Back in action

After a very long time away from her grandbabies, Deane FINALLY got the clearance to lift 20#. Which meant, she spent the day with the kids at the Museum of Life and Sciences (membership #4). There's a new Dinosaur Dig exhibit which the kids have been dying to visit! So when I was in Charleston fine dining in my hotel room (Mercato delivery) and sipping wine w/o any words or screaming or whining or biting, the gang was digging for dinosaur bones. Amazingly enough, Jackie found some shark teeth!

The Leper

We don't have a clue what's causing Cameron's breakout, but it's BAD.

P.S. Happy Birthday JuJuBee!

When did Kindergarten get so complicated?

I just finished up the essay for Jacqueline to enter Kindergarten at our public school (not to mention the other 11 documents I had to submit). Yes, we pay taxes for her to go to this school, but yet, we have to write an essay describing how she best learns and what environment would be most appropriate for her, so they can put her in 1 of 4 kindergarten classes with a bazillion other kids and it won't matter anyway. I won't rehash the anxiety I had just a few years ago when I had to write her first essay about why the montessori school should accept my 2 year old. "Because Jackie can distinguish green from light green and a moon from a star! That's why you should accept her!" And the letter of recommendation we had to submit to Duke School for our then- 3-yr-old. I can only imagine the fun writing essays for college apps will be in a few years. Until then, I will keep my not-just-yet-kindergartner at home basking in the adoration of her baby sister. I could just eat them up.

Ready...set....cheese

AS IF we could produce a non-competitive child. No matter how much I try to pretend everything is not a race, it comes naturally to Jackie. And Dave totally fosters it. At least he lets her win. (For the record, my sister and parents NEVER let me win at races, Candyland, cards...the list goes on.)

Thankfully, Cameron is much less of an adrenaline junkie. He prefers to race his bike by walking/running along side of it.
Me: "Cam-O, why are you not riding your bike?"
Cameron: "Because I'm not riding it."
That explains a lot.

This is a learned 'camera ready smile'. I practiced this smile since I was 4, so I know Lucy learned that from me. Very proud. Be prepared to see a gazillion more smiles like this throughout the years, probably with a full set of teeth, rather than the NINE she has now.

Jackie practicing her 'camera-ready smile'. She's got a lot to learn from Lucy. Not to worry, she has years to perfect it.

In case we forget who is stationed in the police car, Jackie helped us remember.

Sprinkler fun

Oh, the wonder of a sprinkler! This would have lasted all night, had the rain not started.
Cameron's ear drool didn't seem to slow him down a bit today.

Of course, the boys had to operate the sprinkler power and relocate it to various spots that would get the moms the wettest.

Leigh enjoyed the sprinkler, but kept tabs on Lucy, since her other big sister was busy running like a maniac.

And then...

...there was barfing. Poor little guy.

Here we go again

Cameron has yet another ear infection. That makes 3 in as many months. SOOOO happy they gave us antibiotic ear drops, b/c that's super easy to get in the gooey ear of a crabby THREE-year-old. Yes, his ear has been leaking bugers. I wipe his ear like I wipe Jackie's eternally-dripping nose. It's gross, I know, but I'm the one doing it. The leaky ear may explain his unusual crabbiness and clingyness lately. (YES, it's the ear with the tube still in it and NO we're not going to stop swimming daily.)

But at least we got a ROCKIN' walk/hike in this morning! Dave wanted to check out the status of the Tobacco Trail bridges & paving projects. So we took the whole family for a 90 min brisk walk. Cam-O walked/ran at least an hour of it and Jackie rode equally as much. When we came across the work vehicles, of course we had to check out those bad boys! What a great morning, followed by ear goo.

Why we have no TV, Reason #16

Daddy is out of town, so Mommy is drinking

Three crying children at the same time. Don't you want to come back, Daddy-O?!

Cameron's REAL birthday!

Today our little guy is THREE! Since his party was Saturday, he was a bit confused as to why he was already having another birthday, but totally okay with opening more presents. He also told Grandpa that he is now 4 and that Grandpa can just drive his car over to Cameron's party, okay? Cam-O looks so big next to Lucy and her tiny toes. Where has the time gone? Since Lucy is our very last baby, I'm hoping it goes MUCH slower with her. (Yes, she is our last, no matter how many times Jackie asks for another baby sister or brother.) And we plan on keeping her little as long as possible.

The pics are from a week ago when Rebecca, Nina's Amazing Mom, painted the kids faces. This was HOURS of entertainment for the kids.

The Last Hurrah

The day would finally come. And that day is here. It's time to return to work. We had some gooooooood times over the last 6 weeks. It's hard to believe how fast it has gone and how far Lucy has come. How far we've all come. The Little Biting Machine scared away Cameron with her EIGHT teeth. But now, he's happy to give her a bottle. Even though she can do it herself, she prefers to lay on the kids lap and let them feed her. It's really sweet. And very useful for me!

We're still working on the sleep routine, but we're getting there. This was the night after C's party. He was WIPED!

Cameron's Big 3!

After much debate, Cameron decided on a race car theme, including both Lightening McQueen and Speed Racer. As per our usual celebrations, we had over 70 guests and Q Shack for all!

Rebecca, Nina's mom, spent the entire party painting faces. I think she MAY have gotten a break at cake cutting time. That was a HUGE hit and THE biggest gift! Thanks Rebecca!

Amanda organized the water balloon toss.

She managed to get everyone to line up for an entire 15 seconds before the chaos ensued.

When it came time to sing Happy Birthday, Cameron chimed right in. It's always a hoot to sing Happy Birthday!

Thankfully, Mia and Jackie were there to hold this asthmatic back. It took so much effort (and spit) to blow out the candles, he nearly toppled over. Good thing we opted for the number 3 candle rather than 3 individual candles. I can only imagine the volume of spit THAT would create!

EVERYONE looked forward to the pinata, primarily the dads. Here, Cameron was giving McQueen a pep talk.

Elizabeth and Diane were only a few of the helpers we had entertaining Lucy. THANK YOU LADIES!

Lucy and Camden FINALLY meet. Camden was adopted from Korea (same agencies, etc.) a week before Lucy was. His parents were instrumental in guiding us through our journey to Lucy.

Special Delivery

Check out what came in the mail today!

Lucy is so excited. She thinks it's her drivers license.