Ocean City -2007

We had a terrific time on our weekend in Ocean City! Although Friday was a bit cool and rainy, Saturday and Sunday were spectacular! Camille loved the beach!

A break in the weather on Friday even gave us a chance to walk the boards...

Saturday afternoon was beautiful and sunny! Camille decided it was nice enough for a boat ride!
The balloon race was next. Camille loved it, but Daddy hated it! Poor Daddy, he really isn't crazy about amusement rides.

A fast horse on the carousel is a toddler's dream come true!
Camille says "Let's hit the beach!" The view from our hotel room balcony...
Camille couldn't get over the size of this sandbox!



Thanks to our friend who lives in Marmora, we were able to have a night away. Camille stayed with Karen while Mike and I headed out for the evening to Atlantic City. We had dinner at Nero's in Caesar's Casino. It was a wonderful evening!
All dogged out after a busy day at the beach!

Crocs

Camille loves shoes. I find it hard to buy shoes for her because she outgrows them so fast and good shoes are expensive. Camille's favorite color is yellow. (Or lellow, as she calls it). While I was out I found a pair of yellow Crocs in her size. All the kids are wearing these shoes and decorating them with little charms called Jibbitz. I thought this would be a perfect treat. Yellow shoes... I gave the shoes to Camille last night. I knew she would like them, I just didn't realize how much. She squealed with delight and wore her new Crocs to bed!

She also wore them to school today. I have a funny feeling these shoes will be money well spent.

We're headed to the shore this weekend for some much needed R&R. I'm sure we'll be taking the yellow Crocs... maybe we'll find the first Jibbit or two. It's a wonderful life!

Happy Mother's Day!

Friday Family FotoFun Challange - No No!

Camille,
That is a piano bench, NOT a stage! PLEASE get down!

Our natural born performer. She love the microphone and needs a stage...
To see other FFFFC entries, visit Donna's website

FIVE YEARS

Today is our 5th wedding anniversary. I am pleased to admit that we are still blissfully married. We've been through a lot in the five years we have been married and, for that matter, the nine years we have been a couple (I know, you're asking "A couple of what?")

So, to my dear husband Michael - You are my rock, my inspiration and my best friend. I love you truly, madly, deeply. Happy anniversary.

Friday Family FotoFun Challange - Gotcha-wear

Gotcha-wear

July 2005, 11 months old, 14 pounds

April 2007, 33 months, 27 pounds

I haven't even had this outfit out of the box until this evening. This FFFFC was a great idea, and it looks like another month or two and we would never have been able to do this! You can notice the split pants of the coverall... and those tiny pink sandals would have never made it today!

Riley's First Haircut!

BEFORE

AFTER!

Props for Daddy

Okay, I know this is Cami's blog, but this time I really think Mike deserves some props. Last night Mike was inducted into his High School Hall of Fame. This was the very first Hall of Fame induction ceremony in the school's 120 year history. The induction class was very distinguished, honoring former students from the 1930's to the 1980's. Mike was the youngest Hall of Fame inductee for the inaugural class 2007. Below are some photos from the event... Cami and I are very proud of him!

Friday Family FotoFun Challenge - Toddler Art!

Last summer, Camille came to our blind kids camp with me for the day. I left her under the watchful eyes of the counselors and found her later at the craft table...

I'm fairly certain that she "moved in" on someone else's project, but she seemed so focused on it, that I snapped this shot.

To learn more about the FFFF Challange and see this week's other entries, go to Double Happiness and check it out!

Karly's Bat Mitzvah and the Aunts

This weekend Donna and Rick's daughter Karly celebrated her Bat Mitzvah. The ceremony was beautiful (Karly is very bright, talented and charming). Karly really did a spectacular job! Afterward's Karly's reception theme was "Karly's Candy Bar" a candy themed night club for kids! It was really neat and Mike and I had a great time!

The Bat Mitzvah was "black tie". I always love to see Mike in his tux!
(I didn't want to post photos of Karly as I think it's a bad idea to post photos of other people's children without their permission.)

Miss Camille spent the night with her Mimi and Mimi's three sisters, all who were visiting from different parts of the mid-west.
From the left are Gretchen, Mike, Kristen, Kay and Casey holding Camille.

Matching Canes

For the past 6 months or so, Camille has been completely obsessed with Mike's canes. She wants to use them, just like Daddy, especially when Camille and Mike go for walks in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the canes are too long and too hard for a tiny girl to sweep. Well, we've been fortunate enough to procure an old, used toddler-size cane. Camille is just thrilled with her new cane...

