A Jump Into Fall

Despite the temperatures continuing to change from hot to cool... I am ready for Fall and all that comes along with it: cooler temperatures, football, pumpkin everything, & wonderful family traditions. A new tradition for us might be Hillridge Farms. It is a fabulous farm in Youngsville, NC near Nick's office. It is like a mini Disney like fair for kids! We met up with Camille's friend Mary for some fall fun.

The first big adventure of the day was riding a pony! At first, Camille did not want to get on. After she saw that Mary was riding too and that Mommy was holding on to her, she agreed to sit. She was completely fine once the pony started moving and loved it. She still leaned a bit to the side to make sure she could feel Mommy next to her. It was so cute to watch the girls riding the ponies!

The next adventure was the hay ride to the pumpkin patch. We piled up on the ride and made our way to the patch to pick out our pumpkins. Camille went to the first one she saw and picked it up. She kept saying "heavy." She also enjoyed rolling the big ones around. Once she picked out the pumpkins she wanted, she would yell "Daddy" for Nick to come pick the pumpkins up and carry them :) After she had decided upon three, one for each of us, she enjoyed running through the patch and trying to dodge all the pumpkins.

The highlight of the day for both girls was the carousel bounce house. It was the perfect size and for the most part, the girls had it all to themselves. They had a ball and had to be coaxed out.

To end the farm fun, Camille went down a huge slide with Daddy. It was hard to catch on camera, but I got a pretty good action shot.

We had a wonderful time and look forward to trying it out again next year.

Jess Gets Married!

Nick and I got to spend the past weekend in Bald Head Island, NC for Jess & William's wedding. We had very warm weather for the festivities on Thursday & Friday.. and then the cold front came in for Saturday & Sunday. Us bridesmaids were a bit chilly in our short dresses for the outdoor ceremony. We had a fabulous time, especially since we rented a 4bdrm house to share with some of our favorite couples :) We didn't stop laughing most of the time. Jess and her family kept us busy with lots of events the whole weekend which were all so beautiful.

Here is a pic from the rehearsal dinner. We started outdoors overlooking the golf course, but had to move inside after dinner as a storm was coming through. The band had to leave, but we made our own fun indoors.

The wedding day started with a little drama as I awoke with pink eye!! We pinpointed it back to Camille who also had it back home. Love those kiddie germs. I spent most of the morning figuring out how I was going to get treated without Jess knowing. That was impossible, as her dad was the only doctor on the island. Ha! Lucky for me, he quickly called in a prescription to be delivered on the ferry prior to the wedding. I sent Nick on a wild goose chase to get the medicine since I had bridesmaid responsibilities. Little did I know it would be that wild of a goose chase. Turns out the medicine didn't make it off the 3pm ferry due to someone flat lining and having to be rushed back into Southport. Nick had to go back to the ferry at 4:30pm and hope it was there in time for the 5pm wedding!! And all this racing back and forth was on a golfcart mind you... so much slower. Nick got the medicine to me as we were headed down the stairs and to the aisle for our walk :) Saved! Poor Sterling had to squeeze the drops in my eye all while trying to get ready to walk down the aisle... my makeup was running, but I figured tears would be falling anyway... why not let people think they started early :)
Here are some pictures of us gals before and at the wedding. Sorry, I don't have any with Jess in them. She was a GORGEOUS bride though. Her dad even told her that she looked like her mom on their wedding day :) So sweet.

The best part was the wedding reception for sure. The band was awesome: Legends of Beach Music. The lead singer was one of the original Embers. They were the best I have heard! We danced the night away. A great touch to the evening- Jess gave everyone some sunglasses to where- made for great fun and great pictures!

We hated to leave the fun behind, but were ready to scoop up Camille for lots of hugs & kisses upon our return home.

Another busy, yet fun weekend (and lots of jumping!)

So Camille loves to jump. She has recently gotten extra improvement in her jumping skills, maybe thanks to the bounce houses!! On Friday, Camille got a special treat at school. They brought in a bounce house for the kids to enjoy since it had been rainy all week. Well, after telling her teachers it was too loud, she went in anyway and jumped up a storm! The fun continued when we picked her up from school. Nick & I recently joined Rex Wellness and Friday is Family Swim Night. Camille spotted the pool immediately and was ready to go. She had a bit of trouble being patient enough to get her swimsuit on. The pool was heated- which grossed me out a little, but Camille loved every bit of it. She wanted to rotate from playing with the noodles to the kick boards to just swimming around with Mommy & Daddy. Once she saw a little boy jumping in from the side, she decided she wanted to do that too! Needless to say, she slept well that night.

