you want to go to THAT party... wink wink

When I came home from work tonight Camden ran to his back pack and pulled out yet another birthday party invitation. I take a look at it and see it’s from Amber (the same Amber from previous posts) – so that’s all the fuel I needed to start asking more questions.

A little back story… Camden is a typical 6 year old and wants to go to any and every party he’s invited to. Well this last weekend, Camden didn’t want to go to one of the two parties he had been invited to. Of course I wasn’t going to drag the kids to a party they didn’t want to go to. Turns out this kid likes to say to Camden during their free time in class “oooohhhh, you’re not supposed to be doing that” when, according to Camden, he can being doing whatever he is doing. The point is, Camden didn’t want to go.

As I looked closer at the invitation, I see the party is set for Sunday at 11. Typically, that wouldn’t be a problem because we could go to an earlier church service. However, this Sunday I’m supposed to help out with the 4 year old Sunday school class.

Me – “Uh oh. The party is this Sunday, the day we have church.”
Camden – “Well can’t we go earlier?”
Me – “Well we could, but I have to help out with Maya’s class.”
Camden – “Can’t you just be sick that day?”
Me – “Well if I’m sick I can’t take you to the party.”
Camden – “Then maybe JoJo can take me?”
Me – “You really want to go to this party don’t you?”
Camden – “Well I like Chuck E Cheese.”
Me – “Well I’ll see what I can do. Maybe I can switch with someone else and we can go to the earlier church service.”
Camden – “Ok.”

A few minutes pass and Camden runs back into the kitchen.

Camden – “Ok. I’ve got it mommy! You can call someone and I can go to the castle at church that day (that’s the earlier service) and then we can go to Amber’s party! TA-DA!!”

Guess we'll try to go this party because Camden obviously REALLY wants to go!! :-)

The Children's Parade

After church today, my parents and I took the kiddos to Galveston for the 2009 Mardi Gras Children’s Parade. The kids had a great time last year, so I figured it would be just as fun this year. However, this year was much more crowded than last year. Maya and Braeden seemed a little overwhelmed with the crowd and the noise. Camden jumped right in and started yelling for beads. I told myself I wouldn’t say much about this topic, but I’ll type this little conversation I overheard.

Young boy (around age 13) – “Mom, Grandma keeps b*tching at me! Can you tell her to stop?”
Mom of the boy – “Just chill out!! Get up there and catch the beads!!” (as she pushes him back out into the crowd)

The mom didn’t even seem shocked about her sons’ language! Needless to say, we weren’t around too many people that seemed to care if the older kids pushed, stepped on, or jumped in front of the younger kids as long as they were getting those precious beads! Thankfully my kiddos weren’t too phased by this and took what they could get and said they had a blast as we walked back to the car!

Might be a little too loud for Brae...

Every parade member seemed to have a sign as to who they were, but I have no idea what these guys were dressed as?? But they threw beads all the same...

Yelling for more beads...
The kids didn't "feel" like taking pics today, so I had to trick them to turn and look at the camera by saying I had candy!

Slugfest and Lego Mania

This morning we made our way to the ball fields for Slugfest. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t quite certain what this event was except as the name implies – a hitting contest. All of the kids in the league had to sign up, but did not have to participate. My guess is this is the leagues way of raising money in a fun way that involves the kids. The cost was only $10 more to actually participate, so I thought it would be a fun event for Camden. Unfortunately, Camden is a better hitter when pitched to instead of hitting off the tee. But we worked with him some and he did pretty well today. Each kid had the chance to hit 10 balls off the tee. Camden was a little uncertain with the first few swings, but as he kept making contact his confidence grew and he did much better. It was so cute to watch him hit his last few balls because he was so intense and focused at that point that the look on his face was priceless. The results aren’t in from the day, but Camden did really well in my eyes regardless!

"I guess I'm ready to go"

The first of many walks to the ball fields.... "I think I did pretty well"

She knows she's cute....

