8 things meme

All my posts so far I think have been all about my kids but my friend Gina tagged me with this so here goes.

The Rules: Players start with 8 random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts. Players should tag a few other people and notify them they have been tagged.

1. I really hate to cook. Breakfast of course is easy and always yummy so that's no problem. Lunch isn't too bad either I guess, but I still wish I didn't have to do it. I think the problem is that I'm not a very creative person with my cooking. I can make a few things really well but other then that I'm lost. I'm not good at cooking meats either so Mike usually does that part no matter who is actually making the dinner. I do all these things anyways of course since I have children and me and my husband need to eat to live but I HATE cooking.

2. This is in answer to Gina's #2. I DO love to run. It is weird I know, but I love to go running. Of course, I have been running since elementary school and ran Cross Country and Track in high school. I was pretty good if I do say so myself. I have recently begun working out again by following (or trying to) this program I found on the Internet and I love the days where I get to run. It's great when you hit that stride and you feel like you have all this energy and could run for hours. Unfortunately I sometimes have to miss those days because of other engagements or I just run out of time after my kids go to bed. That's my favorite time to run because the day is cooling down and there's not as much humidity.

3. I am really good at zoning out other people and noises. I have a very large family and I love to read so when I was younger and I wanted to be able to concentrate on my book (or other things) I could easily just zone everything else out. I still do it but I've been trying hard to get better about not doing it. It's very inconvenient to do since I have children now because who knows what they are getting into while I'm sitting there doing dishes while daydreaming or thinking about a book I am reading. Plus it really annoys my husband.

4. I love to read and am a pretty fast reader. I get really weird when I don't have any book to read. I feel like I'm missing something. I'm not saying I sit around all day and read (though I would like to) but I like to have something to read when I'm nursing or at night after the kids go to sleep. I need to find a book club again so that I can have more suggestions of books to read. I was in one last year but when school got out all the other moms kinda drifted off and then we never started it back up again when school was back in session.

5. Along the same lines as #4, when I find a really great book I like to try to read it a least once every year or two. I have a lot of books that I really like too. I am just that kind of person though. My favorite book is called Shadow of the Moon and I definitely make sure to read that one often. It is just too good. I've been working on my book collection and it's pretty good though there are a lot more that I want but I don't really have the room for them. I'm glad I live right down the street from the library.

6. I'm the same way with movies too. I like to watch them over and over again. My husband doesn't get that but most of my family is the same way. We like to quote and laugh about our favorite parts from our favorite movies all the time. We've even quote T.V. shows.

7. I am OBSESSED with ebay. I love going on there and looking for pretty much anything. I love the watching, the bidding, the winning (especially that), the selling, the feedback... I just love everything about ebay. I get so excited when an item I am either bidding on or selling is about to close. I will constantly refresh the page to see exactly how much time is left and if there are any new bids that I either need to outbid or just shout for joy cause I'll be getting more money!! So unfortunately this all means that I pretty much have to stay away from it unless I really do need something. I am really addicted to that site. I can spend LOTS of money there (of course while getting tons of great deals in the process).

8. I have a shameful secret. I occassionally like to watch Days of Our Lives. I know, I know, so stupid and corny, but it makes me laugh and every once in a while I like to watch all that dumb drama. I could not watch it for a whole year and catch up on all that has happened in about one week. The stories are so stupid and unreal; it's GREAT!!! I have watched it on and off for a long time actually. This one summer most of my family was watching it and we would all laugh hysterically at the stories. Ahhh... those guilty pleasures can be so fun!!

Crazy little man driver

We bought this little pink Barbie battery powered 4-wheeler for Cameryn when she was about 15 months old but she has never really been interested in it. Well, I think it found someone who does want to ride it.

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I hope you all laughed as hard as I did about that song. I cracked up and couldn't stop laughing when I found it. It was even the right length for the clip.

Of course Luke is hilarious on that Barbie 4-wheeler too but that song is just too funny. Luke loves to be up on that thing and we found if we place his hand in the right spot he can push the little button to make it go all by himself. He of course loved that even more. He also tries to get up onto her little red trike too. What a silly boy!!

