Congrats to Camryn

Camryn's graduation from pre-school was tonight.  She is growing up.  Love her to pieces.

Camryn with her teachers. Ms. Brittney and Ms. Megan.

Looking back on the last 12 months

When I think about the last 12 months, I equate it to survival.  Sure my life was drastically altered when I lost my job but I'm talking more about what an impact Darcy has made on our family.  I joke with people that I looked so much younger in my pictures a year ago.  I do feel like I've aged.  Darker circles and more gray hair.  I would say it's safe to say that Darcy has been a challenging baby. 

Look at this little thing.  Who would have known what a firecracker she'd be.

BUT, this is not a blog entry to document how tough she's been.  For the record she is 5489% better these days.  Rather, I want to celebrate the little person Darcy is as she turns one year old!

Things that make me smile about Darcy:

• She races down stairs like no child I've seen.  Crawls to the edge, turns around and flies down backwards on her belly.  I get nervous she's going to catch a foot or knee and go flying off, but so far so good.
• We've given up on blocking the stairs to go up. She climbs over whatever we place there.
• She's fearless when she gets down from our bed.  Turns around and drops without a second thought. Then falls to her bottom and off she goes.
• She loves the little loveys I have made for her.  She will wait for us to come get her in the morning after screaming to let us know it's time to get up.  And when we walk in she is standing in her bed, facing the door with her elbows and forearms up on the bed railing.  She's always holding a lovey and when we walk in will hold it out for us so we can hug it.  She'll say "Awwwwwwww" when she holds it out. 
• She will climb on top of the dishwasher door if we let her "help" with the dishes.
• She likes to climb all the way back into the kitchen cabinets to get to the dishes I don't want her to have.
• If you get her started on pictures on the wall, she knows where every picture of Camryn is in the house.  She'll point to one and then when you take her over there she'll turn and point in another direction toward a different picture. 
• She talks to you about the pictures.  Mostly says "Go-ga?"  We think that is either Camryn or Sissy because it's typically pointed to Camryn pictures.
• She enjoys playing with magnets on the refrigerator.  I remember when Cam went through this phase (thank you Dad, for the scratch free magnets that are still coming in handy).  But what's so fun is she will have a conversation with herself about the magnets.  I've got to capture on video.  She just talks and talks.
• She isn't walking yet, but walks along the walls a lot.  She'll crawl up to a doorway, stop and stand up at the doorframe and work her way into the room.  When she sees that the wall moves in a direction different that the way she wants to go, she'll pop back down and be on her way.
• Lights up when she sees Camryn.  Will crawl over to her and collapse into her like she's hugging her.  So precious.
• When she asks for more using sign language, it's more like a clap.  At least we know what she means.
• She loves cookies as much as her momma does. :)
• She gives me zerberts on my arm.

Love you Darcy!

Happy to be a mother

There was a time in my life (well most of my 20's) when kids were not under consideration. In fact, Craig and I both had even talked about not having children.  Then we decided, at the same time really, that we wanted to give parenthood a go.  There are some very stressful days when we've looked at each other and questioned the decision, laughing that we'd have so much money we could be enjoying our second beach vacation of the year already.  But we are blessed with two beautiful girls.One is angelic. The other, not so much.  But they're equally as entertaining and huggable.  I love them both very much!

Last weekend was so great.  Wish I could bottle up the combination of the weather and the happy times and carry it with me always.

Saturday, Camryn got to take a tour of her elementary school, including walking through all four kindergarten classrooms.  She's so thrilled.  Then soccer. Chris & Jessica came out to watch her play.  She told them afterwards that she was so surprised that they came that she couldn't concentrate on the game.  HAAAA!!!!  Love that she had an excuse for it this time.

That evening, Chris and Jess watched Darcy while Craig, Cam and I participated in the Take Steps walk to help raise awareness for Chrohns and Colitis.  One of our neighbors has gone through a terrible 12 months in and out of the hospital with Chrohns disease; and a lot of our neighbors participated.  And then we all went for fishbowls at Rigazzi's afterwards. :)

Sunday, the family let me sleep in.  And I got Starbucks.  And no one was fussy all day.  Smiles all around.  The best set of gifts I could have asked for.  We had our annual brunch with Grandma Collins.  She told me when she walked in, the waitress asked her how many kids did she have.  There were probably 20 of us there.  She only has two kids but it resulted in a lot of family.  Anyway, she was laughing.  She said "I didn't want to to her I was 99." As if the waitress thought she was still having children. LOL!