Braeden is definitely ready...
And if anyone notices, yes, his glove is on the wrong hand. So if any of you know where to purchase a left handed glove that small feel free to let me know!

After Slugfest, the kids had to get home for naps because they had a birthday party to go to this afternoon. My friend’s son had his 7th birthday party today and I’ll tell you what, I’ve never seen so many Legos in one house! The kids had a blast! They each built their own Lego toy and the birthday boy voted on the best few. Then the dad showed the kids how to make their own Lego car that they each raced down a homemade ramp later in the party. Maya was in princess heaven because my friend’s daughter has a ton of girlie girl toys - barbies, dress up, etc. The kids and I had a ton of fun at the party. Stacey and Mike have such a wonderful family and an absolutely adorable and well kept home, it’s almost sickening – I’m not jealous in the least bit! :-) Thank you guys for inviting us to your party, we had a blast!

100th Day of School

Yesterday marked the 100th day of school! Wow, I just can’t believe it. It seems like Camden began kindergarten just a few weeks ago. Tonight, he read his usual class guided reading books and another book that I let him pick from our home book selection (one he hadn’t read before). I’ve been challenging his reading lately because he memorizes the guided reading books he gets from class and breezes through them at home. He’s been doing amazing with the new books. He is properly sounding the words out and really learning to read. Tonight, he read a book without much help from me at all! I was very impressed!!

To mark the 100th day of school, the kindergarten classes in his school had a parade and the kids wore homemade t-shirts. Well, I missed the note sent home from the teacher (I swear the note never made it to Camden’s folder, because I’m pretty diligent about looking through it after the “star of the week” poster board fiasco). So you can imagine my shock when the teacher sends out an email on Tuesday to remind all the parents of the parade the next day and “remember to wear your 100th day t-shirt.” At that point, I panicked because I knew nothing about a t-shirt, but I did remember I was supposed to send him to school with 100 things in a baggy (so the kids can practice their counting).

I probably shouldn’t admit this little tidbit of information, but I had remembered that I needed to gather the 100 items a little earlier in the day while at work. I racked my brain thinking what I might have at home to use (so that I didn’t have to stop by the store on the way home) and came up with nothing. And here comes the “I shouldn’t admit this part” – I decided to gather office supplies! :-) I went and gathered paper clips, binder rings and binder clips. I figured no one else in the class would have these items, so he's set!

In the meantime, I reply to the teachers email asking if the t-shirt was being sent home that day or did I miss buying it? Of course not! She replies to me individually and then to the entire class as clarification that the 100th day t-shirt is a shirt that you make at home with your child (which is a little fishy to me because if she sent a note home, why is there a need for clarification?? well it makes me feel better to think that it wasn’t just me that missed it anyways).

Needless to say, I stopped by the store on the way home to buy materials to make the t-shirt and the gather 100 items so he didn’t have to show up with office supplies! We spent a couple hours that night making t-shirts (yep I said t-shirts plural because they all 3 got one) and counting the 100 items.

All 3 finished t-shirts.... note Camden's has 100 painted dots on it... since the t-shirt was requested to have 100 items on it!

Maya loves her t-shirt...

Camden counted the 100 foam letters for his baggy (NOT office supplies) out by 5's, his idea to count by 5's and all on his own...

The Missing Valentine

Earlier this week Camden’s class made Valentine cards. As far as I could tell, they were asked to make one card each; Camden made his for cousin Kaleb.

*** I just got interrupted by princess Maya. (all of the kids are in bed, but Maya has recently been trying to stay up later) She opened her door, stood at the top of the stairs asking if she could watch TV. Of course I said no, so she asked if we could have dance time (she knows I love dance time – but we already had dance time tonight). I say no once again and tell her to get in bed. Then she breaks out the real deal…. “Mommy, Jesus loves you. I just want to snuggle with you for a minute.” How can I say no to that? Needless to say, she’s sitting here now as I type.***

Back to the story….When I opened Camden’s folder earlier this week, he had received a Valentine’s card from Amber in his class. Of course, when I asked him about it he got super embarrassed and wouldn’t even acknowledge that she is a friend of his. If you recall from a couple posts back, Amber is one of the girls that the kids in Camden’s group of friends writes about to tease each other. “Mark loves Amber. Jesus loves Amber.” etc.