Saturday started out to an early visit to church. Nick & I participated in the Great Day of Service where we did about 3 hours of service work in the community while Camille got to play in the nursery with her church friends. Later that evening, we went to a cookout at a friend's house. Camille was excited to go to the "party." She got to have her first taste of Frito's- while I only let her have a few, she demanded more and wanted to camp out at the table where they sat. She even convinced some of the other ladies to give her some chips off their plate. She was the only little girl there surrounded by lots of little boys. She enjoyed all the attention and made sure to sing and dance while the crowd was watching some big football games. She was so entertaining and funny and was a great eater that night, even aside from all the chips. :)

The fun continued into Sunday. We went to church and came home to nap. Later that afternoon Camille's best church friends came over to play: Mary & Victoria. The rain held off, so we got to play outside the whole time. The girls all love to eat, so in between playing they would grab some snacks off each others' plates. The hit of the afternoon was when Mary brought her jump house that she got for her 2nd birthday. While Mary didn't enjoy playing in it, Camille & Victoria had a ball. Camille jumped like crazy and loved falling down. The jump house even had a slide that Camille would roll herself down and then turn around and crawl right back in. It was so entertaining! She did a couple of unplanned forward rolls which she laughed at herself for. So we now know what can hold her attention for more than a few minutes :) Perhaps we should invest in our own bounce house since it guarantees a good night of sleep and a good mood!! Until then, Mary will be very popular with her new present!

We thought this picture was funny! Camille got so hot jumping that week took off her pants. She then was so wound up she decided she wanted to wear this Frisbee on her head. Not to mention, it looks like she is saying her pledge of allegiance! :)

Approaching 22 Months

Camille will be 22 months old in just 2 days. Time is passing so quickly! We have been out of blogland for a few days, as Camille got her first ear infection last week, coupled with a lingering stint of bronchitis. Yuck! And lucky Mommy seems to have caught a terrible cold from all those sick germs floating around. So we are a sick bunch and loaded with medicine! Camille seems to be almost 100% now, a week later.... off of the steroid and nebulizer... and now just the antibiotic, which luckily she calls "Bubble Gum" and thinks it tastes delicious!

The terrible two's are in full force at our house. Fortunately, her worst behavior comes out at home and not at school. She pushes her limits every single day and is saying no to pretty much any request you ask of her. She also is developing quite the little temper when she doesn't get her way. It is funny at times, but we have to try not to laugh and instead punish. When she doesn't get her way- which is most of the time- she immediately hits something and makes this mean face. She has learned from enough punishments not to hit us, but will go for anything else she can. Threats don't work at this point and she will immediately do what you asked her not to. We are averaging about one timeout each night- and more like 4 or 5 on the weekends when we have her all day. She walks herself to timeout and pouts, sometimes cries. She sits until we tell her she can come out, which is quickly followed by "sorry mama sorry dada" and a hug.

This was a picture Nick took which I found to be hilarious. She was acting up so terribly in the bathtub and pouring water onto the floor, so I quickly scooped her up and sent her to timeout. She was wet, covered in bubbles, and had her monkey towel on. I was praying she wouldn't go to the bathroom since we had no time for a diaper. I was more focused on the immediate consequence to her action. She sat so quietly and still... Nick and I were in the background laughing to ourselves. We call this "Monkey goes to timeout."

Camille is quite the entertainer these days. She is constantly singing, talking, and dancing. She loves attention and once she warms up to you, she will put on a show! She is also very into adult things. She loves to pretend to talk on the phone. Her play phone doesn't cut it anymore- she only wants to use our cell phones. She fights sitting in her high chair and carseat because she much rather sit where Mommy & Daddy sit. Here is an example.

Since the weather has been nice, we try to go on a walk every evening. She used to be content in her stroller. Now she just says "Millie Alk" to tell us that she wants to walk instead of ride in the stroller. We have to bribe her into the stroller so we can make a lap around the neighborhood before dark. She loves to point out "John's House" and then when she sees any dogs, she says "Come on doggie, come on." It is very cute. She is so observant and usually is spotting something long before we do. Her new thing is asking Nick to name every type of car we stroll past. Her favorite to repeat is "mustine" for mustang. She says it with such enthusiasm.

Camille continues to be an eating machine. Her favorite food right now is pizza. She asks for it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Her next request is usually applesauce or bananas. She loves to tell you what she wants to eat. We only give in to her pizza request on busy nights, but when we do, she eats it like a big girl and eats every single bite and usually asks for more. Here is Camille endulging in her pizza dinner.

Camille's First NCSU Game

Camille went to her first NC State Football game this weekend and she was a trooper!! The game was at 6pm, so we thought since Camille had had a good nap that day, we would get out there a little early for some tailgating. She was the only child in our group, but she was quite alright with that. She had some toys that kept her busy, and of course the food! She loved eating a hotdog, but her favorite food seemed to be the Doritos she kept sneaking off of Nick's plate :)

It was pretty hot, but Camille didn't seem to mind and kept hydrated (not with the Bud Light in the picture!). Walking into the game was fun because we could sense Camille's excitement! Since the temperatures were pretty hot, Camille's little curls became even curlier- so cute!

Once in the game, Camille was SO excited! It helped that we sat very close to the field so she could see all the action. She loved the band and the entrance of the players- She clapped and danced to "Welcome to the Jungle." She also felt very adult by drinking from Mommy's big water bottle.

She was very attentive to the game for the entire first half! Not sure what play this was, but Camille and I were obviously in the same mind set. Also, notice the Howl Towel. All fans got these at the beginning of the game and Camille loved waving it around during each play.

