Happy 4th Birthday Camden!!

Four years ago today Chris and I became parents for the first time and we couldn't be any prouder of our 4 year old. It was a hard concept for him to understand that we celebrated his birthday on a day that wasn't his birthday, so he was very excited about today as you can imagine. I didn't see him for most of the day. I let him stay the extra time at school today. It was like he was a first grader. My baby was at school from 8-3 (he came home and slept for an 1 1/2). I was somewhat sad of this because he was soooooo excited to do so. His teachers said that he reminded them that he was staying for "Lunch Bunch" at least 20 times during the morning (and I'm sure he did so). Now that he is four he doesn't need me to hold his hand every step of the way; he's just growing up so quickly. I know there will still be plenty of times he will need me so I got over it. Today is also Mardi Gras (how fun is it to have your birthday on Mardi Gras?!?), so we went to the church tonight for some Mardi Gras games and crafts and ended the evening with childrens' prayer time in the church. I think he had a great day.

Pirates Have Birthdays!

Ever since Camden got the book, "How I Became A Pirate" (a must-have if you have a boy), pirates have been his favorite. So to celebrate his 4th birthday (which is actually tomorrow) we decided to have a pirate-themed birthday. Friday he opened up a pirate costume from us (he loves to play dress-up) and slept in it in his pirate sleeping back that night. On Sunday we had our family over for his birthday. He was so excited to wear his costume again for the party. All of the photos are in the web albums.

Between his new bike and his in-line skates, he will be able to keep up with all of the older kids in the neighborhood now.

It is so hard for a 2 year old to understand that it will be his turn to have a birthday party in 4 months...lucky for him he got to open a few gifts and ultimately enjoy this candy necklace. That seemed to make everything better. He had a rough week between being sick and celebrating his brother's birthday. I have to say that my biggest accomplishment lately has been this cake. I wanted Camden to have a pirate ship cake and it would have cost a fortune to have it made so I tackled the task myself. It turned out great and I am glad that I did it. However I will be spending this week trying to catch up on some rest now that we don't have any sick kids or birthdays to prepare for.

Recreation's Unlimited Party...

We celebrated Camden's birthday this weekend. First we had a party at Recreation's Unlimited on Friday night with our friends and their kids. They had lots fun swinging, sliding, jumping, and shooting hoops. Camden was super excited that it was his birthday party. I don't think he wanted the night to end.

Sick little Carson...

Poor Carson, this is how he spent most of this past weekend. I ended up taking him to the doctor today because this is the 4th straight day he has had a fever that at some point has hit 104 degrees. They did a nasal swab to test for the flu and that came back negative. Then she sent us down for chest x-rays and those came back fine as well. So if he isn't better by Wednesday then we have to take him back.

Cooper's first Valentine's Day. I love the little dimple and tongue hanging out.

Sunday Bennett (Abby's little one) was Baptized. We are the proud Godparents. A big, big thanks to Tatum who volunteered to help out with Carson while we attended the Baptism.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have had a fun week full of valentine movies (Charlie Brown), crafts, parties, cards, cookies, and even learning a little about St. Valentine. The boys had a good time at their school parties and spent most of yesterday looking through their bags at all of their goodies. We did some crafts and made some cookies here at home. We were off to deliver some of those cookies today but had a change of plans when Carson woke up not feeling so well. He has come down with the flu. Complete with a very high fever, vomitting, and a cold. We are working on getting better because we have a fun weekend ahead with Bennett's Baptism and a birthday party. I hope everyone gets a chance to celebrate Valentine's Day in some way.

I tried to get one good photo of the boys together and the cookies that they decorated. I think they were a little high on all the icing they consumed in the decorating process and Cooper was too tired to care at all about sitting in his Boppy.

Camden taking his job very seriously.

Carson doing what he does best...trying to eat as much sugar as he can in the course of a day. I think he wakes up and makes it his number one priority. It can be such a struggle to get him to eat something healthy.

Potty training at its best!

Carson is about 95% potty trained, which we are so excited about. He still has accidents here and there and it is usually because he waits until the last minute to go. Last Friday at my parents' house he had an accident and I didn't bring extra pants with us (I know shame on me) so we put Uncle Drew's soccer socks on him (which I don't know why he has soccer socks to begin with since he never played soccer). Maybe they are Abby's old ones or Madi's (Andrew's girlfriend). Anyways, they took up his whole leg and looked hilarious. He was so proud of them and slept in them that night.

Bennett and Cooper will someday be good friends. But right now they are more in to competing with each other about who can stare at the T.V. longer.

31 and so much to be thankful for...

These photos are a little late but last Friday (the 6th) I turned 31...yup, up and over the big hump of 30. I have so much to be thankful for, especially in these hard times that so many are experiencing. I have my health, 3 beautiful, healthy sons, a loving husband that I love dearly, and am surrounded by my family and friends. I had a good birthday. So many times it snows and is about 3 degrees outside but not last Friday, we had a nice "warm" winter day (mid-40s). We went up to my parents house and celebrated it with my family. Then on Sunday Chris' parents and Grandma came up to celebrate it with me. Camden was really confused...he said "you already had your birthday." You can check out the web albums for the rest of the photos.

Don't ask me why we are dressed alike...it was total coincidence.

A+ Gymnastics Open Gym...

We were having a little cabin fever Saturday and A+ Gymnastics was having a special open gym time, so we decided to take advantage of it. Daddy had never been before and the boys enjoyed showing him around. They had a great time playing on the equipment and running around burning off some energy. I finally got the boys to walk on the beam and jump off the end into the foam pit by themselves. Carson did it first and once Camden saw Carson doing it he decided to do it too. Camden wasn't going to let Carson have "one up" on him.

If climbing is involved Carson is there to do it.