Kool-aid

When all is said and done, happiness is all about being able to make kool-aid!!

Signs of Summer

I know it is summer at my house when there are beach towels and bathing suits hanging all over the bathrooms waiting to dry out so they can be used the next day!

Camp AJ

For the fourth summer, Nathan has attended the most anticipated camp of the year, Grammie Camp! My sister and I invented this for our family's version of a week at the grandparents. Both Nathan and his cousin Ashton have been able to make so many good memories of their Grammie and Grandaddy and have been able to develop their friendship. Since they first went to Grammie Camp when they were 7, they made the rule that you had to be 7 to go to Grammie Camp. Well, Ashton's younger brother is 6 this year, so this was their last year with just the two of them. And in 3 years, the youngest 2 cousins will get to go. Can you say a free week for me and Jennifer!!! All the kids at Grammie Camp!! I am not too excited yet, but we have started making tentative plans!

But this year, the plan was for her to come to Charleston after dropping Ashton off in Columbia and spend the week here with me. Since this also meant 3 boys here (one 6 yr old and two 4 yr olds), we decided to make our own camp...Camp AJ, for Amy Jennifer. It was a lot of fun! Tiring, but a lot of fun. Since it started out as a whirlwind (I stopped in Columbia on the way home from Atlanta and then drove her to Charleston at 10 at night), I will summarize in a whirlwind of a sentence!! Pictures to follow.

We went to the pool; we went to the beach; we went out to eat every day!; we ate at home some; we went to Target; we went to the waterpark; we went out on the boat; we walked the bridge and went to the park; we made train cakes and sunshine cookies; we attended a play at Pattison's Camp; we made photo books and tie-dyed t-shirts; we played with the water rocket and slip and slide; we went to the beach again; we went to the pool again; and the boys played hard everyday with all of Camden's toys! The toys were very happy to be played with!!


Playing with the water rocket!

Playing at the beach

The campers and their train cakes that looked like cars!

Playing at the playground

Camp Counselors Jennifer and Amy

Declan, Josiah, and Camden: the AJ campers! And yes, we all wore our tie-dye shirts together out in public!!

Making our photo albums.

More beach time!

Sunshine cookies!

Always have to have a silly picture!

Having fun on the boat!

We all had a blast! Just enough fun to have a good time, but not enough to make the boys want to come back to AJ camp instead of moving on to Grammie Camp!!

Tic tac toe

Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church and the theme was Pandamania, or God is About You. Nathan and Camden both were able to attend the night session while I was a helper. Camden is actually a year too young to go to the real VBS, but since he was the only 4 year old in the preschool section and the only other child was only one year old, they moved him up to the rising K5 group. He was a little anxious at first, but started to really enjoy all the excitement.

Being the youngest, he spent a lot of time following along with what all the other kids were doing. He especially liked raising his hand to answer questions. But he didn't really know the answers! The first time someone called on him, he answered "Tic tac toe!". Of course this produced laughter and he liked that. So he kept answering questions with "Tic tac toe" all week. What is really funny about this is that he doesn't even know about the game tic, tac, toe.

I was on the story telling team this year and the guy working with me egged him on one night by calling on him. Of course he answered "Tic tac toe". By the fourth night, all the kids in his group were answering "Tic tac toe". That night our story was about Peter and the persecuted church. We walked around the church grounds pretending to hide from Roman soldiers and then had our story in the secret hide-out. After the "tic tac toe" answer, George decided to turn that into our code to use when we saw Roman soldiers. This was our code for saying "God loves you".

Camden and Nathan both learned at VBS this year, and even though some of the stories were over Camden's head, he did come away from VBS knowing that God loves him; that God is wild about him. He came away knowing about "tic, tac, toe". So next time you are out to dinner and playing the simple game of tic, tac, toe on your child's menu, remember...God loves you!!! Tic, tac, toe!!!

