cameron on the loose!!

girls time, soccer, and playgrounds

We had a slightly busy week followed by a much busier weekend!! Friday Heather didn't have school so a friend watched Cameron while I went with her to get her haircut--lots!!, then had dougnuts at the club, and finally a new pair of shoes for Heather. What more could a girl want out of a morning with mom! The afternoon was spent playing with friends and charlie then off to a friends house for a sleepover. Charlie and I made the most of our night by playing games on the wii! Saturday we started out with soccer again. The kids did great, Heather was proud because the ball went by the goalie but she ran back and stopped it before it crossed the goal line and Charlie was pleased that he stopped his friend (who is quite good) from getting past him by working the sideline. Heather then played with friends again at the park, very cutely making a theatre out of a cardboard box and markers--until I realized that the girls had written their names on the wood of the park. Heather "bought" sandpaper from a friend of mine and took the names off before we headed out to bouncy castles at the club. After a nice evening of hispanic food, music, and bounce houses the kids crashed. Yesterday we had movie night and Heather enjoyed another day off school by helping out her teacher from last year in the classroom while Charlie was at school.

chex cereal minus the bag

This morning I went to get cereal for myself and noticed the box of rice chex was missing the bag. Yesterday the kids got themselves breakfast (and cleaned up) while I talked to Jeff on Skype. Heather's answer, "the bag wouldn't fit back in" so she just put the cereal back in the box. While I appreciate the independence I guess I will have to monitor self serving meals a bit more closely!

made it through month 1

Well we made it through month 1 and are into October. The last week or so has been very busy. Last weekend several friends had potlucks to celebrate the fiscal end of year and moving into a new home. Now that there are more CE families the kids are finding the get togethers much more enjoyable. The week was filled with school, soccer, library and more. I've been doing well getting dinners ready via crock pot or microwave well before the chaos of pre-dinner begins and this has helped us be more sane in the evenings. The kids have been very good--the last few nights extremely helpful with setting and clearing the table and picking up in the rooms that continually become a disaster. Yesterday was totally crazy--we made it through soccer game, bowling birthday party (during which Charlie and i bowled on our own) and a 3 year old b-day party for 3 three year olds! It was a crazy day and ended with movie night and a much later bedtime than I had anticipated. Despite a slightly grumpy morning we had a very nice lunch moment today. We were all sitting at the table eating and listening to my ipod of random music. We had a patriotic moment when "god bless the USA" came on and Heather and I were singing along "and I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today..." (charlie didn't know the words but was trying) and cameron started clapping. With Jeff gone it was a kind of bring everything together moment. Heather knows a lot of new "patriotic" songs b/c her class after they do the pledge (I think) the song person gets to pick a song to play--I know it includes this one and in different "versions" as Heather said, as well as God Bless America and others. It is kind of neat to hear her chime in to some of these songs in her confident, in time, but not in tune voice!

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!