Random Goings On At Our Home

I haven't really had any one specific thing to post about lately, so here is a compilation of what we've been doing with our summer.  This last weekend we went to Park City with three other couple friends and stayed in a really nice condo.  Between the four couples we had eight munchkins four years old and younger.  It was of course really loud, but we all had a really good time.  We got to do a little shopping at the Outlet Mall, watch some of the World Cup and eat lots of yummy but totally unhealthy food.  Andrew even took Ella on the Alpine Slide, which she loved and wanted to go on again.  We got to stay up late visiting with each other and our sweet husbands even made an ice cream run for us at midnight the first night we were there.

Ella has also been busy with some watercolor paintings, bird feeding and tormenting her brother.  She has also been really good about sneaking into the garden and eating all the strawberries before anyone else gets a chance.  I've managed to get a couple bowls, but just barely.  I had to fight her off.

My little budding artist... she couldn't paint enough that day.

Here are a few pictures of Cameron's little birthday party as well.  Nothing fancy, just a bbq with a few close friends.  Cameron really liked the cupcakes though.  Thanks again Heather for making those.

We also took the munchkins to the zoo on Memorial Day.  It was a lot of fun and they seemed to really enjoy it.  I sort of forgot to take pictures for most of the trip, but I did manage to get a few.

This was the first time there that we actually got to see the tigers.

Big Changes Coming to Our Family

We have some big changes coming our way.  In December we will be adding Baby #3 to our growing family.  Yay!  Crazy, yes!  Especially considering that for about a week we will have three children age two and younger.  This baby's due date is actually the day before Ella's 3rd birthday.  Poor girl; I'm going to have to think of something extra special to do for her this year.  But, as scary and crazy as it is we are very excited as well!  I'm currently sixteen weeks and we find out what we're having on July 22nd.  I'm super excited to know whether Cameron is going to have a little brother to pal around with or whether Ella will get the little sister that she has been asking for since January.  Heaven help us if this is another little boy since we can't agree on boy names at all (Cameron is actually the only boy name we've ever agreed on).  In fact if it's a boy we might as well just name him Cameron Jr.  Just kidding of course, but seriously that's how bad the naming process is at our house (we have been known to raise our voices a time or two as well).  Girls are a little easier to agree on and we have one idea floating around, but it's still a battle.  We just have entirely different ideas on good names.  Andrew likes the common names and of course any unisex or place name is out.  I like more unique and certainly less common names, which of course doesn't go well with Andrew's common names.  I guess we'll see what we end up with this time.
In preparation for the new little one we went and purchased a new car this last weekend, well minivan actually.  Sniff sniff... I loved my escape, but it just wasn't going to fit three car seats (and trust me we tried).  So dear hubby has that now and I have a fabulous new honda odyssey with all the fun gadgets that minivans come with now.  It was hard to come to terms with driving a minivan, but once I started comparing the odyssey with the large SUV's I was considering, there really was no question.  I've really only ran errands in it once, but I can say that I honestly love this minivan.  Ella especially thinks the power doors are cool.  She always wants to push the button.
This also means that Ella and Cameron will soon be sharing a room.  I'm a little nervous for this, but I think it should be okay, I hope.  I've got a few ideas of how I'm going to decorate their new room, but the design is still a work in progress.  It's really hard to design a multi-gender shared space that doesn't involve a checked pattern of some sort.  So we'll see how this comes together.  I figure I have at least another month to think about it.  Once I know what we're having and I know whether or not I have to redo the nursery as well, then I'll know how quickly I need to get started on this project.  Any suggestions would be great...
Of course there's going to be the adjustment of going from two to three children as well and in the winter of all seasons.  I just keep telling myself it will all be okay.  I can handle this.  I figure if I say it enough it'll be true.  So hopefully now that I have some energy back and an ever-growing to do list, I'll start getting some things done around here again.  So watch for new projects that I'll be tackling soon.

Guess whose a big girl now?

