Dear Camden,
Four years old already!! Can you believe it?! You have been counting down for weeks, even though you don't totally understand the concept of tracking time. What an addition you have been to our family!! There were times when I wasn't sure either one of us was going to survive the 2s and 3s, but here we are at a brand new year!!
Over the last year, we've moved (twice); you've learned about our loss and heaven's gain; you've learned to write your name, circles, squares, triangles, and few other letters; have started to learn to use scissors; can put on your own shoes; can count to 20 every time and 30 sometimes. You continue to use words well, sometimes to your own detriment. If I've said it once, I've said a thousand times that its a good thing your funny. Its seriously your saving grace sometimes, but its also my favorite quality about you.
You are a good brother. Landon is your buddy and you have missed him being gone to preschool this year. Sometimes you play well together and other times you fight like crazy, but I know you love each other. You are the same with Ayden and Laney Kate. Yesterday you were trying to wrestle with Laney Kate just like you do your brothers, and thats not even close to the first time you've been too rough with her. But, if she is crying, you are always quick to sing to her. And she stops. Every.single.time. You always start with "Jesus Loves Me" and then if she needs more you add in "My God is So Big" or "Who is the King of the Jungle?" or "Jesus Loves the Little Children" or sometimes you sing them all. But, she always stops - at least while your singing.
You love a good laugh. Sometimes you get your laughs by picking at and pestering people, or sometimes you tell jokes, but most times you're just Camden. The things you say make me laugh every day. Your four-year-old sense of logic cracks me up and the questions you come up with blow my mind.
Your most favorite thing to play, for the moment, is superheroes. You and your brothers put on your costumes every day and run around the house staging battle after battle. You love to be Batman and chose a Batman birthday party. But, you also like to be Iron Man, SpiderMan, and Bumblebee. You'll come out in your Batman costume and ask if I know who you are - and then you'll rip off the mask and ask who you are THEN. From Batman to Bruce Wayne or Iron Man to Tony Stark or SpiderMan to Peter Parker. I think you and your brothers (and Daddy, too) know everything about every superhero and supervillan under the sun. I just smile and nod a lot. ;)
You love having your cousins so close, but you miss our friends and family in Jacksonville (and you like to remind us that your brothers were born in MO, but you and Laney were born in Jax). When we mention Rylee and Caleb, you still sometimes get that turned around with Caleb and Luke and you ask why Mrs. Ash-a-lee's house and Mr. Johnny's house and Aunt Le-lanne's house and Miss Kelly's house and Miss Megan's house are so far away??
You still sleep almost every night with your night-night, and you still suck your thumb at bedtime a lot, but not every day like you used to. You are also starting to outgrow your afternoon nap, but Momma is hanging on to that for as long as I can. The only thing we've established in that regard so far is that when your 7 like, Ayden you won't have to take naps anymore.
You are a good helper, especially when its just you and me. You don't like to clean up on your own, but if I help you, you hop to it. And, you love to be in the kitchen with me, watching and/or helping me cook. But you think we need to get a boy apron for you to wear like Grammy has.
In the fall, you and I are going to be doing preschool at home, and we are both getting pretty excited about it. I'm looking forward to one more year at home with you before you go to school. Its fun to get to plan themes that I know you'll enjoy.
You have learned so much this last year and you have grown so much. You really are a good, big boy. I love you so much, Camden Isaiah. My prayer for you this year is that you will always love church as much as you do now, that you will learn and grow and have a passion for Jesus, that you will always have a tender heart under your tough exterior, and that I will cherish this time with you.
Happy Birthday, Cams!!
Love,
Mama
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
That one time when I got locked out of the car...
Have you ever had one of those parenting moments when you realized you were one of those parents? You know, the ones who are irresponsible? The ones who you secretly cackle at and console yourself when you have an oops moment, because at least you didn't do the same thing they did.
Nope? Just me? Well, anyway.