Cam and Maria.
(That's icing on Camryn's chin.  That's all she ate of the large piece of carrot cake she picked up.)

I think this might be our first family pic together where everyone is smiling. :)

And I'm the only reason this family picture exists.  It only takes 20 minutes to get everyone to move.  I seriously have to herd them like sheep to get in one spot and smile.  Geesh!  Surely someone will find value in this one day besides me, right?

I got some snapshots outside after brunch.

And then we popped my mom and dads so I could hug my mom. Cam had a tea party with Dad and then played a round of checkers with Mom while Darcy messed with Gabby and went for everything on the back porch she wasn't aloud to touch.

Darcy is reading People Magazine's special royal wedding edition.

Hope all of you moms had a great mother's day.

New quirk

Camryn has started winking. And she winks all the time.  She'll yell for me, and then doesn't want to say anything. She wants me to look at her and she'll wink at me.  She's not bad at it but it looks like a lot of effor for her and it's almost a blink.  Craig and I caught her this morning practicing her winking.  Too funny.

Bad jokes

I picked Cam up from school yesterday and she was in the goofiest mood ever.  She has entered a stage where she totally cracks herself up by saying the most nonsensical things.  I remember when my brother Jeff went through his joke telling phase and will never forget about his dinosaur that climbed the tree joke.  Cam's "joke of the day" yesterday was:

Q: Why did the tulip put on hand sanitizer?

A: Because it was made out of rubber.

There you go.  A great conversations opener at the next party you attend. LOL!

Kiss and Tell

Got a note from Cam's teacher yesterday that she was caught kissing boys (yes, plural) and was told that kissing is just for family.  So I went to Cam and said "I got a note from your teachers today. Do you know what it said?" 

Cam: "That I was hitting people."  OK, what? She doesn't hit anyone, unless she's in major defense mode.  I didn't probe into that claim. That wasn't what I wanted to talk about.

Me: "No. It said you were kissing boys in your class.  Is that true."

Cam:  Silence.  Smirk.  "Yes."

Me: "We don't kiss our friends, Camryn.  Not on the cheek, on the hand, on the lips, anywhere.  We save all of those kisses for family."

Cam:  "Well, you kiss Daddy."

Me:  "Daddy is my family.  It's okay to kiss Daddy, but you shouldn't kiss Daddy on the lips.  Or me. Or Darcy.  So who did you kiss?"

Cam:  "Jay"

Me: "Anyone else?"

Cam: "James"

Me: "Anyone else?"

Cam: "Harrison:

Me:  "Anyone else?" (Are you kidding me here? She's naming all the boys in her class.)

Cam: "Carter.  "Well, that was a different day."  (Oh, great. So this has been going on for a while.  She only got caught yesterday.)

Me: "Did these boys ask you to kiss them?"

Cam: "No."

Me: "OK. Let's not do this again. I don't want to hear this news from your teachers anymore.  No more kissing anyone that isn't family, OK?"

Cam: "So I can only kiss a boy when I get married?"

Me:  "Yes. That would be great." 

Ha!  I love the innocence that 5 year olds still have.  This was a great rule until we heard a celebrity gossip update on the radio this morning on the way to school and the two stars from Twilight were rumored to be broken up but there were reports that they were kissing in their car and Cam said "They were KISSING????"  I just ignored it. :)

Growing pains

Darcy has been extra crabby lately.  Even by her standards.  We took her to the doc yesterday thinking something had to be wrong.  Clean bill of health, but she's cutting her molars already!  Yikes!! We were grateful to have an explaination for the behavior.  We never knew it when Camryn was cutting teeth.  Crazy how different kids are.

Two things that I think are funny about Darcy right now.  She absolutely protests wearing socks, and pulls them off the second she gets an opportunity.  And if you give her a lovey or stuffed animal she will pull it up to her face and say "Ahhhhhhh."  So cute.   And she's reached that stage where she pats you on the back gently if you do that to her first.  Love that.

I have to document these sweet things so I don't just remember her as the tantrum thrower that she is. :)

Have a great week.

Spring Break

What an incredible Spring Break we had!  Rather than wait for the summer to take a vacation, Mom and Dad treated us to an amazing time in Clearwater, Florida!  The weather was perfect. 80 and sunny every day.  And I can honestly say this is the first vacation where we weren't ready to get back home after the 5th day.  OK, some of it may have been due to the snow in the forecast on our returning day, but I think a lot of it was due to the fact that it was such a great time.

