Cameron's new tricks

Cameron has a few new tricks including pushing his walker all over--he just stood up three nights ago (this video is that night) and started pushing it all around and moving it from side to side for turns or if he got stuck. He loves to push it around the playground, through the grass (although it is a bit harder) and everywhere but won't quite take steps without it.
He also at lunch today enjoyed trying to eat with a spoon...then i took away the bowl and he gave one of his famous fits of lip and tears...Cameron did a pretty good job but you can see he decided to go face first rather than stick with the spoon...He's a delight to be around most of the time but boy is he stubborn! He's used to his sister making sure that he has everything he wants and his brother mostly giving him roughouse attention but always attention! Tonight, thanks to the kindness of a friend's husband who played with cameron, The older kids and I went to see a movie which was fun. The kids thought it was pretty funny--some of it was over their heads but for the most part they had a great time.

The rest of the weekend...

was pretty fun. Saturday after soccer we watched a few of the kids friends so their parents could run to the grocery store on their own. The kids played outside and we enjoyed the nice day. Since Jeff got them in the habit of "camping out" in the living room one night each weekend they had been waiting to have a camp out with mom. Not interested in sleeping with all three kids in the living room I set up the mattress in my room for them to sleep on. They quickly set to laying out their blankets and stuffed animals and we put in the movie and that was that. It was pretty simple for as excited and happy as it made them so it will probably continue to be a weekly occurance. Sunday we did some cleaning then headed out to a park to explore the little bike path nearby. With some friends the kids rode bikes and explored the path all the way to the end (not that far!!). We then went to lunch at the azorean McDonald's--a sandwich type place with a play area for the kids. Another set of friends set up the bounce house at their house and made yummy ribs for us to enjoy for dinner. It's definitely easier to pass the evenings and days that Jeff is gone with friends and neighbors keeping us busy and nice weather to enjoy.

soccer continues

We had a great morning this morning and the kids were both excited to go to soccer (not the case every time!!). We got them dressed and to the field in plenty of time to warm up and play. Heather was right in there from the beginning and continues her effort to stay near but not in the action. She is quite tentative in her kicking but seems to be having fun as she pretty much volunteered to play almost the entire game. Charlie was in halfway through the first quarter and played quite a while too. He is cute with his determined little attitude although he also stays a bit outside the action. He runs as fast as he can but once he gets close he gets a little tentative. The highlight of the game today was at the end of the "half" the ball popped out and charlie started kicking it down the field. Of course he didn't hear the whistle and although everyone else stopped playing he ran half of the field with the ball and scored a goal. It was quite cute since he is the littlest one on the field!

Charlie starts Portugese school!

Charlie has been dying to start school since Heather started on the island. We really missed is awesome preschool in MS (yes there are good things about MS besides our friends that were/are there!!) and were sad that there was really no place to go here. Finally they started school and although he didn't get into our first choice the school seems great. He is in a class with a few 3, a few 4 and mostly 5 year olds and has 2 other american kids in his class. He is just thrilled to go and likes his teachers, singing, and playing on the playground. He says he is learning words but can never remember what they are ;-). Here he is on his first day of school.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

A year ago yesterday (because I didn't have time to blog) Jeff and I were in Mississippi being told that we were going to have a baby that day. A few hours later came Cameron and I seriously can't remember what it was like without him. He is such a happy boy (no longer a baby?!) and just like the first day he saw them he loves his brother and sister who also dote on him. He laughes all the time and everyone says they think he is the happiest baby ever. We celebrated his birthday with grandma with cake and cupcakes with the neighbors and a special little cake for cameron. We tried to open presents with Jeff on Skype but it was a bit of a challenge with cameron not too interested and the other kids very interested. All in all I think Cameron had a good day--two good naps and cake and presents--what more can a boy want?! The day was also filled with Charlie's first day at Portuguese school (i'll give him his own blog about that), lunch at the park to celebrate both school and birthday, soccer practice and a girl scout meeting. Whew!! It was a very busy day. Two tired kist ended the day reading books with grandma. Happy first birthday Cameron!!

toothie the tooth fairy

Last week at lunch I noticed that Heather's tooth didn't look quite right. Since she has been dying to lose a tooth like EVERYONE else I gently asked her if I could look in her mouth. She was soooo excited to find that her tooth was loose and spent the rest of the day telling everyone and talking about who else she would tell. She practiced eating apples and food that she thought would help until a bite hurt a little and she treated her prize a bit more gingerly. Yesterday at the Chinese restraunt she was quite bored and playing with her tooth with her tongue. I could tell it was VERY loose and just hoped that it wouldn't come out while we were eating. Sure enough mid-meal she says, my tooth came out and she's holding it in her hand. I guess she was just eating away and something felt different (luckily! What if she swallowed it!!). She was sooo excited and had trouble eating the rest of the meal. We wrapped it up in a napkin and enjoyed the rest of the day with heather smiling away. That night she wrote a note to the tooth fairy to tell her where the tooth was (a stuffed turtle she got at vacation bible school had a little pocket that was perfect--is that wrong to mix god and the tooth fairy?) and ask her for a picture so Heather could see what she looked like. This morning she got up and came in my room with a certificate that Toothie had left for her with a note saying that she could keep her first tooth and we were to find a special place for it, as well as one Euro (we are in Portugual) for her to keep. She is so excited and just wants to tell everyone!!
In addition to the tooth excitement yesterday we went to Angra and toured the muesum, gardens and took Grandma to the top of Mount Brasil. It turned out to be a beautiful day and the kids enjoyed playing at the park as well. We came home to a "browns bash" with friends and it turned into a vikings victory--good for this vikings fan!!