She stayed in Mommy's lap most of the time, but did like for Daddy to hold her after a big play so she could clap and yell "Go Pack!"

Again, feeling very adult, she wanted to sport Mommy's sunglasses too!

We had so much fun with her at the game and were very pleasantly suprised that she was so well behaved and let us stay until the end of the 3rd quarter!! The only reason we left at that point was because she was so tired, but not at all fussy. Our little wolfpacker!

As soon as we got home, I put Camille in the bath b/c she was SOOO dirty and sweaty. She insisted that she have her howl towel in the bath with her. It was quite comical. 

Children's Good News Spectacular

The Children's Good News Spectacular comes to Raleigh once a year in August. We have never been, but thought we would give it a go this past weekend. Camille insisted that her best buddy, Madelyn, join us, so off we went! For those of you on the East Coast, you will wonder, wasn't that during the Hurricane Irene timeframe? Oh yes. We had gotten a lot of wind & rain Saturday morning, but felt like we could safely make our way to the event. We didn't want to be stuck in the house all weekend and what better place to get stuck than a kiddie playland!? :)

We arrived a little after 10am on Saturday. Both of the girls had huge eyes as we walked in. It was held in the Jim Graham building at the Fairgrounds, so it was huge! The girls seemed a bit uncertain- this being their first carnvial type experience. They both clung tight to their parents. We walked around a bit trying to find some inflatables that were more geared to the younger kids. We found this inflatable obstacle course with a huge slide at the end. The girls obviously had to have someone occompany them, but they both were willing to give it a go. Camille loved it! Since I stood back to take pictures, I couldn't get close enough to capture the whole experience. Here is a picture of Camille and Daddy coming down the slide at the end. Sorry its dark, I had the flash on! :(

Maddie didn't quite feel the same. All you could hear was screams as she came down. All I could picture was A Christmas Story when the scary Santa pushes the kids down the slide with his foot. :)

We knew the girls shared a love for food, so we then headed to the popcorn booth. This was the first taste of popcorn for both girls, but they acted as if they had been eating it for years. We sat down next to the big stage and ate our popcorn. Little did we know that this was the perfect space b/c within minutes of sitting down, a puppet show started. The puppets sang lots of songs and the girls loved it!!! Here are a few pictures of the girls dancing & clapping to the show.

They were so cute and quite the entertainers for others in the crowd :)

After the show, we wanted to try the inflatable bouncers again. We found a smaller bounce house that wasn't as crowded with older kids. Camille LOVED it! She loved falling and jumping. Here are some pictures of our bouncing beauty.

Maddie didn't enjoy the bouncing as much, so I decided it was time for snow cones! :) The girls each wanted the pink snow cones and loved every bit of them. As Nick mentioned earlier, Camille calls them "ice." So she kept saying "Mo Ice Peas" (more ice please). They enjoyed more music and dancing while eating their snow cones. Afterward, we spotted the balloon animal booth! The girls knew where they wanted our next stop to be.

There was a long line, but that gave the girls time to decide what kind of balloon animal they wanted, and what color. They both opted for a puppy dog. Camille watched very carefully as the clown made her puppy. She even said thank you at the end.

The girls loved walking arond with their new balloon puppies, but both quickly had balloons that looked more like weiner dogs b/c they twisted their midsection undone :) I definitely hope we can go again next year, especially since Camille will be older and can do even more of the games & activities.

We ended our play date with a trip to Chick Fil A and then home for nap time!

The Saga Continues...And gets better

So Monday morning, Laura took Camille to the doctor's office. We find there that Camille not only has croup, but also bronchitus...a wonderful combo. She's given a different medicine to take and told she has to stay out of school until Wednesday...great for Laura and I who both have busy weeks. Laura stays home Monday and I take Tuesday. Monday is filled with great quality time for Mommy and Daughter...grocery shopping, resting, etc.

Camille sleeps well through Monday night in her own bed!! She still has some trouble breathing and coughing, but I believe she stayed down till 7 or 7:30. When she did wake up, we just did our normal morning routine. After breakfast, we decided that we would go outside to check out the day and it was a beautiful, cool morning. We sat on the driveway and waved at all the cars and people headed to work. I believe Camille even said "see you suckers" to a couple folks...j/k :) You can tell from the below picture though that we had fun!

Next, we decided that we'd enjoy the beautiful day at Lake Benson Park for a little while. Since Camille was contagious, we decided not to play on the playground, but just explore in the woods. We went for a nature walk and looked at doggies, squirrels, and birds...part of the time Camille walked herself and part Daddy had to carry her.  We even went down to the lake and watched some older kids skipping rocks.

Camille and I had so much fun exploring and playing that we actually went back to the park after lunch and did it all over again.

After the park, we capped off our day of "hooky" by hitting up Pelicans for a snowcone or ice as Camille calls it. She absolutely loved it screaming "mo, mo, mo"! When Mommy got home and we told her about our day, she said Camille's never going to want to stay with Mommy again.  What could have been a boring sick day turned into a Daddy/Daughter Extravaganza. I don't remember having any sick days like this...