Celebrating Camden

So, I feel like so any of my posts are about Evan, or have lots of pics of Evan--it's mainly b/c I'm with him 24 hours a day, and he's a total ham for the camera, whereas, Camden isn't the best poser (as you'll see from the pics in this post).  Anyway, he's growing so quickly and I just want to take a minute to Celebrate Camden!!

Camden hit a major milestone last week.  .  .We made it 7 days waking up dry!!  The 7 day mark was my goal--once he hit that, he was ready to go on without pull ups at night, AND he got a prize.  We've been marking the days for several months--and we finally got 7 days in a row last week!!  It happened Wednesday, which also happened to be the day he missed school b/c he was wheezing and coughing and just needed to rest.  So, we headed to the doctor and then we went to Wal-Mart for his prize.  As many of you know, he has a major obsession with cameras (read all about it here), so his choice for a prize was a camera--not a pretend one, a real one!!  So off we went, I'd already checked one out and he was thrilled that I finally agreed to it!  It's by no means something I would want to capture lots of my memories on, but it's digital, you can hook it up to a computer to download, and it takes videos.  The only drawback is that it only holds 30 images (even though it's stated clearly on the package that it holds 120) and with my avid photographer those 30 images fill up FAST!!

Camden also wrapped up another year of Journey class (his Wednesday night program at church), and his final year in pre-school (I don't think pre-K counts as preschool.  .  .)  Last Wednesday was his Awards night at Journey and the Explorers got up and sang their Journey song and recited their Journey Bible Verse--but before that we were able to see a lovely performance from his 3 year old handbell choir.  .  .I would love to post video, but for some reason the video I took isn't working.  Once I figure it out, I will post it for you!  It's great!!  I know he was sad to leave his pre-school as well, he has had the best teachers at Snellville UMC!  Monday we will be wrapping up t-ball and then the summer begins!!  We are very excited to get in some pool time and to visit grandparents and great grandparents very soon!

So besides the milestones--there are lots of things that you should know about Camden:

--He is starting to LOVE grilled chicken--he couldn't get enough of it tonight at dinner

--His shyness seems to be wavering a bit--I've been noticing that when we go places and he sees people he knows he runs toward them ready to give them a high5 or a big hug!!

--He's still not really "athletic" but he does enjoy playing sports--so far I think his favorite has been basketball, but we will try soccer out in the fall!

--This year, he learned to write & spell his name, and he can tell you his phone # (or he could yesterday ;)

--He and I joined the summer reading program at the library and we are going to set a goal to read 10 new books and learn 10 new words (1 from each book)

--He loves to share, but sometimes wants to give his toys away rather than just let his friends play with them

--He's grown 3" since September

--His laugh & smile are AWESOME

--He is the best big brother ever!!  

Camden, we love you buddy!  It's hard to believe it's been 4.5 years since you so abruptly entered this world!!  I can't imagine life without you in it!!

The Mama Bear in Me. . .

Okay--so here's the situation.  .  .
We have a great street with lots of kids--Camden is the youngest and the ones that are around his age are, of course, girls.  The kids have all played together over the past year or so, and they go through their normal ups and downs as all kids do.  It's hard for me to keep my mouth shut most of the time, but I do--for Camden's sake, he needs to learn to work out some of the typical social issues out on his own.  I do get tired of hearing him get pushed around and bossed around, and I get tired of hearing them tell him they aren't his friend b/c I won't give gum out to the whole neighborhood-but again-he has to work this out.  They are kids, they don't mean it, but it still hurts my heart a little when people are being ugly.  Jason did tell me the other night that he really heard him standing up for himself to one of the kids and he was proud of him.