A few months ago we had the pleasure of hosting some of our best friends as they visited from Jacksonville. Jesse and Rusty had been working off and on during the week on a new apothecary table for us to use as an entertainment center. {Thank you, Pinterest, for introducing me to ana-white.com and her wide array of "easy" to follow plans for countless pieces of furniture that I'm pretty much in love with and convinced I need. My husband thanks you from the very bottom of his heart. No lie.}
So, they needed a few accessory pieces for the table and Megan and I wanted to do some shopping anyway, so we added Lowe's to our list of places to stop. We had agreed: Megan and I would take Laney Kate and Jesse and Rusty were on Ball Boy duty. Great plan, right? Only those who've experienced the pleasure of going to town {yep, we have to go to town 'round here} with the Ball Boys will fully appreciate NOT going to town with the Ball Boys. They hate to shop. They are hard to wrangle. They want new toys. They aren't usually bad but I already get enough of "Oh, wow, you have your hands full" comments from strangers anyway. But, I digress.
Jesse and Rusty argued that it was only fair to divide the Ball kiddos equally. Cassie and Megan take 2 and Jesse and Rusty keep 2. We ended up with Camden and Laney Kate. {Insert: this is really just a set up for me to say this was all Jesse's fault. ;)} So, off to our first stop at Lowe's.
On the way to Lowe's Megan and I heard the muffler come apart on our Suburban. Its not a super big deal, but causes it to be loud and we don't want the stray (piece? part?) to get caught on anything, so we just have to pop it back together. I wasn't sure if it would be hot after driving, so I told Megan we'd do our shopping and then fix it before we left the store.
I was thrilled to find the items I needed on clearance in Lowe's. But, Camden was, um...a bit of a pill in the store. When we got to the car, he was in need of some discipline. So, I opened the driver's side door and put my things down so my hands would be free to dole out said discipline. Then I told Camden to get in his carseat and get buckled. You should know that he rarely obeys this directive on the first time, but this time he did.
I got Laney Kate in her carseat, shut the door and proceeded to try to fix the muffler. It was a little harder than I thought and I *might* have had to stop Megan from crawling her pregnant self UNDER our car. But a few minutes and several giggles later, voila.
I went around to my side and pulled the door handle. Locked. With my keys laying in the front seat and two children buckled into their carseats. Oh, and my cell phone was laying next to the keys. Crap. Apparently, during the discipline sesh, Cams accidentally hit the locks with his flailing arms. Go figure.
"Camden," I yelled through the door. "Try to get unbuckled and come open the door for me." He tried and tried and tried....and then tried some more. He can get himself buckled, but he can't undo it. After trying and failing lots of times he gave up and started crying. Megan and I are both standing with our faces pressed to the window and talking into the car, and we are getting questions like, "Are you locked out?" {Um, just for the record, I will not be asking anyone that question in the future.}
Finally, some guy came over to try and help us. He said sometimes the keys from the same manufacturer will work. But, of course it didn't work for us. That would have been too easy. So, we calls the police for us. Yes, the police. And they sent the firemen.
Yes, the fireman. You know, the ones in the small, inconspicuous truck? The one that doesn't have sirens and lights? You know...except the exact opposite of all that. In the middle of the Lowe's parking lot and with a crowd gathered around. It took them for-e-ver to get it unlocked. They tried the driver's side door, then the passenger's side door, then back to the driver's side door before it finally unlocked. Oh, but then the car alarm went off. Seriously, there was no escaping the humiliation.
At least they were nice about it. And, thankfully, they didn't ask for my name and address to turn me in for child abuse or neglect. So, thats a plus.
Once they were done, Megan and I got the heck out of dodge in a hurry. Once we were away, I was able to laugh. BUT, you better believe that I called Jesse to tell him all about what HIS son had done. He just laughed in a a way that said, "Better you than me." Mmmhmm. Megan told me that the story needed to be a blog, so here ya go, Meg. This one's for you!! :)
Nope? Just me? Well, anyway.
