Good Friend

Today we visited the zoo with some friends from church. Here is Camden, all geared up for the trip....he really was more excited to go than he looks in this picture.

Here Camden and his friend, Grant, assessed the water in the Asian Sanctuary. Camden deemed it "eeeew, gross...that's dirty"
Shelby alternated between content and royally irritated during our outing. Here was a good moment. She really doesn't enjoy being confined to the stroller for long and much prefers it when I carry her while simultaneously maintaining social order and solving the national housing crisis.Here the two kids putting their binoculars to good use. How cute are they?
Look up there! A bird nest with baby birds in the Oomingmak area. Apparently the regular stream of people doesn't seem to bother the parents of these birds much.

And, finally, we never have a trip to the zoo without a ride on the carousel.

Baby Got Back

My friend Amy is going into business making cloth diapers. We ordered a couple to try out and were very happy with how they performed as well as how cute they looked. We'll be ordering more soon and are happy to recommend them, if you wish to try them out too -www.hyenacart.com/domesticmiracles





Here she is enjoying her exersaucer and telling me ALL about it!

Our Driver Gestures

Here's Shelby trying out her bigger car seat. She's thinking, "wait...isn't this supposed to be in the car?"

We have two of them, one for each car. Or, in this case, one for Shelby and one for Buddy.

Here's Camden and Matt having a bit of fun. It appears to be safe enough...

I'm So Tired

Shelby had her 6 month doctor appointment this morning. She's doing very well - weighs 15 lb. 11.4 oz (which means that since she's more than doubled her birthweight that she should be sleeping through the night now....right??...could someone PLEASE tell her...). Lengthwise, she is 26 inches and that means she has maxed out her carseat. So, it is time to switch her over to the next size up. It's a good thing we have a few up in storage. Since she had some immunizations, she's having a nice, long rest today. I think it's funny how the binky is in backwards.

She is growing and changing so fast. Hopefully sometime this week I can get a video posted of some of her first attempts at eating rice cereal.

Video Killed the Radio Star

Here are a few videos. The first one was taken on the 4th of July....

Here are two from our beach vacation...

Happy Ending

Back from the beach, Shelby and I enjoyed watching the guys wash the car. She seemed happy to be home - I got lots of hugs and kisses and she squealed with joy when put in the exersaucer.


Shelby's latest trick is sitting upright with just a little bit of help from a few pillows. Nothing warms my heart more than seeing these two play together (even if that means Shelby watches while Camden bangs the stuffing out of her toy). She has pretty decent posture, if I do say so myself.

You Are My Sunshine

After a better night sleep for everyone, we started out our Friday with some fun on the local elementary school playground. Camden's hair has turned interesting after not being washed all week.

Later in the day, after Shelby took a nice 2-1/2 hour nap (yay!) and we watched Peter Pan, it was back to the beach. Camden is loving playing barefoot in the water.

She doesn't look too thrilled, but this time she stayed awake and chatted a lot as we walked around in the water. Which is cuter, that hat or her little face?
At the end of the day we had two very tired children.

It's a Beautiful Day

One of the highlights of the week for Camden has been the construction project occurring in the neighboring lot. They are adding dirt to make the ground more level so Camden has been watching the dump truck bringing in loads of dirt and the bulldozer leveling it off (and subsequently telling us all about it...every time). Thursday the weather was fantastic with very little wind so the boys spent some time playing catch in the yard.

This expression about sums up Shelby's week. She had a cough, not been sleeping well...just hasn't been her usual self. However, her lack of sleep (and, as a result, MY lack of sleep) did prompt me to boost the local economy and buy a latte at the kite store down the street.
What I learned from writing this message in the sand is that the number 8 is very difficult to write using a sand shovel.
It was a beautiful, sunny day so we spent the late afternoon playing at the beach. Camden tried to push apart two pilings but gave up, exclaiming "it's too hard!". Humph...Quitter.
Shelby decided to forgo an afternoon nap in her cozy, warm bed (decided to scream instead) so we packed her up and apparently she preferred to be lulled to sleep by the buffeting of ocean winds in her face. Actually, as I write this both kids are snoring away in the other room. Here's hoping for a better night of sleep for everyone.

