Cameron's Four Month Checkup

Cameron had his four month checkup last week and he is becoming such a big boy.  He was 14 lbs 4 oz and 26" long.  In four months he has grown 8 inches.  Holy crap!  He is tall and skinny, but oh so cute.  He loves to stand up and he is getting better about sitting up when supported.  His sleeping has been horrible lately because he's had a sore throat, although I think we are finally over that.  Hopefully his sleeping will get better now.  Fortunately, his happy self is back during the day.

We decided to have a little photo shoot during lunch today to show off Mr. Handsome since he is getting so big and we haven't done one in so long.  Enjoy!

So Handsome and Happy

He wanted to show off his rock hard abs

I just can't get over how stinkin' cute he is

Oh he is so photogenic when he wants to be

That is the kind of smile you get when Ella talks to him

Cameron's New Toy

Cameron has a new toy that depending on his mood he likes for a short time at least.  We never had an exercauser with Ella, although I would have loved one, but we decided that it would be good with Cameron to serve as an extra layer of protection from a certain someone in the house. :)  After his pitiful playmat was officially broken I was on the lookout for another one, but I also wanted as exercauser.  Unfortunately, both are so expensive.  So when I ran across this 3-in-1 playmat, exercauser and activity table for $50 I had to get it.  Like I said Cameron likes it when he wants to and only for a short time, but Ella loves it as long as I don't trap her in the exercauser.  Hehehe.  I'm sure he'll like it a little more once he is more sturdy and sits up better, at least I hope.  Once he is too big for the exercauser it turns into a long activity table that he can play with.  It was more than I wanted to spend, but in the long run I think I got a pretty good deal.

Here is a picture of him looking pretty content.  There is also a picture of Ella who is finally getting comfortable with her playroom.  She likes to go and play in there now and I was able to get a cute picture of her sitting and reading her books.

Afternoon at the Aviary

About a week ago the Aviary was hosting a free day so we went with a couple of friends.  Ella loves "birdies" so I knew she would love this place.  She got to see lots of birds including a toucan, a bald eagle, a condor - her daddy's favorite, and some hawks and at the end she got to feed the ducks and pelicans.  She had a lot of fun seeing all the birds while running around with her little friends.

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

A couple of weeks ago (this is how far behind I am on posting) Andrew's firm took all the attorney's to Lake Powell for the weekend.  So I took this as the perfect opportunity to take a little weekend trip with the kids.  I loaded the car up with with both kids, all their gear and the dog and we headed to my grandparents house for a little weekend visit.  It's only a three hour drive so it wasn't too bad, but both kids were getting pretty restless by the time we got there, not to mention Roxy too.  We had a great little visit.  Ella got to feed the ducks with her Great-Grandpa at the pond, both Ella and Cameron got spoiled by Great-Grandma and their Great-Aunt Alicia with toys and new shoes and Ella even got new big girl panties so she will be all ready when she decides it's time to use the potty.  It was so nice to visit for a couple of days and we're lucky to have them so close.  We look forward to seeing them next month at Thanksgiving.

A Rough Week

This last week Mr. Handsome decided that he didn't want to sleep.  He would just scream during the day and there wasn't a whole lot that would make him happy and he would wake up literally every hour during the night.  Thank heavens for makeup.  We assumed that he was ready to start rice cereal because once we started that his mood got a little better, but we're still working on the rice cereal - he isn't so sure what to think of it.  Anyways, after a few really rough nights I needed something to boost my mood so I bought myself some cute shoes.  Aren't shoes supposed to make you feel better.  Then on Friday, Andrew being the wonderful husband that he is brought home dinner from one of my favorite places to eat so that I didn't have to cook.  I'm so lucky to be married to someone so wonderful.

Aren't these shoes so cute?  I love them.

Doesn't this look so tasty?  A delicious California Turkey Panini with a tasty Strawberry Chicken Salad.

Randomness

About a week and a half ago Andrew came home to a frazzled me and whiny kids.  Needless to say I needed a little bit of time to myself and so I left the kids with him and went to dinner by myself.  Nothing special, just the drive-through, but I got to just sit in silence in the parking lot and eat without being nagged to share.  Don't get me wrong, I adore my children and will do anything for them, but sometimes I need a little time to myself without having to share.  Anyways, after eating and perusing the local thrift store without kids I ventured home to find Andrew sleeping with Mr. Handsome on his lap and Ella just sitting next to him all alone.  It was kinda funny, but just a little sad at the same time since Ella obviously wanted the attention of her daddy and Andrew was obviously so tired that he couldn't stay awake once he sat down.

Here are a few other pics of the munchkins.

This is how we find Ella in the morning... pj's unzipped and if we're really lucky her diaper is still on.

Andrew and Cameron sleeping.  Amazingly Ella just sat there next to them and didn't destroy anything.

