A New Trick

As a parent it's always so neat to see your kids acquire a new skill or just take a step of courage. For Camden letting his hands go was a huge step of courage. He had been thinking about it for a few months but couldn't quite get himself to do it until recently. What a brave boy!

Favorite Foto Friday

Here is a favorite photo of my boys during a trip to San Diego a couple of years ago. It was an amazing sunset that evening!

Simply Pleasures

What is it that they say??? That the box is always more fun than the actual present??

Camden received a box in the mail today from Aunt Stephanie & Uncle Paul. He opened it and the first thing he pulled out of the box wasn't the present but the BUBBLE WRAP! He was so excited and said, "Oh cool...my favorite...bubble wrap!" He then spent the next 10 minutes jumping on it. Too funny! But don't worry he eventually opened the birthday present and was very excited about the cool magnets as well. We spent all afternoon playing with them! For those of you who are looking for future gift ideas for our boy look no further than your neighborhood office supply store! Oh and he loves big boxes as well! He still loves to play in the big box that our tv came in. :)

Birthday weekend fun

Saturday was Camden's actually birthday so we started the day with one of his favorite breakfasts which was pancakes, bacon and spam. Yes, spam! When its fried it's not too bad (well what isn't bad when it's fried?!? ) Camden then opened a few gifts and we spent the balance of the afternoon playing with them.

That evening we met some good friends the Kehl's for dinner at Chuy's. We then headed over to the ghetto, uh I mean Magic Carpet Golf for some miniature golf. The golf experience was quite interesting. I don't think the place had been touched since '78. Most of the electronic stuff didn't work even though our engineering husbands tinkered with them along the way. Besides the fact that we all wanted to go home and scrub our kids and ourselves from head to toe (and we did) it was great fun to spend the evening with good friends.

Here's Camden getting ready to putt into one of many unique holes. The idea here was to get the ball into the toilet in the outhouse.

Here is the Easter Island head that you can climb up into. Actually you can climb all the way to the top for a pretty nice view of Tucson. Of course as you climb the spiral stair case you really had to wonder if they hadn't done any upkeep since '78 could it really be safe???

Our friend Kenyon is peeking at us from the nostril. :)

Here are all the kids (well at least some of them) trying to act like dinosaurs.

On Sunday after church, we headed to Kartchner Caverns. It was Camden's first time in a cave. Since he didn't know what to expect he was a little nervous. But once we got in he totally loved it. We were able to see all the rooms of the Caverns with the exception of the big room. During the summer they close the big room as this is where bats come to give birth to their young.

This picture was taken inside the visitor center.

These were the coolest grasshoppers. They were so pretty and we couldn't believe it...they were everywhere. Oh and yes they are doing what you think they are doing! :)

Some our obsessed with hunting animals (you know who you are!) and we are obsessed with taking pictures of them. This little guy was at Kartchner Caverns as well.

Happy 6th Birthday!

I can't believe you are turning 6 today! Where have the years gone? You are such a light in our life. A treasure from the Lord that we are so thankful for! It seems like just yesterday that you were that tiny little baby dependent on us for everything. Now you seem to get more independent by the moment. You are certainly all boy...you like to burp and toot and you have stinky tootsies. But you know what? I could still just eat you up just like the day you were born.

Your our sweetart! Don't grow up too fast!

Celebration with Camden's Class

Today we celebrated Camden's birthday in his Kindergarten class. He picked Ice cream bars as his treat to bring for everyone. It was great fun to celebrate with him and his school buddies.

Favorite Foto Friday

Here's a picture of our little swimmer from this past summer. It was his first time participating in our neighborhood swim team, the Swordfish. Between all the early morning practices and meets it made for a very busy summer but Camden sure loved it. He made many new friends in our neighborhood and learned the backstroke and freestyle. His best stroke by far was backstroke. Here he's getting ready to swim it. Oh and he picked out those tye dye gogs (as he calls them) all by himself.

JW Tumbles & Star Wars

Today we celebrated Camden's 6th birthday at JW Tumbles . We had twenty of Camden's closest friends, yes TWENTY! I didn't expect that everybody we invited, with the exception of one child would actually come. Doug kept telling me to invite more than twenty because not everyone would be able to come and well...we are paying for up to twenty so... Let's just say we had a good turnout! I know twenty is such a huge number. God has brought so many neat people into our lives that have become Camden's buddies and from so many different areas. From Doug & mines college days, church, preschool, China adoption buddies, neighborhood, neighborhood swim team and now elementary school. We are blessed!

Since one of his favorite things these days is Star Wars. I did attempt a bit of a Star Wars themed party. We had the usual commercial themed paper products, much to Doug's chagrin as well as a Star Wars cake & cupcakes, Darth pinata and some Star Wars parting gifts. Besides that the kids spent two hours running around like freaks, playing games, climbing the climbing wall and doing the zip line (which is Cam's favorite part). Everyone was sweaty and stinky (including me) at the end which I think is the sign of a good party!

Here are a few pics from the day:

The birthday boy!

Can you tell what it is? Ok, I'll tell you...It's supposed to be R2-D2.

I cheated a bit here by using R2-D2, C3-P0, Chewy and Darth rings as the cupcake toppers.

