A Visit with Aunt Beth

Aunt Beth was in NY for a few weeks in November, and we were lucky enough to be able to spend some time with her. Cameron and Leah got to meet her for the first time! Cam was very excited to show her his hockey skills, and to have her play hockey with him. Leah got some good snuggles in and showed Aunt Beth her talking skills. We were also able to show her our house and just spend some time chatting. We had two really nice visits!

Leah and Aunt Beth having some snuggle time

Dad, Aunt Beth and Leah, Mom

Us with Aunt Beth

And, after Aunt Beth left to go back to Rochester, Cameron wanted to show off his bike riding skills to Nana and Poppa. We went on a walk up and down the street - we were so proud of how well he did!

Cam Cute: Poems

Cameron's class was learning about poems a few weeks ago. One of the poems they read was "Three Little Kittens Lost Their Mittens". The teacher told us that after reading the poem, she asked the class if anyone had kittens or any other pets. Cameron raised his hand and said "I don't have a pet, I have a Leah!!!"
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Cameron likes to hear poems at night. Mama usually recites a Robert Frost poem or something of similar length. Daddy usually recites "Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning." The other night, Cameron asked Daddy to tell him a poem. After Daddy said his usual poem, Cameron looked at him and said condescendingly "Daddy, that's the only poem you know!" Poor Daddy was forced to admit that yes, that is the only poem that he knows!

Two Firsts for Leah

Leah has been doing much better with eating - she finally figured out that if she wants eat, she has to open her mouth. She likes pretty much every food she has tried so far, veggies and fruits. She doesn't seem to have a preference, and if she is in the mood to eat, she will eat whatever we give her. If she isn't in the mood though, she clamps those little lips shut and nothing is getting through!

We decided to give Leah some more solid foods. First, she tried a rice cracker called a Mum-Mum. They are light and crispy and get mushy quickly. She didn't do much with her first Mum-Mum, but has enjoyed a few of them since then.

Mama, what do you have for me?

Umm, what do I do with this?

Interesting....

Mama, I don't know about this thing.

The other food she tried for the first time recently was Cheerios. We didn't know if she would even be able to pick them up, but she had that pincer grasp down! She did so well with her fat little fingers picking up the Cheerios, we were very impressed! She didn't actually get all that many into her mouth and when she did get one in there, she was pretty shocked... but, she did great! She really likes the Cheerios, both to play with and to put in her mouth.

Daddy, do you have something for me?

Wow, normally Mama and Daddy take things this little away from me!

Are they really going to let me put this into my mouth?

Here is another one!

Down the hatch!

Day Trip to Rochester

We went to Rochester two weekends ago for Michael's 17th birthday party. Here are a few cute pictures from the afternoon at Omi and Opa's.

Amanda and Leah hanging out

Cameron making a silly face

Leah liked riding on the fire truck!

Leah, Amanda and Cameron

Then Cam got silly!

Leah wanted to stand up on the ottoman. Then the ottoman started rolling and she went down, down, down. She wasn't sad or scared or anything, she was just kind of confused!

Leah, Poppa and Amanda

Field trip to the MOST

Cameron went on his very first field trip last week. His class at daycare went to the MOST - the Museum of Science and Technology. It is a great hands-on museum with lots of great exhibits for kids of different ages. Tim and I decided to chaperone the class; we thought it would be fun to go along and wanted to see Cameron with his class.

When we arrived at school, Tim and I helped get everything ready. Tim helped make lunches for the kids, and then we both helped put car seats on the bus. Any child who was three years old had to have a car seat, so Cameron's entire class had to bring their seats and we got to install them all on the bus. When we were done, all of the kids came out of the school and we got them all into their seat. For the most part, there was one parent with one child. Tim and I had Cameron and another little boy in our group.

One of the big new features of the MOST is their play place - it is a three or four story climbing structure with tons of neat stuff to play in/on/around. We spent the first hour or so playing on that and it was really fun!

There were a ton of balls that you could play with.

The climbing structure was big enough for adults to go in, so Tim and I got to have lots of fun in it too.

Running through the tippy tunnel

Hello Mama, this is fun!!

Checking out the Rube Goldberg machine. Cam really liked figuring out how everything worked.

There was a very cool mirror exhibit. Cameron loved seeing all of the other Camerons in there.

And he loved making faces at the other Camerons!

There was a huge train exhibit there. Our group spent a good half hour standing and watching all of the trains driving around. The kids loved it.

There were also some neat K'Nex setups. The kids really liked watching the K'Nex Ferris wheel go around.

There was a cool cave where you could use little brushes to discover dinosaur bones, fossils and other things. The kids definitely liked going in there and finding things.

Cameron's Third Birthday

We had Cameron's third birthday party on October 30th. It was the first inside party we had at our new house and I think it went really well. We had around 30 people, but it didn't seem too crowded. The playroom was TRASHED with pretty much every toy out, but I expected that! Cameron had a really good time and loved seeing everyone and playing with the kids.

Several times over the weeks before his party, I asked Cameron what kind of cake he wanted and every time he said "Thomas and Percy". I decided to try and make it myself, and here is what I made:

Abby and Bridgette getting good seats for the gift opening!

I think this is such a cute look on Cameron's face

Oooh, a game just for me!

Wow, what is in here?

Ripping into another one.

Bridget and Maggie - Maggie got her skirt caught in the bathroom door and Bridgie came to help her get it out.

Cameron's hockey jersey. He has been wearing it pretty much non-stop since he got it!

Another well-used gift: a hockey net and sticks

Every time we go to Wegman's, Cameron asks for a mylar balloon. I finally went to get one for his birthday and they didn't have any of the big ones. He ended up with this small one, but loved it anyway. Leah also loved it!

Abby with her fall-themed hair pretty

Cameron ripped into the presents like a pro

Cameron's big gift from Mom and Dad was a big boy bike with training wheels! He was very excited to get it.

Look at me!

He rode a bit inside, and luckily we have had a few warm days when he has been able to ride it outside. He is doing really well on it.

Some of the guests: Opa, Jaime, Aunt Linda with Leah, Nana, and Bonnie with Emily

Ready to have cake! One circle is chocolate cake, one circle is white cake.

Blowing out the candles

Time to eat the cake.

Dig in!

Hi Leah!

Bridgette and Leah giving a piano concert.

Cameron had a great birthday party. Thanks everyone for coming!!