Autumn at the Arboretum

It's Finally Here!

I am so extremely excited for the season of fall to be here! This Summer was brutally hot and I didn't think I could take it anymore! So with the new season upon us and a taste of cooler weather here and there we have been partaking in some fun fall-ish activities. We started with a little art. Cami loves all things art related! Here she is painting with a jack-o-lantern sponge...

This past weekend we got out our fall and Halloween decorations to decorate our house. Cami was so excited! She kept walking around the house and saying "look at all my stuff!"

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Plano Balloon festival to check out all the amazing hot air balloons.

This next picture doesn't really apply to fall weather, but I thought it was cute so I decided to throw it in here. Cami likes to line things up. Here she is lining up all her babies to go night-night. We think it is hilarious how she lays them all face down. I didn't get a picture of it, but once she had Neal lie down with all her babies and told him "night night!"

Neal took Cami on their first ever daddy/daughter fishing trip. They woke up early and went to get donuts (as you can see from the picture, Cami picked her own HUGE donut) and then went to a nearby park that has a lake to fish. He said the fishing lasted all of 30 seconds. I guess there were just way too many distractions and no fish. But still, it was a good bonding experience for them :)

And lastly, we took Cami on her first visit to the State Fair of Texas! On this day it was perfect fall weather which made the trip much more enjoyable! Cami wasn't the biggest fan of the fair but we did introduce her to some of the fair staples: meeting Big Tex (a little too scary for her), having a corn dog (didn't like it) and checking out the car show (liked the big trucks!) Overall, we had a great time!

We have several other things planned for this season and I will post them as soon as possible!

Preschool!

Cami started her first day of preschool last week! I no longer work at the school I used to teach at so I enrolled her in a part-time preschool at a local church. She goes Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She has only gone two days so far and I think she will grow to love it (I certainly do) but as for right now she gets sad when I drop her off. Her teacher says she cries off and on throughout the morning for me :( The school is absolutely perfect and they have a one-sided mirror in each classroom so the parents can peek at their kids without them knowing...Genius!!! I spent a good portion of her first two days at school just watching her. You might think I am a little obsessive but it helped me feel better that I had to fight for a spot to look through the window. EVERY single mom was watching their kid, too!! The week before school started we went to meet the teacher. Cami was very excited about all the cool toys, books, and puzzles she had in her class!

On the first day of school play-dough was out on the table...good move, teachers! That was a great distraction to all of the kids who were a little unsure about going to school. Who can resist play-dough???

Cami's backpack :)

She loves being a big girl and putting

her back pack in her cubby.

And stickers on the first day, too?!??! They won Cami over!

This is Cami with one of her teachers, Ms. Stacy.

Camping

A couple of weekends ago we decided to turn what would typically be a boring Friday night into a fun camp out in our own backyard! We plan to try to do a real camp out sometime this fall so we thought this would be a good test to see how Cami would do sleeping in a tent. She enjoyed helping daddy set up the tent! She also liked helping to cook hot dogs over the fire. Although, she wasn't too interested in eating a hot dog!

We set up her ladybug tent outside, too. She was much more comfortable in the tents if we got in them with her. Cami is not a big fan of small spaces like little play house and tents.

My favorite part was the roasting of the marshmallows! Cami loved watching the fire! She wanted to keep the marshmallows in the fire way past due resulting in a burned marshmallow or two.

But we finally toasted some good ones! She liked the marshmallow but really just wanted the chocolate from the s'mores!

It finally got dark and seemed much more like a camp out! We bought Cami a cool red LED flashlight to play with.

Wow! Look at the stars!

Cami also got her first sleeping bag!

She was so excited about it when we were inside the house but once we got into the tent and tried to get her to lay down inside the sleeping bag she flipped out! At this point we were pretty sure sleeping outside in a tent probably wasn't going to happen. But she did pose very cute for the camera :)

This picture is hilarious!

Cami is getting upset and wants out of the tent. Molly is trying to fluff up the sleeping bad and go to sleep. And Neal already has his eyes closed-he's so over it!

Overall, it was a fun night to cook hot dogs and roast marshmallows outside by the fire. But we will have to try again next time for a true camp out...with actual sleeping outdoors!

Summertime

Well, we have been extremely busy this summer...and I'm loving every minute of it. Not the heat, but spending lots of time with my family and watching Cami just enjoy life! First of all, I would like to officially declare Cami potty trained! Woo-hoo!! We started right before her second birthday and she caught on quickly. She loves wearing panties just like big girls do and getting a sticker AND a M&M after each time she goes potty is a pretty good incentive, too! In the picture below Cami is getting her very first hair cut. Neal has always been the groomer of the family-such a steady hand he has :) The next few pictures of some of Cami's favorite things to do... She does really well with building blocks. She is pretty creative and can just look at a pile of blocks and come up with the coolest "castles" and towers. I am so amazed at how she can stick with one activity for so long! She also LOVES to sort things! Usually she sorts things by color. This keeps her occupied forever! She will stand at her little work station-what we call her table- and sort all the crayons and markers from her box. Then she will go through a box of UNO cards and sort all the blue cards, yellow cards, red cards, etc.

Can you find Cami???

She has also taken to the game of hide-n-seek. She usually goes to the same few hiding spots and sometimes she will just stand behind a chair and cover her eyes. It's the whole 'if I can't see you, you can't see me' thought! But, the biggest thrill to her is the finding part :)

Cami has always enjoyed reading! She now will look through a book and say the same words over and over on each page. She goes through different phases with this. For a few days it was "glub, glub,glub" then it was "maggers, maggers, maggers" then it turned into "I am okay, I am okay." It's the most random words or non-words but it is so adorable to watch her "reading!"

And, of course, we have done lots of swimming this summer! Cami is such a little fish! She loves being in the water. This bikini accentuates her adorably, round belly. When I bought it I thought there will never be a time in her life again that having a big, round belly will be so cute so why not embrace it :)

By the way: Cami has finally learned the correct way to wear her sunglasses! :)

tutu much fun!!!

Cami had a blast as she celebrated her 2nd birthday with her friends and family! Here are some pictures of the big day...