Cookies and Cousins

On Thanksgiving Day we went to my paternal grandparents. My grandparents have 7 great grandsons. Not everyone was able to attend our annual Thanksgiving feast, but 5 out of 7 is pretty good if you ask me. Here are the boys.Jarius, Jansen, Camden, Jaston, and Lakin

On Thanksgiving night, my cousin Craig opted to come over and spend the night. His options were Black Friday shopping with his Daddy or a fun day at the Yake's. The next morning, after we all slept in, Austin fixed us all a big breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast (not that we needed a huge breakfast the morning after Thanksgiving). The remainder of the day was filled with playing tractors, making cookies, raking leaves, cleaning the garage, and discovering snake skins in the backyard (scary, huh?). We ended the day with Austin's family and Amish pizza (our favorite).




Today was a super lazy day. I slept in until 9:30 a.m. I can't even remember the last time I slept this late. I must admit that I did enjoy the extra rest. This evening we went to the Yake's for our Thanksgiving dinner. We don't see Austin's brothers, SILs, nieces, and nephew often, so we took the opportunity to get some photos of "The Cousins." In June, we'll have an addition to the family, and we are excited to see if the girls or the boys will be outnumbered.
Madalyn, Landon, Camden, and Aubrey
Landon and Camden

As a side note, please pray for Austin's brother Kenley. Kenley is a correctional officer at the Carlisle prison. Last Tuesday, he was assaulted and has a fractured jaw. He has undergone surgery and is now going through the recovery process which will take approx. 6 weeks. He is in lots of pain. Please pray for patience for Kenley, his wife Vanessa, and their daughter Madalyn during their journey of pain.

1st Thanksgiving Day

This morning we were awoken by gentle coos of a precious boice through the baby monitor. Camden was awake just talking and cooing away. It was like he was able to sense that it was a big day. Today marks Camden's first Thanksgiving Day and our first Thanksgiving as parents. We are so very THANKFUL for Camden and all the joy he has brought to our lives. What a beautiful day to celebrate our THANKFULNESS!

I just finished up in the kitchen working on a pumpkin pie and broccoli casserole. I tried to get finished with my cooking and cleanup before the start of the Thanksgiving Day parade; however, I didn't quite make it. Camden and Austin were watching the parade and have dosed off for a morning naP. I am glad Camden is resting as today will be a long one for him, and I'm certain his afternoon nap (which is his longest nap of the day) will be omitted.

Here are some photos of Camden on his first Thanksgiving. And, yes, I do have my Christmas tree up. We put up our tree on Tuesday evening so now we can enjoy tomorrow as a family and get some rest before another big Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday.
"Happy Thanksgiving Mommy and Daddy!"

"I'm going to get into these ornaments Mommy, you better watch out!"
"See, I told you so!"

Happy Birthday Daddy

Please bare with me as I have a few things to cover. First of all, yesterday was Austin's 27th birthday. To celebrate Daddy, Camden and I went to work with Daddy yesterday and did a little bit of shopping. After an hour or so of shopping we headed home as Camden and I are fighting a cold bug (stuffy and runny noses, fever, and soar throats) and began to feel tired and worn out. After a 2.5 hour nap with Camden we went to my folks and had Amish pizza and bread sticks - yum, yum.

Secondly, we reported a tooth too early. Although Camden won't allow us to do a thorough investigation of his gums, we don't feel any poking anymore. We'll keep you all updated as we don't think it'll be too much longer until his teeth make a grand appearance. Lastly, my family has been quick to inform me that my posts generally contain spelling errors and misuse of words. My lovely mother and wonderful husband were quick on their feet and eager wanting Camden to know that Mommy has an MBA, but she just can't spell or pick out words to fit the context. My response is, I barely have time to post, so when I do, I generally don't proofread or spell check (not that spell check will inform me of my misuse of words. I think most of you get the point even thought I misspell or use words in the wrong context. With all that said, I'll try to better. I've got to run as it is medicine time again for both Camden and me. I've had quick shower to unclog my nose and now it is Camden's turn. It will be a lazy day here as we try to rest up and get rid of our cold before Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, we may have to make a quick run to Wal-mart. Camden still uses diapers and eats while he's sick. Have a great day!

