Letter's From Lila

First grade is the best year ever in school because kids can write the funniest stuff.  Throw in some bad spelling and grammar, and it becomes even more awesome.

I'm glad we are "rily" fun.

"My hero is Jesus because he is nice to america and he is part of our family."

That one is just classic.  I'm so glad that Jesus is nice to America.  Where did she even get that from?!?

"Dear Sarah and Ryan, I have fun at school.  I like what we do in school.  We play at recess. I have fun.  I like you because you are nice to other people. I like what you do.  From, Lila."

Does it get cuter and sweeter than that?

I "rily" don't want this sweet girl to grow up anymore. I love her awesome letters from school.

Halloween 2014

Halloween was great this year.  Griffin was supposed to be a hand me down power ranger.  I told him that's what he was going to be and he said okay, but that he really wanted to be Batman.  I had decided we weren't buying any costumes this year and we were going to make due with what we had, but a week before Halloween I had a change of heart and secretly ordered him this Batman costume.  To say he was thrilled would be an understatement.

When he tried it on he kept saying, "Mom I look so awesome. This is so amazing.  Can you believe how wonderful this costume is."  It was totally the best 20 dollars I've ever spent.

Lila was an Alabama cheerleader with a uniform that came straight from Tuscaloosa.  She said everyone at school loved it.

On the morning of Griffin's preschool party, we couldn't find Cameron's dinosaur costume, so we went with the red ranger.  It is a size 10 and we had to roll the arms and legs up tons.  But, it worked and Cam like it.

Sunny with her bff Rakel.  I love these two girls and I love their sweet friendship.  They have been in the same class for 4 years now and are crossing their fingers that they get to stay together for 6th grade too.

Griffin and I at the elementary school costume parade.

Sunny with her other bff Lexi.  Sunny wanted to be a nurse and draw up a sketch of what she wanted it to look like and then asked Nana Blair to make it for her.  The result was this adorable set of Frozen scrubs.

Another picture at the parade.

Lila and one of her good friends.  This is Lexi's little sister and she is adorable.  She and Lila have so much fun together.  They are not in the same class, but usually find each other at recess.

The 6th grade got to sit on the stage and watch the costume parade.  Jack in on the back row in the middle.

My crew.

This could quite possible be my favorite art project ever from Lila.  They had an art contest at school and were told to draw a piece of fruit in a costume.  Hence, the "perr bat."  I am shocked that she didn't win, because this is the cutest thing I have ever seen.  I am going to frame it so we can pull it out each year on Halloween to use as a decoration.

3 Year Old Check Up

I have been terrible at blogging as of late, but this little guy had his 3 year old birthday back on Sept 3rd.  Today was his checkup.  He did great and actually liked getting a shot.  He was very interested in how it worked and he watched the nurse do it.  He said it didn't hurt at all.

He really liked Dr. Wilcox and they had a hilarious conversation about dinosaurs.

Since his birthday and my last post, Cameron got a haircut.  I loved his long hair so much, but it was a lot to take care of and it was always in his face.  I missed seeing his little eyes, so we decided to go ahead and cut it. He says he misses his long hair, but he loves his mohawk and he makes sure it is done every day.

3 is such a great year (not that 2 is bad, because it is pretty great to me), but 3 is just so much fun.  Kids know how to do so many new big kid things.  Life gets a little easier and you get to sit back and enjoy all the hilarious things they say.  I am a little sad that this is my  last 3 year old.

Cameron is seriously the best kid ever.   If I had one word to describe him, it would be EASY!  Everything with him has been so easy.  He is so happy and sweet.  He never throws tantrums...never...seriously.  Sometimes, he might start to cry a little because one of the kids won't give him what he wants.  When that happens, I tell him to go to his room and cry and come down when he is done.  He always quits crying before he even gets upstairs.  Then he yells down, "Mom, I'm done, can I come down now."  It is adorable.

He is up for any adventure.  He can keep going and going and going.  He loves to hang out with the big kids.  During Sept., he loved going to soccer practice with Griffin and Ryan let Cam practice too.  He thought that was great, and he was pretty darn good.

He is constantly making up games to play and asking everyone to play with him.   He loves Minecraft, and can play it very well all by himself. 

Cam has a great sense of humor.  He loves to tell jokes and say weird things and then say, "just kidding!"

He still takes his nap everyday from 12-2.  Like clockwork.  The best part is that many days, he will go put himself down to sleep.  If I am busy, I just say, go upstairs, shut your door, and get under the covers, and he does.