Watering the grass

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I'm watching my brother Devon this week because my mom and sister Kathryn are at Girl's Camp and my dad is in Russia on a business trip. I didn't feel like driving into town to go to the pool so I thought the kids would like to run through the sprinkler for a little while.

Luke just sat there the whole time trying (yet again) to drink the water even when it was spraying him in the face. Devon ran through it a few times and then just played with the water spouts. Cameryn, I had to drag through or run through it with her to get her anywhere near it. You can see that the water isn't turned on very high either.

They had fun though and were outside for awhile so that's always a good thing.

Fun at the pool

Luke and Cameryn have played in our little baby pool in the backyard many times already this year but I took them, along with Kathryn and Devon, to the city pool this past Saturday. Luke is definitely a water baby, must have been all that swimming I did while I was pregnant with him. He loved the pool and had so much fun. I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted because it was too hard to do that and to be able to watch Cameryn going here and there. It's hard to watch two little kids at the pool.

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After playing with the water spouts for about 20 minutes he finally decided that he could crawl around and would crawl a little ways into the water and then sit. He would then crawl back to the spouts and repeat.

I love that pool. It is great for taking little kids for so many reasons. It's small so it's easier to keep track of them, there are so many toys in the water for them to play with (you see the big floating turtle in the video), and it has a beach front entrance into the water which Cameryn and Luke both loved.

Cameryn loves going to the pool but she's not one for actually getting into the water too often. She mainly likes to walk around, maybe get in up to her knees but then she gets out almost immediately. I have to bring lots of toys to keep her occupied. She does still love to play with the water spouts just as much as Luke does so that's nice since it keeps her close to me instead of wandering around (which makes me very nervous sometimes). I'm not too paranoid of a mother (at least I like to think so) but I still worry about her suddenly thinking that she'd like to get in the water in the 4 foot area or something like that. Yes, I know there are lifeguards, but still. She usually does stick around me though so that's nice.

When you take Luke out, however, he just tries to crawl right back over to it. I was trying to get all of our stuff together to leave and he kept trying to crawl over to the edge of the 4 foot area because he wanted to get back in. I'll have to watch my little man like a hawk around water.

Pretty pretty princess

Mike and I went to the Disney store a few weeks ago and hit on a really big sale they were having. We stocked up on birthday and Christmas presents for Cameryn and Luke. While there Mike found these princess nightgowns that Cameryn would of course just absolutely love so we bought her one.

We came home and decided that we couldn't wait till September (her birthday) to give it to her because we wanted to see her reaction now. Not even two minutes after putting it on she was dancing and singing and twirling. She loves her "twirly Cinderella nightgown" as she calls it. She twirls around and then sits down real fast so that the dress is spread out all around her (I taught her that cause it's what I used to do with anything that twirled.. hehe). She also loves to dance with me or Mike especially when she is wearing that nightgown. We twirl and dip her and of course we have to sing a princess song while doing it all. She is such a fun little girly girl. It is so easy to buy her things that we really have to be careful to control ourselves. She now has three princess nightgowns but that is her favorite.

All play and no work...

I have been so busy these past few weeks it ridiculous. I have so many things to update on my blog and I fear I will never get to them all.

I'll just start with this past weekend. Last year when I was 8 months pregnant, me and some friends of mine since high school decided it would be fun to go to my friends cabin about 2 1/2 hour away for a weekend. We had so much fun talking, playing games, talking, riding on Heidi's dad's 4-wheeler, watching movies, and mainly just talking. We decided then that we should have our little girl's weekend every year.

So this year I have a 10 month old baby and am still nursing him so obviously I couldn't leave him behind. He got to be the lucky little guy with all the ladies all weekend long.

The weekend started with us leaving from Chrissy's mom's house Friday in the early afternoon. The van that Heidi was going to drive us all in didn't have any AC and of course it was in the high 90's with ALOT of humidity (per usual in Maryland). Well, my poor little man got a horrible heat rash. It was everywhere and there wasn't much I could do about it. I had some ice and a cloth diaper that I used to try to cool him down and it helped him a little bit but it was still so hot until we got about half way through our trip when the temperature finally started dropping.

