Tiana's Acting

Tiana kept doing this over and over this evening after she was done playing in the slip and slide! What a little character. This is the little monkey that we see all the time!

Rodeo

The night before last all the boys got hair cuts. Camden let me use the clippers on the sides... give the boy a sucker and he is good to go! However, it does make for one sticky hairy mess afterward!

Last night we went to the rodeo! The kids LOVED IT! Camden had a look of complete awe the entire time with a few squeals thrown in, Tiana danced, clapped, and screamed the entire time, and Keaton didn't miss a thing. He had to know why they did certain things and what everything was for! They all loved every moment of it!
Tiana signing horse!

Camden's first rodeo! Last year we went to the Stampede a few days before he was born!

And hows that for posting promptly! I finally feel a bit caught up around here after quite a few crazy weeks! (as if any week around here isn't a little crazy ;) but add swimming lessons, 10 year class reunion, lots of photo shoots, potty training, birthdays, and camping and WOW) I still have work to catch up on but that is an on going thing. The problem with working at home is you never leave work. Oh well, photography happens to be the perfect job! Tiana is doing WONDERFUL on the potty training. We are on day six with no accidents!!!! Also her eye as you could probably tell by the photos, is all better!! Also, in two weeks Keaton starts preschool!!!! He is SO excited, and this Mommy is too actually! He will love it SO much!

Poor little girl

We woke up Sunday morning to this.....

Happy girl with an eye swollen shut! We gave her benadryl and went about our day. After nap it was no better and in fact it was a little worse so we took her into quick care. She has the same thing Keaton had while camping!!! Poor girl... she was happy but it sure didn't look good! She is on prednisone, benadryl, and antibiotics! It looks better today, the swelling is down enough she can see out of that eye but she is left with some swelling and a SERIOUS black eye! All from a little bug bite. I never have liked mosquitoes but my oh my now I REALLY dislike them!

Playing with her new barbie..... she got it for having no potty accidents for 3 straight days!!!! She has been doing WONDERFUL!

Last day of Swimming

Here are a few photos from our last day of swimming lessons. They were so worn out. Can't believe how much they slept during the two weeks of swimming! Keaton passed with flying colors. In fact the teacher was amazed that he was only 3 still. He can swim 10-15 feet all by himself. He has amazing breath control, he can hold his breath for a REALLY long time. When he needs air he can lift up really fast and go back under.... this needs a little perfecting but he is getting the hang of it. Tiana did wonderful too. She will be able to pass very easily next time. I never expected her to do as well as she did. It was such good practice for her to have to do something with out Mommy right there with her.

My little goggle boy, he loves being able to see under the water!

My brave little cutie.
And my little monkey! By watching the older two take swimming lessons he is now going under water and blowing bubbles in the bathtub! He is a little fish and will do awesome when he is old enough for swimming lessons.

Tiana going ALL the way under!!!

Swimming all by himself!

Tiana distracted as always!

Camden wanted to try goggles too... has to be just like his big brother ya know!

Jumping off the side.

And then off the diving board... no hesitation, he has been waiting since the first day to do this!

Tiana even got up the courage to do it... she had to have her Daddy walk her down though!

Afterward she wanted to go again so she liked it!

New Skirt

Last weekend our computer got a nasty computer virus. It all got fixed fine but in the mean time I had an entire weekend that I couldn't work. Needless to say I got some sewing time in which felt SO good. I have had this skirt cut out for months now but finally got it put together. This one is my own creation, I liked the way one of her skirts fit so I just made it up as I went using her measurements as well as the general idea from the other skirt. Now I wish that I made up a pattern for this one because I love it. I will be using this same idea for lots more skirts. It has a flat front which lends a dressy feel with some elastic in the back... not a lot though. With this fabric I knew that it couldn't be gathered much at all and still look good. It is also fully lined.

As a side note here is Keaton with a "monster" carrot from our little garden!

Swimming Lessons

I used to go to college and work with a girl who's parents had a pool and they taught swimming lessons every summer. When it came time to put the kids in I got a hold of her and found out that they were still doing that. They were WONDERFUL, we will continue to do their lessons through them, they did great with the kids! We didn't really think that Tiana would have the courage to get in but I knew our only hope was to have Keaton and Tiana in the same class. They were willing to give it a try even though Tiana is only two. They usually recommend waiting until age three. We tried bribery and it worked! Here they are enjoying an ice cream sunday after their first swimming lesson! The first few days were a little rough with Tiana but as long as I was within about 5 feet of the pool she did good. Keaton on the other hand is a FISH! We have always known this but it was amazing to see. Within the first day he figured out how to hold his breath.

Keaton spent 90% of his time during swimming lessons UNDER the water!

The had an assistant with the class that would play motor boat with them and other little games while the teacher worked with each kid one on one!

