Ahhhh! Behind!!!!

Crazy how things change the 2nd time around... :)

Cami's FIRST birthday was almost 2 weeks ago now! Things were a little off because we left for Myrtle Beach for a week on her birthday. Because of that, we had a small party for her in FW the weekend before after Kevin's grad party (yes, he has graduated high school already!!!). It was fun - Cami didn't really like her cake - my dad finally pushed her hand in it and she just looked at it! She tasted a little bit, but was way to tired to really enjoy. She cried more than she ate or smiled. BUT, on her birthday in the hotel in Hendersonville, NC, Cami chowed on not only my piece of her birthday cake, but my mom's also! Mmmmm, icing.....

I'm at work right now and don't have the ability to post pictures here, but I'll get some pictures up this weekend I promise! I'll also have pictures from our trip to Myrtle Beach too. There are so many great ones - Adam's trying to find a place online where we can store them, but Yahoo doesn't offer that service anymore (which is what he used to use) so now he's searching for another. I'll try to send a link out over email to Shutterfly, but may miss someone!

Looking forward to another fun year with Cameran. Our next birthday is Alaina turning FIVE. Man, time flies....

Getting sad...

So, I'm sitting at work right now, with nothing to do (finally, a breather!) and starting to think about Cameran's first birthday on Saturday. We had a small party for her with family and some close family friends last Saturday in FW - it didn't really hit me until Monday that my little baby is not a baby anymore.

The daycare called me at work on Monday and said that Cami would be transitioning into the Toddler room the last week of June and would be in there for good starting the first of July. Wow - not in the infant room. She'll be in a room with other little KIDS - not babies in bouncies - and napping on a COT - not a crib - and eating meals and snacks at a TABLE on a CHAIR - not a highchair, buckled in. I really swear she was just born and we were just in the hospital taking our family picture right before leaving.

It didn't go this fast with Alaina - I feel like Alaina was a baby for so long. I'm sure part of this is how little Alaina was and how Cami's walking a couple months before Alaina did.

It goes beyond Cami turning one - Alaina will be FIVE in 2 1/2 months. She may be starting kindergarten in the fall. Sniff. Sniff.

I feel like I've lost so much time with my girls by being so busy. Where did it all go? Why didn't I cherish all the little moments Alaina wanted to snuggle with me yesterday instead of telling her I had too much to do? Why didn't I just sit back and delight in Cami's insanely happy quacking instead of smiling and going around her to pick up the books she just pulled down off the shelf?

Part of my sadness, is fear of them getting older. That something will happen to them. That someone will hurt their feelings or make them feel inadequate. That someone will take advantage of their sweetness and love.

I know it will all happen on some scale - it just scares me that I can't protect them from it happening on a larger scale.

I guess that's why I have a God who loves me - and more importantly, who is a PERFECT father to my girls. Who will protect us and will not forsake us. Even if something does happen, it is in God's plan (which is ALWAYS better than mine) and He will see us through it and build us up. He does so EVERY day.

We are a blessed family. And my girls are truly amazing. :)

Lots to report!!!

I've been getting emails about waiting to see new posts - sorry!! It's hard to remember to update this blog at night once the girls are in bed. I'm so tired at that point!!

We have had a busy couple weeks since my last post. Alaina participated in the Rookie Run - it's a "race" for kids sponsored by the Indy 500 during their month of May events. Since Adam and I ran the Mini, Alaina also wanted to run a race. She was SO excited for her race, counting down the days every day. She had her face painted and then ran 2 blocks for her race. She did GREAT!!! Here are a few pictures of the Rookie Run:

Getting Ready...

During the race...Proud finisher...

Cami's thoughts...

This weekend was full of fun. Saturday mornings are Alaina's soccer games. She's the youngest and smallest kid on her team. She has an amazing team - they're so good! She'd rather be on a winning team than play a lot I think. :) Here's a picture of her during practice.After soccer, we came home and while I was making lunch, Alaina yelled "Mom! Come here and see Cami!" So I walk in and here she is -All by herself, she decided she wanted to look outside, so she climbed the mat and up she went.

Later that afternoon, we decided to take the girls to the spray park - it's so great because the kids just run around the area while water sprays up from the ground! Alaina LOVES this place, and so do I since it's easier than the pool - plus it's free! :)

Alaina - running through...

And sitting on! Cami - didn't enjoy so much... Preferred Daddy's arms!