A few months ago we had the pleasure of hosting some of our best friends as they visited from Jacksonville. Jesse and Rusty had been working off and on during the week on a new apothecary table for us to use as an entertainment center. {Thank you, Pinterest, for introducing me to ana-white.com and her wide array of "easy" to follow plans for countless pieces of furniture that I'm pretty much in love with and convinced I need. My husband thanks you from the very bottom of his heart. No lie.}
So, they needed a few accessory pieces for the table and Megan and I wanted to do some shopping anyway, so we added Lowe's to our list of places to stop. We had agreed: Megan and I would take Laney Kate and Jesse and Rusty were on Ball Boy duty. Great plan, right? Only those who've experienced the pleasure of going to town {yep, we have to go to town 'round here} with the Ball Boys will fully appreciate NOT going to town with the Ball Boys. They hate to shop. They are hard to wrangle. They want new toys. They aren't usually bad but I already get enough of "Oh, wow, you have your hands full" comments from strangers anyway. But, I digress.
Jesse and Rusty argued that it was only fair to divide the Ball kiddos equally. Cassie and Megan take 2 and Jesse and Rusty keep 2. We ended up with Camden and Laney Kate. {Insert: this is really just a set up for me to say this was all Jesse's fault. ;)} So, off to our first stop at Lowe's.
On the way to Lowe's Megan and I heard the muffler come apart on our Suburban. Its not a super big deal, but causes it to be loud and we don't want the stray (piece? part?) to get caught on anything, so we just have to pop it back together. I wasn't sure if it would be hot after driving, so I told Megan we'd do our shopping and then fix it before we left the store.
I was thrilled to find the items I needed on clearance in Lowe's. But, Camden was, um...a bit of a pill in the store. When we got to the car, he was in need of some discipline. So, I opened the driver's side door and put my things down so my hands would be free to dole out said discipline. Then I told Camden to get in his carseat and get buckled. You should know that he rarely obeys this directive on the first time, but this time he did.
I got Laney Kate in her carseat, shut the door and proceeded to try to fix the muffler. It was a little harder than I thought and I *might* have had to stop Megan from crawling her pregnant self UNDER our car. But a few minutes and several giggles later, voila.
I went around to my side and pulled the door handle. Locked. With my keys laying in the front seat and two children buckled into their carseats. Oh, and my cell phone was laying next to the keys. Crap. Apparently, during the discipline sesh, Cams accidentally hit the locks with his flailing arms. Go figure.
"Camden," I yelled through the door. "Try to get unbuckled and come open the door for me." He tried and tried and tried....and then tried some more. He can get himself buckled, but he can't undo it. After trying and failing lots of times he gave up and started crying. Megan and I are both standing with our faces pressed to the window and talking into the car, and we are getting questions like, "Are you locked out?" {Um, just for the record, I will not be asking anyone that question in the future.}
Finally, some guy came over to try and help us. He said sometimes the keys from the same manufacturer will work. But, of course it didn't work for us. That would have been too easy. So, we calls the police for us. Yes, the police. And they sent the firemen.
Yes, the fireman. You know, the ones in the small, inconspicuous truck? The one that doesn't have sirens and lights? You know...except the exact opposite of all that. In the middle of the Lowe's parking lot and with a crowd gathered around. It took them for-e-ver to get it unlocked. They tried the driver's side door, then the passenger's side door, then back to the driver's side door before it finally unlocked. Oh, but then the car alarm went off. Seriously, there was no escaping the humiliation.
At least they were nice about it. And, thankfully, they didn't ask for my name and address to turn me in for child abuse or neglect. So, thats a plus.
Once they were done, Megan and I got the heck out of dodge in a hurry. Once we were away, I was able to laugh. BUT, you better believe that I called Jesse to tell him all about what HIS son had done. He just laughed in a a way that said, "Better you than me." Mmmhmm. Megan told me that the story needed to be a blog, so here ya go, Meg. This one's for you!! :)
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