Well..... Camden received two cards from Amber this week (outside of the cards the entire class handed out on Friday), see below. When we got home from the party on Friday, he was looking through his Valentine’s box and he could not find a card from Amber. He looked through all of the cards twice. “I don’t see one from Amber Mommy.” “Are you sure this is all of them? There isn’t one from Amber!” There ended up being one without a name and I think that was Ambers because he could find all the others. While at the party on Friday, I got to see Amber interact with Camden and his friends, and I think that Amber is actually really good friends with the group of boys but since they think girls are gross, Camden won’t admit it. She is a sweet little girl and seems to get along really well with Camden.

The first card...

The second card... "You are nice. I love Camden. Love Amber."

Party Day and Another Bragging Mom

Friday was a day full of Valentine's parties for the kiddos. My first stop was our church where Maya and Braeden attend the Mother's Day Out program twice a week. This program has been just amazing for all 3 kiddos. Camden spent one semester there before going to Kindergarten this year and it was SO good for him. I took him in (wait no, I had to drag him in) kicking and screaming and by Graduation a few months later, he didn't want to leave.

Maya is very fortunate to have the same teacher Camden had last year and I'm hoping Braeden will have the same teacher next year. I didn't have the blog last year when this happened, but my first “teacher call” came from Braeden's teacher! My little two year old was apparently disrupting class and not behaving. He quickly got over it and now loves his church school.
Braeden was lucky enough to get the same teacher Maya had last year, that is, until Hurricane Ike. She decided to move out of state after that and Braeden has had a few teachers since then. He's had the same two teachers now for about a month and he seems to really like them.

Fortunately for me, Maya’s and Braeden's classes are right across the hall from each other, so I can go back and forth to each of the parties pretty easily. I helped Braeden's teacher set up and as the kids walk down the hall Braeden sees me and he yells out “Hey everybody!! That’s MY mommy.” After all the kids are settled, Ms. Courtney asks me if Braeden is 4 yet. I tell her that’s he is a late birthday and won't be 4 for a few months. She was shocked, thinking he was one of the older ones in the class, and then tells me that he is such a smart little boy. “He knows all of his colors, numbers, letters, and even some sight words!” I’m such a proud mommy at this point, but not to brag, I tell her that I'm sure he picks a lot of it up as his older brother, who is in Kindergarten, and has to work on those things. Way to go Braeden!

After Braeden's and Maya's parties, it was time for Maya to go to chapel. While she was in chapel, Braeden and I helped Maya's teacher clean up and get the room back in order. Since I just heard such great news about Braeden I decided to take the time to ask Maya's teacher about her progress in class. Maya is a late August birthday and honestly, I'm not worried about her being ready for school. My concern really lies with her being a 17 year old young girl going away to college. I mean, had she been born one week later, she wouldn't start school this coming year, she would have one more year to go and would be the oldest instead of the youngest in her class. I know I'm thinking too far out, but I just can't help myself. Well Ms. Connie said that Maya is definitely ready for school. She is one of the few kids that can write her name and completes all of her assignments in class. According to Ms. Connie, most importantly, Maya has a willingness to learn and take direction well. I'm so proud of both Maya and Braeden and this program has been amazing for them!

