Seven Years!

I am one lucky girl.  I am married to my best friend.  No, seriously, it's true!  It's not always easy and we certainly have our moments of disagreement and frustration, but there is no one who can make me laugh harder.  No one who understands me better.  No one I would rather spend this crazy life with.  The only problem is that his goodness often makes me feel unworthy - like there's no possible way I could ever live up to the same level of awesomeness.  He works so hard to support our family and to allow me stay home.  I am so, so grateful for the sacrifices he's willing to make so I can be home with our babies.  He wakes up early with the boys 99% of the time (I let him sleep in a bit on Father's Day...aren't I kind?!?!).  This is a big deal because they are usually raring to go by 5:15am and he wakes up with them with no complaints even before a long day at work - day after day after day!  He sweeps the floor and folds the laundry in about a quarter of the time it takes me to do the same chore.  He gives me the better half if we're splitting a snack and he is so, so patient with me and my not-quite-as-obsessive-about-cleaning-and-organizing personality.  He rubs my feet at night even if I wore flip flops all day and tells me I'm beautiful even when I'm carrying lots of extra baby weight.  He is an incredible father to our children - full of make believe stories, imaginative games and impressive wrestling moves.  He is humble and tries his hardest to hide his sheepish little smile when someone compliments him, but I always see the corners of his mouth twitch a little and the sparkle in his eyes brightens just a tiny bit and I fall in love with him all over again.  He is funny, creative, Godly, passionate, hard-working, patient, loving, kind and generous and I'm so incredibly blessed to call him mine. 

Happy Anniversary, Scott!  I love you more than you know!!!!

 And here we are, seven years later.  I love you, Scott!

My Sweet Boy

I am loving watching my boys grow up.  A huge part of me wants them to stay little forever.  I can't seem to get enough of their kisses and snuggles and giggles, and truth be told, I'm terrified of having teenagers.  I mean, it's just so scary to think of all the trouble kids get into these days.  I just pray that we raise good boys with a strong conviction and a strong faith - and even though they will still mess up, hopefully they won't kill me in the process!

Anyways, Camden has been such a joy recently.  From the time he turned two until sometime this fall following his third birthday he was very challenging.  He is very strong willed, and we were in a season of many tears, perceived injustices and frustration.  But recently he has been so much fun.  He's more patient with Micah.  His imagination is incredible.  He loves to act out stories (we "played" the Three Little Pigs four times in a row today!).  He loves to read.  We will sit and read for 45 minutes at a time, sometimes multiple times a day.  He loves games - he honestly beat both Scott and me at Go Fish recently and we play a round of Guess Who every morning at the breakfast table!

 Lots of games in the closet...

Playing in their kitchen...

Camden loves to strum on this little guitar and make up songs...

 A masterpiece!

 Camden wrote his name all by himself!!!!!

 And he's drawing people now!!!  This is our family.  Love it!  :)

One thing I love about Camden is that he has no sense of what is expected of him or what the world deems appropriate or acceptable for a young boy.  This is probably due, in part, to the fact that he's not in daycare or preschool and he doesn't have the huge influence of other children in his life yet.  We have plenty of play dates and he goes to Sunday School at church, but he's not as influenced on a daily basis by other children as he would be if I wasn't home with him.  We also don't have a television, and although he watches a few select shows that we get out of the library and watch on the computer (his favorites are Curious George, Thomas and Word World) he doesn't see any commercials and he doesn't know what toys boys are supposed to play with.  As a result, two of the things on Camden's Christmas list were a dollhouse and a tea set.  Many parents would probably cringe if their son asked for these things, but I was proud to give these gifts to him.  We gave him my old dollhouse that I played with as a child and my sister passed along an extra tea set (a real, breakable one!) that she had and he loves both of them!

In his own little world...

Tea with Paige...

 Apparently, three year old boys can't smile like a normal person!

Although Camden is happy to sit down and have a tea party with friends, he is also a crazy, active, energetic little boy.  He loves playing trucks (his new thing is causing huge crashes with all of his matchbox cars).  He loves to wrestle, play basketball and football, have pretend mountain bike races (which consist of him sprinting around the circle in our house), put on circuses and tons of other fun and imaginative games. 

 The boys in their three-point stance...

 Here is a short clip of the boys playing basketball and football in the house.  This happens on a daily basis! 

A couple months ago we had the following conversation while we were driving in the car.  Be still my heart!

Camden:  When I'm 29 I can drive this car.  You and Daddy can say, "Take Micah to the store" and I'll take him in the car with me.
Mama:  That would be so nice of you.  You know, you can probably drive this car when you're sixteen...that's when you're allowed to drive.
Camden:  No thank you.  I'll wait until 29.
Mama:  You might have a family when you're 29.  Do you think you'll have a wife and maybe some kids?
Camden:  No, I think I'm going to live with you forever. 
Mama:  Awww....I would love that!
Camden: I want to stay with you forever so I can play with Micah. 

He is always coming up with new ways to make us smile.  I'm so thankful for the little boy he is turning out to be.  

Blessed

On this Thanksgiving day, and always, I'm thankful for...