BUT TONIGHT.  .  .I don't know if it was the discussion of bullies that I had with a girlfriend, or if it's just that I don't want my kid to get pushed around or treated badly (let's face it, do any of us? ) but I had a MAJOR Mama Bear moment.  .  .
So we got home from t-ball and it was late--well, late for the kids, it was almost 8--and the little girl that Camden had been playing with earlier came scooting down--I hear her say to Camden "We've had such a good time without you here.  .  ."  I think to myself--I'm going to let that go, surely I couldn't have heard her correctly.  .  .So, I get out start unloading the boys and such, and I hear again "We've been having such a great time without you.  .  ." That does it, because at this point I realize Camden doesn't know that what she is saying isn't nice--he's too sweet to understand that sometimes people do and say things just TO BE HATEFUL.  .  .
I whipped around and said (very calmly and even toned, yet VERY stern):
"What did you say?"
---silence, silence
"What did you say?"
-- um um I was just filling Camden in on what we were doing while he was gone
"Did you tell him you 'had so much fun without him'?"
--yes
"and how would you feel if he said that to you" (still holding eye contact here--I even made it a point to take my sunglasses off so she could see my eyes)
--(eyes down) bad
"I am not going to have you coming down here and talking ugly to my little boy.  I like you and you are a very sweet girl and a special friend to Camden, but if I hear you talking like that to him again you aren't going to be allowed to play with him--do you understand me?"
--yes ma'am

she retreated VERY quickly, and I did start feeling a little bad about it--but y'all, I'm not going to have people talking ugly to my little boy.  He is such a sweet and sensitive soul, and I'll be danged if I'm going to let someone treat him like that.  She knew what she was saying to him, she was trying to be ugly.  .  .I think that's what chapped me so bad.  As I rehashed this to Jason he agreed that I did the right thing, I was proud that I stayed calm (that's a tough one for me), and I KNOW without a doubt that if I heard Camden talking to someone like that I would've done the same thing to him.

Do unto others, as you would have others do unto you...




Have I mentioned that Evan is CLIMBING?????  EEK!

She's Crafty

...she gets around, she's crafty, she's.  .  .OOPS--wrong song!

Okay--so I'm generally not one to toot my own horn, and I'm really not tooting just MY horn this time--BUT--another mom and I did a little project for Camden's teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week--and I'm kind of proud of it.  Now, to those of you out there who are going to say: "Gift cards, we teachers want gift cards!!"  Trust me, I'm hearing you!  It was up to each room mom to decide how to approach Teacher Appreciation, I chose to do a different little something each day, ending the week with the "Class gift" (which is also the end of the year gift, since the end of the year is next week).  SO here's the week in a nutshell (well, really it's in a list, but you know what I'm saying):

MONDAY: shower them with flowers
TUESDAY: handmade card-let your child write their name or a note (they've been learning all of this in class this year)
WEDNESDAY: we are responsible for one part of a meal for ALL teachers AND they are presented with my craftiness.  .  .just wait, just wait
THURSDAY: sweet treats for our sweet teachers
FRIDAY: class gift

Okay, so I'm really not crafty, most things that I do end up looking like I'm really not crafty.  .  .BUT I wanted to do something from the class, since it seemed like ALL of the other room moms were doing crafty stuff.  So I chose to do Teacher Handbooks--the idea is to get each child's handprint (or trace each child's hand) and on each hand write why their teacher is special to them.  .  .Have you ever tried to trace a 4 year old's hand?  Have you ever tried to write inside of a cut-out of a 4 year old's hand?  There's really not much room.  So another mom (thank goodness for Cheryl b/c I would've been tying string around paper cut outs of 4 year old hands without her) and I decided we were going to try to make little books for the teachers and just paste the handprint on each page--Y'ALL--they turned out sooooooo cute!!  We are so proud of them!!  I am so proud of our efforts! :)  Don't you love when a little project comes together??!!!

What?  You aren't as impressed as I am??  That's cool--I'm a total amateur.  .  .I'm impressed enough for all of us! :)

Do the hills really matter???

