Life with the Shirley Family

Life with the Shirley Family

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Camden

Camden is our silly child and he will tell you that. As every child is different, he is not his brother! Camden talked late compared to Nathan (which is probably just normal!), but when he started, he hasn't stopped. When Nathan was his age we were amazed at his intelligence because he has such a good memory and could tell you facts of any subject that he was interested in that week (we went through several topics from sharks to NASCAR). Nathan was also easy to teach his memory verses to in Cubbies. Camden on the other hand would rather be building something. When I am working with him on learning a verse, I will say part, have him repeat, say another part, have him repeat, and so forth. Then I will say the first part in hopes that he will say the whole verse. For example, me: God loved us; Camden: God loved us; me: finish it; Camden: finish it. Sigh. He has improved, but his skills are in other areas.

He can put together very hard puzzles for his age and loves to build things. He also is good at adding numbers. And his ability at writing and coloring is much higher than Nathan's was at his age. But his talking is what I want to put down in this post for me to remember.

He can come up with the craziest things. He loves opposites. He likes to say things that are the opposite of what he feels or what he knows. There is one song that we have on a CD called the sharing song. It goes something like this..."It's more fun to share with everyone." But he sings "It's more fun to take from everyone." He also had been saying "Mommy's stinkio". This was to the tune of "Something Beautiful". If I gave him the eye in time he would stop after saying "Mommy's...", pause and meekly say "...beautiful". He really is a stinker!

At his preschool this year there are two 3-K teachers. He likes to tease his teacher all the time. He first started when he would tell her that he wanted to be in the other teacher's class (I really think this was prompted by the little girl he liked being in the other class!). Then she said that every time she leaves the room, just to stand in the hallway, he announces to the class that "we don't have a teacher!" and the whole class gets to acting silly. I think class clown would be an apt description! He started taking CD's to school on Fridays. This was without me knowing about it, but apparently the teacher didn't mind. At their Easter party, he had slipped one in his bag (Veggietales Sing the Eighties) and while the kids were sitting there eating their party food, Camden puts the CD in, turns up the volume and starts to dance! And other kids start too! All I have to say about that is, that was the most fun preschool party that I have attended! (And for a video of him dancing in church preschool, check out my Facebook where my friend Tara posted a video of him!)



Other things that he says a lot include "I will not" whenever I tell him not to do anything. He is a fairly obedient child!

And in keeping with the opposite theme, he told my mom once that he wanted to miss her. He has also told me and Dave that. But then I heard him on the phone with her telling her in his sweet voice, "I don't want to keep missing you".

The last thing I am going to include in this post (one that I have been working on since the middle of May), is that he has started quoting movies. I have had several patients whose parents tell me that their child can recite some entire movie. My thought to that is, how much have the been watching it!?! I guess I have to eat my words/thoughts (didn't speak it out loud!). Camden can do the same for his movie of the week or month. Especially after a Toy Story marathon in the car on the way to Memphis! He especially likes Toy Story 2. He will randomly say "I was a yoyo" or "My biscuits are burning." Of course saying the latter quote right after he tooted may have been accurate! But my favorite is his imitation of Mrs. Potato Head packing Mr. Potato Head in the outtakes during the credits of Toy Story 2. He even sounds like her! So I videotaped it...enjoy!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Happy Anniversary!



I want to say Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband! We married 18 years ago on May 16. Yes I am a little late in this anniversary wish! We were able to go away again on our anniversay weekend, and it has been busy since we came back. May always is!

Our weekend was in Waynesville, NC. I bought a deal on Living Social a while back, and we used it. We left on Friday, dropped the boys in Columbia with my parents, and drove to the mountains. We had no plans except a massage on Saturday. That night we decided to drive up to the Blue Ridge Parkway before dinner. This was the one place I was going to take pictures. But as you may can tell, there were no pictures taken. At the first overlook, Dave noticed the van was dripping. He then discovered that the radiator was leaking! We were not really in the picture mood after that!

Dave, my mechanic-minded husband, was able to get us down the mountains to the first auto part store listed on the GPS. It was also across from a Firestone service center. They gave us an estimate and told us to come back in the morning. To make a long story short, Dave decided he could stop the leak temporarily (it was at the top), and we drove home praying and with our eyes on the temperature gauge. He replaced it today and saved us about $300! What memories! And I am very glad we did not have to spend the night on the parkway because of an exploded radiator!!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Easter Finery


As the habit of many, we always have to take Easter pictures; and this year was before and after church! Most of the pics were taken before church so we wouldn't have to worry about kids staying clean and tucked in...Camden especially had many problems staying tucked in! But here is how we looked on Easter; at least for a little while!

Camden couldn't resist the hair!










We stopped at the iris garden on the way home from church

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Alabama


In Nathan's study of states we are almost finished with Alabama. We picked this state since we were driving through there in order to get to Memphis for Easter. Our exploration of the state involved the Huntsville Space Center and a hotel in Anniston. In all of our talk of Alabama, we cannot help but remember how devastating the tornadoes were to them recently. It was a little sobering to think that we had just driven through many of the places hit hard. In fact a friend of ours from church is right now in Huntsville serving food to people through the Southern Baptist Mission Board.




Mom and the boys at the lunar landing


While we were in Huntsville, however, we were focused on space. There were huge rockets and space shuttles and everyone's favorite, Space Shot! This was a drop ride that first shot you up like a space ship. It was actually very scary the first time when you went straight up! There was also a mini space shot that Camden really liked. In addition to seeing all the huge space ships, it was also neat to read about the beginning of the space program and especially about the moon landing. Mom really was into reading about it since she remembered it. I think it would have been cool to have been able to sit in front of the TV just like every other American while I watched the moon landing! There are so few things now that everyone watches that bring us together as a nation. It must have been a proud day to be an American!

There was a moon landing the day after I was born!!


The Space Shot! Must have been before we went up because I am still smiling!


Camden on the mini space shot. It was hard to take a picture of him at the top because it kept bouncing him!


Nathan on the climbing wall



Playing with rockets!




So our Alabama experience ends tomorrow with our Alabama meal. It will be real easy since their food is very similar to SC food! We are doing fried chicken, grits, fried green tomatoes and cornbread! Hopefully we won't have a heart attack after eating dinner! But we should be okay as long as we don't break any of Alabama's laws...operating a vehicle while blindfolded and flicking boogers into the wind!