Craig and I were a little apprehensive to the travel day down to Florida.  We knew Cam would be fine, but Darcy can be such a bear and there's no where to go once you're on that plane.  We were hoping for the best and got it!  We even had two flights to get down there and Darcy was a champ through check in, security, plane ride 1 and 2, and even the 30 minute drive to Clearwater.  She started to have a breakdown 5 minutes before we got to the house.  Who could blame her though?  She had been stuck in that car seat the entire day.  Needless to say, she enjoyed stretching her legs and exploring the house we would be staying at for the next week. 

On the first night, we went to watch the sunset at the beach.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh....so relaxing.  The sound of the ocean and the feel of sand beneath your feet is good for the soul.  It would definitely be a good week.  Camryn couldn't get enough of the water and waves that evening.  She was 2 the last time she was at a beach.  So she enjoyed the experience on an entirely different level this year. 

The next day we just kind of goofed off.  Flea market.  Hanging out.  Girls went to the beach. 

On Monday, Jeff joined us from his weekend trip to a spring training game with friends. I took Darcy to the beach for the first time.  She didn't disappoint.  Left with her little body covered in sand. Her diaper had sand in it and she even tasted it a couple of times.  That's all it took and she was convinced it was gross.  Didn't have to worry about that the rest of the trip.  (Just rubbing her eyes when she has a fistful of sand.)  Camryn looked like she belonged on the beach.  She maximized every minute she had.  The great thing about staying at a beach house is all of the fun beach toys that are left for the next family.  They made sand castles and floated on toys in the water.

Jon making the girls into mermaids.

On Tuesday we went outlet mall shopping while the boys went on their big fishing trip.  There was this giant hamster ball that Camryn was interested in climbing into. Why?  Not sure.  Looked awkward when she was in there but she enjoyed it. :)

Wednesday was another beach day. It's so convenient to be in a house right there.  You can take breaks for lunch and naps and hop on back out there when you're ready again.  Mom and Dad traveled to Universal Studios that day to see the Harry Potter world.  Sounds like it was hugely long lines and little time to enjoy all of the work that was put into the set. 

Well, at least they were all looking at the camera. LOL!

On Thursday we surprised Charlotte and Camryn with a trip to Disney World while Mom & Dad volunteered for their own adventure to watch Riley and Darcy.  We woke the girls up bright and early to break the news.  A bit anti-climatic, but they were half asleep and really had no idea what "going to Disney World" truly meant.  Once it started to sink in, they got more excited.  Jeff rode with Craig, Cam and I and we talked about what we might see on the way there.  I had lots of DW memories from our trips as kids.  And, I enjoyed the day tremendously, but from a much different perspective.  The rides were not quite as magical to me and I cringe at the thought (after the fact at least) on how any purchase you make is an emotional one.  I mean how often are you really at DW??  But to watch a 5 year old see everything for the first time was truly amazing.  Craig kept saying to me "We're never going to get this back.  We need to enjoy every minute of this day with Camryn." And we did.

First view of the castle.

We went on the Dumbo ride first.  Cam's first response..."can we go on that again?"  We wanted to let her lead us through park as much as we could but we had to make sure she had a chance to experience other things to.  The day, as a whole couldn't have gone more smoothly.  We had enough adults that collecting fast passes to ride things later in the day while we waited at another ride certainly made things easier.  I still cannot believe how much we squeezed into the day...Dumbo, Teacups, Mickey's PhilHarmagic, Peter Pan, Cinderella's Carousel, It's A Small World, Buzz Light Year, Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, The Jungle Ride Country Bear Jamboree and even Craig and I made it to Space Mountain. 

This doesn't even include dinner with Cinderella and event of the day...meeting Rapunzel, Disney's newest princess and her beau, Flynn Rider.

It's amazing to me how well Disney chooses people. These two look just like the cartoon.  I can tell you one thing though, I would not want that big hunk of hair on my shoulder all day.  Yikes!

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Lady Tremaine was our first table visitor.  I think at first the girls couldn't believe they were coming right up to them.  But they quickly settle in and got all of the character's autographs.

Prince Charming...now this was not such a good look a like. 
He came up to the girls and said "Wow! You look just like my wife!"

Jeff's date for the night. LOL!

It was a great day!  Long, but great.  So glad we had the opportunity to take the girls there.  Now we are all ready to go back. 

And then on our final day, we just kind of soaked up as much of the sun and ocean breeze we could.  Camryn jumped as many waves as we would let her.  And then that night we headed out to dinner with everyone, but first had to grab some family pics on the beach.

Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for giving us these wonderful memories. We had an amazing time.