Oh yea, the hills REALLY matter!!  So, Evan has been in swim lessons for the past few weeks and before his lesson I go to the park where the pool is (also the park where Adam and I played ball and worked the concession stand) and I do a jog.  I set a goal on the 2nd lesson that I was going to jog the whole trail (it's only 1.5 miles) before it was all over--honestly by the next lesson I had met my goal.  Now, I didn't go fast--it took me about 18 minutes to finish--but that is huge for me!!  I've not been able to go longer than about 8 minutes outside--18 minutes on the treadmill in the A/C I can do-but I DESPISE the treadmill!!  So all week last week we sort of dragged, I had a lot to get done and the boys really weren't feeling well due to allergies so pretty much I worked out 1 day.  Monday came and it was pouring rain leading me to the conclusion that "you should never put off what you can do today b/c tomorrow it might be raining!"  Normally I would put Evan down for a nap and do a workout on the Wii, but since he had swim lessons at 11 we had to forgo the morning nap, which means no workout for Mommy.  So today, I was ready!  Not only was I going to jog around the neighborhood, I was going to do a Wii workout as well--I have to make up for my lack of movement last week somehow!!  I set a goal (because remember last time I set a goal I met it no sweat--well I was sort of sweaty...nevermind) my goal was walk 5, jog 20, walk 5.  .  .
I walked my first 5 and was ready to go, b/c I was bored with the walking--I picked up my pace and literally 5 minutes in thought I was going to keel over.  .  .but I kept going--now, our neighborhood is pretty hilly (the trail is too, but I work it so the big hills are in the beginning and easier to push through), and there's not much shade, and I had the dog.  So, I made it about 12 minutes and me and the dog both were ready to keel over.  .  .
MORAL OF THE STORY--the hills matter, who knows, maybe I got a better workout than I do on the other trail (which again, is not completely flat, but it's also very shady and I never have Penny)--but how sad that not only did I not meet my goal, I didn't even make it as long as I normally do.  .  .

Oh well.  .  .

The Helmet Wars

So, did you know there is a law that children under the age of 16 have to wear a helmet when riding a bike?? Yea, there is.  .  .So when we bought Camden a bike for his birthday, we bought him a helmet to go with it.  At first, he wore the helmet when riding the bike.  .  .then all of a sudden, he never rode the bike anymore.  It was strange, I would see him ride all of his old toys, the tricycle, the big wheel, the scooter with 3 wheels-but never the bike.  So one day I asked him: "Buddy, why don't you ride your bike anymore?"  His response: "I like to ride the other stuff because I don't need a helmet for them."

I didn't like this answer, I still pushed the bike every time we went outside, no interest at all if he had to wear the helmet.  So here is the main problem--the kids on our street, they don't wear helmets--I don't even think they have helmets.  So one night, Camden asked if he could ride his bike to Lauren's (right down the street, a very FLAT street) without his helmet--I looked at Jason and we both said: "okay, but just this one time!"  Let me tell ya, we had to PULL him off the bike, we really did.  I was so thrilled to see him on the bike the next day I let him ride it without the helmet--but just down the street, the really FLAT street.  I know, I know it's bad--but I didn't wear a helmet, Jason didn't wear a helmet.  .  .so is it really that big of a deal??????  Well, once we looked it up and found out it was a LAW.  .  .anyway, I've been pushing the helmet with not much luck.  I even pointed out one day that the police would arrest ME and take me to jail if he didn't wear his helmet.  .   .to which he replied after a moment of silence: "It's okay, you wouldn't be gone too long!!"  So tonight we went on a walk after dinner, and he wanted to ride his bike--off we went--we passed the STOP sign at the end of our street and he sort of stopped and looked at me and said: "I'm not wearing my helmet" I said: "well, it's okay this time (I really didn't want to turn around), but form now on we need to be sure to put one on"--well, apparently someone has been listening to all of my police talk (I actually try this scare tactic quite a bit) because he stopped and said "No Mommy!  I don't want to get arrested, we HAVE TO GO GET MY HELMET!  I CAN'T GET ARRESTED!"

TA-DA: and the helmet is on!!!  I have no false notions that he will be wearing it on a daily basis, but it seems that once he passes that STOP sign he feels a need to put it on!

In other news--I won a contest a month or so ago!  Can you believe it?  I won a gift certificate from an awesome photographer!!  Check out her blog.  

The school year is swiftly coming to an end--only 3 more weeks--then Camden will be Pre-K bound!!  I can't believe it!! 

The boys have been a little under the weather the past month--dang allergies--we had them on dual breathing treatments last week: 

We are gearing up for a week without Daddy, this is the longest stretch we've gone since he's been home, I have to say when he left I got a sick feeling in my stomach and even cried a little.  The first night went fine, I made breakfast for dinner and Camden actually ate my pancakes with no complaining!  He even told me they were "So Good!"  Evan did well with his breakfast too, he eats a little more than Camden so he did well with his eggs and grits--even used a fork and a spoon!!  He so wants to be a big boy and that is really breaking my heart a bit :(--they grow up so fast!!!  

Y'all have a great week!!!