More Fall Fun!

Well, Fall is almost finished! My fall began with Nathan's birthday in October and ends with Dave's on November 30. After that, the pumpkins get thrown out and the Christmas decorations get hauled down from the attic.

In the busyness of this Fall, we did have fun, though! After Nathan's birthday, Fall festivals and Halloween took center stage. Camden had a Fall festival at his preschool complete with a pinata (yes, very fallish) and a hay ride.

Camden loves to have his picture taken!!



He also got to dress up in his Halloween costume at school and he went as a cowboy. Why a cowboy? Well, he is into Toy Story and Woody (although he wanted to be Mr. Potato Head or Buzz), but Nathan was a cowboy at his age, so Camden gets to wear his costume!



For the church Fall Festival, however, he switched to another of Nathan's old costumes, a lion. Nathan was supposed to come up with his own super hero costume, so he decided to go as a hero who saved animals from poachers. Thus the reason we sent Camden as a lion who needed protection.


But as usual on Oct. 31 in Charleston, it was too hot for an animal costume! And there were horse rides at the festival! So we changed into his cowboy costume! If for nothing other than the picture!


And what Fall would be complete without a trip to the pumpkin patch! I love the pumpkin patch. It is so much fun finding the right pumpkin (that is a task I leave up to the boys, so the right pumpkin is not always the nicest looking!) and running through the hay maze. This year, they did more crawling through the cracks than finding their way out of the maze! We also took a hay ride out to the cow fields. They gave us food to feed the cows, but I thought Camden would be scared of them. The driver told him to not be because they were just like bigger dogs. My only reply to that is that he is terrified of dogs! But to my surprise, Camden had a great time with the cows. He was more into putting the food on the rail and watching them get it with their super long tongues, but he was right near them. Nathan of course let the cows eat out of his hand. We had fun, even if the cows made your hands feel icky!!





Our last night of fun before Camden's birthday, was Nathan's school Fall Fundraiser. I was not in charge this year, but 2nd in command and in charge of the carnival. We had a successful fundraiser (almost $8000! and a smartboard on the way!), and the kids seemed to have a good time at the carnival. I was glad to be involved, glad it is over, and was happy to arrive at Camden's birthday party with my sanity intact.


Apple bobbing was very popular with those who wanted to get wet!


Now to make it through Dave's big 40!

Fall Recap...part one

Fall is a great time of year! The weather is not as hot and sometimes a little cool! I get to wear jeans and people are no longer exposed to my white legs! What could be better than that.

It is, though, a busy time of year for me. I have two birthday parties and Nathan's school fundraiser and life just flies by. So I am starting a recap series that will hopefully be finished before Thanksgiving!



For us, Nathan's birthday is the beginning of the fall fun. His birthday, October 15, fell on a Friday this year, so he had his party on his actual birthday. That is always fun. He received his presents before going to school. He got a titan necklace, a trip to Medieval Times with me, and a fishing and hunting trip with Dave. He also received a Disney pin from Camden. What a way to start the day! After school, four of his friends came home with him and we took them to an indoor climbing wall that evening. After pizza, we brought them home to spend the night. Since he had a baseball game the next day, I was actually able to set a curfew on talking. The next day after his baseball game, we met Dave's family at Wild Wings for lunch. Then home to crash! What a fun weekend to celebrate 10 years of Nathan in our life.

Camden wasn't too sure about this climbing thing!


Amy got to the top fine, but the jumping down part was a little unnerving!
Dave makes it to the top




Nathan and his friends


The Staley's and Wanner's celebrated with us at Wild Wings.


The next weekend, Nathan and I were able to go to Myrtle Beach one afternoon and stay for the Medieval Times show. It was a lot of fun!

Camden turns 4!!

Although I am a little late on my birthday post for Camden, I do want to wish him a happy birthday! This year he finally got the concept of his birthday coming up and that he was having a party in our backyard! He was very excited! His birthday came at the end of a very busy month that was full of fundraiser planning (this event was on Nov. 5th-a dinner and carnival and his birthday was on the 6th!). It was hectic, but turned out great. It is such fun to plan a party for a special little boy. He is so full of joy and energy. He loves to laugh and is only beginning to show defiance when he doesn't get his way. He is also very silly! I think he will be the class clown. One little girl in his Cubbies class said that "Camden is silly". It is already happening. But he still fits right between my waist and my neck and it the perfect size for cuddling.
Camden at his preschool birthday-his cupcake had no icing by request! He does not have a sweet tooth!

This year since Toy Story is so big, and that was Camden's first movie in the theatre, we had a Toy Story party. It was complete with a jump castle (we jumped to infinity and beyond-at least until it deflated on the kids!), toy horses so we could ride like the wind, a plinko board for catching the aliens (borrowed from the carnival the night before-being in charge of the carnival has its perks!), and potato head pieces galore to play with. We even planted sweet potato vines in jars decorated with toy story stickers. We had a blast!