He adores the nursery at church and his two amazing teachers.  He looks forward to it all week.  He has some great friends there.  His favorites are two sweet twin girls that live across the street from us.  They love to stand in their driveway and yell at him, "Hey Cameron, Hey Cameron!"

He talks all the time about how he gets to go to preschool next year and he wishes he could have gone this year.  He went on a field trip with Griffin's class, and I have to admit, he is totally ready.

Cameron is so patient.  He really understand everything that is going on around him and he is so good about waiting his turn, or understanding why he doesn't get something, or doesn't get to do something that another kid gets to do.  It really is a gift that he has.

Cameron's favorite toy is his "Teddy-Bee", which is a teddy bear that my mom brought back from England for him.  He also loves long boarding and riding his strider bike.  He really loves to play football with Jack and G. He also really loves watching musicals with Sunny.

His favorite food is:  string cheese (not really, but that's what he said)

His least favorite food:  rice (weird, right?)

Overall, Cameron is just amazing.  I can't believe that he is ours and that we are lucky enough to have him in our family.  I'm so glad we decided to go ahead and have a 5th child.  I could never have dreamed he would be as awesome as he is.  I love my little 3 year old.

And, the 3 year old stats:

Height:  38.5 --  71%

Weight:  34.17 --  72%

BMI:  16,21 --  58%

And some of the other kids that I can find:

Griffin:

Height:  40 -- 95%

Weight:  37.9 -- 92%

BMI:  16.47 --  65%

Lila:

Weight:  33 --75%

Height:  38 -  75%

Haircut For Cam

Cam got a haircut today.  The top two are the before shots and the bottom two are after.  

As soon as he hopped up in the chair, he told the hair cutting guy, "Please don't cut all my long hair and make it short.  Just cut a little bit.  I love my long hair."

So, that's what we did.  We had the whole thing evened up, which ended up meaning he lost 2 inches in the back because it was a little bit of a mullet, and the rest just got trimmed up nicely.

We sure do love his long hair and we have no plans to cut it anytime soon!

Tenderfoot

We had a court of honor a few weeks ago and Jack got his Tenderfoot.  Cam was there.

And then he went on his first overnighter without Ryan.  I was super nervous.  They hiked in an camped and played games and cooked and then hiked out the next morning, for a total of 8 miles.  Jack really liked it.

Park Day

We took the little boys to the park the other day and they had a blast.  Griffin found a cute little boy that we called his, "park friend" and they played for a couple of hours. Non-stop running and chasing and screaming.  It was so fun.  Cam was the bad guy and he kept chasing them and roaring.  He also loved trying the monkey bars. They owned that park.  

We can't wait to go back again.

Sunny is 10!

Sweet Sunny turned 10 a couple of weeks ago.  She has always been a girly-girl and that has only increased over the last year.  She can usually be found in the bathroom doing her hair or practicing makeup ideas.  She is a total fashionista and loves everything about picking out clothes and making up new outfits.

She started 5th grade just a few days before her birthday and I can already tell that this is going to be her year!  She loves her teacher and her whole class.  She is always the youngest in her class and is usually ones of the smallest and most timid.  Not this year.  She has really come into her own.  Her peers like and respect her and her teacher thinks she is so funny.

I love that she is finally starting to come out of her shell.

Fun birthday present at her first ever friend party.

She choose to wear a fancy dress to her party because...why not?  She looked gorgeous.

A cute outfit she wore to school the Friday before her birthday.

For her first friend party, we decided to do, "Cupcake Wars" and decorate lots of cupcakes.  It was really fun.

All the cute girls at the party.  Sunny has an amazing group of friends at school and in the neighborhood.  Lila was over the moon to get an actual invite to the party.  Sunny is an amazing big sister and I so appreciated her letting Lila join in.

This was the day she came home with the news that she got voted to be the student council rep from her class.  She lost in a close race last year, so the victory this year was super sweet.  I am so proud of her and her accomplishments.  This is a huge deal for her.

Silly string fight in the backyard.

Sunny had a great birthday.  She got so many wonderful gifts and really enjoyed her party.  She just continues to be a really amazing child.  We love having her in our home. She brings a calm, peaceful spirit into our home, and she really is the best sister I could ever imagine.  I can't wait to see what the next year holds for my Sunny girl. 

Right now we have Ensemble Festival coming up where she will perform two duets with her partner Isaiah, choir, piano lessons, and she is thinking maybe some tennis in the spring.  You never know what she might be up to next, but you can guarantee she will totally look the part :)