Tuesday, March 31, 2009

March Madness

O.K., I have to say I really hate Law Journal. It has really made me mad in more than one way this month. I think I would be more supportive if I thought the whole thing had a purpose. In my view it only stole all of Cameron's time. Spring break? Oh, we did not get one. Hopefully, it served the purpose of giving Cameron the experience of publishing a paper dealing with a law topic he is interested in. I have to also say that any employer or client would be lucky to have Cameron because he is so thorough and dedicated to doing a great job on anything he sets out to do. I don't think he skips a detail.
Enough of my venting. Cameron's note is done. Wahoo!!! April will be a better month.


This is a snake skin we found on our walk around the block.
Top ten Fun things this month.
#10 Cameron got to jump on the trampoline once this month with Callie.
#9 Going to see Twilight on a date with Cameron (I was disappointed in the movie; Cameron actually liked it). "Hang on my little spider monkey."
#8 Party at our house with the Webbs and the Linfords. This could be higher on the list, but it was early in the month and I almost forgot about it.
#7 Sewing club at Kat's house. I finally finished the sides of all my curtains; now only to hem them.
This is the pillow I made at home.
#6 Zoo with Kat, Jack, Lili, Lois, and Jason. (See details below)
#5 Petting Zoo with Erin, & Ryan. We got to pet a Zebra and a Camel. So cool.
#4 Callie writing and spelling her own note. ARIEL I MES U.
#3 Avery walking more than one step at a time by herself. I think she feels sturdier in shoes, especially her black-patten church shoes. March 29th.
#2 My first ever surprise birthday party. (Cameron says that I had another one. I don't remember; I am getting old.) Thank you Lili for planning it and making it a great night. Thanks to all my cute friends who came and celebrated with us. Also, thanks for the fun lunch at the OG.
#1 The Post's hosted a newly-wed game night. I will forever be embarrassed, but it was a really fun night.

Zootastic moment #43
Watching the polar bear swim right by the window. He frightens me, but he is also so cute at the same time. Very thrilling to see him 4 inches away.




#44 Spring fever....
Peacocks flaunting their feathers....
like this white one....

Giraffes making a baby....
Oops, no picture of that; it was private.


Avery update.

She is a great little dancer. She really can swing her booty around; it is hilarious. Her favorite places to dance are in front of the toy box, while listening to the TV, and on top of a chair. It seems to be a victory dance. I imagine her thoughts are: "Ha, ha I'm on the chair. Now I am going to shake my bum-bum." She loves to stand on her toes and will even climb something and then do toe rises to celebrate. Often, she will even stand on her toes as if she were wearing toe shoes. I think she may be my gymnast, with tight, straight legs and pointed toes. She is very good at screaming and pointing when she wants something. We are working on the language skills to help that. Sign language and verbal. When we point to something and say, "Is this what you want?" She will put out a hand with her palm up and start luring you with her hand opening and shutting. Like she is saying, "Bring it to me." She loves dogs and will imitate their barks when we see one. I also think she speaks bird. We have a lot of birds who nest in our bushes and tile roof. There is a nest right outside her window. She wakes up to doves cooing. I think she imitates their sounds until I come to get her. Avery also imitates her sister by playing dress up. She brings me things like crowns, shoes, tutus, clothes, etc., and hands them to me, wanting me to put them on her.
She is such a cuddle bug. I love the big, long hugs she will come and give me. I hope that never stops.



Callie update.
Also a great dancer. She has a recital in May and knows almost a whole ballet dance to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." She is a good reader, but has decided to take a break from lessons as she wants to be "little" like Avery. She is a great helper with chores. She cooks and cleans right along with me. If only for a couple minutes, it makes me happy that she thinks it is fun. Her job every day is to water the flowers. If I do it without her, she gets mad. She talks about "her brother" daily and pretends she is playing with him. She has named him "Callista Cameron." She makes friends at the park all the time. Always some new girl is her "new best friend." When I ask what the new friend's name is, Callie never knows. She sometimes has a description like, "You know, the one with the long blond hair;" or, "The brown girl." She likes to figure out how to spell words all the time. She will sound it out and then ask me if she is right. She loves to color and draw. Her primary teacher was so impressed that she colors in the lines with appropriate colors. When she wants to, it really is better than Cameron can do. She can sit and color or draw for hours. She still loves dress up and her Polly Pocket princess dolls.
Here is a picture of the whole family. It all started with Snow White.
She has all the "Sid the Science Kid" songs memorized, and can sort of sing the ABC's in Spanish. She helps to inform me when the woodpeckers are perched on the trampoline. They like to eat the foam off the safety poles. She loves to play with Avery. She also loves to help me keep her in line.
This is a picture of some signs she drew on the ground to tell Avery, "No eating rocks." I can't remember what the "no P" was for. One day she said, "Mom, I gave Avery a spanking because she was trying to eat my toys." We are working on teaching her her role as a sister, not a mother, and that babies don't really get yelled at. Actually nobody should get yelled at. Hmm, wonder where she learned that?