Don't Go Near the Water

On Tuesday, Matt and Camden headed to the beach in the morning. Exuberant beachcombing turned sour when someone got cold...

I tried in vain to get Shelby to nap (something I have grown accustomed to as the week has progressed, unfortunately) so we all headed out for some local shopping. The local shopping is nothing expansive, but we did go to the candy store and tried some gourmet truffles.

Not to long into our shopping excursion, Shelby was passed out in the stroller.

On Wednesday, we visited Ocean Shores and perused their "Interpretive Center". It is designed to be hands on for kids (and adults) and Camden looked over their display of local sea creatures. Also on display was the captain's wheel from a local shipwreck - Camden really liked spinning it around. That gave me an earful of where the phrase "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" comes from. That wheel needed some grease.

We ended the day back at the beach where Camden took off his boots (after tripping in the surf and getting them full of water) and discovered the joys of running barefoot into the waves. Needless to say, he's gotten pretty wet and tired...all with a big smile on his face.

At the beach

The first couple days of our week at the beach have been sunny, but windy and cold. Shelby has not been very cooperative either which has made it difficult to make plans. So far we've spent a lot of time walking to and from the beach (slowly with Camden) and perusing a few of the local shops. We haven't broken out the kites yet partly because I'm afraid the wind may whisk Camden away, partly because I don't think of it until we get there and see other kites. Tara has spent quite a bit of time in the house with Shelby trying to get her to nap. When she does nap, it's not for very long. They'll then come down to the beach and meet up with Camden and Matt, and most of the time Shelby will fall asleep there. Here are a few pictures so far.

As you can see, it's pretty windy but Camden is having a great time playing at the beach. Tara will be more eloquent I'm sure when she posts next time. But for now, this is all you get since she is out for an evening walk....peacefully by herself! I am currently taking advantage of someone else's unsecured WiFi connection and a few moments of....just sitting.

God Bless America

On Thursday, Camden wanted to run through the sprinkler. It wasn't swelteringly hot, but just warm enough to sit and enjoy watching him run at full speed around the yard and back repeatedly through the 1 foot high sprinkler.

On the 4th of July, we cleaned the car out and gave it a good wash. Camden decided his tricycle needed a scrub down as well.
Shelby and I observed from the comfort of a camp chair.

For the evening, we were invited over to a BBQ with friends from church. There were quite a few children so our hostess organized a little parade around her cul de sac. What began as an organized march turned to anarchy (as most events involving lots of children do...) but nobody got hurt or lost an eye, so it was a success.
Shelby had a few good giggles watching from her Superman pose.

Here are all the kids, none of whom knew which of the five cameras to look at. We figured somebody would get a good shot...this one is not too bad.

Thanks, Johnsons, for a great BBQ! The kids were pretty tired out and are even sleeping through the neighborhood's illegal, house shaking, ear drum damaging fireworks. I probably won't be so lucky.....

The Rose

My Grandma Cochran passed away this afternoon. She was 91 years young--lived a long, spunky, and full life. She may be best remembered for her feistiness and her love of roses (those two may not seem to go together, but consider the fact that she arduously tended over 100 rose bushes at one time around her home). This is the last picture we took together - at Christmas time less than one month before Shelby was born.

"Roses" by George Eliot
You love the roses - so do I./I wishThe sky would rain down roses, as they rain/From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?/Then all the valley would be pink and white/And soft to tread on. They would fall as light/As feathers, smelling sweet; and it would be/Like sleeping and like waking, all at once!

Growing Up

When you see your kids day to day sometimes you don't really have a chance to notice subtle changes as they grow. Sometimes, it seems, the camera often gives us that perspective. This morning as Camden was ready to head out the door for a day at Pat's house, Matt took a picture that hardly resembles the baby boy I remember from not so long ago.


Camden's time at Pat's gives me a chance to just be with Shelby for the day. She's growing up quickly too. Her little grins are some of the best moments of my day.


And, finally, I caught her rolling back to front. She started last week while I was at AP training and is getting the hang of it. Soon she'll be starting some "real" foods and before I know it, she'll be the grown up kid that Camden has become. *sniff*