Baseball

I have had this post in my head for several weeks now and am finally getting around to writing it out. I think if I could have some device in my head that wrote what I thought (or at least what I purposefully put in a blog thought area of my brain), I would have a lot more posts :) But alas, I am stuck with typing!

But on to my topic...baseball! This was the season I was looking forward to and dreading. After years of Nathan having ball practice and games all on Saturdays, we moved to weeknight games a few seasons ago. But then it became Camden's turn to play t-ball and we had to give up our Saturdays again! And I couldn't help but look to the future of having games all the time and constantly being at the ball field and driving one boy to one field and the other to another, and, well you get the picture.

Of course it is fun to watch your child play ball. Nathan has really gotten better this year. He had started pitching in the fall on another team, but when he was was put on this team for the spring, the coach had his pitchers already. But Nathan got the courage up to ask him for a chance to pitch and was given that chance. Not to go on and on, but at the Championship game, Nathan was the most consistent pitcher and didn't let anyone score on his watch. He either struck them out or threw them out. It was nerve racking to watch, but he did great. And did I mention the Championship game?!?! They won! Last spring he was also on a winning team, but the team was so good, and Nathan was one of the youngest, and it didn't seem like he did much. But this year, he was a major contributor to the winning season!!

Nathan putting on his pitching serious face

Playing third

So I have my one son that will keep us busy with ball for many seasons; but will Camden follow in his footsteps? Well he hasn't yet! He was all excited about playing t-ball, but I think he thought it was for one game. He didn't realize that you had to keep going back. And for him, this actually meant the first practice. By the first game he was really over it. He would stand at the fence and ask me if it was time to go home. But he did improve and finally started standing on the field. He tried to go for a few balls, but usually a girl got it first! Oh well! He also learned that you run to first base first and not after the ball that you hit toward the pitcher. At practice he led many astray in this running pattern! He did like his trophy at the end and now that the season is over, he says he wants to play again. He really likes wearing his uniform shirt and hat! I think, though, we will try soccer in the fall. He likes to run so maybe that will be the sport for him...or maybe not! You never know with Camden.


Yes, that is the way you run!

Nathan was a big help in getting Camden to stay on the field


Getting a hit



Finally getting to run home

His one time playing first...he got to get the ball!

Camden and his friend Benjamin..they always have fun together!

Are we done yet?!? Well, almost!




Must I say it...The End!

Camden's new room

Tonight has not gone as I had it planned in my mind, but it has gone much better! I had plans on straightening up my pictures so that I can move on to 2010, but our friend and his son came by to help Dave move our new hutch into the kitchen. Of course I had to supervise that happen! Around 10:30 when he left and Dave was talking to our neighbor walking his dog, a car stopped in front of our house and friends of ours from about 10 years ago were driving through their old haunts and caught us outside (hi Patty since I know you are reading this!). We spent about 30 minuttes catching up with them and had a great chat.

So since I had a very surprising and wonderful evening, I thought I would sit down and blog while Dave is putting my hutch together. You would think I would show you the hutch, but that will have to wait. I want to talk about Camden's new room.

Last year my spring cleaning started in the spring, but didn't end until the fall. This was due to painting, peeling wallpaper, more painting, etc. This year I have smaller plans that centered on cleaning the boys' closets and getting rid of stuff! In the process we revamped Camden's room. Gone is the toddler bed! He was not too keen on that to begin with, but has started enjoying the extra space in his room.


Camden's new bed ensemble. Same color scheme and animal theme, but bigger boy looking.

I love the sheets!

We brought the toybox down from upstairs and he had to keep his tent up!

Look how neat the inside of the toy box is...well at least how it was when I took the picture!

His closet is also neater than it used to be!

So with the boys closets cleaned out and toys given away, my spring cleaning is done. But wait, I have a new hutch! I have to rearrange my kitchen! And why not redo the cabinets while we are at it!!! This could go on well into the fall!

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!