Yes I'm Still Here!

Cam and Trin in serious dinner conversation.

Not sure why I haven't posted anything in so long. I guess it was a busy holiday season.

We had such a good Christmas this year. I loved spending time with our families and having Wayne off work for 3 days. It was so nice to have the magic back since Camden is at the perfect age. Wayne's family had a Christmas party where Santa Clause came and Camden got a helicopter. The following weekend Wayne and I told Camden that we had to go Christmas shopping so that we could get him some presents. Camden told us that he already got a present from Santa so we asked him if he wanted some more. Camden sweetly replied, "No, I'm okay". It's probably the only year we will hear that but it was so dang cute.

Teige started crawling Christmas Day! He does this mini crawl thing where he barely moves his knees so he doesn't get too far too fast yet. It was a task that he has been working on for weeks and he seems a lot happier now that he has finally figured it out.

Even though I love Christmas, most years I am happy when it goes so that life can get back to normal. But, for some reason it was different this year and I wasn't quite ready for the celebrations and anticipation to end. Or maybe it's because I can't use the "I'm going to call Santa" excuse anymore. Whoever thought of that is so smart!

Okay so a little negative side...........I cannot believe that we are approaching the New Year already. I hate how the older you get the faster the years go by! I hate that our babies have to grow up so fast. And I hate that I was born in 1980 and it's almost 2010 so I am going to be how old this year.......you do the math! Seriously, where did time go. I just remind myself to love every single day and hug and hold and play with my children as much as they will let me. In ten years, my oldest could have babies of her own and I will be begging my boys to give me hugs.

Family Pictures

I decided it was time to get the family together and take some pictures. My sister, Kimberlee, always does such an amazing job so we had her take them for us. Here are some of my favorites!

Halloween Adventures

Camden's costume might look familiar.....he wore it last year. We lost all of last October's pictures and since he looked so adorable in it, I had him wear it again.

A little thumbs up for ya!

This is a little late but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss it completly. We had another spoiled Halloween where you hardly even had to wear a jacket to go trick-or-treating. Even Teige got to go around to a few houses. Camden loved going and getting candy (of course), and the next day he asked when we were going to do it again. It's hard explaining to a two year old why we can't make trick-or-treating a daily activity!

Happy 10th Anniversary

Warning: The following may contain mushy gushy stuff. Reader discretion is advised.

I am writing this as a little tribute to my husband. Today is our 10th Anniversary! I seriously can hardly believe it. We were supposed to go out tonight and celebrate. Instead, Camden has strep, Charice is sick (not sure what yet) and Teige has an ear infection and the oh so dreaded h1n1 flu! So, it's take out chinese and tylenol, motrin, tylenol, motrin, tylenol, motrin.

I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband. He works his butt of so that I can stay home with our children. He puts our family before everything. He is such a good husband and such a good Dad. He truly has a heart of gold! I love you Babes! Happy Anniversary!

Sand Dunes

A couple of weeks ago we went camping with Wayne's family. Since we have outgrown our small camper, Wayne's mom rented a big motor home for all of us to stay in. Even though the weather was super crappy, there was 12 of us in one motor home, my boys got sick and still have a lingering cough, the kids had a blast! The last night we were there, the wind was so bad it blew one of the camping chairs into the fire. These pictures are quite deceiving. We took them during the only hour of sunshine we were given.

Baby Blue

To our surprise, our little Teige has big blue eyes. Since Wayne's eyes are hazel and mine are brown, we never expected to get so lucky! There is nothing wrong with brown eyes (we have a household full of them), it's just so fun to have some blue ones too! Teige will be 5 months old tomorrow we are so grateful to have such a sweet little guy. He is so easy going and so happy.

Sibling Bonds

Camden making ghost puppets!

Wayne caught this adorable moment.

