Who knew?

Jackie has been so helpful lately. She gets Lucy out of bed in the mornings, changes her diaper and puts her in the high chair so she can fix Lu's milk. Jackie's been clearing the table voluntarily and acting like a BIG sister. So we decided to reward her for her helpfulness. Dave got Jackie a giant York peppermint patty, which she devoured instantly. Then she wrote this sweet letter to DaddyO.

Yeah, so 30 minutes later, she barfed her guts out. Then I read the label for the peppermint patty and it has egg whites in it! Who knew? We let our guard down. We assumed it was safe, since JBird's had both chocolate and mint before. We felt bad enough as it was, but this letter didn't help matters any.

So Oscar Meyer changed the formulation for CamO's natural hot dogs. It now has sulfites in it. Repeat above scenario today. We ROCK at this parenting thing! Give us our Parents of the Year award already!

Welcome Tooth Fairy!

We will be expecting the tooth fairy this evening. Our first born FINALLY lost that wiggly tooth! We had been trying for a week to get her to pull it out on her own, but to no avail. So tonight, Dave got out the needlenose plyers. I put a little lidocaine on it and held her down while Dave yanked it out. The other kids watched in awe. There was no resistance and no yelling. What a big girl! How much does the tooth fairy pay for the FIRST tooth? (scroll down for pictures)

The Sun'll Come Out...

Between High School Musical and Annie, we are ALL about Show Tunes. Here, Jackie is sporting the HSM microphone taped to the right side of her mouth. Since Cameron and Lucy were also in the show, she made microphones for them as well. This is the opening scene from the HSM show tune dvd when Gabrielle, ahem...Jackie gathers the audience and gets them ready for the performance. I believe her exact words were "Are you READY?! HSM is HEREEEEE." Dave and I are awed at her creative talent, as well as her outfit.

Cameron didn't want to spoil the show when we saw him backstage. But we got a good glimpse of his costume. He's playing the part of Ryan AND Sharpay. 

Accompanied by our CF friends and Deane, we saw the Annie musical a few weeks ago. The original Annie, Andrea McArdle played the part of Miss Hannigan. At the end of the show, she did a reprise of 'Tomorrow'. It was truly amazing! In fact, Al Roper from the Today Show was there for the same performance and gave it rave reviews. I wonder what he would say about my little theatrical bunch. 

Zoolapalooza

While I was busy working, Deane graciously took the kids to the SC zoo.

While on our little vacation Deane and I overheard some great stuff from the kids. What they said versus what they meant was pretty entertaining.

Jackie: "For breakfast I had snowflakes." What she meant was Frosted Flakes
Jackie: "CamO, you're such a golfball." What she meant was goofball.

The Bridges of Greenville County

Dee, the kids and I took a little business/pleasure trip to Greenville, SC. We found this awesome park with a handful of bridges, waterfalls and landscapes like I've never seen. This bridge is entirely supported by cantilevers (built by BMW).

As you can clearly see, Jackie and Cameron were doing their best 'Grouchy Smurf' impressions. In a febile attempt to get the kids to crack a smile, Deane made a silly face. And Lucy made one right back at her.

This was another bridge overlooking the river, filled w/ ducks and a lonesome herron.

All photos were taken with our camera phones. We didn't expect to find a great park and left our cameras at the hotel.

Walking with the dinosaurs

Earlier this week, we went to the Museum of Life and Sciences with Miss Karen, her sister Laura and niece Layla. It was 98 degrees by 10am and the troops were HOT. In fact, the leader needed to rest in the stroller for a good part of the dino walk.

We've recently re-done Cameron's room in dinosaur theme. I wanted to get a picture to hang on his wall, but he would only smile like a tard for all the pictures. 

We figured we'd get a picture of the whole gang, while enjoying the shade from the Alosaurus.

You know it's hot when the butterfly house feels refreshing! Despite the sauna-like weather, we managed to have a great time and enjoyed the morning with our good friends.

The 4th of July, Part the 3rd: The Grand Finale

Why go anywhere else when we have this?

Poppers for all. And children that run into the fireworks as they're igniting.

Yes, every single child pictured here is guilty.

Sparklers to write your name.

And the GRAND SPECTACLE! Don't close your eyes or you'll miss it. Insert giant KABOOM! here.