Buzz and Woody joined the party! Notice the names on their shoes!Playing Buzz and Woody after the party...Nathan has claimed Camden's present of Buzz wings!

After having such a hectic month of October, it was nice to end the craziness with a fun party to celebrate four years of an amazing little boy!! I love you Camden!

-Mommy

Nathan turns 10!

Double digits!! Wow! He was so excited tonight that he could not fall asleep! I can't believe that 10 years ago he was born. We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl (not our choice, Nathan's!), and were delighted when I delivered a baby boy. Dave said that as soon as he came out, he lifted his head up and looked all around the room. He has not stopped being curious since then. He is truly a special son. Our first, and one that will always keep us on our toes. He is smart and at times a little sassy about this. But he continues to have a sensitive heart that is ready to share and tries to listen to God speaking to him. He loves to play baseball and sword fights, and he thinks that he is ready to shoot a deer with Dave. Since he cries at any sad part of a movie, I am thankful there has been no deer shot. I think that would bring him to tears.



He is definitely growing up, but is still enjoys getting Mickey's autograph and hugging on Eeyore! He also loves his stuffed animals. I am so happy to see how he is growing up, since I cannot stop him! So far, he is turning out to be an awesome young man. I love you Nathan! Happy 10th birthday!!!

Mommy

Nathan's 3rd birthday party

Nathan recently wrote a story for school. It goes like this...

A 13 story tower soars over Disney's Hollywood Studios. The Tower of Terror! Legend says that one cold and stormy Halloween night a streak of lightning struck the Hollywood Tower Hotel! Mysteriously half of the hotel vanished and 5 people freefell in an elevator and they were never seen again.

One night when in Disney we all planned on going on it, but only 4 did. These brave souls were my Mom, my Aunt, my Uncle, and me. When we got in the elevator suddenly the chain broke sending us on a 13 story freefall. I live to tell this story, but some aren't so lucky.

-Nate Shirley

All good things must come to an end...

And we ended our trip in the same place we began...the Magic Kingdom. It just seemed fitting to finish our grand gathering (you have to have eight people in your party to become one), named Amy's Army, at Mickey's main park. He even has his house there!
Pinnochio
Daisy Duck! Camden's favorite!

First we made sure we went to all the attractions we missed on Monday. So we began in Tomorrowland by getting fastpasses for Space Mountain. While waiting for this, we got to go on Buzz Lightyear's ride, Stitch's ride, and were able to attend the Laugh Floor with Monsters Inc. It was there that Dad got designated "That Guy!" He was constantly being put on the screen during the show and afterward given a sticker that said "I'm that guy." Workers throughout the park kept saying "hey, you're that guy!"
That Guy!
Mom and Nathan
Camden being Goofy like his brother!
The Shirley's in Minnie's house


Lunch was right before we all hit the tracks at the speedway and then on to the Goofy roller coaster. It was from this vantage point that we discovered the teacups were what were behind the fenced in area. Although disappointed we couldn't ride them, we trekked on to see the Presidents (Camden refused to go in since the parade was taking place!), and then on to Splash Mountain again!
Dave and Camden race together!

Camden learned to wave vigorously at every parade!


Our dinner reservations at the Crystal Palace were at 6:00, so we took the train to Main Street and headed there. Throughout the day, Nathan and Declan were trying to trade pins with Disney workers. They had a lot of fun doing this. I had heard that the workers had to trade with you no matter what, and then found out that the pins don't really belong to them; that is why they have to do this.
The two pin collectors!
Rob and Jenn with Tigger
Tigger with the kids...they couldn't stop jumping!
Finally getting to see Piglet!



Everyone's favorite bear!
Eeyore
Amy and Dave with Tigger
Mom and Dad with Tigger



Dinner was again delicious and we got to share it with Pooh and friends. We did have to leave the park right after eating, however, because they were having the Not so scary Mickey's Halloween party. (This is an extra price). It did look a little scary for our group!

Since we were finished early, we just had to go to Downtown Disney one more time. Last minute shopping and Ghirardelli's milkshakes topped our evening off around midnight.Downtown Disney


It was truly a fun trip. Very magical and in a whole other world. Nathan and Camden have been watching Disney movies all week because we realized that they have not seen most of the movies that the rides were based on. Nathan has been playing Star Wars with his lightsaber all week (Camden is catching onto that to; good thing we have three now for all the boys in this house.) Although never having seen The Little Mermaid movie, Camden is always singing "Under the Sea" after seeing the musical! And of course we all want to go back! I guess I had better get back into couponing!!