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!!!

Favorite Foto Friday

Here's Camden at his roundest , 8 1/2 months. Isn't he cute? He is sitting in a rocking chair that has been in my family for over 50 years. I remember enjoying it as a child. I took this picture for Doug just before we celebrated his first Fathers Day.

Something for the Nursery

I was at HomeGoods the other day looking for some gifts (this seems to happen to me often) when I spotted this sweet little chair. I just couldn't resist. It goes so perfectly with the nursery bedding! So I have the bedding, some accessories and now even a chair so why is it that I can't quite get myself to pull the nursery together??? I think it's time to finally do it. We don't want to get caught with our pants down if you know what I mean! :)

Favorite Foto Friday

Favorite Foto Friday is something that Mary, a fellow adoptive Mom & blogger, used to do on her site. I always enjoyed it when she did it. So I thought I would add it to our site as well. Thanks for the idea Mary!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Camden as a baby. He is a mere 3 weeks old. Doesn't time fly? What's funny is that at age five (almost 6), he still often sleeps this way. Too cute!

I can't help but wonder if our daughter in China has been born yet. My gut tells me that she has. Only time will tell.....

ARRRRRRRR!

I just had to post this picture. Doug is such a great Dad. He plays with Camden in a way that it is difficult for me. No wonder that one of Camden's favorite things to do is just play with Daddy!

Kindergarten

I can't believe my sweet baby boy started all day Kindergarten this week. It seems like just yesterday that I was enjoying 27 hours of labor. :) I actually did pretty well. I figured I was going to be a complete mess. But not wanting to totally freak out the boy, I only teared up a bit. Perhaps it's all the dreading I did this past year. When the day finally came it wasn't so bad. Although it made me long even more for our dear daughter to come home from China. I never thought we would be sending Camden off to Kindergarten before she was home.

Camden on his first day. Isn't he handsome!?!

His teacher, Mrs. McCarty asked if I could help out with lunch this past week. It was great to begin getting to know her, the school and his new classmates. Of course I had to bring the camera along as well. So her's a pic of Camden in the cafeteria with his class.

I picked him up after his first day and asked him how it went. He said, "I didn't really like it because it was too long and all we did was work!" Typical boy response??? Later that day he did admit that he loved going on the playground three times in just one day. Fortunately later in the week things improved and there was some fun to be had. Although while praying at bedtime tonight, he thanked God that he had the day off of school. Hmm...

Northwest anyone?

We returned last Sunday after two wonderful weeks in the beautiful Northwest. Camden and I spent the first week in the Seattle area with my good friend, Jani and her family. She used to live in Tucson but moved back to her old stomping grounds when our boys were almost 2 1/2. Our boys are 13 days apart and were such good buddies before they moved. It's been fun to see them pick up where they left off last time we all got together. Jani has visited us twice since they moved so it was such a treat to (finally) visit her and her family and get a small taste of the Northwest or at least of the Northwest in August. :) First of all it was just so green and beautiful. It was a treat in and of itself to see so many amazing trees! We are from Tucson after all! It really takes very little to make us happy! :) In addition, we enjoyed Pike Place Market, the beach and hunting for sand dollars, picking blueberries (and then of course eating lots of blueberry pancakes and cobblers), Pacific Science Center, Seattle Children's Museum and the Space Needle. One of the many highlights was being buzzed by the Blue Angels while on the observation deck of the Space Needle. In addition, Jani's amazing husband, Ken offered to watch the kids while Jani and I spent the day kayaking around Blake Island. You rock Ken! We enjoyed amazing views of the Seattle skyline and the beautiful snow covered mountains surrounding the area. In addition, we visited Tillicum village which is the birthplace of Chief Seattle. Chief Seattle was the Native American that Seattle was named after. It was an amazing week with a very dear friend and her family!

Here's the two peas in a pod, Camden & Gabe at the beach.

Camden, Gabe and Jani & Ken's sweet daughter, Isabel enjoying the amazing fountain outside of the Pacific Science Center. The kids had great fun but for the boys the day in ended in blood and tears. Ah boys!

Jani & I kayaking around Blake Island.

Jani, Ken & the family outside their home.

At the beginning of the second week, Doug flew in and joined us for one night. We then headed north to join his side on Sinclair Island which is in the San Juan's. Doug's sister, Val and her husband Brian have a summer place there. It is a very small island with only a handful of year around residents. Their is no ferry service so to get to the island you either go by boat or plane. We arrived via Val & Brian's boat which took about 20 minutes from the Fairhaven dock. The island was incredible. Val & Brian have done so much work putting together an amazing slice of island life. They own 40 acres there and have cleared a few small areas for some small kit cabins and paths around the property. They also cleared another area that made a place to play soccer and volleyball which we greatly enjoyed. The main cabin is solar powered and and as of the last couple of years has running water. We still got to enjoy an outhouse though which I must add was by far the nicest outhouse I have had the pleasure of using. :) Their property has it's own beach and amazing views of surrounding islands as well as Seal rock which is where the seals like to hang. They have also added many wonderful activities. They have a telescope set up for viewing, a ball swing, tether ball, zip line and archery. They also had numerous bikes and kayaks to enjoy the island and ocean. We picked blackberries and had blackberry pancakes and way too much blackberry cobbler. We also went clamming and had homemade clam chowder. Yum! All that was missing was the bread bowl! :)

Here are my boys on Sinclair.

The boys doing one of the many enjoyable activities on Sinclair.

While we were there they had the lowest tides of the month so one of the high points for me was going out in the kayaks and boats. This is one of many amazing creatures we saw. We couldn't help but get a closer look at this one. We believe that it is a Sunflower Sea Star. Don't worry though no sea creatures were harmed during our explorations.

Grandma Alice, Doug & Camden enjoying low tide.

Camden enjoying the ball swing along with our niece, Marley and Doug.
Here's the whole gang. By the end of the week I think there were 19 of us.

It was a wonderful two weeks! Val & Brian thank you for sharing your island with us this summer. It was amazing!

On the way home I asked Doug, "So what do you think about the Northwest?" What do you think his response was? Yep, he rolled his eyes! :)