That's right... our little miss Ella Bella is all potty trained now (except for nighttime... we're still working on that).  Woohoo!  We are all super excited around here and it's been so great not changing her diapers anymore.  I thought the process would be so much more difficult, but it was pretty painless.  I didn't want to nag her about it since she is the kind of stubborn child that would just push back so I tried to leave it alone, but once I felt that she was ready (she knew when she needed to go, she would just freak out if I suggested she sit on the potty) I bought her a new baby doll that sat on the entertainment center for about 4 or 5 days (she couldn't touch it, but it was there to remind her) when she finally decided she wanted it badly enough that she just went in the bathroom and did her potty business without even telling me.  I went looking for her and found her sitting on the toilet and was so excited.  Since then she's been going on the potty.  She hasn't had any accidents during her naps and we've really only had a small handful of accidents in the last month since she started.  We're doing pull-ups at night and not really pushing it too much since I think it'll happen when she's ready.  I'm so proud of her and tell her that all the time.  Of course whenever she sees me use the restroom now she says, "mommy go on the potty.  I so proud of you mommy."  She also feels the need to remind me to wipe.  It's quite funny to me.  I can't believe how fast she's growing up. She really is becoming a big girl now.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband and father!  We love you so much and are so grateful for all that you do for our family.  Ella and Cameron love and adore you and are always so excited to have you come home from work.  Cameron has even started to say "dada" when you get home.  So cute.  Thanks for being such a great dad.  Love You!

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful father's in our lives!

Happy Birthday Little Man!!!

Today is Cameron's first birthday.  My baby is getting so big and growing up so fast.  He has become quite the little boy recently and so for his birthday he got lots of balls and trucks.  This morning when he woke up we gave him a soccer ball that he played with for an hour and a half.  He wouldn't even let go of it for breakfast (which if you know my kids and food, that's unheard of - they really like to eat).  Tomorrow we're having a little bbq/birthday shindig with friends whose little boy has the same birthday, except that he is a year older.  We figured since we didn't really want to go all out for a one and two year olds birthday and we have all the same friends, we would just combine birthdays and have a bbq.  Anyways, should be fun.

Happy Birthday Cameron!  We love you lots and lots.  You've been so fun to have around this last year and we look forward to many more memories.

He was so tiny...

He found the bag of animal cookies in the diaper bag and dumped them out while I was helping Ella.  He had eaten quite a few at this point and was pretty full.

All About Ella and Cameron

Not only have I been a slacker about blogging lately, but when I have blogged it's been about projects, home, etc...  So this post is strictly about Ella and Cameron.  They are both growing up so fast and have changed so much since I last posted updates about them.

Ella is 2 1/2 now and thinks she can do anything (I wouldn't usually discourage this kind of thinking, but it really hinders us throughout the day sometimes).  She has mastered the art of taking off her clothes (oh joy!), which is one of her favorite things to do and when willing can put all her clothing back on except for that shirt (she still needs mom for that :).  She has some serious spunk and attitude, which although it drives me crazy, I secretly love it (no wimpy, passive girls in this house).  She has become very interested in watching me cook, which thrills me to no end, but again, it makes my job just that much more difficult when I'm constantly telling her to not touch the hot stove or I'm tripping over the chair that she drags from counter to counter watching every move I make (it makes me smile just thinking about it).  She is an absolute daddy's girl, but knows that mommy is the one to go to when comfort is needed from a bad dream, a skinned knee or she is just scared.  She is such a little mommy - she loves her baby dolls and likes to teach them everything that Cameron is learning (i.e. she teaches them how to crawl up and down stairs, holds their hands to walk, gives them bites of her food, and yes she even nurses them sometimes).  She is very concerned that she shares her blankies with them at night so they don't get cold and they even get their own cradle next to her bed at night.  We've recently put Ella into a twin size bed and it seems to be going okay, although we have the occasional nights when she still wants to sleep in the toddler bed.  One of these days we'll go and pick out bedding for her new "big girl" bed.

Ella has also started saying some very funny things.  About half the time she calls me "Shanade" especially if she's trying to get my attention (funny how they learn so young).  She went through a phase where she would ask if you liked something and when you said yes she would always ask "do you?" in this drawn out voice; it was hilarious.  She loves to talk on the phone, especially with grandma or Aunt Caitlin.  When she was talking to grandma the other day she was rattling on about everything we were doing at home and when she was finished she said, "so anyways".  She always has us laughing with whatever phrase she has recently picked up.  She is such a smart little girl too.  It always amazes me how smart such a little person can be.  I love it.  She loves to read and has some of her favorite books such as "Giraffe and a Half", "Where the Wild Things Are" and "Were Going on a Bear Hunt" memorized word for word.  She has quite the imagination as well.  She likes to tell me that she's going on a bear hunt and she'll be safe, which is good cause I worry. :)

She also loves her nursery class and friends at church.  She is always talking about her "friends" and on Sundays she is so anxious to go to nursery.  Church doesn't start until 11:00, so from the time she wakes up till then she is constantly asking if it's time to go yet.  She loves to sing and has learned lots of songs in nursery as well.  She has even started making up her own words for the songs, again with the creative juices.  It makes me proud.  Ella is a great big sister and adores Cameron.  She is always trying to help and teach him, which of course usually does just the opposite, but she tries so hard.  We love our little Ella Bella and are so proud of her and the big girl she's becoming.