I love the bond I have with my siblings and I hope my children will always have that same bond. I feel so lucky to have such a great relationship with my brothers and sisters and I love spending time with them. Just recently, Camden has started to think of Teige as his brother and not just a bother. He is always trying to hold his hand and always telling him he loves him. He will ask me when Teige will be old enough to "sight" (he means fight but can't say his f's too hot yet). Charice and the boys also have a close bond. She puts her brothers above and beyond everything and sometimes when Camden gets hurt, he will go to his sis before even me. I feel so blessed to be able to have all of my children and I just pray that their amazing relationship with one another will be as good as the relationship I have with my siblings.

Lions and Tigers and the most adorable Baby Elephant!

The kids and I went to the Zoo a couple of weeks ago to see the new baby elephant. It was the cutest thing ever. We loved watching her splash around in the mud and play with her mom. I think they said she was 250 pounds at birth and the same height as my little Camden. We also got to see the baby tigers and baby giraffe (Camden's favorite).

Such a silly little man!

Not sure why I bring this double stroller. I swear I end up pushing it completely unoccupied within 10 minutes of getting there.

I can't believe this is the best picture we got of the baby elephant. Camden hadn't had his nap and was throwing a humoungo fit at this moment so I really was lucky to get any.

We had a blast at the Circus!

My Mom and Dad bought us tickets to see the Circus on Thursday. I hadn't been since I was little so I was so excited to take the kids. They all loved it......even Teige. Amazingly, Teige and Camden didn't make a peep. Charice got a $9.00 lemonade and Camden got a $20.00 sword, but isn't that what it's all about.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Back in the Family!

This little three-wheeler may look familiar. We bought it for Charice 8 years ago but sold it to a friend when she got too big! Well it's back and Camden took a little test drive on it in the backyard. He has some growing to do but he did pretty good for his first time. We are taking a trip to the Dunes for the weekend so lets hope for no broken arms!

Kids really do say the funniest things!

So our little Camden talks like he is 8 years old. He has us laughing almost every day at the funny things he says. I'm always telling Wayne that I wish I could just bottle it up and save it forever. Awhile back Charice was asking me what Teige's nickname should be. Camden overheard the conversation and came running in the room saying, "I'm going to call Teige my Sweetheart". Only he pronounced it Sweet tart. So adorable. Now whenever he talks to his brother he says, "Hi Sweet tart", or "where's my sweet tart". Then last week Camden said "I love my Daddy and I love your Daddy too mom." I asked him who my Daddy was and he said, "you know mom, Daddy, downstairs". So sweet and innocent that he thinks Wayne is my Daddy. If only we could remember all of these adorable little moments forever.

Teige's Blessing

On August 9, 2009, we blessed Teige at our home. He was blessed by his Papa Robin. The blessing was perfect, so fitting and absolutley beautiful! We had most of our close family there to celebrate with us.

Charice's Birthday

Charice turned 12 on August 6th! I can hardly believe that she is that old and that we are old enough to have a child that old! She is now in Young Womens and started Jr. High a couple of weeks ago. So far, she loves Jr. High and is meeting new friends. I remember my Jr. High experiences.....not the best years of my life, and I just pray that she continues to enjoy hers.

Our month of July

My sister took this picture of Teige when he was about 1 month old. When I finally get around to it, I will make make his announcement's with it. I can't believe I haven't done that already! Teige is now 2 1/2 months old. I took him to his 2 month appointment and he was 13 pounds! Holy biggness! At 2 months old, my little Camden was only 9 pounds. Teige is definitly my little chunky monkey.

I finally got a picture of my four favorite people! How lucky am I!!!

Like I said in my earlier post, we had a visit from Wayne's Dad and stepmom. They brought our little nephew Daniel with them. They drove all the way from Texas so that they could bring Wayne's deer heads with them. Secretly I was hoping they would fly and leave the deer back home. I could do without the new addition on my wall but I guess this is Wayne's house too.......I guess.


Anyways, we really enjoyed their visit and we wish they would just move here. With our ever growing family, it is getting so expensive to fly out to their house.