Mom Play Time

For the first few months of the school year Sherene and I had a standing play date every Wednesday afternoon. Kid free. Sherene had an arrangement with her friend where they did a trade every week. Sherene and I were talking one day about all of the things we'd like to do and that's how the idea popped into her head to ask Brandi if she'd be willing to watch my two kids as well. Brandi was totally on board. That gave us 2 hours a week to go play. We had all kinds of fun. We hit every little shop in town that we've always driven by but have never had the time to go in and check out. We did the same thing in the next town over. We ate lunch at different restaurants. We did some grocery shopping without the hassle of kids. And probably the most fun outing was going to the driving range at the golf course. Those were good times! I was sad to see them end, but Brandi no longer needed to do the trade. It's amazing how just a couple of hours a week of Mom/Friend time can really make a difference.

Looking forward to ...

I am so looking forward to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows this week!!! I can't wait! Ever so slowly I have become a huge fan of the series, almost a tad bit obsessive at times. The books and movies are soooo good and if I had enough money to just throw away I would fly my family to Orlando and visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It just sounds like so much fun. At any rate it's always nice to have something to look forward to and this week it'll be Harry Potter. Yippee!!

Cameron's Award Ceremony

This past Wednesday was the SCORE award ceremony Cameron was invited to attend. It lasted almost 2 hours and was a really nice event. The high school offers a Catering Class and the students prepared a very good breakfast for us to enjoy; Egg & potato casserole, sausages, cinnamon rolls, fruit cups and juice. While we were eating the school superintendent spent a little time talking about the meaning of the SCORE award. We then had a guest speaker, retired Portland Trailblazer, Jerome Kersey. He shared a little about his journey to the NBA and encouraged the kids to get involved and make a difference. He then presented each student with a medal that was engraved with their name. It was so neat to sit back and watch my little boy be honored, thinking the whole time "whose child is that?"!

Andrew turns 3

Andrew today is your third birthday!

It seems like just a few months ago you were a little toddler running around in diapers not really being able to express all the things you wanted. Today you seem like a little man to me. You are smart & confident. You know what you want and will do what ever it takes to get it. You have such a great imagination. You listen to the words we tell you and then you aren't afraid to use the same phrases back to us, "Just one second" and "wait a minute" are just a couple. We absolutely LOVE your evil laugh. I don't know what it is about your laugh, but it makes us crack up every time. And finally, I absolutely love your smile! Your smile is so contagious. You are a very happy little guy. I love you with all of my heart and wish you the best 3rd birthday possible!!

Love, Mom

Halloween Weekend

I really enjoy Halloween and this weekend has been one on-going party. The celebrations began on Friday. I volunteered at Austin's school to help with their Halloween party, I did a little face painting. Thank goodness the kids were only 3 & 4th graders and didn't really care that I have no previous experience with face painting. The kids did have some eerie requests though; one boy asked me to paint a bullet hole on his forehead with blood dripping out of it, however, most just wanted stitches across their face with remnants of blood. Later that afternoon the boys got dressed up and I took them to the local nursing home for their annual event. The weather was beautiful and I was able to get some good pictures of the boys in their costumes. We nicknamed Andrew "Bones" and Cameron played the werewolf part well. Austin chose to be a scary ghost this year so I nicknamed us, the house of horror.

Saturday afternoon I took the kids as well as Taylar & Jordynn to the Children's Fair at the high school. I was really impressed by it! So many vendors were there and most of them had great activities for the kids. Later Saturday evening was the trunk-or-treat in the church parking lot. I like to dress up for Halloween as well so this year I bought a cheap costume from Walmart and walked around as a Vampire. It was great having Spencer join us. He got home from hunting in time to come out with us. He, unfortunately, doesn't quite share the same enthusiasm for dressing up in costume as I do. Oh well.

Seeing as the actual holiday fell on Sunday we opted to not go trick-or-treating this year in the neighborhood and just stay home and pass out candy, and the boys loved it! We also finished our Halloween Harry Potter Movie Marathon that we started on Friday. Happy Halloween everybody!

I am so proud of Cameron!