And it's good for playing the "arm violin" too!

HAPPY EASTER!

Sesame Street and Easter Eggs

So what do they have in common? One TERRIFIC Saturday!

Mimi treated Camille to Sesame Street Live! She absolutely LOVED the show! She laughed, clapped and cheered through the entire show which lasted about an hour and a half.

Sitting with Mimi... ready for the show to begin!

Our favorite Sesame Street characters singing and dancing!
Later that same day (after a loooong nap) Camille and Mommy died Easter eggs!

We sure had a fun day today!

Friday Family FotoFun Challange - Spring Dresses

What a fun idea!

Palm Sunday 2007

Palm Sunday 2006
Boy! What a difference a year makes!

New Photos of Riley

My how she has grown!

New School, You Rule!

Well, we made it. Camille started the new school today. When we had packed our things and got ready to leave in the morning I said to Camille, "Are you ready to go to school?" She looked at me with a shocked expression and said "No Mommy! I want to go to the NEW school!" I stand corrected. Initially, Camille seemed happy, even proud to be at the new school. But when it was time to say goodbye to Mommy the tears began to flow. According to her new teacher, Ms. Maria, the tears did not last long. Ms. Maria seemed quite surprised at how well Camille did on her first day. She said "Camille ate all her lunch, took a great nap, seemed to get along with all the other kids and really followed direction well!" It then occured to me that Ms. Maria might not be informed that, although this was Camille's first day at the Academy, it wasn't her first time ever in a school-type setting. She is, for all intents and purposes, a pre-school tranfer student. Either way, thanks Camille, for being such a super kid on your first day.

Fund-raising Fun!

We went to a fundraiser for the Little Rock Foundation today. They had the most amazing face painting artist there. This gal was very, very good. To my surprise, Camille told me she wanted to have her face painted. I said "Sure!" (did I mention it was FREE!?) and this was the result (a little smudged since Mommy forgot the camera so we couldn't take the shot until after we got home) Miss Camille picked out the butterfly design from the samples all by herself and she was so impressed with the work that she spent a lot of time circling her face with her finger to be sure that anyone she was talking to noticed her face paint! What's next? Make-up? Lord help me!

Friday Family FotoFun Challenge - Easter Bunny

Camille and the Easter Bun... Hey!... Wait a minute...

Big changes on the horizon...

I'll use the typical excuse that we've been so busy that I haven't had the time to blog. The truth is, we've been busy, but I haven't made the time to blog. I've spent the time doing other things. This past weekend I celebrated my birthday with a weekend trip to Philadelphia. We stayed in one of Philly's finest hotels, has dinner at the Fountain Restaurant (probably the finest restaurant in Philly) and the crown jewel of the weekend was the ticket that Mike bought for me to see the King Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute. If you have a chance, go see it. It will be there until September and it is truly phenomenal. Cami stayed with her grandparents. They enjoyed the time with her and Mike and I enjoyed the chance to reconnect.

There are big changes on the horizon for our family. Most immediately, Cami will be starting a new school next Monday. The Academy is close to our home, unlike her current day-care which is close to where I work. Those of you who know me well know that I commute quite a distance to work each day. For the past 18 months, Cami has had to endure the commute with me. At the Academy, she will only be minutes away from home. The Academy is a wonderful place and Cami will be in pre-school there, rather than day-care. They have a terrific program that includes Spanish language and computer classes at the pre-school level. The Academy serves pre-school through 8th grade.

Also on the horizon is our housing situation. Several years ago we bought a nice starter home. A small cape cod with 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom (it's the one bathroom that is killing us here!) It was a great house for us when bought it, but now we've simply out-grown it. We live in an area where it is quite expensive to live. Auto insurance is quite high... property taxes are through the roof! We like the area, but we simply can't afford a larger home here. The other problem is my commute as mentioned above. So we are discussing a move; closer to my office, in a less expensive area to live. Yes, I believe this could be a year of big changes and the challenges that come with them.

Friday Family FotoFun Challange - Hands

This was an interesting capture while we were in China. It seemed like every time we took photos with young Chinese people, the popular thing to do in the photo was give the "peace sign" I guess at some point our 11 month old baby caught on!

To learn about the Friday Family FotoFun Challange, go to http://2happy.typepad.com

Just walkin' the dog...

It really is the cutest thing you could see...

Our Puppy Announcement

A little over-the-top, I know... just going out to a few close friends and a couple of select family members who are dog lovers too!

More photos of Riley and "us"!