pictures

My friend Brooke took pictures of our family on Wednesday night. She is super talented and great with kids and got some fun ones of the family, here's the link..

http://brookebrownphotography.com/?p=2841

Hiking at Crowders Mountain

Our friends asked us to go hiking with them and their four kids at Crowders last Sunday. I told Noel I would ask Jason, thinking for sure he would say no way with Camden. But he responded, "let's do it." I was definitely a little apprehensive as we had never been and we were in the process of potty training. (Side note..we are officially done with diapers for the first time in 6 years!!! Camden has done great, she surprised us for sure. No twinge of sadness in leaving this stage.) Back to hiking.. we ended up having a great time. The boys loved it and Camden did great in the backpack. Britt and Pierce discussed legos most of the way up and Holt was trucking it up front with me and Camden. We probably hiked about two miles, stoping at some fun rocks and getting a good view of the mountains. We went in the middle of the day and it was pretty hot but the kids were all troopers, all 7 of them! Maybe next time we can try to venture to the top of the mountain.

Mr. Shane giving prehiking instructions to the kiddos.

More Birthday Pics

Camden's first look at her cake..

My friend Tricia is beyond talented and make this precious princess cake.
http://somethingsweetcakery.blogspot.com/

She got her first Barbie from MOm Mom and Pop Pop.

Happy 2nd Birthday Camden!

Our baby turned two on Wednesday. It feels weird that we are leaving the baby stage for the first time in 6 years. Part of that makes me really sad, the other part of me is hopeful that it will get easier. I will be honest that three kids has rocked our world. But we wouldn't trade it for anything. We love this baby girl! Camden has grown up so fast lately. She is talking up a storm...from full sentences to her favorite thing to say, "Why?"..which she often answers herself by saying "cause." You love anything princess but can already hold your own in a sword fight. You continue to know what you want when you want it but we are starting to be able to reason with you on some occasions. You are consistently sleeping till 6 am and even slept till 7 am twice this month. You love your brothers and also already know how to push their buttons. You love snacks and never eat meat. You love to swing, to be read to, and to play with your toys. We love you Camden Gray!
I got her two dress up costumes at the consignment store and she loved them! She also is holding her princess tooth paste that she took everywhere with her the first 24 hours.

She picked out the pink and purple donut for her bday breakfast. She stared at it for the first three minutes and then had me cut into little pieces to eat.

This was her other dress up outfit. She also is holding her Mickey Mouse, one of her other favorite gifts.

Strawberry Picking, Frogs, and Two

We went stawberry picking on Friday with Gran. Good thing we remembered our boots this year. I think the last time we went I was 9 months pregnant with Camden and I was holding Holt over all the mud puddles. Holt loved it and Camden hung in there most of the time. Next time I will only buy one box instead of two. it was a lot of work!

Thanks Caroline for my sweet dresses you brought me for my bday!

I will do a Birthday post next but this picture just describes Camden. Yes, she is all girl, loves her dolls and princesses but she can also name Star Wars characters. You definately know that she has two older brothers but also thinks she is quite the princess.

The frogs are back and bigger. Last year is was all tiny toads they would catch now they are close to size of their palms. I walked out side to hear Pierce say "1,2,3 go" they were having the toads race down the driveway. Seriously!?

Last update

The garden. Our neighbor and friend across the street had a great garden last year. The boys loved it. We picked there vegetables for them when they were out of town and Pierce and Holt went over there daily to check out their garden. So they begged this year to have one. I have absolutely no green thumb and honestly didn't have it in me after tax season so I let my dad take this one on with the boys. They managed to find a spot in the backyard that actually receives sun light, we are hoping enough. There is a little bit of everything in there so we will see what survives. Pierce checks the garden every day before school and as soon as he gets home and usually again before bed.

The boys did Awanas this year at Sharon Baptist and had their end of the year celebration Sunday night.

The boys other new past time (actually fighting and copying everything the other say is ranking up there right now too) is building with wood. These pieces of wood and container of nails and screws has provided hours of entertainment at our house the past few weeks. The boys have built airplanes, robots, benches, and other creations that we couldn't identify. I ran in the house today and came out to Pierce teaching Camden how to hammer a nail. I know, probably not the best idea, but it was cute.

Our first pepper in the garden, Pierce wanted me to take this picture today.

Beach for Easter weekend

I think this was the first Easter we have spent at the beach. It was great it lined up with spring break and we had a fun long weekend.

The first catch of the season, supposedly on Pierce's line but daddy pulled him in.




This was 'Lizzy." Pierce somehow caught a lizard on the boat when they went fishing. This was his buddy for two days until we convinced him to let him go as he was barely hanging on for his life. He even spent the day down on the beach with us.

We went to church on the beach for Easter Sunday. I can't tell you a bit about the sermon as I chased this crazy girl around the whole time. In this picture she was making a mad dash for the water.

The first day we went to the beach, as soon as we got out there Jason and I sat down and all three of them were playing nicely in the sand. We made the mistake of saying to each other, "Is this the summer we will actually get to sit down on the beach?" Well, that lasted five minutes as that is how long it took Camden to discover the water, and that was the last time we sat that weekend. The water was freezing but she stayed in the water as far as we would let her the entire time she was on the beach, shaking, lips turning blue and all. We will definitely have a life jacket for her this summer.

Our best attempt of a picture of the three of them.