He slept well that night and we were all up early and ready to go out and rent a boat for a few hours. I was a little worried about Luke but it was all for nothing as he loved being on the boat and even fell asleep for the first 30-45 minutes of the trip. The day was beautiful and we had lunch on our boat. We rented a pontoon boat so it wasn't too fast and it ended up only being about $16 dollars a person for 3 hours. We could have stayed out longer but with a baby we didn't want to push our luck. Next year though we are going to get a faster boat, rent our longer, and try tubing, but of course I won't have to bring any kids with me (yay!)

We played tons of games again and had a camp fire and smores. Luke sat with us for a little while until his bed time and tried to eat all the rocks he could. Once he realized that they didn't taste very good mixed with dead leaves he just kept handing them to everyone.

He wasn't too happy about the long car ride home and unfortunately he didn't fall asleep but over all I had a wonderful time and I can't wait till next year!!

Luke, Heidi, Annie, Jessie, and Chrissy . Luke on the boat

Luke sleeping on the boat. Playing with toys after a quick nap

Chrissy getting the wood ready to burn. Not bad for a bunch of girls!!

Luke eating rocks

Jessie with Luke and Luke with his momma

My little headbanger

I finally got a good video of Luke ramming his head into things.

Cameryn was going potty in the bathroom and since Luke is obsessed with that room I have to keep the door shut. Well, needless to say he got a little upset that he couldn't go in there and this was the result.

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Maybe this is how he knocks on doors?

This is a very common occurence with him, although it isn't always because he is throwing a fit. Sometimes he does it for fun... weird I know but really funny to watch. Once I swear he did it for a full 2 or 3 mintues and then when he got tired just moved on to playing with something else. He also does this to my leg to get my attention and likes to bonk heads with people that he likes (at least people he likes for the moment).

I was at a friend's house today and Luke kept bonking his head into her baby boy. Thank goodness her boy didn't care and they seemed to have fun together. It was so cute and I only wish that I had brought my camera with me.

BOYS!!!

Ahhh... those funny naked stories

The other day Mike and I were bringing a grill that his parents were giving us into the house. Cameryn decided to be helpful and was holding the front door open for us while standing on the front porch which was wonderful... that is until we realized that all she had on was a shirt. Whatever... not a big deal. After all she is only 2 years old. What does it matter if she doesn't have any pants on?

Well, it didn't matter until Mike pointed out to Cameryn that she should come inside because she was half naked. She decided that this was really funny (which of course it was to us too) and promptly shut the screen door and took off down the front steps.

I really would have loved to just get my camera and tape her running as fast as she could holding her Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal, smiling her cute little smile and giggling. But unfortunately I had to run after her.

Thankfully she knows that she is not allowed to go any further then the edges of our very small front yard so it wasn't a long chase. But it was HILARIOUS!!! As soon as she saw me coming after her she started laughing even more and squealing with delight that I was chasing her. I quickly grabbed her as she was running back up the yard and brought her in the house where she quickly burst into tears (girls are very dramatic). She was crying she wanted to go back outside in the front yard. I told her she could play in the back but that wasn't good enough until I told her that I was going to chase her. The tears quickly vanished and she took off again running through the kitchen to the back door and onto the deck.

Oh how I love these funny moments that seem to always end so quickly. She is developing such an imagination and she does the silliest things. I have to wonder how she comes up with some of them. But I'm glad that she does. I want her to be able to be a child as long as she wants. Society seems to think that our children need to grow up faster then they do already and it makes me sad. I want her to be able to be a little girl for as long as possible because I will miss her when she isn't. Then she'll be a teenager and most likely not like me as much as she does now. I won't get the spontaneous hugs and kisses and the "I love you so much" followed by the hardest squeeze she can manage.

I will just enjoy all these moments as much as possible and will love my little girl a little bit more every day and not dwell on what is to come.

Here are two recent pictures of something silly she was doing in the car the other day that I had to get a picture of.

Funny happenings

I have been so busy these past few weeks and have not gotten to blogging in a long time. I'm sure I could have found a few minutes here or there but oh well.