Here are all the kiddo getting ready to play a few games.

Here are just a few pics of the many friends that joined us to celebrate.

One of the highlights of the party was the Darth Pinata which was Camden's big wish for his party. Of course I had grand plans to make a homemade Death Star pinata. But as usual I ran out of time (or have poor time management skills) and headed to our neighborhood party store for this one. The kids didn't seem to mind. They enjoyed whacking Darth with a light saber and of course getting way to much candy at the end.

Ahh..the classic blowing out of the candles!

Favorite Foto Friday - Spock

We have been a bit sad this week. Camden especially has shed quite a few tears. Our sweet kitty, Spock that we adopted just six months ago and of course spent $$$ getting fixed and declawed (sorry animal rights people), disappeared. I only let Spock outside when I was home and tried to have him in before dusk. Well, I was out of town on my little girls weekend to Denver, when the other half wasn't quite as diligent. He did try to get him in soon after dusk but unfortunately he either didn't want to come or something had happened to him by then. Sadly, we live in the desert and that is often what happens to pets when they are outside overnight.

Spock was such a wonderful kitty. He put up with everything that Camden dished out and still wanted to be on his lap for story time and on his bed for prayer time.

The good news is that we still have one cat, our sweet Uhura and she is completely frightened of the outdoors so at least she won't be someone's dinner. But the bad news is that she is almost 17 1/2. Sadly she never liked Spock and she seems to be quite happy to once again be the queen of the household.

To answer your question...yes there is a theme here. You can thank the other half for that.

Girls Weekend in Denver

I just got back from a nice long weekend in Denver. My friend Josette and I went to visit our friend Kelly who moved there with her husband, Dan last year. They are struggling a bit and we hoped we could love on them and encourage them a bit. We enjoyed good conversation, food, movies and of course some shopping. The weather was such a treat! Here are Kelly and Josette at one of the many beautiful parks in Denver.

2 Years

2 years ago today we submitted our application to our adoption agency to begin our adoption from China. Camden was 3 1/2 (nearly 4) and now he is getting ready to turn 6. If you would have told me then that after two years we would still not have our daughter home, I would have never believed you. This journey has been quite different that we anticipated. At times overwelmingly difficult as we have seen friends have their second and for some third child. But in so many other ways such a blessing. God has been working on us in the process in so many areas and I truly believe He will bring her to our family in His perfect timing.

Favorite Foto Friday

Here's Camden dressed as one of his favorite characters, Dash for Halloween 2005. He was four at the time. Does he make the cutest Dash or what? This faze lasted for quite awhile. He used to love to sprint around the house (and fall down and hurt himself in the process of course) and say he was Dash.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Although I haven't been feeling great as I have been fighting a cold, we still managed to have a very nice weekend together. Camden of course was thrilled to have Monday off school and have Daddy home as well. One of our outing was a hike in Sabino Canyon at dusk. It was beautiful and almost cool!
We also enjoyed checking out our local T-Rex museum with our good friends the Lowell's. The fella at the museum was a bit of character and there was a bit of cheese to be had. But the boys seemed to really enjoy panning for treasures and digging up dinosaur bones.

Here's an iguana that was at the museum. He seemed to be very curious about us and friendly. Almost like he wanted to come out and play. And surprisingly I kind of wanted him to. :)

China's Gender Imbalance

Here's an article posted on http://www.chinanews.cn/ regarding China's gender imbalance.

Chinanews, Beijing, July 7 – Currently, there are 37 million more males than females in China, and the figure among kids aged under 15 is 18 million. Nowadays, China is perhaps the country suffering from the most severe sex imbalance. Its sex ratio in 2005 was 118.88:100, far higher the normal figure of 104 – 107:100. Statistics show that sex ratio in Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hainan, Anhui and Henan provinces is even higher than 130:100. Experts warn that Chinese must take immediate action to put sex imbalance under control before it is too late. The Sex ratio in China started leaping in the 1980's. The nation’s sex ratio in 1982 was 108.5:100, according to the result of the 3rd National Census. The figure in 1987 had increased to 110.9:100, then 111.3:100 in 1990, and 116.9:100 in 2000. At present, only the sex ratios of very few autonomous regions like Xinjiang and Tibet are normal. Crimes like trafficking in humans have started to haunt the provinces with the severest sex imbalance, thus the problem must be solved as soon as possible.

Sunday Afternoon Fun

Nothing makes Camden happier than being just like his Daddy! He loves to wear matching clothes. Camden was particularly thrilled when we were out shopping a few months ago and we found fire shoes for Dad that were just like his. He begged Doug to buy them and fortunately they were cheap so Doug folded. Of course it helped that Doug has always loved Converse.

These pictures are from the last two Sunday afternoons. In the first picture we were all working on a "project". It was way too hot of an afternoon. The boys thought they would be cooler if they somehow got their hair off their foreheads. Doug commented that he had a Superman curl. Something about the "shroom" on the top of his head seems to take away from the Superman curl. Don't you think? :) The second picture was the first time the boys wore their matching fire shoes. Camden was so excited! They were headed out for an afternoon of Geocaching.

You boys are way too cute! God has blessed me far more than I deserve!!!