Now on to Mr. Handsome.  My baby is growing up.  He has completely lost his baby looks and is starting to look like such a little boy.  He has really started to look like a mini Andrew - I think it's so cute.  He has become quite the little champ on the stairs going up and down, which is good because it really makes me nervous to watch him come down from the landing to that first step.  He has also started standing up on his own and has started taking several steps.  He'll try walking on his own and he usually gets about 4-5 steps into it and then crashes, but has managed to get in a few more steps before.  Last week he really wasn't that interested at all, but just today it seemed like he was always on his feet trying to walk from the couch to a toy or to Ella or I.  He is also such a little boy.  He loves anything with wheels on it and he loves balls.  We had to go and buy him his own green ball last week because "someone" was a little possessive of their pink ball and really didn't want to share.  That's okay though, what house couldn't use a few more balls from Wal-Mart.  Cameron has also started to say a few words. His favorite of course is Mama, which is usually all I hear from him throughout the day, and on occasion he'll say Ella, Dada and ball.

Cameron is also following in his sisters footsteps and has become quite the champion eater.  I was worried about this because for the first several months he hated food and was quite picky about anything that went near his mouth.  Now of course you can't feed him fast enough.  He certainly has a sweet tooth that we've got to watch out for, but he loves most fruits and veggies (although he likes them better pureed than whole) and he loves meat.  Kinda weird how much this kid loves meat.  We've also started him on the whole milk, which he just guzzles of course.  This had made weaning him from the nursing so much easier.  In fact I think we're just about done nursing.  When I tried to feed him before bed tonight he didn't want anything to do with that and instead just tried to bite me.  I can take a hint and I'm okay with that.

Cameron has also started sleeping so good at night.  Oh sweet merciful heavens, this kid has finally started letting me sleep at night.  About a month and half ago I had had enough when he started waking up 2-3 times a night again and so I let him cry for a few nights in a row and it worked miracles.  Now he sleeps from 8:00 to 7:30 ish.  It has made such a difference in his personality.  He is so much happier and less cranky during the day.  I love it.  He is happier, but he has quite the stubborn and determined personality.  Holy Schmoly is this kid stubborn!  He is really good with the fit throwing as well.  I know I know, he's not even a full year yet and he's throwing a fit.  I don't know what it is about that second child and having such a stubborn personality, but gosh dang it this kid is going to give me a run for my money.  None the less, I'm still in love with this little guy.

Anyways, so that is what's up with Ella and Cameron.  We are gearing up for summer and are looking forward to playing on our new grass.  Both kids are itching to get outside and really don't like be locked up in the house when it's warm.  We're also getting ready for Cameron's first birthday.  Not really sure what we're doing just yet, but I'm sure we'll think of something.

Poor girl... she crawled into our bed one night and ended up rolling off the bed and smacked the corner of the nightstand before hitting the floor

Our New Yard - Before and After

Our yard is finally "finished".  Enough to show pictures at least.  Really the landscaper's work is done and now our job begins.  Since we laid new sod we've got to wait a couple of weeks before we can walk on it, so all of the planting that we have yet to do will have to wait until next weekend, but here are some pictures in the meantime.

Before Pics:

During Pics:

Andrew took the wall down so that we could make this planter smaller.

Working so hard while I just take pictures.

I'm so glad we didn't try to transplant these ourselves.

After Pics:

The grass has started to fill in really well and all those brown spots are looking so much better.

This back corner will be where we plant our raspberry patch and we're planting blackberries is the raised planter bed.

I really like my new Japanese maple garden

I'm going to plant some hydrangeas in that far planter.

Kinda weird how just certain areas burn.  These too are turning green now.

I know this planter still looks huge, but it is so much smaller than what it was.  Now I'm wondering what to put in it.  Any suggestions?  I'm hoping to fill it this weekend.  It looks pretty bad and it's really standing out especially since our house and the previous owners were sort of "that house" in our neighborhood.  You know the kind.  The yard always looks perfect, they spend every waking moment in the yard and all the neighbors strive for their roses to look as good.  Yeah, that's not us.  But, I still think we need something nice and I do like to have nice curb appeal.  I just don't want something that requires as much attention as my children.  I have a few ideas floating around, but I would love to hear your suggestions as well.