Happy Anniversary!

Yesterday was our 9th anniversary. So I wanted to wish Cameron a happy anniversary although yesterday I was too busy to blog. We are still planning a date night for next week so I will have to post all the latest then. Cameron brought me some flowers and I gave him some new art stuff since he is itching to be creative.

It seems like Cameron and I have always been married since we were married while I was still a teenager and he wasn't much older than one. I am grateful for a husband who is willing to work hard and play harder. I love doing things with Cameron and miss him when he is not here. He is amazing! He always fixes the things that need fixing, builds the things that need to be built and is always working. He is also good at drawing, painting and music. I don't think that I could have married a more amazing husband.

Last Saturday he really out did his self. We had a brand new gas range sitting in our garage since we moved here because we didn't have a gas stub in our kitchen. Well on Saturday he realized that there was a gas stub in the garage. Instead of putting it off until another day he went to work right away and bought the right attachments and installed our new range. I love using the range to cook on and love cooking on gas much better than electric.

I love you Cam!

1st day of school

The air was cold and the sun wasn't quite up when Ali came into my room at 6:30 ready for school. She dressed in her new clothes which of course means that she had to wear butterflies and then lay back down on her bed. For whatever reason her stomach hurt and she said she was hungry. I quickly did her hair and then we went upstairs to eat. I made french toast for breakfast to celebrate the day while Ali laid down on the couch silently. At breakfast she didn't say much and kept laying her head down on the counter. I wondered where my usual bubbly talkative Ali went and was sure she must be deathly ill. She didn't eat hardly anything. I asked her if she was nervous and she insisted she wasn't. After breakfast she still was laying on the couch while I got her lunch ready. I decided to call Cameron and see what he thought. He said it was probably just nerves and that she would be fine. I then told Ali that I would take her to her classroom and stay with her until she asked me to leave. Those must have been the magic words because she perked right up and we were able to take smiling first day of school pictures.

At school we saw her teacher from last year as we walked down the hall. It seemed to be a good omen for Ali and she hugged Mrs. Malcom like a long lost friend. I had forgot to mention to Ali that her teacher this year is Mrs. Malcom's sister and it seemed to help her warm up to the idea of school. We waited outside her teacher's door and then went in to her classroom. Ali has 7 girls and 12 boys in her class. We found her desk and Ali sat right down to do her work. She was still very quiet and overly calm compared to her normal self. All the parents sat at the edge of the classroom wondering if we should really leave our babies for a whole day of school.

It seemed even harder to leave her this year than last year since she seemed so nervous. But at last she told me I could leave and I took that as my dismissal and left to enjoy a day with just Ashling and me. We went to the gym, went grocery shopping, played cars, read stories, took a nap and just enjoyed each other.

Ashling and I walked to Ali's bus stop to pick her up. When the bus came I saw Ali waving and she waited her turn patiently to come off the bus. She talked to two or three kids all much bigger than her on the way out. She had a huge smile on her face and reported that she already loves her teacher because she is so nice. She made friends with her desk-mate, Nick, and played at recess with everyone. Apparently her nerves are over and now she will just enjoy school.

The bad news is that Cameron figured out that the outside influences on our daughter are 8/5. We only get 5 hours with her and the school gets her for 8! I hope we have raised her right so far!

Our Ultrasound

We had our ultrasound yesterday and the baby is a girl! We will have three girls now. Cameron called his brother and said it was up to him to pass along the family name. I would post pictures but my scanner will not work at all. I am not sure what the problem is. She is face towards the back which is probably why I do not feel her move and why when I do feel her move it feels different and softer than the girls. We don't have a for sure name so we will keep you guessing.

Summer time things to do

Yesterday I took the girls to the San Bernardino County Museum. It was really fun. We saw live animals and got to pet a snake and a bunny. We saw lots of different frogs and millipedes. We also saw tons of cockroaches and skinks which are kind of like a lizard. We then explored the world of large stuffed animals. They had nearly every kind of animal that there is in North America. They also had a large exhibit of butterflies that Ali looked at and found all the ones around our house. After that we looked at all the stuffed birds and their eggs. We then went to a traveling exhibit of architecture. They had coloring pages for the kids to color and put on the wall. I was very proud because Ashling wrote her own name for the first time! They also had tons of blocks to build your own buildings and we built quite a few different towers. It was fun to play with the girls for the afternoon.

Today I took the girls to the school. We took their bikes, a soccer and basketball and a large water bottle. I played a little basketball with Ali, bounced the ball back and forth with Ashling, and watched the girls ride their bikes to the top of the black top and then race back down again. It was really fun to go to the school to ride bikes and we will have to do that again soon. Ali saw a friend there and enjoyed playing with her. They tried to catch butterflies and raced across the monkey bars. Overall I have been trying harder to find things to keep the girls entertained and hopefully it will work.

Ahhhh, will school please start already?

I am trying to convince myself that twelve days is really not that many until school starts. It isn't... except that right now it is. We have had a pretty good summer but my Ali is bored and ready for school to start. Today we wrote a story, worked on about 20 puzzles, Ashling worked on writing and recognizing the letters in her name, played some games, read some stories, they played outside, played babies and house and I clean out my closet. But she is still convinced that our house is the most boring place in the whole world. I am pretty convinced it is like being trapped in an insane asylum because all Ali wants is friends to come over and all I want is school to start. I called three friends out of desperation but none of them were home. She only asked me 85 times if she could call an additional friend but my list ran dry. She has told me that she needs new toys 50,000 times and she can't wait for Christmas.

I haven't posted on our vacation because it has taken all my energy to keep the kids busy even though I now feel great. So please let me know what I am doing wrong and what new inventive ideas you have for keeping my busy girls entertained without spending any money for the next two weeks! (We did just get back from a vacation after all.)

Another side note: Ali will not go to sleep at night. Anyone have any ideas of what to do with the six year old who can't or won't go to sleep at night? It is starting to really get on my nerves. Cameron is sitting outside their door right now and she will still not listen and lay still. We threaten and punish her but it doesn't work. I am about ready to give her sleeping pills so please help (j/k).