Cameron -- 11 Months

For Christmas it appears that Cameron is going to get his two front teeth and a couple more.  He has been cutting teeth like it is his job, and well, at this age I suppose it is.

He has been attempting to walk, but only around furniture or with walking toys like his shopping cart.

He is saying about 3-5 words that I can make out now...mama, dada, baba, Alexander (although very slurred), and no.

I am so excited to seem him Christmas morning experience Christmas for the first time.  Alex already had his gift for him wrapped up under the tree, so cute!

We will count down the next 30 days now until my little guy turns 1!

For now, I'm off to enjoy quality time with the boys on my break.

A Pirate's Life 4 Me -- Birthday Party

While planning my little boy's 4th birthday party I scoured the interwebs in search of ideas.  Now I am going to share what I came up with in hopes that it will help another party planning momma out there.

Invitations
I was on a scrapbook retreat with friends when I saw the "Life's A Party" Cricut Cartridge and everything fell into place.  I substituted their saying "A Pirate's Life for Me" with the number 4 since that was how old my little guy was going to be.  It was perfect.  The only thing I had to do on this invitation was the writing.  The cartridge had the card pattern, the fonts, and all the little pirate extras.  I was so excited to send these out.

Games
It is great that he is at an age where him and his friends can really appreciate games at parties now.  I decided to go with two of them.  I love these games too b/c they are indoor games.  Many of the suggestions I saw were for outdoor parties which are sort of impossible during December in the Midwest, or they were parties held in larger spaces such as a church basement.

 







Pin the Hook on Captain Hook -- This one just kind of came to me.  It is a twist on the classic version of the "pin the tail".  I am a teacher, so after work one day on my projector I pulled up a picture of captain hook.  I zoomed it to the size I wanted, traced it and colored it.  Viola, finished.  I then took half of an index card and made 6 "hooks".  I made the bases of them different colors too so the kids could pick out their own.  Each child was then blindfolded and taped their hook onto the poster.  This was quick game and a lot of fun, plus my son now has a poster of Captain Hook for his room.  -- The prize was a foam ship from Michaels that could be put together 

Treasure Hunt--

I searched around and found these amazing "starter" clues.  I did a little tweaking to fit my house and printed them out.  Our "treasure chest" was just a large cooler we had and the prize was the favor bags I had made up earlier.  This was a great success a lot of fun that wasn't too hard to organize.  The favor bags included a Jake and the Neverland Pirates coloring page, an eye patch (from Target), some Hershey nuggets, a gold bead necklace, and a wooden pirate theme trinket to color with markers.This is an obvious choice for this party theme.

  cheeking out the loot

Supplies

This was actually a pretty inexpensive shin-dig to throw.  Thanks in part to my brother having his annual summer party be pirate themed, so I just looted all of their goodies, lol.  Also, I was in the dollar store and stumbled upon all sorts of pirate things.  I was able to pick up quiet a few goodies there like the banner, prizes for the games, plates, and favor bags. Other supplies (bandanas, ship wheel, and gold coins) cam from Orientaltrading.com

Food

I was stressing about food trying to make it fit the theme, but I had specifically planned the party for a time that I wouldn't be needing to feed guests a meal, just some finger foods.  Between wrapping up Thanksgiving, and having a big week at work, I just decided to keep it low key.  I stocked up on yummy treats from the frozen appetizer section at my local grocery store.  I also baked some chicken nuggets to follow the "gold" theme.  I made some
punch and that was about the extent of the menu.

Cake

The cake was my favorite part.  I found a similar one on Pinterest from Family Fun magazine and recreated it as best as I could.  I added a Reese Cup as the ship's wheel, pretzels and Twizzlers along the deck, and smarties for portholes.  This was an incredibly easy cake to make.  I'd say out of my last 3 homemade attempts, this one was the best.  I created the masts with black paper, wooden dowels and help from the "Life's a Party" Cricut Cartridge.


Thanks for reading about my son's birthday party.  The only other recommendation I have is I scheduled the party from 2-4 and should have tried for 3-5 or 4-6....I think it interrupted too many of the kid's nap times including the birthday boy.

Thanksgiving 2011

This Thanksgiving felt more like it was spring versus the fall. We had awesome weather which was great because we did lots of traveling.

We started that Wednesday off by dropping off Cameron at the sitter's and heading to the movies with Alex. Scott and I were excited to see the new Muppets movie and were using our toddler as an excuse, lol. The movie was great and brought back so many memories from our childhoods. I can't even describe the feelings and emotions when you get to see your child enjoy something that you enjoyed as a child too. It just feels like things come full circle. The Rainbow Connection gets me every time.

Later that day we picked up Cameron and headed to WV to visit with the Grandma's. We had a relaxing time and as always, some good food. We had two meals at Thanksgiving (so much to be thankful for!) with some more extended family too.

I was lured in my Scott's cousins to make the drive out later that night to do some Black Friday shopping. They didn't have to twist my arm too much, I love to hunt down a good bargain and play elf.  I was out pretty late, er, should I say early and then we were off to have another meal Friday with my side of the family.

The weekend was topped off with Scott and I going to see Les Misérables on Sunday. This was my birthday gift from Scott and it was such a nice treat. Scott had never been to the theater (spoken in my snooty English accent), but he was a very good sport about the whole thing.  We always love having the opportunity to get out with just the two of us.

It was a very whirlwind weekend, but again so many blessings to be thankful for. We were so happy to have time spent with family and safe travels.

Cameron - 10 months

I'm getting behind on things here, but hey, it's the holiday season so I'm cutting myself some slack.

Anyways, about ten days ago little Pork Chop passed the 10 month mark. I'm already finding myself planning his 1st birthday with a box of Kleenex beside me. I love having winter babies, but the time seems to fly by faster this time of year.

I'd say the big milestone this month is that Cameron has discovered the stairs and that he can crawl up them. We have 3 sets of stairs in this house and my once contently one-room confined baby is no more. It's good exercise for Momma though!

The other big milestone is that it appears he will be getting his two-front teeth for Christmas this year too.  One officially broke right on Thanksgiving, which helped him chow down.  He's been doing pretty well with teething and only moderately fussy thankfully.

Little man is eating lots of regular foods, but I'm finding that he has a little bit more of a particular pallet than big brother. So far broccoli and peas aren't favorites unless mixed with something else. I blame Daddy for this trait. He doesn't seem to interested in the sippy cup either but I'm thinking we are going to have to just bite the bullet and start kicking that bottle to the curb soon, but there is still some time for that.

He adores bath time, and I mean ADORES it! He loves hearing his screeching voice echo and having battles with Alex over who can do it the loudest. Fun times.

We are pretty busy this month now with Thanksgiving kicking off our holiday and birthday festivities that go all the way until Cameron turns 1.