One last thought for the night: Alaina went down to the basement after church today to change into play clothes (not sure why she went to the basement rather than her room). Here's the outfit she came up in: My first thought: I don't think those shorts are Alaina's. The more I looked at them, I realized that they weren't Alaina's at all - they were a pair of Cami's capris!!! They were Alaina's when she was a baby (size 12 months!!!) and now of course, are Cami's. But Alaina's little bum fits into them perfectly like they're shorts!!!! Too funny... sharing clothes already...

Love you all!!!

Mother's Day, baptism & a new friend

So last weekend was very busy for us! Actually, Sunday itself was just a very busy but blessed day for our family. It was Mother's Day first of all! Here's the breakfast in bed Alaina made for me:

Then, we proceeded to church for Cami's baptism - it was so wonderful. She's just so sweet and both her and Alaina were very good during the baptism. We had all our extended families here which was really special. We then had a small cook-out with family and just a few friends from our bible study to celebrate. Of course, Cami slept through almost the whole celebration, but we enjoyed the time together!

Still that day, we were headed to the airport to meet our good friends the Castor's returning from bring their new son home from Ethiopia. Joshua Tariku was born just a few days before Cameran, so we are really excited for them to become the best of friends like Toby (their other son) and Alaina have. Here are a few pictures from the airport reunion!

Sarah & Joshua Tariku

Cami meeting Joshua Tariku

Toby & Alaina

Oh! And on Wednesday (Cami's 11th month birthday), Cami took her first steps alone - not just one, but three! And today at gymnastics, she stood by herself on purpose to clap for kids. She's starting to get some confidence and before long she'll be off!!! :)

Long time, long post!

Wow, it's been a long time! Sorry for the delay. We've been a busy family, with Alaina starting soccer and swimming lessons to Adam & I running the Mini Marathon this past weekend!

I last left you when we were getting ready to head to FW for the weekend. Here are a couple pictures from our trip.

Alaina & Uncle Kevin

Cami & her new favorite toy

Alaina asleep in the car

While we're on a sleeping thought, I went in to check on Cami the other night and here's what I found: Isn't she sweet?!?

Alaina started two things this week - sleeping with no rails on her bed (ah! scary!) and swimming lessons. This is the first time in Alaina's short life that she's slept in real bedding. She normally sleeps on top of it, but she's scared she'll fall out of bed now, so I tuck her in good! :)

She just LOVES her swimming lessons - she asks EVERY morning if it's swimming day. Here's a picture of her during lessons.Once the Mini pictures are available, I'll post some of Adam and I. Maybe, they may be pretty bad - they are "action" pictures during the race. Those may not be the prettiest. :)

Love you all!

Entertaining dinner...

The girls and I were alone for dinner tonight and it sure was entertaining! Alaina had on her dress-up veil the whole dinner. Last night, the kids in our small group were babysat at our house and Alaina was in her bride clothes (dress, veil and pink cowboy boots) the entire evening - from 6 to 8:30!!

Cami found out that she loves to chew on celery this week. She's teething more this week and she just knaws on the celery and pulls bits off and laughs! As you can see in the pictures, the babysitters must have had a hard time hitting Cami's mouth at dinner last night since most of the food is on the seat of her highchair! No clue how that happened. I truly can't even imagine what happened! :)

She is getting so old. She's pulling up easily now on anything and cruising effortlessly. All she wants to do is walk around holding on to your fingers. She'll be walking in no time I'm sure. Alaina is quick and Cameran is dying to catch up!

Alaina's first soccer practice is this Saturday (last week's was cancelled because of the weather). Then we're heading to FW for the rest of the weekend. We're seeing some friends and should have some fun pictures up next week of our family and new friends for the girls.

Easter fun!

In case you didn't know because of the weather - it's spring. And with spring, comes Easter! Alaina was super excited about our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, even though it was FREEZING cold (so windy that Cami and I got wind burn!). There were 500 eggs hidden at the park and about 12 kids showed up because of the weather. So, you can imagine how much fun Alaina had finding all those eggs! Cami even found a couple of her own.

Here are a few pictures of the girls on Easter. Alaina really learned a lot about what Easter really means. She asked so many good questions about why Jesus had to die and why the people wanted to kill Him. It was great to be able to talk with her about Easter and the resurrection of Jesus. What hope He brought us by rising from the tomb!

Cami also had her first fruit smoothie this weekend - she LOVED them! (See the picture below - this is during a "break" from the smoothie!) It's amazing how a blender, fresh fruit and ice makes something so wonderful! :)

I have really enjoyed keeping this up to date. I hope you are enjoying seeing a glimpse of our days together. We miss our family and friends far away and talk often of when our next visits will be...