Camellia at One Year Old!

It is tough being a girl!

Height - 2 ft 5.5 inches 40%

Weight - 20 lb 7.5 oz 51%

Head Circumference - 45.7 cm 62%   

Caramel's Class Auction Project

Caramel's school has an annual auction were they raise tons of money. Seriously, they made 46,000 last year! It is in about a week and will be interesting to participate in. Each class makes a project to auction off and I helped with Caramel's class. I painted some pots white then the class glued on CDs I had cut up into pieces mosaic style. Lastly, I grouted and sealed the pots. They turned out pretty cool looking for being CD pieces. I plan to put some flowers in them before the auction. There is a dessert dash and my mom is making Hello Dolly bars. I am volunteering the night of the auction which is a the Golf Club Community Center in our neighborhood. I hope it is fun!

Baby Shower

I helped throw a surprise baby shower for my friend. She is about to have her 4th baby. I wasn't very good at the surprise aspect. First forgetting to mention it was a surprise on the invitation then not having the guest ready when she showed up. It was a lot of fun with girlfriends from my old ward and a couple other friends. I made little umbrellas and raining clouds to decorate and some little mosaic pots as game winning prizes.

The guest painted baby shirts, wrote an inspiration note to the mother, and played two games. Glad I could celebrate with friends and host the party.

Camellia's First Birthday

Little Cami girl turned 1 year old on March 6th. Camellia proved she likes chocolate, so I made a cake and Caramel frosted it. It is tradition for the birthday person to have the whole cake presented to her/him. Camellia was very lady like eating slowly and carefully. She was nice enough to share, offering bites to siblings. In the end she really didn't eat much of the cake, but enjoyed the experience. Lots of little pink and purples clothes and a new pink sippy cup were her presents. We were lucky to have grandparents Brenda, Pam and Dan with us to celebrate.

Camellia is a smiley little girl. She loves to ride her Minnie airplane especially when Caramel pushes her around. When it is time for bed Camellia lays right down and sucks her left thumb, it is the only time she does it. Taking 2 to 3 steps then deciding to crawl is her normal routine. Camellia is getting thinner, she doesn't sit there and drink a whole or even half bottle of milk. She just takes a few sips and then is done. She enjoys oatmeal, granola bars and baby yogurt bites. She isn't a big eater and rejects a lot of food. Camellia loves bubble baths and the hiking backpack.

Camellia has her two top and bottom teeth and two more on top coming in.

You don't see the top ones often only when she smiles really big.

She enjoys dancing, waving, and saying mama and dada.

Gymnastics Myles

Myles took a gymnastics class at the community center. One that Caramel took when she was little. Myles loved it but I didn't being the rule enforcer. Myles loved being in a large open gym with fun equipment everywhere. He was so "energetic" there was no way I could get a picture of him. His teacher was nice and tried to get him focus on technique whenever he happened to pause close to her. Myles loved racing around making car sounds while the girls quietly stretched. Yes, Myles was the only boy in the class. One time there was another boy and he acted pretty much like Myles did, so they never showed again. I tried my best to convince him to sit and stretch or stay in line and follow the obstacle course routine, but Myles just wanted to run and jump and hang and roll whenever Myles felt the need. At the end of the class, Myles and I were always sweaty and thirsty. At home Myles does try somersaults and climbing the wall standing on his hands, so I guess he did learn some skills.   

Swimming for Caramel and Rhett

February was a busy month. Grandma Brenda flew in to stay with us for several months, so I signed Caramel and Rhett up for swimming. Would have been difficult with Myles (he loves, loves water) and Camellia so with the extra help it was a must. Caramel and Rhett loved it. Especially Thursdays when they had hip hop and swimming class, so dinner was at Burger King, nuggets and ice cream best food there is to a 5 and 7 year old. 

This was Rhett's first swimming class. He was a little concerned about swimming to the teachers and took extra convincing. He passed off a lot of skills but isn't to the next level quite yet. He loved jumping to the teachers. His favorite part was taking a long warm shower afterwards. On the last day, Rhett's class wore lifejackets and floated around in a big circle. They looked pretty cute making a whirlpool as they circled around.

Luckily Caramel's ears haven't been bothering her and she learned the skills to past to the next level. On the last day Caramel's class practiced rescuing people by throwing a lifesaver or using a long pole. Fun to watch and see them throw the lifesaver in the correct spot, in front of the person.

Sleeping

Love the funny ways you find your kids asleep. This is Rhett with his favorite blue blanket. I think he was entertaining himself then just fell asleep. 

 

The best way is on the belly with knees tucked in and arms too, so the bum is high in the air. Just love seeing that. You can still find Myles asleep in that position. Soon Camellia will be the last one.

 

Right now, there is a boys' room with Rhett and Myles and a girls' room with Caramel and Camellia. After Camellia learned to stand up, she couldn't be in our room anymore. She would just stand up and cry looking at me in the middle of the night, horrible! So Caramel's room was redone and now it is girls' room. I painted it purple with white furniture. Caramel and Camellia are almost done getting use to it.

 

We have a king size bed and there is rarely only two people in it. The kids claim it is just too snuggly. It is pretty comfortable, but not with the kids.

 

 

Zoo Time

I purchased seasons passes to the Woodland Park Zoo. So to the zoo we will go very often this year. The penguins are right at the entrance we always use. It is a great exhibit that the kids love exploring through. The penguins are so active and fun to watch swim.

Camellia was a good sport being pushed around all over the place.

Kids climbing all over the gorillas. The statues by the animals totally make it more fun.

 

The zoo has a great indoor play area. Great for warming up and letting adults sit for awhile. Zoomazium, I believe it is called. It also has backpacks you can check out for the kids to learn with as you go through the zoo, haven't done that yet. Right outside of the zoo is a great playground the kids always want to play at too. Great climbing ropes the kids enjoy.

 

We are looking forward to the new tiger exhibit in May and will miss the elephants leaving soon. It has been fun to talk about the animals with the kids and their habitats.

Sunny Sunday

This year we have church at 1pm. Horrible time! As winter wraps up, the sun has been shinning. Wonderful to see the sun and blue sky, but still cold when you try to play outside. One sunny Sunday we were all dressed for church, so we had a lunch picnic at the park before church. Camellia stayed home with Grandma Brenda (she will be staying with us at least until early May). The kids enjoyed packing and eating Lunchables they begged to buy at the store. We played some soccer in our Sunday best and let the kids take some pictures.

At Allen park just up the street.

Myles always so serious.

Daddy always putting on a show.

Back to the house.