Happy Birthday Camden!

We have a three year old in the house! Camden had a fun birthday celebration week. On Wednesday when I picked him up from school he was wearing a birthday crown that they had given him (and I realized, wow, his birthday is tomorrow. This week went by fast!) and he was so proud of his crown.

On his birthday we tried our best to make him feel special...by taking him to his three year well checkup. He did have to get a flu shot,but besides that no shots. The nurse distracted him by having him look away and he didn't realize he was getting the shot until it was already over. I also decorated with a pirate theme because he is crazy about Jake and the Neverland Pirates right now. That night we had pirate cupcakes and he got to open his present, a huge ship from Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

He got to choose the frosting color

When I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday he said he wanted to go on a boat. And I told Robert, "where are we going to find a boat ride in Utah in October?" Then I saw this deal on KSL deals for a Halloween boat ride on the Provo River...ta da! It was just a short 25 minute ride, but it was a boat, with life vests, and spooky stories and pirates so for a three year old it was great. It is actually suppose to be a spooky night ride, but we purposefully got there right as they opened for the night so it was still light because I didn't think Camden would like the spookiness of it. He was so funny with his life vest, a little unsure of it all, but happy to be on a boat.

The pirate brought candy for us.

Then on Sunday we had Lincoln's baby blessing, but we still had not broken Camden's pinata because it was such a busy week (I kept telling them "after such and such we will break it" but it never happened). So with all the kids over that day it was a perfect day to break the pirate chest pinata, even though it didn't really fit with Lincoln's blessing...

Half the kids are still in their church clothes :O

 

Camden at three has great big sweetheart brown eyes and a ready smile. He is looking more like a boy than a baby. He is learning that he has opinions on everything and likes to make himself heard. He used to eat anything and everything, now he only likes treats and it's a chore to try to get him to eat anything healthy. He is sort of potty trained, meaning he knows when he has to go, but we keep confusing him by putting him in pullups and he forgets to use the potty.

He used to be afraid to go down slides, but the other day I saw him go down a slide and I was surprised. According to the kids he's been doing it for a while, but I never noticed. He is just growing up super fast.

Hawaii Family Pictures

Labor Day at the Ranch

We spent Labor Day this year at the Ranch and got to sleep in the newly renovated "bunk house"

It was a little cold and mostly too windy for little Lincoln so he spent most of the time in the bunk house

 The other kids ran free playing at the Ranch

 Work Projects that weekend were putting insulation in the second room of the bunk house

And installing a new front gate. That's Robert up in the front loader bucket putting in the cross bar

 Now others are up there welding it together

 Good morning! Micah fell the night before chasing chickens and I didn't get a good look at him until that morning. I wondered what had happened to him in the night! (Then he told me about the chickens)

 New gate

 Old wood gate

 Micah got to get into the cab of the front loader. He was sooo happy.

First Day of School

Julia started 2nd grade this year.

 This was from Back to School Night the night before school started.

Morning of, a little nervous, but feeling confident with friends she knows in her class this year.

"Though she be little, she is fierce" Shakespeare. Julia got that as her back to school literary shirt this year, I thought it was fitting for her. She also got a kids version  A Midsummer's Night Dream in book form, which is where the quote is from. She read it in two days and loved it, she thought it was funny and she liked the fairies in it. She probably knows the story better than I do now.

Micah and Camden also started school. Micah in preschool 3 days a week, Camden in the 2 year old class 2 days a week. Same place, different classes. They really didn't know what to expect.

 Micah trying to look happy

 I'm going to preschool!?

I think they look adorable in their uniforms.

Lincoln didn't get to go to school, but he did get a back to school literary shirt and (board) book like the others did. Le Petit Prince.

Camden got Harry the Dirty Dog and Micah got Mike Mulligan's Steam Shovel, which I couldn't find a picture of him wearing, but he loves it. They did also get the books and we read them over and over again the first week.