Winter Fun

When mommy does laundry, the girls help out by "making it snow". This involves flinging the dirty laundry from the upstairs to the downstairs to be washed. McKenna must have been inspired by the thought of "snow" and figured out how to have a little fun while there was soft clothes to land in at the bottom of the steps.

Here she is to demonstrate Stair Sledding:

She demonstrates a mastery of control while dodging her sister, but perhaps my favorite part is the laugh at the end.

Merry Chistmas

Our Little Drummer Girl

I think she was channeling her inner Tommy Lee with the hat.

And a Pa rum pum pum pum to everyone.

All she wants for Christmas is to lose some teeth

Today, the children's choir sang during the church service. Camdyn enjoys choir and has sung publicly with it several times in the last two years.

Today they sang "Star of Wonder" and "Oh, Come, Little Children" and Camdyn sang inspite of her current affliction:

Seems a tooth is coming loose, and while she is more caught up with the overall holiday spirit, there's still curiousity over when the Tooth Fairy will visit and what the exchange rates will be. There doesn't seem to be any coverage of this particular market in the Wall Street Journal, so her mother and I are also curious on how this will all work out.

Here's video of the tooth's current status:

I personally know that Camdyn's expecting a lot more for Christmas than just to lose a tooth. She may even be hatching a plan to get the Easter bunny to swing by this holiday season too.

She's an Angel! (for one night only)

When she was born she was trully an Angel. After falling to earth, sometimes it felt like she did that just to get closer to her mentor, the devil. Last night was the bi-annual production of "Journey to Bethlehem" at church. While Marcey was responsible for a scene along the journey (a home at the edge of town), Camdyn was cast as an angel at the manger, the final scene.

Here is the scene complete with live donkey, cow and llama(???):

Earlier in the day, Camdyn was presented with her brownie vest that came complete with the badges she has earned so far this year. Most of the moms did not seem disappointed that they would not get to sew on the badges or any future badges since the are now iron-on. She learned some of the traditions associated with this occasion, including the need to do a good deed to be able to turn her brown pin right side up.

Just remember: Everytime you hear a bell, Camdyn just might be getting her wings!

Don't worry, Mom, my kids are paying me back for what I did to you...

It's true what they say, all things do run in circles. And because I don't have the best memory or have what I prefer to call a selective memory, some things as a child I just don't remember. My mom and my sister, Michelle, love to tell stories about when we were young and depending upon its personal relevance, I may or may not remember. (I am the same way with school work or work-work too. Fortunately for me, I also have a good short term memory that I can load and unload at will and a knack for remembering the really important work stuff.) But this I do remember...

It was at about 6 years old that I decided I didn't like my middle name. Despite its long family history and my utmost respect and love to those in my family with a version of the same name, the combination of my first and middle names causes me to twitch. For some reason, it must be said with a southern twang and a slight rising in pitch that just sends me over the edge. Anyone who really knows me, knows that they can really get under my skin by muttering those dreaded combination of words. It was about the age of 6 that I began telling people that my name was Marcey Jane. So where am I going with all this... Yesterday, I caught glimpses of my 6 year old self in Camdyn.

As we were driving yesterday, Camdyn announces that she has told her friends that they can simply replace the 'Y' with an 'E'. As I am having panic attacks that she is starting a spelling revolution that will for sure become my fault, I start by somewhat calmly saying "what are you talking about?"

She replies, "I told my friends that they could put an 'E' where the 'Y' should go."

"In what words?" was my somewhat calm reply.

"My name! I have seen it spelled with an 'E' so I have told my friends they can spell it with an 'E'. Some of them thought an 'A' but I told them it was an 'E'."

As I am struggling to hear what she is saying over the clamor caused by her younger siblings who surely won't revolt against their names, I calmly tell her that her name is spelled with a 'Y' and thats the way it is. Or so I thought...

We sit down last night to finish the last of her homework and she writes her name on the top of the paper... then she rethinks it, erases the 'Y' and replaces it with an 'E'. Silly, naive me thought this was closed subject. Apparently not.

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

"I like it spelled that way" she replies.

"But that is not the way I spelled it on your birth certificate so you are stuck with a 'Y' - now change it back!" She erases it begrudgingly and moves on. I am sure the subject is not closed...

After, we began practicing spelling words with a gentle reminder that she is not to giggle today when her teacher asks her to spell the word "but" for her spelling test and that she should consider her handwriting like drawing -- the better (more clearly) she writes and draws, the better people like it. At which point, she promptly draws a beautiful flower on her homework paper. I don't think I'll be reminiscing over my 6th grade memories of writing the handwriting lesson for the teacher on the chalkboard with Camdyn but I still have two more chances with McKenna and Keeghan! Oy, the joys of parenthood!

My apologies to you, Mom, for causing you such grief over such a silly little thing like a name. Just please, oh please, don't call me by my middle name. Afterall, I did give McKenna a version of my middle name for her middle name...

Love ya, Mom!

Happy Halloween!!

The Leopard,

the Candy Fairy,

and the Witch

all say, "Trick or Treat!!"

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Trip to pumkin patch with Grandma & Pap Pap on 10/13

Big Girl Bed

Keeghan has moved from the crib to her first bed. All three girls used the crib made by Marcey's grandfather and then successfully made the switch to this bed. Keeghan took to it pretty quickly last night, and it helped that she was exhausted from another busy Saturday. This was photo was taken about an hour after she was put to bed.

A little later she was checked on and she had decided to move to the floor.

This morning I took some more pictures of her learning to get in her bed. Both Camdyn and McKenna took turns showing Keeghan how to use the bed.