Interlochen has NOTHIN' on this shindig!

Entertainment Tonight

As we were eating our exquisite dinner of chicken fingers and watermelon, Jackie said "WOW! Chickens really have BIG fingers."

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Cameron says boys are 'Dudes' and girls are 'Dude-eez.'

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Jackie siad "It was really nice of Nanny Fanny to give Cameron a twenty-five dollar bill for his birthday."

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During the thunderstorm today, CamO said "It's really windy. I think our house will fly somewhere. Then we'll have to call Aunty Em."

The 19th Hole

After an exhausting morning on the golf course, Cameron enjoyed a little pampering from his big sister. Milk please!

Party at the Pool

For the 4th year in a row, we celebrated Cameron's b-day with 75 of our closest friends at the pool. The motion-activated dino cake was the hit of the party.






We have been lucky for the last 3 yrs and had fantastic weather. This year, it rained and stormed. But people managed to squeeze in pool time between rain showers. They made the best of it!




The favorite activity was racing into the pool at record speed, on slippery wet ground and diving over a step into their dad's arms. Nail biter for me.




It wouldn't be a party w/o a "pea-yean-ah" as CamO calls it. Since there were no dinosaurs, SpongeBob took the hits.




These guys were hitting for home runs!




The anticipation eventually got to the adults as well, and Tyler emptied SpongeBob's delights.



Back at the ranch, Lu took the opportunity to try on Cameron's new loot as he was busy opening the rest. She also has on his new Buzz Lightyear undies.



It was a great party. Thanks everyone for ALL your help- Mr. Chad and Miss Karen were our workhorses! Hunter & Leigh, we'll party when you're back in town!

*Not pictured here is the water balloon toss. It took Dave and I over an hour to fill them and less than 1 minute for 25 kids to break them all. Couldn't even get the camera out.

The Big Party

So I uploaded 10 pics and then accidentally deleted the post. Since my DSL speed is equivalent to dial-up, it took me nearly an hour. So, I'll do the rest tomorrow. Until then, here's CamO's b-day party celebration. Despite a rainy/stormy day, we still managed to have a wonderful time.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Today is Cameron's REAL 4th birthday. Since I only got back from Boston a few hours ago, Deane had a little lunch celebration with the kids. She even made a Joe Joe cookie cake for CamO b/c he's allergic to everything else. Apparently he wasn't sure what all the hoopla was about and preferred to enjoy his new toys alone. (Sounds a bit like DaddyO, don't you think?) Anyway, we'll have a big b-day party Saturday at the pool.

P.S. FOUR-year-old Cameron now calls his big toe his "Thumb toe". Not FUM toe, THUMB toe! :)

Part 2: Food and Water

My favorite holiday of the year is the 4th of July. Due in part to the swealtering heat but mostly to the celebrations we have in Colvard Farms. While the kids look forward to playing in the pool until they become prunes, I love the potluck dinner, desserts and cheer with friends, followed by spectacular, first-rate fireworks.

Here Anna Kate puts the new pool toys to good use.

It was a beautiful night with the usual crowd.
Grandad and Grandma Holly came in for the weekend. As you can see they put themselves to good use. And now we know where Cameron and DaddyO's trick came from.
Lu was all giggles with Grandma Holly and Mia.
An early lesson in blowing bubbles.
Hunter was the great entertainer of the evening.

The gang's all here!

The 4th of July in three parts. Part 1: Pimp My Bike

For the 4th year in a row, the neighborhood kids decorated bikes for the grand parade around the block. Olivia was certainly proud of her work. Although I'm a little nostalgic seeing her so big and w/o training wheels.

CamO went for the most dangerous decor, with a little Hawaiian flair.

The real wizards behind the curtain: Grandma Holly and Linda.

Flag Bearer, Olivia, might as well had CAUTION tape around her bike.
Let the parade begin!
No matter how many times I told Cameron this was a PARADE NOT A RACE, he only heard "Get ready. Get set. GOOOOOO!"
Assessing the potential competitive threat of the neighbors, Cameron was content with the lead position.

CamO: I won the race, Mom!

Me: It's not a race, CamO. It's a parade.

CamO: I won the parade, Mom!

Me: Alrighty then.

Resting up for the swim race, Leigh enjoyed the sights, and admired her bike decoration at parade speed.