The Reading Basket

One of my graduate professors told us a story about a reading teacher she had when she was in elementary school. This particular teacher had an old claw foot bathtub filled with pillows that she would let the kids climb into while read. Later, both of her children had the same teacher and all recounted vivid memories of loving to read in this enormous tub. Her point to the story was to make reading special, exciting and a memorable event in your children or student's lives. She said that she fell in love with reading because of that
teacher and her claw foot tub.

No claw foot tub was involved in Camden's reading today
but a laundry basket full of books was.



Brian and I have always made it a point to read to Camden multiple times a day. He has been read to daily since shortly after he was born and has a small library that would rival most child care centers. He'll bring us books and ask us to read them over and over again. Recently, he's decided that rather than being read to
that he can read on his own.



Normally he's pretty camera shy if I try to catch him in the act but I managed to be sneaky and filmed him reading to himself while cozy in the laundry basket. I will confess that his stories are not elaborate nor do they make any sense but it melts my heart to see him be so entertained and excited about books.



Perhaps one day he'll recount fond memories of us reading together on the couch, snuggled on his bed or even in the laundry basket.

Spalsh Pad-Take Two

Several weeks ago I wrote a post about play date that Camden had with Gill and her kiddos at the splash pad.
(If you're interested you can reread it here: Splash Down)



Well, Gill had her camera in tow as well and today she sent me the pictures that she had taken. I picked out a couple of Camden, because I'm sure those are the ones that anyone reading this will care about.



Can you guess which one we all found to be hilarious!?!?

Arts and Crafts

In an effort to escape the heat and keep ourselves entertained while inside, Camden and I have broken out the box of markers, jumbo coloring pages and a few old socks and got crafty.



We started off by shredding an old t shirt which we stuffed into one of Brian's old tube socks to make a snake. Once we had our little snake stuffed we got busy decorating. After all, who likes a plain white sock snake? Camden was proud of his work and even took
his new little critter to bed with him that night.



His name, you might ask... Mr. Snake.
Camden is always so creative when it comes to naming.



Our coloring adventures didn't stop there...



We broke out a coloring page from Camden's Cars coloring book and accented his beautifully colored picture with foam stickers.



Once he was finished coloring and decorating we had quite
the work of art on our hands.



The only problem, where to display all of these masterpieces.

Twinkies

I must admit that I've always had choice words when I see a set of twins who are dressed identically from their outfit and accessories to the way their hair is parted. I had my fair share of matching outfits when I was a wee little one; not that I ever had any identical outfits since I was the only girl but my brothers and I were often dressed to match especially for family pictures, holidays and other special events.

Ever since we found out that we were expecting our second little boy I've been on the look out for matching outfits. I know what you're thinking and I've managed to overcome my feelings of guilt about ridiculing other parents for doing the same. It is not an easy task to find an outfit that will fit both a newborn and a toddler going into a 2t so you can imagine my excitement when I came across an ADORABLE set of Halloween pajamas that will fit both of my little guys.



Now they are just pajamas but you can bet that there will be plenty of pictures taken of both of my little skeletons. I am still searching for the perfect little brother and big brother outfits and will fully expect others to harbor the same feelings for matching outfits that I used to.

Motherhood Is Not For Sissies

My Mom gave me a book titled "Motherhood is Not for Sissies" before Camden was born. Its a simple book that has black and white photographs of mothers, babies and older children alongside humorous yet true quotes about being a mother.

This book has set on our bookshelf for the last two and a half years and has only been glanced through a few times. Camden routinely empties the book shelf and yesterday, when he did, he brought me this book. He likes looking at the pictures of the babies and comments about what they are doing in the pictures.

One of the quotes jumped out at me when flipping through the book with him. "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing."

I have always been some what of a neat freak and want everything to have a place. Although, I'm finding that quote to be more and more true as I walk through the house to pick up toys for the 10th time today, vacuum the floors and find them covered with crumbs within hours, find the trashcans to be full again, and fold all the clean laundry only to discover two baskets full of dirty clothes that need to be washed.