I decided to be brave Friday and take the two little rugrats to Camden's party as well. I’m not sure what I was thinking because Maya and Braeden had been pumped full of sugar all morning and were beginning to come crashing down. We showed up to Camden's school and of course Braeden yells down the hall “Hi Camden!!” Camden simply waves and turns bright red. Camden's class made ice cream sundaes and his teacher was kind enough to let Maya and Braeden make them too. (Just what they needed – more sugar! – but how could I refuse) They ate sundaes, played bingo and read stories. I had just heard such wonderful things about Maya and Braeden that I didn't want to push my luck so I was going to pass on talking to Camden’s teacher about his progress. However, she asked me while everyone was quiet and enjoying their sundaes if Camden was always so quiet and shy. (Camden is NOT quiet at home, but I knew he was shy and quiet outside of the house) I told her that he is around adults, but when he’s around his peers and is comfortable he is not quiet. She agreed and said that she'll catch him sometimes being the louder kid, but he’ll stop if he thinks a teacher saw him and he's about to get in trouble. She said that she just wants to shake him in class sometimes because she knows he knows the answer and could be a leader but he’s always so quiet about things. Hopefully, baseball and other sports will help him come out of his shell more and more.

Making ice cream sundaes...

I had to take this one out of the classroom at the end because he was disrupting story time...

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Sorry for the long post, but I’m a proud Momma and it's difficult to get me to stop sometimes. I’m so proud of all three of them and I hope they all continue to do well in school.

Another busy weekend

This was one of many busy weekends coming up for our house. And I know, it's only going to get busier as the kiddos get older!

Our Saturday started off with a birthday party for one of Camden's classmates at Putt Putt Fun House. I have been to this place, and even taken Maya and Camden before. However, I had not been when one of the kids were able to enjoy it as much as Camden did this weekend. We arrived in our typical late fashion (was anyone else aware of the parking lot 45 South would become this weekend?), but it seems we arrived just for all of the fun. After opening the gifts, all the kids, mostly around age 6, went in to the 3-D motion theater. They gave all the kids 3-D glasses, put them in the chairs that moved and vibrated to simulate the real deal, closed the curtains and started the movie. The best part of it all was that the parents could watch the kids on a monitor outside the theater. This was hilarious!! In one scene, the kid in the movie fell in water and you saw one of the girls watching the movie trying to swim out! After the movie they moved on to bumper boats and all of the kids were old enough to ride in their own boat (which I was happy about because last time I was on these bumper boats with Camden I walked off soaked). After the bumper boats it was arcade time. The kids seemed to have a blast, but it was off to the next event of the day for me and Maya.

I try to take the camera to most events but unfortunately I didn't bring it to the birthday party. Camera phone pics will have to do.


I had originally planned for this Saturday to be "Maya's day with mommy", but Camden's birthday party threw a small wrench in that. Regardless, after Camden's party, Maya and I took off to one of my co-workers' baby shower. (Congratulations Carrie!!) The obvious choice of child to take to a baby shower is Maya, the only girl in the clan, but also, she loves showing off and being cute so it works out. I couldn't let the baby shower be the only thing she and I did together, so I took her to Build-A-Bear after the baby shower. She LOVED this place. She was a little overwhelmed at first but once she figured out what she could do there, she was set. She's definitely my daughter though. Once we walked in to the store and I explained to her what to do, she was quick and to the point. Maya knew what she wanted and wasn't wavering from her choices. I even tried to make her walk around a little to make sure there was nothing else she saw that she may want. I didn't want to pay for this bear and to have her leaving the store only to have a melt down because she really wanted a different bear. So we walked the store and she sweetly followed, but she ended up with her very first choice in all cases. I like that, she knows what she wants.... I'm teaching her well! :)

After Build-A-Bear, Maya and I went to a movie together. We had an amazing day for just us. She is such a sweet and loving girl, I couldn't have asked for a sweeter baby girl!!

Maya is ready for our girl day!

We all decorated tiles at the shower... Maya had a little help from Mommy, but she did write her own name...
Well she didn't choose a bear. Instead, it's Hello Kitty. Not sure why, but she named her "Astor." Well that's how I spelled what she was saying to me anyways...