She is currently using the bed for her nap and seems to be a guick learner. She loves to show us she's a big girl any chance she gets.

Ladybug Soccer

This fall, Camdyn is playing in a 3 versus 3 league for girls. Once a week she has a 30 minute practice with her six teammates and then the team divides up into two groups to play for 30 minutes against two groups from another team. Goals are cheered, but no score is kept (even though the girls can all tell you exactly how many goals were scored). Here is camdyn practicing on the first day:

And last week, Camdyn "dragged" daddy to help "coach" her group during their game.
Fortunately, McKenna was happy to provide water at the breaks.


And Keeghan spectated and cheered from her perch on the cooler. She is really getting aggressive with her walking, climbing, and standing skills, but yes, mommy was right there to make sure she didn't fall.

In addition to being the photographer (hence no pictures of her), mommy helps the coach with family managment, cheers on all the teams, and this week supplied the post game snacks (and you thought the cooler had daddy's beer.)

Go Camdyn!! Go Ladybugs!!

Something for Everyone Day

When Keeghan started trying out everyone else's pair of shoes looking for ones that would fit, mommy decided it was time to go to the outlet stores to get a new pair for her since she returns to preschool this week.

This morning I insisted we get an early start to the outlets because I knew something the girls didn't, there is a Nascar Speedpark there! First we visited Stride Rite for shoes, then we visited several more shops on the way to the Bass Pro Shop. This was the first time I set foot in one, and I took Camdyn and McKenna to see the big fish tank. There was a salesperson demonstrating a fishing technique with some featured products and we managed to get a souvenir "worm" and an underwater view of fishing through the side of the tank.

After lunch at Macados restaurant, which Marcey has missed since leaving Blacksburg, Camdyn and I went to the Speedpark. I hoped that this would give Camdyn a chance to drive by herself if she was tall enough, and she did great for a first timer. Unfortunately, I left the camera in the stroller and by the time we returned with it, Camdyn was more interested in "the Whip" like cars:

Camdyn did get talked into making another try with the go carts. She did even better this second time and managed to lap the other two cars.

Exhausted Camdyn and Keeghan napped on the ride home.


While McKenna enjoyed what may have been the best part of her day:

And mommy was in control (except for this unauthorized photo).

Just another fun day for the entire family.

It's Cool to Go to School

Marcey left off the best part (at least for me). Camdyn has a brand new "cool" schoolbus for the morning. Last year her bus broke down on the first day and several times right after. On the first day, Camydn wasn't impressed because the new bus was cold (I was glistening from the high humidity and heat and could have used some A/C), dark, and smelt funny. Fortunately, this improved on the second day, and now she enjoys all of her school day.

There's a problem with raising indepent girls...

...they could care less when you leave! Today is the first day of school for Camdyn (1st Grade) and McKenna (3yr old preschool).

It is awfully quiet around here but someone has decided she wants to follow in her big sisters' footsteps... starting next Tuesday, she'll go to school too...

Heere's Keeghan

Not to be out done by Camdyn, Keeghan also had a video to share. This time our creative team really had some fun.

Video!!

Today I tested out whether we could load video to the internet that could still be "private". I think we have found some flexibility with YouTube that can enable using video and achieving that goal. Here is Camdyn's performance as Alice in her summer camp production:



Please let us know if this causes any problems with slowing down the site or if the video won't play. (Be sure to click on the arrow to start it).

Baby Steps

Keeghan has been practicing her walking. Today she showed off how far she has come in just a few days:

Summer Camp Open House

Summer Camp came to an end with an Open House for the parents to come see the performances and projects that had been worked on each day. Camdyn had been particularly secretive on what she would be doing, and as we entered the school, she directed us to go to the auditorium and NOT to follow her as she want to her classroom to get into costume. The kindergarten and first grade classes were presenting a play about the books that they had read. Camdyn was "Alice" of Alice in Wonderland and delivered her lines perfectly. Marcey and I were very impressed with the entire production and proud of our "star". We can't wait for next year's performance. It made the night even more special that her former kindergarten teacher came to see her perform.

Afterwards, we went back to her classroom where she showed us all the crafts she had done and her journal that documented each day's activities complete with hand drawn illustrations.

We enjoyed an ice cream treat on the way home. The entire evening was very special. Camdyn had another wonderful teacher and a terrific time learning and having fun. First grade will soon be here!

Let's Go Racin'

I've learned that the girls either love racing or spending time with daddy. Since I love spending time with the girls and exploring racing, I don't need to know which one it really is. Last week, with the sitter on vacation, I helped out by taking a day to spend with McKenna and Keeghan. We headed out in the afternoon to visit some race shops outside Charlotte and ended up at the Roush Fenway and Hendrick shops.

I had been waiting for last night's "Night of Destruction" at the local track to arrive. Besides racing, the event had two monster trucks and a demolition derby. When Camdyn heard where I was going she really wanted to go too. It was a long night, but we had a lot of fun, and surprisingly Camdyn did very little complaining. It helped to make sure she know what was going to happen and what behavior was and wasn't going to cut it before we left home. She was resting her eyes when the last race ended with the first and second place cars wrecking into each other through the final turn with both crossing the finish line side by side, sidewise, and in the grass. Otherwise, she saw it all including the grand finale derby (although some of that was hidden behind the thick smoke of wrecked vehicles directly in front of us.) Unfortunately, the camera's battery didn't make it all the way, so I can't show the last race or the derby, but here's some of what we did get:

Up next, Marcey and I are going with the church on a trip to tour Lowe's Motor Speedway next week. Ladies and Gentleman, Start your engines!!!