Ella thought her brother needed her baby while sleeping.

Brother and sister watching tv.  Doesn't he look happy?

Mr. Handsome

Ella with her Halloween balloons.

We gave Cameron some rice cereal for the first time on Saturday since he hasn't been sleeping and we thought it might be due to hunger.  Since then his sleeping has gotten a little better.

As you can see he isn't really sure what to think of the rice cereal.  He does okay, but just isn't into it just yet.

Canning and Preserving Goings On...

A couple of weeks ago two of my dearest girlfriends and I got together and canned 84 jars of peaches in one day.  Holy cow!  That was a long day and quite the sticky mess to clean up.  Fortunately, my father-in-law David was here and he did a great job keeping all of our six kids entertained and out of our way.  This has since inspired me to want to can some more stuff this year.  My plans are to can some apple pie filling, apple butter, pears, chicken and turkey.  I've canned chicken before and I'm assuming turkey is the same and last year I canned applesauce and pear sauce and now that I've done peaches I would like to attempt pears, but I guess we'll see.  It depends on how much free time I can find in the next month.  On Saturday night, I managed to make a couple pints of raspberry jam which is quite tasty although I would cut down on the sugar next time.  It was way too sweet for me.  On Saturday I also managed to get our last crop of zucchini grated, bagged and in the freezer.  I was able to get 11 cups of grated zucchini, so don't be surprised if you get some zucchini bread from us this year.  Also, since fall is officially here and it has been freezing at night I figured that I should pick all the tomatoes I could get from my plants to salvage anything I could.  I have about ten pounds of green tomatoes sitting on my counter right now just waiting to ripen so that I can freeze those as well.  That's in addition to the five pounds of red tomatoes in my produce drawer.  I also need to figure out what to do with all my cucumbers.  I was going to pickle them, but I don't have enough to do that.  Any suggestions?

Anyways, I've babbled long enough about that so here are a few pics to enjoy.

Just a little Halloween craft

Here is a cute little block set that I whipped up about a month ago.  I'm teaching this craft to a group of women at church next week and I needed to have it done nice and early to display.  It only took me about an hour and a half to do.  I was so excited with how it came out.

Click here for a tutorial

Summer Vacation

Sorry that I haven't posted about our trip before now, but we've been really busy here at home and things aren't slowing down anytime soon.  So here is a quick recap of our trip.  We left on September 3rd and drove to Missoula where we stayed the night at a KOA Kamping Kabin.  The next day we drove to West Glacier and stayed there for four days.  While we were there we rode a Historic Red Bus along the Going to the Sun road up to Logan Pass and we got to see a cute little black bear cub.  I got to do a little shopping, which I have to say is so much more fun without little kids.  Oh well, I love my little munchkins regardless.  We also did a couple little walks one of which was on the "Trail of the Cedars".  I couldn't believe how beautiful it was up there.  On Monday night we drove to East Glacier and were met with some seriously strong winds and really cold weather.  Thank goodness for a cabin with a heater.  Tuesday we spent the day at Many Glacier Hotel and took a boat tour across Swiftcurrent Lake and Josephine Lake.  From there we hiked to Granell Lake and Hidden Falls.  It was about two miles roundtrip and a little longer than I would usually hike especially with two kids under two, but Andrew really wanted to and I finally gave in, but only with promises of a really nice dinner. :)  Anyways, on Wednesday we drove to Banff National Park in Canada.  We did get a little lost in Calgary which was an adventure, but once we found our way we were good to go.  We had a great time in Banff and could totally see going back there again.  It reminded us a lot of Park City. While we were there we did a little bit of shopping, hiking and we even rode a gondola that gave us an amazing view of the town.  We visited the Banff Springs Hotel, which is pretty much a castle and costs as much as a castle would, but it was so beautiful.  On Saturday we got really adventurous and decided to do the drive home in one day rather than breaking it up.  We left Banff at 7:30 am and seventeen hours later we arrived home safe and sound and totally exhausted.  The kids did amazingly well on the drive which we were extremely grateful for.  I think they knew we were going home as well.  Anyways, we had a great trip and would love to go back again someday.

Andrew and the munchkins at St. Ignatius Mission in Montana.

On a nice little walk in West Glacier... of course my "big" girl didn't want to hold my hand for a picture.

Lake McDonald

Me and my munchkins on the Red Bus Tour Ride.

The whole family at Logan Pass... it was pretty cool to stand on the Continental Divide.

Just one of the beautiful stops along the Going to the Sun Road.

Andrew and his little hikers next to a huge cedar tree.

Mr. Handsome and I on the gondola

Up at the top... this is where the gondola drops you off at.

My two boys.

Moving On

I've been playing around and I think I'm going to officially move us over to blogger.  The official move won't happen until the middle of September, but from here on out all posts will be on blogger.  We'll see you when we get back from Glacier.