Coming up from going under water. The teacher figured out that you can't tell Tiana to blow bubbles because as soon as her nose hit the water she breathed in. But if you told her to put her eyes in, under she went! She even got pretty good at not choking on the water!

In order to kick her feet she felt like she had to watch them!

Keaton learned how to float on his back all by himself!

Their little class. Tiana always bee-bopped around on the very end of the step making the teachers very nervous!

LOVE this one! She was supposed to go under... her mouth is under but she kept her eyes and nose just BARELY above water!

There are a few more photos from their last day that I will get uploaded soon!

Camping

We got stopped for road construction on the way to Anthony Lake. We all got out of the car for a bit and the kids were a bit goofy! Getting a head start on playing in the dirt.

We got camp all set up and the next morning they were very excited to get to wake up and get dirty!

After nap time bed head!

My grandparents met us up there for an afternoon of fishing! Tiana's purple princess pole proved successful once again!

Keaton spent most of the time in the boat with Poppy and Grammy but he got a ride back in with us in the kayak for nap time! Trying to get a photo of the crew with tired kids is not a great idea!

Love these next few..... absent mindedly put hand in mouth....

Ewww that was gross!

Note to self, don't eat dirt!

Keaton, Daddy and Poppy went back out to fish while we held down camp. Grammy and Tiana had fun feeding some chipmunks!

Stare down.

Trying VERY hard to sit still but it was a little scary.

So exciting that they finally found the bits of food.

They had a blast putting dirt and chairs in the chairs!

Taking full advantage of mom letting them get dirty!

Camden and Tiana made sure that they were fully covered in dirt. Camden even took handfuls and rubbed it in his hair... just to make sure!

BATH TIME!

The next day Grandma and Grandpa came up and joined us for the rest of the weekend. We took a short hike (1 mile up to a lake).

Camden enjoying the ride.

Crossing a bridge.

Tiana made it most of the way up and Keaton RAN the entire way!

The girls. Tiana was needing a break from hiking so we were picking flowers to put in her hair.

The crew. At this point we noticed that Keaton's face was getting more and more swollen by the minute! His forehead above his left eye was VERY big. Gave us all quite the scare.... needless to say we were one mile from camp so there was nothing we could do. He was acting fine so on we went back down.

Camden fell asleep during the last 5 minutes of the hike!

I was EXTREMELY worried about Keaton, he looked so bad. He kept coming up to me, giving me a hug and saying "I love you Mommy" and "Don't worry Mommy, it will be ok, I'm fine". Poor kid knew something was up. We found him on this rock all by himself. Breaks my heart still to think about this day!

This photo doesn't make it look NEAR as bad as it did, but you can tell it is swollen between his eyes and then down the right temple. During dinner I could see it spreading and right then and there deciding he was going to the ER. Daddy and Keaton took off and I stayed with the other kids knowing that a couple miles down the road I had cell service so I could call and check up on them. Turns out he had facial cellulitis or an infection from a bug bite. My doctor told me later that it could have easily been Staph infection so it was a VERY good thing we took him in. He was a trooper, they even did x-rays of his face (since when they asked if he fell he said yes.... he didn't but when you ask a 3 year old if they fell they respond to not just today but last week and yes he had fallen at some point!!!). During the x-rays he didn't even move. He got spoiled by the ER, they gave him a stuffed elephant and stickers, and he got to watch tv in his room so he was happy! They ended up giving him a shot of prednisone and antibiotics. He was such a trooper. This kid has gone through quite a bit in his 3 years and it amazes me each time how grown up he is. Keaton amazes me. We were a bit worried that something like this can cause Bells Palsy again but so far so good!

The funny thing was Keaton hardly had any bug bites and Tiana on the other hand had so many it looked like she had chicken pox! Camden didn't have one bite... they don't like him!

Cuddle time with Grandpa!

The next day we left after lunch. I don't have any photos from that day because Keaton finally started acting like he looked! The day we took him in he ran an entire 2 mile hike, didn't act like he was hurt at all. But by the next day he hurt all over and kept saying "everything is bothering me". His head hurt and itched so he had to be held and cuddled all day. Needless to say Daddy took down camp while I held kids!

We had a wonderful time though over all. The kids loved it but were ready to come home, 4 nights was plenty! We came home and started swimming lessons the next day and then Tiana decided to start potty training! So, we have had a very busy couple weeks!

Camden learned a few new words, "hot" because of the campfire, he now says "out", "ease" while signing please, as well as repeating random things that we say! Tiana's favorite sayings are "ooooh maaaan" (gets that one from me) "dats bedda" (that's better). They have also gotten to the point that all of the sudden potty talk is hilarious! Keaton thinks the song about little rabbit fu-fu is little rabbit "poo-poo" which he thinks is the funniest thing. He also knows that he can't say things like that unless we are in the bathroom so he thinks it is a naughty song!