It's Polking Through..........

Tonight as Austin and I were wallerting around on the floor with Camden, I stuck my finger in his little mouth. Much to my surprise, NOT, he kept attempting to push my index finger out of his mouth. The few short seconds my finger was in his mouth I believe a felt a tooth polking through. Austin stuck his much larger index finger in and felt the same little polk that I felt. After trying to investigate with our eyes for nearly 1/2 hour we gave up. Camden made it very clear that he didn't want our fingers in his mouth or anything else that would aid us in trying to discover the tooth with our eyes. I guess we'll check again tomorrow morning when he's half asleep before he figures out what we are doing. More to come......

I Love The Days..........

I love the days like today were I can be home all day with my family and not have to put one foot out the door of my home. Today started off great as Austin and Camden escaped our bed quietly for an early morning feed and allowed me to sleep in until 9 am. Sleeping in on the weekends used to be the norm, but not so much now these days which is the reason I am so grateful to have a few extra hours of sleep every now and then. Once I got up and got going, today turned out to be a very productive day. I finsihed some photo projects on Shutterfly and finally got them ordered (I've been working on them for a few months - by the way - if you haven't used Shutterfly, you should as it is the greatest thing since sliced bread), cleaned our bedroom really good (washed walls and baseboards, washed curtains and all bedding, flipped the matress, and cleaned the windows) which hasn't been done in almost 2 years, yuck, I know, washed and folded 5 loads of laundry, and spent lots of time with Austin and Camden. The two of them are so good about helping out around the house which lightens my load immensley. Thank you, Honey, for all your help and doing all the undesirable jobs around the house! And, thank you Camden for being so patient and happy while watching Mommy and Daddy do chores. After Camden signs off for the night, I'm off to finish a few scrapbooking pages.

Oh and here are a couple of photos of Camden. The first photo below is Camden helping out with his favorite chore - laundry. And, the second is Camden after a tub bath. He likes to be naked.

Last Week In Review

I finally have a few moments to give an update on our last week. Many of you have asked how working part-time is going. Well, this week was my first week working my reduced 20 hour workweek (actually it was 23 hours, but close enough to 20 for me). I can't even begin to express how much I loved it. Even thought I wasn't "at work" this week it was a very busy one. Monday I worked and Camden stayed with the sitter. On Tuesday, Camden and I traveled with Steph and Riley to Carbondale IL to visit Angie and Caitlyn Kribs. It was about a 3 hour trip one way and the kiddos where absolutely wonderful. No meltdowns until we pulled in Steph and Riley's drive way. We had such a wonderful time catching up with Angie and the kids enjoyed playing with Caitlyn and all her toys. We even tried finger painting - it wasn't as successful as we'd hoped so we'll probably try again in a few more months. Wednesday was our Wal-mart/Trick or Treat Day. I took Camden to my Grandma's and then we went to Wal-mart. Thank goodness Nana (my mom) was at Wal-mart when we arrived because I was in much need of help. Camden isn't quite setting in the cart very well and not content in his car seat. Once I lay him in the cart there is no room for all my purchases and well, most of you know my horror story of Wal-mart with Camden - I'm so afraid some other catastrophe will occur when I walk thru those doors with Camden. Thanks Nana for all the help! Thursday was back to work for a very long day. Camden stayed with Nana until his Daddy got home. I became ill on Thursday at work so Friday was a stay at home, get some rest, catch-up on laundry, and family day. Saturday I went to crop to catch up on my pregnancy scrapbook. Yep, you heard me - I never finished my pregnancy scrapbook. Camden did come a bit early leaving me with some unfinished projects. I'm almost done now - another day of scrapbooking and it will be complete - I can't wait! Austin helped my dad pour concrete in his new pole building so Camden hung out with Nana. Camden did a craft project and stamped his feel in his Pappy's building. I wasn't there to see it, but my wonderful husband captured the event for me. Today we've gone to church and I'll be going to my cousin's fiance's bridal shower. Hopefully my boys will get some rest and then we're headed to a weenie roast with our church family.








P.S. Steph and Angie - may I have your email addresses so that I may send you the photos I took during our visit?