Today I received a letter in the mail that brought tears to my eyes! It was a letter from the Superintendent at our School District Office and was addressed to Cameron. Inside was a letter that said, "Congratulations! You have been selected for the Superintendent SCORE award. This award is presented four times during the school year. SCORE stands for Students Can Often Reach Excellence.

The November SCORE award honors students who have demonstrated their leadership, citizenship, or service to the school and/or community. Enclosed is your nomination that was submitted by a staff member who describes your wonderful qualities.

The really touching part was reading the nomination form submitted by Cameron's teacher, Mrs. Miller. Here is what it said:

"Cameron is an outstanding kinder. He has excellent citizenship. Cameron chooses to be safe, respectful, and responsible each day in our kindergarten class! Cameron is such an exceptional role model to the other kinder boys in our morning class. I am very proud of Cameron for being an extraordinary citizen at McBride."

As a Mom, how could a letter like that not bring tears to your eyes? I ran upstairs, hugged Cameron, shared the letter and news with him and told him how proud of him I am.

Mr. Independent!

I got it guys...No really, I can get it...

Okay, I give up! Thanks Cameron!

What a day!

This morning while I was taking a shower Andrew came into my bathroom, crying, saying he was bleeding. Sure enough somehow he sliced his finger and my mind started racing wondering what instrument I would find when I went downstairs. So I bandage him up, wiping away the conditioner that started running down my face, and forced him to stay in my bathroom until I could rinse completely off. Once we started descending down the stairs I saw lying at the bottom landing my large Pampered Chef knife, out of case. Seeing it lying there on the floor made me count my lucky stars that all he got was a little slice and didn't lose his entire finger. I have yet to find a sharper knife! Why Andrew sought out this knife is beyond me, but apparently he is too smart for my "kid proof" drawers now. I'm just glad he's okay.

A couple of hours later Cameron's bus came by to drop him off after kindergarten. The bus driver hands me a large garbage bag and starts to tell me how Cameron got thrown up on today by another classmate during school. I take a good look at Cameron and notice that he is wearing new pants and a sweater. He said his teacher has some extras in her class and that his clothes and backpack are in the bag. Let me tell you, I was scared to death to open the garbage bag because I didn't know what I was going to find! Luckily, the school was kind enough to wash off any gross stuff, but the smell was less than pleasant.

A few hours later, I returned from a lunch date and found a message on my answering machine from Austin's school. Seriously, the health room was calling! Apparently, Austin threw up at school and needed to come home. I swear the health room has got to be on a first name basis with Austin. After his bee sting incident, losing 2 teeth during school, a couple of minor injuries during recess and now this. I don't think my day could have had any more surprises waiting for me. Despite all the drama, it was actually a really great day!

PUD Spaghetti Dinner

Last night we attended the annual PUD spaghetti feed at the fairgrounds. We don't usually think to go, but we always really enjoy ourselves when we do. Cameron entered their coloring contest and won 2nd place for the kindergartners. He won $5 cash and was pretty excited about that. I love this event. The PUD hires caricaturists and although it takes forever waiting in line to get your kids drawn, it is well worth it! They always turn out so adorable. It's definitely a great family event.

Young Women Camping Retreat

Back in June we took the Young Women on an overnight camp out to Fort Stevens State Park. Tent camping at the coast anytime during the year is risky, but it worked out great for us. No rain, not even drizzle, until literally the minute before we had planned to pack up and leave. Our Ward has such a great group of Young Women and I feel so lucky to be in among them.

Our journey began late Friday afternoon when we all met up and started our way for the beach. Once we got there we set up camp and then drove to Seaside for dinner. We ate at Bar Harbor Pizza and then found a candy shop on the promenade before we left. When we got back we had our Standards Night presentation and some great questions were asked by the girls.

Bedtime was perhaps the most exciting. We had a practical joke played on us by a handful of young men from the Seaside Ward. After a humorous, yet scary display of seeing someone "perched" outside of our tent, our tent collapsed on us at 1:30 a.m. and the guys ran off. No one could sleep after that.

In the morning after breakfast we broke up into groups. The walkers and the cyclists. The walkers went to the beach to play for the day, while the cyclists rode to a bunch of the tourist sites around. After a few hours we all met back up for lunch and then headed home. It was a really fun time with such great company. I got a kick out of the car ride home though because the girls crashed and were drooling and sprawling out all over each other. Good times.