Disneyland Smells

What does Disneyland smell like, you may ask? Or do you even care? Well, to a 6 year old little boy Disneyland has a distinct smell.

We were driving down to St. George yesterday and when getting back in the car after a potty break in Beaver there were 3 people smoking right by the van. Cameron asks loudly, "How come it smells like Disneyland?" HaHa!

The boys found the Disneyland maps in the luggage this morning. They loved looking at them and I was amazed at the details they remember. We have got to get back.

My Little Men

Shell-Bell was kind enough to brave the freezing cold a couple of Saturdays ago to take the kiddo's 6yr and 4yr old pictures. We also were able to take Cole-baby's 3 yr old pictures. Nicole was in a dress, so we took hers first and luckily she was a ham, so we got done quick. She sat in the warm car with Chad while we worked with the boys. The temp dropped quickly and I am not picky with pictures (my saying is, "there's got to be at least ONE good one in there--we're done.") So we boogied out of there. It's easy to not be so picky when Shell does a great job editing and it costs me nothing more than maybe some babysitting and/or jewelry. Good trade in my opinion.

I actually get sad looking at the two of them. The thought of our family changing, even though it will be a good change, is hard. Our little foursome works so well. I take Spencer, Chad takes Cameron and there is plenty of "no hitting" space in any vehicle.

I don't remember what we said here,,,but I love it. Goofy boys. They are such good little buddies. They're not perfect, and there is plenty of fighting and teasing in our house, but I see the love and concern they have for each other. Their little personalities compliment each other well--Cam is more uptight, Spence is laid-back (about certain things). Cam's the peacemaker, so when Spencer is demanding (as he often is) Cameron gives in to keep the peace. Spencer adores Cam and wants to be like him and Cam is so good to include him.

I absolutely adore my little boys. I am grateful I get to be their mommy and I embrace their uniqueness. They teach me so much and even if they grow up having more than their fair share of "Oprah moments" ie. Beach Day. They will sure as heck know that their Momma loves them.

Spencer is so fun and goofy, although he has a hard time opening up to many people. There are even VERY close family members that don't see the real Spencer too often. You have to EARN your place with this kid--he makes you work for the love and attention he is willing to give. He is very sweet and all of his little friend's moms/primary teachers/pre-school teacher adore him and tell me, "there is just something about Spencer." He learns well in non-traditional ways--I have given up on using Cam's old pre-school workbooks. Cameron would eat those books up and whizzed through them. Spencer couldn't care less--but he is a sponge and surprises me with the things he knows and remembers if I am creative in my teaching.

Age 4 was a dream with Cameron, not so much with Spencer. He is starting to exert his independence more and more. He used to be SO obedient, now everything is, "too hard" or "I'm too tired." At least when he gets sent to his bedroom he obeys and will stay on his bed until he is ready to be better---I don't go get him. I wait for him, because with Spencer you just ignore and he will come around when he is ready. Then he acts like nothing happened, no pouting, just happy goofy Spencer.

Cameron is such a little man, and always has been. He is a mini-Chad and I am so grateful for Chad, because this little boy is a mystery to me in so many ways, and Daddy knows just what he is thinking and feeling. "We'll see what Daddy thinks when he gets home," is a phrase often uttered in our house. Actually Richele understands him well too--I have called her in tears a couple of times asking her to tell me what to say to my own son. I admire that Cameron always wants to do his best. He is very concerned for others, especially family, and wants to do what's right. He is very loving and affectionate. He is a "pleaser" and wants to make mommy and daddy happy. I think the motivation for his good decisions will in part be because he doesn't want to disappoint us. Oh he loves to learn and does very well in school. He will probably be one to actually put too much pressure on himself academically.

I love candid pictures, and Shell and I tried to get Cameron to act more natural, but he would not take the "perma-grin" off. Just like my Cameron--wanting to be perfect.