Today, I was trying to get prepared and ready for the week as best I can. When I opened Camden's backpack to go through his school work I found the following paper. In case you can't read it -

"Marc loves Amber"

"Marc loves girls"

"Jesus loves girls"

"Marc and Jesus love Jessica"

This is so funny!! I think these boys are going through the "Girls are gross" phase so they're all picking on each other.

As I was making dinner, Camden was playing the Wii and Maya and Braeden were watching him. All of the sudden I hear Camden screaming at the top of his lungs. Apparently, he has a Wii injury! Is this possible? I guess so. He was jumping up and down for joy at his win on the game and I guess he fell wrong on his foot. (He's really not that injured, there isn't even a bruise, but he's going to play it up for all it's worth!!) Well Maya and Braeden felt sorry for him, so they "helped" him to the bath tonight.... Crazy kids

The name keeps getting better...er, worse!?

I was driving Camden to baseball practice tonight and he was talking non-stop. He's being a typical, silly, 6 year old when the following conversation takes place:

Camden (snickering) - When the coach asks us the team name tonight Mommy, I'm going to yell out "my nuts!!" (the team name is The Lugnuts)

Me - Really? Do you remember the team name?

Camden (still snickering) - Wait no. Orangenuts! No. I got it. Bluenuts!!

I've lost it at this point, I'm laughing so hard. Fortunately, when the coach asked the team name tonight, Camden followed the lead of all the other kids and yelled the right team name. That is.... until the end of practice when thank goodness he chose to yell "The Chestnuts" to be funny as opposed to the options mentioned above!

Round 3!

It was almost 3 weeks ago that I went to the doctor to find out I had strep throat. Pretty unusual for me to get sick before the kiddos (I'm generally the last in the house to get sick), but I'd like to blame it on helping out with the Sunday school class at church that week. So as out of the ordinary as it was, I was the first round of illness this time. Round 2... The following week, my dad took Maya and Braeden to the doctor to find out they both had strep throat. Poor little Braeden felt so bad, my little screamer had no screams left in him, he was so lethargic. Round 3... Today after work, I took Camden to the doctor to find out (2 1/2 hours later) he has strep throat. I'll blame this on the closeness of my kiddos. They have a bedtime ritual, as I'm sure many kids their ages do. A typical night involves dinner, bath time, story time and kissing each other good night time. However, their kissing each other good night time can be quite lengthy. They like to give each other high fives (it's both hands now), kisses, and then hugs - and it HAS to be in that order (the OCD nature of it all began with Braeden). Those of you with kiddos this young all know that no matter how hard you try, the kisses can be pretty wet or slobbery. So avoiding the transfer of illnesses is pretty difficult. Thank goodness Maya and Braeden are both still on antibiotics. Tonight was like a cattle call in our house, lining up all 3 kids for their antibiotics. Well hopefully this will pass soon and they will be back to the normal screaming, picking on each other household! Wait.... did I really just say that?

Awww that's cute!

Braeden came running into the living room tonight to give Maya one of her purses, and of course he had one for himself. He then asked me to open one of Maya's play make-up toys and he proceeds to put on eye shadow, blush and lipstick. Once he's done I tell him how handsome he is and Camden interrupts to tell us that if he's wearing make-up he's a girl and girls are pretty, not handsome. Well you be the judge, I think he's very handsome!

Every time I take a picture of the kids Braeden insists on looking at it on the camera immediately after I take it. When he saw this picture he said, "awww, that's cute!"

Way ahead of the game!

Well , for me, this is way ahead of the game. Let me explain. In case you missed it in my earlier posts, I'm just a little bit of a procrastinator. So I have a bit of a selfish reason for this post; I actually helped get something done early this weekend! I'm sure most of you remember the Valentine's Day boxes we used to make for school. Well Camden needed one for school by February 9th and believe it or not, we actually did it this weekend, a full week before it was asked for! I wouldn't believe it either if I didn't have the picture to prove it....

Ignore the silly face, he can't take a picture these days without being goofy!

Camden doing his nightly reading. I'm so proud of how well he's doing in Kindergarten.