rainy days

the last few days have been rainy--bummer for showing Jeff's mom around. Despite the rain Heather and Charlie had their first soccer game today. Since it was rainy no pictures--but just know that they looked cute in their little green jerseys. Heather played in the second "quarter" and did pretty well. She's not brave enough to get in the pack but I credit her with being smart enough to wait for the ball to pop out and then go get it. She did get a number of good kicks in and a little more agressive nature would have gotten her even more. Charlie played in the third quarter and definitely looked like the smallest one out there but he did run around after the ball the whole time and got "two kicks" according to him. I was very proud of how well they waited for their turns in the at times pouring rain. Heather also volunteered to play in the last quarter when they went 11 on 11 and then for the last 2 minutes they cleared the benches and sent everyone in to play. It was MASS chaos but no one got hurt...Heather had a birthday party after and then we went bowling again since our options for rainy day activity are pretty limited. Despite bowling a 179 last time I eeked out a 109 thanks to a strike in the last frame. A few more days with grandma and we're on our own. Jeff is doing well and we get to talk to him almost every day so far.

taking it a bit easier...then soccer

Since Heather was sick on Sunday we took it easy Monday to get her back in school form ;-) She did some projects with Grandma and then felt good enough to play outside. We sent her to school on Tuesday and off we went to get Charlie's hair cut. I haven't liked any of his recent hair cuts but it was well over time to get a new do. The lady did pretty well--cut off all his curlies in the back but it looks good. He did great--sat in the chair by himself and then picked out his own candy afterwards. We went into Praia for lunch and to stop by a few shops then headed home to meet up with Heather. Heather came home from school in a very good mood, did her first homework and then started talking about how she didn't want to go to soccer. We went back and forth about signing up and she said that she wanted to play so we got her onto a team. She did eventually nicely go up and put pants on to play soccer in and after some food went with a decent attitude. We got to the field and after about 1 minute of standing by me went closer to the field where some kids were kind of playing around. As soon as her coach called them over she went and did everything she was supposed to do without looking back! Charlie was very excited as well (they're on the same team)and (following her lead?) participated also. He kept looking over and waving and smiling-soo proud of himself! It was nice not to have to coerce or plead with anyone to participate so I think despited the 21 kids on the team soccer is off to a good start.

Just so Cameron isn't feeling left out he's practicing standing on his own and likes to clap for himself once this feat is accomplished. He is still partial to open bathroom doors and climbing in cabinets and figured out how to put a little wooden car on top of a sliding thing so it will slide down to the bottom. He's learning to put things in boxes although he prefers to dump them out. He's learning so fast and just trying to absorb everything. He loves, loves, loves his brother and sister who want to pick him up and play with him---when they feel like it...Heather is very protective and hates it when he cries or someone takes something from him that upsets him. Charlie wants to roll over, bang on him and do "boy" stuff as I'm told it's called.

staying busy with grandma

Friday we headed out after school to show grandma Hughes some more of the island. We went to Praia and walked the walking street a bit, finding t-shirts for all of us, then went to the pet store to find the kids long awaited turtle. I made a deal that we could get rid of the frogs and get two turtles which would need to live in the frog tank. The kids each picked out a small turtle and home we went. After settling them on the table we headed out to Buzios for dinner. Dinner was very tasty although Heather was not cooperaing very well and at the end of dinner pulled the parmesan cheese dish 3/4 off the table,knocking the top onto the floor and shattering. Needless to say there was no desert and we headed back home. Saturday was a nice, sunny day sothe kids played at the park for a bit in the morning. Heather had time to do an arts class on base with grandma then we headed out for a wine festival. After a long walk downhill following an ox cart we watched the locals pick the grapes (they didn't want us in there i guess) and then headed back up the hill to the wine museum. The kids were hot and tired and there was lots of complaining but once we made it it was fun. Heather and I got in the vat with the locals and stomped the grapes with our bare feet. There were two portuguese in the vat and they sang and danced while a little band played music and sang and danced. It was squishy and Heather wanted to get out right away but after a little coaxing and a friend in the tank she wanted to stay. Although there was dinner and dancing the kids were tired. We showed grandma a swimming hole, had ice cream, and headed home. It was a very long, busy day.

first day of school and more

Heather started school on Monday which went very well. She seemed a bit reluctant at first to line up and wanted us to stay close by but walked into the school with her class and didn't look back. I didn't cry or anything (too much other stuff going on) and met her happily at the end of the day. She is in a 1/2 split class and I think her teacher will be very good. She's very straightforward and I believe will expect a lot from the kids. Heather will do great as long as she can keep her best friend from talking to her too much!! Jeff left on Tuesday so Heather missed the second day. I told most people not to come to the airport to watch me bawl but a few people came and didn't see too much of a meltdown. The kids gave him lots of hugs and we sent him off with some pictures and a video to remind him of home. We watched him get on the bus to the plane and then go up the ramp (waving to us) onto the plane. Charlie insisted on watching the plane take off so we watched it right into the air and disappear. We then went to try out a new playground and have a picnic lunch. Our friends had us over for dinner which was GREAT! By 8:00 we were back at the airport to pick up Jeff's mom who is here to visit for 2 weeks. The kids gave her a warm greeting and started asking about presents right away ;-). Yesterday while Heather was at school we took her to the coast to check out the waves and a swimming hole (we didn't go in) then came back for an afternoon at the park by our house. Jeff called a few times and played peek-a-boo with a laughing cameron, did math with Heather, and knock-knock jokes with Charlie.