Abby's Room

I am definitely not one to wait until the last minute to get my baby's nursery ready. It always makes me feel better knowing I am ready---room-wise anyway. We are so excited to have a baby girl, but I am not one for drowning the room in pink. Besides I remembered this fabulous 70's wicker swag lamp that used to be in MY nursery (no, I don't remember it from when it was my nursery. Richele is the one who remembers the womb---my memories start at about kindergarten.) Anyway, I have always thought it was the coolest lamp and I remember seeing it in storage at Mom's. I also knew that mom still had some Hollie Hobbie (not sure if that's the correct spelling) little wall hangings she kept from my nursery as well. Also, I was the first child born, so there was a plethora of blankets made for me. (It's sad that subsequent children just don't get as much stuff.)
One Saturday I headed to Mom's and Dad raided the storage. We gathered everything we could from 34 years ago. Mom loves to throw things away, but thankfully she kept a lot of our baby things. Chad was just thrilled with the 3 large garbage bags full of stuff that entered our home that evening. And I'm the one always complaining we don't have enough room. Sadly, Dad was never able to find the lamp. I neglected to take a picture of the inside of the closet---stuffed full of baby clothes I wore. And they are in fabulous condition. I think Mom had some serious laundry skilz, but she says we girls were really nice on our clothes. Other than a few pieces of elastic that had lost their stretch, and some threadbare knees, all the clothes looked new---not bad for 35 years and 3 little girls.

Cam has been good on his clothes, but most had to be chucked after Spencer---and I DON'T have mad laundry skilz. So other than a couple of things, my boys won't have anything to be sentimental about. Not that boys would anyway.

I think she's good on hair accessories--for now. I still haven't made the bows from the grosgrain ribbon I bought---these are mainly the crocheted and organza flowers. The picture above the changing table is a watercolor of the London Temple a lady from Chad's mission painted. That is daddy's only contribution to the nursery--sorry. I was considering asking Brett if I could borrow his Cabbage Patch Kid, Will Denney to display, but since poor little Will's head was used more as a weapon I figured he probably isn't around anymore.

Mom can't remember which Payson friend made the Giraffe for me, but it's the COOLEST!!

I remember seeing pictures of it, but we didn't discover it until that Saturday. The basket of blankets is cut off in the picture, but I have a crocheted afghan, and a baby sleeping bag Grandma Loveridge made. A blanket from Nana and afghan from Mom. The bedding is new---killer deal from Amazon.

The Hollie Hobbie's were in such good condition, I just bought new frames for them. The doll on the shelf and quilt G. Loveridge made--Mom thinks they were 2 of her last projects before she died. The frame on the shelf has baby pictures of Abby's Grandmas and Great Grandmas. (Shell-Bell always comes up with such thoughtful gifts.) Mom made the dolls on the dresser. Mom says the little quilt on the dresser was one she used for her dolls and it was made by Carol Jean's Grandma Marshall (her childhood friend's grandma--so it's REALLY old--haha). The books were my Little House on the Prairie--loved them. The figurines were from both of my Grandmas.

AND I spent about $110 bucks on the entire nursery---I don't have Laundry skilz, but I am great at recycling decorations and I was patient enough to find a killer deal on the bedding.

As a side note: While I type this Cam is in the other room playing a card game with 2 friends and he just said, "this is so much fun isn't it? It's just like we're adults." He has come out of bed many many times to see mommy and daddy playing games with friends, so I'm sure he does feel very grown-up--especially since he is the one explaining the game.

Worst Mom....EVER!!!

Yah', so that would be me. A note came home from school yesterday about "Beach Day"--they were supposed to wear swimsuits, bring towels, and bring a sack lunch. I read the note, looked at the calendar---it was for next Tuesday (or so I thought), put the note on the fridge to remind me, and went about my day. This morning I got the boys ready and took them to Grammy's and I went to work--just a normal Tuesday. Well, when I got home tonight Cameron calmly said, "Mom, I missed Beach Day. Everybody else had their lunches and swimsuits, but me." Then the waterworks came---his, not mine. (Mine came after we put the boys to bed.) Oh my goodness, I feel awful. Like being a mom isn't hard enough, but when you screw-up like this, it just brings on a whole new level of guilt.

After making a dozen phone calls, I will be taking Cam tomorrow to the AF Target to buy Lego Batman for the xBox 360. It will forever be known as the, "my mom is a dumbass game."

Is It Time for Prayer or Story?

Fam picture from Christmas Eve--hard to line it up just right.

.

Tonight when we were putting the boys to bed Cam said his prayers first then it was Spencer's turn. It is kind of comforting to know that my mind isn't the only one that wanders at times when prayers are being said. Spencer kneels on his bed, folds his arms, bows his head and says, "Once upon a time...." Oh, so stinkin' funny. How I love my boys.

