is laughing so hard at this point that of course Maya continues)

Me - Mom, you have to stop laughing or she won't stop dancing.

Nana - Well what's wrong with that, it's cute!

Me - Mom, that sounds like porn music she's singing!

Nana - Well where did she learn that?

Me - I don't know. Not me! It sounds like 70's porn music to me, so you tell me!!

We're all laughing at this point and realize there is no stopping her, the damage is done, we've laughed too much. A week or so goes by and I have this little tune stuck in my head and I keep singing it and Maya keeps doing her little dance. I know this had to come from some cartoon or TV show, so I ask Camden what it's from and he informs me (like I'm an idiot) "it's from Alvin and the Chipmunks mommy"....

I had to re-create the pics, but couldn't get Braeden to do the dance move because he was too busy trying to get down the stairs on his BELLY!!

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I watch some of the reality dance shows. Those types of shows are great when the kids are still awake because I don't have to pause, rewind or try to turn the volume up over them. I was watching one the other night and Camden comes in to the room to show me a break-dancing move he's come up with...

Camden - Hey mommy, you wanna see something?

Me - Absolutely! Whatcha got?

He then does this spinning/break-dance move he's created and some "robot" moves. I laugh, so he does it a few more times. The last time he does it, he spins on the floor in front of me and as he's coming up for his finale move, he yells "HOLLA"!