Soccer Dude

Cam's been taking "soccer" at the Y this past month. Basically its a bunch of preschool boys running and running. What could be better. The coach is great, so patient! Anyhow here's few pics of the boy in ACTION, running the obstacle course and so on.

2 more birthday pics...

Birthday Girl, Birthday Girl

So, the birthday's not really until tomorrow...but you have to celebrate when you can. So, we loaded up on cake, a tiara, and a few presents and friends...and Emery has now ushered in a new year. Hard to believe this little girl has only been here a year. She's hilarious, mischievous, cute, and a handful! And she likes to say, "HI". We have truely been blessed with a wonderful year with Em. She makes everyone who sees her smile and she gives the best hugs! She also LOVES her big bru and daddy more than anything else (okay, maybe stinky bear is a close second).

So, here's the big day: cake, a few friends, cake, cake and presents...what more could a girl want, well maybe spaghetti!

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!

December 1st...SNOW! And LOTS of it...

Stu had a busy morning using the snowblower, our driveway and helping a few neighbors as well! Its fun to get that thing going.

Cam enjoyed sledding, he's been out most of the day with the neighbor kids playing (about 4 hours altogether!) and when inside he's been requesting hot chocolate.

Emmy sat outside for a bit, made a baby snow-angel, sledded (for a few seconds) and then back in.

We went to get the tree

The tradition continues...Williams Tree Farm.

This year Cam made up a song, "will-i-ams tree farm, will-i-ams tree farm, everyone wants to go to will-i-ams tree farm. (spoken) williams tree farm." Brilliant :)

We hit the farm while the week was still warm, we also had to work with the dark! This was our first ever nighttime tree hunt. They have a field that is "lit". We managed to find a great tree, cut it and have time for dinner!! We also saw the reindeer and puppies. Then, home to set it up and put the lights on, the ornaments came the next night.

Cam brought along his SAW to help Stu cut! Here are the Pics...

An non-traditional Thanksgiving

Stu and I went to Arizona for thanksgiving, while G-mom and G-dad (the Ratcliffe grandparents) watched the kiddos. We had a WONDERFUL time!!! Bonus, we came home to a clean house (which we've almost completely undone, give us a few more days...ugg.)

Here are a few pics of Arizona...

THE WEEK OF SICK

Not much to tell, just yuck. So far Stuart and Cam have refused to get sick, we're praying that they stay that way. I've been sporting a cold/sinus thing for awhile and Tuesday night got the "flu"...violently. Luckily no one else has had it in the house. Emmy's got a cold that's just yuck. Poor thing. The humidifier is running non-stop in her room, plus the nighttime vicks/sudafed thing is plugged in. Hopefully it's all on the mend.

Here's a pic of the sick Em and tired Cam...

The Birthday! (& Emmy with a lightsaber!)

The Birthday Party!
The day dawned bright and beautiful, the sun was shining and God blessed us with a 70 degree day in NOV! Crazy!

Cam woke up SO excited! He's been waiting for this day for weeks. Stuart had blown up all kinds of balloons the night before and we just set them all over the basement floor (the kiddos could run and jump and hit them all over). Cam went downstairs this morning and saw them all over and exclaim, "Oh my, oh oh OHH MY GRACIOUS!" Just the greatest reaction! Then he saw the cake (I realize what it looks like) and he exclaimed that it was beautiful!

His friends came over (Aleah, Sean, Kade, Colton and Josh) and played outside and had a blast! We ate opened presents, ate lunch and had cake...what could be better? Then later tonight we had the family party! More presents (wow!) and more cake...turning 4 has never been better. Camden had the best day! I cannot believe he's 4! I just want him to keep the magic that he feels about the world alive as long as possible!!!! Our prayer this year is that his heart grows to know God more and more and sees His handiwork all around...bless our little boy!!!

Shed Aquarium

In honor of Cam's birthday, Stu took off Monday this week and we went into Chicago to the Shed Aquarium (they have "free" days on Mon/Tues during the fall. While the trip was far from free, its was fun! Cam LOVED all the fish, dolphins, penguins and lizards. Everything was a thrill for him. He said his favorite were the penguins. Emmy (now walking fully) chose to walk up to all the tanks with fish and stand there and "talk" to them. Funny!
We ended the perfect day trip at Maggianos...yum spaghetti...that's the pic of sis at the start...it was good stuff.

Playing outside, its a good thing!

Here’s some pics of Cam playing…the weather’s been brisk, but as long as the sun is shining we’re getting outside. Being cooped up is what January – March is about, right now 30 and 40 degree weather, we can play in that.

Cam climbed a tree with some help. His friend Aleah was over and they played in the leaves for a while and played “bucket head” (don’t ask). Nothin’ but fun!

Cam also got his hair cut… I’ll get some pics of that up soon. He looks so big and handsome with the short hair. All the summertime curls are gone…until next June!

Happy Halloween!!
It was COLD here, hence Cam was a bear again. It’s a roasty, toasty costume! He even got HOT in it! We hit a nearby neighborhood that some friends of ours live in…brought our candy offering and dumped it off, then we went door-to-door. Cam had a great time, but I think we were all a little too cold and tired by the end of things. Our favorite had to be Cam reporting, as he was coming from each door, what he’d gotten there, with GREAT enthusiasm! “Oh, a SUCKER!!! COOL!” etc…

So enjoy the pics…Emmy’s an elephant in case you’re wondering.

Carving the Pumpkin with the Pumpkins

And so, we carved the pumpkin! The final product is not pictured, but its a wolf howling at the moon - good job daddy!

We had a busiest pre-halloween weekend...Friday was tons of fun with the Harvest Festival at church, where Cam did "ALL THE GAMES!" and a treat night at Fat Wallet (a friend works there) where Cam played a really fun hockey game. Friday also marked Daddy's first "Learn to Play" hockey lesson. He had a good time, while the kiddos and I were at church doing the games! Fun was had by all, but Saturday we had to just crash at home and do the pumpkin (thank you to the Harps Pumpkin Patch for providing such a nice pumpkin!)

Official First Steps

Lil' girl has done it! The official first steps in a row were counted today. Three in a row. Last night Amanda caught her doing some, but these were filmed soooo....

She's been doing the one step...then fall for about two weeks, but these were deliberate steps and no falling between!!!

One day before 10 months. We are in SO much trouble.

Back to Edwards....

We went back to Edwards with Josh (Cam's buddy). It was cold, but we got some fun photos and Emmy's "STINK EYE" was captured. See if you can find it!
Enjoy!