The Aliens in my House

Picture of the Aliens. They may look like adorable little boys in their Christmas outfits (they even chose their own ties), but looks are deceiving.......today they might as well be aliens.

ALIEN #1--otherwise known as Spencer: I would like to know what 3-almost-4-year-old gets the concept of delayed gratification. Because this little alien does. Cameron has been an angel to share his DS with Spencer. Despite his generosity, we have had many a fight over the DS. Since Spencer's birthday is Feb 1st--we thought we would get him his own DS and the exact same game as Cam. Sweet, problem solved. Or so we thought. The fighting has escalated to the point where we told Spencer last Saturday that we would go to Wal-Mart that very day and get his birthday present early. We explained that he will still get other presents, but that will be his main gift. The little stink wanted to wait for his birthday. In fact, I ask him every day if he still wants to wait and he does. Dude, I would take it early---birthday, schmirthday. See---alien.

ALIEN #2--Cameron. This might have more to do with him being a boy, than him being Cameron, but it's still weird to me. What is it with boys and video games????? Seriously. Cam had a playdate today with a boy in his Kindergarten class. They pulled out their DS's and I went to clean the bathrooms---20 minutes later I come out to total silence. Cameron on one end of the couch and his friend on the other. No talking, no interaction----hello boys. I told them to turn off the DS's and go play with toys. They obeyed right away, but 5 minutes later I headed down to clean the basement bathroom and they were setting up the Wii. Holy Crap----I kept my cool, but firmly told them to turn off ANY video game they had and to pull out the imaginext castles and play. There was seriously 20 minutes of whining and " we're bored". Finally they listened to their mommy and got out all 3 imaginext castles and had a ball for all of 20 minutes before his friend's mom came to pick him up.

So to all of my friends and family reading this with boys---what do I do about the friend/video game thing???? Video games are only played on Friday/Saturday, unless a friend comes over, then I normally allow 45 minutes, but it is NEVER enough for them. They are like lost little creatures when it's time to turn off the games. I understand that it's winter and when the weather IS nice they are good about playing outside. If anybody has any hints or strategies I would love to hear it.

Welcome New Year!!

Even though I don't have pictures to post right now (computer is DEAD!!). I was in the mood to say a quick hello. Hello!! Chad spent from 2am to 7am on New Years trying to fix our computer to no avail. So I am typing this from my new netbook---love it love it love it. Chad will have to work his magic to get our pictures from the hard drive--I'm not stressed about it right now. I just love my new little toy. Cam likes that I can be upstairs checking email instead of "always in the basement".

We had a magnificent Christmas!! Nice and quiet. Chad had the entire week after Christmas off of work. I totally thought I would be sick of him, but we really do get along well and I hated seeing him off on the 4th. Believe me, so did the boys. The three of them played and played the entire break. We did one activity every day--which was perfect. Then the three boys disappeared into the basement for hour upon hour of video games---meh-it was Christmas. Although, they got daily reminders that once school started up again they would only be able to play video games Friday after school and Saturdays. Which is where the three of them are at this moment. Coming from a fam of all girls I am still mystified by the video game thing, but it definitely has its good points.

January and February are normally my most disliked months. Big time!!! But it is nice to have my mind distracted with preparations for little Abby Kate. This little fam is so stinkin' excited to have her come. Although I still get a little nauseous when I see another newborn---the thoughts of everything that comes with a newborn makes me a bit sick. Hopefully time and Zoloft at 34 weeks will help with that. hahaha!! I have been making hair klippies like crazy---matching all of her cutsie little outfits. The other night I couldn't sleep and I stumbled on organza flowers on Etsy. So I googled the instructions and yes, we have a new obsession. Oh, they are fun and so pretty. Although there are little bits of organza all over my house and I have burned my thumb more times that I can count.

Chad gave me the complete Ally MacBeal collection. I am enjoying it so much. The series started my first year at Weber State and all of my roommates loved it. We all made sure to be home at 8:00 on Mondays to watch. Such good memories. Seriously great memories. At the time I thought it was kind of naughty, but it really is tame in comparison to todays standards. Not really a good thing.

So my little fam is starting 2010 off well. The boys are happy, and I am busy with Ally MacBeal, making hair accessories, making an embroidered receiving blanket, piecing a baby quilt, designing and making birth announcements, getting a nursery ready. That should seem overwhelming, but it's actually "Kami Nirvana". And I wonder why I don't get much sleep sometimes.