The kids have been having a nice month so far. We've been getting in the pool a lot and going outside just to sit in our (small) front yard and play or going on walks and meeting up with friends and going to the park. You get the picture.Luke is really getting the hang of crawling and is a lot faster. He is such a busy body and I love it. I don't have a baby constantly wanting me to pick him up because he can crawl now.. it is WONDERFUL!! Of course when he is getting tired or just wants to be held for a few minutes he will crawl to me and sob and I of course pick him up.

He loves to carry things around in his mouth too. He's like a little puppy sometimes.

He has become quite the headbanger. I've never seen a baby do this. Cameryn would sometimes bonk heads with people for fun but Luke is a totally different story. He crawls up to walls or doors (or my leg) and just bangs his head into it over and over and over. At first I was worried but my mom read me something from a book about babies that do that and it pretty much said not to make a big deal about it or later on they might realize that they can get things they want by banging their head into things and throwing fits. So I'm not going to stop him unless of course he hurts himself on accident. I've been trying to get a good video of him doing it but I never have my camera ready and by the time I get it he's done. It is pretty funny looking though.

Cameryn has found even more ways to play with him since he started crawling. We keep our cat box in our basement so Mike installed a little kitty door in the door going into the basement. Well Luke loves to go down into the basement and of course will crawl over there the second he hears the door open. Cameryn discovered that this was a really fun way to play peek-a-boo.

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I didn't get the whole thing on camera like the initial peek-a-boo and giggling and laughing but you get the idea.

It's finally happened

I have been waiting and waiting and growing so impatient for Luke to figure out the crawling thing and he FINALLY did!! I was playing with him on the floor on Tuesday night and he was laughing and having fun and suddenly figured out that if he moved his hands AND his knees that he could move forward. He only did it just barely but I knew he had finally got it and was so happy.

Since he was about 6 1/2 months old he has been up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth and seeming that he was seconds from crawling. However, he never made any attempts to crawl. Slowly he figured out how to move his arms forward but those back legs stayed still. Then he figured out how to go from his stomach to his hands and knees, then into a sitting position, which kids usually don't figure out until they are already crawling. I swear he has done everything possible in the crawling stance EXCEPT crawl. But that's my silly backwards baby. When he was learning to roll over, he rolled from his back to his stomach first instead of the other way around which is just weird.

On Wednesday, he kept trying more and barely moving his little knees a half an inch forward, but he was trying. Finally on Thursday I actually had my camera handy and captured this:

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I thought the song was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, if I don't say so myself.

He still isn't crawling too much and whines a great deal when I move things out of his reach so he will have to crawl to them. There is a big difference in my kids there. Once Cameryn figured it out, she was gone and crawling here and there and I was always on the go watching her and following her around. Luke seems (for lack of a better word) lazy about the whole thing. Like it's just easier to cry and scream and whine to mom so she will pick me up or give me what I want. I know it has only been about 3 days since he started crawling but it is just so silly. He'll figure it out in his own time I'm sure.

I'm just happy that he got it cause I was starting to worry that he was going to skip crawling like so many kids do now a days. I didn't really think he would because I've always put him on his stomach like I did with Cameryn but I worried anyways. I just have to remember that my children are different people and that boys and girls do things differently and at different times also.

As I'm writing this he is crawling/scooting slowly around my room getting into everything. He especially likes doors so he can open and close them (as you see a little bit of in my video). For some reason though he always rams his head into the doors as well and then cries about it but still keeps doing it. I think he just wants attention when he does that.

He also had another first yesterday. His hair was already growing so long that I had to ask a friend of my moms to cut it for me. It looks very good for all the wiggling, head turning and crying he did. If you compare the pictures in the video to the pictures of Luke in other posts you'll see the difference. I think he looks so handsome. She also cut Cameryn's for me, not that she needed it. I just don't do that great of job when I do her bangs so I asked Nancy to trim her bangs for me and she also took like a half an inch from the back. I'm hoping that it will thicken up her hair a little bit. I forgot my camera but I took some with my mom's. When I get those picture I'll post them cause they are so cute.