I never truly feel like my house is clean but I have come to terms with the fact that my house will never look like a picture in Better Homes and Gardens. I don't think "real" people live like that. There are usually dishes in the sink, laundry that needs to be put away and toys strewn across the living room. Cleaning the house with a two and a half year old running around while almost nine months pregnant has to be just like shoveling the sidewalk while its still snowing. Not that I would know anything about shoveling snow...especially in Houston, but I definitely understand the metaphor.

You know once this is posted I'm going to go clean right???

Tumble Time

Today brought to close a small little chapter in Camden's life. It was his last day at tumbling. It was his last class of the summer
session and will be his last for the year as well.



Since he's still under the age of three and attends a "Mommy & Me" which means most of the spotting, wrangling and chasing is done by me. Thanks to the increasing size of my belly, the ability to stretch, roll and run around with him in the gym is difficult to say the least.



We've decided, that even though we both love going each week, that it will be much easier on me if we take a short break until after Deegan is born. (which will be in six short weeks!!) Not that tumbling is in our future directly after he's born, I'm not sure if I could chase Camden around with a newborn strapped to my chest. Although I bought a super comfy infant wrap that I'm very excited to try out once he's here.



Anyway...we're taking a little hiatus from tumbling until the Spring semester when Camden will be three and old enough to go to the Mighty Munchkin class by himself. *tear* I can't believe my baby boy is almost old enough to leave his mommy behind to
watch from the parent observation area.



Camden's class was full of all the usual tumbling fun: front rolls, stretching, jumping on the trampoline, swinging on the rings, kicks, jumping in the foam pit, cartwheels and balancing on the beams.
Class concluded with each child receiving a medal.





Brian and I are so proud of Camden, our little gymnast!

"I Hate It Here!"

That's what I'll jokingly say to Brian when I'm confronted with the unrelenting hot and humid summer heat. Houston isn't exactly known for its wonderful summer weather. Although the rest of the year has amazing weather that almost makes suffering
through the summer worth it.



We've been spending the least amount of time possible outside. Yes, it makes for long days and a tired Mommy who is continually trying to entertain a very active two and a half year old but I really can't stand to be outside in the heat. I'll blame it on being pregnant rather
than the fact that I just hate the heat.



I made an exception this morning and we headed out to the back yard right after breakfast. I'm sure it was already in the 90's but we used the hose to cool off a bit. Camden had a blast running around and soaking everything with the water hose but didn't complain when I
said we needed to go inside to cool off.



How many weeks (more realistically-months) until
Fall and the cooler weather?

Don't Forget The Popcorn

This past weekend Brian and I took Camden to see his first movie at a theater. We had been talking to him for several days about going and what he would have to do while there: sit down and be quiet. He was so excited to go see Buzz and Woody so we loaded up and
headed to the theater to see Toy Story 3.



We got seats right behind the handicapped section allowing Camden to sit without a row of seats in front of him and see without having a booster seat (which he's never been fond of). Brian made a run to the concession stand during the previews and set us up with a large popcorn and a couple of drinks. Camden did surprisingly well and loved the popcorn...I mean...the movie. He laughed, pointed out characters he knew and asked questions about what was happening all the while chomping down on popcorn. Both Brian and I weren't so sure that he would have sat so nicely for close to two hours had it not been for the popcorn. After all, what's a movie without popcorn?

Houston Children's Museum

A month or so ago we purchased an annual membership to the Houston Children's Museum. I decided it was about time for use to use it so on Friday Camden and I trekked downtown
for a morning of museum fun.



We explored the "How Does It Work?" area:



We built towers in the "Construction Zone:"





We splashed, sailed and shot cannons in "Flow Works:"



We went shopping in "Kidtropolis:"



We painted on easels in the "Art Room:"



Finally, we popped into the Kids' Cafe for lunch before loading up and heading back home just in time for a nap.



We were there for a little over two hours and still didn't do and see everything. Before we pulled out of the parking lot Camden asked; "We can come again another day?" We will be making a trip down there on a much more regular basis; we both had so much fun.

Socks Off

I promise him that there is a much easier way to take his socks off but Camden insists on doing a gymnastics routine that includes rolling around on the floor, squatting and kicking to remove his socks.
If it works for him, it works for me.





And just because he's so darn cute...