Cameron: Who is that? He will have to read this to learn about us. Here are some pictures of Cameron and Callie at Itty Bitty Sports. He usually had time to go with her on Saturday.


Addie: I am just getting old.
Since I tend to forget any gift Cameron gives me, here are the flowers he gave me for Valentine's. I almost killed them, but now they are coming back.

Friday, April 3rd is kind of a golden birthday. So I guess that is cool.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Loving Life February





Gigi and Grumpy came to town on their RV road trip. We were able to steal Gigi away for some fun. Callie dominated her attention with trampoline tricks. Callie's tricks include twirl (jump full turn), seat drop, doggy drop, donkey kicks, tuck jump, straddle jump, stretch jump, stag jump, hop on one foot, run in circle. She likes to play add-on, chase, and crack the egg. Gigi did her best not to pee her pants. We also took Gigi to Old Tucson. It is a whole town built up to look like the old west when Tucson was gun fighting territory. I guess it has been used as a movie set. We got there only a couple hours before they closed, so we caught a carousel ride (Gigi was the only one who got on a horse, Callie wanted the sleigh), one heel-kicking saloon show (Callie and Avery loved it), and one gun fight (reenactment of Billy the Kid's jail break). I was not that impressed with the shows or the place. I guess I was expecting a lot more actors and a set as detailed as Disney Land would do. Callie and Avery cried through the gun fight, even though there were only two shots fired. It was very loud.


Joy School trip to Peter Piper Pizza. Callie was brave enough for the horse this time. But not brave enough for the flash.


Ryan Spencer's Birthday party. He is 9 days older than Avery. He was so cute and kept trying to hug her. She would just scream and cry when he approached.


Cameron's 32nd Birthday and our 6th anniversary. We had a nice day; Cameron spent the whole day with us so we felt spoiled. I am so glad that I married him.

Bill and Alicia came to Phoenix. We got to see them on a Sunday. It was a great visit. The cousins had a blast playing, and we all had a great time on Rob and Betina's trampoline trying to crack Cameron, the giant egg. Three people (Alicia, Betina, and I) could barely get him to bounce. It was so funny!

Sarah Latham came to town, and we took her to the Tucson Zoo. It was so much fun. Every time we go there we have some close encounter of the Animal-kind. With Sarah we were inches from the Polar Bear. He was right up to the 4-inch thick glass. I am sure he thought we looked like lunch. It was amazing. More recently, I went with just the girls to the zoo, and I was watching a squirrel in the Cayman exhibit. I think I startled everyone near me when I screamed because that sly little crocodile quickly snapped its jaws shut on the unsuspecting squirrel. Then he dragged him to the bottom of the pool. I was really affected by the whole tragic scene. Cameron said that the message I left him on the phone sounded like I was crying. I insist I was just trying not to talk too loudly as I had already caused a scene with my scream.


Sarah was enthralled by this typical southwest stand. I never thought about it before, but I guess it is kind of unique.

Playing at the mall. Sarah took some great pictures. It was fun to have a photographer documenting everything we did. Below we are getting ready for Avery's birthday and Valentine's Day (Thanks for the pic, Sarah!).

We had a little Valentine celebration in the morning with Sarah, then got ready for Avery's 1 year birthday party. We invited Aaron, Courtney, and the Wrights (Lili, Jason, and Little Lois). We had tacos and strawberry cupcakes. Avery loved her 1st cupcake, but started to cry when she noticed we were all watching her. She was almost inconsolable. She recovered though and then enjoyed her first doll (Tinkerbell) and trying to play gently with Lois. Not an easy task when you love to pull hair and your friend has a lot more than you do.

Valentine's afternoon we all went on a hike up Sabino Canyon. Sarah took some more great photos. We then had dinner at AJ's. Another good weekend with Cameron not studying. Such a rare occasion. It was a nice visit from Sarah we had a great time trying to keep up the pace for her.

Callie's drawing of our family. She got this magna doodle from the Taylors two years ago, and she draws on it every day. She loves to draw our family and then she adds one or two brothers; sometimes we even all get mermaid tails. The brothers have names "Crambrin" and "Callista Crambrin." Then she usually asks one of us to draw our family. The picture below is one of Cameron's. I like Callie's tall, skinny family compared to the short, blocky one Cameron draws.